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Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Police have released an e-fit of a man they are looking for in connection with a distraction burglary in Stratford-upon-Avon.
At between 2.00pm and 2.36pm on 5 February 2018, two men claiming to be from Orbit Housing tricked their way into a flat in Hertford Place. One of the men distracted the occupant - a woman in her 40s - while the other man searched the property.
When the victim realised what they were doing she ordered them to leave. The men left with a quantity of cash.
Officers are asking anyone with information to call 101 quoting incident 220 of 5 February 2018. Alternatively, information can be provided anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or via www.crimestoppers-uk.org
Warwickshire Police offers the following advice to help people avoid falling victim to distraction burglary:
Beware of anyone who says they are in a hurry - if in doubt, call a neighbour or friend
Check to see who is at the door by using your door viewer, or looking through a front window
Always put the chain on before you open the door as this is a barrier against unwanted callers
When an unexpected caller claims they work for one of the utility companies, they must be able to quote your password and unique customer number and produce an identity card: As added proof of identity, genuine trades people should carry an identification card with their photograph on -check this carefully and keep the chain on Make a note of your customer number, which can be found at the top of the utility bill and keep it handy - this number is unique to your household All of the utility companies operate password schemes - contact the customer services department and set up a password with them
if you're unsure about the caller's identity telephone the company the caller claims to represent, but don't rely on them giving you the number as it may be false - genuine callers won't mind waiting.
Posted by Sam Cook, Communications Officer ||||| Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Police in Warwickshire have been forced to confirm that a bizarre e-fit image of a wanted burglar which went viral on social media was not a hoax.
Officers released the mock-up to appeal for help identifying the suspect, wanted in connection with a break-in in Stratford-upon-Avon - but instead the bizarre image attracted an unwanted kind of publicity online.
We've issued an efit for of a suspect in a distraction burglary in Stratford in February. If you have any information please contact us. https://t.co/NipFniL1ed pic.twitter.com/oGiYfxIi2e — Warwickshire Police (@warkspolice) April 3, 2018
“Since the image was issued by police, it has had more than 800 re-tweets on Twitter and 600 likes on Facebook,” says the Coventry Telegraph.
The unusual portrait provoked plenty of mirth among social media users:
The good news is that he should be really easy to spot. — Betsy Q. Contrary (@BetsyContrary) April 3, 2018
Detective 1: %u201CUmmm, I%u2019m not sure this E-fit came out right...%u201D Detective 2: %u201CEff-it. Post to Twitter.%u201D — Jhova (@JHova42) April 3, 2018
"Could you describe the burglar?" "So you know Henry J. Waternoose the third from Monsters Inc.? He looked like that" https://t.co/srNjTy6J3P — Boubacar Bamsey (@ryan_bamz) April 3, 2018
While others offered their own tongue-in-cheek “leads”:
pic.twitter.com/YJ0xihcuQo — Lancelot Paterson (@LancePaters1) April 3, 2018
Case is closed. I found your man in a pineapple under the sea. It was a real shocker. pic.twitter.com/dZ0lwJAw9K — emily (@pure_howell) April 3, 2018
The police have now responded to the storm of attention, saying they “anticipated” the potential for mockery.
“We can confirm that this is real and that we anticipated the attention!” Warwickshire Police posted on Twitter on Wednesday. “But jokes aside, it was created from a description provided and it's serious as a woman was victim of a horrible crime.”
The force took a phlegmatic view of the viral attention the efit has garnered, saying: "Hopefully the attention will mean we identify the offender/bring him to justice quicker."
Earlier this year, a cartoon-style portrait of a wanted thief in Pennsylvania was ridiculed online as the “worst police sketch ever”. However, police later confirmed that the childlike scrawl had helped lead to the identification of the offender. ||||| The Warwickshire Police in the United Kingdom are looking for a truly terrifying suspect.
According to the composite render they released, the criminal in question wears a black beanie and sports stubble. Oh, and he has a inhumanly large, Cheshire cat-like grin.
SEE ALSO: Khloé Kardashian looks A LOT like Elvis Presley
We've issued an efit for of a suspect in a distraction burglary in Stratford in February. If you have any information please contact us. https://t.co/NipFniL1ed pic.twitter.com/oGiYfxIi2e — Warwickshire Police (@warkspolice) April 3, 2018
The photo posted on the Warwickshire Police's Twitter quickly went viral on Tuesday. People just couldn't believe that this was a real sketch released from an actual police department.
I just hope he didn’t bite her. — Robert A. Green (@RobertAlenGreen) April 3, 2018
But it's not a belated April Fools' Day prank. The Warwickshire Police confirmed in a follow up tweet that finding the suspect is no laughing matter, though they noted they knew this would get some attention.
"Jokes aside, it was created from a description provided and it's serious as a woman was a victim of a horrible crime," the police tweeted.
We can confirm that this is real and that we anticipated the attention! But jokes aside, it was created from a description provided and it's serious as a woman was victim of a horrible crime. Hopefully the attention will mean we identify the offender/bring him to justice quicker — Warwickshire Police (@warkspolice) April 3, 2018
Here's the description of the incident from the Warwickshire Police website:
At between 2.00pm and 2.36pm on 5 February 2018, two men claiming to be from Orbit Housing tricked their way into a flat in Hertford Place. One of the men distracted the occupant - a woman in her 40s - while the other man searched the property.
When the victim realised what they were doing she ordered them to leave. The men left with a quantity of cash.
They used E-FIT, or Electronic Facial Identification Technique, to create a computer render of the burglar's face based on composites of descriptions of his features. Unlike actual pencil and paper sketches, E-FITS tend to produce more accurate estimates of suspected criminals.
Even, apparently, in the case of this grinning burglar.
E-FITs are supposed to be more accurate than an artist's pencil sketch. Image: warwickshire police
Twitter users were quick to respond with sightings of the suspect and his possible accomplices.
I know his sister 😳 pic.twitter.com/eWa6jFISx4 — dodgyrunner (@SDivitt) April 3, 2018
I saw his dog on the turnpike today pic.twitter.com/DiUdj2MtwD — Shelly Splainin’ 🙋🏻♀️ (@sheLLbeLL_xo) April 3, 2018
Did he have a dog? pic.twitter.com/XuM9nVYZF6 — Nelstar (@TheStalker3324) April 3, 2018
Exactly my first thought. BINGO! 😂 pic.twitter.com/xnutEEUeMR — Bravo 1 Niner (@Bravo1Niner) April 3, 2018
In all seriousness, if you've seen a man with this ghastly smile — whether roaming through Warwickshire or lurking deep in some haunted forest — contact the Warwickshire Police. | – Officers hoped their digital sketch of a suspect would be seen by as many people as possible and, in that sense, they succeeded. A composite depiction of a suspected burglar went viral Tuesday when it was shared on Twitter by Warwickshire Police in the UK. It shows what Mashable describes as a "truly terrifying" man with "an inhumanly large, Cheshire Cat-like grin." "The good news is that he should be really easy to spot," quipped one user, per the Week, while others shared images of lookalikes, from Ross Geller to SpongeBob SquarePants. "We anticipated the attention," police later said. "But jokes aside, it was created from a description provided and it's serious." The suspect remains at large. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Police have released an e-fit of a man they are looking for in connection with a distraction burglary in Stratford-upon-Avon.
At between 2.00pm and 2.36pm on 5 February 2018, two men claiming to be from Orbit Housing tricked their way into a flat in Hertford Place. One of the men distracted the occupant - a woman in her 40s - while the other man searched the property.
When the victim realised what they were doing she ordered them to leave. The men left with a quantity of cash.
Officers are asking anyone with information to call 101 quoting incident 220 of 5 February 2018. Alternatively, information can be provided anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or via www.crimestoppers-uk.org
Warwickshire Police offers the following advice to help people avoid falling victim to distraction burglary:
Beware of anyone who says they are in a hurry - if in doubt, call a neighbour or friend
Check to see who is at the door by using your door viewer, or looking through a front window
Always put the chain on before you open the door as this is a barrier against unwanted callers
When an unexpected caller claims they work for one of the utility companies, they must be able to quote your password and unique customer number and produce an identity card: As added proof of identity, genuine trades people should carry an identification card with their photograph on -check this carefully and keep the chain on Make a note of your customer number, which can be found at the top of the utility bill and keep it handy - this number is unique to your household All of the utility companies operate password schemes - contact the customer services department and set up a password with them
if you're unsure about the caller's identity telephone the company the caller claims to represent, but don't rely on them giving you the number as it may be false - genuine callers won't mind waiting.
Posted by Sam Cook, Communications Officer ||||| Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Police in Warwickshire have been forced to confirm that a bizarre e-fit image of a wanted burglar which went viral on social media was not a hoax.
Officers released the mock-up to appeal for help identifying the suspect, wanted in connection with a break-in in Stratford-upon-Avon - but instead the bizarre image attracted an unwanted kind of publicity online.
We've issued an efit for of a suspect in a distraction burglary in Stratford in February. If you have any information please contact us. https://t.co/NipFniL1ed pic.twitter.com/oGiYfxIi2e — Warwickshire Police (@warkspolice) April 3, 2018
“Since the image was issued by police, it has had more than 800 re-tweets on Twitter and 600 likes on Facebook,” says the Coventry Telegraph.
The unusual portrait provoked plenty of mirth among social media users:
The good news is that he should be really easy to spot. — Betsy Q. Contrary (@BetsyContrary) April 3, 2018
Detective 1: %u201CUmmm, I%u2019m not sure this E-fit came out right...%u201D Detective 2: %u201CEff-it. Post to Twitter.%u201D — Jhova (@JHova42) April 3, 2018
"Could you describe the burglar?" "So you know Henry J. Waternoose the third from Monsters Inc.? He looked like that" https://t.co/srNjTy6J3P — Boubacar Bamsey (@ryan_bamz) April 3, 2018
While others offered their own tongue-in-cheek “leads”:
pic.twitter.com/YJ0xihcuQo — Lancelot Paterson (@LancePaters1) April 3, 2018
Case is closed. I found your man in a pineapple under the sea. It was a real shocker. pic.twitter.com/dZ0lwJAw9K — emily (@pure_howell) April 3, 2018
The police have now responded to the storm of attention, saying they “anticipated” the potential for mockery.
“We can confirm that this is real and that we anticipated the attention!” Warwickshire Police posted on Twitter on Wednesday. “But jokes aside, it was created from a description provided and it's serious as a woman was victim of a horrible crime.”
The force took a phlegmatic view of the viral attention the efit has garnered, saying: "Hopefully the attention will mean we identify the offender/bring him to justice quicker."
Earlier this year, a cartoon-style portrait of a wanted thief in Pennsylvania was ridiculed online as the “worst police sketch ever”. However, police later confirmed that the childlike scrawl had helped lead to the identification of the offender. ||||| The Warwickshire Police in the United Kingdom are looking for a truly terrifying suspect.
According to the composite render they released, the criminal in question wears a black beanie and sports stubble. Oh, and he has a inhumanly large, Cheshire cat-like grin.
SEE ALSO: Khloé Kardashian looks A LOT like Elvis Presley
We've issued an efit for of a suspect in a distraction burglary in Stratford in February. If you have any information please contact us. https://t.co/NipFniL1ed pic.twitter.com/oGiYfxIi2e — Warwickshire Police (@warkspolice) April 3, 2018
The photo posted on the Warwickshire Police's Twitter quickly went viral on Tuesday. People just couldn't believe that this was a real sketch released from an actual police department.
I just hope he didn’t bite her. — Robert A. Green (@RobertAlenGreen) April 3, 2018
But it's not a belated April Fools' Day prank. The Warwickshire Police confirmed in a follow up tweet that finding the suspect is no laughing matter, though they noted they knew this would get some attention.
"Jokes aside, it was created from a description provided and it's serious as a woman was a victim of a horrible crime," the police tweeted.
We can confirm that this is real and that we anticipated the attention! But jokes aside, it was created from a description provided and it's serious as a woman was victim of a horrible crime. Hopefully the attention will mean we identify the offender/bring him to justice quicker — Warwickshire Police (@warkspolice) April 3, 2018
Here's the description of the incident from the Warwickshire Police website:
At between 2.00pm and 2.36pm on 5 February 2018, two men claiming to be from Orbit Housing tricked their way into a flat in Hertford Place. One of the men distracted the occupant - a woman in her 40s - while the other man searched the property.
When the victim realised what they were doing she ordered them to leave. The men left with a quantity of cash.
They used E-FIT, or Electronic Facial Identification Technique, to create a computer render of the burglar's face based on composites of descriptions of his features. Unlike actual pencil and paper sketches, E-FITS tend to produce more accurate estimates of suspected criminals.
Even, apparently, in the case of this grinning burglar.
E-FITs are supposed to be more accurate than an artist's pencil sketch. Image: warwickshire police
Twitter users were quick to respond with sightings of the suspect and his possible accomplices.
I know his sister 😳 pic.twitter.com/eWa6jFISx4 — dodgyrunner (@SDivitt) April 3, 2018
I saw his dog on the turnpike today pic.twitter.com/DiUdj2MtwD — Shelly Splainin’ 🙋🏻♀️ (@sheLLbeLL_xo) April 3, 2018
Did he have a dog? pic.twitter.com/XuM9nVYZF6 — Nelstar (@TheStalker3324) April 3, 2018
Exactly my first thought. BINGO! 😂 pic.twitter.com/xnutEEUeMR — Bravo 1 Niner (@Bravo1Niner) April 3, 2018
In all seriousness, if you've seen a man with this ghastly smile — whether roaming through Warwickshire or lurking deep in some haunted forest — contact the Warwickshire Police. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 6,074 |
Elon Musk projects a Mars spaceship will be ready for short trips by first half of 2019 11:08 AM ET Mon, 12 March 2018 | 00:56
Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk told an audience at South by Southwest that his timeline for sending a space vehicle to Mars could mark its first milestone early next year.
The privately-funded venture, announced in September 2017, aims to send a cargo mission to the Red Planet by 2022. SpaceX's ultimate objective is to plant the seeds to put a human colony on Mars.
Musk held a surprise question and answer session at the annual technology and culture festival in Austin, Texas on Sunday. The billionaire told attendees that "we are building the first Mars, or interplanetary ship, and I think we'll be able to do short trips, flights by first half of next year."
Mindful of elevating expectations too high, Musk hedged a bit. "Although sometimes, my timelines are a little, you know..." he said to laughter. ||||| Founder of SpaceX, which is working on getting humans to the planet, speaks at SXSW amid rising nuclear tension
Elon Musk: we must colonise Mars to preserve our species in a third world war
Humans must prioritise the colonisation of Mars so the species can be conserved in the event of a third world war, SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk said on Sunday.
Trump under pressure over chaotic approach to North Korea nuclear talks Read more
“It’s important to get a self-sustaining base on Mars because it’s far enough away from earth that [in the event of a war] it’s more likely to survive than a moon base,” Musk said on stage at SXSW – just days after Donald Trump announced plans to meet the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, in an attempt to defuse rising nuclear tension.
“If there’s a third world war we want to make sure there’s enough of a seed of human civilisation somewhere else to bring it back and shorten the length of the dark ages,” Musk said, responding to questions from his friend Jonah Nolan, the co-creator of the TV show Westworld.
SpaceX is working on a vehicle that will take humans to Mars, a 100-metre ship codenamed the BFR (Big Fucking Rocket). But building a colony would require “tremendous entrepreneurial resources”, Musk said.
He also countered the suggestion that Mars might be “some escape hatch for rich people” by highlighting the risks of the mission: “It will be like Shackleton’s ad for Antarctic explorers: ‘Difficult, dangerous, a good chance you’ll die, excitement for those who survive.’ That kind of thing.
“There’s not many people who will want to go in the beginning,” he said, adding that over time the Red Planet colony would be hospitable and have “great bars. The Mars bar! I love dad jokes, I’m a dad!”
The BFR will fly for the first time in the first half of 2019, Musk said, acknowledging that his “timelines historically have been optimistic”. The production of the Tesla Model 3 electric car, for example, has been plagued by delays.
Musk said he initially gave SpaceX and Tesla a likelihood of success of just 10%.
“I wouldn’t let my friends invest because I didn’t want them to lose their money,” he said of SpaceX. Instead he funnelled his own money, from the sale of PayPal, into the businesses.
“SpaceX is alive by the skin of its teeth. So is Tesla. If things had gone a little bit the other way, both companies would be dead.”
Musk said he was now kept awake at night by the threat posed by unregulated artificial intelligence, which he has previously warned could lead humanity into a third world war – another the reason to go to Mars.
“Mark my words,” he said, “AI is much more dangerous than nukes. So why do we have no regulatory oversight?”
He suggested a public regulatory body would need “insight and oversight” to confirm that everyone was developing AI safely and in a way that is “symbiotic with humanity”.
However, even coming up with the safety parameters would present all sorts of insidious and unexpected risks, Musk said. If the utility function of artificial intelligence is to maximise happiness of humans, a super-intelligent AI might decide that the best way to do that is to capture all humans and inject their brains with dopamine and serotonin.
Musk proposed that digital intelligence should instead be directed to maximise “the freedom of action of humanity”.
The Q&A session ended on a surreal note as Musk, his younger brother Kimbal and Nolan all donned stetsons and sang a snippet of My Little Buttercup, a song from the 1986 movie The Three Amigos.
“This is going to be real bad,” warned Musk. He was right. ||||| Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Elon Musk said he initially didn't think his companies were likely to succeed
Elon Musk says his companies SpaceX and Tesla are both still alive only "by the skin of their teeth".
The entrepreneur told an audience at the South by South West (SXSW) conference that both companies almost went bankrupt in 2008.
"I gave both SpaceX and Tesla a probability of less than 10% likely to succeed," he said during a Q&A session.
"At the beginning in 2002, I wouldn't even let my own friends invest as I didn't want to lose their money."
Mr Musk said he made $180m (£130m) when PayPal was acquired by eBay in 2002, and he initially put $90m into SpaceX and Tesla, but the costs kept mounting.
He said 2008 was an incredibly difficult year - SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket failed for the third time, and Tesla almost went bankrupt two days before Christmas.
By this point, he only had about $40m left.
"I could put it all into one company, and the other company would definitely die, or if I split it into both SpaceX and Tesla, then they both might die," he said.
"And when you put your energy into building something, it's your baby, so I couldn't choose. I put the money into both, and thank goodness they both came through."
Mr Musk also got divorced, and he said he had to borrow money from his friends to pay his rent.
"SpaceX is alive by the skin of its teeth, and so is Tesla - if things had just gone a little differently, both companies would be dead," he said.
Mr Musk said he had to be the chief engineer for the Falcon 1 because he couldn't get any other suitable candidates to join the company, and he didn't want to risk his venture on engineers he felt weren't of the right standard.
And although he can now afford to hire as many talented engineers as he would like, he still continues to spend 80-90% of his time working on engineering and design at both SpaceX and Tesla, leaving other executives to manage the business side of the companies.
However, he said that over time, he felt Tesla had caused him far "more drama" than SpaceX.
He also said his tunnelling firm, the Boring Company, was started as a joke because he thought the name was funny, and although he tweets about it a lot, it actually only takes up about 2% of his time.
Opportunities on Mars
When asked why he decided to go into the space industry and electric cars, he explained that he had been interested in both subjects when he was in university.
He also said he didn't feel enough progress had been made in recent years on space travel.
"I wondered why we weren't making progress with getting people on the moon, and where are all the space hotels we were promised in 2001: A Space Odyssey?" he said.
"The genesis of SpaceX was not to create a company, but how do we get Nasa's budget to be bigger?"
Mr Musk remains convinced that life on Mars is both possible and necessary.
He fears another "dark age" should a third world war occur, and feels that Mars will be integral to helping the human race survive and regenerate.
He also feels there are plentiful business opportunities there.
"They will start off building a rudimentary base... then this will open up a world of new opportunities, because Mars will need pizza joints, great bars - Mars Bars," he said. | – Elon Musk says that while sticking to timelines has never been his strong point, he hopes that he'll have started the next chapter in his space odyssey in the first half 2019. That's when the SpaceX founder hopes the BFR—aka the Big F------ Rocket—will make its first short trips in preparation for a mission to Mars, the Guardian reports. Musk told the SXSW conference that the world needs to make a Mars colony a priority so that our species can be preserved in the event of a catastrophic war. "If there's a Third World War we want to make sure there’s enough of a seed of human civilization somewhere else to bring it back and shorten the length of the dark ages." He told the conference he thought unregulated AI was as scary, and as likely to lead to war, as nuclear weapons. Musk rejected suggestions that the Mars colony would be a bolthole for the rich, saying it would be as difficult and dangerous as early expeditions to Antarctica. But he added that there will be plenty of opportunities for entrepreneurs after a rudimentary base was set up, the BBC reports. "Mars will need pizza joints, great bars—Mars Bars," he quipped. Musk, who cited Fred Astaire and Kanye West as his inspirations, hopes to make a cargo flight to Mars by 2022, CNBC reports. Musk also spoke about the early financial struggles of his companies, saying "SpaceX is alive by the skin of its teeth, and so is Tesla—if things had just gone a little differently, both companies would be dead," he said. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Elon Musk projects a Mars spaceship will be ready for short trips by first half of 2019 11:08 AM ET Mon, 12 March 2018 | 00:56
Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk told an audience at South by Southwest that his timeline for sending a space vehicle to Mars could mark its first milestone early next year.
The privately-funded venture, announced in September 2017, aims to send a cargo mission to the Red Planet by 2022. SpaceX's ultimate objective is to plant the seeds to put a human colony on Mars.
Musk held a surprise question and answer session at the annual technology and culture festival in Austin, Texas on Sunday. The billionaire told attendees that "we are building the first Mars, or interplanetary ship, and I think we'll be able to do short trips, flights by first half of next year."
Mindful of elevating expectations too high, Musk hedged a bit. "Although sometimes, my timelines are a little, you know..." he said to laughter. ||||| Founder of SpaceX, which is working on getting humans to the planet, speaks at SXSW amid rising nuclear tension
Elon Musk: we must colonise Mars to preserve our species in a third world war
Humans must prioritise the colonisation of Mars so the species can be conserved in the event of a third world war, SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk said on Sunday.
Trump under pressure over chaotic approach to North Korea nuclear talks Read more
“It’s important to get a self-sustaining base on Mars because it’s far enough away from earth that [in the event of a war] it’s more likely to survive than a moon base,” Musk said on stage at SXSW – just days after Donald Trump announced plans to meet the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, in an attempt to defuse rising nuclear tension.
“If there’s a third world war we want to make sure there’s enough of a seed of human civilisation somewhere else to bring it back and shorten the length of the dark ages,” Musk said, responding to questions from his friend Jonah Nolan, the co-creator of the TV show Westworld.
SpaceX is working on a vehicle that will take humans to Mars, a 100-metre ship codenamed the BFR (Big Fucking Rocket). But building a colony would require “tremendous entrepreneurial resources”, Musk said.
He also countered the suggestion that Mars might be “some escape hatch for rich people” by highlighting the risks of the mission: “It will be like Shackleton’s ad for Antarctic explorers: ‘Difficult, dangerous, a good chance you’ll die, excitement for those who survive.’ That kind of thing.
“There’s not many people who will want to go in the beginning,” he said, adding that over time the Red Planet colony would be hospitable and have “great bars. The Mars bar! I love dad jokes, I’m a dad!”
The BFR will fly for the first time in the first half of 2019, Musk said, acknowledging that his “timelines historically have been optimistic”. The production of the Tesla Model 3 electric car, for example, has been plagued by delays.
Musk said he initially gave SpaceX and Tesla a likelihood of success of just 10%.
“I wouldn’t let my friends invest because I didn’t want them to lose their money,” he said of SpaceX. Instead he funnelled his own money, from the sale of PayPal, into the businesses.
“SpaceX is alive by the skin of its teeth. So is Tesla. If things had gone a little bit the other way, both companies would be dead.”
Musk said he was now kept awake at night by the threat posed by unregulated artificial intelligence, which he has previously warned could lead humanity into a third world war – another the reason to go to Mars.
“Mark my words,” he said, “AI is much more dangerous than nukes. So why do we have no regulatory oversight?”
He suggested a public regulatory body would need “insight and oversight” to confirm that everyone was developing AI safely and in a way that is “symbiotic with humanity”.
However, even coming up with the safety parameters would present all sorts of insidious and unexpected risks, Musk said. If the utility function of artificial intelligence is to maximise happiness of humans, a super-intelligent AI might decide that the best way to do that is to capture all humans and inject their brains with dopamine and serotonin.
Musk proposed that digital intelligence should instead be directed to maximise “the freedom of action of humanity”.
The Q&A session ended on a surreal note as Musk, his younger brother Kimbal and Nolan all donned stetsons and sang a snippet of My Little Buttercup, a song from the 1986 movie The Three Amigos.
“This is going to be real bad,” warned Musk. He was right. ||||| Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Elon Musk said he initially didn't think his companies were likely to succeed
Elon Musk says his companies SpaceX and Tesla are both still alive only "by the skin of their teeth".
The entrepreneur told an audience at the South by South West (SXSW) conference that both companies almost went bankrupt in 2008.
"I gave both SpaceX and Tesla a probability of less than 10% likely to succeed," he said during a Q&A session.
"At the beginning in 2002, I wouldn't even let my own friends invest as I didn't want to lose their money."
Mr Musk said he made $180m (£130m) when PayPal was acquired by eBay in 2002, and he initially put $90m into SpaceX and Tesla, but the costs kept mounting.
He said 2008 was an incredibly difficult year - SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket failed for the third time, and Tesla almost went bankrupt two days before Christmas.
By this point, he only had about $40m left.
"I could put it all into one company, and the other company would definitely die, or if I split it into both SpaceX and Tesla, then they both might die," he said.
"And when you put your energy into building something, it's your baby, so I couldn't choose. I put the money into both, and thank goodness they both came through."
Mr Musk also got divorced, and he said he had to borrow money from his friends to pay his rent.
"SpaceX is alive by the skin of its teeth, and so is Tesla - if things had just gone a little differently, both companies would be dead," he said.
Mr Musk said he had to be the chief engineer for the Falcon 1 because he couldn't get any other suitable candidates to join the company, and he didn't want to risk his venture on engineers he felt weren't of the right standard.
And although he can now afford to hire as many talented engineers as he would like, he still continues to spend 80-90% of his time working on engineering and design at both SpaceX and Tesla, leaving other executives to manage the business side of the companies.
However, he said that over time, he felt Tesla had caused him far "more drama" than SpaceX.
He also said his tunnelling firm, the Boring Company, was started as a joke because he thought the name was funny, and although he tweets about it a lot, it actually only takes up about 2% of his time.
Opportunities on Mars
When asked why he decided to go into the space industry and electric cars, he explained that he had been interested in both subjects when he was in university.
He also said he didn't feel enough progress had been made in recent years on space travel.
"I wondered why we weren't making progress with getting people on the moon, and where are all the space hotels we were promised in 2001: A Space Odyssey?" he said.
"The genesis of SpaceX was not to create a company, but how do we get Nasa's budget to be bigger?"
Mr Musk remains convinced that life on Mars is both possible and necessary.
He fears another "dark age" should a third world war occur, and feels that Mars will be integral to helping the human race survive and regenerate.
He also feels there are plentiful business opportunities there.
"They will start off building a rudimentary base... then this will open up a world of new opportunities, because Mars will need pizza joints, great bars - Mars Bars," he said. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 5,933 |
Pliny the Elder wrote in the first century A.D. about gray whale ( Eschrichtius robustus ) mothers and calves, like these here, getting attacked by killer whales near the Strait of Gibraltar. Now scientists believe him.
Scientists have questioned the credibility of Pliny the Elder's now 2,000-year-old account of orcas hunting whale calves near the Strait of Gibraltar, since those marine mammals aren't known to visit that area. Now, archaeological evidence suggests Pliny knew exactly what he was talking about.
Researchers discovered whale bones from the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) and the Atlantic gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) within the ruins of an ancient Roman fish-processing facility located along the Strait of Gibraltar. The discovery was published today (July 10) in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
In the first century A.D., Pliny the Elder famously wrote about orcas (also called killer whales, though they are in the dolphin family) attacking whales and their calves in the Bay of Cádiz, near the Strait of Gibraltar— the entry point from the Atlantic Ocean into the Mediterranean that lies between Africa and Europe. According to Callum Roberts in "The Unnatural History of the Sea" (Island Press, 2008), Pliny described how whales "during the summer periods hide in a certain calm and spacious inlet, and take marvelous delight in breeding there." Pliny continued with a description of the brutal battles he witnessed as killer whales preyed on the mother whales and their calves. [See Stunning Photos of Whales]
But this didn't make sense to ecologists. There are very few whale species that visit the Mediterranean Sea, as outlined in a 2016 report published in the journal Advances in Marine Biology, and none of those species are known to use the area as a calving ground. This fact led scientists to wonder if Pliny's account was accurate, or if perhaps he was mistaking dolphins for whales.
Archaeologists found bones from gray whales and right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) in an ancient Roman fish-processing site. Credit: D. Bernal-Casasola/University of Cadiz
That is, until researchers discovered ancient whale bones within the ruins of a fish-processing site in the ancient Roman city of Baelo Claudia, near today's Tarifa, Spain. Pliny's account "doesn't match anything that can be seen there today, but it fits perfectly with the ecology if right and gray whales used to be present," study co-author Anne Charpentier, an ecologist at the University of Montpellier, said in a statement from the University of York.
Roman fishermen harvested large fish such as tuna, and now, archaeologists wonder if they were harvesting whales, too. The fishermen probably didn't have the technology necessary for going out to sea to hunt large whales, said lead study author Ana Rodrigues, an ecologist at the French National Center for Scientific Research. "But right and gray whales and their calves would have come very close to shore, making them tempting targets to local fishermen," she said in the statement.
The discovery highlights the fact that even heavily explored regions have their mysteries. "It seems incredible that we could have lost and then forgotten two large whale species in a region as well-studied as the Mediterranean," Rodrigues said. "It makes you wonder what else we have forgotten."
Original article on Live Science. ||||| Ancient bones found around the Strait of Gibraltar suggest that the Romans might have had a thriving whaling industry, researchers have claimed.
The bones, dating to the first few centuries AD or earlier, belong to grey whales and North Atlantic right whales – coastal migratory species that are no longer found in European waters.
Researchers say this not only suggests these whales might have been common around the entrance to the Mediterranean in Roman times, but that Romans might have hunted them.
They add that Romans would not have had the technology to hunt whale species found in the region today - sperm or fin whales which live further out at sea - meaning evidence of whaling might not have been something archaeologists and historians were looking out for.
“It’s the coastal [species] that makes all the difference,” said Dr Ana Rodrigues, first author of the research from the Functional and Evolutionary Ecology Centre, CEFE, in France.
The right whale was once widespread in the North Atlantic, with breeding grounds off the northern coast of Spain and north west Africa, but was hunted by Medieval Basque whalers among others, and are now only found in the Western North Atlantic. Grey whales disappeared from the North Atlantic some time in the 18th century, and are now only found in the Pacific.
Until the recent discoveries it was unclear whether the whales’ habitat had ever included the Mediterranean: the region is southerly enough for the animals to potentially calve there after feeding in more northerly areas. While there are a handful of historical reports of right whales cropping up in the Mediterranean, the only reliable grey whale sighting in the region was in 2010 and is thought to have been a misguided individual that turned up from the Pacific.
Writing in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Rodrigues and a team of archaeologists and ecologists, describe how they set out to unpick the issue by examining 10 bones – thought to be from whales – collected during recent archaeological digs or housed in museum collections. These bones came from five sites – four around the Strait of Gibraltar and one site on the coast of north-west Spain, three of which were linked to the Roman fish-salting and fish-sauce making industries.
The team combined previous anatomical analysis with new analyses based both on DNA extracted from the bones and their collagen – a protein whose makeup differs between groups of species, and which degrades more slowly than DNA.
While one of the bones was found to be from a dolphin and another from an elephant – possibly a war animal – three were identified as grey whales, and two as North Atlantic right whales with another also suspected of being from this latter species. All were found by carbon-dating as being from either Roman or pre-Roman times – findings backed up by dating based on information from the archaeological sites.
The team say the discovery suggests grey and North Atlantic right whales were common in the waters around the Strait of Gibraltar during Roman times, since whale bones rarely end up in the archaeological record and they are not prized possessions.
This theory is backed up by writings from the time: Pliny the Elder – a fervent naturalist who died down the coast from Pompeii during the volcanic disaster – appears to reference whales calving in the coastal waters off Cadiz in the winter in his Naturalis Historia. And if the whales were present, the team say, it is possible the Romans hunted them.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A Roman mosaic with fishing scene, found in Hippolytus House in greater Madrid, Spain. Photograph: Alberto Paredes/Alamy Stock Photo
The team say the location of the bones, and other evidence, suggests whales might even have entered further into the Mediterranean sea itself to calve.
Dr Vicki Szabo, an expert in whaling history from Western Carolina University said the study offered a rare glimpse into the past habitats of the whales, and backed up ideas that industrial hunting might have happened far earlier than widely thought, although its scale is unclear. “Whales are considered archaeologically invisible because so few bones are transported from shore to site, so I think in that context this concentration of species that they have is meaningful,” she said.
Mark Robinson, professor of environmental archaeology at the University of Oxford, said there have been suggestions for a decade that some Roman sites with fish vats in the region might have been linked to whaling. “The Greek author Oppian, writing in the 2nd century AD, describes whales being hunted in the Western Mediterranean by harpooning them on the surface, also using tridents and axes to kill them, lashing them to a boats and then dragging them to the shore.”
However Dr Erica Rowan, a classical archaeologist at Royal Holloway, University of London, said while the study suggests the habitats of the whales probably extended to include the Gibraltar region, how common the whales were and whether the Romans industrially hunted them as they did fish such as tuna remains unclear – not least because the study included just a handful of bones from a period spanning several hundred years.
“I think that if these whales were present in such numbers and were being caught on an industrial scale that we would have more evidence, perhaps not in the zoo archaeological record but in the ceramic record and in the literary sources,” she said. “The Romans ate and talked about an enormous variety of fish and seafood, and if whale was widely exploited and exported, then it is strangely absent from many discussions.”
But Rodrigues is more hopeful about what the discovery tells us. “I think [this study] can change our perspective of the Roman economy,” she said. | – Newly uncovered evidence suggests ancient Romans may have had a thriving whaling industry. Per the Guardian, archaeological excavations at three Roman-era fish processing sites near the Strait of Gibraltar, which connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea, found the ancient bones of two whale species not known to frequent the area in the present day. In the journal Proceedings for the Royal Society B, researchers wrote that the bones are evidence that grey whales and North Atlantic right whales once used the region as calving grounds. The presence of the bones at the sites also tells scientists that they may have been hunted by the ancient Romans. The discovery not only sheds new light on the ancient Mediterranean ecosystem, it has also sparked renewed discussion about certain writings of ancient Roman naturalist and scholar Pliny the Elder. Per LiveScience, Pliny's 2,000-year-old writings about whales in the Gibraltar region being hunted by orcas never quite squared with contemporary understanding of the habits of either species. This recent discovery might just prove Pliny was right after all. Without whales to hunt in the area, the research notes that the orcas of the region now seem to prey on tuna. (Orcas in the Pacific Northwest have not had that same luxury of late.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Pliny the Elder wrote in the first century A.D. about gray whale ( Eschrichtius robustus ) mothers and calves, like these here, getting attacked by killer whales near the Strait of Gibraltar. Now scientists believe him.
Scientists have questioned the credibility of Pliny the Elder's now 2,000-year-old account of orcas hunting whale calves near the Strait of Gibraltar, since those marine mammals aren't known to visit that area. Now, archaeological evidence suggests Pliny knew exactly what he was talking about.
Researchers discovered whale bones from the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) and the Atlantic gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) within the ruins of an ancient Roman fish-processing facility located along the Strait of Gibraltar. The discovery was published today (July 10) in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
In the first century A.D., Pliny the Elder famously wrote about orcas (also called killer whales, though they are in the dolphin family) attacking whales and their calves in the Bay of Cádiz, near the Strait of Gibraltar— the entry point from the Atlantic Ocean into the Mediterranean that lies between Africa and Europe. According to Callum Roberts in "The Unnatural History of the Sea" (Island Press, 2008), Pliny described how whales "during the summer periods hide in a certain calm and spacious inlet, and take marvelous delight in breeding there." Pliny continued with a description of the brutal battles he witnessed as killer whales preyed on the mother whales and their calves. [See Stunning Photos of Whales]
But this didn't make sense to ecologists. There are very few whale species that visit the Mediterranean Sea, as outlined in a 2016 report published in the journal Advances in Marine Biology, and none of those species are known to use the area as a calving ground. This fact led scientists to wonder if Pliny's account was accurate, or if perhaps he was mistaking dolphins for whales.
Archaeologists found bones from gray whales and right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) in an ancient Roman fish-processing site. Credit: D. Bernal-Casasola/University of Cadiz
That is, until researchers discovered ancient whale bones within the ruins of a fish-processing site in the ancient Roman city of Baelo Claudia, near today's Tarifa, Spain. Pliny's account "doesn't match anything that can be seen there today, but it fits perfectly with the ecology if right and gray whales used to be present," study co-author Anne Charpentier, an ecologist at the University of Montpellier, said in a statement from the University of York.
Roman fishermen harvested large fish such as tuna, and now, archaeologists wonder if they were harvesting whales, too. The fishermen probably didn't have the technology necessary for going out to sea to hunt large whales, said lead study author Ana Rodrigues, an ecologist at the French National Center for Scientific Research. "But right and gray whales and their calves would have come very close to shore, making them tempting targets to local fishermen," she said in the statement.
The discovery highlights the fact that even heavily explored regions have their mysteries. "It seems incredible that we could have lost and then forgotten two large whale species in a region as well-studied as the Mediterranean," Rodrigues said. "It makes you wonder what else we have forgotten."
Original article on Live Science. ||||| Ancient bones found around the Strait of Gibraltar suggest that the Romans might have had a thriving whaling industry, researchers have claimed.
The bones, dating to the first few centuries AD or earlier, belong to grey whales and North Atlantic right whales – coastal migratory species that are no longer found in European waters.
Researchers say this not only suggests these whales might have been common around the entrance to the Mediterranean in Roman times, but that Romans might have hunted them.
They add that Romans would not have had the technology to hunt whale species found in the region today - sperm or fin whales which live further out at sea - meaning evidence of whaling might not have been something archaeologists and historians were looking out for.
“It’s the coastal [species] that makes all the difference,” said Dr Ana Rodrigues, first author of the research from the Functional and Evolutionary Ecology Centre, CEFE, in France.
The right whale was once widespread in the North Atlantic, with breeding grounds off the northern coast of Spain and north west Africa, but was hunted by Medieval Basque whalers among others, and are now only found in the Western North Atlantic. Grey whales disappeared from the North Atlantic some time in the 18th century, and are now only found in the Pacific.
Until the recent discoveries it was unclear whether the whales’ habitat had ever included the Mediterranean: the region is southerly enough for the animals to potentially calve there after feeding in more northerly areas. While there are a handful of historical reports of right whales cropping up in the Mediterranean, the only reliable grey whale sighting in the region was in 2010 and is thought to have been a misguided individual that turned up from the Pacific.
Writing in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Rodrigues and a team of archaeologists and ecologists, describe how they set out to unpick the issue by examining 10 bones – thought to be from whales – collected during recent archaeological digs or housed in museum collections. These bones came from five sites – four around the Strait of Gibraltar and one site on the coast of north-west Spain, three of which were linked to the Roman fish-salting and fish-sauce making industries.
The team combined previous anatomical analysis with new analyses based both on DNA extracted from the bones and their collagen – a protein whose makeup differs between groups of species, and which degrades more slowly than DNA.
While one of the bones was found to be from a dolphin and another from an elephant – possibly a war animal – three were identified as grey whales, and two as North Atlantic right whales with another also suspected of being from this latter species. All were found by carbon-dating as being from either Roman or pre-Roman times – findings backed up by dating based on information from the archaeological sites.
The team say the discovery suggests grey and North Atlantic right whales were common in the waters around the Strait of Gibraltar during Roman times, since whale bones rarely end up in the archaeological record and they are not prized possessions.
This theory is backed up by writings from the time: Pliny the Elder – a fervent naturalist who died down the coast from Pompeii during the volcanic disaster – appears to reference whales calving in the coastal waters off Cadiz in the winter in his Naturalis Historia. And if the whales were present, the team say, it is possible the Romans hunted them.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A Roman mosaic with fishing scene, found in Hippolytus House in greater Madrid, Spain. Photograph: Alberto Paredes/Alamy Stock Photo
The team say the location of the bones, and other evidence, suggests whales might even have entered further into the Mediterranean sea itself to calve.
Dr Vicki Szabo, an expert in whaling history from Western Carolina University said the study offered a rare glimpse into the past habitats of the whales, and backed up ideas that industrial hunting might have happened far earlier than widely thought, although its scale is unclear. “Whales are considered archaeologically invisible because so few bones are transported from shore to site, so I think in that context this concentration of species that they have is meaningful,” she said.
Mark Robinson, professor of environmental archaeology at the University of Oxford, said there have been suggestions for a decade that some Roman sites with fish vats in the region might have been linked to whaling. “The Greek author Oppian, writing in the 2nd century AD, describes whales being hunted in the Western Mediterranean by harpooning them on the surface, also using tridents and axes to kill them, lashing them to a boats and then dragging them to the shore.”
However Dr Erica Rowan, a classical archaeologist at Royal Holloway, University of London, said while the study suggests the habitats of the whales probably extended to include the Gibraltar region, how common the whales were and whether the Romans industrially hunted them as they did fish such as tuna remains unclear – not least because the study included just a handful of bones from a period spanning several hundred years.
“I think that if these whales were present in such numbers and were being caught on an industrial scale that we would have more evidence, perhaps not in the zoo archaeological record but in the ceramic record and in the literary sources,” she said. “The Romans ate and talked about an enormous variety of fish and seafood, and if whale was widely exploited and exported, then it is strangely absent from many discussions.”
But Rodrigues is more hopeful about what the discovery tells us. “I think [this study] can change our perspective of the Roman economy,” she said. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 25,537 |
Legislation eliminates a state mandatory drug sentencing law
As Californians prepare to vote on lower sentences for drug possession, state lawmakers and Gov. Jerry Brown have quietly acted to eliminate the current 90-day mandatory jail term for being under the influence of illegal narcotics.
AB2492 by Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, passed both houses of the Legislature with little fanfare, and Brown signed it Tuesday without comment. Effective Jan. 1, it will revoke the law requiring at least 90 days in jail for the misdemeanor crime of being under the influence of illegal drugs, or of prescription drugs without a doctor’s authorization. The current sentencing law does not apply to marijuana.
Despite the mandatory sentencing law, judges in counties with overcrowded jails, like Los Angeles, have not been sending drug users to jail. The new law will allow the sentencing judge to decide whether to order a jail term or probation that can include drug treatment.
“Mandatory minimum sentencing is an outdated approach to addressing drug violations,” Jones-Sawyer said in a statement before his bill passed. He said mandatory sentences do not deter drug use or prevent crimes after release from jail and are far less cost-effective than treatment programs.
AB2492 drew some support from conservative Republicans, including Assemblyman Tim Donnelly of Twin Peaks (San Bernardino County), who sponsored an earlier version of the bill. The California District Attorneys Association opposed the measure, arguing that the mandatory jail sentence “provides uniformity and encourages meaningful rehabilitation efforts.”
On Nov. 4, California voters will decide on Proposition 47, which would reduce charges of possessing narcotics, including heroin and cocaine, from felonies carrying potential prison sentences to misdemeanors punishable by up to a year in county jail. The initiative would make the same change for theft-related crimes, including forgery, shoplifting, petty theft and receiving stolen property, in which the loss was $950 or less.
Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: [email protected]. Twitter: @egelko ||||| Prison time is HARD TIME any way you look at it. But it's hardest of all when the prisoner is serving a sentence that allows no flexibility at all, no matter what the circumstances. Our Cover Story is reported by Erin Moriarty of "48 Hours":
"We had tried calling the cops," said Lee Wollard. "We had tried doing everything. Nothing worked. Nothing."
After hearing 59-year-old Wollard's story, you may think he did what any family man would do.
Or, you may agree with a Florida jury and think he went too far. But either way, you're likely to wonder: Does Wollard's punishment really fit the crime?
"Never, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be here," he said in prison. "I still have a hard time believing it. It's unbelievable!"
Lee Wollard's troubles began six years ago. He was a professional with a master's degree in Davenport, Fla., living with his wife and their two daughters and working at Sea World. When his youngest daughter Sarah began dating a troubled 17-year-old teenager with no place to live, Wollard and his wife, Sandy, took him in.
"You know, if someone needs help, we'll help 'em," he said.
Moriarty asked, "Did it go OK, initially?"
"For about a week," Wollard laughed.
Sandy Wollard said, "It started out his behavior was fine. I'd ask him if he would take the garbage out or clear off the table, and it was, 'Yes, ma'am,' 'Yes, ma'am.'"
But Sandy says the relationship with the boy, whom we agreed not to identify, soon soured.
"This young man was taking my daughter out at night, after we had put her to bed and we had gone to bed," she said. "And he was disappearing with her. And he would disappear for days at a time with her. And she was 16 years old."
The Wollards asked him to leave, but nothing kept him out of the house -- until May 14, 2008. As Lee was taking a nap, his daughter and her boyfriend began to fight.
He heard a loud noise: "Like you were throwing stuff against the wall," said Lee.
Then came cries for help. "It's not like my family to ask for help. So I grabbed my .357 and loaded it with shells," said Wollard.
"That's a large gun," said Moriarty.
"It's a heck of a gun, yes," said Wollard. "You even wing someone with a .357, they're in deep trouble."
According to Wollard, the young man lunged at him and punched a hole in a wall; the teenager disputes that. But no one disagrees about what happened next.
"So I fire a warning shot into the wall, [and] I said, 'The next one's between your eyes,'" said Lee.
Sandy continued, "And the kid turned around and just hurried out the door. And that was the end of that."
Not quite.
Wollard was charged with shooting into a building with a firearm, aggravated assault, and child endangerment. And when he went on trial a year later, a jury convicted him of all charges -- and then Judge Donald Jacobsen sentenced him to 20 years in Florida state prison, the mandatory minimum.
That means Wollard will serve every day of 20 years in state prison.
"And I was just like, 'What?'" recalled Wollard. "You know, the blood just drained out of my head. I almost passed out." ||||| AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage on Tuesday praised a large donation to a leading anti-domestic violence group in Maine, and said the state must do more to eradicate abuse.
LePage said that while there has been some movement to curb domestic violence, the state needs to do more.
“We have to become even more proactive, and we have to challenge the laws of our state even more,” LePage said during a news conference at the Blaine House. “I think we’re going to have to have mandatory sentencing for domestic violence crimes.”
The Republican governor also said more prosecutors should embrace “evidence-based prosecution,” a system of techniques aimed at securing convictions even without the cooperation of victims, who often are reluctant to take the stand for fear of retribution.
Story continues below advertisement.
“The victims are the ones we’re putting on the hot seat, and it’s not working,” LePage said.
LePage made his remarks during a news conference to mark October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
The governor himself was a victim of domestic violence as a child, and has said abuse by his father drove him to run away from home when he was 11. As governor, fighting abuse in the home has been one of LePage’s signature efforts — one of the few policy areas for which he has earned plaudits from both sides of the aisle.
During the news conference, LePage praised Ernie Boch Jr., a car dealership magnate and philanthropist from the Boston area, who made a $25,000 donation to the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence. Boch is president of Subaru of New England, the sole distributor to Subarus in Maine, among other businesses.
Boch was on hand Tuesday to deliver a giant check to the group’s executive director, Julia Colpitts.
“I’m here because I’m a business owner in Maine, and I want to urge every other business owner in Maine to support this program,” Boch said. “It’s extremely important. Every segment of society is affected [by domestic violence], and I’m proud to do my part.”
With a net worth of between $500 million and $1 billion, Boch has made a habit of working with governors to donate substantial amounts of money to charities of their choosing. In May, he gave $50,000 for resident drug treatment efforts in Vermont, where Gov. Peter Shumlin, a Democrat, has made substance abuse rehabilitation a top priority.
Colpitts praised a law passed this year, spearheaded by Democratic Sen. Emily Cain of Orono and supported by the governor, that mandated risk assessments conducted after domestic violence incidents are reported to police be shared with the judicial branch and advocates.
Those risk assessments, Colpitts said, influence bail conditions and are used to help inform victims about how much risk they face when the accused perpetrator is released on bail. They also help advocates create safety plans for victims.
“Maine has actually been identified as having a promising national practice, which is our implementation of risk assessment,” she said. “We are the only state in the United States that is doing it statewide.”
Follow Mario Moretto on Twitter at @riocarmine. | – A man who fired a warning shot at his daughter's troubled boyfriend and told him "the next one's between your eyes" got 20 years for doing it—and by law has to serve every day of the sentence, CBS News reports. "And I was just like, 'What?'" says Florida resident Lee Wollard, who insists he was defending his family. "You know, the blood just drained out of my head. I almost passed out." But the charges against Wollard were serious: child endangerment, aggravated assault, and shooting into a building with a firearm. He was also swept up in a US legal movement known as mandatory minimum sentencing, which appeared in the late 1980s as a way to lock up drug dealers and customers, including first offenders, in America's "war on drugs." Activists say it has led to prison overcrowding and cases that strike some as extreme—like the music producer with no criminal record who got 55 years for selling marijuana to cops while carrying a firearm, or a 19-year-old in Texas who may face 20 years over a tray of hash brownies. But supporters argue that the threat of harsh sentences enables prosecutors to persuade suspects to plea bargain rather than enter costly, time-consuming trials. The debate is ongoing, as Maine Gov. Paul LePage argues for mandatory sentencing in domestic violence cases, the Bangor Daily News reports, and California quietly nixes a mandatory 90-day jail term for those under the influence of narcotics, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Even Florida ended its current penalty for firing warning shots, but too late for Wollard. "Everything, everything is gone," he says. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Legislation eliminates a state mandatory drug sentencing law
As Californians prepare to vote on lower sentences for drug possession, state lawmakers and Gov. Jerry Brown have quietly acted to eliminate the current 90-day mandatory jail term for being under the influence of illegal narcotics.
AB2492 by Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, passed both houses of the Legislature with little fanfare, and Brown signed it Tuesday without comment. Effective Jan. 1, it will revoke the law requiring at least 90 days in jail for the misdemeanor crime of being under the influence of illegal drugs, or of prescription drugs without a doctor’s authorization. The current sentencing law does not apply to marijuana.
Despite the mandatory sentencing law, judges in counties with overcrowded jails, like Los Angeles, have not been sending drug users to jail. The new law will allow the sentencing judge to decide whether to order a jail term or probation that can include drug treatment.
“Mandatory minimum sentencing is an outdated approach to addressing drug violations,” Jones-Sawyer said in a statement before his bill passed. He said mandatory sentences do not deter drug use or prevent crimes after release from jail and are far less cost-effective than treatment programs.
AB2492 drew some support from conservative Republicans, including Assemblyman Tim Donnelly of Twin Peaks (San Bernardino County), who sponsored an earlier version of the bill. The California District Attorneys Association opposed the measure, arguing that the mandatory jail sentence “provides uniformity and encourages meaningful rehabilitation efforts.”
On Nov. 4, California voters will decide on Proposition 47, which would reduce charges of possessing narcotics, including heroin and cocaine, from felonies carrying potential prison sentences to misdemeanors punishable by up to a year in county jail. The initiative would make the same change for theft-related crimes, including forgery, shoplifting, petty theft and receiving stolen property, in which the loss was $950 or less.
Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: [email protected]. Twitter: @egelko ||||| Prison time is HARD TIME any way you look at it. But it's hardest of all when the prisoner is serving a sentence that allows no flexibility at all, no matter what the circumstances. Our Cover Story is reported by Erin Moriarty of "48 Hours":
"We had tried calling the cops," said Lee Wollard. "We had tried doing everything. Nothing worked. Nothing."
After hearing 59-year-old Wollard's story, you may think he did what any family man would do.
Or, you may agree with a Florida jury and think he went too far. But either way, you're likely to wonder: Does Wollard's punishment really fit the crime?
"Never, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be here," he said in prison. "I still have a hard time believing it. It's unbelievable!"
Lee Wollard's troubles began six years ago. He was a professional with a master's degree in Davenport, Fla., living with his wife and their two daughters and working at Sea World. When his youngest daughter Sarah began dating a troubled 17-year-old teenager with no place to live, Wollard and his wife, Sandy, took him in.
"You know, if someone needs help, we'll help 'em," he said.
Moriarty asked, "Did it go OK, initially?"
"For about a week," Wollard laughed.
Sandy Wollard said, "It started out his behavior was fine. I'd ask him if he would take the garbage out or clear off the table, and it was, 'Yes, ma'am,' 'Yes, ma'am.'"
But Sandy says the relationship with the boy, whom we agreed not to identify, soon soured.
"This young man was taking my daughter out at night, after we had put her to bed and we had gone to bed," she said. "And he was disappearing with her. And he would disappear for days at a time with her. And she was 16 years old."
The Wollards asked him to leave, but nothing kept him out of the house -- until May 14, 2008. As Lee was taking a nap, his daughter and her boyfriend began to fight.
He heard a loud noise: "Like you were throwing stuff against the wall," said Lee.
Then came cries for help. "It's not like my family to ask for help. So I grabbed my .357 and loaded it with shells," said Wollard.
"That's a large gun," said Moriarty.
"It's a heck of a gun, yes," said Wollard. "You even wing someone with a .357, they're in deep trouble."
According to Wollard, the young man lunged at him and punched a hole in a wall; the teenager disputes that. But no one disagrees about what happened next.
"So I fire a warning shot into the wall, [and] I said, 'The next one's between your eyes,'" said Lee.
Sandy continued, "And the kid turned around and just hurried out the door. And that was the end of that."
Not quite.
Wollard was charged with shooting into a building with a firearm, aggravated assault, and child endangerment. And when he went on trial a year later, a jury convicted him of all charges -- and then Judge Donald Jacobsen sentenced him to 20 years in Florida state prison, the mandatory minimum.
That means Wollard will serve every day of 20 years in state prison.
"And I was just like, 'What?'" recalled Wollard. "You know, the blood just drained out of my head. I almost passed out." ||||| AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage on Tuesday praised a large donation to a leading anti-domestic violence group in Maine, and said the state must do more to eradicate abuse.
LePage said that while there has been some movement to curb domestic violence, the state needs to do more.
“We have to become even more proactive, and we have to challenge the laws of our state even more,” LePage said during a news conference at the Blaine House. “I think we’re going to have to have mandatory sentencing for domestic violence crimes.”
The Republican governor also said more prosecutors should embrace “evidence-based prosecution,” a system of techniques aimed at securing convictions even without the cooperation of victims, who often are reluctant to take the stand for fear of retribution.
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“The victims are the ones we’re putting on the hot seat, and it’s not working,” LePage said.
LePage made his remarks during a news conference to mark October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
The governor himself was a victim of domestic violence as a child, and has said abuse by his father drove him to run away from home when he was 11. As governor, fighting abuse in the home has been one of LePage’s signature efforts — one of the few policy areas for which he has earned plaudits from both sides of the aisle.
During the news conference, LePage praised Ernie Boch Jr., a car dealership magnate and philanthropist from the Boston area, who made a $25,000 donation to the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence. Boch is president of Subaru of New England, the sole distributor to Subarus in Maine, among other businesses.
Boch was on hand Tuesday to deliver a giant check to the group’s executive director, Julia Colpitts.
“I’m here because I’m a business owner in Maine, and I want to urge every other business owner in Maine to support this program,” Boch said. “It’s extremely important. Every segment of society is affected [by domestic violence], and I’m proud to do my part.”
With a net worth of between $500 million and $1 billion, Boch has made a habit of working with governors to donate substantial amounts of money to charities of their choosing. In May, he gave $50,000 for resident drug treatment efforts in Vermont, where Gov. Peter Shumlin, a Democrat, has made substance abuse rehabilitation a top priority.
Colpitts praised a law passed this year, spearheaded by Democratic Sen. Emily Cain of Orono and supported by the governor, that mandated risk assessments conducted after domestic violence incidents are reported to police be shared with the judicial branch and advocates.
Those risk assessments, Colpitts said, influence bail conditions and are used to help inform victims about how much risk they face when the accused perpetrator is released on bail. They also help advocates create safety plans for victims.
“Maine has actually been identified as having a promising national practice, which is our implementation of risk assessment,” she said. “We are the only state in the United States that is doing it statewide.”
Follow Mario Moretto on Twitter at @riocarmine. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 35,600 |
WASHINGTON ― House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is suddenly in a fight for her political survival as a group of Democratic detractors is preparing to block her ascent to the speakership.
About a dozen incumbent Democrats and a half-dozen incoming Democrats are preparing a letter pledging to not support Pelosi on the House floor for speaker. The members also intend to note another contingent of Democrats who privately say they won’t support the longtime California Democrat but won’t sign the letter, according to Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), one of the ringleaders of the effort to block Pelosi.
Sources familiar with the letter say there are currently 17 names on it, but the group is trying to get more than 20 members before releasing it. Currently on the letter, though not certain to stay on it, are:
- Tim Ryan (D-Ohio)
- Seth Moulton (D-Mass.)
- Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.)
- Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.)
- Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.)
- Filemon Vela Jr. (D-Texas)
- Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio)
- Bill Foster (D-Ill.)
- Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.)
- Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.)
- Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.)
- Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.)
- Jeff Van Drew (D-N.J.)
- Joe Cunningham (D-S.C.)
- Max Rose (D-N.Y.)
- Anthony Brindisi (D-N.Y.)
- Ben McAdams (D-Utah)
There is another contingent of Democrats ― including Conor Lamb (D-Pa.), Dan Lipinksi (D-Ill.), Ron Kind (D-Wis.), Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) and Andy Kim (D-N.J.) ― who are seen as likely to vote against Pelosi, but who also are hesitant to sign the letter.
For Pelosi allies, keeping the number of names on the letter limited is a key to her survival, as more members publicly pledging to not support her would be a nail in the coffin.
But Pelosi also has a number of ways she could wrangle the speaker’s gavel even if a dozen and a half members pledge to oppose her. For one, Democrats could make a new rule binding every member to vote for the Democratic nominee. Rule changes associated with that idea are already under consideration, and there’s some thought that Pelosi may try to formalize rules so that Democrats have to vote for her, though many members question how this strategy would work. (Would they kick out the members who don’t vote for the Democratic nominee? Would they still have a majority?)
There’s also the thought that some Republicans could vote “present,“
thus lowering the threshold for Pelosi. But that presents its own challenges. In effect, Republicans would have veto power over the speaker and Pelosi would not be negotiating from any position of strength.
The way the speaker election works is that a candidate first gets the nomination behind closed doors during the Democratic Caucus meeting. That is the easiest hurdle to clear. A candidate only needs a majority of their party for the speaker nomination, and Pelosi has that part essentially locked up.
The hard part is the floor vote, when a candidate needs a majority of the House: 218 of the 435 members. That number includes Republicans. While we don’t know the exact breakdown of the House yet, it’s likely to be around 234 Democrats and 201 Republicans ― give or take a couple of members on both sides. If the number is 234 Democrats, Pelosi can lose only 16 Democrats if every member votes.
The trick for Pelosi would be to get some of her Democratic opponents ― or Republicans ― to vote present. That would lower the threshold for her election. In effect, a present vote would be a half-vote for Pelosi.
But the Democrats who say they are opposed to Pelosi are already swearing they won’t vote present. If Pelosi can’t convince some of those Democrats who oppose her to vote present, she has a real problem.
The anti-Pelosi members are working to gather as many names as possible as quick as possible, as they believe the longer they remain in the shadows, the more likely it is that Pelosi could flip some of their members.
But Pelosi’s opponents also told HuffPost they think the actual number of Democrats who do not want to vote for Pelosi is much larger than anyone anticipates, and they remain confident she doesn’t have the votes.
Ryan, who ran against Pelosi to be minority leader at the end of the last Congress, told reporters Wednesday that he was certain Pelosi didn’t have the votes, and multiple members who support Pelosi even told HuffPost on the condition of anonymity that they believe she is in trouble.
One of the members pointed to Pelosi’s minority leader race in 2016 with Ryan in which he received 63 votes from his Democratic colleagues to Pelosi’s 134. This member said Pelosi didn’t get the message when one-third of the caucus voted for a “backbencher.”
But if Pelosi didn’t get the message before, she and her team are certainly working now to try to tamp down the revolt and swing the incoming Democrats from no to yes ― or at least to “present.”
Pelosi’s allies all readily point out that “you can’t beat somebody with nobody,” but Pelosi’s opponents are testing that idea. In fact, they seem to think their movement is strengthened without a clear alternative.
The idea is that, once Pelosi knows she can’t win, she will step aside and there would be a new race for the speaker position.
To that point, one office for a prominent Democrat already reached out to HuffPost to suggest that their boss is well-positioned to become speaker if Pelosi can’t get the votes.
Members believe ― for good reason ― that there would be a rush of candidates for the speaker job if Pelosi stepped down, potentially including Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Assistant Minority Leader Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
Ryan, in an effort to deflect criticism that the anti-Pelosi Democrats are just trying to knock off a woman from a leadership role, repeatedly said Wednesday that he’d like to see another woman become speaker, and he has pointed to four women: Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.), Karen Bass (D-Calif.), and Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.). (Fudge and Rice are both also anti-Pelosi.)
Moulton has also been strongly pushing Fudge, who is a former Congressional Black Caucus chairwoman.
The anti-Pelosi group is expected to release its letter by the end of the week, though Ryan also said they would hold the letter as long as they were still getting new signatures. Ryan, Moulton, and Perlmutter are the members loosely organizing the letter, and they’re checking in mostly with the new Democrats to make sure they won’t flip under pressure.
But Ryan also assured reporters Wednesday that there were more Democrats than just those who will be on the letter who intend to vote against Pelosi ― they just don’t want the scrutiny associated with revealing themselves.
Still, Pelosi says she is confident she can survive.
Exiting a caucus meeting this morning, Pelosi said she could stop and take questions.
“I’m a busy person,” she said. “I will be speaker of the House no matter what Seth Moulton says.” ||||| Can self-proclaimed “master legislator” and “astute leader” Nancy Pelosi convince enough Democrats to make her speaker of the House again? It won’t be as easy as you might think.
Democrats have won 228 House races and are favored in five more. Together that’s 233 seats, a gain of 40. But Mrs. Pelosi still has work to do to collect the 218 votes she’ll need when the House meets Jan. 3 to select its presiding officer.
During... | – Nancy Pelosi hopes to be House speaker again, and the first big step happened on election night when Democrats reclaimed control of the chamber. The second step, however, is no gimme. Pelosi now has to fend off a revolt among Democrats who say it's time the 78-year-old relinquished her leadership post. As things stand now, the numbers stacked up against Pelosi look daunting. Details: The math: Pelosi needs 218 votes to become speaker, and Democrats won 228 House races and lead in five more uncalled races, per the Wall Street Journal. The problem? A dozen Democratic incumbents, 10 incoming freshmen, and four leading still-uncalled races have said they won't support her. If she loses those 26 votes, and all Republicans vote against her, Pelosi would fall short. The vote is Jan. 3. The foes: So far, 17 of those opposed to Pelosi have signed a letter pledging to not support her, and HuffPost has the list. (The first name is Tim Ryan of Ohio, a regular Pelosi critic.) Those behind the letter plan to release it after more pledge their support. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.WASHINGTON ― House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is suddenly in a fight for her political survival as a group of Democratic detractors is preparing to block her ascent to the speakership.
About a dozen incumbent Democrats and a half-dozen incoming Democrats are preparing a letter pledging to not support Pelosi on the House floor for speaker. The members also intend to note another contingent of Democrats who privately say they won’t support the longtime California Democrat but won’t sign the letter, according to Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), one of the ringleaders of the effort to block Pelosi.
Sources familiar with the letter say there are currently 17 names on it, but the group is trying to get more than 20 members before releasing it. Currently on the letter, though not certain to stay on it, are:
- Tim Ryan (D-Ohio)
- Seth Moulton (D-Mass.)
- Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.)
- Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.)
- Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.)
- Filemon Vela Jr. (D-Texas)
- Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio)
- Bill Foster (D-Ill.)
- Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.)
- Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.)
- Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.)
- Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.)
- Jeff Van Drew (D-N.J.)
- Joe Cunningham (D-S.C.)
- Max Rose (D-N.Y.)
- Anthony Brindisi (D-N.Y.)
- Ben McAdams (D-Utah)
There is another contingent of Democrats ― including Conor Lamb (D-Pa.), Dan Lipinksi (D-Ill.), Ron Kind (D-Wis.), Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) and Andy Kim (D-N.J.) ― who are seen as likely to vote against Pelosi, but who also are hesitant to sign the letter.
For Pelosi allies, keeping the number of names on the letter limited is a key to her survival, as more members publicly pledging to not support her would be a nail in the coffin.
But Pelosi also has a number of ways she could wrangle the speaker’s gavel even if a dozen and a half members pledge to oppose her. For one, Democrats could make a new rule binding every member to vote for the Democratic nominee. Rule changes associated with that idea are already under consideration, and there’s some thought that Pelosi may try to formalize rules so that Democrats have to vote for her, though many members question how this strategy would work. (Would they kick out the members who don’t vote for the Democratic nominee? Would they still have a majority?)
There’s also the thought that some Republicans could vote “present,“
thus lowering the threshold for Pelosi. But that presents its own challenges. In effect, Republicans would have veto power over the speaker and Pelosi would not be negotiating from any position of strength.
The way the speaker election works is that a candidate first gets the nomination behind closed doors during the Democratic Caucus meeting. That is the easiest hurdle to clear. A candidate only needs a majority of their party for the speaker nomination, and Pelosi has that part essentially locked up.
The hard part is the floor vote, when a candidate needs a majority of the House: 218 of the 435 members. That number includes Republicans. While we don’t know the exact breakdown of the House yet, it’s likely to be around 234 Democrats and 201 Republicans ― give or take a couple of members on both sides. If the number is 234 Democrats, Pelosi can lose only 16 Democrats if every member votes.
The trick for Pelosi would be to get some of her Democratic opponents ― or Republicans ― to vote present. That would lower the threshold for her election. In effect, a present vote would be a half-vote for Pelosi.
But the Democrats who say they are opposed to Pelosi are already swearing they won’t vote present. If Pelosi can’t convince some of those Democrats who oppose her to vote present, she has a real problem.
The anti-Pelosi members are working to gather as many names as possible as quick as possible, as they believe the longer they remain in the shadows, the more likely it is that Pelosi could flip some of their members.
But Pelosi’s opponents also told HuffPost they think the actual number of Democrats who do not want to vote for Pelosi is much larger than anyone anticipates, and they remain confident she doesn’t have the votes.
Ryan, who ran against Pelosi to be minority leader at the end of the last Congress, told reporters Wednesday that he was certain Pelosi didn’t have the votes, and multiple members who support Pelosi even told HuffPost on the condition of anonymity that they believe she is in trouble.
One of the members pointed to Pelosi’s minority leader race in 2016 with Ryan in which he received 63 votes from his Democratic colleagues to Pelosi’s 134. This member said Pelosi didn’t get the message when one-third of the caucus voted for a “backbencher.”
But if Pelosi didn’t get the message before, she and her team are certainly working now to try to tamp down the revolt and swing the incoming Democrats from no to yes ― or at least to “present.”
Pelosi’s allies all readily point out that “you can’t beat somebody with nobody,” but Pelosi’s opponents are testing that idea. In fact, they seem to think their movement is strengthened without a clear alternative.
The idea is that, once Pelosi knows she can’t win, she will step aside and there would be a new race for the speaker position.
To that point, one office for a prominent Democrat already reached out to HuffPost to suggest that their boss is well-positioned to become speaker if Pelosi can’t get the votes.
Members believe ― for good reason ― that there would be a rush of candidates for the speaker job if Pelosi stepped down, potentially including Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Assistant Minority Leader Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
Ryan, in an effort to deflect criticism that the anti-Pelosi Democrats are just trying to knock off a woman from a leadership role, repeatedly said Wednesday that he’d like to see another woman become speaker, and he has pointed to four women: Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.), Karen Bass (D-Calif.), and Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.). (Fudge and Rice are both also anti-Pelosi.)
Moulton has also been strongly pushing Fudge, who is a former Congressional Black Caucus chairwoman.
The anti-Pelosi group is expected to release its letter by the end of the week, though Ryan also said they would hold the letter as long as they were still getting new signatures. Ryan, Moulton, and Perlmutter are the members loosely organizing the letter, and they’re checking in mostly with the new Democrats to make sure they won’t flip under pressure.
But Ryan also assured reporters Wednesday that there were more Democrats than just those who will be on the letter who intend to vote against Pelosi ― they just don’t want the scrutiny associated with revealing themselves.
Still, Pelosi says she is confident she can survive.
Exiting a caucus meeting this morning, Pelosi said she could stop and take questions.
“I’m a busy person,” she said. “I will be speaker of the House no matter what Seth Moulton says.” ||||| Can self-proclaimed “master legislator” and “astute leader” Nancy Pelosi convince enough Democrats to make her speaker of the House again? It won’t be as easy as you might think.
Democrats have won 228 House races and are favored in five more. Together that’s 233 seats, a gain of 40. But Mrs. Pelosi still has work to do to collect the 218 votes she’ll need when the House meets Jan. 3 to select its presiding officer.
During... | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 42,770 |
Five baby alligators were discovered early Tuesday afternoon in an Augusta taxi, leading police officers to seize the reptiles and issue a summons to the man who allegedly owned them.
The man, Yifan Sun, 20, is from China and has been studying at the University of Maine at Augusta, he told police. Officers discovered the alligators after receiving a report that they were in a taxi on its way to the Concord Coach Lines bus station on Industrial Drive.
Augusta police Officer Nicholas Sterling holds a plastic box containing five baby alligators Tuesday at the Augusta bus station. Photo by Charles Eichacker Animal Control Officer Francois Roodman holds a case of baby alligators Tuesday at the bus station in Augusta. Photo by Charles Eichacker
Augusta Officer Nicholas Sterling and Animal Control Officer Francois Roodman arrived at the bus station before the taxi and, when Sun arrived, discovered a plastic box containing the reptiles.
Members of the Maine Warden Service arrived at the bus station a short time later and informed Sun that the state’s wildlife rules do not allow alligators to be kept in Maine.
Sun was charged with importing or possessing wildlife without a permit, said Sgt. Christian Behr, of the Augusta Police Department.
“These don’t belong in Maine,” Sterling told Sun. “I know the movie Lake Placid says otherwise, but these don’t belong in Maine.”
That 1999 film is about a ravenous, 30-foot long crocodile that somehow ends up terrorizing a community in Maine’s Aroostook County, but the infant reptiles discovered Tuesday were a far cry from that beast. From snout to tail, each appeared to be a little over 1 foot long.
Sun declined to speak at length with a reporter, other than to say he’s from Shanghai and studies sociology at University of Maine at Augusta.
In his exchange with police, Sun said that he had received the alligators almost two months ago from a friend who lives in Alabama. In exchange, Sun said that he shipped a turtle to that friend, but he did not say how the alligators had been sent to Maine.
Sun lives in a house on Townsend Road, near the University of Maine at Augusta campus, and he said that he had been keeping the alligators there, feeding them dog food and water.
The reasons Sun — who did not speak fluent English — had gone to the bus station Tuesday were not immediately clear. At first, Sun told game wardens he was taking a bus to Waterville to show the alligators to his friend. Then Sun told the wardens that his friend works for United Parcel Service and was going to help him ship the animals to Texas, in exchange for another reptile, a Tegu lizard.
At one point, Behr called an interpreting service to help put questions to Sun in the Mandarin language. Sun initially described the animals in his possession as crocodiles, but the wardens said they were alligators.
The alligators were taken to a regional office of the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife in Sidney, where they will be staying temporarily, Cpl. John MacDonald, of the Maine Warden Service, said in a news release.
MacDonald did not say where the alligators will go after their stay in Sidney, and he was not available for an interview late Tuesday.
The cab driver who took Sun to the bus station, Frank Folsom, said that he learned of the reptiles in the taxi after picking up Sun and stopping at the former Cumberland Farms convenience store on Mount Vernon Avenue.
At that point, the open box Sun had brought into the cab tipped over and the reptiles starting crawling around inside the cab, Folsom said. Folsom helped put the animals back into the box, at which point one latched onto the sleeve of his shirt.
“He got my shirt,” Folsom said. “I said, ‘He’s trying to eat me!'”
Before heading to the bus station with Sun, Folsom said he stopped at a discount store and purchased a closed plastic box for the animals. He said he thought people at the convenience store may have seen the alligators and reported them to police.
In the Maine Warden Service news release, MacDonald said there are several reasons the state restricts the types of wildlife Mainers can own or import. The first one, he said, “is public safety, which is the reason crocodiles, alligators, and most venomous snakes and lizards are restricted.”
Other reasons are that exotic species can invade and disrupt Maine’s natural habitats if they escape into the wild, and that the illegal sale of species can hinder efforts to conserve them.
In the last year, Maine reptile enthusiasts have expressed concern about state wildlife officials creating stricter rules about which species can be owned and imported here.
But when exotic reptiles are spotted, they tend to generate lots of attention. After police spotted a 10-foot long snake in the Presumpscot River in Westbrook last summer, “Wessie the Snake” became famous.
Charles Eichacker — 621-5642
[email protected]
Twitter: @ceichacker
Share
filed under: ||||| Maine game wardens say they seized five small alligators in Augusta Tuesday afternoon. (Maine Warden Service)
AUGUSTA, Maine (WGME) - Maine game wardens say they seized five small alligators in Augusta Tuesday afternoon.
Wardens say 20-year-old Yifan Sun, who lives in Augusta, was in possession of the alligators, a restricted species in Maine.
Sun was issued a summons for importing or possessing wildlife without a permit. The alligators were taken to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife regional office in Sidney. | – A cab driver transporting a college student in Maine discovered he had five other surprise passengers: a handful of baby alligators. Per CentralMaine.com, Frank Folsom says on Tuesday he picked up a 20-year-old IDed as Yifan Sun, a student from China who's studying at the University of Maine at Augusta, and when they stopped at a convenience store, an open box Sun was carrying tipped over and the tiny gators started scurrying around the taxi. After helping Sun get the reptiles back into the box, Folsom stopped at a store to get a closed plastic container for them, then drove Sun to his destination: a local bus station. Cops were waiting for the taxi by the time they arrived—Folsom speculates someone at the convenience store saw the creatures, which are a restricted species in Maine, per WGME—and Sun, via an interpreter, told police a pal in Alabama had sent him the alligators a couple of months earlier, in exchange for which Sun sent his friend a turtle. He added he was on his way from Augusta to Waterville to visit another friend, who he revealed was a UPS worker he hoped could help him ship the gators to Texas in a swap for a tegu lizard. Animal Game wardens took custody of the gators, while Sun was hit with a charge of importing or possessing wildlife without a permit. (It would've been harder to hide this 800-pound gator in a cab.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Five baby alligators were discovered early Tuesday afternoon in an Augusta taxi, leading police officers to seize the reptiles and issue a summons to the man who allegedly owned them.
The man, Yifan Sun, 20, is from China and has been studying at the University of Maine at Augusta, he told police. Officers discovered the alligators after receiving a report that they were in a taxi on its way to the Concord Coach Lines bus station on Industrial Drive.
Augusta police Officer Nicholas Sterling holds a plastic box containing five baby alligators Tuesday at the Augusta bus station. Photo by Charles Eichacker Animal Control Officer Francois Roodman holds a case of baby alligators Tuesday at the bus station in Augusta. Photo by Charles Eichacker
Augusta Officer Nicholas Sterling and Animal Control Officer Francois Roodman arrived at the bus station before the taxi and, when Sun arrived, discovered a plastic box containing the reptiles.
Members of the Maine Warden Service arrived at the bus station a short time later and informed Sun that the state’s wildlife rules do not allow alligators to be kept in Maine.
Sun was charged with importing or possessing wildlife without a permit, said Sgt. Christian Behr, of the Augusta Police Department.
“These don’t belong in Maine,” Sterling told Sun. “I know the movie Lake Placid says otherwise, but these don’t belong in Maine.”
That 1999 film is about a ravenous, 30-foot long crocodile that somehow ends up terrorizing a community in Maine’s Aroostook County, but the infant reptiles discovered Tuesday were a far cry from that beast. From snout to tail, each appeared to be a little over 1 foot long.
Sun declined to speak at length with a reporter, other than to say he’s from Shanghai and studies sociology at University of Maine at Augusta.
In his exchange with police, Sun said that he had received the alligators almost two months ago from a friend who lives in Alabama. In exchange, Sun said that he shipped a turtle to that friend, but he did not say how the alligators had been sent to Maine.
Sun lives in a house on Townsend Road, near the University of Maine at Augusta campus, and he said that he had been keeping the alligators there, feeding them dog food and water.
The reasons Sun — who did not speak fluent English — had gone to the bus station Tuesday were not immediately clear. At first, Sun told game wardens he was taking a bus to Waterville to show the alligators to his friend. Then Sun told the wardens that his friend works for United Parcel Service and was going to help him ship the animals to Texas, in exchange for another reptile, a Tegu lizard.
At one point, Behr called an interpreting service to help put questions to Sun in the Mandarin language. Sun initially described the animals in his possession as crocodiles, but the wardens said they were alligators.
The alligators were taken to a regional office of the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife in Sidney, where they will be staying temporarily, Cpl. John MacDonald, of the Maine Warden Service, said in a news release.
MacDonald did not say where the alligators will go after their stay in Sidney, and he was not available for an interview late Tuesday.
The cab driver who took Sun to the bus station, Frank Folsom, said that he learned of the reptiles in the taxi after picking up Sun and stopping at the former Cumberland Farms convenience store on Mount Vernon Avenue.
At that point, the open box Sun had brought into the cab tipped over and the reptiles starting crawling around inside the cab, Folsom said. Folsom helped put the animals back into the box, at which point one latched onto the sleeve of his shirt.
“He got my shirt,” Folsom said. “I said, ‘He’s trying to eat me!'”
Before heading to the bus station with Sun, Folsom said he stopped at a discount store and purchased a closed plastic box for the animals. He said he thought people at the convenience store may have seen the alligators and reported them to police.
In the Maine Warden Service news release, MacDonald said there are several reasons the state restricts the types of wildlife Mainers can own or import. The first one, he said, “is public safety, which is the reason crocodiles, alligators, and most venomous snakes and lizards are restricted.”
Other reasons are that exotic species can invade and disrupt Maine’s natural habitats if they escape into the wild, and that the illegal sale of species can hinder efforts to conserve them.
In the last year, Maine reptile enthusiasts have expressed concern about state wildlife officials creating stricter rules about which species can be owned and imported here.
But when exotic reptiles are spotted, they tend to generate lots of attention. After police spotted a 10-foot long snake in the Presumpscot River in Westbrook last summer, “Wessie the Snake” became famous.
Charles Eichacker — 621-5642
[email protected]
Twitter: @ceichacker
Share
filed under: ||||| Maine game wardens say they seized five small alligators in Augusta Tuesday afternoon. (Maine Warden Service)
AUGUSTA, Maine (WGME) - Maine game wardens say they seized five small alligators in Augusta Tuesday afternoon.
Wardens say 20-year-old Yifan Sun, who lives in Augusta, was in possession of the alligators, a restricted species in Maine.
Sun was issued a summons for importing or possessing wildlife without a permit. The alligators were taken to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife regional office in Sidney. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 12,610 |
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — Rick Santorum said Sunday night that his daughter Bella has experienced a “miraculous turnaround” since being diagnosed with pneumonia earlier in the weekend.
On a telephone town hall for Florida voters, the former Pennsylvania senator said doctors predict that the 3-year-old will be released from the hospital two to four days from now.
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“Life for the Santorum family has improved dramatically since this afternoon,” he said. “We’ve still got a long way to go, but she’s without a doubt turned a corner.”
Santorum canceled three Sunday campaign stops in Florida so he could care for his daughter. He announced on the call that he plans to return to the campaign trail on Monday if Bella continues to improve. But he was noncommittal about whether he’ll return to Florida, and specifically whether he’ll attend a scheduled event at a Boca Raton synagogue on Monday morning.
“We’re going to get back on the campaign trail probably later tomorrow,” he said.
Santorum suggested that he’ll head instead to the Midwest “and start campaigning in the next set of states as we move this campaign forward.” This tracks the campaign’s decision to look past Florida with Santorum placing third in the polls there.
Bella suffers from a genetic condition known as Trisomy 18, or Edwards Syndrome. The syndrome causes an extra chromosome to interfere with normal development, causing mental and physical deformities. “Half of infants with this condition do not survive beyond the first week of life,” according to the National Institutes of Health. “Some children have survived to the teenage years, but with serious medical and developmental problems.”
As he spoke about a “very hectic last 36 hours,” Santorum noted that his daughter was waking up in her hospital room.
“She’s got a mask on because she needs help breathing, but she’s smiling through it,” Santorum said, relief evident in his voice.
Santorum said it was a blessing that his daughter happened to fall ill during one of his rare trips home this past weekend. He had not been back to his Virginia house since Christmas Day, but returned on Saturday for a fundraiser and to prepare his tax returns for public release.
“It’s a miracle in some respects,” he said.
Santorum said Bella — whose full name is Isabella — was not feeling well when he arrived home Friday night. Her condition worsened on Saturday.
The Santorums normally take her to Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia, he explained, but she was frail, so they went instead to a D.C.-area hospital.
“It was a very, very tough night last night,” he said.
“She has been on some great treatment here,” he added. “She’s just doing great.”
He thanked everyone who has prayed for his family.
“I feel very, very good about where we are and where this campaign is going,” Santorum said. ||||| Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said Sunday his daughter Bella remains in the hospital with pneumonia but is recovering after a rough 36 hours.
Sharon Irwin, holds a sign during a prayer for Bella, daughter of Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum during a campaign rally in a hanger at Sarasota Bradenton International... (Associated Press)
Elizabeth Santorum, eldest daughter of Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, campaigns for her father in a hanger at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport in Sarasota,... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this June 6, 2011 file photo, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum holds his daughter Isabella before announcing he is entering the Republican presidential race, on the steps of the Somerset... (Associated Press)
Santorum spoke with Florida supporters by telephone from 3-year-old Bella's hospital room and said doctors hope she can go home in the next few days.
The former Pennsylvania senator also said, "We're going to get out on the campaign trail later tomorrow ... heading out to the Midwest, and start campaigning in the next states as we move this campaign forward."
Santorum scheduled a speech Monday in Missouri and another event in southwest Minnesota _ two states with early February contests. He then planned to head to Colorado and Nevada for events Tuesday.
"I feel very, very good about where we are and where the campaign is going," the candidate said.
But during the call with Florida voters, Santorum opened his remarks with his daughter, who has a genetic condition known as Trisomy 18. The condition typically proves fatal and Santorum often says his daughter wasn't expected to live past 12 months.
"She without a doubt has turned the corner," he said. But he cautioned she "isn't out of the woods yet."
Santorum called his daughter's improvement a "miraculous turnaround" after an unexpected detour from the campaign just days before Tuesday's Florida primary.
Santorum got to his home in Virginia around midnight Friday for a quick break to do his taxes, but found his daughter "was not doing well."
"I was up with her a lot of the night," he said. "By the end of the day, it was really, really clear she was struggling."
Saturday evening, Santorum aides announced Bella had been admitted to the hospital and they canceled his morning interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" and church services in Miami. His aides later canceled his trip to Florida and instead sent his 20-year-old daughter to campaign for him.
Santorum described the situation as a "very, very tough night last night" but said by late Sunday Bella was "alert and back to her own beautiful, happy girl."
"It's been a very hectic 36 hours," Santorum said. "Life in the Santorum family has dramatically improved since the late afternoon." | – Rick Santorum says his 3-year-old daughter, who was hospitalized over the weekend, has had a "miraculous turnaround" after being diagnosed with pneumonia, reports Politico. "Life for the Santorum family has improved dramatically ," he said. “We’ve still got a long way to go, but she’s without a doubt turned a corner.” Isabella Santorum suffers from Trisomy 18, a rare genetic condition that brings a collection of physical and developmental problems. “She’s got a mask on because she needs help breathing, but she’s smiling through it,” said Santorum, who canceled campaign appearances to be with his daughter. The candidate says he plans to return to the campaign trail tomorrow, but all remaining Florida appearances have been canceled and he will be hitting Midwestern states instead, the AP reports. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — Rick Santorum said Sunday night that his daughter Bella has experienced a “miraculous turnaround” since being diagnosed with pneumonia earlier in the weekend.
On a telephone town hall for Florida voters, the former Pennsylvania senator said doctors predict that the 3-year-old will be released from the hospital two to four days from now.
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“Life for the Santorum family has improved dramatically since this afternoon,” he said. “We’ve still got a long way to go, but she’s without a doubt turned a corner.”
Santorum canceled three Sunday campaign stops in Florida so he could care for his daughter. He announced on the call that he plans to return to the campaign trail on Monday if Bella continues to improve. But he was noncommittal about whether he’ll return to Florida, and specifically whether he’ll attend a scheduled event at a Boca Raton synagogue on Monday morning.
“We’re going to get back on the campaign trail probably later tomorrow,” he said.
Santorum suggested that he’ll head instead to the Midwest “and start campaigning in the next set of states as we move this campaign forward.” This tracks the campaign’s decision to look past Florida with Santorum placing third in the polls there.
Bella suffers from a genetic condition known as Trisomy 18, or Edwards Syndrome. The syndrome causes an extra chromosome to interfere with normal development, causing mental and physical deformities. “Half of infants with this condition do not survive beyond the first week of life,” according to the National Institutes of Health. “Some children have survived to the teenage years, but with serious medical and developmental problems.”
As he spoke about a “very hectic last 36 hours,” Santorum noted that his daughter was waking up in her hospital room.
“She’s got a mask on because she needs help breathing, but she’s smiling through it,” Santorum said, relief evident in his voice.
Santorum said it was a blessing that his daughter happened to fall ill during one of his rare trips home this past weekend. He had not been back to his Virginia house since Christmas Day, but returned on Saturday for a fundraiser and to prepare his tax returns for public release.
“It’s a miracle in some respects,” he said.
Santorum said Bella — whose full name is Isabella — was not feeling well when he arrived home Friday night. Her condition worsened on Saturday.
The Santorums normally take her to Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia, he explained, but she was frail, so they went instead to a D.C.-area hospital.
“It was a very, very tough night last night,” he said.
“She has been on some great treatment here,” he added. “She’s just doing great.”
He thanked everyone who has prayed for his family.
“I feel very, very good about where we are and where this campaign is going,” Santorum said. ||||| Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said Sunday his daughter Bella remains in the hospital with pneumonia but is recovering after a rough 36 hours.
Sharon Irwin, holds a sign during a prayer for Bella, daughter of Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum during a campaign rally in a hanger at Sarasota Bradenton International... (Associated Press)
Elizabeth Santorum, eldest daughter of Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, campaigns for her father in a hanger at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport in Sarasota,... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this June 6, 2011 file photo, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum holds his daughter Isabella before announcing he is entering the Republican presidential race, on the steps of the Somerset... (Associated Press)
Santorum spoke with Florida supporters by telephone from 3-year-old Bella's hospital room and said doctors hope she can go home in the next few days.
The former Pennsylvania senator also said, "We're going to get out on the campaign trail later tomorrow ... heading out to the Midwest, and start campaigning in the next states as we move this campaign forward."
Santorum scheduled a speech Monday in Missouri and another event in southwest Minnesota _ two states with early February contests. He then planned to head to Colorado and Nevada for events Tuesday.
"I feel very, very good about where we are and where the campaign is going," the candidate said.
But during the call with Florida voters, Santorum opened his remarks with his daughter, who has a genetic condition known as Trisomy 18. The condition typically proves fatal and Santorum often says his daughter wasn't expected to live past 12 months.
"She without a doubt has turned the corner," he said. But he cautioned she "isn't out of the woods yet."
Santorum called his daughter's improvement a "miraculous turnaround" after an unexpected detour from the campaign just days before Tuesday's Florida primary.
Santorum got to his home in Virginia around midnight Friday for a quick break to do his taxes, but found his daughter "was not doing well."
"I was up with her a lot of the night," he said. "By the end of the day, it was really, really clear she was struggling."
Saturday evening, Santorum aides announced Bella had been admitted to the hospital and they canceled his morning interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" and church services in Miami. His aides later canceled his trip to Florida and instead sent his 20-year-old daughter to campaign for him.
Santorum described the situation as a "very, very tough night last night" but said by late Sunday Bella was "alert and back to her own beautiful, happy girl."
"It's been a very hectic 36 hours," Santorum said. "Life in the Santorum family has dramatically improved since the late afternoon." | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 16,029 |
Ivanka Trump is known to have her father’s ear, often for the better, but many of her political instincts lean left. Case in point is a paid family leave proposal that the White House rolled out this week in the President’s 2018 budget. President Trump is asking Republicans to start a bidding war for government family benefits, which is bad policy and worse politics.
Mr. Trump’s budget would require states to provide six weeks of paid family leave for new mothers and fathers, as well as adoptive parents. States would have... ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| WASHINGTON (AP) — First daughter Ivanka Trump is defending a White House proposal to mandate paid leave for new parents in a letter to the editor published Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal.
The paper had previously criticized the Trump administration plan "as bad policy and worse politics" that would increase taxes on business. The plan would be funded through unemployment insurance.
But Ivanka Trump says in a response that: "Providing a national guaranteed paid-leave program_with a reasonable time limit and benefit cap_isn't an entitlement, it's an investment in America's working families."
Ivanka Trump has met with Democratic and Republican lawmakers on the issue. The program has limited GOP backing, but more modest tax policies could be included in a Republican tax overhaul effort. | – First daughter Ivanka Trump is defending a White House proposal to mandate paid leave for new parents in a letter to the editor published Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal, the AP reports. In a previous editorial titled "The Ivanka Entitlement," the paper had criticized the Trump administration plan, which would be funded through unemployment insurance, "as bad policy and worse politics" that would increase taxes on businesses. But Ivanka Trump says in her response that "providing a national guaranteed paid-leave program—with a reasonable time limit and benefit cap—isn't an entitlement, it's an investment in America's working families." Her letter adds that "those who need these benefits aren't getting them," meaning the "poorest, most vulnerable workers in our society." She notes, too, that the Trump administration's paid-leave policy would have "an especially positive effect for women," who are traditionally the ones who've had to leave their jobs to pick up more of the child-care responsibilities. The Journal stances that Ivanka Trump does agree with: that "a growing economy is the best antidote to inequality" and that "government benefits should not be a substitute for private-sector investment." The program has limited GOP backing, but more modest tax policies could be included in a Republican tax overhaul effort. Her entire letter here. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Ivanka Trump is known to have her father’s ear, often for the better, but many of her political instincts lean left. Case in point is a paid family leave proposal that the White House rolled out this week in the President’s 2018 budget. President Trump is asking Republicans to start a bidding war for government family benefits, which is bad policy and worse politics.
Mr. Trump’s budget would require states to provide six weeks of paid family leave for new mothers and fathers, as well as adoptive parents. States would have... ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| WASHINGTON (AP) — First daughter Ivanka Trump is defending a White House proposal to mandate paid leave for new parents in a letter to the editor published Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal.
The paper had previously criticized the Trump administration plan "as bad policy and worse politics" that would increase taxes on business. The plan would be funded through unemployment insurance.
But Ivanka Trump says in a response that: "Providing a national guaranteed paid-leave program_with a reasonable time limit and benefit cap_isn't an entitlement, it's an investment in America's working families."
Ivanka Trump has met with Democratic and Republican lawmakers on the issue. The program has limited GOP backing, but more modest tax policies could be included in a Republican tax overhaul effort. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 36,248 |
Video (01:57) : After 24 years, the Mall of America celebrated a new first Thursday: Its first black Santa.
Dozens of Santas cycle through Twin Cities shopping centers each year, spreading joy to children who entrust them with their holiday wish lists. What has been missing from that experience, some parents say, was a Kriss Kringle who represented a wider swath of believers.
This week, for the first time in the Mall of America’s 24-year history, a black Santa will greet families for annual Christmas photos.
“This is a long time coming,” said Landon Luther, co-owner of the Santa Experience, which has run the intimate photo studio at the mall for 10 years. “We want Santa to be for everyone, period.”
The mall offers a free, wait-in-line-with-the-masses Santa, as well as the book-an-appointment Santa Experience, which this year added a second location at the Bloomington megamall. The appointments require purchase of a photo package.
Luther started a national search last spring for a diverse St. Nicholas that kids of color would be able to relate to. Santa Sid, a 20-year veteran at MOA, finally found one while at a Santa convention in Branson, Mo., where nearly 1,000 impersonators convened for a “Kringle family reunion” in July.
Larry Jefferson, a retired U.S. Army veteran from Irving, Texas, was the only black Santa Claus in attendance. The jovial actor agreed to sign a four-day contract to work in Minnesota, after which he’ll return home to work the seasonal circuit in Dallas.
Gallery: A new Santa at MOA Gallery: A new Santa at MOA
“It was like finding a needle in a haystack,” said Luther, who runs the business with his girlfriend, Rachael Zuleger. “He considers himself a Santa for all.”
From Thursday to Sunday, by appointment only, Jefferson will greet kiddos at the mall while decked as Santa Larry, passing out candy canes and reminding them how to stay off the naughty list: “Clean your rooms, eat your vegetables and do what your mommy and daddy say all year.”
As he prepared for his first appointments Thursday morning, Jefferson said that skin tone doesn’t matter to the kids he meets.
“What they see most of the time is this red suit and candy,” he said, patting his sleek velvet coat. “[Santa represents] a good spirit. I’m just a messenger to bring hope, love and peace to girls and boys.”
Becoming Santa
Jefferson officially began donning the red suit in 1999, but his love of playing St. Nick started as just a boy.
After his father hurt his back, a 12-year-old Jefferson took on the role of Santa in the Arkansas family home, divvying up presents for his younger siblings. It was a role that stuck, continuing long after he joined the U.S. Army infantry and served abroad in the Gulf War.
His young nephews may have catalyzed his decision to play Santa-for-hire after he practiced the act on them, Jefferson said. The boys were sick and wouldn’t get a chance to visit the resident mall Santa, so he bought a $30 suit at Wal-Mart and affixed a fake beard, then knocked on their front door.
Following the visit, the parents asked if the boys knew who the visitor was. They replied, “Of course — it was Santa,” Jefferson recalled with a chuckle.
Since then, he’s graduated from a premiere Santa school, retired from the military and grown his own bushy white beard.
Last year, Jefferson became the first, and only, black member of the Lone Star Santas, a nonprofit boasting more than 350 Santa Clauses, Mrs. Clauses, and elves who donate toys to children in disaster-stricken areas.
Jim Fletcher, director emeritus of the fraternal order, said the group also has around six Hispanic Santas and at least two Jewish members. Ethnicity and religion are not what matters, he said; rather, it’s the spirit of giving.
“Being Santa comes from the heart,” Fletcher said. “It’s not what comes down the chimney.”
On Thursday morning, Jefferson emerged as Santa Larry, wowing toddlers and their siblings during individual play sessions. He spoke softly to his fans, patiently waiting for them to divulge their Christmas wishes.
Shelly Major, of Blaine, toted her three children to the photo studio for their few minutes with Jolly ol’ St. Nick. “He was very warm,” Major said.
Parents of biracial tots said they were especially pleased to show their kids that heroes come in all ethnicities. “Santa isn’t just white,” said Sara Schwantes, of Inver Grove Heights.
Santa Larry Jefferson smiles with Auden Good, 4, and his 1-year-old brother Ezra of Ramsey during photos at the Santa Experience at Mall of America.
Hundreds of appointments requesting Jefferson have him booked solid Saturday and Sunday. Limited openings remained for Friday, and a waitlist was also available.
When educator Shanene Herbert heard Jefferson would be in town, she immediately contacted the MOA to see if she could coordinate a meet-and-greet with her students at Project SPIRIT, an after-school program for black children in St. Paul Public Schools.
The curriculum is meant to teach black culture through positive role models — traits she immediately recognized in Jefferson.
“Kids only see one image of Santa,” said Herbert, director of Project SPIRIT. “Even though he’s a fictional character, he could be any color, any race, any gender. This is an image of him too.”
Meanwhile, Santa Larry has a Christmas wish too — to be invited to the White House by President Obama. He’d go see President-elect Donald Trump too, he said, if he comes calling. ||||| ’Tis the season of joy and mall Santas.
For Larry Jefferson-Gamble, that means leaving his home in Dallas and traveling to Minneapolis’ Mall of America, which will have a black Santa for the first time ever this year.
“I love Christmas,” Jefferson-Gamble told The Huffington Post, explaining his decision to attend Santa school in 2014, at about the same time he retired from a career in the military. “I enjoy making people smile and be happy. During the holidays, people go through a lot.”
Larry Jefferson-Gamble
He’s played different versions of Santa since he was 12 years old, when he took care of presents that year because his dad was sick. Years later, when his nephews fell ill around Christmas, he bought a Santa suit for $30 to surprise them.
From there, he started doing volunteer work as Santa, “and it just took off.”
He says most kids don’t seem to notice he’s a black Santa ― they’re just ecstatic to meet Santa.
“Kids love Santa no matter what color you are,” he said, adding that it’s really all about the red suit and the beard. Plus, he joked, “if you’ve got candy you’re a winner.”
But for kids of color, sometimes it does make a difference.
“It gives them something to identity with,” Jefferson-Gamble told CBS Minnesota, “but Santa is still just Santa.”
“Just Saturday, I was doing an event, and one child said, ‘Santa, you’re brown,’” he recalled, “and I said, ‘Yes, I am, but Santa comes in many different colors.’ He said, ‘Oh,’ so I gave him a candy cane, he ran off with other kids.” | – No matter what Megyn Kelly says, Santa Claus isn't just white. And we know that because for the first time in 24 years, the Santa Experience at the Mall of America in Minnesota will have a black Santa, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports. "Anybody can be Santa; it’s what’s in your heart," says Larry Jefferson, aka Santa Larry. Jefferson started getting paid to be Santa in 2014 after retiring from the military, but his career as jolly old St. Nick really started at the age of 12, when he took care of Christmas presents for his ailing father, the Huffington Post reports. According to WCCO, the Texas resident will break the Santa color barrier at the Mall of America by posing for photos and videos for four days this week. Jefferson came to the attention of Santa Experience co-owner Landon Luther after Jefferson was the only Santa of color out of hundreds of attendees at last summer's Santa Convention in Missouri. "This is a long time coming," Luther tells the Star-Tribune. "We want Santa to be for everyone." Jefferson tells WCCO that having a black Santa can give children of color "something to identify with," but most kids only notice the suit—and the candy. "One child said, ‘Santa, you’re brown,’ and I said, ‘Yes, I am, but Santa comes in many different colors,'" Jefferson says. "He said, ‘Oh,’ so I gave him a candy cane, he ran off with other kids.” | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Video (01:57) : After 24 years, the Mall of America celebrated a new first Thursday: Its first black Santa.
Dozens of Santas cycle through Twin Cities shopping centers each year, spreading joy to children who entrust them with their holiday wish lists. What has been missing from that experience, some parents say, was a Kriss Kringle who represented a wider swath of believers.
This week, for the first time in the Mall of America’s 24-year history, a black Santa will greet families for annual Christmas photos.
“This is a long time coming,” said Landon Luther, co-owner of the Santa Experience, which has run the intimate photo studio at the mall for 10 years. “We want Santa to be for everyone, period.”
The mall offers a free, wait-in-line-with-the-masses Santa, as well as the book-an-appointment Santa Experience, which this year added a second location at the Bloomington megamall. The appointments require purchase of a photo package.
Luther started a national search last spring for a diverse St. Nicholas that kids of color would be able to relate to. Santa Sid, a 20-year veteran at MOA, finally found one while at a Santa convention in Branson, Mo., where nearly 1,000 impersonators convened for a “Kringle family reunion” in July.
Larry Jefferson, a retired U.S. Army veteran from Irving, Texas, was the only black Santa Claus in attendance. The jovial actor agreed to sign a four-day contract to work in Minnesota, after which he’ll return home to work the seasonal circuit in Dallas.
Gallery: A new Santa at MOA Gallery: A new Santa at MOA
“It was like finding a needle in a haystack,” said Luther, who runs the business with his girlfriend, Rachael Zuleger. “He considers himself a Santa for all.”
From Thursday to Sunday, by appointment only, Jefferson will greet kiddos at the mall while decked as Santa Larry, passing out candy canes and reminding them how to stay off the naughty list: “Clean your rooms, eat your vegetables and do what your mommy and daddy say all year.”
As he prepared for his first appointments Thursday morning, Jefferson said that skin tone doesn’t matter to the kids he meets.
“What they see most of the time is this red suit and candy,” he said, patting his sleek velvet coat. “[Santa represents] a good spirit. I’m just a messenger to bring hope, love and peace to girls and boys.”
Becoming Santa
Jefferson officially began donning the red suit in 1999, but his love of playing St. Nick started as just a boy.
After his father hurt his back, a 12-year-old Jefferson took on the role of Santa in the Arkansas family home, divvying up presents for his younger siblings. It was a role that stuck, continuing long after he joined the U.S. Army infantry and served abroad in the Gulf War.
His young nephews may have catalyzed his decision to play Santa-for-hire after he practiced the act on them, Jefferson said. The boys were sick and wouldn’t get a chance to visit the resident mall Santa, so he bought a $30 suit at Wal-Mart and affixed a fake beard, then knocked on their front door.
Following the visit, the parents asked if the boys knew who the visitor was. They replied, “Of course — it was Santa,” Jefferson recalled with a chuckle.
Since then, he’s graduated from a premiere Santa school, retired from the military and grown his own bushy white beard.
Last year, Jefferson became the first, and only, black member of the Lone Star Santas, a nonprofit boasting more than 350 Santa Clauses, Mrs. Clauses, and elves who donate toys to children in disaster-stricken areas.
Jim Fletcher, director emeritus of the fraternal order, said the group also has around six Hispanic Santas and at least two Jewish members. Ethnicity and religion are not what matters, he said; rather, it’s the spirit of giving.
“Being Santa comes from the heart,” Fletcher said. “It’s not what comes down the chimney.”
On Thursday morning, Jefferson emerged as Santa Larry, wowing toddlers and their siblings during individual play sessions. He spoke softly to his fans, patiently waiting for them to divulge their Christmas wishes.
Shelly Major, of Blaine, toted her three children to the photo studio for their few minutes with Jolly ol’ St. Nick. “He was very warm,” Major said.
Parents of biracial tots said they were especially pleased to show their kids that heroes come in all ethnicities. “Santa isn’t just white,” said Sara Schwantes, of Inver Grove Heights.
Santa Larry Jefferson smiles with Auden Good, 4, and his 1-year-old brother Ezra of Ramsey during photos at the Santa Experience at Mall of America.
Hundreds of appointments requesting Jefferson have him booked solid Saturday and Sunday. Limited openings remained for Friday, and a waitlist was also available.
When educator Shanene Herbert heard Jefferson would be in town, she immediately contacted the MOA to see if she could coordinate a meet-and-greet with her students at Project SPIRIT, an after-school program for black children in St. Paul Public Schools.
The curriculum is meant to teach black culture through positive role models — traits she immediately recognized in Jefferson.
“Kids only see one image of Santa,” said Herbert, director of Project SPIRIT. “Even though he’s a fictional character, he could be any color, any race, any gender. This is an image of him too.”
Meanwhile, Santa Larry has a Christmas wish too — to be invited to the White House by President Obama. He’d go see President-elect Donald Trump too, he said, if he comes calling. ||||| ’Tis the season of joy and mall Santas.
For Larry Jefferson-Gamble, that means leaving his home in Dallas and traveling to Minneapolis’ Mall of America, which will have a black Santa for the first time ever this year.
“I love Christmas,” Jefferson-Gamble told The Huffington Post, explaining his decision to attend Santa school in 2014, at about the same time he retired from a career in the military. “I enjoy making people smile and be happy. During the holidays, people go through a lot.”
Larry Jefferson-Gamble
He’s played different versions of Santa since he was 12 years old, when he took care of presents that year because his dad was sick. Years later, when his nephews fell ill around Christmas, he bought a Santa suit for $30 to surprise them.
From there, he started doing volunteer work as Santa, “and it just took off.”
He says most kids don’t seem to notice he’s a black Santa ― they’re just ecstatic to meet Santa.
“Kids love Santa no matter what color you are,” he said, adding that it’s really all about the red suit and the beard. Plus, he joked, “if you’ve got candy you’re a winner.”
But for kids of color, sometimes it does make a difference.
“It gives them something to identity with,” Jefferson-Gamble told CBS Minnesota, “but Santa is still just Santa.”
“Just Saturday, I was doing an event, and one child said, ‘Santa, you’re brown,’” he recalled, “and I said, ‘Yes, I am, but Santa comes in many different colors.’ He said, ‘Oh,’ so I gave him a candy cane, he ran off with other kids.” | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 16,462 |
Organizer of Indianapolis event says Facebook posts are indication of how out of touch some politicians are to women's issues
Buy Photo City-County Councilman Jack Sandlin, a former Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer, spoke at a news conference Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016, at the Indiana Statehouse about planned legislation to protect public safety officials. (Photo: Jenna Watson/IndyStar)Buy Photo
Amid women’s rights marches that drew massive crowds this weekend, two Indiana lawmakers are facing backlash for controversial Facebook posts, including one that described participants as “fat women out walking.”
Sen. Jack Sandlin, R-Indianapolis, took down the message but not before screenshots had been widely shared on Facebook and Twitter.
Jack Sandlin is a member of the Indiana State Senate. This is what we're dealing with. pic.twitter.com/7ZW1bnibnN — whitney (@its_whitney) January 23, 2017
Sandlin’s post appeared Sunday and showed a photo of protesters, many in pink hats and carrying signs, with the words, “In one day, Trump got more fat women out walking than Michelle Obama did in 8 years” – referencing the former first lady’s fitness campaign.
Another lawmaker, Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, is facing criticism for a Facebook post he shared Sunday that showed a police officer in riot gear pepper spraying a woman in the face, with the words, “Participation trophies, now in liquid form.” Lucas told IndyStar he doesn’t intend to delete the post.
The organizer of the Indianapolis march said the posts are an example of how out-of-touch some politicians are to women's issues. Other political observers say the posts are among the newest indications of lingering divisiveness after last year’s heated presidential race where the treatment of women was a major issue.
An estimated 4,500 people in Indianapolis and 500,000 in Washington, D.C., participated in events over the weekend.
Sandlin, a rookie senator, deleted the photo and posted a new message late Sunday night.
"Apparently there is an offensive post on Facebook that's attributed to me about women in Washington marching," Sandlin wrote. "Not sure how that ended up on my Facebook wall but that certainly does not reflect my opinion of women. People who know me will know that's not my view."
Sandlin's explanation received more than 950 comments by 7 a.m. Monday. About two hours later, the explanation had been deleted from his Facebook page.
In an interview with IndyStar, Sandlin said he spent the weekend in Washington for the presidential inauguration. He spent most of Sunday traveling.
He said he thinks someone else posted the message to his Facebook wall. He deleted the post shortly after someone alerted him about 11:30 p.m. Sunday. Screenshots show Sandlin's account sharing the message directly from another Facebook page, not another account sharing to Sandlin's Facebook page.
Indiana Sen. Jack Sandlin posted this explanation on Facebook. The post had been deleted from his page by 9 a.m. Monday. (Photo: Facebook screenshot.)
"I don't believe that I put it there," Sandlin said in response to an IndyStar question. "There's always an outside chance that I could have hit something. I know others that have had stuff show up on their Facebook wall as well."
As for Lucas, he said he regrets “how out of proportion this has been blown.”
“It wasn’t directed at women in particular,” Lucas said. “Some people are trying to make it a women’s issue. It has absolutely nothing to do with women’s issues. It absolutely has nothing to do with the march.”
Lucas, the House Republicans’ assistant majority whip, said feedback on the post “caught him flat-footed,” but he doesn’t plan to delete it.
“If I were to take it down, that means I’m … allowing myself to be bullied in something that there was no intent or harm meant, and I’m trying to reason with these people,” Lucas said. “If you find it offensive, I get that. I will be more cautious and sensitive moving forward.”
Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne, declined comment through a spokesman when asked about his thoughts on the post and whether Sandlin would face any discipline.
However, House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, called the post by Lucas “inadvisable.” Bosma said he had spoken with Lucas about it.
“He didn’t intend to insult anyone, but I personally found it to be inappropriate,” Bosma said.
The organizer of the Indianapolis rally said the posts show it’s time for a new generation of leaders.
“There are a lot of lawmakers that seem to be of a certain age that still believe that women should be seen and not heard” said Terri Siler, the organizer of the Indianapolis event who worked on Hillary Clinton’s campaign in Indiana.
Megan Robertson, a Republican strategist, said party members should be trying to understand more about the events.
“It does show how divided things are right now politically,” Robertson said, “instead of asking why people are marching, just flying off the handle and being angry people are marching.”
Sandlin served six years on the Indianapolis City-County Council before he was elected to the state Senate in November. Lucas was first elected to the General Assembly in 2012.
Call IndyStar reporter Vic Ryckaert at (317) 444-2701. Follow him on Twitter: @vicryc.
Read or Share this story: http://indy.st/2jQ0xpT ||||| Senator Chris McDaniel's Facebook post about the Women's March on Washington painted attendees as unhappy liberal women with tattoos and piercings.
After reading the post, many of those marchers certainly were unhappy.
"If they have the disposable income to afford those items, I'll say it again, why are you asking the people of Mississippi to pay for your abortions and your birth control?" said Senator McDaniel.
"So what about the women who couldn't afford to march and genuinely do not have the money to pay for those things? our reporter asked the Senator.
"It goes back to the private sector," replied Senator McDaniel. "Planned Parenthood has been extremely successful for whatever reason."
Crowd scientists estimate about 470 thousand people attended the Women's March on Washington.
Cassandra Welchland runs the Women's Economic Security work with the Mississippi Low Income Childcare Initiative.
"I find his statements very ignorant just to begin with, and I wonder what his mother and his wife and the women around him have to say about his sexism," said Welchland.
"The march wasn't just about free birth control, free women's health care or free abortions," our reporter pressed Senator McDaniel. "How would you address all of the other issues, like equal pay for women?
"Well the issues I was speaking to was the issues of abortion and free birth control," the Senator responded. "And the reason I addressed those issues is just because I went to the organizer's website, and I found that was one of the specific declarations of unity they were pushing for."
Less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump was sworn into office, crowds turned out for women's marches all across the country. According to the movement's official website, their mission is to protect women's rights, safety, health, and families.
On Sunday, the day after the march, Senator Chris McDaniel posted to his Facebook page calling out the "unhappy liberal women", asking "if they can afford all those piercings, tattoos, body paintings, signs, and plane tickets, then why do they want us to pay for their birth control?"
His post, which has been shared over 8.3K times and has received over 8.2K comments, spread quickly, finding it's way to thousands of people who have called him out as being a misogynist, disgusting and offensive among other things.
Here's what some people are saying about it:
Cory Blair They weren't all liberals. Not at all, and that is beside the point. Millions of women feel discriminated against, are fearful that they are unheard, that their rights could be taken away. They are only asking for equality and understanding. How is that not a message for anyone to support or get behind? How can you be against anyone asking for fair treatment and the same rights as others? Shame on you. You are in the minority sir.
Jo Ann Crooks Hall I hope you've been hacked, Senator McDaniel. That's the only reason I can imagine an elected representative of the people and self-described man of God would speak so dismissively of the concerns voiced by many men and women of this country. Please tell me this is an unfortunate misunderstanding, that you are, indeed, very interested in the health, education, and welfare of Mississippians.
Andy Hamilton This is the type of post I'd expect from a drunk fraternity chump. Instead it's a sober (I'm assuming) elected official whose job it is to serve many of the very women you chose to stereotype and demean with an ignorant social media post. This isn't about being Republican or Democrat, and certainly not about paying for birth control, this is about taxpayer money in MS paying the salary of a misogynistic Senator.
Whitman Smith What a complete misogynist. Women marched all over the world for women's rights among many other things, and so did a lot of men. I guess all the conservative women are happy because they do what all the conservative men tell them, right? See how ridiculous that sounds? That is how ridiculous you sound. Never known anyone to be so out of touch. Shame on you for continuing to shame women.
Read more comments HERE
On Monday morning, Senator McDaniel posted again to his page in response, saying that "no amount of liberal hell raising will change my opinion. Indeed, as I awake this morning, I have never been more committed to the absolute defunding of Planned Parenthood and the immediate wholesale repeal of Obamacare."
Later that night, Senator McDaniel posted yet again in response to the backlash by saying, " I understand your position. You love free stuff. I get it. Unfortunately, in your quest for freebies, your so-called "revolution of love" has become little more than intolerant hatred for anyone who disagrees."
He also took the opportunity to push his position on abortion by claiming the "tragic irony of the #WomensMarch is that most were marching for the "right" to violently end the lives of their unborn, including the lives of little girls."
Senator McDaniel, a native of Laurel, represents District 42, which includes Forrest and Jones counties.
What do you think about Senator McDaniel's comments? Tell us by voting in our online poll.
Copyright 2017 MSNewsNow. All rights reserved. ||||| "Just think about this," wrote Judge Bailey Moseley, who serves on Texas' 6th Court of Appeals in Texarkana. "After just one day in office, Trump managed to achieve something that no one else has been able to do: he got a million fat women out walking."
The post was removed from his Facebook page Monday afternoon. ||||| So a group of unhappy liberal women marched in Washington DC. We shouldn't be surprised; almost all liberal women are unhappy. Perhaps there's a correlation.
Nevertheless, I'm fascinated to see them exercise their First Amendment rights (however objectionable the message).
But I do have a question: if they can afford all those piercings, tattoos, body paintings, signs, and plane tickets, then why do they want us to pay for their birth control? ||||| SHARE COPY LINK A Washington, D.C. official says the estimated turnout for the Women's March in the city now stands at a half a million. It is about double the amount of people who showed up to President Donald Trump's inauguration. McClatchy
A Washington, D.C. official says the estimated turnout for the Women's March in the city now stands at a half a million. It is about double the amount of people who showed up to President Donald Trump's inauguration. McClatchy | – More than 3 million women joined women's marches around the country and around the world on Sunday—and more than one elected official appears to have forgotten that women vote. In several states, lawmakers and other official faced angry backlashes after insulting marchers. A roundup: Judge Bailey Moseley, who serves on Texas' 6th Court of Appeals in Texarkana, deleted a Facebook post after heavy criticism, the Star-Telegram reports. "Just think about this," wrote Moseley. "After just one day in office, Trump managed to achieve something that no one else has been able to do: he got a million fat women out walking." DallasNews notes that Moseley's website claims that he is "known for his strong integrity." In Indiana, state Sen. Jack Sandlin withdrew a similar Facebook post describing the marchers as "fat women walking," the Indianapolis Star reports. He apologized and said he wasn't sure how the meme ended up on his wall. Another state Republican, Rep. Jim Lucas, refused to delete a Facebook post showing a woman getting pepper-sprayed in the face with the caption: "Participation trophies now in liquid form." WRAL reports that in North Carolina, newly elected state insurance commissioner Mike Causey, a Republican, apologized after sharing yet another "fat women walking" post. "This does not reflect my feelings toward women, and in the future, we will manage social media in a more responsible manner," he said in a statement Monday. In Mississippi, state Sen. Chris McDaniel is taking flak for a Facebook post in which he describes the millions of marchers as "unhappy liberal women," WLOX reports. "If they can afford all those piercings, tattoos, body paintings, signs, and plane tickets, then why do they want us to pay for their birth control?" the Republican wonders. The insults, like the marches, were global. "Don't these clowns have anything else better to do with their time other than to hold sad, anti-democracy protests?" Australian far-right leader Pauline Hanson said in a Facebook post, wondering why people were walking around in the summer heat protesting the American president. But "I suppose it's good that they were out and about and doing a bit of walking because it looked like a few of them needed to get a bit of sun and do a bit exercise." News.com.au notes that the One Nation party leader may have been annoyed by one of the chants that could be heard from Brisbane protesters: "Donald Trump, go to hell. Take One Nation there as well." | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Organizer of Indianapolis event says Facebook posts are indication of how out of touch some politicians are to women's issues
Buy Photo City-County Councilman Jack Sandlin, a former Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer, spoke at a news conference Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016, at the Indiana Statehouse about planned legislation to protect public safety officials. (Photo: Jenna Watson/IndyStar)Buy Photo
Amid women’s rights marches that drew massive crowds this weekend, two Indiana lawmakers are facing backlash for controversial Facebook posts, including one that described participants as “fat women out walking.”
Sen. Jack Sandlin, R-Indianapolis, took down the message but not before screenshots had been widely shared on Facebook and Twitter.
Jack Sandlin is a member of the Indiana State Senate. This is what we're dealing with. pic.twitter.com/7ZW1bnibnN — whitney (@its_whitney) January 23, 2017
Sandlin’s post appeared Sunday and showed a photo of protesters, many in pink hats and carrying signs, with the words, “In one day, Trump got more fat women out walking than Michelle Obama did in 8 years” – referencing the former first lady’s fitness campaign.
Another lawmaker, Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, is facing criticism for a Facebook post he shared Sunday that showed a police officer in riot gear pepper spraying a woman in the face, with the words, “Participation trophies, now in liquid form.” Lucas told IndyStar he doesn’t intend to delete the post.
The organizer of the Indianapolis march said the posts are an example of how out-of-touch some politicians are to women's issues. Other political observers say the posts are among the newest indications of lingering divisiveness after last year’s heated presidential race where the treatment of women was a major issue.
An estimated 4,500 people in Indianapolis and 500,000 in Washington, D.C., participated in events over the weekend.
Sandlin, a rookie senator, deleted the photo and posted a new message late Sunday night.
"Apparently there is an offensive post on Facebook that's attributed to me about women in Washington marching," Sandlin wrote. "Not sure how that ended up on my Facebook wall but that certainly does not reflect my opinion of women. People who know me will know that's not my view."
Sandlin's explanation received more than 950 comments by 7 a.m. Monday. About two hours later, the explanation had been deleted from his Facebook page.
In an interview with IndyStar, Sandlin said he spent the weekend in Washington for the presidential inauguration. He spent most of Sunday traveling.
He said he thinks someone else posted the message to his Facebook wall. He deleted the post shortly after someone alerted him about 11:30 p.m. Sunday. Screenshots show Sandlin's account sharing the message directly from another Facebook page, not another account sharing to Sandlin's Facebook page.
Indiana Sen. Jack Sandlin posted this explanation on Facebook. The post had been deleted from his page by 9 a.m. Monday. (Photo: Facebook screenshot.)
"I don't believe that I put it there," Sandlin said in response to an IndyStar question. "There's always an outside chance that I could have hit something. I know others that have had stuff show up on their Facebook wall as well."
As for Lucas, he said he regrets “how out of proportion this has been blown.”
“It wasn’t directed at women in particular,” Lucas said. “Some people are trying to make it a women’s issue. It has absolutely nothing to do with women’s issues. It absolutely has nothing to do with the march.”
Lucas, the House Republicans’ assistant majority whip, said feedback on the post “caught him flat-footed,” but he doesn’t plan to delete it.
“If I were to take it down, that means I’m … allowing myself to be bullied in something that there was no intent or harm meant, and I’m trying to reason with these people,” Lucas said. “If you find it offensive, I get that. I will be more cautious and sensitive moving forward.”
Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne, declined comment through a spokesman when asked about his thoughts on the post and whether Sandlin would face any discipline.
However, House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, called the post by Lucas “inadvisable.” Bosma said he had spoken with Lucas about it.
“He didn’t intend to insult anyone, but I personally found it to be inappropriate,” Bosma said.
The organizer of the Indianapolis rally said the posts show it’s time for a new generation of leaders.
“There are a lot of lawmakers that seem to be of a certain age that still believe that women should be seen and not heard” said Terri Siler, the organizer of the Indianapolis event who worked on Hillary Clinton’s campaign in Indiana.
Megan Robertson, a Republican strategist, said party members should be trying to understand more about the events.
“It does show how divided things are right now politically,” Robertson said, “instead of asking why people are marching, just flying off the handle and being angry people are marching.”
Sandlin served six years on the Indianapolis City-County Council before he was elected to the state Senate in November. Lucas was first elected to the General Assembly in 2012.
Call IndyStar reporter Vic Ryckaert at (317) 444-2701. Follow him on Twitter: @vicryc.
Read or Share this story: http://indy.st/2jQ0xpT ||||| Senator Chris McDaniel's Facebook post about the Women's March on Washington painted attendees as unhappy liberal women with tattoos and piercings.
After reading the post, many of those marchers certainly were unhappy.
"If they have the disposable income to afford those items, I'll say it again, why are you asking the people of Mississippi to pay for your abortions and your birth control?" said Senator McDaniel.
"So what about the women who couldn't afford to march and genuinely do not have the money to pay for those things? our reporter asked the Senator.
"It goes back to the private sector," replied Senator McDaniel. "Planned Parenthood has been extremely successful for whatever reason."
Crowd scientists estimate about 470 thousand people attended the Women's March on Washington.
Cassandra Welchland runs the Women's Economic Security work with the Mississippi Low Income Childcare Initiative.
"I find his statements very ignorant just to begin with, and I wonder what his mother and his wife and the women around him have to say about his sexism," said Welchland.
"The march wasn't just about free birth control, free women's health care or free abortions," our reporter pressed Senator McDaniel. "How would you address all of the other issues, like equal pay for women?
"Well the issues I was speaking to was the issues of abortion and free birth control," the Senator responded. "And the reason I addressed those issues is just because I went to the organizer's website, and I found that was one of the specific declarations of unity they were pushing for."
Less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump was sworn into office, crowds turned out for women's marches all across the country. According to the movement's official website, their mission is to protect women's rights, safety, health, and families.
On Sunday, the day after the march, Senator Chris McDaniel posted to his Facebook page calling out the "unhappy liberal women", asking "if they can afford all those piercings, tattoos, body paintings, signs, and plane tickets, then why do they want us to pay for their birth control?"
His post, which has been shared over 8.3K times and has received over 8.2K comments, spread quickly, finding it's way to thousands of people who have called him out as being a misogynist, disgusting and offensive among other things.
Here's what some people are saying about it:
Cory Blair They weren't all liberals. Not at all, and that is beside the point. Millions of women feel discriminated against, are fearful that they are unheard, that their rights could be taken away. They are only asking for equality and understanding. How is that not a message for anyone to support or get behind? How can you be against anyone asking for fair treatment and the same rights as others? Shame on you. You are in the minority sir.
Jo Ann Crooks Hall I hope you've been hacked, Senator McDaniel. That's the only reason I can imagine an elected representative of the people and self-described man of God would speak so dismissively of the concerns voiced by many men and women of this country. Please tell me this is an unfortunate misunderstanding, that you are, indeed, very interested in the health, education, and welfare of Mississippians.
Andy Hamilton This is the type of post I'd expect from a drunk fraternity chump. Instead it's a sober (I'm assuming) elected official whose job it is to serve many of the very women you chose to stereotype and demean with an ignorant social media post. This isn't about being Republican or Democrat, and certainly not about paying for birth control, this is about taxpayer money in MS paying the salary of a misogynistic Senator.
Whitman Smith What a complete misogynist. Women marched all over the world for women's rights among many other things, and so did a lot of men. I guess all the conservative women are happy because they do what all the conservative men tell them, right? See how ridiculous that sounds? That is how ridiculous you sound. Never known anyone to be so out of touch. Shame on you for continuing to shame women.
Read more comments HERE
On Monday morning, Senator McDaniel posted again to his page in response, saying that "no amount of liberal hell raising will change my opinion. Indeed, as I awake this morning, I have never been more committed to the absolute defunding of Planned Parenthood and the immediate wholesale repeal of Obamacare."
Later that night, Senator McDaniel posted yet again in response to the backlash by saying, " I understand your position. You love free stuff. I get it. Unfortunately, in your quest for freebies, your so-called "revolution of love" has become little more than intolerant hatred for anyone who disagrees."
He also took the opportunity to push his position on abortion by claiming the "tragic irony of the #WomensMarch is that most were marching for the "right" to violently end the lives of their unborn, including the lives of little girls."
Senator McDaniel, a native of Laurel, represents District 42, which includes Forrest and Jones counties.
What do you think about Senator McDaniel's comments? Tell us by voting in our online poll.
Copyright 2017 MSNewsNow. All rights reserved. ||||| "Just think about this," wrote Judge Bailey Moseley, who serves on Texas' 6th Court of Appeals in Texarkana. "After just one day in office, Trump managed to achieve something that no one else has been able to do: he got a million fat women out walking."
The post was removed from his Facebook page Monday afternoon. ||||| So a group of unhappy liberal women marched in Washington DC. We shouldn't be surprised; almost all liberal women are unhappy. Perhaps there's a correlation.
Nevertheless, I'm fascinated to see them exercise their First Amendment rights (however objectionable the message).
But I do have a question: if they can afford all those piercings, tattoos, body paintings, signs, and plane tickets, then why do they want us to pay for their birth control? ||||| SHARE COPY LINK A Washington, D.C. official says the estimated turnout for the Women's March in the city now stands at a half a million. It is about double the amount of people who showed up to President Donald Trump's inauguration. McClatchy
A Washington, D.C. official says the estimated turnout for the Women's March in the city now stands at a half a million. It is about double the amount of people who showed up to President Donald Trump's inauguration. McClatchy | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 25,875 |
Last week, Bob Fitrakis and Gerry Bello at FreePress.org reported an important story concerning what they described as "uncertified 'experimental' software patches" being installed at the last minute on electronic vote tabulation systems in 39 Ohio counties.
The story included a copy of the contract [PDF] between Republican Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted's office and ES&S, the nation's largest e-voting system manufacturer, for a new, last-minute piece of software created to the custom specifications of the secretary of state. The contract itself describes the software as "High-level enhancements to ES&S' election reporting software that extend beyond the current features and functionality of the software to facilitate a custom-developed State Election Results Reporting File."
A subsequent story at the Free Press the following day included text said to be from a Nov. 1 memo sent from the Ohio secretary of state's Election Counsel Brandi Laser Seske to a number of state election officials confirming the use of the new, uncertified software on Ohio's tabulator systems. The memo claims that "its function is to aid in the reporting of results" by converting them "into a format that can be read by the Secretary of State's election night reporting system."
On Friday evening, at Huffington Post, journalist Art Levine followed up with a piece that, among other things, advanced the story by breaking the news that Fitrakis and his attorney Cliff Arnebeck were filing a lawsuit for an immediate injunction against Husted and ES&S to "halt the use of secretly installed, unauthorized 'experimental' software in 39 counties' tabulators." Levine also reported that Arnebeck had referred the matter to the Cincinnati FBI for criminal investigation of what the Ohio attorney describes as "a flagrant violation of the law."
"Before you add new software, you need approval of a state board," says Arnebeck. "They are installing an uncertified, suspect software patch that interfaces between the county's vote tabulation equipment and state tabulators." Arnebeck's alarm is understandable.
Since the story initially broke, I've been trying to learn as much as I could about what is actually going on here. During that time, a few in the mainstream media have gotten wind of the story as well, including NBC News and CNN, and have been able to press Husted and other officials in his office into finally responding to the concerns publicly. The Ohio officials have attempted to downplay the concerns, though in doing so they appear to have given misleading information which, at times, seems to conflict even with the contract itself.
I've also spoken to computer scientists and election integrity experts, in trying to make sense of all of this, though many of them seem to be scratching their heads as well. My own queries to the Secretary of State's office have gone unanswered, as had Fitrakis' and Bello's before they published their initial story, begging the question as to why, if this software is as benign as Ohio officials are suggesting, they didn't respond immediately to say as much. Furthermore, why did they keep the contract a secret? Why did they wait until just before the election to have this work done? And why did they feel it was appropriate to circumvent both federal and state testing and certification programs for the software in the bargain?
I'd like to have been able to learn much more before running anything on this at all, frankly. But the lack of time between now and Tuesday's election --- in which Ohio's results are universally believed to be key to determining the next president of the United States --- preclude that.
So, based on the information I've been able to glean so far, allow me to try to explain, in as simple terms as I can, what we currently know and what we don't, and what the serious concerns are all about.
And, just to pre-respond to those supposed journalists who have shown a proclivity for reading comprehension issues, let me be clear: No, this does not mean I am charging that there is a conspiracy to rig or steal the Ohio election. While there certainly could be, if there is, I don't know about it, nor am I charging there is any such conspiracy at this time. The secretive, seemingly extra-legal way in which Secretary of State Husted's office is going about whatever it is they are trying to do, however, at the very last minute before the election, along with the explanations they've given for it to date, and concerns about similar cases in the past, in both Ohio and elsewhere, are certainly cause for any reasonable skeptic or journalist to be suspicious and investigate what could be going on. And so I am ...
The Contract
The first 13 pages of the 28-page contract [PDF] is largely boilerplate legal stuff. The actual "Statement of Work" in the contract, signed on Sept. 18, 2012, by ES&S and on Sept. 19 by Assistant Secretary of State Scott Borgemenke --- less than two months before this year's presidential election --- describes the software that is to be created for the state by ES&S, beginning on Page 17.
Here's the beginning of the "Overview" section, describing the scope of the work, which I'll try to unpack just below it, for non-geeks...
In short, the contract is for an application called EXP, which exports voting results into a specific format after the data from the central tabulator has been organized by the ES&S Election Reporting Manager (ERM). The ERM program itself directly accesses the main tabulator database and the results are then exported, by EXP, to a text-based file.
The text-based file is then sent by the county, via some unspecified means, to the secretary of state for import into its Election Night Reporting System, which is subsequently made available on the Web, where it will be viewed by the media and the rest of the world as the "results" of that day's election in Ohio.
The unencrypted text-based file created by EXP is a simple CSV (Comma Separate Values) formatted file, which includes field names and values separated by commas, as culled from the tabulated results database. Pages 26 and 27 of the contract detail the specific format for the plain text files created by EXP. Here's an example:
The Secretary of State's Explanations
Last last week, a public response was finally offered to Ugonna Okpalaoka of theGrio, an African-American-centric website published in partnership with NBC News.
Okpalaoka write: "Matt McClellan, a spokesman for the Secretary of State's office, told theGrio that no patches were installed, describing instead a reporting tool software meant to 'assist counties and to help them simplify the process by which they report the results to our system.'"
McClellan's reported claim that "no patches were installed," but rather it was simply "a reporting tool software" to assist counties, seems to be in direct contradiction with the contract itself.
At the bottom of Page 17, the contract states that "the current ES&S ERM Results Export Program (EXP) product version 2.0.6.0" will be "modified to meet the Customers request." The contract goes on to say that it "shall be modified" into two different EXP versions, 2.0.7.0 and 3.0.1.0, to work with two different versions of the ERM software variously installed in different Ohio counties.
It's not entirely clear how the new version of EXP will differ from the existing one, though the contract specifies the older version created XML-formatted files instead of plain-text CSV files. The new version of the EXP program is installed onto the tabulation computing systems of the Ohio counties, which use the ES&S system, so this updated version is a new version of the existing software. It is either a "patch" or an upgrade or a new installation. Distinguishing between those descriptions, in this case, seems to be a distinction without a difference made by McClellan. In either case, it's new software being applied onto the existing central tabulation system computers, without either state or federal certification, just days before the 2012 presidential election.
By describing it as "experimental" software, it seems the state is attempting to skirt the legal requirements for state testing and certification by the Ohio Board of Voting Machine Examiners. But more on that in a moment.
According to Pam Smith, president of the nonpartisan watchdog group VerifiedVoting.org, her organization also sought explanations for the last-minute software changes from the secretary of state's office.
She tells me that she was told that "the Secretary of State team installed the EXP tool" themselves in the counties that use the ES&S system. "It was not left to the counties to figure out the installation or the configuration."
Moreover, she stressed, she was told the software "does not get installed on voting machines."
But that makes little difference, since the software is installed directly onto the central tabulator machines, where it can affect -- either accidentally, or by design -- the main results of an entire county's election. Software residing on the central tabulation systems is, in fact, far more dangerous than software on the voting systems, since it can have direct access to the entire set of county election results.
Jim March, a longtime Libertarian election integrity and software expert, as well as a member of the Pima County, Ariz., Election Integrity Commission (which serves as an official advisory body to the Pima County Board of Supervisors), and a founding and current board member of BlackBoxVoting.org, is highly suspicious of the last-minute installation of software.
In an affidavit [PDF] submitted to Fitrakis and Arnebeck for their legal case, March says he believes "that this custom software is not necessary for the conduct of elections and is in fact highly dangerous."
March has been involved in numerous cases involving suspicious elections and election software. In 2005 he received part of a multimillion-dollar settlement from Diebold as the result of a qui tam case with the state of California, after it had been discovered that the company had secretly installed uncertified software on its voting systems in the state. The secretary of state decertified the systems as a result.
"What ES&S has chosen to do here is extremely dangerous and exactly what you'd want to do if you wanted to plant a 'cheat' onto the central tabulator," March says in his affidavit.
On Saturday night, Secretary Husted himself attempted to downplay the matter during an interview with CNN's Don Lemon, explaining that there was no danger in installing the software on the county's tabulation systems. MSNBC's "Ed Show" played that part of the exchange with the secretary, as well as a response to it from Democratic Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner.
As Husted explained to Lemon: "The reporting system and the counting system are not connected in any actual way. And the results that anybody can get at home on their computer are -- they're going to get them at the same time that I do on election night. So we have a very transparent system."
The "transparency" of a system that counts votes in secret and features a secretly installed piece of software that skirted normal certification procedures aside, March's affidavit disputes Husted's explanation about the separation between the reporting and counting systems.
"Their custom application ... would have full contact with the central tabulator database on both a read and write basis, while running on the same computer as where the 'master vote records' (the central tabulator database -- the 'crown jewels' of the whole process) are stored," he says.
"Under this structure a case of accidental damage to the 'crown jewels' of the election data is possible. A case of deliberate tampering of that data using uncertified, untested software would be child's play."
He describes the process as "criminally negligent just from a standpoint of data security."
State Sen. Turner was similarly suspicious: "They should not be experimenting in a presidential election. You know the secretary of state had previous years to try to experiment."
Indeed, one of the unanswered questions we sent to the secretary of state asked why they waited until Sept. 18 to begin this contract, since Husted's been in office fore nearly two full years, and they've carried out many elections, of lesser import than a presidential election since that time during which this software could have had a trial run. Furthermore, we asked, how did they manage without it until now during both his tenure and that of his predecessors?
We received no reply to that and a number of other related questions.
When theGrio asked a similar question, as to why they waited until "so soon before the election" to commission the new software, they were told by McClellan: "I'm not sure the exact timeline of that, but I know we've been working with the counties for the past couple of months on getting these in place, testing them to make sure they work properly, and working with the vendors as well."
There was another point reported by theGrio that seems to be in direct contradiction to the contract between ES&S and the secretary of state, and it's a troubling one.
They report: "McClellan said the tool serves to cut down on the amount of information precinct workers would have to key in by hand by allowing the results to be output onto a thumbdrive and uploaded at once into the Secretary of State's system."
But the contract specifically notes at the top of Page 21 that "Automated uploading or sending of the State Election Results Reporting file" is "outside the scope" of the software called for in the agreement, and that "It is a manual process to upload or send the results file."
That would seem to contradict McClellan's claim that the converted file created by the EXP program is "output onto a thumbdrive and uploaded at once into the Secretary of State's system."
The way in which that file is sent to the secretary of state, as noted, remains unknown. Moreover, if a plain text file is sent via email, or other similar Internet transmission, it can easily be intercepted and changed before it ever even reaches the SoS Election Night Reporting System. Such an attack is sometimes described as a "Man-in-the-Middle" attack.
Verified Voting's Smith explained that she had been told that results files from the state's other e-voting systems made by Diebold and Hart-Intercivic already created files in the format that EXP was being modified to create. Thus, she said, all of the files would be in the same format for uniform import into the Election Night Reporting System.
Another question I'd asked of Husted's office was, if all that EXP did was simply convert files from one simple format to another, wouldn't it have been far less dangerous to install the software once at the secretary of state's office and simply convert files there for the Reporting System, after they'd been sent to them by the counties, rather than install 39 uncertified pieces of software on 39 different central tabulators in 39 different Ohio counties just days before the 2012 presidential election?
I received no answer to that question either.
History and Reason for Concern
Writing in the Oct. 5, 2006, issue of Rolling Stone, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in"Will the Next Election Be Hacked?" described a suspect election that took place in Georgia in 2002, just after Diebold's electronic touch-screen voting systems had been deployed for the first time across the entire state.
"Six days before the vote," Kennedy writes, "polls showed Sen. Max Cleland, a decorated war veteran and Democratic incumbent, leading his Republican opponent Saxby Chambliss ... by five percentage points. In the governor's race, Democrat Roy Barnes was running a decisive eleven points ahead of Republican Sonny Perdue. But on Election Day, Chambliss won with fifty-three percent of the vote, and Perdue won with fifty-one percent."
To this day, Election Integrity advocates cite that 2002 election as suspect, along with the curious software "patch" they later learned was secretly applied to the state's electronic voting system earlier that year.
In his article, Kennedy quotes Diebold contractor Chris Hood, who was directly involved in the installation of the systems across the state, as describing Diebold Election Systems Inc. president Bob Urosevich personally distributing the software "patch," which was covertly installed on more than 1,200 Diebold touch-screen systems that year.
No one will likely ever be able to prove that the November 2002 election was rigged, but that infamous software "patch," along with the anomalous election results from 100 percent unverifiable voting systems (which are still in use today across the state of Georgia and in many other states) has cast an everlasting cloud of suspicion over that election.
Similarly, there remains a dark cloud of suspicion over the 2004 presidential election in Ohio itself, the last one run under the administration of a Republican secretary of state, when blatant voter suppression tactics, ballot tampering, unprecedented counting room lockdowns due to phony Homeland Security "terror warnings," criminal manipulation of the post-election recount, as well as concern about a possible "Man-in-the-Middle" hack of the state's Election Night Reporting System have long cast a shadow of doubt over the reported results.
The BRAD BLOG was honored with an award from Sonoma State University's 36-year old investigative reporting project Project Censored for some of our coverage of the mysterous death of Ohio-based GOP IT guru Michael Connell.
In 2004, Connell designed and created Ohio's Election Night Reporting System for then Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell. It was later discovered, ironically enough by Ohio's investigative journalist Bob Fitrakis and the Free Press, that the results the world were watching on the Web that night, as it became clear that the winner of the Buckeye State would determine the presidency, had been diverted from Ohio down to the servers of a far right-wing company in Chattanooga, Tenn., called SmarTech in the middle of the night.
Computer analysts and security experts, including a Republican who worked with Connell, have speculated, with a fair amount of evidence to support their case, that there could have been a "Man-in-the-Middle" attack that night, in which someone changed the results of the election between the time they were tabulated at the county level and before they appeared on the secretary of state's website later that evening, as it was then being run out of SmarTech's servers in Tennessee.
We may never know if that actually occurred, though schematics unearthed during an election fraud case against Blackwell detailed how Connell's system allowed for "Man-in-the-Middle" access to change the results before they were reported to the world. Despite a federal court order to retain all of the ballots from the election, some or all of them were destroyed in 56 out of 88 counties, so it became impossible to compare the reported results with the actual ballots cast during the 2004 election.
Connell can no longer discuss the matter. He was killed when he crashed near the Columbus airport in his single-engine Piper Saratoga on his way back from Washington, D.C., for his company's Christmas party in December of 2008. One month earlier, on the Monday before the 2008 presidential election, a federal judge compelled Connell to sit for a deposition in the 2004 election fraud case in which the attorneys believed the man who created the George W. Bush and John McCain campaign websites, as well as the now-infamous secret email system for the George W. Bush administration, held the key to an alleged conspiracy to steal the 2004 election in Ohio for Bush.
Whether or not a similar scheme could be in the works in 2012 is certainly unknown. To be clear, once again, I am alleging no such thing. I am simply reporting the facts that I know, and those that I do not.
Nonetheless, questions about a last-minute secret software patch to be used across multiple counties in Ohio, one that now resides on vote tabulation systems and is said to produce easily modifiable text files to be uploaded to a very partisan secretary of state's Election Night Reporting System, certainly have a familiar, and to some, a chilling ring just over 24 hours before the next presidential election could well be decided in the Buckeye State.
As the Free Press notes, "Government reports such as Ohio's Everest study [PDF] [the landmark analysis of the state's electronic voting systems by world class academic and corporate computer science and security experts, commissioned by Husted's Democratic predecessor Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner] document that any single change to the system could corrupt the whole voting process."
Late on Sunday, in a new update from Bello and Fitrakis at the Free Press, the pair describe that "The potential federal illegality of this software has been hidden from public scrutiny by the Secretary of State's Election Counsel Brandi Seske." They report that a Sept. 29 memo from Seske describes "de minimis changes" in the ES&S software that allowed for use of the software updates without state testing. "De minimis," they explain, "is a legal term for minute."
And yet, they go on to cite a memo from the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission, the body tasked with certifying electronic voting and tabulation systems at the federal level, dated February 8, 2012 entitled "Software and Firmware modifications are not de minimis changes."
"Ohio election law provides for experimental equipment only in a limited number of precincts per county," they report. "Installing uncertified and untested software on central tabulation equipment essentially affects every single precinct in a given county."
"The method of execution chosen," for this effort, notes March in his affidavit for the Fitrakis/Arnebeck injunction lawsuit, "is unspeakably stupid, excessively complex and insanely risky. In medical terms it is the equivalent of doing open heart surgery as part of a method of removing somebody's hemorrhoids. Whoever came up with this idea is either the dumbest Information Technology 'professional' in the US or has criminal intent against the Ohio election process."
Ernest A. Canning contributed research to this report.
Brad Friedman Investigative journalist and broadcaster Brad Friedman is the creator and publisher of MORE FROM Brad Friedman Investigative journalist and broadcaster Brad Friedman is the creator and publisher of The BRAD Blog . He has contributed to Mother Jones, The Guardian, Truthout, Huffington Post, The Trial Lawyer magazine and Editor & Publisher.
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in your inbox every day Sign up for our free newsletter • • • ||||| Why did the Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted's office, in an end run around Ohio election law, have "experimental" software patches installed on vote counting tabulators in up to 39 Ohio counties? Voting rights activists are concerned that these uncertified and untested software patches may alter the election results.
During the 2004 presidential election, the Free Press reported that election officials observed technicians from the ES&S voting machine company and Triad computer maintenance company installing uncertified and untested software patches on voting machines in 44 Ohio counties prior to the election. Software patches are usually installed to "update" or change existing software. These software patch updates were considered suspect by election protection activists, in light of all the voting machine anomalies found during the 2004 election in Ohio.
The Free Press has learned that Election Systems and Solutions (ES&S) installed the software patches that will affect 4,041,056 registered voters, including those in metropolitan Columbus and Cleveland (click here for spread sheet from verifiedvoting.org).
A call to the Ohio Secretary of State's office concerning the software patches was not returned by publication deadline. Previously, the Free Press requests for public records, including voting machine vendor contracts, have been stonewalled by Office Secretary of State John Husted's office through his public records officer Chris Shea. Through other channels, the Free Press has obtained and has posted the possibly illegal full contract online here (see page 17).
The contract calls for ES & S technicians and county poll workers to "enter custom codes and interfaces" to the standard election reporting software just as was done with the controversial 2004 Ohio presidential election.
Last minute software patches may be deemed "experimental" because that designation does not require certification and testing. Uncertified and untested software for electronic voting systems are presumably illegal under Ohio law. All election systems hardware and software must be tested and certified by the state before being put into use, according to Ohio Revised Code 3506.05. By unilaterally deeming this new software "experimental," Secretary of State Husted was able to have the software installed without any review, inspection or certification by anyone. ES & S, for their part, knows that this software will not be subject to the minimal legally required testing as stated in the contract on page 21 (Section 6.1).
The contract specifically states that this software has not been and need not be reviewed by any testing authority at the state or federal level. Yet, it is installed on voting machines that will tabulate and report official election results, which Ohio law forbids. Based on the Free Press reading of the contract, this software is fully developed, being referred as versions 2.0.7.0 and 3.0.1.0. Thus the only thing making this software "experimental" is the fact that it has never been independently certified or tested.
In preparation for the upcoming general election in late April, the Free Press began requesting public records from all 88 counties in Ohio in order to build a broad database of every vendor and piece of equipment used in the state of Ohio. Aside from some minor delays, all 88 county jurisdictions have complied.
However, the office of the Ohio Secretary of State however, has not complied with any requests for lists of equipment, contracts with vendors, schedules of payment and even the identities of the vendors. The Free Press' public records requests, under ORC 149.43 (The Public Records Act) have been ignored by Chris Shea, presumably acting on behalf of Secretary of State Jon Husted. Now that the Free Press has obtained the contract, it seems clear that the secretary of state's office was hiding these last minute "experimental" uncertified software installations.
On page 19 of the contract, terms require the various county boards of elections to purchase additional software from ES & S if they are not compatible with this new "experimental" statewide tabulation and reporting system. This unfunded mandate clause illegally bypasses individual counties rights to make their own purchasing determinations.
The controversial software will create simple .csv files like those produced by spreadsheet programs for input into the statewide tabulation system. According to the terms of the contract, data security is the responsibility of each local board of elections: "…each county will be responsible for the implementation of any security protocols" (see page 21 of the contract).
Most county boards of elections do not have their own IT departments and are reliant on private partisan contractors to maintain and program the electronic voting systems. These piecemeal implementations of security protocols would also be untested and uncertified.
Voting rights activists believe this whole scheme may create a host of new avenues of attack on the integrity of the electronic vote counting system. The untested and uncertified "experimental" software itself may be malware. Public trust in the electronic vote counting system has emerged as the key issue in the Ohio presidential election.
The Free Press will be updating this breaking story as more information is obtained and analyzed, so stay tuned. The story for now is that the Secretary of State in the key swing state in the 2012 presidential has installed "experimental" uncertified and untested software to count a large portion of the Ohio vote.
-- | – Ohio is adding a last-minute, "experimental" software patch to its electronic voting machines—and one official explanation seems to contradict the very contract signed for the job, Salon reports. A representative for Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted told theGrio that the change added software—not a patch—that simplifies data entry for precinct workers and helps them output data onto a thumb drive. But the contract itself calls for a "Results Export Program" to be "modified"—apparently to change the format of voting results before they are sent to the secretary of state. A journalist who broke the story at FreePress.org has filed an injunction to stop Husted and the e-voting manufacturer, ES&S, from adding the patch. But Husted defended the move on CNN this weekend, saying Ohio's counting and reporting systems "are not connected in any actual way. ... So we have a very transparent system." Libertarian election expert Jim March, however, said he's worried about Husted's eleventh-hour fix in a key swing state: "A case of accidental damage to the 'crown jewels' of the election data is possible," he said in an affidavit. "A case of deliberate tampering of that data using uncertified, untested software would be child’s play." | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Last week, Bob Fitrakis and Gerry Bello at FreePress.org reported an important story concerning what they described as "uncertified 'experimental' software patches" being installed at the last minute on electronic vote tabulation systems in 39 Ohio counties.
The story included a copy of the contract [PDF] between Republican Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted's office and ES&S, the nation's largest e-voting system manufacturer, for a new, last-minute piece of software created to the custom specifications of the secretary of state. The contract itself describes the software as "High-level enhancements to ES&S' election reporting software that extend beyond the current features and functionality of the software to facilitate a custom-developed State Election Results Reporting File."
A subsequent story at the Free Press the following day included text said to be from a Nov. 1 memo sent from the Ohio secretary of state's Election Counsel Brandi Laser Seske to a number of state election officials confirming the use of the new, uncertified software on Ohio's tabulator systems. The memo claims that "its function is to aid in the reporting of results" by converting them "into a format that can be read by the Secretary of State's election night reporting system."
On Friday evening, at Huffington Post, journalist Art Levine followed up with a piece that, among other things, advanced the story by breaking the news that Fitrakis and his attorney Cliff Arnebeck were filing a lawsuit for an immediate injunction against Husted and ES&S to "halt the use of secretly installed, unauthorized 'experimental' software in 39 counties' tabulators." Levine also reported that Arnebeck had referred the matter to the Cincinnati FBI for criminal investigation of what the Ohio attorney describes as "a flagrant violation of the law."
"Before you add new software, you need approval of a state board," says Arnebeck. "They are installing an uncertified, suspect software patch that interfaces between the county's vote tabulation equipment and state tabulators." Arnebeck's alarm is understandable.
Since the story initially broke, I've been trying to learn as much as I could about what is actually going on here. During that time, a few in the mainstream media have gotten wind of the story as well, including NBC News and CNN, and have been able to press Husted and other officials in his office into finally responding to the concerns publicly. The Ohio officials have attempted to downplay the concerns, though in doing so they appear to have given misleading information which, at times, seems to conflict even with the contract itself.
I've also spoken to computer scientists and election integrity experts, in trying to make sense of all of this, though many of them seem to be scratching their heads as well. My own queries to the Secretary of State's office have gone unanswered, as had Fitrakis' and Bello's before they published their initial story, begging the question as to why, if this software is as benign as Ohio officials are suggesting, they didn't respond immediately to say as much. Furthermore, why did they keep the contract a secret? Why did they wait until just before the election to have this work done? And why did they feel it was appropriate to circumvent both federal and state testing and certification programs for the software in the bargain?
I'd like to have been able to learn much more before running anything on this at all, frankly. But the lack of time between now and Tuesday's election --- in which Ohio's results are universally believed to be key to determining the next president of the United States --- preclude that.
So, based on the information I've been able to glean so far, allow me to try to explain, in as simple terms as I can, what we currently know and what we don't, and what the serious concerns are all about.
And, just to pre-respond to those supposed journalists who have shown a proclivity for reading comprehension issues, let me be clear: No, this does not mean I am charging that there is a conspiracy to rig or steal the Ohio election. While there certainly could be, if there is, I don't know about it, nor am I charging there is any such conspiracy at this time. The secretive, seemingly extra-legal way in which Secretary of State Husted's office is going about whatever it is they are trying to do, however, at the very last minute before the election, along with the explanations they've given for it to date, and concerns about similar cases in the past, in both Ohio and elsewhere, are certainly cause for any reasonable skeptic or journalist to be suspicious and investigate what could be going on. And so I am ...
The Contract
The first 13 pages of the 28-page contract [PDF] is largely boilerplate legal stuff. The actual "Statement of Work" in the contract, signed on Sept. 18, 2012, by ES&S and on Sept. 19 by Assistant Secretary of State Scott Borgemenke --- less than two months before this year's presidential election --- describes the software that is to be created for the state by ES&S, beginning on Page 17.
Here's the beginning of the "Overview" section, describing the scope of the work, which I'll try to unpack just below it, for non-geeks...
In short, the contract is for an application called EXP, which exports voting results into a specific format after the data from the central tabulator has been organized by the ES&S Election Reporting Manager (ERM). The ERM program itself directly accesses the main tabulator database and the results are then exported, by EXP, to a text-based file.
The text-based file is then sent by the county, via some unspecified means, to the secretary of state for import into its Election Night Reporting System, which is subsequently made available on the Web, where it will be viewed by the media and the rest of the world as the "results" of that day's election in Ohio.
The unencrypted text-based file created by EXP is a simple CSV (Comma Separate Values) formatted file, which includes field names and values separated by commas, as culled from the tabulated results database. Pages 26 and 27 of the contract detail the specific format for the plain text files created by EXP. Here's an example:
The Secretary of State's Explanations
Last last week, a public response was finally offered to Ugonna Okpalaoka of theGrio, an African-American-centric website published in partnership with NBC News.
Okpalaoka write: "Matt McClellan, a spokesman for the Secretary of State's office, told theGrio that no patches were installed, describing instead a reporting tool software meant to 'assist counties and to help them simplify the process by which they report the results to our system.'"
McClellan's reported claim that "no patches were installed," but rather it was simply "a reporting tool software" to assist counties, seems to be in direct contradiction with the contract itself.
At the bottom of Page 17, the contract states that "the current ES&S ERM Results Export Program (EXP) product version 2.0.6.0" will be "modified to meet the Customers request." The contract goes on to say that it "shall be modified" into two different EXP versions, 2.0.7.0 and 3.0.1.0, to work with two different versions of the ERM software variously installed in different Ohio counties.
It's not entirely clear how the new version of EXP will differ from the existing one, though the contract specifies the older version created XML-formatted files instead of plain-text CSV files. The new version of the EXP program is installed onto the tabulation computing systems of the Ohio counties, which use the ES&S system, so this updated version is a new version of the existing software. It is either a "patch" or an upgrade or a new installation. Distinguishing between those descriptions, in this case, seems to be a distinction without a difference made by McClellan. In either case, it's new software being applied onto the existing central tabulation system computers, without either state or federal certification, just days before the 2012 presidential election.
By describing it as "experimental" software, it seems the state is attempting to skirt the legal requirements for state testing and certification by the Ohio Board of Voting Machine Examiners. But more on that in a moment.
According to Pam Smith, president of the nonpartisan watchdog group VerifiedVoting.org, her organization also sought explanations for the last-minute software changes from the secretary of state's office.
She tells me that she was told that "the Secretary of State team installed the EXP tool" themselves in the counties that use the ES&S system. "It was not left to the counties to figure out the installation or the configuration."
Moreover, she stressed, she was told the software "does not get installed on voting machines."
But that makes little difference, since the software is installed directly onto the central tabulator machines, where it can affect -- either accidentally, or by design -- the main results of an entire county's election. Software residing on the central tabulation systems is, in fact, far more dangerous than software on the voting systems, since it can have direct access to the entire set of county election results.
Jim March, a longtime Libertarian election integrity and software expert, as well as a member of the Pima County, Ariz., Election Integrity Commission (which serves as an official advisory body to the Pima County Board of Supervisors), and a founding and current board member of BlackBoxVoting.org, is highly suspicious of the last-minute installation of software.
In an affidavit [PDF] submitted to Fitrakis and Arnebeck for their legal case, March says he believes "that this custom software is not necessary for the conduct of elections and is in fact highly dangerous."
March has been involved in numerous cases involving suspicious elections and election software. In 2005 he received part of a multimillion-dollar settlement from Diebold as the result of a qui tam case with the state of California, after it had been discovered that the company had secretly installed uncertified software on its voting systems in the state. The secretary of state decertified the systems as a result.
"What ES&S has chosen to do here is extremely dangerous and exactly what you'd want to do if you wanted to plant a 'cheat' onto the central tabulator," March says in his affidavit.
On Saturday night, Secretary Husted himself attempted to downplay the matter during an interview with CNN's Don Lemon, explaining that there was no danger in installing the software on the county's tabulation systems. MSNBC's "Ed Show" played that part of the exchange with the secretary, as well as a response to it from Democratic Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner.
As Husted explained to Lemon: "The reporting system and the counting system are not connected in any actual way. And the results that anybody can get at home on their computer are -- they're going to get them at the same time that I do on election night. So we have a very transparent system."
The "transparency" of a system that counts votes in secret and features a secretly installed piece of software that skirted normal certification procedures aside, March's affidavit disputes Husted's explanation about the separation between the reporting and counting systems.
"Their custom application ... would have full contact with the central tabulator database on both a read and write basis, while running on the same computer as where the 'master vote records' (the central tabulator database -- the 'crown jewels' of the whole process) are stored," he says.
"Under this structure a case of accidental damage to the 'crown jewels' of the election data is possible. A case of deliberate tampering of that data using uncertified, untested software would be child's play."
He describes the process as "criminally negligent just from a standpoint of data security."
State Sen. Turner was similarly suspicious: "They should not be experimenting in a presidential election. You know the secretary of state had previous years to try to experiment."
Indeed, one of the unanswered questions we sent to the secretary of state asked why they waited until Sept. 18 to begin this contract, since Husted's been in office fore nearly two full years, and they've carried out many elections, of lesser import than a presidential election since that time during which this software could have had a trial run. Furthermore, we asked, how did they manage without it until now during both his tenure and that of his predecessors?
We received no reply to that and a number of other related questions.
When theGrio asked a similar question, as to why they waited until "so soon before the election" to commission the new software, they were told by McClellan: "I'm not sure the exact timeline of that, but I know we've been working with the counties for the past couple of months on getting these in place, testing them to make sure they work properly, and working with the vendors as well."
There was another point reported by theGrio that seems to be in direct contradiction to the contract between ES&S and the secretary of state, and it's a troubling one.
They report: "McClellan said the tool serves to cut down on the amount of information precinct workers would have to key in by hand by allowing the results to be output onto a thumbdrive and uploaded at once into the Secretary of State's system."
But the contract specifically notes at the top of Page 21 that "Automated uploading or sending of the State Election Results Reporting file" is "outside the scope" of the software called for in the agreement, and that "It is a manual process to upload or send the results file."
That would seem to contradict McClellan's claim that the converted file created by the EXP program is "output onto a thumbdrive and uploaded at once into the Secretary of State's system."
The way in which that file is sent to the secretary of state, as noted, remains unknown. Moreover, if a plain text file is sent via email, or other similar Internet transmission, it can easily be intercepted and changed before it ever even reaches the SoS Election Night Reporting System. Such an attack is sometimes described as a "Man-in-the-Middle" attack.
Verified Voting's Smith explained that she had been told that results files from the state's other e-voting systems made by Diebold and Hart-Intercivic already created files in the format that EXP was being modified to create. Thus, she said, all of the files would be in the same format for uniform import into the Election Night Reporting System.
Another question I'd asked of Husted's office was, if all that EXP did was simply convert files from one simple format to another, wouldn't it have been far less dangerous to install the software once at the secretary of state's office and simply convert files there for the Reporting System, after they'd been sent to them by the counties, rather than install 39 uncertified pieces of software on 39 different central tabulators in 39 different Ohio counties just days before the 2012 presidential election?
I received no answer to that question either.
History and Reason for Concern
Writing in the Oct. 5, 2006, issue of Rolling Stone, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in"Will the Next Election Be Hacked?" described a suspect election that took place in Georgia in 2002, just after Diebold's electronic touch-screen voting systems had been deployed for the first time across the entire state.
"Six days before the vote," Kennedy writes, "polls showed Sen. Max Cleland, a decorated war veteran and Democratic incumbent, leading his Republican opponent Saxby Chambliss ... by five percentage points. In the governor's race, Democrat Roy Barnes was running a decisive eleven points ahead of Republican Sonny Perdue. But on Election Day, Chambliss won with fifty-three percent of the vote, and Perdue won with fifty-one percent."
To this day, Election Integrity advocates cite that 2002 election as suspect, along with the curious software "patch" they later learned was secretly applied to the state's electronic voting system earlier that year.
In his article, Kennedy quotes Diebold contractor Chris Hood, who was directly involved in the installation of the systems across the state, as describing Diebold Election Systems Inc. president Bob Urosevich personally distributing the software "patch," which was covertly installed on more than 1,200 Diebold touch-screen systems that year.
No one will likely ever be able to prove that the November 2002 election was rigged, but that infamous software "patch," along with the anomalous election results from 100 percent unverifiable voting systems (which are still in use today across the state of Georgia and in many other states) has cast an everlasting cloud of suspicion over that election.
Similarly, there remains a dark cloud of suspicion over the 2004 presidential election in Ohio itself, the last one run under the administration of a Republican secretary of state, when blatant voter suppression tactics, ballot tampering, unprecedented counting room lockdowns due to phony Homeland Security "terror warnings," criminal manipulation of the post-election recount, as well as concern about a possible "Man-in-the-Middle" hack of the state's Election Night Reporting System have long cast a shadow of doubt over the reported results.
The BRAD BLOG was honored with an award from Sonoma State University's 36-year old investigative reporting project Project Censored for some of our coverage of the mysterous death of Ohio-based GOP IT guru Michael Connell.
In 2004, Connell designed and created Ohio's Election Night Reporting System for then Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell. It was later discovered, ironically enough by Ohio's investigative journalist Bob Fitrakis and the Free Press, that the results the world were watching on the Web that night, as it became clear that the winner of the Buckeye State would determine the presidency, had been diverted from Ohio down to the servers of a far right-wing company in Chattanooga, Tenn., called SmarTech in the middle of the night.
Computer analysts and security experts, including a Republican who worked with Connell, have speculated, with a fair amount of evidence to support their case, that there could have been a "Man-in-the-Middle" attack that night, in which someone changed the results of the election between the time they were tabulated at the county level and before they appeared on the secretary of state's website later that evening, as it was then being run out of SmarTech's servers in Tennessee.
We may never know if that actually occurred, though schematics unearthed during an election fraud case against Blackwell detailed how Connell's system allowed for "Man-in-the-Middle" access to change the results before they were reported to the world. Despite a federal court order to retain all of the ballots from the election, some or all of them were destroyed in 56 out of 88 counties, so it became impossible to compare the reported results with the actual ballots cast during the 2004 election.
Connell can no longer discuss the matter. He was killed when he crashed near the Columbus airport in his single-engine Piper Saratoga on his way back from Washington, D.C., for his company's Christmas party in December of 2008. One month earlier, on the Monday before the 2008 presidential election, a federal judge compelled Connell to sit for a deposition in the 2004 election fraud case in which the attorneys believed the man who created the George W. Bush and John McCain campaign websites, as well as the now-infamous secret email system for the George W. Bush administration, held the key to an alleged conspiracy to steal the 2004 election in Ohio for Bush.
Whether or not a similar scheme could be in the works in 2012 is certainly unknown. To be clear, once again, I am alleging no such thing. I am simply reporting the facts that I know, and those that I do not.
Nonetheless, questions about a last-minute secret software patch to be used across multiple counties in Ohio, one that now resides on vote tabulation systems and is said to produce easily modifiable text files to be uploaded to a very partisan secretary of state's Election Night Reporting System, certainly have a familiar, and to some, a chilling ring just over 24 hours before the next presidential election could well be decided in the Buckeye State.
As the Free Press notes, "Government reports such as Ohio's Everest study [PDF] [the landmark analysis of the state's electronic voting systems by world class academic and corporate computer science and security experts, commissioned by Husted's Democratic predecessor Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner] document that any single change to the system could corrupt the whole voting process."
Late on Sunday, in a new update from Bello and Fitrakis at the Free Press, the pair describe that "The potential federal illegality of this software has been hidden from public scrutiny by the Secretary of State's Election Counsel Brandi Seske." They report that a Sept. 29 memo from Seske describes "de minimis changes" in the ES&S software that allowed for use of the software updates without state testing. "De minimis," they explain, "is a legal term for minute."
And yet, they go on to cite a memo from the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission, the body tasked with certifying electronic voting and tabulation systems at the federal level, dated February 8, 2012 entitled "Software and Firmware modifications are not de minimis changes."
"Ohio election law provides for experimental equipment only in a limited number of precincts per county," they report. "Installing uncertified and untested software on central tabulation equipment essentially affects every single precinct in a given county."
"The method of execution chosen," for this effort, notes March in his affidavit for the Fitrakis/Arnebeck injunction lawsuit, "is unspeakably stupid, excessively complex and insanely risky. In medical terms it is the equivalent of doing open heart surgery as part of a method of removing somebody's hemorrhoids. Whoever came up with this idea is either the dumbest Information Technology 'professional' in the US or has criminal intent against the Ohio election process."
Ernest A. Canning contributed research to this report.
Brad Friedman Investigative journalist and broadcaster Brad Friedman is the creator and publisher of MORE FROM Brad Friedman Investigative journalist and broadcaster Brad Friedman is the creator and publisher of The BRAD Blog . He has contributed to Mother Jones, The Guardian, Truthout, Huffington Post, The Trial Lawyer magazine and Editor & Publisher.
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in your inbox every day Sign up for our free newsletter • • • ||||| Why did the Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted's office, in an end run around Ohio election law, have "experimental" software patches installed on vote counting tabulators in up to 39 Ohio counties? Voting rights activists are concerned that these uncertified and untested software patches may alter the election results.
During the 2004 presidential election, the Free Press reported that election officials observed technicians from the ES&S voting machine company and Triad computer maintenance company installing uncertified and untested software patches on voting machines in 44 Ohio counties prior to the election. Software patches are usually installed to "update" or change existing software. These software patch updates were considered suspect by election protection activists, in light of all the voting machine anomalies found during the 2004 election in Ohio.
The Free Press has learned that Election Systems and Solutions (ES&S) installed the software patches that will affect 4,041,056 registered voters, including those in metropolitan Columbus and Cleveland (click here for spread sheet from verifiedvoting.org).
A call to the Ohio Secretary of State's office concerning the software patches was not returned by publication deadline. Previously, the Free Press requests for public records, including voting machine vendor contracts, have been stonewalled by Office Secretary of State John Husted's office through his public records officer Chris Shea. Through other channels, the Free Press has obtained and has posted the possibly illegal full contract online here (see page 17).
The contract calls for ES & S technicians and county poll workers to "enter custom codes and interfaces" to the standard election reporting software just as was done with the controversial 2004 Ohio presidential election.
Last minute software patches may be deemed "experimental" because that designation does not require certification and testing. Uncertified and untested software for electronic voting systems are presumably illegal under Ohio law. All election systems hardware and software must be tested and certified by the state before being put into use, according to Ohio Revised Code 3506.05. By unilaterally deeming this new software "experimental," Secretary of State Husted was able to have the software installed without any review, inspection or certification by anyone. ES & S, for their part, knows that this software will not be subject to the minimal legally required testing as stated in the contract on page 21 (Section 6.1).
The contract specifically states that this software has not been and need not be reviewed by any testing authority at the state or federal level. Yet, it is installed on voting machines that will tabulate and report official election results, which Ohio law forbids. Based on the Free Press reading of the contract, this software is fully developed, being referred as versions 2.0.7.0 and 3.0.1.0. Thus the only thing making this software "experimental" is the fact that it has never been independently certified or tested.
In preparation for the upcoming general election in late April, the Free Press began requesting public records from all 88 counties in Ohio in order to build a broad database of every vendor and piece of equipment used in the state of Ohio. Aside from some minor delays, all 88 county jurisdictions have complied.
However, the office of the Ohio Secretary of State however, has not complied with any requests for lists of equipment, contracts with vendors, schedules of payment and even the identities of the vendors. The Free Press' public records requests, under ORC 149.43 (The Public Records Act) have been ignored by Chris Shea, presumably acting on behalf of Secretary of State Jon Husted. Now that the Free Press has obtained the contract, it seems clear that the secretary of state's office was hiding these last minute "experimental" uncertified software installations.
On page 19 of the contract, terms require the various county boards of elections to purchase additional software from ES & S if they are not compatible with this new "experimental" statewide tabulation and reporting system. This unfunded mandate clause illegally bypasses individual counties rights to make their own purchasing determinations.
The controversial software will create simple .csv files like those produced by spreadsheet programs for input into the statewide tabulation system. According to the terms of the contract, data security is the responsibility of each local board of elections: "…each county will be responsible for the implementation of any security protocols" (see page 21 of the contract).
Most county boards of elections do not have their own IT departments and are reliant on private partisan contractors to maintain and program the electronic voting systems. These piecemeal implementations of security protocols would also be untested and uncertified.
Voting rights activists believe this whole scheme may create a host of new avenues of attack on the integrity of the electronic vote counting system. The untested and uncertified "experimental" software itself may be malware. Public trust in the electronic vote counting system has emerged as the key issue in the Ohio presidential election.
The Free Press will be updating this breaking story as more information is obtained and analyzed, so stay tuned. The story for now is that the Secretary of State in the key swing state in the 2012 presidential has installed "experimental" uncertified and untested software to count a large portion of the Ohio vote.
-- | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 20,181 |
Rating is available when the video has been rented.
This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. ||||| An East Vancouver resident and his neighbours are getting their mail back after Canada Post temporarily suspended delivery over several crow attacks.
Shawn Bergman said his landlord alerted him Tuesday to the mail delivery.
"I was quite surprised," Bergman said. "I thought [Canada Post] would get in contact with me."
Canada Post suspended delivery to three addresses for more than a month after Canuck, a well-known neighbourhood crow, was reported to have repeatedly attacked and injured a mail carrier.
Bergman dubbed the crow Canuck after it befriended him about two years ago.
Since then, the bird has made headlines for a variety of antics including stealing evidence at an East Vancouver crime scene, getting its own Facebook page and being featured in an art exhibit.
BFFs forever? Canuck the Crow and Shawn Bergman on the day they met. (Facebook/thecrowandi)
The postal operator faced mounting criticism from fans of Canuck.
"We are monitoring the situation when delivering the mail to other residents on the street," Canada Post spokesperson Darcia Kmet said in a statement Wednesday.
"If our employees believe it is safe to deliver to those three addresses, they do so."
Wayne Goodey, a lecturer in UBC's department of zoology and bird behaviour expert, called Canada Post's initial response "completely over-the-top."
A carrier could wear a wide-brimmed hat or carry an umbrella to foil a crow, Goodey said.
Nesting season — the period when crows are most likely to attack — typically runs from April to July.
Bergman plans to email Canada Post to thank them and find a solution, should Canuck go into nesting season in future years.
The crow did not attack the carrier during the latest delivery.
Instead, he's back to "doing normal crow stuff," Bergman said. ||||| The antics of Vancouver's most controversial crow appear to be ruffling feathers again.
Just days after being blamed for an attack on a Canada Post courier, the polarizing figure known as Canuck the crow faces further accusations.
Customers at an East Vancouver McDonald’s got a bit of a surprise with their fries on Sunday, when they were visited by the feathered felon. Many enjoyed the fly-by, but others felt they were under attack.
Video posted online by a YouTube user who goes by "iyamwriter" shows the East Van fixture inside the fast food joint he's known to frequent. The bird perches on a divider between tables, looking around at the faces staring back. A woman inside the East Hastings Street eatery tries to shoo Canuck using a napkin, then turns her back.
Canuck can be seen defecating on his makeshift perch, before flying at the table where the woman has her back turned. The table's occupants kick the bird away with their feet. Later on, Canuck flies onto another table, and appears to be helping himself to a woman's food.
She grabs the bird's tail, lifts him into the air and moves him around as he squawks. She asked for someone to help her to take the bird outside, the man who shot the video said.
A McDonald’s employee approaches with a piece of cheese, and tries to entice the bird to head for the door.
The man who shot the video told CTV News that the bird flew in when someone opened the door, and stayed inside for between five and 10 minutes. While some were upset, he didn't see Canuck attack anyone.
Another video posted a few days ago shows the unwelcome guest in the same McDonald's, being carried out of the restaurant on a tray held by an employee.
The bird's caretaker, Shawn Bergman, said he's seen the video, and that Canuck is well-known to many in the area
"The McDonald’s staff there are quite used to him, the majority of customers are quite used to him – the regulars anyway," Bergman said.
He advised that those in an indoor encounter try to escort the crow outside gently, using a piece of food as a bribe if possible.
It's not the first time the "caw"nvict, with his distinctive red leg band, has been in trouble at the McDonald’s franchise. Canuck descended on a crime scene in the parking lot of the same eatery last May, making off with a knife that a suspect allegedly used while charging police.
While many love the avian antics – so much so that he has a large social media following, and was the subject of an art show last summer -- others see the bird as a bit of a menace.
The same crow has been accused of other attacks in the area of Hastings and Cassiar streets, including one that occurred recently involving a Canada Post worker. Bergman said the postal worker was bitten a few times, and that some of the bites caused bleeding.
Mail hasn't been delivered in the area for "quite some time," he said, offering up training and an umbrella to the worker, should the individual decide to come back.
Bergman said he worries for Canuck's safety at times, especially watching the behaviour of the woman in the McDonald’s video.
"It does give me some concern. All I can really hope for is that he runs into the right types of people," he said.
The crow was injured earlier this year when he was hit by a linesman during a soccer tournament at Adanac Park. Bergman said the bird was hit over the head with a lines flag, and was unconscious for about 15 minutes.
With a report from CTV Vancouver's Maria Weisgarber | – It’s been awhile since Canuck stole a knife from a crime scene, so perhaps boredom had set in. Or perhaps the crow just has a taste for blood. Either way, the local celebrity in Vancouver, Canada, shut down mail service to several addresses in the city for more than a month after repeatedly biting a letter carrier, reports CBC News. Mail delivery only resumed Tuesday, and the bird's caretaker has offered to provide training and an umbrella to the carrier who was attacked by Canuck, reports CTV News. Canuck, identified by a red ankle band, has lately been spotted flying at diners at a McDonald's, outside of which the crow stole the knife last May. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Rating is available when the video has been rented.
This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. ||||| An East Vancouver resident and his neighbours are getting their mail back after Canada Post temporarily suspended delivery over several crow attacks.
Shawn Bergman said his landlord alerted him Tuesday to the mail delivery.
"I was quite surprised," Bergman said. "I thought [Canada Post] would get in contact with me."
Canada Post suspended delivery to three addresses for more than a month after Canuck, a well-known neighbourhood crow, was reported to have repeatedly attacked and injured a mail carrier.
Bergman dubbed the crow Canuck after it befriended him about two years ago.
Since then, the bird has made headlines for a variety of antics including stealing evidence at an East Vancouver crime scene, getting its own Facebook page and being featured in an art exhibit.
BFFs forever? Canuck the Crow and Shawn Bergman on the day they met. (Facebook/thecrowandi)
The postal operator faced mounting criticism from fans of Canuck.
"We are monitoring the situation when delivering the mail to other residents on the street," Canada Post spokesperson Darcia Kmet said in a statement Wednesday.
"If our employees believe it is safe to deliver to those three addresses, they do so."
Wayne Goodey, a lecturer in UBC's department of zoology and bird behaviour expert, called Canada Post's initial response "completely over-the-top."
A carrier could wear a wide-brimmed hat or carry an umbrella to foil a crow, Goodey said.
Nesting season — the period when crows are most likely to attack — typically runs from April to July.
Bergman plans to email Canada Post to thank them and find a solution, should Canuck go into nesting season in future years.
The crow did not attack the carrier during the latest delivery.
Instead, he's back to "doing normal crow stuff," Bergman said. ||||| The antics of Vancouver's most controversial crow appear to be ruffling feathers again.
Just days after being blamed for an attack on a Canada Post courier, the polarizing figure known as Canuck the crow faces further accusations.
Customers at an East Vancouver McDonald’s got a bit of a surprise with their fries on Sunday, when they were visited by the feathered felon. Many enjoyed the fly-by, but others felt they were under attack.
Video posted online by a YouTube user who goes by "iyamwriter" shows the East Van fixture inside the fast food joint he's known to frequent. The bird perches on a divider between tables, looking around at the faces staring back. A woman inside the East Hastings Street eatery tries to shoo Canuck using a napkin, then turns her back.
Canuck can be seen defecating on his makeshift perch, before flying at the table where the woman has her back turned. The table's occupants kick the bird away with their feet. Later on, Canuck flies onto another table, and appears to be helping himself to a woman's food.
She grabs the bird's tail, lifts him into the air and moves him around as he squawks. She asked for someone to help her to take the bird outside, the man who shot the video said.
A McDonald’s employee approaches with a piece of cheese, and tries to entice the bird to head for the door.
The man who shot the video told CTV News that the bird flew in when someone opened the door, and stayed inside for between five and 10 minutes. While some were upset, he didn't see Canuck attack anyone.
Another video posted a few days ago shows the unwelcome guest in the same McDonald's, being carried out of the restaurant on a tray held by an employee.
The bird's caretaker, Shawn Bergman, said he's seen the video, and that Canuck is well-known to many in the area
"The McDonald’s staff there are quite used to him, the majority of customers are quite used to him – the regulars anyway," Bergman said.
He advised that those in an indoor encounter try to escort the crow outside gently, using a piece of food as a bribe if possible.
It's not the first time the "caw"nvict, with his distinctive red leg band, has been in trouble at the McDonald’s franchise. Canuck descended on a crime scene in the parking lot of the same eatery last May, making off with a knife that a suspect allegedly used while charging police.
While many love the avian antics – so much so that he has a large social media following, and was the subject of an art show last summer -- others see the bird as a bit of a menace.
The same crow has been accused of other attacks in the area of Hastings and Cassiar streets, including one that occurred recently involving a Canada Post worker. Bergman said the postal worker was bitten a few times, and that some of the bites caused bleeding.
Mail hasn't been delivered in the area for "quite some time," he said, offering up training and an umbrella to the worker, should the individual decide to come back.
Bergman said he worries for Canuck's safety at times, especially watching the behaviour of the woman in the McDonald’s video.
"It does give me some concern. All I can really hope for is that he runs into the right types of people," he said.
The crow was injured earlier this year when he was hit by a linesman during a soccer tournament at Adanac Park. Bergman said the bird was hit over the head with a lines flag, and was unconscious for about 15 minutes.
With a report from CTV Vancouver's Maria Weisgarber | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 5,143 |
FORTUNE -- Here is what Carol Bartz thinks of the Yahoo (YHOO) board that fired her: "These people f---ed me over," she says, in her first interview since her dismissal from the CEO role late Tuesday.
Last evening, barely 24 hours after Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock called Bartz on her cell phone to tell her the news, she called from her Silicon Valley home ("There are reporters at the gate… a lot of them.") to tell Fortune, exclusively, how the ax came down.
On Tuesday, Bartz was in New York, to speak at Citigroup's (C) technology conference the next day, when she was supposed to call Bostock at 6 p.m. "I called him at 6:06," she recalls. When he got on the line, she says, he started reading a lawyer's prepared statement to dismiss her.
"I said, 'Roy, I think that's a script,'" adding, "'Why don't you have the balls to tell me yourself?'"
When Bostock finished reading, Bartz didn't argue—"I got it. I got it," she told the Yahoo chairman. "I thought you were classier," she added.
Recruited in January 2009 after successfully building Autodesk (ADSK), Bartz never was the turnaround chief that the Yahoo board had wanted. Though she slashed costs and improved profit margins, she failed to improve revenue growth at a critical time when Yahoo has lost eyeballs and ad dollars to Google (GOOG) and Facebook. "They want revenue growth," says Bartz about the Yahoo board, "even though they were told that we would not have revenue growth until 2012."
As Bartz sees it, Yahoo's search partnership with Microsoft (MSFT)—a deal she negotiated two years ago to offload costs—has Yahoo paying Microsoft 12% of its search revenue and limits current growth but will help the company long-term. She attributes the directors' impatience to the criticism they faced when they turned down a lucrative deal to sell Yahoo to Microsoft in 2007, before she arrived. "The board was so spooked by being cast as the worst board in the country," Bartz says. "Now they're trying to show that they're not the doofuses that they are." (Bostock, who is vice chairman of Delta Air Lines (DAL) and on Morgan Stanley's (MS) board as well as Yahoo's, declined to comment.)
After Tuesday's call from Bostock, Bartz says, she had two hours to let Yahoo know whether she would resign or allow the board to fire her. She called her husband, Bill, her three children--a son and two daughters—and her longtime assistant, Judy Flores. Learning that Yahoo's lawyers had gone to the St. Regis hotel to hand her papers, she ditched that hotel and booked herself into another. "Am I stupid?!" she asks, making clear that she took her career crisis into her own hands.
It was that evening when she pulled out her iPad and wrote an email to Yahoo's 14,000 employees:
To all,
I am very sad to tell you that I've just been fired over the phone by Yahoo's Chairman of the Board. It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward.
Carol
What does Bartz think of her successor, Tim Morse? "He's a great guy," she says. Morse was chief financial officer under Bartz, and now he is interim chief of a company whose stock has risen 6% since he replaced her. Asked whom she thinks the board might appoint long-term, she replies, "They should bring me in. I knew what to do."
Sometimes it's difficult to know when Bartz is being serious. As I prod her to tell me what she might do next, I mention her age, 63—"fuck you, yeah," she replies. And when I ask her if she's on any other public company boards besides Cisco (CSCO), where she is lead independent director, she says, "I'm on Yahoo's board." She tells me that she plans to remain a Yahoo director—which might be unlikely since she has now called her fellow directors "doofuses."
"I want to make sure that the employees don't believe that I've abandoned them. I would never abandon them," Bartz says. Besides, she adds, "I have way too many purple clothes."
She's referring to the color of Yahoo's logo. "I wish the Yahoo people the best," she adds, "because it's a fantastic franchise."
Update: Did this interview just cost Bartz $10 million? Yes, she had a non-disparagement clause...
Also on Fortune.com:
Bartz was the best CEO for Yahoo. Maybe
Post-Bartz, Yahoo faces familiar problems
10 CEOs in the making ||||| “A chief executive who was thinking first about the long-term interests of her company would not have done this,” Ms. Chatman said, adding that there are problems of perception in this case as well: “She’s one of a handful of top female business leaders. It would be easy to attach this to a stereotype of women leaders as not in control of their emotions.”
Photo
Whatever the effect on Yahoo, unvarnished comments like Ms. Bartz’s are likely to become more common. Chief executives are increasingly conscious of their personal brand and how it can diverge from the corporate brand.
“I would say this is going to become much more of a trend,” said Homa Bahrami, a senior lecturer at Berkeley and an adviser to several Silicon Valley start-ups. “I see it already in private companies when there is a change in management. The chief executive picks up the phone and tells the investors exactly what happened. The younger generation appreciates this honesty. You’re authentic and you’re vulnerable.”
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
Authenticity, though, can backfire, and vulnerability is not always something to be desired. Executives who are not on their way out are learning that broadcasting their feelings can have unintended consequences.
Andrew Mason, chief executive of Groupon, may have thought he was only trying to buck up the troops when he sent a long e-mail describing how the daily deals site was being misperceived in the press as it awaited its public offering. Mr. Mason may have even been secretly pleased when the e-mail showed up in the press. Regulators cast a dim eye on such promotion during the so-called quiet period for companies waiting to go public, however, and Groupon’s offering is now at risk of being delayed or even pulled.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
In the technology industry as in no other, failure is trumpeted as paving the way to glory. Executives here love to boast about the number of times their company was denied funding or how no one wanted to hire them or how they learned so much when the whole ship went down. But such tales are always told from the vantage point of ultimate success. In the midst of failure, people are as reluctant to admit it in Silicon Valley as anywhere.
In 2005, when Carly Fiorina was pushed out of Hewlett-Packard, she merely spoke about her regret that she and the board had differing strategies, and said she respected its decision. In 2010, when Mark V. Hurd was pushed out of H.P. he said he would “move aside.”
Photo
If Ms. Bartz’s directness was so unusual, it was also in character. She has long been inclined to honesty, often in salty language. In one of her more printable comments, she listened to a shareholder suggesting she resign at Yahoo’s annual meeting in June. “That was certainly a downer,” she replied.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
“Usually it’s in the interests of both the executive and the board to sugarcoat these things, but Carol just lays it out there,” said J. Hallam Dawson, chairman of IDI Associates and a former colleague of Ms. Bartz’s.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
Ms. Bartz was on vacation on the East Coast, flying from Maine to New York, when she got the call from Yahoo’s chairman, Roy Bostock, relieving her of her duties. It was not a surprise. After being in charge for nearly three years, the company seemed more unable than ever to meet the challenge of Facebook and Google.
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“I am very sad to tell you that I’ve just been fired over the phone by Yahoo’s chairman of the board,” she wrote. She went on to say she had enjoyed her tenure at the company and wished the employees the best.
Management experts said the dismissal of chief executives is usually a more stately process, involving lawyers on all sides. It requires negotiation and press releases. And so the crudeness of Ms. Bartz’s firing might have helped spark her response. She did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
At about the same time on Tuesday as Ms. Bartz was getting the news, Bank of America was making some top management changes. In this case the traditional approach was followed, which meant the tone was upbeat. First the bank explained that it was simply “de-layering.”
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
Then the chief executive, Brian T. Moynihan, saluted the departed, including Sallie Krawcheck, president of the bank’s global wealth and investment management division. Ms. Krawcheck responded that it had been “an honor” to work at the troubled bank. If this was an ouster, it came across as more of a retirement. | – Carol Bartz is not beating around the bushes when it comes to her dismissal from Yahoo. “These people fucked me over,” she told Fortune Tuesday, in her first interview since the ouster. Bartz says that when she made a scheduled call to Chairman Roy Bostock, he began reading her a lawyer-approved statement. “I said, ‘Roy, I think that’s a script. Why don’t you have the balls to tell me yourself?” But Bostock soldiered on. When he was done, Bartz simply replied, “It got it. I got it. I thought you were classier.” Nonetheless, Bartz intends to stay on Yahoo’s board, out of loyalty to its employees, and anyway, "I have way too many purple clothes." Bartz’s bluntness about her firing is rare from top executives, the New York Times notes. Some experts expect such honesty to become a trend, as executives try to protect their personal brand more than their ex-company’s brand. “The younger generation appreciates this honesty,” one professor says. “You’re authentic, and you’re vulnerable.” | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.FORTUNE -- Here is what Carol Bartz thinks of the Yahoo (YHOO) board that fired her: "These people f---ed me over," she says, in her first interview since her dismissal from the CEO role late Tuesday.
Last evening, barely 24 hours after Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock called Bartz on her cell phone to tell her the news, she called from her Silicon Valley home ("There are reporters at the gate… a lot of them.") to tell Fortune, exclusively, how the ax came down.
On Tuesday, Bartz was in New York, to speak at Citigroup's (C) technology conference the next day, when she was supposed to call Bostock at 6 p.m. "I called him at 6:06," she recalls. When he got on the line, she says, he started reading a lawyer's prepared statement to dismiss her.
"I said, 'Roy, I think that's a script,'" adding, "'Why don't you have the balls to tell me yourself?'"
When Bostock finished reading, Bartz didn't argue—"I got it. I got it," she told the Yahoo chairman. "I thought you were classier," she added.
Recruited in January 2009 after successfully building Autodesk (ADSK), Bartz never was the turnaround chief that the Yahoo board had wanted. Though she slashed costs and improved profit margins, she failed to improve revenue growth at a critical time when Yahoo has lost eyeballs and ad dollars to Google (GOOG) and Facebook. "They want revenue growth," says Bartz about the Yahoo board, "even though they were told that we would not have revenue growth until 2012."
As Bartz sees it, Yahoo's search partnership with Microsoft (MSFT)—a deal she negotiated two years ago to offload costs—has Yahoo paying Microsoft 12% of its search revenue and limits current growth but will help the company long-term. She attributes the directors' impatience to the criticism they faced when they turned down a lucrative deal to sell Yahoo to Microsoft in 2007, before she arrived. "The board was so spooked by being cast as the worst board in the country," Bartz says. "Now they're trying to show that they're not the doofuses that they are." (Bostock, who is vice chairman of Delta Air Lines (DAL) and on Morgan Stanley's (MS) board as well as Yahoo's, declined to comment.)
After Tuesday's call from Bostock, Bartz says, she had two hours to let Yahoo know whether she would resign or allow the board to fire her. She called her husband, Bill, her three children--a son and two daughters—and her longtime assistant, Judy Flores. Learning that Yahoo's lawyers had gone to the St. Regis hotel to hand her papers, she ditched that hotel and booked herself into another. "Am I stupid?!" she asks, making clear that she took her career crisis into her own hands.
It was that evening when she pulled out her iPad and wrote an email to Yahoo's 14,000 employees:
To all,
I am very sad to tell you that I've just been fired over the phone by Yahoo's Chairman of the Board. It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward.
Carol
What does Bartz think of her successor, Tim Morse? "He's a great guy," she says. Morse was chief financial officer under Bartz, and now he is interim chief of a company whose stock has risen 6% since he replaced her. Asked whom she thinks the board might appoint long-term, she replies, "They should bring me in. I knew what to do."
Sometimes it's difficult to know when Bartz is being serious. As I prod her to tell me what she might do next, I mention her age, 63—"fuck you, yeah," she replies. And when I ask her if she's on any other public company boards besides Cisco (CSCO), where she is lead independent director, she says, "I'm on Yahoo's board." She tells me that she plans to remain a Yahoo director—which might be unlikely since she has now called her fellow directors "doofuses."
"I want to make sure that the employees don't believe that I've abandoned them. I would never abandon them," Bartz says. Besides, she adds, "I have way too many purple clothes."
She's referring to the color of Yahoo's logo. "I wish the Yahoo people the best," she adds, "because it's a fantastic franchise."
Update: Did this interview just cost Bartz $10 million? Yes, she had a non-disparagement clause...
Also on Fortune.com:
Bartz was the best CEO for Yahoo. Maybe
Post-Bartz, Yahoo faces familiar problems
10 CEOs in the making ||||| “A chief executive who was thinking first about the long-term interests of her company would not have done this,” Ms. Chatman said, adding that there are problems of perception in this case as well: “She’s one of a handful of top female business leaders. It would be easy to attach this to a stereotype of women leaders as not in control of their emotions.”
Photo
Whatever the effect on Yahoo, unvarnished comments like Ms. Bartz’s are likely to become more common. Chief executives are increasingly conscious of their personal brand and how it can diverge from the corporate brand.
“I would say this is going to become much more of a trend,” said Homa Bahrami, a senior lecturer at Berkeley and an adviser to several Silicon Valley start-ups. “I see it already in private companies when there is a change in management. The chief executive picks up the phone and tells the investors exactly what happened. The younger generation appreciates this honesty. You’re authentic and you’re vulnerable.”
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
Authenticity, though, can backfire, and vulnerability is not always something to be desired. Executives who are not on their way out are learning that broadcasting their feelings can have unintended consequences.
Andrew Mason, chief executive of Groupon, may have thought he was only trying to buck up the troops when he sent a long e-mail describing how the daily deals site was being misperceived in the press as it awaited its public offering. Mr. Mason may have even been secretly pleased when the e-mail showed up in the press. Regulators cast a dim eye on such promotion during the so-called quiet period for companies waiting to go public, however, and Groupon’s offering is now at risk of being delayed or even pulled.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
In the technology industry as in no other, failure is trumpeted as paving the way to glory. Executives here love to boast about the number of times their company was denied funding or how no one wanted to hire them or how they learned so much when the whole ship went down. But such tales are always told from the vantage point of ultimate success. In the midst of failure, people are as reluctant to admit it in Silicon Valley as anywhere.
In 2005, when Carly Fiorina was pushed out of Hewlett-Packard, she merely spoke about her regret that she and the board had differing strategies, and said she respected its decision. In 2010, when Mark V. Hurd was pushed out of H.P. he said he would “move aside.”
Photo
If Ms. Bartz’s directness was so unusual, it was also in character. She has long been inclined to honesty, often in salty language. In one of her more printable comments, she listened to a shareholder suggesting she resign at Yahoo’s annual meeting in June. “That was certainly a downer,” she replied.
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“Usually it’s in the interests of both the executive and the board to sugarcoat these things, but Carol just lays it out there,” said J. Hallam Dawson, chairman of IDI Associates and a former colleague of Ms. Bartz’s.
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Ms. Bartz was on vacation on the East Coast, flying from Maine to New York, when she got the call from Yahoo’s chairman, Roy Bostock, relieving her of her duties. It was not a surprise. After being in charge for nearly three years, the company seemed more unable than ever to meet the challenge of Facebook and Google.
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“I am very sad to tell you that I’ve just been fired over the phone by Yahoo’s chairman of the board,” she wrote. She went on to say she had enjoyed her tenure at the company and wished the employees the best.
Management experts said the dismissal of chief executives is usually a more stately process, involving lawyers on all sides. It requires negotiation and press releases. And so the crudeness of Ms. Bartz’s firing might have helped spark her response. She did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
At about the same time on Tuesday as Ms. Bartz was getting the news, Bank of America was making some top management changes. In this case the traditional approach was followed, which meant the tone was upbeat. First the bank explained that it was simply “de-layering.”
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Then the chief executive, Brian T. Moynihan, saluted the departed, including Sallie Krawcheck, president of the bank’s global wealth and investment management division. Ms. Krawcheck responded that it had been “an honor” to work at the troubled bank. If this was an ouster, it came across as more of a retirement. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 35,868 |
In this Aug. 30, 2012, file photo, a tour group walks through the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. (Elise Amendola/AP)
The Korean math prodigy at one of the nation’s top high schools had Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg on the phone, personally encouraging the teenager to attend Harvard University. She received letters from Harvard professors, encouraging her to bring her brilliant abilities to Cambridge next fall instead of accepting her admission to Stanford University on the opposite coast.
As the student struggled to decide between five-figure scholarship promises from both schools, she received a novel offer: She could spend two years at each elite school as part of an arrangement just for her. The exciting dual-enrollment opportunity garnered star-struck coverage from Korean media outlets, which dubbed her the “Genius Girl.”
But none of it was true.
The baffling hoax has stunned Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, the top-ranked magnet program known as an intellectual proving ground for science wunderkinder, technology gurus, engineering buffs and math wizards — many of whom earn their way to the nation’s most prestigious colleges.
The senior’s tale of academic conquest of admission into what turned out to be a bogus program apparently was designed to impress her parents, peers and teachers as part of the annual cutthroat competition for the relatively tiny number of spots at the nation’s top schools. The faked admission story went much further than most teen fantasies: It made its way to the international media, where the student’s parents admitted the truth and publicly shamed themselves before the Korean community.
Many graduates of TJ, as the school is known, go on to illustrious academic careers. Just recently, a senior who had a 4.57 grade-point average, aced 13 Advanced Placement tests and founded a national nonprofit organization before her 18th birthday earned admission to all eight Ivy League schools, which made national headlines. Another senior, who designed the electronics system for a 6-foot, 120-pound robot capable of lifting crates, received a scholarship from the SpaceX aerospace corporation, founded by Internet billionaire Elon Musk.
[The real deal: Virginia student earns admission to all eight Ivy League schools, and others]
The question now at the school is what caused the student to concoct the elaborate college admissions scheme. The answer seems obvious to students and teachers there: overwhelming pressure to succeed from parents and unrealistic expectations from the teens themselves.
“We celebrate the accomplishment of students who get into all eight Ivies,” said Brandon Kosatka, TJ’s director of student services. “That’s the bar, and our kids are shooting for that. They don’t like to be the second-best. If that’s the bar, then, yes, that creates anxiety for them.”
One student, who spoke anonymously to offer a candid view of the school’s climate, said teenagers are expected to boast impressive extracurricular activities on top of stellar grades.
“You’re going to have pressure to do well,” the student said. “But you also need to play 17 different sports and instruments.”
Fairfax County schools spokesman John Torre declined to comment. School Board member Ilryong Moon, whose two sons graduated from TJ and attended Harvard and Brown, said the school is very popular in Northern Virginia’s Korean community. Admission is highly selective, and Asians are accepted at a higher rate than their peers; next year’s freshman class is 70 percent Asian.
“In general, I feel that it’s not just TJ, but all of our students are feeling more and more pressure to do well,” Moon said. “The competition is becoming stiffer.”
Jung Jong-chul, education attache at the Korean Embassy in Washington, said TJ is known as one of the top high schools in the area and well known “for some Korean people who know or live around the D.C. area.” That might explain why the story exploded overseas.
The college admissions process can be perplexing for students who are used to solving math equations with definitive answers, Kosatka said. Some students measure their academic success based on college admissions, he said, which can lead to devastating moments of realization when rejection letters arrive in mailboxes.
“They are big fish in a small pond,” Kosatka said. “It’s a big self-esteem blow when you learn there are other big fish out there, that you’re just another star among stars. . . . Sometimes it’s not in the cards, and that’s difficult for students who are accustomed to being successful to swallow.”
A lot of the pressure that students feel comes from parents and teachers, he added: “They don’t want to let down the adults in their lives.”
That stress appeared to be too much for at least one young woman at TJ, who goes by her nickname, Sara.
In breathless coverage in the Korean media, the student was hailed as the “Genius Girl,” who made her parents immensely proud by gaining acceptance and scholarships at two of the best schools in the country. According to Korean reports, she had Harvard and Stanford professors fighting for her to enroll. Several news outlets reported that Zuckerberg called her to persuade her to choose Harvard, which he attended for two years. A spokesman for Zuckerberg declined to comment.
The student and her family granted interviews, which appeared in overseas coverage and in Korean American news. The Washington Post is not identifying the student, because she is a minor who has not been accused of a crime. Attempts to reach the student’s family were unsuccessful, and her father did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment.
The student “answered the phone one day, and it was Zuckerberg, so she was surprised,” her mother told the Korean publication Newsis. “He said he was in Panama and that he had called her because it was easier to talk by phone than by e-mail.”
But students at TJ grew suspicious and began questioning the story. That skepticism made its way to online e-mail discussion groups in the Washington region. Then, earlier this month, the entire senior class at TJ received an e-mail from a person claiming to be Harvard mathematics professor Joseph Daniel Harris.
“We’ve heard various rumors related to Sara, and I am here to put it to an end,” the e-mail read. “In addition, we’ve heard numerous comments related to her research and achievements, but we know much more than all of you guys know, so it needs to stop.”
Harvard officials told The Post that the e-mail from Harris was a forgery.
The ruse unraveled when Sara’s father wrote an apology to Korean news publications.
“I am sincerely sorry for causing trouble with what is not true,” he wrote, according to Yonhap, the South Korean news agency. “I am deeply repentant that I failed to watch properly over how painful and difficult a situation the child has been in so far and that I even aggravated and enlarged her suffering. . . . From now on, the whole family will live a quiet life, devoting ourselves to getting the child cured well and taking good care of her. Please forgive me for being unable to offer detailed explanations as the situation has not been completely figured out yet.”
Officials at Harvard and Stanford declined to say whether the student was accepted to either school.
In a statement to The Post, Harvard spokeswoman Anna Cowenhoven wrote that the university was made aware of claims that the student received “three admissions letters and multiple e-mail communications.”
“None of these communications were sent by Harvard, and we can confirm that they are all forgeries,” Cowenhoven wrote. “There is no program in existence through which a student is admitted to spend two years at Harvard College and two years at Stanford University.”
Stanford spokeswoman Lisa Lapin wrote in a statement to The Post that admissions letters Sara provided to Korean media organizations “were not authentic and were not issued by Stanford University.”
Lapin also said that a Stanford professor who was quoted in Korean media about Sara had never spoken to the media about her and neither met nor communicated with her.
“Stanford also does not have any type of program that would allow an undergraduate student to be admitted to two universities,” Lapin said.
TJ’s Kosatka said that instead of emphasizing students’ admission to selective colleges, parents and teachers should focus on ensuring that the teenagers are getting into schools that are the right fit for their talents and interests.
“There’s a disconnect,” Kosatka said. “We spend a lot of time socially saying, ‘Oh, who got into Harvard, Princeton, Brown and Yale?’ We send a mixed message.”
Michelle Lee contributed to this report. ||||| Two weeks ago, a South Korean "math prodigy" made headlines across the country after claiming that she had been accepted into two prestigious American universities, Stanford and Harvard.
Kim Jung-yoon, a senior at Thomas Jefferson high School for Science and Technology in Virginia, rose to fame after media reported that the top-tier universities had competed to recruit her to their undergraduate programs and ended up creating a special shared programme only for her to study at both schools.
According to the reports, the 18-year-old girl secured a rare chance to study at both schools and choose where to graduate from. Kim showed acceptance letters from the schools to back her claims.
Kim was featured on radio talk shows while her father contributed to the hype by conducting interviews with local news outlets.
The reports on Kim's achievement sparked envy among Koreans who have been living in a climate where admission into top universities is seen as key to elevating their social status.
But about a week later, her whole story was unraveled, with both Harvard and Stanford universities denying the acceptance of the Korean student. The universities confirmed that there was no such joint programme allowing a student to study at both schools, calling the acceptance letters provided by Kim forgeries.
Kim, who appears to have masterminded the whole furor herself, immediately went from being idolized to ridiculed, with her father apologising last week for causing a stir and promising to take care of her mental health.
Putting aside the reason behind her scam, the scandal appeared to leave a bitter aftertaste here, as it bluntly illustrated the country's avid obsession with academic elitism and a competitive media industry prone to lapses of judgment.
A 28-year-old student said he could sympathize with her as he understands what it feels like to fail to enter top-tier universities and to be treated like a "loser" in Korean society.
"I have felt that entering a renowned university is a way to have my voice heard in Korean society," Lee, who wanted to be identified only by his surname, told The Korea Herald. Lee is studying for a master's at a Seoul-based university after receiving a diploma from a lesser-known college.
"When I criticise the social structure, people think that I am complaining due to my poor educational background," he said. "Then, I become a loser again."
In Korea, it has been considered a norm that one's diploma defines the rest of his or her life, from career to even marriage prospects.
Cliques are formed based on educational backgrounds, with graduates from the nation's top universities taking up high positions on the social ladder and dominating academia, business and politics.
The infamous Korean helicopter moms enroll their toddlers in English-language kindergartens, in desperate hopes that the child will not be left behind in the fierce competition to enter the country's best universities, or if not, prestigious ones abroad.
Kim is one of the kids who might have felt pressured to impress her parents, said Seol Dong-hoon, a sociology professor from Chonbuk National University.
"The whole hullaballoo could have only been a family issue, but Kim's father made her lie public by showing off his daughter's achievement through the media," Seol said.
Indeed, Kim's case was only the latest in a long list of academic fabrication cases in Korea.
One of the most high-profile scandals came in 2007 when Shin Jeong-ah, an art history professor at Dongguk University, faked her academic record.
On the back of her distinguished degrees from Yale and University of Kansas, Shin rapidly shot to prominence in the local art world. She was appointed codirector of the Gwangju Biennale, one of the biggest art events in East Asia, at the age of 35.
But Shin fell from grace when her academic accomplishments turned out to be forged. She resigned from all her posts and was eventually convicted of falsifying records and embezzlement.
The Shin case triggered a wave of similar allegations and confessions across the nation involving a professor, movie director, renowned architect, leading actors and actresses and even a respected monk.
Behind the academic fraud cases is Koreans' belief that educational backgrounds indicate "status" in society, experts said.
"Koreans have viewed an academic degree as a prerequisite to success and climbing up the social ladder, which has intensified competition for admission to prestigious universities," Shin Kwang-yeong, a sociology professor from Chung-Ang University, told The Korea Herald.
And the belief has more than 1,000 years of history to it.
"Back in history, only aristocrats had a chance to take a state-administered exam to rise in social status," Shin said, referring to the Goryeo (918-1392) and Joseon (1392-1895) dynasties under which people took the Gwageo, the national civil service exam to advance into society.
"But now, exams are standardized and institutionalized so that anyone in any class can take an exam, get respectable degrees and enter the upper tier of society," he added.
With the country's leading businesses and key national exams still favouring those with prestigious diplomas, the obsession to embellish one's academic record persists, experts said.
A recent survey suggested that university degrees still have a huge impact on new graduates' job prospects. According to a survey of 418 firms by recruitment site Saramin, 88.5 per cent of the surveyed companies said that they have given an advantage to those holding a degree from renowned universities in the resume screening process.
Asked about the reason behind the practice, the companies said that they saw prestigious degrees as a result of one's efforts and a means of objectively measuring job seekers' abilities.
Other experts pointed out the Kim's scandal was also a result of poor quality journalism.
After it was found to be fabricated, a mainstream media outlet published a lengthy correction after having covered the teenage girl's story.
"Kim's story had every element that can excite Koreans ― the success of a Korean abroad and acceptance into prestigious universities," said Choi Jin-bong, who teaches mass communications at Sungkonghoe University.
"That's perhaps why Korean media hastily picked up the story."
With the news about Kim going viral in Korea after first being covered by a Korean newspaper in the US, the local media continued to reproduce the story until parents and students at Kim's school raised questions about her credentials, which later prompted a local daily to check the supposed facts.
"Amid fierce competition to attract readers and generate traffic online, local news outlets lack a system to check facts before reporting," Choi said, pinpointing a structural problem of online journalism driven by "stimulating" stories.
"Such diminishing media ethics can strike us all in the long run," Choi added.
Above all, the Kim case sounds the alarm to a society that has been pushing its youth to "risk their lives" to get into top-tier universities, said Kim Ji-ae, an activist campaigning to break academic cliques in society.
"The 18-year-old girl is not the only one to blame. Korean society that has made a university degree a source of pride or inferiority should take the blame," Kim said. "Kim's behaviour might be a self-portrait of us all." ||||| 2015/06/10 12:09
WASHINGTON, June 9 (Yonhap) -- Harvard and Stanford universities denied Tuesday that a South Korean high school student can attend both schools as part of a special joint program for her, debunking the story of a "math prodigy."
Kim Jung-yoon, a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia, has become famous after reports that she was accepted to the two prestigious universities and has even been allowed to attend both schools without having to choose one.
Her family has said the two universities had tried to convince Kim to choose their schools because she was such a brilliant student, especially at mathematics, and they later agreed on a special plan to allow her to study at Stanford for the first two years and then at Harvard for another two years.
Questions have since arisen about her admission, and the two universities have denied the reports.
"Despite recent media reports, there is no program in existence through which a student is admitted to spend two years at Harvard College and two years at Stanford University," Anna Cowenhoven, a Harvard Public Affairs and Communications official, said in an email to Yonhap News Agency.
"We have been made aware of an alleged admissions letter sent to Ms. Jung Yoon (Sara) Kim by Harvard University. We can confirm that this letter is a forgery," she said.
Lisa Lapin, a senior communications official at Stanford University, also denied that the school gave admission to Kim.
"I am confirming that the letter you received was NOT issued by Richard Shaw or Stanford University," she said in response to Yonhap's request for confirmation of an alleged admission letter signed by the dean of admissions and financial aid.
Kim's family provided the letter to reporters as evidence of her admission.
Her father, Kim Jung-wook, said that he will deal with the case through his lawyer.
In response to the allegations of fake admissions, he has said that there could be some misunderstanding because her admission is a very special case that has been discussed only between professors of the two universities.
[email protected]
(END) | – An Ivy League hoax has unraveled, one that illustrates South Korea's "twisted obsession with degrees," in the words of AsiaOne. It involves a teenage girl at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia, one of the nation's top high schools—the kind of place where students shoot to be accepted into all eight Ivy schools, notes the Washington Post. In this case, the girl told her parents and friends that she had been accepted into Harvard and Stanford, both of whom were so desperate to have her that they created a one-of-a-kind program in which she would attend each school for two years. She said Mark Zuckerberg personally called her to push Harvard. She produced acceptance letters and fawning emails from Ivy administrators and teachers. Not a word of it was true, but her unsuspecting parents spread the word to equally unsuspecting news outlets in South Korea. She became briefly famous as "Genius Girl." But finally, the lies caught up with her, thanks in part to questions raised by her skeptical classmates, followed by disavowals from the two schools, reports the South's Yonhap News Agency. Her father has since written a public apology to South Korea's media. "I am sincerely sorry for causing trouble with what is not true," he wrote. "I am deeply repentant that I failed to watch properly over how painful and difficult a situation the child has been in so far and that I even aggravated and enlarged her suffering." The story caught fire because it "had every element that can excite Koreans—the success of a Korean abroad and acceptance into prestigious universities," says a communications professor in the country. (This future Ivy Leaguer's impressive story is no hoax.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.In this Aug. 30, 2012, file photo, a tour group walks through the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. (Elise Amendola/AP)
The Korean math prodigy at one of the nation’s top high schools had Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg on the phone, personally encouraging the teenager to attend Harvard University. She received letters from Harvard professors, encouraging her to bring her brilliant abilities to Cambridge next fall instead of accepting her admission to Stanford University on the opposite coast.
As the student struggled to decide between five-figure scholarship promises from both schools, she received a novel offer: She could spend two years at each elite school as part of an arrangement just for her. The exciting dual-enrollment opportunity garnered star-struck coverage from Korean media outlets, which dubbed her the “Genius Girl.”
But none of it was true.
The baffling hoax has stunned Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, the top-ranked magnet program known as an intellectual proving ground for science wunderkinder, technology gurus, engineering buffs and math wizards — many of whom earn their way to the nation’s most prestigious colleges.
The senior’s tale of academic conquest of admission into what turned out to be a bogus program apparently was designed to impress her parents, peers and teachers as part of the annual cutthroat competition for the relatively tiny number of spots at the nation’s top schools. The faked admission story went much further than most teen fantasies: It made its way to the international media, where the student’s parents admitted the truth and publicly shamed themselves before the Korean community.
Many graduates of TJ, as the school is known, go on to illustrious academic careers. Just recently, a senior who had a 4.57 grade-point average, aced 13 Advanced Placement tests and founded a national nonprofit organization before her 18th birthday earned admission to all eight Ivy League schools, which made national headlines. Another senior, who designed the electronics system for a 6-foot, 120-pound robot capable of lifting crates, received a scholarship from the SpaceX aerospace corporation, founded by Internet billionaire Elon Musk.
[The real deal: Virginia student earns admission to all eight Ivy League schools, and others]
The question now at the school is what caused the student to concoct the elaborate college admissions scheme. The answer seems obvious to students and teachers there: overwhelming pressure to succeed from parents and unrealistic expectations from the teens themselves.
“We celebrate the accomplishment of students who get into all eight Ivies,” said Brandon Kosatka, TJ’s director of student services. “That’s the bar, and our kids are shooting for that. They don’t like to be the second-best. If that’s the bar, then, yes, that creates anxiety for them.”
One student, who spoke anonymously to offer a candid view of the school’s climate, said teenagers are expected to boast impressive extracurricular activities on top of stellar grades.
“You’re going to have pressure to do well,” the student said. “But you also need to play 17 different sports and instruments.”
Fairfax County schools spokesman John Torre declined to comment. School Board member Ilryong Moon, whose two sons graduated from TJ and attended Harvard and Brown, said the school is very popular in Northern Virginia’s Korean community. Admission is highly selective, and Asians are accepted at a higher rate than their peers; next year’s freshman class is 70 percent Asian.
“In general, I feel that it’s not just TJ, but all of our students are feeling more and more pressure to do well,” Moon said. “The competition is becoming stiffer.”
Jung Jong-chul, education attache at the Korean Embassy in Washington, said TJ is known as one of the top high schools in the area and well known “for some Korean people who know or live around the D.C. area.” That might explain why the story exploded overseas.
The college admissions process can be perplexing for students who are used to solving math equations with definitive answers, Kosatka said. Some students measure their academic success based on college admissions, he said, which can lead to devastating moments of realization when rejection letters arrive in mailboxes.
“They are big fish in a small pond,” Kosatka said. “It’s a big self-esteem blow when you learn there are other big fish out there, that you’re just another star among stars. . . . Sometimes it’s not in the cards, and that’s difficult for students who are accustomed to being successful to swallow.”
A lot of the pressure that students feel comes from parents and teachers, he added: “They don’t want to let down the adults in their lives.”
That stress appeared to be too much for at least one young woman at TJ, who goes by her nickname, Sara.
In breathless coverage in the Korean media, the student was hailed as the “Genius Girl,” who made her parents immensely proud by gaining acceptance and scholarships at two of the best schools in the country. According to Korean reports, she had Harvard and Stanford professors fighting for her to enroll. Several news outlets reported that Zuckerberg called her to persuade her to choose Harvard, which he attended for two years. A spokesman for Zuckerberg declined to comment.
The student and her family granted interviews, which appeared in overseas coverage and in Korean American news. The Washington Post is not identifying the student, because she is a minor who has not been accused of a crime. Attempts to reach the student’s family were unsuccessful, and her father did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment.
The student “answered the phone one day, and it was Zuckerberg, so she was surprised,” her mother told the Korean publication Newsis. “He said he was in Panama and that he had called her because it was easier to talk by phone than by e-mail.”
But students at TJ grew suspicious and began questioning the story. That skepticism made its way to online e-mail discussion groups in the Washington region. Then, earlier this month, the entire senior class at TJ received an e-mail from a person claiming to be Harvard mathematics professor Joseph Daniel Harris.
“We’ve heard various rumors related to Sara, and I am here to put it to an end,” the e-mail read. “In addition, we’ve heard numerous comments related to her research and achievements, but we know much more than all of you guys know, so it needs to stop.”
Harvard officials told The Post that the e-mail from Harris was a forgery.
The ruse unraveled when Sara’s father wrote an apology to Korean news publications.
“I am sincerely sorry for causing trouble with what is not true,” he wrote, according to Yonhap, the South Korean news agency. “I am deeply repentant that I failed to watch properly over how painful and difficult a situation the child has been in so far and that I even aggravated and enlarged her suffering. . . . From now on, the whole family will live a quiet life, devoting ourselves to getting the child cured well and taking good care of her. Please forgive me for being unable to offer detailed explanations as the situation has not been completely figured out yet.”
Officials at Harvard and Stanford declined to say whether the student was accepted to either school.
In a statement to The Post, Harvard spokeswoman Anna Cowenhoven wrote that the university was made aware of claims that the student received “three admissions letters and multiple e-mail communications.”
“None of these communications were sent by Harvard, and we can confirm that they are all forgeries,” Cowenhoven wrote. “There is no program in existence through which a student is admitted to spend two years at Harvard College and two years at Stanford University.”
Stanford spokeswoman Lisa Lapin wrote in a statement to The Post that admissions letters Sara provided to Korean media organizations “were not authentic and were not issued by Stanford University.”
Lapin also said that a Stanford professor who was quoted in Korean media about Sara had never spoken to the media about her and neither met nor communicated with her.
“Stanford also does not have any type of program that would allow an undergraduate student to be admitted to two universities,” Lapin said.
TJ’s Kosatka said that instead of emphasizing students’ admission to selective colleges, parents and teachers should focus on ensuring that the teenagers are getting into schools that are the right fit for their talents and interests.
“There’s a disconnect,” Kosatka said. “We spend a lot of time socially saying, ‘Oh, who got into Harvard, Princeton, Brown and Yale?’ We send a mixed message.”
Michelle Lee contributed to this report. ||||| Two weeks ago, a South Korean "math prodigy" made headlines across the country after claiming that she had been accepted into two prestigious American universities, Stanford and Harvard.
Kim Jung-yoon, a senior at Thomas Jefferson high School for Science and Technology in Virginia, rose to fame after media reported that the top-tier universities had competed to recruit her to their undergraduate programs and ended up creating a special shared programme only for her to study at both schools.
According to the reports, the 18-year-old girl secured a rare chance to study at both schools and choose where to graduate from. Kim showed acceptance letters from the schools to back her claims.
Kim was featured on radio talk shows while her father contributed to the hype by conducting interviews with local news outlets.
The reports on Kim's achievement sparked envy among Koreans who have been living in a climate where admission into top universities is seen as key to elevating their social status.
But about a week later, her whole story was unraveled, with both Harvard and Stanford universities denying the acceptance of the Korean student. The universities confirmed that there was no such joint programme allowing a student to study at both schools, calling the acceptance letters provided by Kim forgeries.
Kim, who appears to have masterminded the whole furor herself, immediately went from being idolized to ridiculed, with her father apologising last week for causing a stir and promising to take care of her mental health.
Putting aside the reason behind her scam, the scandal appeared to leave a bitter aftertaste here, as it bluntly illustrated the country's avid obsession with academic elitism and a competitive media industry prone to lapses of judgment.
A 28-year-old student said he could sympathize with her as he understands what it feels like to fail to enter top-tier universities and to be treated like a "loser" in Korean society.
"I have felt that entering a renowned university is a way to have my voice heard in Korean society," Lee, who wanted to be identified only by his surname, told The Korea Herald. Lee is studying for a master's at a Seoul-based university after receiving a diploma from a lesser-known college.
"When I criticise the social structure, people think that I am complaining due to my poor educational background," he said. "Then, I become a loser again."
In Korea, it has been considered a norm that one's diploma defines the rest of his or her life, from career to even marriage prospects.
Cliques are formed based on educational backgrounds, with graduates from the nation's top universities taking up high positions on the social ladder and dominating academia, business and politics.
The infamous Korean helicopter moms enroll their toddlers in English-language kindergartens, in desperate hopes that the child will not be left behind in the fierce competition to enter the country's best universities, or if not, prestigious ones abroad.
Kim is one of the kids who might have felt pressured to impress her parents, said Seol Dong-hoon, a sociology professor from Chonbuk National University.
"The whole hullaballoo could have only been a family issue, but Kim's father made her lie public by showing off his daughter's achievement through the media," Seol said.
Indeed, Kim's case was only the latest in a long list of academic fabrication cases in Korea.
One of the most high-profile scandals came in 2007 when Shin Jeong-ah, an art history professor at Dongguk University, faked her academic record.
On the back of her distinguished degrees from Yale and University of Kansas, Shin rapidly shot to prominence in the local art world. She was appointed codirector of the Gwangju Biennale, one of the biggest art events in East Asia, at the age of 35.
But Shin fell from grace when her academic accomplishments turned out to be forged. She resigned from all her posts and was eventually convicted of falsifying records and embezzlement.
The Shin case triggered a wave of similar allegations and confessions across the nation involving a professor, movie director, renowned architect, leading actors and actresses and even a respected monk.
Behind the academic fraud cases is Koreans' belief that educational backgrounds indicate "status" in society, experts said.
"Koreans have viewed an academic degree as a prerequisite to success and climbing up the social ladder, which has intensified competition for admission to prestigious universities," Shin Kwang-yeong, a sociology professor from Chung-Ang University, told The Korea Herald.
And the belief has more than 1,000 years of history to it.
"Back in history, only aristocrats had a chance to take a state-administered exam to rise in social status," Shin said, referring to the Goryeo (918-1392) and Joseon (1392-1895) dynasties under which people took the Gwageo, the national civil service exam to advance into society.
"But now, exams are standardized and institutionalized so that anyone in any class can take an exam, get respectable degrees and enter the upper tier of society," he added.
With the country's leading businesses and key national exams still favouring those with prestigious diplomas, the obsession to embellish one's academic record persists, experts said.
A recent survey suggested that university degrees still have a huge impact on new graduates' job prospects. According to a survey of 418 firms by recruitment site Saramin, 88.5 per cent of the surveyed companies said that they have given an advantage to those holding a degree from renowned universities in the resume screening process.
Asked about the reason behind the practice, the companies said that they saw prestigious degrees as a result of one's efforts and a means of objectively measuring job seekers' abilities.
Other experts pointed out the Kim's scandal was also a result of poor quality journalism.
After it was found to be fabricated, a mainstream media outlet published a lengthy correction after having covered the teenage girl's story.
"Kim's story had every element that can excite Koreans ― the success of a Korean abroad and acceptance into prestigious universities," said Choi Jin-bong, who teaches mass communications at Sungkonghoe University.
"That's perhaps why Korean media hastily picked up the story."
With the news about Kim going viral in Korea after first being covered by a Korean newspaper in the US, the local media continued to reproduce the story until parents and students at Kim's school raised questions about her credentials, which later prompted a local daily to check the supposed facts.
"Amid fierce competition to attract readers and generate traffic online, local news outlets lack a system to check facts before reporting," Choi said, pinpointing a structural problem of online journalism driven by "stimulating" stories.
"Such diminishing media ethics can strike us all in the long run," Choi added.
Above all, the Kim case sounds the alarm to a society that has been pushing its youth to "risk their lives" to get into top-tier universities, said Kim Ji-ae, an activist campaigning to break academic cliques in society.
"The 18-year-old girl is not the only one to blame. Korean society that has made a university degree a source of pride or inferiority should take the blame," Kim said. "Kim's behaviour might be a self-portrait of us all." ||||| 2015/06/10 12:09
WASHINGTON, June 9 (Yonhap) -- Harvard and Stanford universities denied Tuesday that a South Korean high school student can attend both schools as part of a special joint program for her, debunking the story of a "math prodigy."
Kim Jung-yoon, a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia, has become famous after reports that she was accepted to the two prestigious universities and has even been allowed to attend both schools without having to choose one.
Her family has said the two universities had tried to convince Kim to choose their schools because she was such a brilliant student, especially at mathematics, and they later agreed on a special plan to allow her to study at Stanford for the first two years and then at Harvard for another two years.
Questions have since arisen about her admission, and the two universities have denied the reports.
"Despite recent media reports, there is no program in existence through which a student is admitted to spend two years at Harvard College and two years at Stanford University," Anna Cowenhoven, a Harvard Public Affairs and Communications official, said in an email to Yonhap News Agency.
"We have been made aware of an alleged admissions letter sent to Ms. Jung Yoon (Sara) Kim by Harvard University. We can confirm that this letter is a forgery," she said.
Lisa Lapin, a senior communications official at Stanford University, also denied that the school gave admission to Kim.
"I am confirming that the letter you received was NOT issued by Richard Shaw or Stanford University," she said in response to Yonhap's request for confirmation of an alleged admission letter signed by the dean of admissions and financial aid.
Kim's family provided the letter to reporters as evidence of her admission.
Her father, Kim Jung-wook, said that he will deal with the case through his lawyer.
In response to the allegations of fake admissions, he has said that there could be some misunderstanding because her admission is a very special case that has been discussed only between professors of the two universities.
[email protected]
(END) | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 16,997 |
Treatments
Embryonic Stem Cells Restore Vision In Preliminary Human Test
i itoggle caption Tim Hussin for NPR Tim Hussin for NPR
Scientists are reporting the first strong evidence that human embryonic stem cells may be helping patients.
The cells appear to have improved the vision in more than half of the 18 patients who had become legally blind because of two progressive, currently incurable eye diseases.
The researchers stress that the findings must be considered preliminary because the number of patients treated was relatively small and they have only been followed for an average of less than two years.
But the findings are quite promising. The patients had lost so much vision that there was no expectation that they could benefit, the researchers say.
"I'm astonished that this is working in the way that it is — or seems to be working," says Steven Schwartz, a UCLA eye specialist who led the study, which was published Tuesday in the British medical journal The Lancet. "I'm very excited about it."
Other researchers agreed the work is preliminary, but also highly promising.
"It really does show for the very first time that patients can, in fact, benefit from the therapy," says Dr. Anthony Atala, a surgeon and director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University.
What we did is put them into patients who have a disease where those particular cells are dying; and we replaced those dying tissues with new tissue that's derived from these stem cells. In a way it's a retinal transplant.
"That allows you to say, 'OK, now that these cells have been used for patients who have blindness, maybe we can also use these cells for many other conditions as well, including heart disease, lung disease and other medical conditions,' " Atala says.
Human embryonic stem cells have the ability to become any kind of cell in the body. So scientists have been hoping the cells could be used to treat many diseases, including Alzheimer's, diabetes and paralysis. But the study is the first human embryonic stem cell trial approved by the Food and Drug Administration that has produced any results.
"It is really a very important paper," Atala says.
The study involved patients suffering from age-related macular degeneration and Stargardt's macular dystrophy, the two leading causes of adult and juvenile blindness in the developed world, Schwartz says. The diseases destroy a person's central vision.
"Whatever you're looking at is gone — whether it's faces, or reading or food on a plate, or whether something is a step or stripe," Schwartz says. "It's very, very difficult to perform activities of daily life that we, you know, don't even think about."
Working with Advanced Cell Technology Inc. of Marlborough, Mass., Schwartz and his colleagues took human embryonic stem cells and turned them into the kind of cells that are killed by these diseases — retinal pigment epithelial cells. Then, they infused between 50,000 and 150,000 cells into the retinas of the patients.
"What we did is put them into patients who have a disease where those particular cells are dying; and we replaced those dying tissues with new tissue that's derived from these stem cells," Schwartz said. "In a way it's a retinal transplant."
I don't want patients to come in to their doctor saying, 'Hey, I heard about the stem cells on the radio and I'd really like to get that treatment done, and what do you think?' It's not ready.
No one expected the cells to help any of these patients see better, because the study was designed mostly just to see if doing this was safe. Researchers were concerned the cells could destroy whatever vision was left or lead to tumors in the volunteers' eyes. So Schwartz picked patients whose eyes were so far gone that they weren't risking losing any vision. That also meant that there was little hope the cells could help either.
"We did not expect to help these patients, and they did not expect to be helped," Schwartz says.
Some patients experienced side effects from the procedure itself and from the drugs they had to take to suppress the immune system, but none of the side effects were considered serious. The cells themselves have produced no safety problems so far, the researchers reported.
And, surprisingly, many of the patients did start to see better, according to the report. Ten of the 18 patients can see significantly better. One got worse, but the other seven either got better or didn't lose any more vision.
"These are patients that didn't see better for 30 years and all of a sudden they're seeing better," Schwartz says. "It's amazing."
The patients include a graphic artist who could suddenly make out the woodwork carved on a piece of furniture in her bedroom, an international consultant who regained the ability to walk through busy airports without help, and an elderly rancher who's riding his horse again, Schwartz says.
"He couldn't see things like a barbed-wire fence or whether in the distance a stray cow was under a tree," Schwartz says. "And six months after the transplant he's back to running his cattle again. And he can, in fact, see a snake on the ground or sort of tell whether a distant shadow is a cow or something else. So it's made a big difference for him in his life."
Isabella Beukes of Santa Rosa, Calif., has been legally blind for more than 40 years. But within weeks of getting the cells, she started to see better. She could make out the cursor on her computer screen and the color of her clothes. Today, she can hike the hills near her house all by herself.
"The improvement, I mean, from where I was coming is just, it's very, very significant for me. I think it's fantastic," Beukes says. "I just think to be part of groundbreaking research work is amazing."
i itoggle caption Tim Hussin for NPR Tim Hussin for NPR
The research is controversial, however. Embryos are destroyed to get the cells, and some people think that's immoral.
"The problem we have with embryonic stem cells is simply the fact that you have to destroy a young human being to get embryonic stem cells," says David Prentice, senior fellow for life science at the Family Research Council, an advocacy group. "We would reject the idea that any human being be destroyed for experimental purposes."
For his part, Schwartz says he's just trying to help blind people see better. But he cautions that this work is still at a very early stage.
"I don't want patients to come in to their doctor saying, 'Hey, I heard about the stem cells on the radio and I'd really like to get that treatment done, and what do you think?' " he says. "It's not ready. Maybe in a few years. Maybe not. We have to wait and see. The jury is way out still."
Schwartz has continued treating more patients using larger doses of cells and trying it on patients who haven't lost as much vision to see if that works even better. He has also expanded his study to Boston, Miami, Philadelphia and London. | – When researchers infused tens of thousands of new stem cells into the retinas of legally blind people, they didn't expect a breakthrough in the patients' vision. But that's what they got, NPR reports: Ten of 18 subjects experienced significant improvement in their vision. The study was intended only to check whether the process was safe. "We did not expect to help these patients, and they did not expect to be helped," says the study's lead researcher, Steven Schwartz. "I'm astonished that this is working in the way that it is—or seems to be working," he says, emphasizing that the results are only preliminary. The study's subjects had incurable diseases—macular degeneration and Stargardt macular dystrophy—that cause gradual blindness by killing cells known as retinal pigment epithelial cells. In these cases, "whatever you're looking at is gone—whether it's faces, or reading or food on a plate, or whether something is a step or stripe," says Schwartz. Embryonic stem cells can be turned into any type of human cell, and in this case, researchers made them into the type of cells that had been lost. Patients received infusions of 50,000 to 100,000 of the cells. "In a way, it's a retinal transplant," he notes. Among the success stories were a rancher who's resumed horse riding and a woman who can now hike without help; eight patients could read 15 more letters on an eye chart, the Telegraph reports. But the work faces hurdles, including opposition to the use of stem cells. (A bionic eye recently restored some vision to a man in North Carolina.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Treatments
Embryonic Stem Cells Restore Vision In Preliminary Human Test
i itoggle caption Tim Hussin for NPR Tim Hussin for NPR
Scientists are reporting the first strong evidence that human embryonic stem cells may be helping patients.
The cells appear to have improved the vision in more than half of the 18 patients who had become legally blind because of two progressive, currently incurable eye diseases.
The researchers stress that the findings must be considered preliminary because the number of patients treated was relatively small and they have only been followed for an average of less than two years.
But the findings are quite promising. The patients had lost so much vision that there was no expectation that they could benefit, the researchers say.
"I'm astonished that this is working in the way that it is — or seems to be working," says Steven Schwartz, a UCLA eye specialist who led the study, which was published Tuesday in the British medical journal The Lancet. "I'm very excited about it."
Other researchers agreed the work is preliminary, but also highly promising.
"It really does show for the very first time that patients can, in fact, benefit from the therapy," says Dr. Anthony Atala, a surgeon and director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University.
What we did is put them into patients who have a disease where those particular cells are dying; and we replaced those dying tissues with new tissue that's derived from these stem cells. In a way it's a retinal transplant.
"That allows you to say, 'OK, now that these cells have been used for patients who have blindness, maybe we can also use these cells for many other conditions as well, including heart disease, lung disease and other medical conditions,' " Atala says.
Human embryonic stem cells have the ability to become any kind of cell in the body. So scientists have been hoping the cells could be used to treat many diseases, including Alzheimer's, diabetes and paralysis. But the study is the first human embryonic stem cell trial approved by the Food and Drug Administration that has produced any results.
"It is really a very important paper," Atala says.
The study involved patients suffering from age-related macular degeneration and Stargardt's macular dystrophy, the two leading causes of adult and juvenile blindness in the developed world, Schwartz says. The diseases destroy a person's central vision.
"Whatever you're looking at is gone — whether it's faces, or reading or food on a plate, or whether something is a step or stripe," Schwartz says. "It's very, very difficult to perform activities of daily life that we, you know, don't even think about."
Working with Advanced Cell Technology Inc. of Marlborough, Mass., Schwartz and his colleagues took human embryonic stem cells and turned them into the kind of cells that are killed by these diseases — retinal pigment epithelial cells. Then, they infused between 50,000 and 150,000 cells into the retinas of the patients.
"What we did is put them into patients who have a disease where those particular cells are dying; and we replaced those dying tissues with new tissue that's derived from these stem cells," Schwartz said. "In a way it's a retinal transplant."
I don't want patients to come in to their doctor saying, 'Hey, I heard about the stem cells on the radio and I'd really like to get that treatment done, and what do you think?' It's not ready.
No one expected the cells to help any of these patients see better, because the study was designed mostly just to see if doing this was safe. Researchers were concerned the cells could destroy whatever vision was left or lead to tumors in the volunteers' eyes. So Schwartz picked patients whose eyes were so far gone that they weren't risking losing any vision. That also meant that there was little hope the cells could help either.
"We did not expect to help these patients, and they did not expect to be helped," Schwartz says.
Some patients experienced side effects from the procedure itself and from the drugs they had to take to suppress the immune system, but none of the side effects were considered serious. The cells themselves have produced no safety problems so far, the researchers reported.
And, surprisingly, many of the patients did start to see better, according to the report. Ten of the 18 patients can see significantly better. One got worse, but the other seven either got better or didn't lose any more vision.
"These are patients that didn't see better for 30 years and all of a sudden they're seeing better," Schwartz says. "It's amazing."
The patients include a graphic artist who could suddenly make out the woodwork carved on a piece of furniture in her bedroom, an international consultant who regained the ability to walk through busy airports without help, and an elderly rancher who's riding his horse again, Schwartz says.
"He couldn't see things like a barbed-wire fence or whether in the distance a stray cow was under a tree," Schwartz says. "And six months after the transplant he's back to running his cattle again. And he can, in fact, see a snake on the ground or sort of tell whether a distant shadow is a cow or something else. So it's made a big difference for him in his life."
Isabella Beukes of Santa Rosa, Calif., has been legally blind for more than 40 years. But within weeks of getting the cells, she started to see better. She could make out the cursor on her computer screen and the color of her clothes. Today, she can hike the hills near her house all by herself.
"The improvement, I mean, from where I was coming is just, it's very, very significant for me. I think it's fantastic," Beukes says. "I just think to be part of groundbreaking research work is amazing."
i itoggle caption Tim Hussin for NPR Tim Hussin for NPR
The research is controversial, however. Embryos are destroyed to get the cells, and some people think that's immoral.
"The problem we have with embryonic stem cells is simply the fact that you have to destroy a young human being to get embryonic stem cells," says David Prentice, senior fellow for life science at the Family Research Council, an advocacy group. "We would reject the idea that any human being be destroyed for experimental purposes."
For his part, Schwartz says he's just trying to help blind people see better. But he cautions that this work is still at a very early stage.
"I don't want patients to come in to their doctor saying, 'Hey, I heard about the stem cells on the radio and I'd really like to get that treatment done, and what do you think?' " he says. "It's not ready. Maybe in a few years. Maybe not. We have to wait and see. The jury is way out still."
Schwartz has continued treating more patients using larger doses of cells and trying it on patients who haven't lost as much vision to see if that works even better. He has also expanded his study to Boston, Miami, Philadelphia and London. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 23,393 |
It's over: Avril Lavigne and Chad Kroeger have split after two years of marriage.
The "Complicated" songstress and Nickelback rocker announced the breakup Wednesday via Instagram.
"It is with heavy heart that Chad and I announce our separation today," wrote Lavigne, captioning what appeared to be a wedding photo.
"Through not only the marriage, but the music as well, we've created many unforgettable moments," she added. "We are still, and forever will be, the best of friends, and will always care deeply for each other. To all our family, friends and fans, thank you sincerely for the support."
Lavigne, 30, met Kroeger, 40, when he contributed to her album "Here's To Never Growing Up." They dated for a month before getting engaged in August 2012. They married on July 1, 2013 — Canada Day, giving a nod to their country of origin — in a gothic-themed wedding held in a medieval French castle. The petite singer wore black for the affair.
Another year, another batch of high-profile heartbreaks. Here's a look at who split up in 2015.
Rocky marriage rumors have plagued the couple since their first anniversary, just weeks after Kroeger gave Lavigne a 17-carat emerald-cut diamond ring, which she showcased on social media.
The split news comes on the heels of medical concerns for each rocker. In April, Lavigne disclosed her struggle with Lyme disease, and earlier this month, Nickelback canceled the remainder of its 2015 world tour after Kroeger had a cyst removed from his vocal chords.
It's unclear if the couple will divorce, though it would be the second for Lavigne, who was wed to musician Deryck Whibley for more than three years before they split in October 2009.
Incidentally, the Sum 41 frontman tied the knot with fiancée Ariana Cooper in Los Angeles last Sunday.
Follow me on Twitter @NardineSaad.
ALSO
Nikki Reed, Ian Somerhalder share details from their surprise wedding
Benedict Cumberbatch's baby name revealed -- unfortunately, it's not Cumberbaby
Sarah Michelle Gellar marks 13th anniversary with Freddie Prinze Jr. with wedding photo ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. | – Avril Lavigne and Nickelback's Chad Kroeger will no longer be making sub-par music together. They're separating after two years of marriage, Lavigne announced in a statement on Instagram today, per the Los Angeles Times. "Through not only the marriage, but the music as well, we've created many unforgettable moments," she wrote. "We are still, and forever will be, the best of friends, and will always care deeply for each other." Lavigne, who was previously married to Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley for three years, met Kroeger when he contributed to one of her albums; they were together just one month before getting engaged in August 2012, and married less than a year later. But they've long been plagued by rumors of trouble in paradise, People reports. It's not been a great year for them: Lavigne, 30, revealed in April that she has Lyme disease, and Kroeger, 40, recently had a vocal chord cyst removed, forcing Nickelback to cancel the rest of this year's tour. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.It's over: Avril Lavigne and Chad Kroeger have split after two years of marriage.
The "Complicated" songstress and Nickelback rocker announced the breakup Wednesday via Instagram.
"It is with heavy heart that Chad and I announce our separation today," wrote Lavigne, captioning what appeared to be a wedding photo.
"Through not only the marriage, but the music as well, we've created many unforgettable moments," she added. "We are still, and forever will be, the best of friends, and will always care deeply for each other. To all our family, friends and fans, thank you sincerely for the support."
Lavigne, 30, met Kroeger, 40, when he contributed to her album "Here's To Never Growing Up." They dated for a month before getting engaged in August 2012. They married on July 1, 2013 — Canada Day, giving a nod to their country of origin — in a gothic-themed wedding held in a medieval French castle. The petite singer wore black for the affair.
Another year, another batch of high-profile heartbreaks. Here's a look at who split up in 2015.
Rocky marriage rumors have plagued the couple since their first anniversary, just weeks after Kroeger gave Lavigne a 17-carat emerald-cut diamond ring, which she showcased on social media.
The split news comes on the heels of medical concerns for each rocker. In April, Lavigne disclosed her struggle with Lyme disease, and earlier this month, Nickelback canceled the remainder of its 2015 world tour after Kroeger had a cyst removed from his vocal chords.
It's unclear if the couple will divorce, though it would be the second for Lavigne, who was wed to musician Deryck Whibley for more than three years before they split in October 2009.
Incidentally, the Sum 41 frontman tied the knot with fiancée Ariana Cooper in Los Angeles last Sunday.
Follow me on Twitter @NardineSaad.
ALSO
Nikki Reed, Ian Somerhalder share details from their surprise wedding
Benedict Cumberbatch's baby name revealed -- unfortunately, it's not Cumberbaby
Sarah Michelle Gellar marks 13th anniversary with Freddie Prinze Jr. with wedding photo ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 37,865 |
2nd UPDATE: Port Townsend's latest historical curiosity is hoisted at Boat Haven [Gallery]
By Justin BurnettSouth Whidbey RecordAn anchor believed by the recovery crew Anchor Ventures LLC to be from the HMS Chatham -- part of the Captain George Vancouver expedition into the Pacific Northwest --was successfully raised from Admiralty Inlet west of central Whidbey Island on Monday night.Anchor Ventures brought the raw iron anchor to the surface at about 6 p.m. after an hour slowly raising it from the depths. Divers spent most of the afternoon Monday trying different methods of freeing it from the sea floor with some barnacles attached and some pebbles rusted into it. Once loose, it was raised in a cradle in one piece, which brought peace of mind to one of the anchor's discoverers.“I'm pretty overcome,” said Scott Grimm, a member of Anchor Ventures who researched the anchor on antiquity. “It's been a long time.”By Joe SmilliePeninsula Daily NewsPORT TOWNSEND –– After 222 years underwater, a historic anchor believed to have snapped free from the ship that accompanied Capt. George Vancouver's late-18th-century Discovery expedition is out of the water.Anchor Ventures LLC on Monday retrieved an anchor lodged in the floor of Admiralty Inlet off Whidbey Island that they believe broke free from the HMS Chatham, companion tall ship to Vancouver's HMS Discovery.Scott Grimm, a medical equipment salesman and amateur historian and half of Anchor Ventures, said the salvagers were bringing the relic west to Port Townsend.Difficulties pulling the anchor up pushed the crew back from its expected 2 p.m. arrival time in Port Townsend.“We ran into a couple snags out here. We had to give the divers a bit of a break, there's only so long they can be under water,” Grimm said about 4:30 p.m.Grimm started Anchor Ventures LLC with Doug Monk, a Port Angeles diver and fisherman who first spotted the anchor while diving for sea cucumbers off Whidbey Island in 2008.They were diving Monday off Whidbey Island's Ledgewood Beach, near the Keystone ferry terminal, in pursuit of the anchor they believe to be the one log books say broke free from the HMS Chatham in 1792.They had withheld the location of the anchor until Monday out of fears it would be poached before they could get to it.The duo's expedition left Port Townsend Bay shortly after 9 a.m.They enlisted the help of a barge with a crane mounted on it.Divers began going after the anchor around noon.A specially built cradle was made to protect the anchor during the recovery and barge trip back to Port Townsend.Along with the barge, the expedition consisted of a dive boat with a team of divers and two other large boats carrying media and documentary filmmakers.Once brought ashore, the anchor will be stored at the Northwest Maritime Center where it will stay for the next few weeks before being shipped off for analysis and preservation work by researchers at Texas A&M; University in College Station, Texas.Maritime Center executive director Jake Beattie said the anchor will be displayed on the ground floor of the Chandler Maritime Education Building while it is in Port Townsend.Grimm and Monk hope the Texas A&M; analysis will resolve a dispute with conventional wisdom held by most Pacific Northwest maritime historians that the anchor ended up in Bellingham Channel after snapping free from the Chatham.The anchor has been sought by maritime and history experts who have made multiple attempts to locate it in Bellingham Channel over the past 70 years.It was reported lost in the log books and journals kept by the crew of the Chatham.Both the Chatham and the Discovery spent four years exploring the North American west coast beginning in 1791.________Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at [email protected] Justin Burnett, editor of the South Whidbey Record, a sister newspaper of the Peninsula Daily News, contributed to this report. ||||| First they cheered, then they wept.
The long-submerged anchor believed connected with Captain George Vancouver and his famed exploration of the Pacific Northwest more than 200 years ago touched down on the deck of a barge off Ledgewood late Monday. It was a moment of joy, but also one of closure, as it marked the end of six years of research, toil and obsession.
“I’m pretty overcome right now,” said a teary-eyed Scott Grimm, moments after the anchor was recovered. “It’s been a long time.”
The anchor was discovered in 40 feet of water by Doug Monk, a diver and ship captain, in 2008. Teaming up with Grimm, they have spent the years since trying to identify the relic, jumping through the hoops of establishing legal ownership and navigating the state’s lengthy permit process.
They contend it’s the stream anchor lost on June 9, 1792, from the HMS Chatham, the 80-foot survey brig that accompanied Vancouver and the HMS Discovery on the famed exploration of Puget Sound.
Recovering the relic, exactly 222 years after the Chatham’s anchor was lost, was no easy task. Small teams of divers spent most of the day working in tough conditions.
“Howling,” said diver Laura James, describing the swift current. “Probably the strongest current I’ve ever worked in.”
The team attached a cradle to the old anchor, estimated to weigh more than 1,000 pounds, that would support the artifact as it was lifted to the surface. Puget Sound doesn’t release her treasures so easily, however, and recovering the anchor without breaking it was tricky due to one fluke that was stuck fast to the seafloor.
Divers tried first to dig out around the fluke, then used airbags, but it wouldn’t budge. In the end, it was painstakingly pulled free with a crane that pulled from an angle that would free it without damage.
“I’m just happy we didn’t break it,” said Monk, a man of rough hands and Carhartt coveralls. “It made it worth the extra trouble.”
He said he was “ecstatic” to get the anchor up in one piece, but that Monday’s successful raising was a relief in more ways than one. While there are many more chapters yet to be written about this anchor, Monk is ready for this adventure to come to an end.
“I’d say I’m about done,” he laughed.
And that was music to his wife’s ears. Li Li has been the consummate supporter, but she is looking forward to talking about something else for a change.
“It’s been a long project … most of our conversations end with the anchor,” said Li, with a smile.
For many others, however, the mystery of the anchor is just getting started. Where it will end up after it’s restored, possible squabbles over ownership, and of course from what vessel this anchor was lost are all future topics of discussion.
The authenticity of the anchor’s origins, which flies in the face of conventional belief that it was lost near Bellingham, has sparked debate and will likely continue to do so. Indeed, before the boats of Monday’s recovery had returned to port, experts on board were already speculating. A few expressed certainty that it is the Chatham’s anchor, others quiet doubt and some offered guarded opinions.
“It’s an anchor; that’s my expert opinion,” said Scott Williams, an archeologist who specializes in marine recovery.
On board largely as an observer, Williams was also charged with ensuring conditions of the recovery permit were followed, such as making sure the anchor was kept wet until it reached a special tank built for the relic at the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend. It will spend the next few weeks there before being trucked to Texas A&M University for restoration. That process may reveal definitive answers, but it may not.
“It’s hard to prove much in archaeology,” Williams said.
The team could get “lucky” and find an embossment of the British navy on the anchor, but it’s considered a long shot. Like the wheel of a car, there will likely be little to definitely tie the artifact to the Chatham.
“A lot of it is going to come down to Scott’s [Grimm] research,” Williams said.
But even if it’s not what some hope, it’s still a very old anchor and it has a story to tell, said Bob Mester, a marine recovery expert and owner of Underwater Admiralty Sciences.
“It’s a wonderful find and nothing should detract from that,” Mester said.
The search for the Chatham’s anchor has captured the imagination of historians for years, including Mester, and news that this could be the same object has sparked countless discussions over its authenticity. That alone is valuable, Mester said.
As for Grimm, he says there is probably no way to know for sure, with absolute certainty, that this is the Chatham’s anchor. However, he believes his research, some of which he has yet to reveal, will make a case too compelling to challenge.
“It’s a great feeling,” said Grimm, gazing at the barnacle-encrusted anchor. “I think we’re going to be vindicated.” ||||| Originally published June 9, 2014 at 6:13 PM | Page modified June 10, 2014 at 8:25 AM
A crane on Monday off Whidbey Island hauled up a lost ship’s anchor that a group of history buffs believe is the only surviving relic of Capt. George Vancouver’s famed 1792 voyage into Puget Sound.
It rose from the deep off Whidbey Island, at least 900 pounds of dripping metal that a group of amateur sleuths hope will forever change the history of Puget Sound.
A crane on Monday hauled up a lost ship’s anchor that a group of history buffs believe is the only surviving relic of Capt. George Vancouver’s famed 1792 voyage into Puget Sound.
Six years after sea-cucumber diver Doug Monk stumbled onto the barnacle-encrusted anchor, divers dug a trench below the buried artifact, strapped it to a T-shaped support and began to raise it from the bottom with floats. After some trouble getting the tip unstuck, it was then hoisted by crane to a barge.
The anchor’s return to the surface was greeted by hoots and cheers from a small armada of boats. They were mostly friends and family of Monk and Scott Grimm, who spent years trying to prove that the unassuming hulk could only have come from one of the smaller ships that accompanied explorer Vancouver’s vessel, HMS Discovery.
That ship, the armed tender HMS Chatham, lost its anchor 222 years ago.
“For me, I’m a Northwest guy and my family has been here since the 1880s,” said Grimm. “The Chatham is our link to our past. My mom used to always say stuff isn’t just stuff. It ties generations together.”
The effort to raise the buried iron anchor took divers and salvage crews most of Monday. They battled waves and wind, and the anchor itself was lodged so firmly in the rock that it snapped a line being used to wrest it free.
But when it finally came up and dangled in the air, Monk said he could feel a weight actually being lifted.
“It was as tough to bring up as it’s been all along,” Monk said.
While most historians have long believed the Chatham’s anchor was lost somewhere in Bellingham Channel, Grimm studied explorers’ journals, court records and other documents from centuries ago and concluded the anchor off Whidbey Island most likely had to be from that ship.
Although some local experts remain skeptical, Grimm has since convinced the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration’s top archaeological expert that he might be right.
NOAA archaeologist James Delgado, who previously led mapping of the Titanic wreck site, has said Grimm and his colleagues “make a very compelling case.”
The problem is that simply retrieving the anchor may not ultimately solve the mystery.
Grimm and Monk plan to have the anchor stored for viewing for several weeks in Port Townsend. Then they will ship it to Texas A&M; University, where researchers will spend roughly 18 months trying to restore the anchor and look for any signs that ultimately could prove or disprove Grimm’s theory.
But unless those experts find any identifying stamps or markers on the anchor, the evidence Grimm has compiled may be all there is.
“Unless we find something on there that says ‘Made in China,’ I’m not sure it’s going to answer all the questions,” Grimm said.
A month after Vancouver sailed into Puget Sound in May 1792, reaching all the way to where Olympia now stands, the 145 or so members of his expedition headed back north, bound for a bay west of Anacortes.
Along the way, beset by 5.5-knot currents, the Chatham’s anchor got lodged and broke free.
Explorers’ journals suggested the Chatham and the Discovery were together at the time, but Grimm posited that the smaller, 80-foot Chatham had actually lagged way behind.
He determined that the bluffs off Whidbey more accurately fit the terrain described in the journals. He also checked with weather experts at NOAA, who figured out that currents in Admiralty Bay were 5.5 knots on June 9, 1792, and weren’t anywhere near that fast in Bellingham Channel.
Grimm knows it’s possible that he could still be wrong. But at this point, he feels one of the best pieces of evidence is the fact that armchair historians have scoured Bellingham Channel for decades and still haven’t found a thing.
“I think we’ll finally be vindicated,” Grimm said. “At least I hope we will.”
Craig Welch: 206-464-2093 or [email protected]. On Twitter @craigawelch
Free 4-week trial, then $99 a year for unlimited seattletimes.com access. Try it now! | – Six years after first discovering it, "amateur sleuths" rejoiced Monday after bringing a 900-pound anchor thought to be lost in 1792 to the surface in Washington state's Puget Sound. They hope to prove they've found the stream anchor that was reportedly lost exactly 222 years earlier, on June 9, 1792, from the HMS Chatham, an 80-foot survey brig that was part of Capt. George Vancouver’s larger exploration of the Pacific Northwest. But the sea did not relinquish the relic without a fight, according to the South Whidbey Record and Peninsula Daily News; even though a trench was built beneath the anchor and a specially constructed cradle made to protect it, the waters were so choppy it took divers some six hours to raise the anchor with the help of a crane. Causing further delays, its tip was stuck fiercely to the sea floor. Still, the divers were able to recover the barnacle-encrusted anchor without breaking it, and it'll soon be shipped to Texas A&M University, starting an 18-month study of the anchor. "I'm pretty overcome," amateur historian Scott Grimm—who has toiled tirelessly for six years to surface it alongside Doug Monk, the sea cucumber diver who first spotted the anchor—tells the Seattle Times. Though historians long thought the anchor slumbered in Bellingham Channel, Grimm pored over explorers' diaries and other documents that led him to the conclusion that the anchor's location off Whidbey Island could be the correct one. It's now up to Texas A&M researchers to verify that, and it may not be an easy task: It remains to be seen whether the anchor was stamped with identifying markers. (This kind of discovery certainly isn't unheard of. One dive last year resulted in the recovery of one mythical treasure from 1592.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.2nd UPDATE: Port Townsend's latest historical curiosity is hoisted at Boat Haven [Gallery]
By Justin BurnettSouth Whidbey RecordAn anchor believed by the recovery crew Anchor Ventures LLC to be from the HMS Chatham -- part of the Captain George Vancouver expedition into the Pacific Northwest --was successfully raised from Admiralty Inlet west of central Whidbey Island on Monday night.Anchor Ventures brought the raw iron anchor to the surface at about 6 p.m. after an hour slowly raising it from the depths. Divers spent most of the afternoon Monday trying different methods of freeing it from the sea floor with some barnacles attached and some pebbles rusted into it. Once loose, it was raised in a cradle in one piece, which brought peace of mind to one of the anchor's discoverers.“I'm pretty overcome,” said Scott Grimm, a member of Anchor Ventures who researched the anchor on antiquity. “It's been a long time.”By Joe SmilliePeninsula Daily NewsPORT TOWNSEND –– After 222 years underwater, a historic anchor believed to have snapped free from the ship that accompanied Capt. George Vancouver's late-18th-century Discovery expedition is out of the water.Anchor Ventures LLC on Monday retrieved an anchor lodged in the floor of Admiralty Inlet off Whidbey Island that they believe broke free from the HMS Chatham, companion tall ship to Vancouver's HMS Discovery.Scott Grimm, a medical equipment salesman and amateur historian and half of Anchor Ventures, said the salvagers were bringing the relic west to Port Townsend.Difficulties pulling the anchor up pushed the crew back from its expected 2 p.m. arrival time in Port Townsend.“We ran into a couple snags out here. We had to give the divers a bit of a break, there's only so long they can be under water,” Grimm said about 4:30 p.m.Grimm started Anchor Ventures LLC with Doug Monk, a Port Angeles diver and fisherman who first spotted the anchor while diving for sea cucumbers off Whidbey Island in 2008.They were diving Monday off Whidbey Island's Ledgewood Beach, near the Keystone ferry terminal, in pursuit of the anchor they believe to be the one log books say broke free from the HMS Chatham in 1792.They had withheld the location of the anchor until Monday out of fears it would be poached before they could get to it.The duo's expedition left Port Townsend Bay shortly after 9 a.m.They enlisted the help of a barge with a crane mounted on it.Divers began going after the anchor around noon.A specially built cradle was made to protect the anchor during the recovery and barge trip back to Port Townsend.Along with the barge, the expedition consisted of a dive boat with a team of divers and two other large boats carrying media and documentary filmmakers.Once brought ashore, the anchor will be stored at the Northwest Maritime Center where it will stay for the next few weeks before being shipped off for analysis and preservation work by researchers at Texas A&M; University in College Station, Texas.Maritime Center executive director Jake Beattie said the anchor will be displayed on the ground floor of the Chandler Maritime Education Building while it is in Port Townsend.Grimm and Monk hope the Texas A&M; analysis will resolve a dispute with conventional wisdom held by most Pacific Northwest maritime historians that the anchor ended up in Bellingham Channel after snapping free from the Chatham.The anchor has been sought by maritime and history experts who have made multiple attempts to locate it in Bellingham Channel over the past 70 years.It was reported lost in the log books and journals kept by the crew of the Chatham.Both the Chatham and the Discovery spent four years exploring the North American west coast beginning in 1791.________Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at [email protected] Justin Burnett, editor of the South Whidbey Record, a sister newspaper of the Peninsula Daily News, contributed to this report. ||||| First they cheered, then they wept.
The long-submerged anchor believed connected with Captain George Vancouver and his famed exploration of the Pacific Northwest more than 200 years ago touched down on the deck of a barge off Ledgewood late Monday. It was a moment of joy, but also one of closure, as it marked the end of six years of research, toil and obsession.
“I’m pretty overcome right now,” said a teary-eyed Scott Grimm, moments after the anchor was recovered. “It’s been a long time.”
The anchor was discovered in 40 feet of water by Doug Monk, a diver and ship captain, in 2008. Teaming up with Grimm, they have spent the years since trying to identify the relic, jumping through the hoops of establishing legal ownership and navigating the state’s lengthy permit process.
They contend it’s the stream anchor lost on June 9, 1792, from the HMS Chatham, the 80-foot survey brig that accompanied Vancouver and the HMS Discovery on the famed exploration of Puget Sound.
Recovering the relic, exactly 222 years after the Chatham’s anchor was lost, was no easy task. Small teams of divers spent most of the day working in tough conditions.
“Howling,” said diver Laura James, describing the swift current. “Probably the strongest current I’ve ever worked in.”
The team attached a cradle to the old anchor, estimated to weigh more than 1,000 pounds, that would support the artifact as it was lifted to the surface. Puget Sound doesn’t release her treasures so easily, however, and recovering the anchor without breaking it was tricky due to one fluke that was stuck fast to the seafloor.
Divers tried first to dig out around the fluke, then used airbags, but it wouldn’t budge. In the end, it was painstakingly pulled free with a crane that pulled from an angle that would free it without damage.
“I’m just happy we didn’t break it,” said Monk, a man of rough hands and Carhartt coveralls. “It made it worth the extra trouble.”
He said he was “ecstatic” to get the anchor up in one piece, but that Monday’s successful raising was a relief in more ways than one. While there are many more chapters yet to be written about this anchor, Monk is ready for this adventure to come to an end.
“I’d say I’m about done,” he laughed.
And that was music to his wife’s ears. Li Li has been the consummate supporter, but she is looking forward to talking about something else for a change.
“It’s been a long project … most of our conversations end with the anchor,” said Li, with a smile.
For many others, however, the mystery of the anchor is just getting started. Where it will end up after it’s restored, possible squabbles over ownership, and of course from what vessel this anchor was lost are all future topics of discussion.
The authenticity of the anchor’s origins, which flies in the face of conventional belief that it was lost near Bellingham, has sparked debate and will likely continue to do so. Indeed, before the boats of Monday’s recovery had returned to port, experts on board were already speculating. A few expressed certainty that it is the Chatham’s anchor, others quiet doubt and some offered guarded opinions.
“It’s an anchor; that’s my expert opinion,” said Scott Williams, an archeologist who specializes in marine recovery.
On board largely as an observer, Williams was also charged with ensuring conditions of the recovery permit were followed, such as making sure the anchor was kept wet until it reached a special tank built for the relic at the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend. It will spend the next few weeks there before being trucked to Texas A&M University for restoration. That process may reveal definitive answers, but it may not.
“It’s hard to prove much in archaeology,” Williams said.
The team could get “lucky” and find an embossment of the British navy on the anchor, but it’s considered a long shot. Like the wheel of a car, there will likely be little to definitely tie the artifact to the Chatham.
“A lot of it is going to come down to Scott’s [Grimm] research,” Williams said.
But even if it’s not what some hope, it’s still a very old anchor and it has a story to tell, said Bob Mester, a marine recovery expert and owner of Underwater Admiralty Sciences.
“It’s a wonderful find and nothing should detract from that,” Mester said.
The search for the Chatham’s anchor has captured the imagination of historians for years, including Mester, and news that this could be the same object has sparked countless discussions over its authenticity. That alone is valuable, Mester said.
As for Grimm, he says there is probably no way to know for sure, with absolute certainty, that this is the Chatham’s anchor. However, he believes his research, some of which he has yet to reveal, will make a case too compelling to challenge.
“It’s a great feeling,” said Grimm, gazing at the barnacle-encrusted anchor. “I think we’re going to be vindicated.” ||||| Originally published June 9, 2014 at 6:13 PM | Page modified June 10, 2014 at 8:25 AM
A crane on Monday off Whidbey Island hauled up a lost ship’s anchor that a group of history buffs believe is the only surviving relic of Capt. George Vancouver’s famed 1792 voyage into Puget Sound.
It rose from the deep off Whidbey Island, at least 900 pounds of dripping metal that a group of amateur sleuths hope will forever change the history of Puget Sound.
A crane on Monday hauled up a lost ship’s anchor that a group of history buffs believe is the only surviving relic of Capt. George Vancouver’s famed 1792 voyage into Puget Sound.
Six years after sea-cucumber diver Doug Monk stumbled onto the barnacle-encrusted anchor, divers dug a trench below the buried artifact, strapped it to a T-shaped support and began to raise it from the bottom with floats. After some trouble getting the tip unstuck, it was then hoisted by crane to a barge.
The anchor’s return to the surface was greeted by hoots and cheers from a small armada of boats. They were mostly friends and family of Monk and Scott Grimm, who spent years trying to prove that the unassuming hulk could only have come from one of the smaller ships that accompanied explorer Vancouver’s vessel, HMS Discovery.
That ship, the armed tender HMS Chatham, lost its anchor 222 years ago.
“For me, I’m a Northwest guy and my family has been here since the 1880s,” said Grimm. “The Chatham is our link to our past. My mom used to always say stuff isn’t just stuff. It ties generations together.”
The effort to raise the buried iron anchor took divers and salvage crews most of Monday. They battled waves and wind, and the anchor itself was lodged so firmly in the rock that it snapped a line being used to wrest it free.
But when it finally came up and dangled in the air, Monk said he could feel a weight actually being lifted.
“It was as tough to bring up as it’s been all along,” Monk said.
While most historians have long believed the Chatham’s anchor was lost somewhere in Bellingham Channel, Grimm studied explorers’ journals, court records and other documents from centuries ago and concluded the anchor off Whidbey Island most likely had to be from that ship.
Although some local experts remain skeptical, Grimm has since convinced the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration’s top archaeological expert that he might be right.
NOAA archaeologist James Delgado, who previously led mapping of the Titanic wreck site, has said Grimm and his colleagues “make a very compelling case.”
The problem is that simply retrieving the anchor may not ultimately solve the mystery.
Grimm and Monk plan to have the anchor stored for viewing for several weeks in Port Townsend. Then they will ship it to Texas A&M; University, where researchers will spend roughly 18 months trying to restore the anchor and look for any signs that ultimately could prove or disprove Grimm’s theory.
But unless those experts find any identifying stamps or markers on the anchor, the evidence Grimm has compiled may be all there is.
“Unless we find something on there that says ‘Made in China,’ I’m not sure it’s going to answer all the questions,” Grimm said.
A month after Vancouver sailed into Puget Sound in May 1792, reaching all the way to where Olympia now stands, the 145 or so members of his expedition headed back north, bound for a bay west of Anacortes.
Along the way, beset by 5.5-knot currents, the Chatham’s anchor got lodged and broke free.
Explorers’ journals suggested the Chatham and the Discovery were together at the time, but Grimm posited that the smaller, 80-foot Chatham had actually lagged way behind.
He determined that the bluffs off Whidbey more accurately fit the terrain described in the journals. He also checked with weather experts at NOAA, who figured out that currents in Admiralty Bay were 5.5 knots on June 9, 1792, and weren’t anywhere near that fast in Bellingham Channel.
Grimm knows it’s possible that he could still be wrong. But at this point, he feels one of the best pieces of evidence is the fact that armchair historians have scoured Bellingham Channel for decades and still haven’t found a thing.
“I think we’ll finally be vindicated,” Grimm said. “At least I hope we will.”
Craig Welch: 206-464-2093 or [email protected]. On Twitter @craigawelch
Free 4-week trial, then $99 a year for unlimited seattletimes.com access. Try it now! | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 37,394 |
A California State Parks ranger was placed on leave after he was found intoxicated and asleep in his patrol car with a beer between his legs, officials said.
A passerby stumbled upon the ranger, Tyson Young, on the afternoon of Aug. 15 in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, which is off Highway 101 south of Eureka, according to the California Highway Patrol.
After trying unsuccessfully to wake up the ranger, the passerby snapped a picture of Young, who was sleeping soundly with a Keystone Light snugly tucked between his legs. The tipster photographer wished to remain anonymous, said the Lost Coast Outpost, which published the photo.
State Park Ranger Found Unconscious in Patrol Car With Beer Between His Legs (PHOTO): http://t.co/31n0kYwijG — Lost Coast Outpost (@LCOutpost) August 29, 2014
The man called 911, but Young reportedly woke up and left the scene. CHP officers then spotted Young’s vehicle near Myers Flat, pulled him over and arrested him on suspicion of drunken driving, said Officer Patrick Bourassa.
Young was cited and released to a State Parks supervisor, Bourassa said. He said the CHP has since forwarded the case to the Humboldt County district attorney with a recommendation to file charges.
Vicky Waters, a State Parks spokeswoman, said that Young, who has been with the agency for more than 10 years, was placed on administrative leave and had his peace-officer status revoked pending the results of the investigation. ||||| click to enlarge
The California Highway Patrol is requesting that prosecutors file charges against a California State Parks law enforcement ranger arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence while on duty.CHP officer Patrick Bourassa said a citizen called police shortly before 3 p.m. on Aug. 15 to report that a ranger was possibly driving under the influence on Avenue of the Giants, near Weott. Bourassa said officers responded to the area, and located a state parks vehicle driving north. Officers pulled the vehicle over and contacted its driver, Tyson Young.“Young displayed objective signs of intoxication and was detained for a DUI investigation,” Bourassa said, adding that the ranger was transported to CHP headquarters where he was subsequently arrested.Bourassa said Young was ultimately cited and released to a state park supervisor. While the case remains under investigation, Bourassa said, “We will be requesting that charges be filed.” He said he could not provide any additional information at this time.California State Parks spokeswoman Vicky Waters confirmed there was an incident involving Young, who she described as a “tenured park employee,” but declined to provide any details. Waters said Young has been placed on paid administrative leave and that his state peace officer status has been suspended. In addition to cooperating fully with the criminal investigation, Waters said State Parks is also conducting an internal investigation into the incident.According to the California State Parks website, Young has served as the supervising ranger for Humboldt Redwoods and Richardson Grove state parks.The Humboldt County District Attorney's Office has yet to make a charging decision in the case. | – Nothing like cracking open a brew and falling asleep ... at the wheel of your patrol car. That's apparently why California State Parks Ranger Tyson Young was found dozing in his parked vehicle on Aug. 15 in Northern California, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. A passerby (who's staying anonymous) found him passed out and intoxicated on State Route 254 in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, officials say. Afraid Young was injured, the passerby called out to him and banged the hood, but no luck, Last Coast Outpost reports. "I shook him, really shook him," said the man. "And then I saw the beer between his legs." So the guy called 911 and snapped the ranger's photo while waiting (the Chronicle has the pic). Young came to and drove off, but the CHP soon pulled him over. "Young displayed objective symptoms of intoxication and was detained for a DUI investigation," said a CHP officer. Young was arrested for DUI and put on administrative leave during the investigation. "We do not tolerate the use of alcohol in the workplace," said a State Parks spokesperson. "We take matters like this very seriously." Young was the supervising ranger for two state parks, the North Coast Journal reports. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.A California State Parks ranger was placed on leave after he was found intoxicated and asleep in his patrol car with a beer between his legs, officials said.
A passerby stumbled upon the ranger, Tyson Young, on the afternoon of Aug. 15 in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, which is off Highway 101 south of Eureka, according to the California Highway Patrol.
After trying unsuccessfully to wake up the ranger, the passerby snapped a picture of Young, who was sleeping soundly with a Keystone Light snugly tucked between his legs. The tipster photographer wished to remain anonymous, said the Lost Coast Outpost, which published the photo.
State Park Ranger Found Unconscious in Patrol Car With Beer Between His Legs (PHOTO): http://t.co/31n0kYwijG — Lost Coast Outpost (@LCOutpost) August 29, 2014
The man called 911, but Young reportedly woke up and left the scene. CHP officers then spotted Young’s vehicle near Myers Flat, pulled him over and arrested him on suspicion of drunken driving, said Officer Patrick Bourassa.
Young was cited and released to a State Parks supervisor, Bourassa said. He said the CHP has since forwarded the case to the Humboldt County district attorney with a recommendation to file charges.
Vicky Waters, a State Parks spokeswoman, said that Young, who has been with the agency for more than 10 years, was placed on administrative leave and had his peace-officer status revoked pending the results of the investigation. ||||| click to enlarge
The California Highway Patrol is requesting that prosecutors file charges against a California State Parks law enforcement ranger arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence while on duty.CHP officer Patrick Bourassa said a citizen called police shortly before 3 p.m. on Aug. 15 to report that a ranger was possibly driving under the influence on Avenue of the Giants, near Weott. Bourassa said officers responded to the area, and located a state parks vehicle driving north. Officers pulled the vehicle over and contacted its driver, Tyson Young.“Young displayed objective signs of intoxication and was detained for a DUI investigation,” Bourassa said, adding that the ranger was transported to CHP headquarters where he was subsequently arrested.Bourassa said Young was ultimately cited and released to a state park supervisor. While the case remains under investigation, Bourassa said, “We will be requesting that charges be filed.” He said he could not provide any additional information at this time.California State Parks spokeswoman Vicky Waters confirmed there was an incident involving Young, who she described as a “tenured park employee,” but declined to provide any details. Waters said Young has been placed on paid administrative leave and that his state peace officer status has been suspended. In addition to cooperating fully with the criminal investigation, Waters said State Parks is also conducting an internal investigation into the incident.According to the California State Parks website, Young has served as the supervising ranger for Humboldt Redwoods and Richardson Grove state parks.The Humboldt County District Attorney's Office has yet to make a charging decision in the case. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 12,910 |
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Double vodkas, double whiskies ..and hangover for Harry after he jumps in pool fully clothed PRINCE Harry binged on double vodkas and whisky before jumping fully-clothed into a swimming pool on a wild holiday night out.
The 26-year-old partied barefoot with pals on the stunning Croatian island of Hvar in the exclusive open-air Veneranda nightclub.
The prince kept a low profile by taking an EasyJet flight to the resort but was later seen dancing by the edge of the water before plunging in to cheers from fellow clubbers.
Local photographer Damjan Tadic told yesterday how his friend called him at 2am Sunday to tell him Harry was in Hvar city.
He said: "That was the start of an absolutely crazy night. When I got there, he was drinking beer. I asked him if he could put it down so I could take a picture of him with the church in the background so everybody can see he was in Hvar, but he refused. His bodyguards came up to me, and one of them even offered me 20 euros to back off.
"When Prince Harry realised I was not going to give up on him, he said to me 'let's have a drink, and then you'll leave me alone'."
Damjan said Harry made it clear to him he was not there for the sightseeing, and that the emphasis was on drinking and partying. He said: "He went to the bar and ordered two double vodkas and two double whiskies for the two of us.
"As soon as the waiter brought us the drinks, he drank it all - first the double vodka then the whisky.
"He immediately ordered the same again. We drank those again, in the same manner.
"I insisted on paying for the first round. He paid for the second one. Then he said: 'Now you can say you drank with the prince.'" After Tadic had finished his drinks, Harry's five bodyguards, casually dressed so they would not attract attention, asked him to leave the venue.
The prince, who declined to have VIP treatment, kept approaching tables of girls but had no luck until they realised who he was.
Club manager Sanja Britt Jusic said: "When the girls realised who he was they started dancing and flirting with him.
He was kissing lots of them, but not on the lips."
The prince has been living in Suffolk since April, where he is training at Wattisham Airfield to fly Apache helicopters in battle.
He is due to return there after his holiday before transferring to Arizona in October to spend two months training in the US.
A royal source said yesterday: "Prince Harry is on holiday and enjoying himself.
"He has worked hard at his training so far this year and is having a break to relax." | – We all know Prince Harry loves to dance, and he showed off his skills once again this past weekend … for a few moments, at least, before he tumbled into a pool. The prince was partying at a Croatian island club, where the Mirror reports he drank a few double vodkas and double whiskies before taking off his shoes and dancing. His moves weren’t great, a source tells the Sun: “In fact, it was embarrassing.” And it got, presumably, more embarrassing when the royal redhead fell into the pool. Watch, then check out Harry’s calypso moves here. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Get Royal Family updates directly to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Double vodkas, double whiskies ..and hangover for Harry after he jumps in pool fully clothed PRINCE Harry binged on double vodkas and whisky before jumping fully-clothed into a swimming pool on a wild holiday night out.
The 26-year-old partied barefoot with pals on the stunning Croatian island of Hvar in the exclusive open-air Veneranda nightclub.
The prince kept a low profile by taking an EasyJet flight to the resort but was later seen dancing by the edge of the water before plunging in to cheers from fellow clubbers.
Local photographer Damjan Tadic told yesterday how his friend called him at 2am Sunday to tell him Harry was in Hvar city.
He said: "That was the start of an absolutely crazy night. When I got there, he was drinking beer. I asked him if he could put it down so I could take a picture of him with the church in the background so everybody can see he was in Hvar, but he refused. His bodyguards came up to me, and one of them even offered me 20 euros to back off.
"When Prince Harry realised I was not going to give up on him, he said to me 'let's have a drink, and then you'll leave me alone'."
Damjan said Harry made it clear to him he was not there for the sightseeing, and that the emphasis was on drinking and partying. He said: "He went to the bar and ordered two double vodkas and two double whiskies for the two of us.
"As soon as the waiter brought us the drinks, he drank it all - first the double vodka then the whisky.
"He immediately ordered the same again. We drank those again, in the same manner.
"I insisted on paying for the first round. He paid for the second one. Then he said: 'Now you can say you drank with the prince.'" After Tadic had finished his drinks, Harry's five bodyguards, casually dressed so they would not attract attention, asked him to leave the venue.
The prince, who declined to have VIP treatment, kept approaching tables of girls but had no luck until they realised who he was.
Club manager Sanja Britt Jusic said: "When the girls realised who he was they started dancing and flirting with him.
He was kissing lots of them, but not on the lips."
The prince has been living in Suffolk since April, where he is training at Wattisham Airfield to fly Apache helicopters in battle.
He is due to return there after his holiday before transferring to Arizona in October to spend two months training in the US.
A royal source said yesterday: "Prince Harry is on holiday and enjoying himself.
"He has worked hard at his training so far this year and is having a break to relax." | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 8,749 |
President Donald Trump, center, reaches out to Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto, left, and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as they prepare to sign a new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement... (Associated Press)
President Donald Trump, center, reaches out to Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto, left, and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as they prepare to sign a new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that is replacing the NAFTA trade deal, during a ceremony at a hotel before the start of the G20... (Associated Press)
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump at the Group of 20 summit (all times local):
9:50 a.m.
President Donald Trump has joined the leaders of Mexico and Canada to sign a revised North American trade deal.
Trump gathered with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and outgoing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on the sidelines of Friday's meeting of the Group of 20 nations in Buenos Aires.
The revamped deal, which Trump calls the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. Trump has long raged against NAFTA. He says the new agreement "changes the trade landscape forever."
Lawmakers in each country must now ratify the agreement.
That could prove to be a difficult task in the United States, especially now that Democrats will control the House of Representatives come January. Already Democrats and their allies in the labor movement are demanding changes.
___
9:45 a.m.
President Donald Trump says a new trade pact being signed by the United States, Mexico and Canada is a "model agreement that changes the trade landscape forever."
Trump spent more than a year pushing the leaders of Canada and Mexico into agreeing to a rewrite of North American trade rules. Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexico's outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto are signing the new pact Friday at the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Trump now faces what could prove a more formidable foe: The U.S. Congress, which must ratify the agreement. He says the parties have "taken a lot of barbs and a little abuse" during the renegotiation.
He turned to Trudeau, saying "It's been a battle," but battles sometimes make "great friendships."
___
9:10 a.m.
The Mexican government has presented President Donald Trump's son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner with the Order of the Aztec Eagle. It's the highest honor America's southern neighbor gives to foreigners.
Mexico's Foreign Relations Department says Kushner earned the honor for his work on renegotiating a new trade agreement being signed Friday by Mexico, the United States and Canada on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Argentina.
It replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.
Kushner, who has been working on U.S.-Mexico issues, says relations have improved because the countries decided not to work across the table, but on the same side to craft "win-win" solutions to migration, drug trafficking and abuse, and other issues plaguing relations.
Kushner says there's a "strong level of trust" between the U.S. and Mexico, despite news reports citing clashes between the neighbors.
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7:55 a.m.
President Donald Trump is meeting Argentine President Mauricio Macri as he kicks off two days of diplomacy at the G-20 meeting.
The leaders greeted each other warmly Friday as the annual meeting of leaders from rich and developing nations opened in Buenos Aires. Trump spoke about his longtime personal friendship with Macri and said they would discuss trade, military purchases and other issues.
Macri is hosting his counterparts as he struggles with a raft of domestic issues, including trying to halt economic turmoil that has caused the steep depreciation of the Argentine peso.
Trump and Macri enjoy a personal relationship dating back to their days as businessman.
Macri visited the White House soon after Trump took office in 2017.
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7:25 a.m.
President Donald Trump is blasting the investigation in which his former lawyer pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about a Moscow real estate deal he pursued for Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Michael Cohen says he lied to be consistent with Trump's "political messaging." Trump says Cohen is lying now.
In a tweet Friday from Argentina, Trump recalled "happily living" his life as a developer before running for president after seeing the "Country going in the wrong direction."
Trump says "Against all odds" he decided to run for president and continue to run his business, which he calls "very legal & very cool." He says he "talked about it on the campaign trail."
Trump tweets he "Lightly looked at doing a building somewhere in Russia. Put up zero money, zero guarantees and didn't do the project. Witch Hunt!"
___
3:25 a.m.
President Trump kicks off two days of diplomacy at the Group of 20 summit in Argentina on Friday after his abrupt decision to cancel a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin overshadowed the proceedings before they even started.
Trump barreled into the two-day meeting by announcing via Twitter that he was canceling on Putin over Russia's seizure of Ukrainian vessels. His agenda Friday is expected to include meetings with world leaders, the signing of a revamped trade deal with Canada and Mexico, as well as a number of group activities for the gathering of rich and developing nations.
Coming into this G-20, Trump faces a series of diplomatic challenges — most notably whether he can strike an agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping (shee jihn-peeng) to ease trade tensions. ||||| Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more | – President Trump has joined the leaders of Mexico and Canada to sign a revised North American trade deal. Trump gathered with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and outgoing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on the sidelines of Friday's G20 summit in Buenos Aires. The three sat a table, pens at the ready, spurred to sign with a "let's go" by Trump that was echoed by Trudeau and Pena Nieto. The revamped deal, which Trump calls the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (aka NAFTA), which Trump has long raged against. He says the new agreement "changes the trade landscape forever," reports the AP. Lawmakers in each country must now ratify the agreement. That could prove to be a difficult task in the US, especially now that Democrats will control the House of Representatives come January. Already Democrats and their allies in the labor movement are demanding changes. Trump spent more than a year pushing the leaders of Canada and Mexico into agreeing to this rewrite of North American trade rules. He noted to Trudeau that "it's been a battle," but battles sometimes make "great friendships." | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.President Donald Trump, center, reaches out to Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto, left, and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as they prepare to sign a new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement... (Associated Press)
President Donald Trump, center, reaches out to Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto, left, and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as they prepare to sign a new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that is replacing the NAFTA trade deal, during a ceremony at a hotel before the start of the G20... (Associated Press)
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump at the Group of 20 summit (all times local):
9:50 a.m.
President Donald Trump has joined the leaders of Mexico and Canada to sign a revised North American trade deal.
Trump gathered with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and outgoing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on the sidelines of Friday's meeting of the Group of 20 nations in Buenos Aires.
The revamped deal, which Trump calls the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. Trump has long raged against NAFTA. He says the new agreement "changes the trade landscape forever."
Lawmakers in each country must now ratify the agreement.
That could prove to be a difficult task in the United States, especially now that Democrats will control the House of Representatives come January. Already Democrats and their allies in the labor movement are demanding changes.
___
9:45 a.m.
President Donald Trump says a new trade pact being signed by the United States, Mexico and Canada is a "model agreement that changes the trade landscape forever."
Trump spent more than a year pushing the leaders of Canada and Mexico into agreeing to a rewrite of North American trade rules. Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexico's outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto are signing the new pact Friday at the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Trump now faces what could prove a more formidable foe: The U.S. Congress, which must ratify the agreement. He says the parties have "taken a lot of barbs and a little abuse" during the renegotiation.
He turned to Trudeau, saying "It's been a battle," but battles sometimes make "great friendships."
___
9:10 a.m.
The Mexican government has presented President Donald Trump's son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner with the Order of the Aztec Eagle. It's the highest honor America's southern neighbor gives to foreigners.
Mexico's Foreign Relations Department says Kushner earned the honor for his work on renegotiating a new trade agreement being signed Friday by Mexico, the United States and Canada on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Argentina.
It replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.
Kushner, who has been working on U.S.-Mexico issues, says relations have improved because the countries decided not to work across the table, but on the same side to craft "win-win" solutions to migration, drug trafficking and abuse, and other issues plaguing relations.
Kushner says there's a "strong level of trust" between the U.S. and Mexico, despite news reports citing clashes between the neighbors.
___
7:55 a.m.
President Donald Trump is meeting Argentine President Mauricio Macri as he kicks off two days of diplomacy at the G-20 meeting.
The leaders greeted each other warmly Friday as the annual meeting of leaders from rich and developing nations opened in Buenos Aires. Trump spoke about his longtime personal friendship with Macri and said they would discuss trade, military purchases and other issues.
Macri is hosting his counterparts as he struggles with a raft of domestic issues, including trying to halt economic turmoil that has caused the steep depreciation of the Argentine peso.
Trump and Macri enjoy a personal relationship dating back to their days as businessman.
Macri visited the White House soon after Trump took office in 2017.
___
7:25 a.m.
President Donald Trump is blasting the investigation in which his former lawyer pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about a Moscow real estate deal he pursued for Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Michael Cohen says he lied to be consistent with Trump's "political messaging." Trump says Cohen is lying now.
In a tweet Friday from Argentina, Trump recalled "happily living" his life as a developer before running for president after seeing the "Country going in the wrong direction."
Trump says "Against all odds" he decided to run for president and continue to run his business, which he calls "very legal & very cool." He says he "talked about it on the campaign trail."
Trump tweets he "Lightly looked at doing a building somewhere in Russia. Put up zero money, zero guarantees and didn't do the project. Witch Hunt!"
___
3:25 a.m.
President Trump kicks off two days of diplomacy at the Group of 20 summit in Argentina on Friday after his abrupt decision to cancel a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin overshadowed the proceedings before they even started.
Trump barreled into the two-day meeting by announcing via Twitter that he was canceling on Putin over Russia's seizure of Ukrainian vessels. His agenda Friday is expected to include meetings with world leaders, the signing of a revamped trade deal with Canada and Mexico, as well as a number of group activities for the gathering of rich and developing nations.
Coming into this G-20, Trump faces a series of diplomatic challenges — most notably whether he can strike an agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping (shee jihn-peeng) to ease trade tensions. ||||| Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 6,900 |
poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201609/3769/1155968404_5121653425001_5121625420001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true The inside story of Clinton’s sick day The ailing Democratic nominee vows to release records, return to the trail this week.
Hillary Clinton never lost consciousness, and never stopped talking on her phone — and never put anyone else in danger — after her near swoon at a Sept. 11 memorial on Sunday in New York, according to accounts offered by several people close to the candidate.
The near-fainting spell, according to Clinton's staff, is a greater political problem than a physical one — and the centerpiece of its Monday pushback strategy was a vow to release a far more detailed medical history of the 68-year-old candidate that proves she suffers from no previously undisclosed conditions.
Story Continued Below
Clinton’s pneumonia isn’t severe, according to two people with direct knowledge of the candidate’s condition, and she is expected to return to the campaign trail as early as this week. The real issue is chronic dehydration, exacerbated by her lung problem and Clinton’s reluctance to drink water, which has become a source of tension with her staff.
“She won’t drink water, and you try telling Hillary Clinton she has to drink water,” said a person in her orbit – who described a frenzied rehydration mission that included multiple bottles of water and Gatorade.
On Monday, Bill Clinton told Charlie Rose that his wife has suffered from similar bouts over the years —an account supported by at least one of her staffers interviewed by POLITICO. “Rarely, on more than one occasion, over the last many, many years, the same sort of thing’s happened to her when she got severely dehydrated, and she’s worked like a demon, as you know, as secretary of state, as a senator, and in the years since,” Clinton said.
On Sunday, Clinton began showing signs of light-headedness standing at the Sept. 11 memorial service next to New York Sens. Charles Schumer — who on Monday disclosed that he too just got over a bout of pneumonia — and Kirsten Gillibrand, the sources said, and they flagged aides to get her water. After a few minutes, the candidate and her staff determined that she needed to get out of the heat and headed to a pick-up area, where she was seen — and filmed – stumbling into her van in a near swoon.
But the two Clinton confidantes told POLITICO that Clinton, drinking water while sitting in the air-conditioned backseat, quickly recovered and began making calls to tell staff and family what had happened, and almost immediately began assessing the political fallout.
By the time her motorcade arrived at daughter Chelsea’s apartment, she was feeling better — and was given a big bottle of Gatorade. She didn’t rest much while there, one of the sources said, but played with her grandchildren and made more phone calls. Clinton was ready to head back to her house in Chappaqua after about an hour at the apartment — but she had to remain in place to wait for her traveling press pool — which had been penned in at ground zero — to arrive so they could witness her walk out to an SUV, under her own steam.
Even before the episode, Clinton had suffered from a persistent hacking cough — and so did several members of her top staff, including Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri, who was briefly hospitalized with a severe upper respiratory infection and dehydration last month.
The campaign also moved to shut down reports by right-wing websites speculating that Clinton may have infected her grandkids Charlotte and Aidan and a little girl she hugged on a Manhattan sidewalk on Sunday.
“She is not contagious, she’s been told by her doctors,” Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon said during a round of TV interviews. “She was playing with her grandkids yesterday and they don’t have anything to worry about because she’s not contagious at this point.”
Fallon added that members of the senior staff knew about the Friday diagnosis and that other campaign members were notified shortly after.
The confusion about Clinton's condition wasn't limited to people on the outside. Clinton's inner circle — Huma Abedin, Cheryl Mills and her family — knew about the pneumonia diagnosis first. Just when others learned is still an open question: During an appearance on MSNBC Monday afternoon Robby Mook refused to say that he knew about the candidate's condition on Friday, as Fallon suggested.
That rosy portrait of Clinton’s health – reinforced by a Sunday note from Clinton’s personal physician Lisa Bardack — was a tough sell outside the Clinton camp, where trust in such pronouncements is often met with skepticism. Even as the campaign hit the talking points, Twitter filled up with conspiracy theories about the “real” source of the episode, which conservatives suggest stems from a serious head injury Clinton suffered in late 2012.
But reporters and even some Clinton supporters questioned the campaign’s hours-long stonewall of reporters on Sunday — which stoked suspicions that there was more to the health scare than a spokesman’s original claim that the former secretary of state had simply been “overheated.”
“Antibiotics can take care of pneumonia. What's the cure for an unhealthy penchant for privacy that repeatedly creates unnecessary problems?” tweeted David Axelrod, President Barack Obama’s former top campaign strategist.
Clinton’s aides moved to stem the tide of skepticism — and to counter Donald Trump, who on Monday vowed to release the results of his own physical exam — by announcing that she would soon make public a more detailed version of a two-page clean bill of health issued by Bardack last year.
"We'll release additional medical information about Hillary Clinton,” Fallon said during one of several appearances on cable TV meant to reassure nervous Democrats and assuage prying-eyed reporters. "We have been in touch with her physician this morning to get the materials together. We'll release that to further put to rest any lingering concerns about what you saw yesterday," he said of footage of a wobbly-looking Clinton struggling to get into a van that was widely circulated on Sunday.
Clinton's campaign also issued a partial mea culpa, with Palmieri tweeting in response to Axelrod's burn, "We could have done better yesterday, but it is a fact that public knows more about HRC than any nominee in history."
Fallon also provided a few more details about the incident, saying Clinton did not lose consciousness at any point. "I think as she was getting into the vehicle she got a little bit dizzy. She was helped into the vehicle but immediately upon being seated there, she was talking to staff and making calls," he said.
Clinton canceled plans to travel to California on Monday and instead will teleconference in to a fundraiser.
Fallon said that pneumonia is the extent of Clinton's condition. "I can attest that her doctor stated that there was nothing here in terms of anything that was caused by what happened in 2012. So all of that, I think, will be indicated in the further material that we are going to release this week."
In an afternoon interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Fallon said Clinton is “resting comfortably” and predicted that she should be back on the campaign trail by mid-week.
“At her doctor's advice she changed her schedule, taking a couple days to rest and the staff prevailed upon her to do that,” he said. “I think by the middle of the week she'll be out there campaigning as aggressively as ever.”
Fallon insisted that Clinton was following her doctor’s orders, but added that if it were up to her she would have carried on with her usual schedule.
“Up to her, she would have pressed on. That's the Hillary Clinton that people saw as secretary of state in terms of traveling the country at a break-neck pace representing us abroad. She fits more into it than most Americans,” he said.
Blitzer went on to ask Fallon whether Clinton should have told Americans about her diagnosis of pneumonia, which she received from a personal doctor on Friday.
“As soon as yesterday happened, Wolf, and her doctor visited her again and confirmed that what caused her to have to leave the event early on Sunday was related to the pneumonia and dehydration,” he said. “At that point we did make the decision to change the schedule, and we put out a statement in the doctor's name indicating the condition she was in.”
||||| To see more of this interview, watch “Charlie Rose” on PBS, and “CBS This Morning” Tuesday.
Former President Bill Clinton, who spoke with CBS News’ Charlie Rose about the Clinton Foundation ahead of its final Clinton Global Initiative conference, said Monday that Hillary Clinton is “doing fine” after she abruptly left a 9/11 memorial service Sunday due to her recently diagnosed pneumonia.
“She’s doing fine, she was even better last night before she went to sleep. She had a good night’s sleep she’s doing fine,” he said. “We’ve gotten all these, as you might imagine, emails and text messages and calls. A friend of ours called and left a message today, that her husband had actually just been hospitalized for pneumonia apparently there’s a lot of it going around and a bunch of her staff has gotten sick. But she’s just doing fine. She just got dehydrated yesterday.”
Hillary Clinton left the ceremony in New York early after what her campaign said was feeling “overheated,” going to her daughter Chelsea’s apartment in Manhattan to recover before heading home to Chappaqua, New York. On Sunday evening, Clinton’s campaign released a statement from her doctor saying she had been diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday.
Asked if there was any chance her faintness on Sunday could be a sign of some more “serious” illness, Clinton said he did not believe that was the case.
“Well if it is, it’s a mystery to me and all of her doctors,” he said, “because frequently—well not frequently, rarely—but on more than one occasion, over the last many, many years, the same sort of thing happened to her when she got severely dehydrated.”
CBS News
He noted that she had “two and a half hard days” on the campaign trail prior to the 9/11 ceremony, adding that he’s “glad” she made the decision to take a day off from the campaign trail Monday. The campaign has since announced that Bill Clinton will fill in for her at events Tuesday and Wednesday.
“I was glad today she made a decision, which I think was correct, to cancel her campaign day to take one more day to rest,” he said. “But she looked like a million bucks this morning I can tell she’s feeling a lot better.”
Clinton also said he’s “unaware” of any instance in which a Clinton Foundation donor ever received special treatment from Hillary Clinton’s State Department. The foundation, he said, has been “as transparent as we can be.”
“I have said to the best of my knowledge nobody ever got anything from the State Department because they supported the Clinton Foundation,” he told Rose. “If they did and it was inappropriate, I would say that was wrong too. I have proved that I’m not averse to apologizing for things that I think were wrong. So I am unaware of that.”
The Clinton Foundation, created after Bill Clinton left the White House in 2001, has been at the center of questions about whether foreign donors to the foundation represented a conflict of interest at Hillary Clinton’s State Department. An Associated Press investigation released last month found some overlap between Clinton Foundation donors and the people Clinton met with during her four-year tenure at State. Since then, the foundation has announced that if Hillary Clinton is elected president, Bill Clinton will step down from the board and the foundation will stop accepting foreign and corporate donations.
“I believe, first of all, we’ve been as transparent as we can be,” Clinton told Rose on Monday. “And we’ve been more transparent than any other foundation, more transparent than any other foundation has ever been asked to be, and certainly more transparent than anybody else in this line of work is.”
Clinton also differentiated between drawing on long-standing relationships around Washington and the kind of “pay-to-play” allegations some have leveled at the foundation, saying he doesn’t know of any instance where someone donated to the foundation specifically to get face time with his wife.
“Now, if you think nobody should ever call somebody they know and say, ‘Well, so-and-so would like a meeting’—that’s just the way the national government works, so I can’t say anything about that,” he said. “But I can say to the best of my knowledge … that the people they accused or implied gave money to the foundation just so they could have some in with Hillary did not do that. That’s simply not true.” ||||| Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives to attend a ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial, in New York, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016, on the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.... (Associated Press)
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives to attend a ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial, in New York, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016, on the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) (Associated Press)
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives to attend a ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial, in New York, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016, on the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) (Associated Press) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives to attend a ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial, in New York, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016, on the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.... (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — When Hillary Clinton was diagnosed with pneumonia late last week, she informed a handful of her closest advisers, but pressed on with a busy campaign schedule and did not inform the public that she was sick. "I just didn't think it was going to be that big a deal," she said.
Clinton's first comments about her health condition came in a CNN interview late Monday, a day after a dizzy spell caught on video forced the Democratic nominee to disclose her illness and cancel a West Coast campaign trip.
The incident reinforced Clinton's reputation as a public figure with a predisposition for privacy. While her top campaign aides conceded they were too slow in providing the public with information about Clinton's condition, it was unclear how quickly they themselves had been informed by the candidate.
In a move aimed at quieting questions about transparency, Clinton said she would be releasing more medical information this week. Her campaign has sought to turn the matter around on Republican opponent Donald Trump, who has released only a glowing letter from his doctor, though the billionaire real estate mogul says that he, too, plans to make public additional information in the coming days.
Less than two months from Election Day, Clinton's handling of her health incident added to Democrats' growing sense of uncertainty about the presidential race. While Democrats said the matter is unlikely to fundamentally alter the presidential race, Democrats worry the race with Trump is too close for comfort.
"If you look at the way the last couple months have gone, it feels like the race should be further apart," said Greg Haas, an Ohio-based Democratic strategist and former county party chairman.
Aaron Regunberg, a Democratic state representative from Rhode Island, said he was "surprised and concerned" that the race is so tight.
"I still think that we are likely to win, but I think anyone who's not concerned about a bigoted, KKK-endorsed sociopath being this close right now in the polls is not living in reality," Regunberg said of Trump.
Clinton abruptly left a 9/11 anniversary event Sunday in New York and was seen on video stumbling and being held up by aides. After roughly 90 minutes of silence from her campaign, aides said Clinton left because she was overheated. Several hours later, her doctor acknowledged she had been diagnosed with pneumonia two days earlier.
Clinton spent Monday at her home in Chappaqua, New York, after canceling a fundraising trip in California. It was unclear when she planned to return to the campaign trail.
In a text message to supporters Monday night, Clinton wrote: "Like anyone who's ever been home sick from work, I'm just anxious to get back out there."
Trump showed surprising restraint regarding Clinton's health. He wished her well and did not repeat questions he has previously raised about whether the former secretary of state has the strength and stamina to be president.
He did hammer Clinton for her assertion Friday night that half of his supporters belong in a "basket of deplorables" and are racist, sexist, homophobic or xenophobic. Clinton later said she regretted applying that description to "half" of Trump's backers, but stuck by her assertion that the GOP nominee has given a platform to "hateful views and voices."
Speaking in Maryland Monday, Trump said he was shocked to hear Clinton "attack, slander, smear and demean these wonderful, amazing people who are supporting our campaign."
After a staff shake-up in August, Trump has largely abandoned the free-wheeling style of campaigning that energized his supporters but also led to an endless string of controversial comments about women, minorities and others. The Republican nominee's newfound ability to stay on script has coincided with tightening in both national polls and surveys in some key swing states.
"The last few days feed into a sense of uncertainty," said Chris Kofinis, a Democratic strategist. He said Clinton's rough weekend raises the stakes for the first presidential debate on Sept. 26, which "will either finish Trump or, if he does well, it will create a race."
Privately, some Republicans say Trump would likely be losing more convincingly to another Democratic nominee. But Clinton's unpopularity rivals that of her opponent, and she's been unable to do much to change the minds of Americans who believe she is dishonest and secretive.
To be sure, Clinton continues to have numerous advantages over Trump as the race presses into its final weeks.
Polls show Trump struggling mightily with big swaths of the electorate, including women, blacks, Hispanics and young people. His path to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win in November is also narrow — he likely needs to carry Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania and North Carolina — while Clinton has numerous routes. Clinton's campaign is also running a sophisticated voter targeting and turnout operation, led by several people involved in President Barack Obama's winning campaigns, while Trump is banking on the Republican National Committee for his field operations.
Given those built-in advantages and Trump's weaknesses, some Democrats say their biggest fear is complacency — making the tightening of the race not such a bad development.
"It really says to me and other supporters of Hillary that we have to be invested, and we're going to have to get out and work," said Missouri state Rep. Margo McNeil of suburban St. Louis, who was a Clinton delegate to the Democratic National Convention.
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What political news is the world searching for on Google and talking about on Twitter? Find out via AP's Election Buzz interactive. http://elections.ap.org/buzz
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AP writers Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, Michelle R. Smith in Providence, Rhode Island, David Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri, Lisa Lerer in White Plains, New York, and Ken Thomas in Washington contributed to this report.
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Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC ||||| Video of Clinton’s departure seemed to show her buckling and stumbling as she got into her van. (Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post)
Video of Clinton’s departure seemed to show her buckling and stumbling as she got into her van. (Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post)
Hillary Clinton had a cough — a nasty, recurring cough that she could not kick after a week of trying. So on Friday morning she went to her doctor’s office, not far from her home in Chappaqua, N.Y., to find out what was wrong. Lisa R. Bardack’s diagnosis: pneumonia.
Bardack prescribed antibiotics and suggested that Clinton cut back her schedule and get five days of rest. But the Democratic presidential nominee refused. The election was just 60 days away, and Clinton wanted to grind it out — and that, to her, meant not telling many of her aides, let alone the public, about her illness.
Clinton’s decision set in motion perhaps the most damaging cascade of events for her in the general-election campaign — giving fresh ammunition to Republican nominee Donald Trump, who lags in the polls, and spoiling a two-week offensive she had plotted before the first debate.
Under mounting criticism over her lack of transparency, Clinton has agreed to release additional medical information in coming days, a move her aides said they hope will quiet lingering concerns about her health. Rumors about the 68-year-old candidate have swirled for weeks in the conservative media, stoked by Trump and his surrogates.
Had Clinton heeded her doctor’s advice, she would not have gone to a glitzy fundraiser Friday night where she let her guard down and inartfully talked about Trump’s supporters, nor would she have been spotted collapsing Sunday morning as she was rushed out of a 9/11 memorial ceremony.
The Fix's Aaron Blake explains the incident during which Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton fell ill on Sept. 11, and why her health is likely to remain a subject of discussion. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)
“Obviously I should have gotten some rest sooner,” Clinton said Monday night in a brief telephone interview with CNN. Asked why she did not reveal her illness Friday, she said, “I just didn’t think it was going to be that big a deal.”
Clinton’s instinct was to keep working and say little about her illness, according to interviews Monday with Clinton campaign officials who gave accounts of the events. She left Bardack’s office and headed into Manhattan to convene a meeting of national security advisers. Then she parried questions at a news conference. And then she mingled with donors at the fundraiser.
That’s where the problems began. Before a friendly audience that included singer Barbra Streisand, Clinton jokingly said that “half” of Trump’s supporters were in a “basket of deplorables — racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it.” The remark allowed Trump and his allies to paint Clinton as out-of-touch and elitist, and she expressed contrition Saturday.
[Clinton says she regrets labeling ‘half’ of Trump’s supporters as ‘deplorables’]
Then on Sunday, Clinton’s plan to “power through,” as her top aides later called it, finally unraveled. She abruptly left the Sept. 11, 2001, memorial ceremony in Lower Manhattan and ditched her traveling press corps. She felt overheated and dizzy. A video a witness recorded on his cellphone showed her stumbling and wobbling, her knees buckling as Secret Service agents lifted her into a black van.
From the van, Clinton made phone calls, including to aide Huma Abedin. Clinton did not think she needed to go to a hospital, so the agents took her to daughter Chelsea’s apartment a few miles away.
There, in the air conditioning, Clinton drank Gatorade and cooled down. “She was telling anyone who would listen that she was fine,” spokesman Brian Fallon said Monday, adding that Clinton played with granddaughter Charlotte. She also called Bardack, who a few hours later would treat her at the candidate’s Chappaqua home.
1 of 57 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail View Photos The Democratic presidential nominee hits the road after her party’s national convention. Caption Hillary Clinton loses to Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. Nov. 9, 2016 Hillary Clinton speaks in New York while her husband, former president Bill Clinton, applauds. Melina Mara/The Washington Post Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
But outside, there was a major media storm. For 90 minutes, the public was in the dark about Clinton’s whereabouts — and for most of the day, about her illness. It was not until 5:15 p.m. that her campaign issued a statement from Bardack about Clinton’s pneumonia diagnosis.
Some of Clinton’s allies voiced concern about her lack of transparency, which has been an issue throughout her campaign and feeds the perceptions many voters have of her as untrustworthy.
“Antibiotics can take care of pneumonia. What’s the cure for an unhealthy penchant for privacy that repeatedly creates unnecessary problems?” tweeted David Axelrod, President Obama’s former chief strategist.
At the White House, press secretary Joshua Earnest barely disguised his frustration during his press briefing Monday, a day before Obama is set to campaign for Clinton in Philadelphia.
“There’s a reason that we have had a long tradition in this country of individual candidates disclosing information about their health to the American public before the election,” Earnest said, noting that Obama did so as a candidate, and has continued to do so as president, to underscore the point.
Former Ohio state senator Nina Turner, a prominent supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) in the Democratic primary race, said: “People get sick. . . . It’s okay not to feel well. It’s all about the coverup.”
[Hillary Clinton has long chosen to be private about her health]
Clinton’s aides readily acknowledged Monday that they took too long in revealing the candidate’s whereabouts and medical condition. But they did not second-guess Clinton’s decision to stick to her schedule, and they argued there was no expectation that she reveal the diagnosis any earlier because the pneumonia had not affected her public activities until Sunday.
“She didn’t see a need to tell people if she was going to continue her schedule,” said Jennifer Palmieri, Clinton’s communications director. “She felt well enough to keep going. Power through. But obviously that didn’t work out.”
It was unclear how prepared Clinton’s staff was to manage the announcement of her pneumonia. Palmieri and Fallon refused to specify how many aides knew about the diagnosis Friday or even whether they themselves were aware, saying only that “senior staff knew.”
It also was unclear whether Clinton’s running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.), was in the know. Kaine declined to say when he learned of Clinton’s pneumonia diagnosis but said he exchanged emails with her shortly after the Sunday incident.
“Within a few minutes after I heard the news, I had reached out to communicate to her, and she reached right back out to me and said, ‘I’m going to be fine,’ ” Kaine told reporters.
Some of Clinton’s top aides have also gotten sick over the past two weeks, most with a virus that is separate from Clinton’s ailment, aides said. The victims include campaign manager Robby Mook and policy adviser Jake Sullivan, as well as Palmieri and Fallon.
Former Pennsylvania governor Edward G. Rendell said the campaign’s delay in revealing Clinton’s pneumonia was regrettable.
“They probably should have initially acknowledged her initial diagnosis,” Rendell said. “But because Trump and [former New York mayor Rudy] Giuliani had raised the issue of her health so brutally and so unfairly, they were inclined to try to gut it out and not disclose.”
Clinton was scheduled to fly to California on Monday for two days of fundraising and to give a major economic address. Bardack recommended that she stay home to recover. Talking with her advisers Sunday night, Clinton insisted upon making the trip, but aides overruled her, Fallon said. “Her natural impulse is to keep going,” he said.
With the trip canceled, Clinton spent Monday at home in Chappaqua and tweeted, “I’m feeling fine and getting better.” In a second tweet, she wrote, “Like anyone who’s ever been home sick from work, I’m just anxious to get back out there.”
Former president Bill Clinton plans to appear in his wife’s stead at two star-studded fundraisers Tuesday in Beverly Hills. He also will fill in for her at a campaign event in Nevada on Wednesday, aides said.
Bill Clinton told Charlie Rose of CBS News that his wife has “worked like a demon.” Asked if she could stay off the campaign trail for weeks, Clinton responded: “No, not a shot. I’ll be lucky to hold her back another day.”
Trump has sought to take maximum advantage. He has been closely monitoring news about Hillary Clinton’s health, but he refrained from tweeting about it Sunday and in interviews Monday morning was uncharacteristically restrained.
Trump said he had a physical last week — “I feel great,” he told Fox News Channel — and vowed to release the results Thursday on “The Dr. Oz Show.”
With Clinton resting, Trump launched some of his sharpest attacks yet against her. He said in a speech Monday in Baltimore that her “deplorables” comment “disqualifies” her from being president — and that if she does not retract it, “I don’t see how she can credibly campaign any further.” Trump’s campaign also released a television advertisement about Clinton’s remark that will air in four battleground states.
Trump’s advisers and allies think this is a potential turning point in the race against Clinton and that with a disciplined approach, they can keep the Democratic favorite on the defensive heading into the Sept. 26 debate.
“This moment is shaping up to be a perfect storm for the Clinton campaign, something they have feared all along,” said Scott Reed, a veteran GOP strategist. “Democrats have to be asking themselves if this is the beginning of the end.”
Few Democrats shared that outlook, arguing that the media scrutiny on Clinton was unfair and sexist and that she would quickly bounce back politically.
“The debates are the perfect antidote,” Democratic operative Bill Burton said. “If she goes out and performs well in the debates, with the energy and vigor that everybody anticipates, it will put a lot of this to bed.”
The campaign turned the illness into a fundraising pitch, telling supporters in an email Monday that “today is the perfect day to step up and let Hillary know you’ve got her back.”
But it interrupted plans for a coordinated series of policy speeches by Clinton as well as appearances by Obama, Vice President Biden and other high-profile surrogates over the next two weeks. The goal had been to break through the wall of news coverage about Trump.
“We’ve lost a couple of days, but we’re going to pick that effort back up,” Palmieri said. “We have more than enough time to compensate for the two days we have lost. You get back out there, and it’s a new day.”
She still plans to give the speeches — covering the “inclusive economy,” goals for national service, and help for children and families — before the debate, Palmieri said.
“She’s a tough lady,” said Clinton supporter Lou D’Allesandro, a state senator in New Hampshire. “She’s got the courage of a lion. She’ll be back on her feet in no time.”
Abby Phillip in White Plains, N.Y.; John Wagner in Dayton, Ohio; Sean Sullivan in Baltimore; and Dan Balz and Matea Gold in Washington contributed to this report. ||||| “He’s such an unknown quantity to the American people that he now has to kind of assume the mantle of what it would be like to have him as commander in chief, not just vice president,” Mr. Brinkley said.
Nine vice presidents have assumed the presidency during a president’s term, eight because of a death and one because of a resignation. In four of those eight instances, the president was assassinated. In four other cases, the president died of natural causes, most recently in 1945, when Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage and Harry S. Truman became president.
A lawyer by training, Mr. Kaine, who served as mayor of Richmond, Va., and as Virginia’s lieutenant governor and governor before winning election to the Senate in 2012, was seen as an appealing pick for Mrs. Clinton in large part because of his résumé and his policy chops.
But he is not a well-known figure nationally, even after more than seven weeks as Mrs. Clinton’s running mate. In a CNN/ORC poll conducted this month, 19 percent of voters said they had never heard of Mr. Kaine, and an additional 21 percent said they had no opinion of him.
“So far this has been a presidential race that has been heavily focused on the presidential candidates, to an unusual extent,” said Joel K. Goldstein, a law professor at St. Louis University who is an expert on the vice presidency.
Recalling his own bout with pneumonia, Mr. Goldstein cautioned that “the fact that somebody has pneumonia doesn’t mean there’s about to be a succession.” But he said the episode on Sunday would bring more attention to Mr. Kaine’s suitability to the presidency.
“It should remind people of the importance of the two vice-presidential candidates, and whether they are appropriate presidential successors based on their experience, skill, character and substantive views,” he said.
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As he hopscotches from state to state, Mr. Kaine comes across more as a genial traveling salesman for the Clinton-Kaine ticket than as a president in waiting. In his speeches, he tends to focus on making a case against Donald J. Trump while talking up Mrs. Clinton.
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At times, he still expresses shock that he is even on the Democratic ticket, as if he had been plucked from anonymity to embark upon a great adventure.
“I felt like I was Pinocchio turning into a real boy,” he told a crowd in Virginia on Friday, recalling when Mrs. Clinton asked him to be her running mate. “I mean, like, ‘Wow, what? You want me? Are you kidding?’”
The biggest test of Mr. Kaine’s readiness will come on Oct. 4, when he faces Mr. Trump’s running mate, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, in the vice-presidential debate.
“You don’t want a Sarah Palin situation where voters really have doubts about the second person on the ticket,” said Julian E. Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton. “It’s especially true if there are any kinds of concerns about age or health.”
Mr. Kaine, 58, differs from the man he is hoping to succeed, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., in that he is a relatively new member of the Senate, not an elder statesman. But Mr. Kaine has made a point of focusing on foreign policy during his time in the Senate, where he serves on the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees.
Speaking to reporters after an event here on Monday, Mr. Kaine said he did not think the new episode involving Mrs. Clinton’s health put any more pressure on him to convince voters he is ready to be president.
Even before the latest incident, Mr. Kaine had tried to defend Mrs. Clinton against questions about her health, while also calling on Mr. Trump, who had accused Mrs. Clinton of lacking stamina, to be more forthcoming about his own health.
Two weeks ago, Mr. Kaine mocked the letter from a doctor for Mr. Trump that asserted the candidate would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency,” while he also declared Mrs. Clinton to be “one tough and one healthy person.”
And as he campaigned here on Monday, he offered fresh testimony about Mrs. Clinton’s physical well-being.
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“I’ve just been on the campaign since July 22,” Mr. Kaine told the crowd. “Hillary Clinton has been on the campaign trail for 18 months. Her energy staggers me. I have a hard time keeping up with her.” | – Hillary Clinton has many talents, but successfully staying hydrated is apparently not among them, according to insiders who say trying to get Clinton to drink water is a constant headache for aides. "She won't drink water, and you try telling Hillary Clinton she has to drink water," one source tells Politico. The insiders say that Clinton was revived with the help of Gatorade after becoming "overheated" on Sunday. They say she only has a mild case of pneumonia and should be back on the campaign trail later this week. In other coverage: Campaign insiders tell the Washington Post that when she was diagnosed with pneumonia Friday, Clinton's initial plan was to just "power through" the illness. The Post notes that if Clinton had rested as her doctor advised, she wouldn't have made her controversial "basket of deplorables" remark Friday, nor would she have been filmed collapsing at a 9/11 memorial event Sunday. Bill Clinton told CBS' Charlie Rose Monday that Clinton has become "severely dehydrated" on more than one occasion over the "last many, many years," but she's now feeling a lot better after getting some rest and there's no sign of more serious underlying health problems. Sources described as "Clinton allies" tell the Hill that they aren't happy about the damage the campaign has inflicted on itself with its failure to be transparent about her health. "Why couldn't the campaign just have been aboveboard about this?" one ally says. "She got sick. Tell people she's sick and move on. I know they thought it would give the right-wingers something to pounce on, but who cares?" The New York Times reports that the Clinton health scare has put running mate Tim Kaine in the spotlight. The former Virginia governor is still little-known nationwide, meaning the Oct. 4 debate with Mike Pence will be crucial. "You don't want a Sarah Palin situation where voters really have doubts about the second person on the ticket," says Princeton public affairs professor Julian E. Zelizer. "It's especially true if there are any kinds of concerns about age or health." The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that Bill Clinton will take his wife's place at a campaign event in Nevada Wednesday. He will also headline a fundraiser in California on Tuesday in her place. Clinton told CNN Monday night that she is feeling "much better" and didn't see the illness as "that big of a deal." The AP reports that she texted campaign employees: "Like anyone who's ever been home sick from work, I'm just anxious to get back out there." | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201609/3769/1155968404_5121653425001_5121625420001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true The inside story of Clinton’s sick day The ailing Democratic nominee vows to release records, return to the trail this week.
Hillary Clinton never lost consciousness, and never stopped talking on her phone — and never put anyone else in danger — after her near swoon at a Sept. 11 memorial on Sunday in New York, according to accounts offered by several people close to the candidate.
The near-fainting spell, according to Clinton's staff, is a greater political problem than a physical one — and the centerpiece of its Monday pushback strategy was a vow to release a far more detailed medical history of the 68-year-old candidate that proves she suffers from no previously undisclosed conditions.
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Clinton’s pneumonia isn’t severe, according to two people with direct knowledge of the candidate’s condition, and she is expected to return to the campaign trail as early as this week. The real issue is chronic dehydration, exacerbated by her lung problem and Clinton’s reluctance to drink water, which has become a source of tension with her staff.
“She won’t drink water, and you try telling Hillary Clinton she has to drink water,” said a person in her orbit – who described a frenzied rehydration mission that included multiple bottles of water and Gatorade.
On Monday, Bill Clinton told Charlie Rose that his wife has suffered from similar bouts over the years —an account supported by at least one of her staffers interviewed by POLITICO. “Rarely, on more than one occasion, over the last many, many years, the same sort of thing’s happened to her when she got severely dehydrated, and she’s worked like a demon, as you know, as secretary of state, as a senator, and in the years since,” Clinton said.
On Sunday, Clinton began showing signs of light-headedness standing at the Sept. 11 memorial service next to New York Sens. Charles Schumer — who on Monday disclosed that he too just got over a bout of pneumonia — and Kirsten Gillibrand, the sources said, and they flagged aides to get her water. After a few minutes, the candidate and her staff determined that she needed to get out of the heat and headed to a pick-up area, where she was seen — and filmed – stumbling into her van in a near swoon.
But the two Clinton confidantes told POLITICO that Clinton, drinking water while sitting in the air-conditioned backseat, quickly recovered and began making calls to tell staff and family what had happened, and almost immediately began assessing the political fallout.
By the time her motorcade arrived at daughter Chelsea’s apartment, she was feeling better — and was given a big bottle of Gatorade. She didn’t rest much while there, one of the sources said, but played with her grandchildren and made more phone calls. Clinton was ready to head back to her house in Chappaqua after about an hour at the apartment — but she had to remain in place to wait for her traveling press pool — which had been penned in at ground zero — to arrive so they could witness her walk out to an SUV, under her own steam.
Even before the episode, Clinton had suffered from a persistent hacking cough — and so did several members of her top staff, including Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri, who was briefly hospitalized with a severe upper respiratory infection and dehydration last month.
The campaign also moved to shut down reports by right-wing websites speculating that Clinton may have infected her grandkids Charlotte and Aidan and a little girl she hugged on a Manhattan sidewalk on Sunday.
“She is not contagious, she’s been told by her doctors,” Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon said during a round of TV interviews. “She was playing with her grandkids yesterday and they don’t have anything to worry about because she’s not contagious at this point.”
Fallon added that members of the senior staff knew about the Friday diagnosis and that other campaign members were notified shortly after.
The confusion about Clinton's condition wasn't limited to people on the outside. Clinton's inner circle — Huma Abedin, Cheryl Mills and her family — knew about the pneumonia diagnosis first. Just when others learned is still an open question: During an appearance on MSNBC Monday afternoon Robby Mook refused to say that he knew about the candidate's condition on Friday, as Fallon suggested.
That rosy portrait of Clinton’s health – reinforced by a Sunday note from Clinton’s personal physician Lisa Bardack — was a tough sell outside the Clinton camp, where trust in such pronouncements is often met with skepticism. Even as the campaign hit the talking points, Twitter filled up with conspiracy theories about the “real” source of the episode, which conservatives suggest stems from a serious head injury Clinton suffered in late 2012.
But reporters and even some Clinton supporters questioned the campaign’s hours-long stonewall of reporters on Sunday — which stoked suspicions that there was more to the health scare than a spokesman’s original claim that the former secretary of state had simply been “overheated.”
“Antibiotics can take care of pneumonia. What's the cure for an unhealthy penchant for privacy that repeatedly creates unnecessary problems?” tweeted David Axelrod, President Barack Obama’s former top campaign strategist.
Clinton’s aides moved to stem the tide of skepticism — and to counter Donald Trump, who on Monday vowed to release the results of his own physical exam — by announcing that she would soon make public a more detailed version of a two-page clean bill of health issued by Bardack last year.
"We'll release additional medical information about Hillary Clinton,” Fallon said during one of several appearances on cable TV meant to reassure nervous Democrats and assuage prying-eyed reporters. "We have been in touch with her physician this morning to get the materials together. We'll release that to further put to rest any lingering concerns about what you saw yesterday," he said of footage of a wobbly-looking Clinton struggling to get into a van that was widely circulated on Sunday.
Clinton's campaign also issued a partial mea culpa, with Palmieri tweeting in response to Axelrod's burn, "We could have done better yesterday, but it is a fact that public knows more about HRC than any nominee in history."
Fallon also provided a few more details about the incident, saying Clinton did not lose consciousness at any point. "I think as she was getting into the vehicle she got a little bit dizzy. She was helped into the vehicle but immediately upon being seated there, she was talking to staff and making calls," he said.
Clinton canceled plans to travel to California on Monday and instead will teleconference in to a fundraiser.
Fallon said that pneumonia is the extent of Clinton's condition. "I can attest that her doctor stated that there was nothing here in terms of anything that was caused by what happened in 2012. So all of that, I think, will be indicated in the further material that we are going to release this week."
In an afternoon interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Fallon said Clinton is “resting comfortably” and predicted that she should be back on the campaign trail by mid-week.
“At her doctor's advice she changed her schedule, taking a couple days to rest and the staff prevailed upon her to do that,” he said. “I think by the middle of the week she'll be out there campaigning as aggressively as ever.”
Fallon insisted that Clinton was following her doctor’s orders, but added that if it were up to her she would have carried on with her usual schedule.
“Up to her, she would have pressed on. That's the Hillary Clinton that people saw as secretary of state in terms of traveling the country at a break-neck pace representing us abroad. She fits more into it than most Americans,” he said.
Blitzer went on to ask Fallon whether Clinton should have told Americans about her diagnosis of pneumonia, which she received from a personal doctor on Friday.
“As soon as yesterday happened, Wolf, and her doctor visited her again and confirmed that what caused her to have to leave the event early on Sunday was related to the pneumonia and dehydration,” he said. “At that point we did make the decision to change the schedule, and we put out a statement in the doctor's name indicating the condition she was in.”
||||| To see more of this interview, watch “Charlie Rose” on PBS, and “CBS This Morning” Tuesday.
Former President Bill Clinton, who spoke with CBS News’ Charlie Rose about the Clinton Foundation ahead of its final Clinton Global Initiative conference, said Monday that Hillary Clinton is “doing fine” after she abruptly left a 9/11 memorial service Sunday due to her recently diagnosed pneumonia.
“She’s doing fine, she was even better last night before she went to sleep. She had a good night’s sleep she’s doing fine,” he said. “We’ve gotten all these, as you might imagine, emails and text messages and calls. A friend of ours called and left a message today, that her husband had actually just been hospitalized for pneumonia apparently there’s a lot of it going around and a bunch of her staff has gotten sick. But she’s just doing fine. She just got dehydrated yesterday.”
Hillary Clinton left the ceremony in New York early after what her campaign said was feeling “overheated,” going to her daughter Chelsea’s apartment in Manhattan to recover before heading home to Chappaqua, New York. On Sunday evening, Clinton’s campaign released a statement from her doctor saying she had been diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday.
Asked if there was any chance her faintness on Sunday could be a sign of some more “serious” illness, Clinton said he did not believe that was the case.
“Well if it is, it’s a mystery to me and all of her doctors,” he said, “because frequently—well not frequently, rarely—but on more than one occasion, over the last many, many years, the same sort of thing happened to her when she got severely dehydrated.”
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He noted that she had “two and a half hard days” on the campaign trail prior to the 9/11 ceremony, adding that he’s “glad” she made the decision to take a day off from the campaign trail Monday. The campaign has since announced that Bill Clinton will fill in for her at events Tuesday and Wednesday.
“I was glad today she made a decision, which I think was correct, to cancel her campaign day to take one more day to rest,” he said. “But she looked like a million bucks this morning I can tell she’s feeling a lot better.”
Clinton also said he’s “unaware” of any instance in which a Clinton Foundation donor ever received special treatment from Hillary Clinton’s State Department. The foundation, he said, has been “as transparent as we can be.”
“I have said to the best of my knowledge nobody ever got anything from the State Department because they supported the Clinton Foundation,” he told Rose. “If they did and it was inappropriate, I would say that was wrong too. I have proved that I’m not averse to apologizing for things that I think were wrong. So I am unaware of that.”
The Clinton Foundation, created after Bill Clinton left the White House in 2001, has been at the center of questions about whether foreign donors to the foundation represented a conflict of interest at Hillary Clinton’s State Department. An Associated Press investigation released last month found some overlap between Clinton Foundation donors and the people Clinton met with during her four-year tenure at State. Since then, the foundation has announced that if Hillary Clinton is elected president, Bill Clinton will step down from the board and the foundation will stop accepting foreign and corporate donations.
“I believe, first of all, we’ve been as transparent as we can be,” Clinton told Rose on Monday. “And we’ve been more transparent than any other foundation, more transparent than any other foundation has ever been asked to be, and certainly more transparent than anybody else in this line of work is.”
Clinton also differentiated between drawing on long-standing relationships around Washington and the kind of “pay-to-play” allegations some have leveled at the foundation, saying he doesn’t know of any instance where someone donated to the foundation specifically to get face time with his wife.
“Now, if you think nobody should ever call somebody they know and say, ‘Well, so-and-so would like a meeting’—that’s just the way the national government works, so I can’t say anything about that,” he said. “But I can say to the best of my knowledge … that the people they accused or implied gave money to the foundation just so they could have some in with Hillary did not do that. That’s simply not true.” ||||| Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives to attend a ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial, in New York, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016, on the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.... (Associated Press)
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives to attend a ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial, in New York, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016, on the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) (Associated Press)
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives to attend a ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial, in New York, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016, on the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) (Associated Press) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives to attend a ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial, in New York, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016, on the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.... (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — When Hillary Clinton was diagnosed with pneumonia late last week, she informed a handful of her closest advisers, but pressed on with a busy campaign schedule and did not inform the public that she was sick. "I just didn't think it was going to be that big a deal," she said.
Clinton's first comments about her health condition came in a CNN interview late Monday, a day after a dizzy spell caught on video forced the Democratic nominee to disclose her illness and cancel a West Coast campaign trip.
The incident reinforced Clinton's reputation as a public figure with a predisposition for privacy. While her top campaign aides conceded they were too slow in providing the public with information about Clinton's condition, it was unclear how quickly they themselves had been informed by the candidate.
In a move aimed at quieting questions about transparency, Clinton said she would be releasing more medical information this week. Her campaign has sought to turn the matter around on Republican opponent Donald Trump, who has released only a glowing letter from his doctor, though the billionaire real estate mogul says that he, too, plans to make public additional information in the coming days.
Less than two months from Election Day, Clinton's handling of her health incident added to Democrats' growing sense of uncertainty about the presidential race. While Democrats said the matter is unlikely to fundamentally alter the presidential race, Democrats worry the race with Trump is too close for comfort.
"If you look at the way the last couple months have gone, it feels like the race should be further apart," said Greg Haas, an Ohio-based Democratic strategist and former county party chairman.
Aaron Regunberg, a Democratic state representative from Rhode Island, said he was "surprised and concerned" that the race is so tight.
"I still think that we are likely to win, but I think anyone who's not concerned about a bigoted, KKK-endorsed sociopath being this close right now in the polls is not living in reality," Regunberg said of Trump.
Clinton abruptly left a 9/11 anniversary event Sunday in New York and was seen on video stumbling and being held up by aides. After roughly 90 minutes of silence from her campaign, aides said Clinton left because she was overheated. Several hours later, her doctor acknowledged she had been diagnosed with pneumonia two days earlier.
Clinton spent Monday at her home in Chappaqua, New York, after canceling a fundraising trip in California. It was unclear when she planned to return to the campaign trail.
In a text message to supporters Monday night, Clinton wrote: "Like anyone who's ever been home sick from work, I'm just anxious to get back out there."
Trump showed surprising restraint regarding Clinton's health. He wished her well and did not repeat questions he has previously raised about whether the former secretary of state has the strength and stamina to be president.
He did hammer Clinton for her assertion Friday night that half of his supporters belong in a "basket of deplorables" and are racist, sexist, homophobic or xenophobic. Clinton later said she regretted applying that description to "half" of Trump's backers, but stuck by her assertion that the GOP nominee has given a platform to "hateful views and voices."
Speaking in Maryland Monday, Trump said he was shocked to hear Clinton "attack, slander, smear and demean these wonderful, amazing people who are supporting our campaign."
After a staff shake-up in August, Trump has largely abandoned the free-wheeling style of campaigning that energized his supporters but also led to an endless string of controversial comments about women, minorities and others. The Republican nominee's newfound ability to stay on script has coincided with tightening in both national polls and surveys in some key swing states.
"The last few days feed into a sense of uncertainty," said Chris Kofinis, a Democratic strategist. He said Clinton's rough weekend raises the stakes for the first presidential debate on Sept. 26, which "will either finish Trump or, if he does well, it will create a race."
Privately, some Republicans say Trump would likely be losing more convincingly to another Democratic nominee. But Clinton's unpopularity rivals that of her opponent, and she's been unable to do much to change the minds of Americans who believe she is dishonest and secretive.
To be sure, Clinton continues to have numerous advantages over Trump as the race presses into its final weeks.
Polls show Trump struggling mightily with big swaths of the electorate, including women, blacks, Hispanics and young people. His path to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win in November is also narrow — he likely needs to carry Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania and North Carolina — while Clinton has numerous routes. Clinton's campaign is also running a sophisticated voter targeting and turnout operation, led by several people involved in President Barack Obama's winning campaigns, while Trump is banking on the Republican National Committee for his field operations.
Given those built-in advantages and Trump's weaknesses, some Democrats say their biggest fear is complacency — making the tightening of the race not such a bad development.
"It really says to me and other supporters of Hillary that we have to be invested, and we're going to have to get out and work," said Missouri state Rep. Margo McNeil of suburban St. Louis, who was a Clinton delegate to the Democratic National Convention.
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What political news is the world searching for on Google and talking about on Twitter? Find out via AP's Election Buzz interactive. http://elections.ap.org/buzz
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AP writers Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, Michelle R. Smith in Providence, Rhode Island, David Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri, Lisa Lerer in White Plains, New York, and Ken Thomas in Washington contributed to this report.
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Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC ||||| Video of Clinton’s departure seemed to show her buckling and stumbling as she got into her van. (Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post)
Video of Clinton’s departure seemed to show her buckling and stumbling as she got into her van. (Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post)
Hillary Clinton had a cough — a nasty, recurring cough that she could not kick after a week of trying. So on Friday morning she went to her doctor’s office, not far from her home in Chappaqua, N.Y., to find out what was wrong. Lisa R. Bardack’s diagnosis: pneumonia.
Bardack prescribed antibiotics and suggested that Clinton cut back her schedule and get five days of rest. But the Democratic presidential nominee refused. The election was just 60 days away, and Clinton wanted to grind it out — and that, to her, meant not telling many of her aides, let alone the public, about her illness.
Clinton’s decision set in motion perhaps the most damaging cascade of events for her in the general-election campaign — giving fresh ammunition to Republican nominee Donald Trump, who lags in the polls, and spoiling a two-week offensive she had plotted before the first debate.
Under mounting criticism over her lack of transparency, Clinton has agreed to release additional medical information in coming days, a move her aides said they hope will quiet lingering concerns about her health. Rumors about the 68-year-old candidate have swirled for weeks in the conservative media, stoked by Trump and his surrogates.
Had Clinton heeded her doctor’s advice, she would not have gone to a glitzy fundraiser Friday night where she let her guard down and inartfully talked about Trump’s supporters, nor would she have been spotted collapsing Sunday morning as she was rushed out of a 9/11 memorial ceremony.
The Fix's Aaron Blake explains the incident during which Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton fell ill on Sept. 11, and why her health is likely to remain a subject of discussion. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)
“Obviously I should have gotten some rest sooner,” Clinton said Monday night in a brief telephone interview with CNN. Asked why she did not reveal her illness Friday, she said, “I just didn’t think it was going to be that big a deal.”
Clinton’s instinct was to keep working and say little about her illness, according to interviews Monday with Clinton campaign officials who gave accounts of the events. She left Bardack’s office and headed into Manhattan to convene a meeting of national security advisers. Then she parried questions at a news conference. And then she mingled with donors at the fundraiser.
That’s where the problems began. Before a friendly audience that included singer Barbra Streisand, Clinton jokingly said that “half” of Trump’s supporters were in a “basket of deplorables — racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it.” The remark allowed Trump and his allies to paint Clinton as out-of-touch and elitist, and she expressed contrition Saturday.
[Clinton says she regrets labeling ‘half’ of Trump’s supporters as ‘deplorables’]
Then on Sunday, Clinton’s plan to “power through,” as her top aides later called it, finally unraveled. She abruptly left the Sept. 11, 2001, memorial ceremony in Lower Manhattan and ditched her traveling press corps. She felt overheated and dizzy. A video a witness recorded on his cellphone showed her stumbling and wobbling, her knees buckling as Secret Service agents lifted her into a black van.
From the van, Clinton made phone calls, including to aide Huma Abedin. Clinton did not think she needed to go to a hospital, so the agents took her to daughter Chelsea’s apartment a few miles away.
There, in the air conditioning, Clinton drank Gatorade and cooled down. “She was telling anyone who would listen that she was fine,” spokesman Brian Fallon said Monday, adding that Clinton played with granddaughter Charlotte. She also called Bardack, who a few hours later would treat her at the candidate’s Chappaqua home.
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But outside, there was a major media storm. For 90 minutes, the public was in the dark about Clinton’s whereabouts — and for most of the day, about her illness. It was not until 5:15 p.m. that her campaign issued a statement from Bardack about Clinton’s pneumonia diagnosis.
Some of Clinton’s allies voiced concern about her lack of transparency, which has been an issue throughout her campaign and feeds the perceptions many voters have of her as untrustworthy.
“Antibiotics can take care of pneumonia. What’s the cure for an unhealthy penchant for privacy that repeatedly creates unnecessary problems?” tweeted David Axelrod, President Obama’s former chief strategist.
At the White House, press secretary Joshua Earnest barely disguised his frustration during his press briefing Monday, a day before Obama is set to campaign for Clinton in Philadelphia.
“There’s a reason that we have had a long tradition in this country of individual candidates disclosing information about their health to the American public before the election,” Earnest said, noting that Obama did so as a candidate, and has continued to do so as president, to underscore the point.
Former Ohio state senator Nina Turner, a prominent supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) in the Democratic primary race, said: “People get sick. . . . It’s okay not to feel well. It’s all about the coverup.”
[Hillary Clinton has long chosen to be private about her health]
Clinton’s aides readily acknowledged Monday that they took too long in revealing the candidate’s whereabouts and medical condition. But they did not second-guess Clinton’s decision to stick to her schedule, and they argued there was no expectation that she reveal the diagnosis any earlier because the pneumonia had not affected her public activities until Sunday.
“She didn’t see a need to tell people if she was going to continue her schedule,” said Jennifer Palmieri, Clinton’s communications director. “She felt well enough to keep going. Power through. But obviously that didn’t work out.”
It was unclear how prepared Clinton’s staff was to manage the announcement of her pneumonia. Palmieri and Fallon refused to specify how many aides knew about the diagnosis Friday or even whether they themselves were aware, saying only that “senior staff knew.”
It also was unclear whether Clinton’s running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.), was in the know. Kaine declined to say when he learned of Clinton’s pneumonia diagnosis but said he exchanged emails with her shortly after the Sunday incident.
“Within a few minutes after I heard the news, I had reached out to communicate to her, and she reached right back out to me and said, ‘I’m going to be fine,’ ” Kaine told reporters.
Some of Clinton’s top aides have also gotten sick over the past two weeks, most with a virus that is separate from Clinton’s ailment, aides said. The victims include campaign manager Robby Mook and policy adviser Jake Sullivan, as well as Palmieri and Fallon.
Former Pennsylvania governor Edward G. Rendell said the campaign’s delay in revealing Clinton’s pneumonia was regrettable.
“They probably should have initially acknowledged her initial diagnosis,” Rendell said. “But because Trump and [former New York mayor Rudy] Giuliani had raised the issue of her health so brutally and so unfairly, they were inclined to try to gut it out and not disclose.”
Clinton was scheduled to fly to California on Monday for two days of fundraising and to give a major economic address. Bardack recommended that she stay home to recover. Talking with her advisers Sunday night, Clinton insisted upon making the trip, but aides overruled her, Fallon said. “Her natural impulse is to keep going,” he said.
With the trip canceled, Clinton spent Monday at home in Chappaqua and tweeted, “I’m feeling fine and getting better.” In a second tweet, she wrote, “Like anyone who’s ever been home sick from work, I’m just anxious to get back out there.”
Former president Bill Clinton plans to appear in his wife’s stead at two star-studded fundraisers Tuesday in Beverly Hills. He also will fill in for her at a campaign event in Nevada on Wednesday, aides said.
Bill Clinton told Charlie Rose of CBS News that his wife has “worked like a demon.” Asked if she could stay off the campaign trail for weeks, Clinton responded: “No, not a shot. I’ll be lucky to hold her back another day.”
Trump has sought to take maximum advantage. He has been closely monitoring news about Hillary Clinton’s health, but he refrained from tweeting about it Sunday and in interviews Monday morning was uncharacteristically restrained.
Trump said he had a physical last week — “I feel great,” he told Fox News Channel — and vowed to release the results Thursday on “The Dr. Oz Show.”
With Clinton resting, Trump launched some of his sharpest attacks yet against her. He said in a speech Monday in Baltimore that her “deplorables” comment “disqualifies” her from being president — and that if she does not retract it, “I don’t see how she can credibly campaign any further.” Trump’s campaign also released a television advertisement about Clinton’s remark that will air in four battleground states.
Trump’s advisers and allies think this is a potential turning point in the race against Clinton and that with a disciplined approach, they can keep the Democratic favorite on the defensive heading into the Sept. 26 debate.
“This moment is shaping up to be a perfect storm for the Clinton campaign, something they have feared all along,” said Scott Reed, a veteran GOP strategist. “Democrats have to be asking themselves if this is the beginning of the end.”
Few Democrats shared that outlook, arguing that the media scrutiny on Clinton was unfair and sexist and that she would quickly bounce back politically.
“The debates are the perfect antidote,” Democratic operative Bill Burton said. “If she goes out and performs well in the debates, with the energy and vigor that everybody anticipates, it will put a lot of this to bed.”
The campaign turned the illness into a fundraising pitch, telling supporters in an email Monday that “today is the perfect day to step up and let Hillary know you’ve got her back.”
But it interrupted plans for a coordinated series of policy speeches by Clinton as well as appearances by Obama, Vice President Biden and other high-profile surrogates over the next two weeks. The goal had been to break through the wall of news coverage about Trump.
“We’ve lost a couple of days, but we’re going to pick that effort back up,” Palmieri said. “We have more than enough time to compensate for the two days we have lost. You get back out there, and it’s a new day.”
She still plans to give the speeches — covering the “inclusive economy,” goals for national service, and help for children and families — before the debate, Palmieri said.
“She’s a tough lady,” said Clinton supporter Lou D’Allesandro, a state senator in New Hampshire. “She’s got the courage of a lion. She’ll be back on her feet in no time.”
Abby Phillip in White Plains, N.Y.; John Wagner in Dayton, Ohio; Sean Sullivan in Baltimore; and Dan Balz and Matea Gold in Washington contributed to this report. ||||| “He’s such an unknown quantity to the American people that he now has to kind of assume the mantle of what it would be like to have him as commander in chief, not just vice president,” Mr. Brinkley said.
Nine vice presidents have assumed the presidency during a president’s term, eight because of a death and one because of a resignation. In four of those eight instances, the president was assassinated. In four other cases, the president died of natural causes, most recently in 1945, when Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage and Harry S. Truman became president.
A lawyer by training, Mr. Kaine, who served as mayor of Richmond, Va., and as Virginia’s lieutenant governor and governor before winning election to the Senate in 2012, was seen as an appealing pick for Mrs. Clinton in large part because of his résumé and his policy chops.
But he is not a well-known figure nationally, even after more than seven weeks as Mrs. Clinton’s running mate. In a CNN/ORC poll conducted this month, 19 percent of voters said they had never heard of Mr. Kaine, and an additional 21 percent said they had no opinion of him.
“So far this has been a presidential race that has been heavily focused on the presidential candidates, to an unusual extent,” said Joel K. Goldstein, a law professor at St. Louis University who is an expert on the vice presidency.
Recalling his own bout with pneumonia, Mr. Goldstein cautioned that “the fact that somebody has pneumonia doesn’t mean there’s about to be a succession.” But he said the episode on Sunday would bring more attention to Mr. Kaine’s suitability to the presidency.
“It should remind people of the importance of the two vice-presidential candidates, and whether they are appropriate presidential successors based on their experience, skill, character and substantive views,” he said.
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As he hopscotches from state to state, Mr. Kaine comes across more as a genial traveling salesman for the Clinton-Kaine ticket than as a president in waiting. In his speeches, he tends to focus on making a case against Donald J. Trump while talking up Mrs. Clinton.
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At times, he still expresses shock that he is even on the Democratic ticket, as if he had been plucked from anonymity to embark upon a great adventure.
“I felt like I was Pinocchio turning into a real boy,” he told a crowd in Virginia on Friday, recalling when Mrs. Clinton asked him to be her running mate. “I mean, like, ‘Wow, what? You want me? Are you kidding?’”
The biggest test of Mr. Kaine’s readiness will come on Oct. 4, when he faces Mr. Trump’s running mate, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, in the vice-presidential debate.
“You don’t want a Sarah Palin situation where voters really have doubts about the second person on the ticket,” said Julian E. Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton. “It’s especially true if there are any kinds of concerns about age or health.”
Mr. Kaine, 58, differs from the man he is hoping to succeed, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., in that he is a relatively new member of the Senate, not an elder statesman. But Mr. Kaine has made a point of focusing on foreign policy during his time in the Senate, where he serves on the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees.
Speaking to reporters after an event here on Monday, Mr. Kaine said he did not think the new episode involving Mrs. Clinton’s health put any more pressure on him to convince voters he is ready to be president.
Even before the latest incident, Mr. Kaine had tried to defend Mrs. Clinton against questions about her health, while also calling on Mr. Trump, who had accused Mrs. Clinton of lacking stamina, to be more forthcoming about his own health.
Two weeks ago, Mr. Kaine mocked the letter from a doctor for Mr. Trump that asserted the candidate would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency,” while he also declared Mrs. Clinton to be “one tough and one healthy person.”
And as he campaigned here on Monday, he offered fresh testimony about Mrs. Clinton’s physical well-being.
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“I’ve just been on the campaign since July 22,” Mr. Kaine told the crowd. “Hillary Clinton has been on the campaign trail for 18 months. Her energy staggers me. I have a hard time keeping up with her.” | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 26,195 |
Posted 1:59 pm, January 12, 2015, by George Brown and Caitlin Alexander
× FBI adds $25,000 to reward for information in Jessica Chambers case
PANOLA COUNTY, Miss. — A new donation has raised the reward fund for information in the Jessica Chambers case.
The FBI has just added $25,000, which raises the reward to $43,000.
Someone fatally lit the 19-year-old on fire December 6th along Herron Road, off Highway 51.
She died several hours later at a Memphis hospital on December 7th.
District Attorney John Champion confirmed Monday there are no updates in the case.
The Chambers family continues to ask anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-729-2169. ||||| The FBI has added $25,000 to the amount in hopes that it may bring people out who know something about Chambers' death.
Jessica Chambers (Photo: Facebook)
Officials said the reward amount in the death of Courtland teen Jessica Chambers is now up to $43,000.
Panola County District Attorney John Champion said the FBI has added $25,000 to the amount in hopes that it may bring people out who know something about Chambers' death.
"A lot of things in this world are money-driven, and we're hoping that there's someone out there that know something that sees the reward and is willing to come forward," Champion said.
Chambers was found on Herron Road in Courtland a little after 8 p.m. on Dec. 6, walking away from her burning vehicle with burns over 98 percent of her body. Coroner Gracie Gulledge said the cause of the young woman's death was thermal injury.
Officials classified Chambers' death as a homicide, but in spite of interviewing what they have said is more than 100 potential witnesses, they say they still have yet to emerge with a prime suspect.
Chambers' father, Ben Chambers, said her family is in a potential state of anxiety, waiting on some word on the case. He said since he does work for the sheriff's department, they have left him out of the loop on investigation details for his own sake.
"We're just waitig and hoping that something will hurry up and happen, and praying and getting through it," he said. "If something doesn't happen we might go crazy."
Chambers made a statement to first responders in which she allegedly gave them the name of her attacker, but even leads connected to that statement have not yet panned out.
At least publicly, law enforcement hasn't been able to point to a prime suspect. They have also commented that talk on the street has been uncharacteristically silent, which has hindered what could have been a more routine investigation if people were talking quite as much as they normally do.
Given the national notoriety and heinous nature of the crime, that has proven frustrating for officials and the public alike.
Much public speculation has linked the crime to alleged gangs in the area, but Ben Chambers said someone claiming to be a high-ranking gang member in the area had contacted him to tell him that the gangs in the area were angry and upset about what happened to Jessica as well.
"They're very upset about it. They said you wouldn't even do a dog like that," Ben Chambers said.
So the search for suspects continues.
"We're still interviewing people. Mostly we're in the process of reinterviewing people and going through everything with a fine-tooth comb," Champion said.
Authorities at one point had said they were narrowing down their list of suspects, but at this point in the investigation, they are tight-lipped as to what that means.
The FBI, U.S. Marshals, ATF, U.S. Attorney's Office, Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, the State Fire Marshal's Office, and the Panola County Sheriff's Department continue to collaborate through many measures from technological research to pounding the streets to try to pin down a viable lead, officials said.
Chambers' father, Ben Chambers, was not available on Monday for comment, but he said in the past that he feels like someone knows something, and that it's unbelievable to him that nobody has come forward with any usable information.
Anyone with information about Jessica Chambers' death is asked to call the Panola County Sheriff's Department at (662) 563-6230 or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-729-2169.
Contact Therese Apel at [email protected] or (601) 961-7236. Follow @TRex21 on Twitter.
Read or Share this story: http://on.thec-l.com/1IES0rN | – Authorities have interviewed more than 100 potential witnesses in the December burning death of Mississippi teen Jessica Chambers, yet they still don't have a prime suspect. They also say "talk on the street" about the case has been quieter than usual, hampering the investigation. So the FBI has added $25,000 to the reward amount, which now totals $43,000, the Clarion-Ledger reports. "A lot of things in this world are money-driven, and we're hoping that there's someone out there that [knows] something that sees the reward and is willing to come forward," says the Panola County DA. He adds that there are no updates in the 19-year-old's murder, WREG reports. Chambers reportedly told first responders the name of her attacker before she died, but no leads connected to what she said have yielded any information. And, while some speculation has centered around the idea of a gang-related crime, Chambers' father—who works for the sheriff's department but is not part of this investigation—says he was contacted by someone who claimed to be a high-ranking area gang member. That person told him the gangs are "very upset about it," Ben Chambers says. "They said you wouldn't even do a dog like that." Authorities are currently interviewing and re-interviewing people, the DA says; local officials are collaborating with a lengthy list of agencies that includes the FBI, state Bureau of Investigation, US Attorney's Office, ATF, US Marshals, and State Fire Marshal's Office. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Posted 1:59 pm, January 12, 2015, by George Brown and Caitlin Alexander
× FBI adds $25,000 to reward for information in Jessica Chambers case
PANOLA COUNTY, Miss. — A new donation has raised the reward fund for information in the Jessica Chambers case.
The FBI has just added $25,000, which raises the reward to $43,000.
Someone fatally lit the 19-year-old on fire December 6th along Herron Road, off Highway 51.
She died several hours later at a Memphis hospital on December 7th.
District Attorney John Champion confirmed Monday there are no updates in the case.
The Chambers family continues to ask anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-729-2169. ||||| The FBI has added $25,000 to the amount in hopes that it may bring people out who know something about Chambers' death.
Jessica Chambers (Photo: Facebook)
Officials said the reward amount in the death of Courtland teen Jessica Chambers is now up to $43,000.
Panola County District Attorney John Champion said the FBI has added $25,000 to the amount in hopes that it may bring people out who know something about Chambers' death.
"A lot of things in this world are money-driven, and we're hoping that there's someone out there that know something that sees the reward and is willing to come forward," Champion said.
Chambers was found on Herron Road in Courtland a little after 8 p.m. on Dec. 6, walking away from her burning vehicle with burns over 98 percent of her body. Coroner Gracie Gulledge said the cause of the young woman's death was thermal injury.
Officials classified Chambers' death as a homicide, but in spite of interviewing what they have said is more than 100 potential witnesses, they say they still have yet to emerge with a prime suspect.
Chambers' father, Ben Chambers, said her family is in a potential state of anxiety, waiting on some word on the case. He said since he does work for the sheriff's department, they have left him out of the loop on investigation details for his own sake.
"We're just waitig and hoping that something will hurry up and happen, and praying and getting through it," he said. "If something doesn't happen we might go crazy."
Chambers made a statement to first responders in which she allegedly gave them the name of her attacker, but even leads connected to that statement have not yet panned out.
At least publicly, law enforcement hasn't been able to point to a prime suspect. They have also commented that talk on the street has been uncharacteristically silent, which has hindered what could have been a more routine investigation if people were talking quite as much as they normally do.
Given the national notoriety and heinous nature of the crime, that has proven frustrating for officials and the public alike.
Much public speculation has linked the crime to alleged gangs in the area, but Ben Chambers said someone claiming to be a high-ranking gang member in the area had contacted him to tell him that the gangs in the area were angry and upset about what happened to Jessica as well.
"They're very upset about it. They said you wouldn't even do a dog like that," Ben Chambers said.
So the search for suspects continues.
"We're still interviewing people. Mostly we're in the process of reinterviewing people and going through everything with a fine-tooth comb," Champion said.
Authorities at one point had said they were narrowing down their list of suspects, but at this point in the investigation, they are tight-lipped as to what that means.
The FBI, U.S. Marshals, ATF, U.S. Attorney's Office, Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, the State Fire Marshal's Office, and the Panola County Sheriff's Department continue to collaborate through many measures from technological research to pounding the streets to try to pin down a viable lead, officials said.
Chambers' father, Ben Chambers, was not available on Monday for comment, but he said in the past that he feels like someone knows something, and that it's unbelievable to him that nobody has come forward with any usable information.
Anyone with information about Jessica Chambers' death is asked to call the Panola County Sheriff's Department at (662) 563-6230 or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-729-2169.
Contact Therese Apel at [email protected] or (601) 961-7236. Follow @TRex21 on Twitter.
Read or Share this story: http://on.thec-l.com/1IES0rN | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 5,987 |
A woman accused of murdering her fiance during a kayak trip on the Hudson River last year admitted to an investigator that she took out a plug on the kayak that eventually capsized, another investigator said in a pretrial hearing today.
Angelika Graswald and her fiance, 46-year-old Vince Viafore, were kayaking on the Hudson River on April 19, 2015, when his boat capsized and he disappeared, authorities said. She was arrested and charged with second-degree murder a few weeks later, and Viafore's body was recovered a few weeks after that.
Graswald is also accused of second-degree manslaughter. She has pleaded not guilty.
She was in court today for a Huntley hearing — a court proceeding about statements that prosecutors claim an accused made — during which Aniello Moscato, a senior investigator with the New York State Police, was on the stand. Moscato, who had responded to the scene, said he didn't speak with Graswald that day but did speak with her over the next nine days, during which the two became friendly and he "felt for her."
On April 29, an investigative team arrived on Bannermann's Island — where Graswald was found by rescuers 10 days earlier — and Graswald said she would also be at the island that day to lay a memorial wreath for Viafore. Then the investigators retraced the steps of that day with Graswald.
While they were on the island, Moscato said, he and two other investigators asked her if she would be more comfortable talking to one of them instead of all three, and Graswald said yes. She spoke with investigator Don DeQuarto alone for about 40 minutes, and then she walked to the bathroom by herself, Moscato told the court. DeQuarto spoke with Moscato, he said, and told him Graswald said that there was a plug on the kayak and that she had taken it out.
Moscato said that as the investigators were taking her back to the state police barracks, they had engine trouble on the boat and as Moscato held on to Graswald, she joked about jumping overboard. She seemed happy-go-lucky on the boat ride back to the barracks, Moscato said, which he said seemed strange to him after what she had just told DeQuarto.
Also on the stand today was Officer Stephen Pedetti, who told Graswald's defense attorney Richard Portale that Graswald was calm and showed no emotion after she was rescued. Pedetti said Graswald seemed very matter-of-fact and didn't seem concerned, calling her "emotionless."
The judge has issued a gag order, barring the prosecution and the defense from commenting on the case outside court. Viafore's family members were in court today and declined to comment to ABC News.
The hearing is expected to continue Tuesday. ||||| CLOSE Angelika Graswald, called the "kayak killer," is released from prison accompanied by her lawyer, Dec. 21, 2017.
Buy Photo Angelika Graswald with her lawyer, Richard Portale, outside the Bedford Hills women's prison as he makes a statement to the media. (Photo: File photo/Poughkeepsie Journal)Buy Photo
During her first TV interview since she was released from prison for the drowning death of her fiancé, Angelika Graswald proclaimed her innocence and said she would use Vincent Viafore's insurance money to pay her legal bills.
"There was no murder," said Graswald, during an interview she did for "20/20" on ABC News that aired Friday. And the people who will always believe she got off too easy "can say whatever they want. I know the truth. God knows the truth. I'm at peace."
Graswald, 37, was originally charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Viafore's death, which occurred during a kayaking trip the couple took to Bannerman Island in April 2015.
PAYOUT: Family must prove Graswald 'recklessly' caused death
SENTENCING: Viafore’s family mourns as Graswald sentenced in his death
VIAFORE'S SISTER: My brother didn't deserve to die this way
Instead, she pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide last July. Graswald spent a month in prison before her release in December. The 2 1/2 years she spent in Orange County Jail while her court case was ongoing counted toward her prison sentence.
In the latest interview, Graswald told "20/20" co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas that she wrestled with the idea of taking the felony plea, but ultimately decided not to risk a trial.
"I'm not a felon," Graswald said to Vargas. "It's not fair, it's not right... I didn't kill him."
As part of her plea, Graswald admitted she helped cause Viafore's drowning death by removing the plug from his kayak. She also admitted she was aware that the locking clip on one of his paddles was missing, that he was not wearing a life vest or a wet suit and that the river waters were dangerously cold at the time of their kayaking trip.
Her defense attorney Richard Portale told Vargas that when state police searched the Town of Poughkeepsie apartment the couple shared, they discovered one of Viafore's guns was missing. The search was apparently conducted while Graswald was being interviewed by investigators, following her purported confession about 10 days after Viafore drowned.
“When they realized there was a gun missing, that’s when they really cranked it up,” Portale said during the "20/20" interview. “Cause that’s when they thought, well maybe she shot him."
Vincent Viafore (Photo: McHoul Funeral home, courtesy photo)
Viafore's body was discovered in the Hudson River in May 2015.
His autopsy listed the cause of death as drowning, and noted a two-inch abrasion on his torso and some bruises, the New York Times has reported. Viafore was listed as a victim of homicide caused by a “kayak drain plug intentionally removed by other.” But there was no indication he had been shot.
The case
The Orange County District Attorney's Office has said Graswald stood to gain $250,000 in the event of Viafore's death, as primary beneficiary on his life insurance policies. The Dutchess County Surrogate's Court later reported that Graswald stands to inherit nearly half a million dollars.
During a pre-trial hearing in Orange County Court, investigators testified that Graswald admitted, during interviews at Bannerman and state police barracks, to tampering with Viafore's kayak and paddle. Graswald told state police that Viafore was pressuring her to perform sexual acts she didn't want to do and had threatened to call off their wedding.
Angelika Graswald talks to police investigators. (Photo: CBS/Courtesy photo)
"I wanted him dead and now he's gone," Graswald told police, during a video-recorded interview in April 2015. "And I'm OK with that."
She also told investigators that Viafore added her as a beneficiary to his life insurance policies about six months before he died, according to the "20/20" interview.
The defense said Graswald's incriminating statements were coerced by police during the 11-hour interview, that removing the kayak plug (which was on top of the vessel) wouldn't have caused Viafore's kayak to capsize, that Viafore was not wearing a life-jacket and had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.066.
"20/20" Interview
When Vargas asked Graswald why she told police that she was happy Viafore was gone and wanted him to die, Graswald said she "did have those thoughts when he pushed me to do things I didn't want to do," but didn't really want him to die.
"If you are in a relationship, how many times do you want to kill your spouse?" Graswald said to Vargas. "But not in a way where you're going to take a weapon or whack his head on something. You just say that. I didn't feel like killing him. I didn't kill him."
Graswald told Vargas that she tried to help Viafore after his kayak capsized in the frigid Hudson, but she "couldn't reach him. I was paddling the whole time, I am exhausted, I am wet... freezing, shaking."
"It's only human nature to think, if I had done this, maybe…" Vargas said to Graswald.
"Oh, I'm past that," Graswald told her. "I can't do that anymore."
Life insurance
Graswald did not automatically forfeit her claim to Viafore's life insurance with her plea to criminally negligent homicide. Viafore's family will have to prove in the Dutchess surrogate's court that Graswald "recklessly" caused his death.
A surrogate's court hearing was originally set for late February, but is now scheduled for May.
Graswald told ABC News that if she manages to collect the money — something legal experts have told the Journal is unlikely — it will be used to pay her lawyers.
"I signed over a paper that says it goes straight to my legal team because they deserve it," Graswald said. "And that's that."
When asked if she thinks she deserves any of the money, Graswald shrugged and told Vargas: "It's just money. As soon as I get a job, I'll make some."
Viafore's sister Laura Rice filed a wrongful death complaint against Graswald in State Supreme Court in Dutchess County in October.
Criminal proceedings took place in Orange County Court. The civil matter of Viafore's estate is taking place in Dutchess County Surrogate's Court because he was a Town of Poughkeepsie resident.
The future
A native of Latvia and a U.S. permanent resident, Graswald may face deportation after her 16 months on parole are up. That decision would be up to a federal judge, prosecutors said.
She told Vargas she's concerned about the possibility.
"It's not right," Graswald said. "I want to be able to choose whether I want to stay here or go."
As a parolee, Graswald is supervised by Community Supervision staff in Orange County.
She told Vargas she plans to visit Bannerman in the spring, with flowers for Viafore.
"I'm very much drawn to that place," Graswald said. "It's like completing a circle in a way. It's like facing your fear."
Nina Schutzman: [email protected], 845-451-4518, Twitter: @pojonschutzman
Read or Share this story: http://pojonews.co/2odyvoN | – "I almost just want to go to Europe and leave it all behind," says Angelika Graswald, the Latvian woman released from prison in December after pleading guilty to criminally negligent homicide in connection with her boyfriend's death during an April 2015 kayaking trip. The New York Times reports that since her release, Graswald has been giving interviews in an apparent attempt to shape the coverage of her, and her conversation with the Times is no exception. "I’m not cold, and I'm not heartless," she says. "I love Vince. I love his family. ... I didn't just go out and coldheartedly let him die. I tried to help him. I tried to paddle toward him. It’s just not fair how they’re portraying me as a coldblooded murderer or killer." She says she faced dangerous waters that day, too, but managed to survive. "And now I'm guilty?" She says she and Vincent Viafore were very hungover the day of their planned trip on the Hudson River, but decided to go forward with it anyway; prosecutors noted the couple had brought booze along with them, too. The Poughkeepsie Journal reports Viafore's blood alcohol concentration was 0.066. She says the statements she made to investigators that suggested she had intended for him to die came during an 11-hour interrogation during which she was hungry and exhausted (and also did yoga and hopscotched). In an interview that aired Friday on 20/20 she said she took the plea deal because she was told she could get out in December. ABC News reports on her recollection of the last time she saw Viafore, with just his head and arm above the water, telling her to call 911. Read her full interview here. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.A woman accused of murdering her fiance during a kayak trip on the Hudson River last year admitted to an investigator that she took out a plug on the kayak that eventually capsized, another investigator said in a pretrial hearing today.
Angelika Graswald and her fiance, 46-year-old Vince Viafore, were kayaking on the Hudson River on April 19, 2015, when his boat capsized and he disappeared, authorities said. She was arrested and charged with second-degree murder a few weeks later, and Viafore's body was recovered a few weeks after that.
Graswald is also accused of second-degree manslaughter. She has pleaded not guilty.
She was in court today for a Huntley hearing — a court proceeding about statements that prosecutors claim an accused made — during which Aniello Moscato, a senior investigator with the New York State Police, was on the stand. Moscato, who had responded to the scene, said he didn't speak with Graswald that day but did speak with her over the next nine days, during which the two became friendly and he "felt for her."
On April 29, an investigative team arrived on Bannermann's Island — where Graswald was found by rescuers 10 days earlier — and Graswald said she would also be at the island that day to lay a memorial wreath for Viafore. Then the investigators retraced the steps of that day with Graswald.
While they were on the island, Moscato said, he and two other investigators asked her if she would be more comfortable talking to one of them instead of all three, and Graswald said yes. She spoke with investigator Don DeQuarto alone for about 40 minutes, and then she walked to the bathroom by herself, Moscato told the court. DeQuarto spoke with Moscato, he said, and told him Graswald said that there was a plug on the kayak and that she had taken it out.
Moscato said that as the investigators were taking her back to the state police barracks, they had engine trouble on the boat and as Moscato held on to Graswald, she joked about jumping overboard. She seemed happy-go-lucky on the boat ride back to the barracks, Moscato said, which he said seemed strange to him after what she had just told DeQuarto.
Also on the stand today was Officer Stephen Pedetti, who told Graswald's defense attorney Richard Portale that Graswald was calm and showed no emotion after she was rescued. Pedetti said Graswald seemed very matter-of-fact and didn't seem concerned, calling her "emotionless."
The judge has issued a gag order, barring the prosecution and the defense from commenting on the case outside court. Viafore's family members were in court today and declined to comment to ABC News.
The hearing is expected to continue Tuesday. ||||| CLOSE Angelika Graswald, called the "kayak killer," is released from prison accompanied by her lawyer, Dec. 21, 2017.
Buy Photo Angelika Graswald with her lawyer, Richard Portale, outside the Bedford Hills women's prison as he makes a statement to the media. (Photo: File photo/Poughkeepsie Journal)Buy Photo
During her first TV interview since she was released from prison for the drowning death of her fiancé, Angelika Graswald proclaimed her innocence and said she would use Vincent Viafore's insurance money to pay her legal bills.
"There was no murder," said Graswald, during an interview she did for "20/20" on ABC News that aired Friday. And the people who will always believe she got off too easy "can say whatever they want. I know the truth. God knows the truth. I'm at peace."
Graswald, 37, was originally charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Viafore's death, which occurred during a kayaking trip the couple took to Bannerman Island in April 2015.
PAYOUT: Family must prove Graswald 'recklessly' caused death
SENTENCING: Viafore’s family mourns as Graswald sentenced in his death
VIAFORE'S SISTER: My brother didn't deserve to die this way
Instead, she pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide last July. Graswald spent a month in prison before her release in December. The 2 1/2 years she spent in Orange County Jail while her court case was ongoing counted toward her prison sentence.
In the latest interview, Graswald told "20/20" co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas that she wrestled with the idea of taking the felony plea, but ultimately decided not to risk a trial.
"I'm not a felon," Graswald said to Vargas. "It's not fair, it's not right... I didn't kill him."
As part of her plea, Graswald admitted she helped cause Viafore's drowning death by removing the plug from his kayak. She also admitted she was aware that the locking clip on one of his paddles was missing, that he was not wearing a life vest or a wet suit and that the river waters were dangerously cold at the time of their kayaking trip.
Her defense attorney Richard Portale told Vargas that when state police searched the Town of Poughkeepsie apartment the couple shared, they discovered one of Viafore's guns was missing. The search was apparently conducted while Graswald was being interviewed by investigators, following her purported confession about 10 days after Viafore drowned.
“When they realized there was a gun missing, that’s when they really cranked it up,” Portale said during the "20/20" interview. “Cause that’s when they thought, well maybe she shot him."
Vincent Viafore (Photo: McHoul Funeral home, courtesy photo)
Viafore's body was discovered in the Hudson River in May 2015.
His autopsy listed the cause of death as drowning, and noted a two-inch abrasion on his torso and some bruises, the New York Times has reported. Viafore was listed as a victim of homicide caused by a “kayak drain plug intentionally removed by other.” But there was no indication he had been shot.
The case
The Orange County District Attorney's Office has said Graswald stood to gain $250,000 in the event of Viafore's death, as primary beneficiary on his life insurance policies. The Dutchess County Surrogate's Court later reported that Graswald stands to inherit nearly half a million dollars.
During a pre-trial hearing in Orange County Court, investigators testified that Graswald admitted, during interviews at Bannerman and state police barracks, to tampering with Viafore's kayak and paddle. Graswald told state police that Viafore was pressuring her to perform sexual acts she didn't want to do and had threatened to call off their wedding.
Angelika Graswald talks to police investigators. (Photo: CBS/Courtesy photo)
"I wanted him dead and now he's gone," Graswald told police, during a video-recorded interview in April 2015. "And I'm OK with that."
She also told investigators that Viafore added her as a beneficiary to his life insurance policies about six months before he died, according to the "20/20" interview.
The defense said Graswald's incriminating statements were coerced by police during the 11-hour interview, that removing the kayak plug (which was on top of the vessel) wouldn't have caused Viafore's kayak to capsize, that Viafore was not wearing a life-jacket and had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.066.
"20/20" Interview
When Vargas asked Graswald why she told police that she was happy Viafore was gone and wanted him to die, Graswald said she "did have those thoughts when he pushed me to do things I didn't want to do," but didn't really want him to die.
"If you are in a relationship, how many times do you want to kill your spouse?" Graswald said to Vargas. "But not in a way where you're going to take a weapon or whack his head on something. You just say that. I didn't feel like killing him. I didn't kill him."
Graswald told Vargas that she tried to help Viafore after his kayak capsized in the frigid Hudson, but she "couldn't reach him. I was paddling the whole time, I am exhausted, I am wet... freezing, shaking."
"It's only human nature to think, if I had done this, maybe…" Vargas said to Graswald.
"Oh, I'm past that," Graswald told her. "I can't do that anymore."
Life insurance
Graswald did not automatically forfeit her claim to Viafore's life insurance with her plea to criminally negligent homicide. Viafore's family will have to prove in the Dutchess surrogate's court that Graswald "recklessly" caused his death.
A surrogate's court hearing was originally set for late February, but is now scheduled for May.
Graswald told ABC News that if she manages to collect the money — something legal experts have told the Journal is unlikely — it will be used to pay her lawyers.
"I signed over a paper that says it goes straight to my legal team because they deserve it," Graswald said. "And that's that."
When asked if she thinks she deserves any of the money, Graswald shrugged and told Vargas: "It's just money. As soon as I get a job, I'll make some."
Viafore's sister Laura Rice filed a wrongful death complaint against Graswald in State Supreme Court in Dutchess County in October.
Criminal proceedings took place in Orange County Court. The civil matter of Viafore's estate is taking place in Dutchess County Surrogate's Court because he was a Town of Poughkeepsie resident.
The future
A native of Latvia and a U.S. permanent resident, Graswald may face deportation after her 16 months on parole are up. That decision would be up to a federal judge, prosecutors said.
She told Vargas she's concerned about the possibility.
"It's not right," Graswald said. "I want to be able to choose whether I want to stay here or go."
As a parolee, Graswald is supervised by Community Supervision staff in Orange County.
She told Vargas she plans to visit Bannerman in the spring, with flowers for Viafore.
"I'm very much drawn to that place," Graswald said. "It's like completing a circle in a way. It's like facing your fear."
Nina Schutzman: [email protected], 845-451-4518, Twitter: @pojonschutzman
Read or Share this story: http://pojonews.co/2odyvoN | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 9,609 |
HONG KONG — A lot of people don’t use computers. Most of them aren’t in charge of a nation’s cybersecurity.
But one is. Japanese lawmakers were aghast on Wednesday when Yoshitaka Sakurada, 68, the minister who heads the government’s cybersecurity office, said during questioning in Parliament that he had no need for the devices, and appeared confused when asked basic technology questions.
“I have been independently running my own business since I was 25 years old,” he said. When computer use is necessary, he said, “I order my employees or secretaries” to do it.
“I don’t type on a computer,” he added.
Asked by a lawmaker if nuclear power plants allowed the use of USB drives, a common technology widely considered to be a security risk, Mr. Sakurada did not seem to understand what they were. ||||| This article is over 1 month old
Yoshitaka Sakurada also seemed confused by the concept of a USB drive when asked in parliament
System error: Japan cybersecurity minister admits he has never used a computer
A Japanese minister in charge of cybersecurity has provoked astonishment by admitting he has never used a computer in his professional life, and appearing confused by the concept of a USB drive.
Yoshitaka Sakurada, 68, is the deputy chief of the government’s cybersecurity strategy office and also the minister in charge of the Olympic and Paralympic Games that Tokyo will host in 2020.
In parliament on Wednesday however, he admitted he doesn’t use computers.
Tokyo medical school offers places to women after sexism scandal Read more
“Since the age of 25, I have instructed my employees and secretaries, so I don’t use computers myself,” he said in a response to an opposition question in a lower house session, local media reported.
He also appeared confused by the question when asked about whether USB drives were in use at Japanese nuclear facilities.
His comments were met with incredulity by opposition lawmakers.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Japan’s cybersecurity and Olympic minister Yoshitaka Sakurada. Photograph: Issei Kato/Reuters
“It’s unbelievable that someone who has not touched computers is responsible for cybersecurity policies,” said opposition lawmaker Masato Imai.
And his comments provoked a firestorm online.
“Doesn’t he feel ashamed?” wrote one Twitter user.
“Today any company president uses a PC. He doesn’t even know what a USB is. Holy cow.”
Another joked that perhaps Sakurada was simply engaged in his own kind of cybersecurity.
“If a hacker targets this Minister Sakurada, they wouldn’t be able to steal any information. Indeed it might be the strongest kind of security!”
Sakurada has been in office just over a month, after being appointed in a cabinet reshuffle following Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s reelection as head of his political party.
His Luddite tendencies aside, Sakurada has also struggled to master his Olympic brief, less than two years before the Games open in Tokyo.
Earlier this month he claimed to know nothing about plans for North Korea’s sports minister to attend a meeting in Tokyo at the end of the month, in violation of a ban on the regime’s officials entering Japan.
After Sakurada told a news conference that he was “unaware” of the report, an aide intervened and he quickly corrected himself, claiming that officials had indeed briefed him.
He also suggested that he did not know that Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, had asked the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in March to allow his country’s athletes to take part in the 2020 Games.
“This is not something I should be meddling in in my capacity,” he said, according to the Asahi newspaper. “It’s beyond my jurisdiction.”
Sakurada blamed one particularly unimpressive performance in parliament on the opposition MP Renho Murata, complaining that she had not given him her questions in advance.
“Since there was no prior notice about the questions, I had no idea what would be asked at the session,” the Asahi quoted him as saying.
When Renho asked him how much funding the central government would contribute to the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, he responded: “1,500 yen”, which works out at just over $13, some way below the actual sum of 150 billion yen. ||||| Yoshitaka Sakurada, minister in charge of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, answers questions while consulting an aide at a news conference in Tokyo on Nov. 6. (Takahiro Okubo)
Doubts are deepening about Yoshitaka Sakurada’s fitness as new minister in charge of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, after his responses showed a stunning lack of understanding of basic issues concerning the event.
Sakurada has blamed the question givers for his often baffling statements about the Games.
At a news conference on Nov. 6, Sakurada was asked about a media report that said Japan was set to allow North Korea’s sports minister to attend an international Olympic meeting in Tokyo on Nov. 28-29 despite the entry ban on North Koreans.
“I am not aware of (the report) at all, and I don’t know,” Sakurada, 68, said.
But at the urging of an aide, he quickly corrected his remark, saying, “I gained knowledge of that through officials.”
Sakurada also implied that he did not know that Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, asked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in March to let his country’s athletes participate in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“This is not something that I should be meddling in in my capacity,” the Tokyo Olympics minister said. “It is beyond my jurisdiction.”
Sakurada was also asked why he had stumbled over questions about what is essentially his job during the Nov. 5 Upper House Budget Committee session.
He blamed the opposition lawmaker who had asked the questions.
“Since there was no prior notice about the questions, I had no idea what would be asked at the session,” he said.
He insisted that he would have comfortably answered such easy questions if he had been notified about them in advance.
Renho, a member of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan who questioned him on Nov. 5, rejected Sakurada’s explanation, calling it an “error in fact.”
She said she had told reporters in advance what she was going to ask Sakurada.
During the Nov. 5 session, Renho asked Sakurada about the three basic concepts of the organizing committee of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Sakurada did not answer the question and went off on a different tangent.
He also blundered when Renho asked him the amount of funding the government will provide in connection with the Olympics and Paralympics.
He said, “1,500 yen ($13.30),” well short of the actual figure of 150 billion yen.
Sakurada has a history of being unable to answer questions coherently.
At one time, the prime minister’s office considered having a different Cabinet member handle a revision law governing cyber security, which will affect the Tokyo Olympics, to avoid having Sakurada answer questions in the Diet about the legislation. | – "Fake it until you make it" has apparently been the secret M.O. of Japan's cybersecurity chief, though it's not so secret anymore. The New York Times reports lawmakers there were "aghast" Wednesday when, during a parliamentary questioning session, 68-year-old Yoshitaka Sakurada admitted he doesn't do any work on a computer, because that's what he has secretaries or other workers for. Sakurada—IDed by the Guardian as having been appointed deputy chief of Japan's cybersecurity strategy office just last month—didn't even appear to be familiar with the basics on computers, seeming confused and defensive about what USB drives were when asked if they were used at nuclear power plants. "I don't know details well," he retorted, per the Times. "So how about having an expert answer your question if necessary, how's that?" By way of explanation, he said that "since the age of 25, I have instructed my employees and secretaries, so I don't use computers myself." Others were left shaking their heads, with one opposition lawmaker incredulously putting out the understatement of the day: "I can't believe that a person who never used a computer is in charge of cybersecurity measures." The Asahi Shimbun notes this isn't the first time Sakurada has shown off his "knack for giving baffling replies." The minister is also in charge of plans for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, and at a presser last week, he "showed a stunning lack of understanding of basic issues concerning the event," the paper says. Sakurada said he had trouble answering such questions because he didn't know the questions ahead of time. (Meanwhile, the US has its own cybersecurity issues.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.HONG KONG — A lot of people don’t use computers. Most of them aren’t in charge of a nation’s cybersecurity.
But one is. Japanese lawmakers were aghast on Wednesday when Yoshitaka Sakurada, 68, the minister who heads the government’s cybersecurity office, said during questioning in Parliament that he had no need for the devices, and appeared confused when asked basic technology questions.
“I have been independently running my own business since I was 25 years old,” he said. When computer use is necessary, he said, “I order my employees or secretaries” to do it.
“I don’t type on a computer,” he added.
Asked by a lawmaker if nuclear power plants allowed the use of USB drives, a common technology widely considered to be a security risk, Mr. Sakurada did not seem to understand what they were. ||||| This article is over 1 month old
Yoshitaka Sakurada also seemed confused by the concept of a USB drive when asked in parliament
System error: Japan cybersecurity minister admits he has never used a computer
A Japanese minister in charge of cybersecurity has provoked astonishment by admitting he has never used a computer in his professional life, and appearing confused by the concept of a USB drive.
Yoshitaka Sakurada, 68, is the deputy chief of the government’s cybersecurity strategy office and also the minister in charge of the Olympic and Paralympic Games that Tokyo will host in 2020.
In parliament on Wednesday however, he admitted he doesn’t use computers.
Tokyo medical school offers places to women after sexism scandal Read more
“Since the age of 25, I have instructed my employees and secretaries, so I don’t use computers myself,” he said in a response to an opposition question in a lower house session, local media reported.
He also appeared confused by the question when asked about whether USB drives were in use at Japanese nuclear facilities.
His comments were met with incredulity by opposition lawmakers.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Japan’s cybersecurity and Olympic minister Yoshitaka Sakurada. Photograph: Issei Kato/Reuters
“It’s unbelievable that someone who has not touched computers is responsible for cybersecurity policies,” said opposition lawmaker Masato Imai.
And his comments provoked a firestorm online.
“Doesn’t he feel ashamed?” wrote one Twitter user.
“Today any company president uses a PC. He doesn’t even know what a USB is. Holy cow.”
Another joked that perhaps Sakurada was simply engaged in his own kind of cybersecurity.
“If a hacker targets this Minister Sakurada, they wouldn’t be able to steal any information. Indeed it might be the strongest kind of security!”
Sakurada has been in office just over a month, after being appointed in a cabinet reshuffle following Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s reelection as head of his political party.
His Luddite tendencies aside, Sakurada has also struggled to master his Olympic brief, less than two years before the Games open in Tokyo.
Earlier this month he claimed to know nothing about plans for North Korea’s sports minister to attend a meeting in Tokyo at the end of the month, in violation of a ban on the regime’s officials entering Japan.
After Sakurada told a news conference that he was “unaware” of the report, an aide intervened and he quickly corrected himself, claiming that officials had indeed briefed him.
He also suggested that he did not know that Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, had asked the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in March to allow his country’s athletes to take part in the 2020 Games.
“This is not something I should be meddling in in my capacity,” he said, according to the Asahi newspaper. “It’s beyond my jurisdiction.”
Sakurada blamed one particularly unimpressive performance in parliament on the opposition MP Renho Murata, complaining that she had not given him her questions in advance.
“Since there was no prior notice about the questions, I had no idea what would be asked at the session,” the Asahi quoted him as saying.
When Renho asked him how much funding the central government would contribute to the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, he responded: “1,500 yen”, which works out at just over $13, some way below the actual sum of 150 billion yen. ||||| Yoshitaka Sakurada, minister in charge of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, answers questions while consulting an aide at a news conference in Tokyo on Nov. 6. (Takahiro Okubo)
Doubts are deepening about Yoshitaka Sakurada’s fitness as new minister in charge of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, after his responses showed a stunning lack of understanding of basic issues concerning the event.
Sakurada has blamed the question givers for his often baffling statements about the Games.
At a news conference on Nov. 6, Sakurada was asked about a media report that said Japan was set to allow North Korea’s sports minister to attend an international Olympic meeting in Tokyo on Nov. 28-29 despite the entry ban on North Koreans.
“I am not aware of (the report) at all, and I don’t know,” Sakurada, 68, said.
But at the urging of an aide, he quickly corrected his remark, saying, “I gained knowledge of that through officials.”
Sakurada also implied that he did not know that Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, asked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in March to let his country’s athletes participate in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“This is not something that I should be meddling in in my capacity,” the Tokyo Olympics minister said. “It is beyond my jurisdiction.”
Sakurada was also asked why he had stumbled over questions about what is essentially his job during the Nov. 5 Upper House Budget Committee session.
He blamed the opposition lawmaker who had asked the questions.
“Since there was no prior notice about the questions, I had no idea what would be asked at the session,” he said.
He insisted that he would have comfortably answered such easy questions if he had been notified about them in advance.
Renho, a member of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan who questioned him on Nov. 5, rejected Sakurada’s explanation, calling it an “error in fact.”
She said she had told reporters in advance what she was going to ask Sakurada.
During the Nov. 5 session, Renho asked Sakurada about the three basic concepts of the organizing committee of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Sakurada did not answer the question and went off on a different tangent.
He also blundered when Renho asked him the amount of funding the government will provide in connection with the Olympics and Paralympics.
He said, “1,500 yen ($13.30),” well short of the actual figure of 150 billion yen.
Sakurada has a history of being unable to answer questions coherently.
At one time, the prime minister’s office considered having a different Cabinet member handle a revision law governing cyber security, which will affect the Tokyo Olympics, to avoid having Sakurada answer questions in the Diet about the legislation. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 18,152 |
Burleson said when she got there the family was gone so she came to the block where they live "to see if it's true, and I see that it's all blocked off." ||||| UPDATE: Photo of Autumn Johnson released after baby girl shot and killed in Compton https://t.co/WTnNCBQQYj pic.twitter.com/0GoX0ajzMu — NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) February 10, 2016
There were about 10 gun shots — crack, crack, crack — and then a woman’s scream.
“They shot my baby. They shot my baby.”
A man came running outside, clutching an infant in his arms. Tears slicked his cheeks, a witness told the Los Angeles Times.
The baby girl was named Autumn Johnson, according to NBC Los Angeles, and she later died at the hospital from a gunshot wound to her head. She was just a week past her first birthday.
“It looks like somebody drove up and were shooting into the house at somebody else and the baby caught a stray round,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Lt. John Corina told KTLA of the Tuesday night shooting in Compton, Calif. In a statement released early Wednesday, the sheriff’s department said that the shooting appears to be gang-related.
Shootings are still too familiar in this city south of downtown Los Angeles, which has tried to move past its reputation as a byword for bloodshed. Fourteen people were shot and killed there in the past 12 months, according to a Los Angeles Times database — that’s roughly one death for every 7,000 people, more than twice the rate for Los Angeles County at large.
But the killing of a 1-year-old girl, who officials say was lying in her crib when a bullet struck her in the face, was a rare kind of horror.
“It’s sad to see that happen to an innocent kid,” said a high-school-age girl who spoke to KTLA but did not give her name.
“How do you feel, living so close?” the reporter asked.
“It sucks.”
Corrina told KABC that witnesses saw gunmen pull up in a car and start firing toward the house about 7 p.m. Bullets passed through the door of the garage, where the Johnson family lives, and struck 1-year-old Autumn. Her father was unhurt, family members said.
When deputies arrived, they rushed the baby girl to St. Francis Medical Center in a patrol car. She succumbed to her injuries not long after she arrived.
“It’s traumatic for everybody responding,” Corina told the Los Angeles Times.
Investigators said they are looking for two black male attackers in a dark-colored, four-door sedan last seen driving south on Holly Street, where the shooting took place.
It’s not clear who the gunmen were targeting when they fired. The sheriff’s department investigation into the incident is ongoing.
[How Dr. Dre brought glory to Compton, a city he once bragged about looting]
Compton in 2016 is not the same city of N.W.A. lyrics and public imagination. It’s not the same place it was 25 or 30 years ago, menaced by gang violence and drive-by shootings. The demographics have shifted, large retailers have moved in, unemployment has sunk, and optimism is on the rise. The 14 shooting deaths in the past 12 months are something of a historic low, compared with the 86 homicides the city recorded in 1989, according to NPR.
“When I think about Compton, I think about redemption,” Aja Brown, the city’s 33-year-old mayor, told NPR in August.
Even so, young children still find themselves the innocent victims of persisting violence.
In 2010, fourth-grader Erica Miranda was shot in the back, hip and knee while playing basketball outside her home. The shooting was thought to be gang-related, according to the Los Angeles Times, aimed at “making a statement” to a 17-year-old relative of Erica’s who was also shot.
“But our 10-year-old daughter haven’t done nothing to nobody,” her stepfather, Alonzo Lemmie, told the Times. “Why do you intentionally shoot kids?”
Erica survived, as did an 18-year-old who had been wounded in a drive-by shooting two weeks earlier.
But then there are stories like that of Angel Cortez, a 14-month-old who was shot while sleeping in his father’s arms in 2012. The assailant, 15-year-old Donald Dokins, was a “known gang member” according to KTLA, who mistook the boy’s father for a member of a rival gang. He was sentenced to 90 years in prison for the infant’s death.
That history weighed on the minds of those who crowded near the police tape line around Autumn Johnson’s home Tuesday night.
“Compton has a bad reputation, but things have been better around here,” Dan Martin, who has lived in Compton for all of his 53 years, told the Los Angeles Times. He had wandered over to see what was going on.
“It’s wrong whether it’s a baby or a man or anyone,” Martin said. “We’ve had enough bloodshed around here, don’t you think?”
More from Morning Mix:
Manslaughter charges possible in Flint water crisis, says top investigator
The beloved nuns behind a San Francisco soup kitchen may soon be homeless themselves
Three animals have died in three months at SeaWorld San Antonio ||||| The Compton You Haven't Seen On Screen
Enlarge this image toggle caption Corey Takahashi for NPR Corey Takahashi for NPR
Straight Outta Compton is a music biopic that captures the dramatic rise and evolution of rap supergroup N.W.A. But there's one character that doesn't change much in the film, and that is the city itself — the City of Compton.
From the movie's opening scenes in 1986, viewers see a city defined by strife and crime, as the camera follows soon-to-be rap star Eric "Eazy-E" Wright to a darkly lit house in Compton, right before a drug raid. Almost 30 years later, I went to visit a Compton cricket player — right before a quinceañera.
Sergio Pinales is Mexican-American and a product of the Compton streets. He's also a longtime member of the Compton Cricket Club, an unlikely organization whose players and cofounders are part of a current exhibition in England's prestigious National Portrait Gallery.
Outsiders have a lot of stereotypes about Compton, but it's impossible to pigeonhole Pinales, who grew up during the rise of N.W.A and other Compton-bred gangsta and reality rap groups. The icons he looked up to were cricket players, not rap stars.
"I'm more of a subtle person," Pinales says. "I'd rather listen to some Sade or you know some slow groove music like that. Bob Marley." It turns out his mom, Maria Pinales, is more excited about the Straight Outta Compton movie than he is. "I'm old," Maria Pinales says, "but I love all that music."
Enlarge this image toggle caption Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
Thanks to cricket, her son became a new kind of Compton star, and achieved something she could never have imagined. "Who has the opportunity to have tea with Prince Edward?" she asks. "Or get a tour of the Palace?"
The trips abroad for cricket have taken Sergio Pinales a world away from the place he grew up, and still lives. His life reflects an odd collision with the Compton you know and the Compton you don't — which is clear as his jovial voice narrates our driving tour of the city, including different cricket practice fields as well as dividing lines, including one intersection Pinales points out, "that actually separates the Bloods from the Crips."
We're joined by Katy Haber, one of the cofounders of the Compton Cricket Club. She started the group with a partner, homeless rights advocate, Ted Hayes, as a gang prevention program in the mid-'90s. Though Haber has been immersed in the world of cricket since attending public school as a child in England, bringing it to Compton was a new challenge and a culture shock.
"I remember once I was driving with one of the guys, and I had a red Toyota at the time, and all of a sudden he got very quiet," Haber recalls. "And I said, 'Why are you so quiet?' He said, 'This is Crip area. We're in a red car.'"
In her day job, Haber's a veteran of the film industry. She helped produce the sci-fi classic, Blade Runner, and she's begun to see the future through the lens of cricket, as well. "We went to City Council and we brought the team in," Haber says. "We were looking at a city council of predominantly African-American city councilmen, and the entire team was Latino. I thought, 'God, this is interesting.'"
Compton, which was once predominantly African-American, has shifted to majority Latino. This change barely registers in pop culture, and when it is discussed in local media, it's often in relation to economic and political power struggles, or gang rivalries.
But as Pinales and I are talking on the street, another vision of race relations comes into focus. One of his childhood friends spots him while driving by; Chache Hopkins swings a U-turn and rolls up curbside with his father, Gene Hopkins, at the passenger side door. Both are African-American.
"What up, Serg?" Gene Hopkins shouts from the car. Pinales walks over and shows Hopkins images from the cricket exhibition in London. "That's fantastic," Hopkins tells him. "You know, I mean, I didn't know that we had anybody from Compton playing cricket."
When Pinales explains that he's doing an interview, Hopkins jumps in. "You know, I think Compton has got a real bad rap," He says. "We're residents of Compton. I've been in Compton all my life. I've never been affected by any gang violence or any of that."
Hopkins is a retiree, and says he'd like the world to see his hometown in a more nuanced way.
"We did have an era that was really bad. We did have an era. But I think that's kind of passed over now. You know, it's not like that anymore. But then you have movies like Straight Outta Compton and stuff that perpetuates that whole thing all over again in the eyes of the world."
We did have an era that was really bad. We did have an era. But I think that's kind of passed over now. You know, it's not like that anymore.
Compton is not yet Brooklyn or Oakland — other areas where easy train access and gentrification have reshaped neighborhoods, making some areas unrecognizable from even a decade or two ago. However, it is one of the few cities in Los Angeles County with two light-rail stops and freeways on every side. Its central location even earned it the nickname "Hub City."
Cris Liban is an executive at the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, who says that as a transit hub, Compton has been the testing ground for ambitious, region-leading mass-transit initiatives — like a farmers' market along its train route to try to address food deserts. He says Compton will benefit from the system's expansion over the next three decades, as L.A. County attempts to rely less on cars. "We'll be able to increase our number of stations, rail stations, from about 80 to about 160. We are the nexus."
Compton City Manager Johnny Ford says location and transportation are qualities the city touts, to convince new companies and residents to move in. "Wal-Mart will be coming into the city, and that's an additional 350 jobs," Ford says, adding that Compton can finally tell a new story with numbers. "Historically, for years, our unemployment level has been up at 17, 18 percent. We just dipped to ten percent."
Enlarge this image toggle caption Corey Takahashi for NPR Corey Takahashi for NPR
The new Compton is embodied by Mayor Aja Brown, at 33 its youngest mayor ever — her office overlooks Compton's light-rail line, which connects the city to the rest of L.A. County. Brown cites statistics that show the difference between Compton of the 1980s and now: In 1989, the city recorded 86 homicides. As of our interview, she says, it's only had seven this year. "Our violent crime has gone down 50 percent, even in the last year. And over the last 20 years, crime is down 71 percent."
When I think about Compton, I think about redemption
Compton's international image was forged in a 1980s era of gang feuds, civil unrest and the crack epidemic. So were its most famous rappers. Its soundtrack may always be rap, but today it's a different type of beat.
"There's so many opportunities, economically and socially, and just the location advantage and all the great institutions that are here, that this community is definitely poised for a huge revival," Brown says. "And so, when I think about Compton, I think about redemption."
Characters in Straight Outta Compton tell a story of redemption. In fact, Dr. Dre — a founding member of N.W.A, the group the film is based on — called his latest album Compton, and promises to donate royalties to help build a new performing arts center there. And now the city that shaped the rap stars is starting, cautiously, to tell its own story of redemption, too. ||||| Family members react a day after the death of a 1-year-old girl struck by gunfire from outside a Compton home. Patrick Healy reports for the NBC4 News at Noon on Wednesday Feb. 10, 2016. (Published Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016)
The search for two attackers continued Wednesday in the fatal shooting of a 1-year-old girl who was struck by gunfire in her family's home.
The mother of 1-year-old Autumn Johnson said she was making a bottle for the baby, who was in her bed, when she heard gunfire coming from outside the Compton home in 200 block of Holly Avenue. The family was in a garage that had been converted to a living space, authorities said.
"There were just gunshots, and I saw my baby lying there," said Blanche Wandick.
Witnesses said one attacker drove the getaway car while passenger opened fire. One woman said she saw the baby's father running while holding the baby, who wasn't moving.
Authorities Search for Gunmen Who Fatally Shot Baby in Compton
Authorities were searching for two men involved in the fatal shooting of a 1-year-old baby in Compton. Toni Guinyard reports for NBC4 Today in LA on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. (Published Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016)
"When I grabbed the baby, the baby was slumped over, and she had a hole in her head," said uncle Cornell Patton.
The baby died later at the hospital, according to the LASD. She was six days past her first birthday.
Many neighbors told NBC4 they were heartbroken.
"I heard the shots maybe 10-12 shots," the Rev. Maurice Johnson, Kingdom Life Christian Fellowship Church, said. "I assumed it was firecrackers. On this side of Compton, we don't hear gunshots very often."
The father told NBC4 he was not home at the time of the shooting, which investigators said they suspect was a gang-related attack.
During the initial call, deputies responded to a report of gunfire at 7 p.m. When they arrived, they found the child with a gunshot wound to her face.
Family Devastated After Baby Girl Shot in the Face Dies
A family was devastated after a baby was shot in the face while in her father’s arms and killed. Beverly White reports for the NBC4 News at 11 on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. (Published Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016)
Deputies rushed the baby to the hospital in their patrol car.
"The person who did this, honestly, all I can do is pray for them," said aunt Kenyia Hicks.
Activists said after the horrific shooting, they were going to keep close watch, in case gangs are to blame.
"We're just going to make sure there's no retaliation, and more innocent people getting harmed as a result," Ben Owens of Southern California CeaseFire said.
Editor's Note: This story has been updated from an earlier version. | – A toddler who celebrated her first birthday last week saw her life cut short by a gunman who opened fire outside her family's home in Compton, Calif., the Los Angeles Times reports. Officials say Autumn Johnson was in her crib (though neighbors tell NBC Los Angeles she was in her father's arms) in a converted garage Tuesday evening when a man got out of a dark-colored sedan, approached the home, and fired at it. A witness says she heard gunshots, then a woman yelling, "They shot my baby!" The witness went outside after calling 911 and says she saw the dad come out with Autumn, crying and saying, "Someone take my baby to the hospital." Autumn, who was shot in the head, was pronounced dead at St. Francis Medical Center. Neighbors tell NBC the gunman was a passenger in the getaway car. The Washington Post notes police believe it was a gang-related shooting, per a sheriff's department statement Wednesday. "It's not surprising because it's the city of Compton, for its name," a 47-year-old man who was at Bible study a few blocks away tells the Times, though he adds "it's surprising to me because it's a baby." Per Times records, Compton has registered 475 violent crimes over the past six months, including eight homicides. And both the Post and Times document violent crimes that have affected young children in particular. But the Post notes Compton is "not the same place it was 25 or 30 years ago, menaced by gang violence and drive-by shootings" and that it's come a long way since it was featured in NWA lyrics, with recent shootings at "something of a historic low." "When I think about Compton, I think about redemption," Mayor Aja Brown told NPR last summer. (Chicago's shooting stats for 2016 are already jaw-dropping.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Burleson said when she got there the family was gone so she came to the block where they live "to see if it's true, and I see that it's all blocked off." ||||| UPDATE: Photo of Autumn Johnson released after baby girl shot and killed in Compton https://t.co/WTnNCBQQYj pic.twitter.com/0GoX0ajzMu — NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) February 10, 2016
There were about 10 gun shots — crack, crack, crack — and then a woman’s scream.
“They shot my baby. They shot my baby.”
A man came running outside, clutching an infant in his arms. Tears slicked his cheeks, a witness told the Los Angeles Times.
The baby girl was named Autumn Johnson, according to NBC Los Angeles, and she later died at the hospital from a gunshot wound to her head. She was just a week past her first birthday.
“It looks like somebody drove up and were shooting into the house at somebody else and the baby caught a stray round,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Lt. John Corina told KTLA of the Tuesday night shooting in Compton, Calif. In a statement released early Wednesday, the sheriff’s department said that the shooting appears to be gang-related.
Shootings are still too familiar in this city south of downtown Los Angeles, which has tried to move past its reputation as a byword for bloodshed. Fourteen people were shot and killed there in the past 12 months, according to a Los Angeles Times database — that’s roughly one death for every 7,000 people, more than twice the rate for Los Angeles County at large.
But the killing of a 1-year-old girl, who officials say was lying in her crib when a bullet struck her in the face, was a rare kind of horror.
“It’s sad to see that happen to an innocent kid,” said a high-school-age girl who spoke to KTLA but did not give her name.
“How do you feel, living so close?” the reporter asked.
“It sucks.”
Corrina told KABC that witnesses saw gunmen pull up in a car and start firing toward the house about 7 p.m. Bullets passed through the door of the garage, where the Johnson family lives, and struck 1-year-old Autumn. Her father was unhurt, family members said.
When deputies arrived, they rushed the baby girl to St. Francis Medical Center in a patrol car. She succumbed to her injuries not long after she arrived.
“It’s traumatic for everybody responding,” Corina told the Los Angeles Times.
Investigators said they are looking for two black male attackers in a dark-colored, four-door sedan last seen driving south on Holly Street, where the shooting took place.
It’s not clear who the gunmen were targeting when they fired. The sheriff’s department investigation into the incident is ongoing.
[How Dr. Dre brought glory to Compton, a city he once bragged about looting]
Compton in 2016 is not the same city of N.W.A. lyrics and public imagination. It’s not the same place it was 25 or 30 years ago, menaced by gang violence and drive-by shootings. The demographics have shifted, large retailers have moved in, unemployment has sunk, and optimism is on the rise. The 14 shooting deaths in the past 12 months are something of a historic low, compared with the 86 homicides the city recorded in 1989, according to NPR.
“When I think about Compton, I think about redemption,” Aja Brown, the city’s 33-year-old mayor, told NPR in August.
Even so, young children still find themselves the innocent victims of persisting violence.
In 2010, fourth-grader Erica Miranda was shot in the back, hip and knee while playing basketball outside her home. The shooting was thought to be gang-related, according to the Los Angeles Times, aimed at “making a statement” to a 17-year-old relative of Erica’s who was also shot.
“But our 10-year-old daughter haven’t done nothing to nobody,” her stepfather, Alonzo Lemmie, told the Times. “Why do you intentionally shoot kids?”
Erica survived, as did an 18-year-old who had been wounded in a drive-by shooting two weeks earlier.
But then there are stories like that of Angel Cortez, a 14-month-old who was shot while sleeping in his father’s arms in 2012. The assailant, 15-year-old Donald Dokins, was a “known gang member” according to KTLA, who mistook the boy’s father for a member of a rival gang. He was sentenced to 90 years in prison for the infant’s death.
That history weighed on the minds of those who crowded near the police tape line around Autumn Johnson’s home Tuesday night.
“Compton has a bad reputation, but things have been better around here,” Dan Martin, who has lived in Compton for all of his 53 years, told the Los Angeles Times. He had wandered over to see what was going on.
“It’s wrong whether it’s a baby or a man or anyone,” Martin said. “We’ve had enough bloodshed around here, don’t you think?”
More from Morning Mix:
Manslaughter charges possible in Flint water crisis, says top investigator
The beloved nuns behind a San Francisco soup kitchen may soon be homeless themselves
Three animals have died in three months at SeaWorld San Antonio ||||| The Compton You Haven't Seen On Screen
Enlarge this image toggle caption Corey Takahashi for NPR Corey Takahashi for NPR
Straight Outta Compton is a music biopic that captures the dramatic rise and evolution of rap supergroup N.W.A. But there's one character that doesn't change much in the film, and that is the city itself — the City of Compton.
From the movie's opening scenes in 1986, viewers see a city defined by strife and crime, as the camera follows soon-to-be rap star Eric "Eazy-E" Wright to a darkly lit house in Compton, right before a drug raid. Almost 30 years later, I went to visit a Compton cricket player — right before a quinceañera.
Sergio Pinales is Mexican-American and a product of the Compton streets. He's also a longtime member of the Compton Cricket Club, an unlikely organization whose players and cofounders are part of a current exhibition in England's prestigious National Portrait Gallery.
Outsiders have a lot of stereotypes about Compton, but it's impossible to pigeonhole Pinales, who grew up during the rise of N.W.A and other Compton-bred gangsta and reality rap groups. The icons he looked up to were cricket players, not rap stars.
"I'm more of a subtle person," Pinales says. "I'd rather listen to some Sade or you know some slow groove music like that. Bob Marley." It turns out his mom, Maria Pinales, is more excited about the Straight Outta Compton movie than he is. "I'm old," Maria Pinales says, "but I love all that music."
Enlarge this image toggle caption Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
Thanks to cricket, her son became a new kind of Compton star, and achieved something she could never have imagined. "Who has the opportunity to have tea with Prince Edward?" she asks. "Or get a tour of the Palace?"
The trips abroad for cricket have taken Sergio Pinales a world away from the place he grew up, and still lives. His life reflects an odd collision with the Compton you know and the Compton you don't — which is clear as his jovial voice narrates our driving tour of the city, including different cricket practice fields as well as dividing lines, including one intersection Pinales points out, "that actually separates the Bloods from the Crips."
We're joined by Katy Haber, one of the cofounders of the Compton Cricket Club. She started the group with a partner, homeless rights advocate, Ted Hayes, as a gang prevention program in the mid-'90s. Though Haber has been immersed in the world of cricket since attending public school as a child in England, bringing it to Compton was a new challenge and a culture shock.
"I remember once I was driving with one of the guys, and I had a red Toyota at the time, and all of a sudden he got very quiet," Haber recalls. "And I said, 'Why are you so quiet?' He said, 'This is Crip area. We're in a red car.'"
In her day job, Haber's a veteran of the film industry. She helped produce the sci-fi classic, Blade Runner, and she's begun to see the future through the lens of cricket, as well. "We went to City Council and we brought the team in," Haber says. "We were looking at a city council of predominantly African-American city councilmen, and the entire team was Latino. I thought, 'God, this is interesting.'"
Compton, which was once predominantly African-American, has shifted to majority Latino. This change barely registers in pop culture, and when it is discussed in local media, it's often in relation to economic and political power struggles, or gang rivalries.
But as Pinales and I are talking on the street, another vision of race relations comes into focus. One of his childhood friends spots him while driving by; Chache Hopkins swings a U-turn and rolls up curbside with his father, Gene Hopkins, at the passenger side door. Both are African-American.
"What up, Serg?" Gene Hopkins shouts from the car. Pinales walks over and shows Hopkins images from the cricket exhibition in London. "That's fantastic," Hopkins tells him. "You know, I mean, I didn't know that we had anybody from Compton playing cricket."
When Pinales explains that he's doing an interview, Hopkins jumps in. "You know, I think Compton has got a real bad rap," He says. "We're residents of Compton. I've been in Compton all my life. I've never been affected by any gang violence or any of that."
Hopkins is a retiree, and says he'd like the world to see his hometown in a more nuanced way.
"We did have an era that was really bad. We did have an era. But I think that's kind of passed over now. You know, it's not like that anymore. But then you have movies like Straight Outta Compton and stuff that perpetuates that whole thing all over again in the eyes of the world."
We did have an era that was really bad. We did have an era. But I think that's kind of passed over now. You know, it's not like that anymore.
Compton is not yet Brooklyn or Oakland — other areas where easy train access and gentrification have reshaped neighborhoods, making some areas unrecognizable from even a decade or two ago. However, it is one of the few cities in Los Angeles County with two light-rail stops and freeways on every side. Its central location even earned it the nickname "Hub City."
Cris Liban is an executive at the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, who says that as a transit hub, Compton has been the testing ground for ambitious, region-leading mass-transit initiatives — like a farmers' market along its train route to try to address food deserts. He says Compton will benefit from the system's expansion over the next three decades, as L.A. County attempts to rely less on cars. "We'll be able to increase our number of stations, rail stations, from about 80 to about 160. We are the nexus."
Compton City Manager Johnny Ford says location and transportation are qualities the city touts, to convince new companies and residents to move in. "Wal-Mart will be coming into the city, and that's an additional 350 jobs," Ford says, adding that Compton can finally tell a new story with numbers. "Historically, for years, our unemployment level has been up at 17, 18 percent. We just dipped to ten percent."
Enlarge this image toggle caption Corey Takahashi for NPR Corey Takahashi for NPR
The new Compton is embodied by Mayor Aja Brown, at 33 its youngest mayor ever — her office overlooks Compton's light-rail line, which connects the city to the rest of L.A. County. Brown cites statistics that show the difference between Compton of the 1980s and now: In 1989, the city recorded 86 homicides. As of our interview, she says, it's only had seven this year. "Our violent crime has gone down 50 percent, even in the last year. And over the last 20 years, crime is down 71 percent."
When I think about Compton, I think about redemption
Compton's international image was forged in a 1980s era of gang feuds, civil unrest and the crack epidemic. So were its most famous rappers. Its soundtrack may always be rap, but today it's a different type of beat.
"There's so many opportunities, economically and socially, and just the location advantage and all the great institutions that are here, that this community is definitely poised for a huge revival," Brown says. "And so, when I think about Compton, I think about redemption."
Characters in Straight Outta Compton tell a story of redemption. In fact, Dr. Dre — a founding member of N.W.A, the group the film is based on — called his latest album Compton, and promises to donate royalties to help build a new performing arts center there. And now the city that shaped the rap stars is starting, cautiously, to tell its own story of redemption, too. ||||| Family members react a day after the death of a 1-year-old girl struck by gunfire from outside a Compton home. Patrick Healy reports for the NBC4 News at Noon on Wednesday Feb. 10, 2016. (Published Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016)
The search for two attackers continued Wednesday in the fatal shooting of a 1-year-old girl who was struck by gunfire in her family's home.
The mother of 1-year-old Autumn Johnson said she was making a bottle for the baby, who was in her bed, when she heard gunfire coming from outside the Compton home in 200 block of Holly Avenue. The family was in a garage that had been converted to a living space, authorities said.
"There were just gunshots, and I saw my baby lying there," said Blanche Wandick.
Witnesses said one attacker drove the getaway car while passenger opened fire. One woman said she saw the baby's father running while holding the baby, who wasn't moving.
Authorities Search for Gunmen Who Fatally Shot Baby in Compton
Authorities were searching for two men involved in the fatal shooting of a 1-year-old baby in Compton. Toni Guinyard reports for NBC4 Today in LA on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. (Published Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016)
"When I grabbed the baby, the baby was slumped over, and she had a hole in her head," said uncle Cornell Patton.
The baby died later at the hospital, according to the LASD. She was six days past her first birthday.
Many neighbors told NBC4 they were heartbroken.
"I heard the shots maybe 10-12 shots," the Rev. Maurice Johnson, Kingdom Life Christian Fellowship Church, said. "I assumed it was firecrackers. On this side of Compton, we don't hear gunshots very often."
The father told NBC4 he was not home at the time of the shooting, which investigators said they suspect was a gang-related attack.
During the initial call, deputies responded to a report of gunfire at 7 p.m. When they arrived, they found the child with a gunshot wound to her face.
Family Devastated After Baby Girl Shot in the Face Dies
A family was devastated after a baby was shot in the face while in her father’s arms and killed. Beverly White reports for the NBC4 News at 11 on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. (Published Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016)
Deputies rushed the baby to the hospital in their patrol car.
"The person who did this, honestly, all I can do is pray for them," said aunt Kenyia Hicks.
Activists said after the horrific shooting, they were going to keep close watch, in case gangs are to blame.
"We're just going to make sure there's no retaliation, and more innocent people getting harmed as a result," Ben Owens of Southern California CeaseFire said.
Editor's Note: This story has been updated from an earlier version. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 36,147 |
Birds of a feather may flock together, but United Airlines recently shot down one traveler’s request to bring her emotional support peacock on a flight departing Newark Liberty International Airport.
Live and Let Fly reported earlier this week that even though the unidentified woman claimed that she had a second ticket for the peacock, the airline denied her request.
A spokesperson for United further tells Fox News that the traveler(s) with the peacock were told they would not be able to bring it on board.
"This animal did not meet guidelines for a number of reasons, including its weight and size. We explained this to the customers on three separate occasions before they arrived at the airport," said United in a statement.
Photos of the unusual scene were shared to Facebook by travel talk show The Jet Set, sparking online commenters to both condemn and champion United’s decision.
TOURISTS 'SCARED OUT OF THEIR BRAINS' AFTER ARREST FOR PORNOGRAPHIC IMAGES
“Unbelievable, this has to stop now!!” one user wrote.
“I'll take the majestic peacock over the 5+ dogs that have attacked my coworkers just this past holiday season,” another supposed airline staffer fired back.
The news comes on heels of Delta’s controversial crackdown of emotional support and service animals. On Jan. 19, the airline announced forthcoming restrictions in hopes of curbing an abuse of policy and an 84 percent increase in ill animal behavior such as urinating, defecating, biting and attacks on flights.
WOMAN DOING YOGA ON PLANE SPARKS DEBATE: 'THIS ISN'T UR LIVING ROOM'
Effective March 1, Delta’s new rules require those flying with emotional support or psychiatric service animals to submit a veterinarian health form and immunization record to Delta with 48-hours’ notice, Fox News reports. A doctor’s note, signed veterinarian health form and proof of animal training will additionally now have to be presented before boarding.
Further, as of March, Delta will not allow exotic emotional support animals including ferrets, insects, spiders, goats or animals with tusks or hooves to fly.
FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS
United has recently confirmed to Fox News that they are reevaluating their current support animal policies.
"United is dedicated to providing convenient and comfortable service to all of our customers. We know that some customers require an emotional support animal to assist them through their journey. In order to ensure we provide the best service to everyone onboard our flights, consistent with government rules we currently require these customers to provide documentation from a medical professional and at least 48 hours advance notice," they said via email.
"In our effort to better balance protecting our employees and customers while accommodating passengers with disabilities, we are reviewing our existing policy and plan to share more soon." ||||| Recently, I argued that airlines must crack down on the abuse of emotional support animals. Passengers continue to twist federal law to bypass pet cargo fees and bring animals onboard who do not belong onboard.
> Debate: The Abuse of “Emotional Support” Animals
Case in point: a woman tried to bring a peacock onboard a recent United Airlines flight at Newark Liberty International Airport. She did offer to pay for a second seat for this oversized bird, but claimed she had a right to bring it onboard as her emotional support animal.
United, thankfully, said sorry…but no.
This would be funny if it wasn’t so ridiculous. And it’s not like this was the first time.
Remember that Southwest flight I wrote about many years ago?
> Read More: Birds of a Feather Get Two Seats Together
The thing with peacocks is that they are MEAN birds. There is an arboretum not too far from my house that has beautiful gardens…and peacocks running wild. They’ve been known to chase after visitors…and bite. And that horrible screech they make…
CONCLUSION
Delta recently introduced additional reasonable restrictions on emotional support animals. I believe these restrictions will withstand any legal scrutiny. Now United and others must do the same thing and finally put to rest the abuse of a well-intentioned federal policy.
> Read More: Bravo! Delta Restricts Emotional Support Animals ||||| Delta Air Lines recently introduced regulations to prevent passengers from bringing untrained animals onto flights. Rick Silva / AP
United Airlines denied a woman's efforts to bring a peacock onto a flight departing from Newark Liberty International Airport, according to the travel blog Live and Let's Fly.
The Jet Set, a travel talk show, posted photos of the peacock to Facebook.
According to Live and Let's Fly, the woman said the peacock was an emotional-support animal, allowed to fly for free. While the woman also offered to pay for the peacock's ticket, the blog said, United would not let the animal onto the flight.
United said in a statement to Business Insider: "This animal did not meet guidelines for a number of reasons, including its weight and size. We explained this to the customer on three separate occasions before she arrived at the airport."
The airline also said it requires passengers to "provide documentation from a medical professional and at least 48 hours' advance notice" before bringing an emotional-support animal onto a flight.
Earlier this month, Delta Air Lines' announced it would impose tighter regulations for passengers traveling with qualifying service or emotional-support animals. The airline said it had seen an 84% increase since 2016 in incidents involving improperly trained animals, including urination, defecation, and attacks on passengers and crew members.
The regulations will require passengers to show Delta documentation of an animal's health 48 hours before a flight. Passengers traveling with an emotional-support animal will also need to present a signed letter from a doctor or mental-health professional, as well as a signed document saying the animal can behave properly during a flight.
Delta has faced backlash over the regulations, but other airlines are likely to follow suit as they try to prevent passengers from using support-animal provisions to travel with their untrained pets for free.
Some Twitter users expressed support for the United passenger's attempt to bring the peacock onto her flight. Others were outraged. | – If you need emotional support from a peacock, don't count on flying United. The airline turned away a woman who tried to bring a peacock on a recent flight from Newark Liberty International as her emotional support animal, reports Business Insider. The woman initially argued that she was entitled to bring the enormous bird on board for free, but her request was denied even after she said she was willing to buy a ticket for it, according to the Live and Let's Fly travel blog. "This animal did not meet guidelines for a number of reasons, including its weight and size," the airline said in a statement. "We explained this to the customer on three separate occasions before she arrived at the airport." The Jet Set travel show posted photos of the bird on Facebook. United says its policy on emotional support animals requires "these customers to provide documentation from a medical professional and at least 48 hours advance notice." The peacock incident follows controversy over Delta's new policy on support animals, Fox reports. The airline says it tightened the policy after a steep increase in incidents including animal defecation and attacks on crew members. The new policy, which takes effect March 1, bans exotic support animals including insects, spiders, goats, ferrets, and anything with tusks. (A badly behaved emotional support pig was kicked off a US Airways flight.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Birds of a feather may flock together, but United Airlines recently shot down one traveler’s request to bring her emotional support peacock on a flight departing Newark Liberty International Airport.
Live and Let Fly reported earlier this week that even though the unidentified woman claimed that she had a second ticket for the peacock, the airline denied her request.
A spokesperson for United further tells Fox News that the traveler(s) with the peacock were told they would not be able to bring it on board.
"This animal did not meet guidelines for a number of reasons, including its weight and size. We explained this to the customers on three separate occasions before they arrived at the airport," said United in a statement.
Photos of the unusual scene were shared to Facebook by travel talk show The Jet Set, sparking online commenters to both condemn and champion United’s decision.
TOURISTS 'SCARED OUT OF THEIR BRAINS' AFTER ARREST FOR PORNOGRAPHIC IMAGES
“Unbelievable, this has to stop now!!” one user wrote.
“I'll take the majestic peacock over the 5+ dogs that have attacked my coworkers just this past holiday season,” another supposed airline staffer fired back.
The news comes on heels of Delta’s controversial crackdown of emotional support and service animals. On Jan. 19, the airline announced forthcoming restrictions in hopes of curbing an abuse of policy and an 84 percent increase in ill animal behavior such as urinating, defecating, biting and attacks on flights.
WOMAN DOING YOGA ON PLANE SPARKS DEBATE: 'THIS ISN'T UR LIVING ROOM'
Effective March 1, Delta’s new rules require those flying with emotional support or psychiatric service animals to submit a veterinarian health form and immunization record to Delta with 48-hours’ notice, Fox News reports. A doctor’s note, signed veterinarian health form and proof of animal training will additionally now have to be presented before boarding.
Further, as of March, Delta will not allow exotic emotional support animals including ferrets, insects, spiders, goats or animals with tusks or hooves to fly.
FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS
United has recently confirmed to Fox News that they are reevaluating their current support animal policies.
"United is dedicated to providing convenient and comfortable service to all of our customers. We know that some customers require an emotional support animal to assist them through their journey. In order to ensure we provide the best service to everyone onboard our flights, consistent with government rules we currently require these customers to provide documentation from a medical professional and at least 48 hours advance notice," they said via email.
"In our effort to better balance protecting our employees and customers while accommodating passengers with disabilities, we are reviewing our existing policy and plan to share more soon." ||||| Recently, I argued that airlines must crack down on the abuse of emotional support animals. Passengers continue to twist federal law to bypass pet cargo fees and bring animals onboard who do not belong onboard.
> Debate: The Abuse of “Emotional Support” Animals
Case in point: a woman tried to bring a peacock onboard a recent United Airlines flight at Newark Liberty International Airport. She did offer to pay for a second seat for this oversized bird, but claimed she had a right to bring it onboard as her emotional support animal.
United, thankfully, said sorry…but no.
This would be funny if it wasn’t so ridiculous. And it’s not like this was the first time.
Remember that Southwest flight I wrote about many years ago?
> Read More: Birds of a Feather Get Two Seats Together
The thing with peacocks is that they are MEAN birds. There is an arboretum not too far from my house that has beautiful gardens…and peacocks running wild. They’ve been known to chase after visitors…and bite. And that horrible screech they make…
CONCLUSION
Delta recently introduced additional reasonable restrictions on emotional support animals. I believe these restrictions will withstand any legal scrutiny. Now United and others must do the same thing and finally put to rest the abuse of a well-intentioned federal policy.
> Read More: Bravo! Delta Restricts Emotional Support Animals ||||| Delta Air Lines recently introduced regulations to prevent passengers from bringing untrained animals onto flights. Rick Silva / AP
United Airlines denied a woman's efforts to bring a peacock onto a flight departing from Newark Liberty International Airport, according to the travel blog Live and Let's Fly.
The Jet Set, a travel talk show, posted photos of the peacock to Facebook.
According to Live and Let's Fly, the woman said the peacock was an emotional-support animal, allowed to fly for free. While the woman also offered to pay for the peacock's ticket, the blog said, United would not let the animal onto the flight.
United said in a statement to Business Insider: "This animal did not meet guidelines for a number of reasons, including its weight and size. We explained this to the customer on three separate occasions before she arrived at the airport."
The airline also said it requires passengers to "provide documentation from a medical professional and at least 48 hours' advance notice" before bringing an emotional-support animal onto a flight.
Earlier this month, Delta Air Lines' announced it would impose tighter regulations for passengers traveling with qualifying service or emotional-support animals. The airline said it had seen an 84% increase since 2016 in incidents involving improperly trained animals, including urination, defecation, and attacks on passengers and crew members.
The regulations will require passengers to show Delta documentation of an animal's health 48 hours before a flight. Passengers traveling with an emotional-support animal will also need to present a signed letter from a doctor or mental-health professional, as well as a signed document saying the animal can behave properly during a flight.
Delta has faced backlash over the regulations, but other airlines are likely to follow suit as they try to prevent passengers from using support-animal provisions to travel with their untrained pets for free.
Some Twitter users expressed support for the United passenger's attempt to bring the peacock onto her flight. Others were outraged. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 1,426 |
Stormy Daniels turned on the speakerphone when President Trump called.
So says Keith Munyan, one of the four people Stormy Daniels included in the nondisclosure agreement she signed with Donald Trump’s lawyer. Munyan confirmed critical elements of the alleged romantic tryst between the porn star and the future president, and added new details to a tawdry saga that has rocked the White House.
Munyan, a longtime friend of Daniels, remembers eavesdropping on a half-dozen phone calls between her and the future president.
“He would call all the time. That man can talk about nothing for hours,” Munyan told The Daily Beast in a phone call Monday.
Back in 2006, Trump was only a tabloid character turned reality TV star—and on these calls, he allegedly offered Daniels keys to a New York condo. When she declined, Trump proposed she move into his unfinished Trump Tower in Tampa, Florida.
Munyan said Trump also promised Daniels—who is suing him to quash a “hush agreement” over their alleged affair—a spot on The Apprentice.
A Los Angeles fashion photographer, Munyan befriended Daniels during a shoot in late 2005. The following summer, Daniels would meet and allegedly have “textbook generic” sex with Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe.
Trump has denied Daniels’ allegations of an affair.
Around this time, Munyan was in the process of moving, and Daniels rented out his house. The shutterbug continued using his studio on the property and spent time with Daniels, who broadcast her phone calls with her celebrity suitor.
“ That man can talk about nothing for hours. ”
“She would go, ‘Oh, look who’s calling me now,’ and would put him on the phone,” Munyan recalled, adding that he and Daniels would sit and laugh.
“He was talking about giving her a condo in New York,” Munyan said. “She said, ‘I don’t want to move to New York.’ That’s when she wanted to move to Florida.”
Munyan remembers silently raising his hand when he heard Trump’s offer: “I’m like, ‘Really?’ I put my hand up. I’ll take it!”
According to Munyan, Trump promised to arrange for Daniels to view a condominium in Florida but she declined. The performer, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, would move to Tampa on her own three years later.
Trump was always polite to the adult actress and director, Munyan said. The “grab ’em by the pussy” rhetoric was absent from what he overheard.
“She had very professional conversations with him,” Munyan added. “It was always about business and what her goals are.”
As The Daily Beast reported, Munyan was one of four people named in Daniels’ nondisclosure agreement as having “confidential information” about the alleged tryst.
Also listed were Daniels’ ex-husband, her manager, and one fellow porn star named Angel Ryan. (Ryan was identified as Jessica Drake, who in October 2016 came forward to accuse Trump of sexual misconduct at the same Lake Tahoe event where he met Daniels.)
Munyan is like family to Daniels, whom she calls “Dad.”
“She’s got two gay dads now,” Munyan quipped, referring to his husband J.D. Barrale, who spoke to The Daily Beast in support of Daniels last week.
Trump and Daniels dined alone together throughout 2006, and he invited the porn star to see the Miss USA pageant in Hollywood, Munyan said. Munyan was home when Trump sent a limousine to pick Daniels up for the event.
But, eventually, the conversations about Trump faded and were long forgotten—until the 2016 presidential election.
“ She had very professional conversations with him... It was always about business and what her goals are. ”
Days before Americans voted, Daniels signed a nondisclosure agreement in exchange for $130,000 in hush money. The contract not only bought Daniels’ silence, but ensured she fork over any text messages, images, or other “property” that could relate to Trump.
Daniels now argues this agreement is invalid because Trump never signed it, and because Trump’s attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, allegedly breached their contract by speaking publicly about the payout.
On Monday, the porn star offered to return the money she received from Cohen, in return for nullifying their confidential settlement.
“I just remember her calling me and saying she signed the nondisclosure agreement,” Munyan told The Daily Beast, adding, “She told me that I was on it.”
“The reason Stormy signed the NDA was to protect her family,” Munyan said. “She signed it because she felt intimidated.” (Daniels’ lawsuit claims Trump and Cohen “aggressively sought to silence [her] as part of an effort to avoid her telling the truth,” which could have cost Trump the election.)
Daniels spoke kindly of Trump back in 2006, Munyan said.
When asked what Daniels said of Trump, Munyan replied, “That he was actually a very brilliant man.”
“They had great conversations, not like he does now. He just wants to hear himself talk,” Munyan said. “They would sit down to a nice dinner, discuss business.”
“ She’s just trying to be as courageous as possible in front of a bunch of people who are not wanting this to come forward. ”
“It’s probably because she drew that out of him.”
Munyan described Daniels as a very private person, who steps into the limelight when she dances on stage.
When they met, Daniels was looking for a photographer who wasn’t in the porn industry. Munyan took classic, pinup-style snapshots for her calendar.
“She’s very intelligent. She’s not your typical girl. She’s very smart and very articulate,” Munyan swooned over his friend. “Don’t let the blonde hair fool you. That girl’s smart.”
Daniels has a big heart, he said, especially for her horses. (Daniels is a nationally ranked equestrian, according to Rolling Stone.) Whenever she visits Munyan and his hubby, the three of them just sit at the dining table and laugh.
Munyan said most of all, Daniels is funny.
After one headline claimed she was bringing her dirty laundry on her strip club tour, she made an Instagram account called @Stormysbasket. The page features photos of Daniels’ laundry basket including one where it’s apparently being interviewed by CNN’s Nick Valencia.
Last year, Daniels’ erotic romance, “Unbridled,” was released through porn studio Wicked Pictures. She directed and starred in the passion project as a “savvy New Yorker who returns to her Texas roots to save the family farm, only to run into her old beau in the process,” one industry magazine gushed.
Munyan says Daniels is seeking funding for a horror film she wrote; it’s set in the swamps of her native Louisiana.
Daniels is “not this cartoonish evil stripper porn star” that online trolls are making her out to be, said Munyan’s husband, J.D. Barrale.
Her “dads” continue to call and check in with Daniels on her “Make America Horny Again” strip club tour. On Monday, Barrale told The Daily Beast that Daniels is “doing the best she can with all that hate that’s coming at her.”
“She’s a very strong woman,” Barrale said. “She’s just trying to be as courageous as possible in front of a bunch of people who are not wanting this to come forward.”
He added, “She’s been trolled by so many people. I think once people got to know who she is, they’d see she’s quite a wonderful gal.” ||||| Updated at 4:38 p.m. to include comment from Daniels' attorney Michael J. Avenatti.
Texas officials are investigating whether a Dallas-area notary properly signed off on Stormy Daniels’ agreement to stay quiet about her alleged affair with President Donald Trump.
The notary issue is the latest in a string of curiosities surrounding the murky deal involving Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen and the adult-film actress, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
A notary in Forney, where Daniels lives, did not sign and date the 2016 agreement, which was finalized a few days before the presidential election. She also did not provide a certificate reflecting whose signature she was witnessing, according to the Texas Secretary of State.
Notaries are third-party witnesses tasked with verifying that real people are signing legal documents.
Texas law requires that notaries not only stamp documents, but sign and date them. They also must provide a certificate reflecting that they verified the identity of the signer or signers.
In a letter to the notary obtained by The Dallas Morning News, a secretary of state employee informed the notary that the agency is examining her actions following a complaint.
“Attaching your seal to a document without a notarial certificate constitutes good cause for the secretary of state to take action against your notary commission," Maria Y. Morales wrote in a March 9 letter. | – Stormy Daniels's offer to return the $130,000 she received in a nondisclosure agreement about President Trump has led to a new wave of coverage of their alleged affair. In one new twist, authorities in Texas are investigating whether the notary public who authorized the 2016 agreement did so properly, reports the Dallas Morning News. Erica Jackson didn't sign or date the document, and "she notarized a blank signature line," says a fellow notary who first tweeted about the issue. Daniels' attorney says it's the missing signature of Trump (or of "David Dennison," his alleged alias in the deal) that's the real problem. It's not clear just how big of a deal the notary issue is (Jackson might lose her certification), but it's "the latest in a string of curiosities surrounding the murky deal," per the Morning News. Related: Frequent calls: Fashion photographer Keith Munyan, a friend of Daniels, tells the Daily Beast that Trump would call Daniels "all the time" back around 2006, and Munyan sometimes listened in on speakerphone. They had "very professional conversations" about her business goals, and Trump once offered Daniels a spot on the The Apprentice, says Munyan. He recalls that Daniels considered Trump a "very brilliant man," but he adds that Trump "can talk about nothing for hours." | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Stormy Daniels turned on the speakerphone when President Trump called.
So says Keith Munyan, one of the four people Stormy Daniels included in the nondisclosure agreement she signed with Donald Trump’s lawyer. Munyan confirmed critical elements of the alleged romantic tryst between the porn star and the future president, and added new details to a tawdry saga that has rocked the White House.
Munyan, a longtime friend of Daniels, remembers eavesdropping on a half-dozen phone calls between her and the future president.
“He would call all the time. That man can talk about nothing for hours,” Munyan told The Daily Beast in a phone call Monday.
Back in 2006, Trump was only a tabloid character turned reality TV star—and on these calls, he allegedly offered Daniels keys to a New York condo. When she declined, Trump proposed she move into his unfinished Trump Tower in Tampa, Florida.
Munyan said Trump also promised Daniels—who is suing him to quash a “hush agreement” over their alleged affair—a spot on The Apprentice.
A Los Angeles fashion photographer, Munyan befriended Daniels during a shoot in late 2005. The following summer, Daniels would meet and allegedly have “textbook generic” sex with Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe.
Trump has denied Daniels’ allegations of an affair.
Around this time, Munyan was in the process of moving, and Daniels rented out his house. The shutterbug continued using his studio on the property and spent time with Daniels, who broadcast her phone calls with her celebrity suitor.
“ That man can talk about nothing for hours. ”
“She would go, ‘Oh, look who’s calling me now,’ and would put him on the phone,” Munyan recalled, adding that he and Daniels would sit and laugh.
“He was talking about giving her a condo in New York,” Munyan said. “She said, ‘I don’t want to move to New York.’ That’s when she wanted to move to Florida.”
Munyan remembers silently raising his hand when he heard Trump’s offer: “I’m like, ‘Really?’ I put my hand up. I’ll take it!”
According to Munyan, Trump promised to arrange for Daniels to view a condominium in Florida but she declined. The performer, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, would move to Tampa on her own three years later.
Trump was always polite to the adult actress and director, Munyan said. The “grab ’em by the pussy” rhetoric was absent from what he overheard.
“She had very professional conversations with him,” Munyan added. “It was always about business and what her goals are.”
As The Daily Beast reported, Munyan was one of four people named in Daniels’ nondisclosure agreement as having “confidential information” about the alleged tryst.
Also listed were Daniels’ ex-husband, her manager, and one fellow porn star named Angel Ryan. (Ryan was identified as Jessica Drake, who in October 2016 came forward to accuse Trump of sexual misconduct at the same Lake Tahoe event where he met Daniels.)
Munyan is like family to Daniels, whom she calls “Dad.”
“She’s got two gay dads now,” Munyan quipped, referring to his husband J.D. Barrale, who spoke to The Daily Beast in support of Daniels last week.
Trump and Daniels dined alone together throughout 2006, and he invited the porn star to see the Miss USA pageant in Hollywood, Munyan said. Munyan was home when Trump sent a limousine to pick Daniels up for the event.
But, eventually, the conversations about Trump faded and were long forgotten—until the 2016 presidential election.
“ She had very professional conversations with him... It was always about business and what her goals are. ”
Days before Americans voted, Daniels signed a nondisclosure agreement in exchange for $130,000 in hush money. The contract not only bought Daniels’ silence, but ensured she fork over any text messages, images, or other “property” that could relate to Trump.
Daniels now argues this agreement is invalid because Trump never signed it, and because Trump’s attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, allegedly breached their contract by speaking publicly about the payout.
On Monday, the porn star offered to return the money she received from Cohen, in return for nullifying their confidential settlement.
“I just remember her calling me and saying she signed the nondisclosure agreement,” Munyan told The Daily Beast, adding, “She told me that I was on it.”
“The reason Stormy signed the NDA was to protect her family,” Munyan said. “She signed it because she felt intimidated.” (Daniels’ lawsuit claims Trump and Cohen “aggressively sought to silence [her] as part of an effort to avoid her telling the truth,” which could have cost Trump the election.)
Daniels spoke kindly of Trump back in 2006, Munyan said.
When asked what Daniels said of Trump, Munyan replied, “That he was actually a very brilliant man.”
“They had great conversations, not like he does now. He just wants to hear himself talk,” Munyan said. “They would sit down to a nice dinner, discuss business.”
“ She’s just trying to be as courageous as possible in front of a bunch of people who are not wanting this to come forward. ”
“It’s probably because she drew that out of him.”
Munyan described Daniels as a very private person, who steps into the limelight when she dances on stage.
When they met, Daniels was looking for a photographer who wasn’t in the porn industry. Munyan took classic, pinup-style snapshots for her calendar.
“She’s very intelligent. She’s not your typical girl. She’s very smart and very articulate,” Munyan swooned over his friend. “Don’t let the blonde hair fool you. That girl’s smart.”
Daniels has a big heart, he said, especially for her horses. (Daniels is a nationally ranked equestrian, according to Rolling Stone.) Whenever she visits Munyan and his hubby, the three of them just sit at the dining table and laugh.
Munyan said most of all, Daniels is funny.
After one headline claimed she was bringing her dirty laundry on her strip club tour, she made an Instagram account called @Stormysbasket. The page features photos of Daniels’ laundry basket including one where it’s apparently being interviewed by CNN’s Nick Valencia.
Last year, Daniels’ erotic romance, “Unbridled,” was released through porn studio Wicked Pictures. She directed and starred in the passion project as a “savvy New Yorker who returns to her Texas roots to save the family farm, only to run into her old beau in the process,” one industry magazine gushed.
Munyan says Daniels is seeking funding for a horror film she wrote; it’s set in the swamps of her native Louisiana.
Daniels is “not this cartoonish evil stripper porn star” that online trolls are making her out to be, said Munyan’s husband, J.D. Barrale.
Her “dads” continue to call and check in with Daniels on her “Make America Horny Again” strip club tour. On Monday, Barrale told The Daily Beast that Daniels is “doing the best she can with all that hate that’s coming at her.”
“She’s a very strong woman,” Barrale said. “She’s just trying to be as courageous as possible in front of a bunch of people who are not wanting this to come forward.”
He added, “She’s been trolled by so many people. I think once people got to know who she is, they’d see she’s quite a wonderful gal.” ||||| Updated at 4:38 p.m. to include comment from Daniels' attorney Michael J. Avenatti.
Texas officials are investigating whether a Dallas-area notary properly signed off on Stormy Daniels’ agreement to stay quiet about her alleged affair with President Donald Trump.
The notary issue is the latest in a string of curiosities surrounding the murky deal involving Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen and the adult-film actress, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
A notary in Forney, where Daniels lives, did not sign and date the 2016 agreement, which was finalized a few days before the presidential election. She also did not provide a certificate reflecting whose signature she was witnessing, according to the Texas Secretary of State.
Notaries are third-party witnesses tasked with verifying that real people are signing legal documents.
Texas law requires that notaries not only stamp documents, but sign and date them. They also must provide a certificate reflecting that they verified the identity of the signer or signers.
In a letter to the notary obtained by The Dallas Morning News, a secretary of state employee informed the notary that the agency is examining her actions following a complaint.
“Attaching your seal to a document without a notarial certificate constitutes good cause for the secretary of state to take action against your notary commission," Maria Y. Morales wrote in a March 9 letter. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 29,052 |
AMES, Iowa — The simmering rivalry between Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann erupted at Thursday night’s Republican primary debate here, transforming Iowa’s first 2012 forum into a full-blown slugfest.
The Minnesota duo have been in a low-grade tug of war for months over the affections of Iowa conservatives. With a crucial test looming for both at the Ames Straw Poll this Saturday, the Pawlenty-Bachmann rivalry turned so intense that it threatened to crowd out the other candidates completely.
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reset Pawlenty on Bachmann: ‘Not about gender’ Bachmann and TPaw spar at debate POLITICO 44
The charges were familiar: Pawlenty once again called Bachmann’s accomplishments “nonexistent.” Bachmann wielded well-worn attacks on Pawlenty's tenure as governor.
But this was their most ferocious exchange to date — with more than a hint of desperation visible for both.
“She speaks of leading these [conservative] efforts in Washington and Minnesota,” Pawlenty lashed out. “Leading and failing is not the objective.”
Bachmann assailed Pawlenty with a litany of alleged deviations from conservative orthodoxy, blasting: “When you were governor, you implemented cap-and-trade in our state and you praised the unconstitutional individual mandate.
“You said the era of small government is over. That sounds a lot more like Barack Obama if you ask me,” Bachmann said.
The caustic exchanges were no accident: A defeat on Saturday could snap Bachmann’s momentum in the race, or seal Pawlenty’s fate as a 2012 also-ran.
For the race beyond the straw poll, however, neither the candidates nor the moderators did much to draw blood from national front-runner Mitt Romney, who sauntered unscathed through his second consecutive debate.
The questions from Fox News and the Washington Examiner lobbed potentially difficult questions at Romney, asking him to defend his record on taxes in Massachusetts and his near-absence from the recent debate over whether to raise the federal debt ceiling.
On both issues, Romney stuck to narrow talking points, declaring that his support for the conservative Cut, Cap and Balance pledge told voters all they needed to know about his views on the debt ceiling.
Asked about a presentation his administration once gave to Standard & Poor’s, saying that Massachusetts deserved a credit rating upgrade in part because it raised taxes, Romney sidestepped the issue entirely.
Romney was barely challenged on his carefully parsed answers. With Pawlenty and Bachmann focused on each other, and several of the other candidates flailing in their attempts to stand out from the crowd, Romney took little heat from his fellow Republicans.
Indeed, virtually all of the candidates helped confirm — in one form or another — that Romney will likely face a tougher political challenge from a late-announcing candidate like Texas Gov. Rick Perry than from any of his currently declared rivals. ||||| Charlie Neibergall-Pool / Getty Images
Thursday night’s Republican presidential debate in Ames, Iowa, saw the first face-to-face hostility of the 2012 campaign. After an early round of self-congratulation and obligatory shots at President Obama — “You are finished in 2012 and you will be a one-term president,” Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann roared before former Governor Tim Pawlenty promised to cook dinner for anyone who could “find” Obama’s entitlement reform plans — the candidates began to focus their ire on each other in a shared forum for the first time.
Given a second chance to ding Mitt Romney for the similarities between the health reform legislation he championed as governor of Massachusetts and the federal law passed by Democrats in 2010, Pawlenty got in a few whacks on the front-runner, and Bachmann piled on. But that exchange was mild compared to two spats that broke out between the Minnesotans.
Pawlenty tried to draw a sharp distinction between his eight years as governor and Bachmann’s thin record in Congress, criticizing her for failing to stop assorted Democratic evils. “Her record of accomplishment and results is nonexistent,” he said. “That’s not going to be good enough.” He even went as far as to call her a liar: “She’s got a record of misstating and making false statements.”
Bachmann gave as good as she got, presenting a concise invoice of Pawlenty’s transgressions against conservative orthodoxy: establishing cap-and-trade, praising an individual health insurance mandate and so on. “You said the era of small government was over. That sounds a lot more like Barack Obama if you ask me,” she said to approving applause.
Pawlenty responded by once again pointing out the obvious: that Bachmann’s opposition to any number of Democratic initiatives didn’t actually reverse them. “If that’s your record of results, please stop, because you’re killing us,” he said. “Leading and failing is not the objective.” In a later exchange, Bachmann accused Pawlenty of strong-arming her into supporting a Minnesota cigarette tax by tying it to an abortion measure.
Beyond that — and a few prickly back-and-forths between Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Fox News moderator Chris Wallace — Thursday’s debate was fairly tame. If you watched the last one, you wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Texas Rep. Ron Paul (R. – El Dorado) answered most questions by patiently explaining how returning to the gold standard would solve America’s ills; Gingrich packed more Ronald Reagan references into each sentence than 30 Rock‘s Jack Donaghy (He made a Six Sigma reference too!), Rick Santorum mentioned that he wasn’t getting enough airtime a lot, and pizza magnate Herman Cain mellifluously told the audience how great it was that he’s never been a politician. Jon Huntsman, Obama’s former ambassador to China and a new addition to the dais, added very little. He was eminently staid, moderate and forgettable. None of the three bode well for his campaign.
It was appropriate then that this debate saw a conflict between Pawlenty and Bachmann, but little more. The Ames straw poll on Saturday will be a crucial test for both those candidates and the former likely needs a breakout performance to keep his White House prospects from fading altogether. But the broader contours of the race remain unchanged. Romney made no glaring errors and even managed to inspire a few rounds of applause. As frontrunner, the status quo is his best friend. If the Republican presidential contest is due for some radical shakeup, it will have to wait at least another day. On Saturday, when Rick Perry enters the race and Pawlenty, Bachmann et al. face each other at Ames, we’ll learn a lot more about the 2012 presidential election we did from Thursday’s display. ||||| The Texas governor wasn’t on hand for Thursday’s GOP debate. But the weak showing made it clear: the field is wide open. By Michael Tomasky
Hard to say that there was a winner at the GOP’s Iowa debate Thursday night. It was more like Tee-Ball, where everybody gets a trophy, win or lose. First of all, the panel did ask genuine, and genuinely difficult, questions. Byron York of the Washington Examiner forced the night’s most telling moment, when all the candidates (or at least all those asked) said they wouldn’t back a cuts-to-revenue deal even at a 10-to-1 ratio. That’s all you need to know to understand that no matter what they say on other questions, they would all run governments that would rack up massive deficits and force massive expenditures onto old people, and in fact pretty much the rest of us, too.
It was a pretty good show though. Michele Bachmann. I’m sorry, but those eyes are crazy. Something effulges through them from within that most of us don’t have, and it’s not something I saw in my mother’s eyes, let’s just put it that way. And what was that bathroom break, or whatever it was? Rick Santorum always sounds to me in these things like the most textbook conservative Republican on both domestic and foreign policy, but he never seems to gain any ground. He’s like a set of positions attached to the least compelling human being you can imagine. Jon Huntsman was honorable in his bizarre way, but absurd. Tim Pawlenty was other-than-honorable and close to absurd. Mitt Romney just disappeared for 15-minute stretches at a time, but did himself no harm.
Some other people were up there. Oh, Newt Gingrich: If he were in double digits, his throwdowns at Chris Wallace would’ve looked strong, but as it was they looked annoying. And Herman Cain. Yikes. And Ron Paul. He had loads of homers there. But he went way too far on foreign policy for that crowd. I guess the winner was Rick Perry.
||||| Enlarge Charlie Neibergall / AP Republican presidential candidates participated in the Iowa GOP/Fox News Debate at the CY Stephens Auditorium in Ames, Iowa, Thursday. From left, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA); businessman Herman Cain; Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney; Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN); former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty; former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Charlie Neibergall / AP
The front-runner for a major party's presidential nomination is always happiest when his intraparty rivals turn their attacks on each other instead of him.
So by that measure, Mitt Romney had to be very pleased indeed because he was left largely unmolested by the seven other Republican candidates contending for the party's presidential nomination at the debate at Iowa State University Thursday evening.
Instead of directing their attacks at Romney, the other candidates on the stage went after each other, with the two Minnesotans, Rep. Michele Bachmann and the state's former governor, Tim Pawlenty, providing much of the night's fireworks.
And when the two Minnesotans weren't cudgeling each other, Rick Santorum, the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, was going after Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and Bachmann.
And in some of the most baffling moments of the night, Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, attacked the media.
For Bachmann and Pawlenty, their fight was mostly about getting the biggest bounce heading out of the debate and into Saturday's Ames Straw Poll.
Hailing from a neighboring state as they both do, they are counting on strong showings in the straw poll over the weekend to sustain their their candidacies through the next phase of the campaign.
The importance of such a showing for them only increases in light of the fact that Texas Gov. Rick Perry is about to enter the race Saturday and a recent poll had him virtually tied with Romney.
So the two attacked each other's records repeatedly in some of the most heated political debate moments in recent history. Pawlenty dismissed Bachmann's claims to leadership in the fight against the new health care law and the economic stimulus, saying she had accomplished little to nothing.
"If that's your view of effective leadership with results, please stop. You're killing us."
Pawlenty also got in a haymaker, noting Bachmann's "record of misstatements," a tendency that has been documented by PolitiFact.com, among others.
Bachmann, for her part, ticked off several pieces of Pawlenty's record from his time as governor — that he enacted a cap and trade regime in Minnesota and backed an individual health insurance mandate. She said:
"That sounds a lot like Barack Obama to me."
Meanwhile, Santorum and Paul clashed over foreign policy with the former Pennsylvania senator saying that the U.S. had been in hostilities with Iran since 1979. Paul corrected him, saying the bad blood actually began in 1953 when the CIA engineered the overthrow of Iran's elected leader. Then Paul argued to a seemingly incredulous Santorum that the nuclear bombs of the Soviet Union were a much bigger problem for the U.S. than Iran's getting a bomb would be.
This was all good for Romney since so long as his opponents tried to score points against one another during the two-hour debate, they weren't taking direct aim at him.
The one time a rival was invited to go after the frontrunner, it was Pawlenty who was urged by Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace to take another whack at Romney over the Massachusetts health care legislation he signed into law as governor.
That law contained an individual mandate requiring most people to have health insurance and was the model for the federal law signed by President Obama. Pawlenty was widely seen as backing away from a fight at an earlier debate after he failed to follow-up on a pre-debate attack on what he called Obamneycare:
"I don't want to miss that chance again, Chris. Look, Obamacare was patterned after Mitt's plan in Massachusetts. And for Mitt or anyone else to say there aren't substantial similarities or they are not essentially the same plan — it just isn't credible. So that's why I called it Obamneycare, and I think that's a fair label. I'm happy to call it that again tonight."
Romney parried by repeating his defense that he viewed the Massachusetts law as a solution for his state but not necessarily for others.
Romney, who had already made a memorable comment earlier Thursday with his "corporations are people" remark at the Iowa State Fair, actually delivered another one at the debate.
Asked about the debt-ceiling deal and why he refused to support it, he said:
"I'm not going to eat Barack Obama's dog food. What he served up is not what I would have done if I'm president of the United States."
Romney's comment reflected his message discipline which was to go after Obama relentlessly and leave his rivals for the nomination to fight with each other.
Or with the media. At one point, Gingrich took to task the journalists posing queries to the candidates for asking "gotcha" questions.
Responding to a question from Wallace about the disarray in his campaign, Gingrich referred to an instruction by moderator and Fox News anchor, Brett Baier, to the candidates to shelve their canned stump speeches.
"I took seriously Bret's injunction to put aside the talking points. And I wish you would put aside the gotcha questions."
Romney wasn't the only debate winner. Obama was too since, for the most part, any Republican attacks on him were quickly obscured by the fog of war that rose from the GOP candidates' attacks on each other.
Meanwhile, waiting in the wings was Perry, the Texas governor, who didn't attend the debate but just as surely cast a shadow over it, with some of the candidates asked what they made of his johnny-come-lately entry.
All of them responded generously, welcoming him to the race. For Romney, however, Perry's presence is likely to mean the end of his being able to remain above the fray.
With his access to big donors with deep pockets and appeal to the social conservative base of the party, Perry could wind up testing Romney to the limits, setting up a lengthy primary fight resembling what the Democrats experienced in 2008.
The debate's biggest loser had to Jon Huntsman, Jr., a former Utah governor who also served in the Obama administration as ambassador to China.
The Iowa debate was his first and after a relatively weak performance, as well as reported troubles within his campaign, one question has to be just how many future debates will he participate in?
Republican voters looking for reasons to support him likely finished the evening still searching. | – Last night's GOP debate in Iowa was a testy affair, but Mitt Romney managed to stay above the fray and his front-runner status still isn't in doubt—at least until Rick Perry enters the race, pundits say. "Neither the candidates nor the moderators did much to draw blood" from Romney, who "sauntered unscathed through his second consecutive debate," writes Alexander Burns at Politico. Romney "stuck to narrow talking points" when asked about his taxation record in Massachusetts and the debt ceiling debate, and his answers weren't challenged, Burns notes. Romney "just disappeared for 15-minute stretches at a time, but did himself no harm," while Jon Huntsman was "honorable in his bizarre way, but absurd" and Ron Paul "had plenty of homers, but went way too far on foreign policy," writes Michael Tomasky at the Daily Beast. The real winner, he decides, was the absent Rick Perry. Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty scored a couple of small hits on Romney, but they were pretty mild compared to the fierce hostilities between the two Minnesotans, writes Adam Sorensen at Time. Romney "made no glaring errors and even managed to inspire a few rounds of applause," he writes. Frank James at NPR names another winner: President Obama. "Any Republican attacks on him were quickly obscured by the fog of war that rose from the GOP candidates' attacks on each other," and, in the case of Newt Gingrich, on the media, he writes. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.AMES, Iowa — The simmering rivalry between Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann erupted at Thursday night’s Republican primary debate here, transforming Iowa’s first 2012 forum into a full-blown slugfest.
The Minnesota duo have been in a low-grade tug of war for months over the affections of Iowa conservatives. With a crucial test looming for both at the Ames Straw Poll this Saturday, the Pawlenty-Bachmann rivalry turned so intense that it threatened to crowd out the other candidates completely.
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reset Pawlenty on Bachmann: ‘Not about gender’ Bachmann and TPaw spar at debate POLITICO 44
The charges were familiar: Pawlenty once again called Bachmann’s accomplishments “nonexistent.” Bachmann wielded well-worn attacks on Pawlenty's tenure as governor.
But this was their most ferocious exchange to date — with more than a hint of desperation visible for both.
“She speaks of leading these [conservative] efforts in Washington and Minnesota,” Pawlenty lashed out. “Leading and failing is not the objective.”
Bachmann assailed Pawlenty with a litany of alleged deviations from conservative orthodoxy, blasting: “When you were governor, you implemented cap-and-trade in our state and you praised the unconstitutional individual mandate.
“You said the era of small government is over. That sounds a lot more like Barack Obama if you ask me,” Bachmann said.
The caustic exchanges were no accident: A defeat on Saturday could snap Bachmann’s momentum in the race, or seal Pawlenty’s fate as a 2012 also-ran.
For the race beyond the straw poll, however, neither the candidates nor the moderators did much to draw blood from national front-runner Mitt Romney, who sauntered unscathed through his second consecutive debate.
The questions from Fox News and the Washington Examiner lobbed potentially difficult questions at Romney, asking him to defend his record on taxes in Massachusetts and his near-absence from the recent debate over whether to raise the federal debt ceiling.
On both issues, Romney stuck to narrow talking points, declaring that his support for the conservative Cut, Cap and Balance pledge told voters all they needed to know about his views on the debt ceiling.
Asked about a presentation his administration once gave to Standard & Poor’s, saying that Massachusetts deserved a credit rating upgrade in part because it raised taxes, Romney sidestepped the issue entirely.
Romney was barely challenged on his carefully parsed answers. With Pawlenty and Bachmann focused on each other, and several of the other candidates flailing in their attempts to stand out from the crowd, Romney took little heat from his fellow Republicans.
Indeed, virtually all of the candidates helped confirm — in one form or another — that Romney will likely face a tougher political challenge from a late-announcing candidate like Texas Gov. Rick Perry than from any of his currently declared rivals. ||||| Charlie Neibergall-Pool / Getty Images
Thursday night’s Republican presidential debate in Ames, Iowa, saw the first face-to-face hostility of the 2012 campaign. After an early round of self-congratulation and obligatory shots at President Obama — “You are finished in 2012 and you will be a one-term president,” Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann roared before former Governor Tim Pawlenty promised to cook dinner for anyone who could “find” Obama’s entitlement reform plans — the candidates began to focus their ire on each other in a shared forum for the first time.
Given a second chance to ding Mitt Romney for the similarities between the health reform legislation he championed as governor of Massachusetts and the federal law passed by Democrats in 2010, Pawlenty got in a few whacks on the front-runner, and Bachmann piled on. But that exchange was mild compared to two spats that broke out between the Minnesotans.
Pawlenty tried to draw a sharp distinction between his eight years as governor and Bachmann’s thin record in Congress, criticizing her for failing to stop assorted Democratic evils. “Her record of accomplishment and results is nonexistent,” he said. “That’s not going to be good enough.” He even went as far as to call her a liar: “She’s got a record of misstating and making false statements.”
Bachmann gave as good as she got, presenting a concise invoice of Pawlenty’s transgressions against conservative orthodoxy: establishing cap-and-trade, praising an individual health insurance mandate and so on. “You said the era of small government was over. That sounds a lot more like Barack Obama if you ask me,” she said to approving applause.
Pawlenty responded by once again pointing out the obvious: that Bachmann’s opposition to any number of Democratic initiatives didn’t actually reverse them. “If that’s your record of results, please stop, because you’re killing us,” he said. “Leading and failing is not the objective.” In a later exchange, Bachmann accused Pawlenty of strong-arming her into supporting a Minnesota cigarette tax by tying it to an abortion measure.
Beyond that — and a few prickly back-and-forths between Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Fox News moderator Chris Wallace — Thursday’s debate was fairly tame. If you watched the last one, you wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Texas Rep. Ron Paul (R. – El Dorado) answered most questions by patiently explaining how returning to the gold standard would solve America’s ills; Gingrich packed more Ronald Reagan references into each sentence than 30 Rock‘s Jack Donaghy (He made a Six Sigma reference too!), Rick Santorum mentioned that he wasn’t getting enough airtime a lot, and pizza magnate Herman Cain mellifluously told the audience how great it was that he’s never been a politician. Jon Huntsman, Obama’s former ambassador to China and a new addition to the dais, added very little. He was eminently staid, moderate and forgettable. None of the three bode well for his campaign.
It was appropriate then that this debate saw a conflict between Pawlenty and Bachmann, but little more. The Ames straw poll on Saturday will be a crucial test for both those candidates and the former likely needs a breakout performance to keep his White House prospects from fading altogether. But the broader contours of the race remain unchanged. Romney made no glaring errors and even managed to inspire a few rounds of applause. As frontrunner, the status quo is his best friend. If the Republican presidential contest is due for some radical shakeup, it will have to wait at least another day. On Saturday, when Rick Perry enters the race and Pawlenty, Bachmann et al. face each other at Ames, we’ll learn a lot more about the 2012 presidential election we did from Thursday’s display. ||||| The Texas governor wasn’t on hand for Thursday’s GOP debate. But the weak showing made it clear: the field is wide open. By Michael Tomasky
Hard to say that there was a winner at the GOP’s Iowa debate Thursday night. It was more like Tee-Ball, where everybody gets a trophy, win or lose. First of all, the panel did ask genuine, and genuinely difficult, questions. Byron York of the Washington Examiner forced the night’s most telling moment, when all the candidates (or at least all those asked) said they wouldn’t back a cuts-to-revenue deal even at a 10-to-1 ratio. That’s all you need to know to understand that no matter what they say on other questions, they would all run governments that would rack up massive deficits and force massive expenditures onto old people, and in fact pretty much the rest of us, too.
It was a pretty good show though. Michele Bachmann. I’m sorry, but those eyes are crazy. Something effulges through them from within that most of us don’t have, and it’s not something I saw in my mother’s eyes, let’s just put it that way. And what was that bathroom break, or whatever it was? Rick Santorum always sounds to me in these things like the most textbook conservative Republican on both domestic and foreign policy, but he never seems to gain any ground. He’s like a set of positions attached to the least compelling human being you can imagine. Jon Huntsman was honorable in his bizarre way, but absurd. Tim Pawlenty was other-than-honorable and close to absurd. Mitt Romney just disappeared for 15-minute stretches at a time, but did himself no harm.
Some other people were up there. Oh, Newt Gingrich: If he were in double digits, his throwdowns at Chris Wallace would’ve looked strong, but as it was they looked annoying. And Herman Cain. Yikes. And Ron Paul. He had loads of homers there. But he went way too far on foreign policy for that crowd. I guess the winner was Rick Perry.
||||| Enlarge Charlie Neibergall / AP Republican presidential candidates participated in the Iowa GOP/Fox News Debate at the CY Stephens Auditorium in Ames, Iowa, Thursday. From left, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA); businessman Herman Cain; Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney; Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN); former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty; former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Charlie Neibergall / AP
The front-runner for a major party's presidential nomination is always happiest when his intraparty rivals turn their attacks on each other instead of him.
So by that measure, Mitt Romney had to be very pleased indeed because he was left largely unmolested by the seven other Republican candidates contending for the party's presidential nomination at the debate at Iowa State University Thursday evening.
Instead of directing their attacks at Romney, the other candidates on the stage went after each other, with the two Minnesotans, Rep. Michele Bachmann and the state's former governor, Tim Pawlenty, providing much of the night's fireworks.
And when the two Minnesotans weren't cudgeling each other, Rick Santorum, the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, was going after Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and Bachmann.
And in some of the most baffling moments of the night, Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, attacked the media.
For Bachmann and Pawlenty, their fight was mostly about getting the biggest bounce heading out of the debate and into Saturday's Ames Straw Poll.
Hailing from a neighboring state as they both do, they are counting on strong showings in the straw poll over the weekend to sustain their their candidacies through the next phase of the campaign.
The importance of such a showing for them only increases in light of the fact that Texas Gov. Rick Perry is about to enter the race Saturday and a recent poll had him virtually tied with Romney.
So the two attacked each other's records repeatedly in some of the most heated political debate moments in recent history. Pawlenty dismissed Bachmann's claims to leadership in the fight against the new health care law and the economic stimulus, saying she had accomplished little to nothing.
"If that's your view of effective leadership with results, please stop. You're killing us."
Pawlenty also got in a haymaker, noting Bachmann's "record of misstatements," a tendency that has been documented by PolitiFact.com, among others.
Bachmann, for her part, ticked off several pieces of Pawlenty's record from his time as governor — that he enacted a cap and trade regime in Minnesota and backed an individual health insurance mandate. She said:
"That sounds a lot like Barack Obama to me."
Meanwhile, Santorum and Paul clashed over foreign policy with the former Pennsylvania senator saying that the U.S. had been in hostilities with Iran since 1979. Paul corrected him, saying the bad blood actually began in 1953 when the CIA engineered the overthrow of Iran's elected leader. Then Paul argued to a seemingly incredulous Santorum that the nuclear bombs of the Soviet Union were a much bigger problem for the U.S. than Iran's getting a bomb would be.
This was all good for Romney since so long as his opponents tried to score points against one another during the two-hour debate, they weren't taking direct aim at him.
The one time a rival was invited to go after the frontrunner, it was Pawlenty who was urged by Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace to take another whack at Romney over the Massachusetts health care legislation he signed into law as governor.
That law contained an individual mandate requiring most people to have health insurance and was the model for the federal law signed by President Obama. Pawlenty was widely seen as backing away from a fight at an earlier debate after he failed to follow-up on a pre-debate attack on what he called Obamneycare:
"I don't want to miss that chance again, Chris. Look, Obamacare was patterned after Mitt's plan in Massachusetts. And for Mitt or anyone else to say there aren't substantial similarities or they are not essentially the same plan — it just isn't credible. So that's why I called it Obamneycare, and I think that's a fair label. I'm happy to call it that again tonight."
Romney parried by repeating his defense that he viewed the Massachusetts law as a solution for his state but not necessarily for others.
Romney, who had already made a memorable comment earlier Thursday with his "corporations are people" remark at the Iowa State Fair, actually delivered another one at the debate.
Asked about the debt-ceiling deal and why he refused to support it, he said:
"I'm not going to eat Barack Obama's dog food. What he served up is not what I would have done if I'm president of the United States."
Romney's comment reflected his message discipline which was to go after Obama relentlessly and leave his rivals for the nomination to fight with each other.
Or with the media. At one point, Gingrich took to task the journalists posing queries to the candidates for asking "gotcha" questions.
Responding to a question from Wallace about the disarray in his campaign, Gingrich referred to an instruction by moderator and Fox News anchor, Brett Baier, to the candidates to shelve their canned stump speeches.
"I took seriously Bret's injunction to put aside the talking points. And I wish you would put aside the gotcha questions."
Romney wasn't the only debate winner. Obama was too since, for the most part, any Republican attacks on him were quickly obscured by the fog of war that rose from the GOP candidates' attacks on each other.
Meanwhile, waiting in the wings was Perry, the Texas governor, who didn't attend the debate but just as surely cast a shadow over it, with some of the candidates asked what they made of his johnny-come-lately entry.
All of them responded generously, welcoming him to the race. For Romney, however, Perry's presence is likely to mean the end of his being able to remain above the fray.
With his access to big donors with deep pockets and appeal to the social conservative base of the party, Perry could wind up testing Romney to the limits, setting up a lengthy primary fight resembling what the Democrats experienced in 2008.
The debate's biggest loser had to Jon Huntsman, Jr., a former Utah governor who also served in the Obama administration as ambassador to China.
The Iowa debate was his first and after a relatively weak performance, as well as reported troubles within his campaign, one question has to be just how many future debates will he participate in?
Republican voters looking for reasons to support him likely finished the evening still searching. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 24,027 |
Last updated at 3 p.m.
Laguna Niguel lawyer Orly Taitz, who’s gained a national following for efforts to prove Barack Obama’s presidency is illegitimate, has qualified to run for California secretary of state, said Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley.
In launching her campaign to be the state’s top elections official, Taitz is alleging that fellow Republican candidate Damon Dunn, a former NFL player living in Irvine, is ineligible to seek the GOP nomination. She says he’s committed voter and election fraud.
Taitz told me this morning that she’s running “to clean up the fraud we all have seen in the 2008 election. It is important to bring legitimacy to elections. And I will be fighting to ensure the California corporations are not overburdened by regulations.”
Taitz has seen the dismissal at least three lawsuits in which she’s attempted to prove that Obama is not a natural-citizen, alleging he may have been born in Kenya and that even if he was born in the United States, having a Kenyan father disqualified him. The native of the USSR, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was sanctioned $20,000 for misconduct by one court, with the fine upheld by an appeals court on Monday.
One of her failed lawsuits asked Secretary of State Debra Bowen to investigate Obama’s qualifications to be president. Taitz has repeatedly criticized Bowen for not verifying Obama status as a natural-born citizen. Bowen, a Democrat, is expected to win reelection against the eventual GOP nominee.
Kelley said that Taitz filed a complaint with his office, “55 or 60 pages” long. Among the allegations was that Dunn was registered as a Democrat within the last 12 months, which would disqualify him to seek the GOP nomination, Kelley said. Candidates must be registered for three months with the party they are running for, and cannot be registered for a different party for 12 months.
Kelley said that Dunn has been registered as a Republican in Orange County since March 17, 2009. That’s just short of the 12-month mark given the March 12 filing deadline, but meets the three month requirement.
Taitz offers evidence that Dunn was registered to vote in Jacksonville, Florida, as a Democrat. Dunn confirmed that he registered as a Democrat there in 1999, but said he left the city the same year and his registration there was subsequently terminated.
Dunn’s candidacy for the top elections job is itself unlikely, as he is a self-proclaimed “recovering non-voter.” He says he never voted before 2009. He said he registered as a Democrat in Jacksonville because his family is Democratic, and he was asked to register when he went to get a driver’s license.
His formal conversion to the GOP came more recently.
“My true philosophy has had a chance to emerge,” he said.
Kelley said he’s forwarded Taitz’s complaint that Dunn is ineligible to District Attorney Tony Rackauckas.
See a copy of the complaint posted on Taitz’s Web site
Taitz told me she is running a grassroots campaign and expects nationwide support.
“A lot of patriots of this country want a person who stands for accountability,” she said.
Both candidates want voters to provide more proof of their eligibility to vote. Taitz wants voters to provide verification of citizenship when they register. Dunn wants voters to provide photo identification when they register to vote and when they show up at the polls.
Like Taitz, Dunn said he’d like to use the office – which registers corporations – to address the state’s loss of jobs. Specifically, he’d use the office to hold exit interviews with businesses that terminated their registration.
“We need some empirical information about why they’re leaving,” he said.
Read the Orange County Register’s story on Dunn’s candidacy.
Previous stories on Taitz:
Fine upheld for Obama birthplace lawyer
Obama lawyers respond to birthplace suit
Obama birth lawyer could lose law license
Witnesses: Obama birth lawyer told us to lie
My profile of Orly Taitz
Hawaii official reconfirm Obama’s birth there
Obama birthplace lawyer fined for legal misconduct
Obama birth lawyer files new lawsuit
Obama birthplace lawyer files appeal
Obama birthplace lawyer denied new trial
Obama foe suggests armed rallies
Obama birthplace lawyer wants court changed
Taitz tops Buzz’s Newsmakers of 2010 list
Obama birthplace reconsideration dismissed
Obama birthplace attorney files new allegations
Appeal filed on Obama birthplace lawsuit
Obama birthplace lawyer lashes out at court
Santa Ana lawsuit challenging Obama’s birthplace dismissed
Obama birthplace lawyer submits suspect document
Suit dismissed, similar to O.C. Obama birthplace challenge
Lawyer Orly Taitz tries patience of federal court
Legal expert expects Taitz O.C. lawsuit to be dismissed
Obama’s Kenyan birth certificate alleged in O.C. lawsuit
Obama-birthplace lawsuit in O.C. plagued by infighting
One of O.C. attorney’s suits tossed in Obama birth debate
Share this post:
ADVERTISEMENT ||||| Thank you for visiting Dr. Orly's Website!
Dr. Orly Taitz, Esq. Dr. Orly has interviewed on many radio and television programs.
We hope you can find everything you need. Dr. Orly TAITZ, Esq. is focused on providing information regarding her campaign and how she will provide professional oversight for elections.
Look around the website and if you have any comments or questions, please feel free to contact Dr. Taitz. | – Orly Taitz, the lawyer whose efforts to have Barack Obama declared ineligible to be president because he was born abroad, is a candidate for statewide office in her native California. The “birther” queen qualified to run for secretary of state, California’s top elections job, the Orange County Register reports today. Taitz says she she aims “to clean up the fraud we all have seen in the 2008 election. It is important to bring legitimacy to elections.” And she kicked off her campaign by alleging that a fellow Republican candidate is ineligible to run because he’s committed voter and election fraud. Still, the newspaper adds, whoever wins the Republican nod will be a heavy underdog to Democratic incumbent Debra Bowen (who has herself slapped down a Taitz lawsuit). | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Last updated at 3 p.m.
Laguna Niguel lawyer Orly Taitz, who’s gained a national following for efforts to prove Barack Obama’s presidency is illegitimate, has qualified to run for California secretary of state, said Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley.
In launching her campaign to be the state’s top elections official, Taitz is alleging that fellow Republican candidate Damon Dunn, a former NFL player living in Irvine, is ineligible to seek the GOP nomination. She says he’s committed voter and election fraud.
Taitz told me this morning that she’s running “to clean up the fraud we all have seen in the 2008 election. It is important to bring legitimacy to elections. And I will be fighting to ensure the California corporations are not overburdened by regulations.”
Taitz has seen the dismissal at least three lawsuits in which she’s attempted to prove that Obama is not a natural-citizen, alleging he may have been born in Kenya and that even if he was born in the United States, having a Kenyan father disqualified him. The native of the USSR, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was sanctioned $20,000 for misconduct by one court, with the fine upheld by an appeals court on Monday.
One of her failed lawsuits asked Secretary of State Debra Bowen to investigate Obama’s qualifications to be president. Taitz has repeatedly criticized Bowen for not verifying Obama status as a natural-born citizen. Bowen, a Democrat, is expected to win reelection against the eventual GOP nominee.
Kelley said that Taitz filed a complaint with his office, “55 or 60 pages” long. Among the allegations was that Dunn was registered as a Democrat within the last 12 months, which would disqualify him to seek the GOP nomination, Kelley said. Candidates must be registered for three months with the party they are running for, and cannot be registered for a different party for 12 months.
Kelley said that Dunn has been registered as a Republican in Orange County since March 17, 2009. That’s just short of the 12-month mark given the March 12 filing deadline, but meets the three month requirement.
Taitz offers evidence that Dunn was registered to vote in Jacksonville, Florida, as a Democrat. Dunn confirmed that he registered as a Democrat there in 1999, but said he left the city the same year and his registration there was subsequently terminated.
Dunn’s candidacy for the top elections job is itself unlikely, as he is a self-proclaimed “recovering non-voter.” He says he never voted before 2009. He said he registered as a Democrat in Jacksonville because his family is Democratic, and he was asked to register when he went to get a driver’s license.
His formal conversion to the GOP came more recently.
“My true philosophy has had a chance to emerge,” he said.
Kelley said he’s forwarded Taitz’s complaint that Dunn is ineligible to District Attorney Tony Rackauckas.
See a copy of the complaint posted on Taitz’s Web site
Taitz told me she is running a grassroots campaign and expects nationwide support.
“A lot of patriots of this country want a person who stands for accountability,” she said.
Both candidates want voters to provide more proof of their eligibility to vote. Taitz wants voters to provide verification of citizenship when they register. Dunn wants voters to provide photo identification when they register to vote and when they show up at the polls.
Like Taitz, Dunn said he’d like to use the office – which registers corporations – to address the state’s loss of jobs. Specifically, he’d use the office to hold exit interviews with businesses that terminated their registration.
“We need some empirical information about why they’re leaving,” he said.
Read the Orange County Register’s story on Dunn’s candidacy.
Previous stories on Taitz:
Fine upheld for Obama birthplace lawyer
Obama lawyers respond to birthplace suit
Obama birth lawyer could lose law license
Witnesses: Obama birth lawyer told us to lie
My profile of Orly Taitz
Hawaii official reconfirm Obama’s birth there
Obama birthplace lawyer fined for legal misconduct
Obama birth lawyer files new lawsuit
Obama birthplace lawyer files appeal
Obama birthplace lawyer denied new trial
Obama foe suggests armed rallies
Obama birthplace lawyer wants court changed
Taitz tops Buzz’s Newsmakers of 2010 list
Obama birthplace reconsideration dismissed
Obama birthplace attorney files new allegations
Appeal filed on Obama birthplace lawsuit
Obama birthplace lawyer lashes out at court
Santa Ana lawsuit challenging Obama’s birthplace dismissed
Obama birthplace lawyer submits suspect document
Suit dismissed, similar to O.C. Obama birthplace challenge
Lawyer Orly Taitz tries patience of federal court
Legal expert expects Taitz O.C. lawsuit to be dismissed
Obama’s Kenyan birth certificate alleged in O.C. lawsuit
Obama-birthplace lawsuit in O.C. plagued by infighting
One of O.C. attorney’s suits tossed in Obama birth debate
Share this post:
ADVERTISEMENT ||||| Thank you for visiting Dr. Orly's Website!
Dr. Orly Taitz, Esq. Dr. Orly has interviewed on many radio and television programs.
We hope you can find everything you need. Dr. Orly TAITZ, Esq. is focused on providing information regarding her campaign and how she will provide professional oversight for elections.
Look around the website and if you have any comments or questions, please feel free to contact Dr. Taitz. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 6,873 |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court struck down two congressional districts in North Carolina Monday because race played too large a role in their creation.
The justices ruled that Republicans who controlled the state legislature and governor's office in 2011 placed too many African-Americans in the two districts. The result was to weaken African-American voting strength elsewhere in North Carolina.
Both districts have since been redrawn and the state conducted elections under the new congressional map in 2016. Even with the new districts, Republicans maintained their 10-3 edge in congressional seats.
Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the court, said the state did not offer compelling justifications to justify its reliance on race in either district.
The issue of race and redistricting one is a familiar one at the Supreme Court and Kagan noted that one of the districts was "making its fifth(!) appearance before this court."
States have to take race into account when drawing maps for legislative, congressional and a host of municipal political districts. At the same time, race can't be the predominant factor without very strong reasons, under a line of high court cases stretching back 20 years.
A three-judge federal court had previously struck down the two districts. The justices upheld the lower court ruling on both counts.
The court unanimously affirmed the lower court ruling on District 1 in northeastern North Carolina. Kagan wrote that the court will not "approve a racial gerrymander whose necessity is supported by no evidence."
The justices split 5-3 on the other district, District 12 in the southwestern part of the state. Justice Clarence Thomas joined the four liberal justices to form a majority. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito and Anthony Kennedy dissented. Justice Neil Gorsuch did not part in the case.
The state insisted that race played no role at all in the creation of one district. Instead, the state argued that Republicans who controlled the redistricting process wanted to leave the district in Democratic hands, so that the surrounding districts would be safer for Republicans.
"The evidence offered at trial...adequately supports the conclusion that race, not politics, accounted for the district's reconfiguration," Kagan wrote.
Alito said in dissent that the evidence instead shows that the district's borders "are readily explained by political considerations." ||||| CLOSE The Supreme Court just made a ruling that could be a game changer for the 2018 election. Ryan Sartor (@ryansartor) has that story. Buzz60
The U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing stays of executions for two Arkansas inmates scheduled to die on April 24, 2017. (Photo: Win McNamee, Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that racial considerations pervaded the way North Carolina lawmakers drew congressional maps after the 2010 Census in order to maximize Republicans' advantage.
The 5-3 ruling, written by Justice Elena Kagan, was the latest in a series of decisions by the justices against the excessive use of race in redistricting, the decennial process of drawing new district lines for Congress and state legislatures. Justice Clarence Thomas joined the court's four liberal justices in striking down the state's maps.
The high court in March demanded additional lower court review of 11 Virginia state legislature districts that Republicans designed with at least 55% black voting-age populations. That followed a decision against Alabama's state legislative districts in 2015.
The North Carolina ruling upheld a federal district court decision that struck down the state's 1st and 12th congressional districts because state lawmakers had packed African American voters into them, thereby minimizing the influence of black voters in other districts. Kagan said the 1st district "produced boundaries amplifying divisions between blacks and whites," while in the 12th, "race, not politics, accounted for the district's reconfiguration."
Justice Samuel Alito dissented on the 12th district, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy. They agreed with state officials that the district was drawn to help Republicans, not to disenfranchise black voters. The high court has never struck down political maps drawn to help one party, though a case from Wisconsin is likely to offer a new test next year.
"Partisan gerrymandering is always unsavory, but that is not the issue here," Alito wrote. "So long as the legislature chose to retain the basic shape of District 12 and to increase the number of Democrats in the district, it was inevitable that the Democrats brought in would be disproportionately black."
Alito also criticized the majority decision for failing to stand by a 2001 case in which the high court upheld a similar configuration for that district. "A precedent of this court should not be treated like a disposable household item — say, a paper plate or napkin — to be used once and then tossed in the trash," he said.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 requires that states draw districts enabling African Americans to elect their chosen representatives, lest black voters be spread too thinly across district lines. Two decades ago, Democrats used the law to demand so-called "majority-minority" districts.
Since Republicans took over many state legislatures in 2010, they have drawn districts with what African American and Democratic critics claim are more blacks than necessary, in order to keep surrounding districts whiter — and more Republican. But the Supreme Court has knocked down several of those maps.
“This is a watershed moment in the fight to end racial gerrymandering,” said Eric Holder, the former Democratic attorney general now chairing the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. “Today’s ruling sends a stark message to legislatures and governors around the country: Racial gerrymandering is illegal and will be struck down in a court of law.”
But Hans von Spakovsky of the conservative Heritage Foundation said the ruling compounds "the confused state of the law."
"The Supreme Court says race can be a factor in redistricting but not the predominant factor, a rule that is so vague, so broad, and so lacking in a definable legal standard that it is not really a rule at all,” he said.
The North Carolina case involved two congressional districts that had come before the Supreme Court several times before; it was the fifth time for District 12, drawn in snakelike fashion along Interstate 85 after the 1990 Census to create a district capable of electing black lawmakers. Kagan noted that the latest district lines added "a couple of knobs" and some 35,000 black voters, even though it has elected African Americans since 1992.
Those changes helped change the state's congressional delegation from 7-6 Democratic in 2010 to 10-3 Republican in 2016 -- a trend that Alito said resulted from "a coherent (and generally successful) political strategy."
Even as the justices debated the North Carolina and Virginia maps in December, another case from Wisconsin was moving their way that could give them a chance to rule on partisan, rather than racial, gerrymandering. To date, the court has not defined how much political advantage is too much.
Read more:
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2rKxSTO | – The Supreme Court struck down two North Carolina congressional districts Monday because race played too large a role in their creation, reports the AP. The justices ruled that Republicans who controlled the state legislature and governor's office in 2011 placed too many African-Americans in the districts, weakening African-American voting strength elsewhere. Both districts have since been redrawn, but even so Republicans maintained a 10-3 edge in congressional seats in 2016. Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the court, said the state did not offer compelling justification for its reliance on race in either district. The issue of race and redistricting one is a familiar one at the Supreme Court, and Kagan noted that one of the districts was "making its fifth(!) appearance before this court." The court unanimously affirmed a lower court ruling on District 1 in northeastern North Carolina. Kagan wrote that the court will not "approve a racial gerrymander whose necessity is supported by no evidence." The justices split 5-3 on District 12 in the state's southwest. The state argued that Republicans who controlled redistricting wanted to leave the district in Democratic hands, so surrounding districts would be safer for Republicans. "The evidence offered ... adequately supports the conclusion that race, not politics, accounted for the district's reconfiguration," Kagan wrote. Justice Clarence Thomas joined the four liberal justices. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito and Anthony Kennedy dissented. "Partisan gerrymandering is always unsavory, but that is not the issue here," Alito wrote, per USA Today. "The issue is whether District 12 was drawn predominantly because of race. The record shows that it was not." Justice Neil Gorsuch did not take part. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court struck down two congressional districts in North Carolina Monday because race played too large a role in their creation.
The justices ruled that Republicans who controlled the state legislature and governor's office in 2011 placed too many African-Americans in the two districts. The result was to weaken African-American voting strength elsewhere in North Carolina.
Both districts have since been redrawn and the state conducted elections under the new congressional map in 2016. Even with the new districts, Republicans maintained their 10-3 edge in congressional seats.
Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the court, said the state did not offer compelling justifications to justify its reliance on race in either district.
The issue of race and redistricting one is a familiar one at the Supreme Court and Kagan noted that one of the districts was "making its fifth(!) appearance before this court."
States have to take race into account when drawing maps for legislative, congressional and a host of municipal political districts. At the same time, race can't be the predominant factor without very strong reasons, under a line of high court cases stretching back 20 years.
A three-judge federal court had previously struck down the two districts. The justices upheld the lower court ruling on both counts.
The court unanimously affirmed the lower court ruling on District 1 in northeastern North Carolina. Kagan wrote that the court will not "approve a racial gerrymander whose necessity is supported by no evidence."
The justices split 5-3 on the other district, District 12 in the southwestern part of the state. Justice Clarence Thomas joined the four liberal justices to form a majority. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito and Anthony Kennedy dissented. Justice Neil Gorsuch did not part in the case.
The state insisted that race played no role at all in the creation of one district. Instead, the state argued that Republicans who controlled the redistricting process wanted to leave the district in Democratic hands, so that the surrounding districts would be safer for Republicans.
"The evidence offered at trial...adequately supports the conclusion that race, not politics, accounted for the district's reconfiguration," Kagan wrote.
Alito said in dissent that the evidence instead shows that the district's borders "are readily explained by political considerations." ||||| CLOSE The Supreme Court just made a ruling that could be a game changer for the 2018 election. Ryan Sartor (@ryansartor) has that story. Buzz60
The U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing stays of executions for two Arkansas inmates scheduled to die on April 24, 2017. (Photo: Win McNamee, Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that racial considerations pervaded the way North Carolina lawmakers drew congressional maps after the 2010 Census in order to maximize Republicans' advantage.
The 5-3 ruling, written by Justice Elena Kagan, was the latest in a series of decisions by the justices against the excessive use of race in redistricting, the decennial process of drawing new district lines for Congress and state legislatures. Justice Clarence Thomas joined the court's four liberal justices in striking down the state's maps.
The high court in March demanded additional lower court review of 11 Virginia state legislature districts that Republicans designed with at least 55% black voting-age populations. That followed a decision against Alabama's state legislative districts in 2015.
The North Carolina ruling upheld a federal district court decision that struck down the state's 1st and 12th congressional districts because state lawmakers had packed African American voters into them, thereby minimizing the influence of black voters in other districts. Kagan said the 1st district "produced boundaries amplifying divisions between blacks and whites," while in the 12th, "race, not politics, accounted for the district's reconfiguration."
Justice Samuel Alito dissented on the 12th district, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy. They agreed with state officials that the district was drawn to help Republicans, not to disenfranchise black voters. The high court has never struck down political maps drawn to help one party, though a case from Wisconsin is likely to offer a new test next year.
"Partisan gerrymandering is always unsavory, but that is not the issue here," Alito wrote. "So long as the legislature chose to retain the basic shape of District 12 and to increase the number of Democrats in the district, it was inevitable that the Democrats brought in would be disproportionately black."
Alito also criticized the majority decision for failing to stand by a 2001 case in which the high court upheld a similar configuration for that district. "A precedent of this court should not be treated like a disposable household item — say, a paper plate or napkin — to be used once and then tossed in the trash," he said.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 requires that states draw districts enabling African Americans to elect their chosen representatives, lest black voters be spread too thinly across district lines. Two decades ago, Democrats used the law to demand so-called "majority-minority" districts.
Since Republicans took over many state legislatures in 2010, they have drawn districts with what African American and Democratic critics claim are more blacks than necessary, in order to keep surrounding districts whiter — and more Republican. But the Supreme Court has knocked down several of those maps.
“This is a watershed moment in the fight to end racial gerrymandering,” said Eric Holder, the former Democratic attorney general now chairing the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. “Today’s ruling sends a stark message to legislatures and governors around the country: Racial gerrymandering is illegal and will be struck down in a court of law.”
But Hans von Spakovsky of the conservative Heritage Foundation said the ruling compounds "the confused state of the law."
"The Supreme Court says race can be a factor in redistricting but not the predominant factor, a rule that is so vague, so broad, and so lacking in a definable legal standard that it is not really a rule at all,” he said.
The North Carolina case involved two congressional districts that had come before the Supreme Court several times before; it was the fifth time for District 12, drawn in snakelike fashion along Interstate 85 after the 1990 Census to create a district capable of electing black lawmakers. Kagan noted that the latest district lines added "a couple of knobs" and some 35,000 black voters, even though it has elected African Americans since 1992.
Those changes helped change the state's congressional delegation from 7-6 Democratic in 2010 to 10-3 Republican in 2016 -- a trend that Alito said resulted from "a coherent (and generally successful) political strategy."
Even as the justices debated the North Carolina and Virginia maps in December, another case from Wisconsin was moving their way that could give them a chance to rule on partisan, rather than racial, gerrymandering. To date, the court has not defined how much political advantage is too much.
Read more:
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2rKxSTO | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 23,356 |
Remember the (fictitious, funny) Onion article "Planned Parenthood Opens $8 Billion Abortionplex"? Now the famed Abortionplex is on Yelp. Free nachos and mojitos after your partial birth abortion, with a Yelp discount code! As noted in a previous Boing Boing post, many people believe the Abortionplex (and other Onion coverage) is real. I can't wait for the credulous Fox News coverage to kick in.
Here's one recent review:
Tell your doc you want The Flying Dutchman if you want to squeeze your abortion appointment in between two pieces of meat, if you know what I mean, and let's face it, you always know what I mean.
But real pros know that nothing satisfies your hunger for an empty uterus quite as much as well as Animal Style. In this iteration of the classic abortion, after the doctor perfectly vacuums the contents of your uterus, she then fills it with a secret sauce filled with tiny unicorns which will trot around poking holes in your uterine lining and preventing zygotes from taking hold for at least 6 months. But let's face it, even if you're already filled to the brim with tiny unicorns and think you won't be abortion-hungry again for a while, you know you'll be poking around Abortionplex tomorrow on your lunch break. It's too good to stay away! ||||| The "Abortionplex" — that flight of Onion fancy that some think is real — has a Yelp page that's racked up a slew of satisfied user reviews. Next up: the CGI animated family feature. Get to work, Hollywood! [BoingBoing] ||||| 181
Topeka , KS 66611
As soon as my girlfriend and I got our welfare check cashed, we headed right over to Abortionplex for the second time this week and were initially seated in the smoking lounge where we only had to wait a few minutes before being seen by someone who said they were going to sell our baby parts for profit and cut us in on the deal! It is best to go during the middle of the day in the week when all those other suckers are out working hard while we sleep til noon, get up and smoke dope and get pregnant again! We get pregnant quite a lot since the Republicans shut down our local planned parenthood and we no longer have access to birth control but hell, with all the money we are making on baby parts, who cares! Now we can afford to buy a new gun at the new gun shop that replaced the abortion clinic! Now we can have all the irresponsible sex we want! The last time we had a foursome which included a lot of unprotected gay sex! Looks like we will be taking a trip to Abortionplex soon! My girlfriends parents would probably freak out if they saw her with a black baby so once again, Thanks Abortionplex!
They only did a half job! I had twins and they forgot one! Bah! Now I have to come all the way back here. Not happy Abortionplex! Will be writing a letter! 3 stars for half a job.
Holy crap! "Working Women's Wednesdays"???!? AND today IS Wednesday???!? Hay hay hayyyyyyy! ::: (\_(\ *: (=' :') :* *.. (,(")(")°..*`»
Ask and you shall receive. Spring break is done, season is over, Easter came and went and money should be back from tax refunds. What to do? What to do, but find an something fun to do like the rides at the abortionplex. People are friendly and service here is great. Don't forget your frequent customer loyalty card where your 5th one is on the house. BTW FYI here are some of the Yelp cliche. This is the best ( fill in the blank ) or abortions in town... This is a hole in the wall. Unless there is a real hole in the wall. Hehe. I'm surprised I didn't write a review on abortionplex I'm excited to try abortionplex out This is a hidden gem Nothing to write home about. One word review One sentence review I'm from _____ and I know how good ______tastes. I am _____. So I know how should taste. I am from Topeka and I know good abortions. The food is yummy I have one review no friends no avatar but listen to my review. The buffet is amazing or the perverted cousin amazeballs. If I could give negative stars I would. This place has the best _____ Ever / Ev ah! Meh. The good...the bad....the ugly.. Lol ROTF LMAO ETC ETC. bla Bla bla. Woot?! I wanted to like this place but... This is a diamond in the rough To die for. Really. (though shall not kill) Hands down the best/worst ______. PS I hear they plan to have BOGO on Memorial day. Just check in using FourSquare. "I'm going to be back soon." One more cliche sorry.
I find all this stuff simply outrageous! To all of the people who gave this place warm reviews, you are just plain evil! My wife and I have been trying to have a child for a quite some time now, but ever since one of her girlfriends took her to this Abortionplex place for a bachelorette party, it's like she's become some sort of abortion addict! I really want kids but I swear that four or five times in a row now, whenever that little pee stick turns pink, she just goes gallivanting off with her friends for another minor surgery! She says it's just "a girl thing" and that I wouldn't understand. Well I'm sick of it!! The only upside to this whole painful ordeal is that thus far, all of our destroyed fetuses have just been little girls and not the robust young sons that I want to raise. But even so, what if one HAD been a little boy?! This place and all of its supporters makes me want to puke.
Hadn't been awhile. Just went back for a trip down old memory lane. Doesn't get much better than this. Now I can go on that vacation to Europe I always wanted.
Tired of waiting in the long lines? Frustrated with not able to eat your own baby? Fret no longer, Abortionplex has heard Yelpers complaints and introduced the new Brilliant Affordable Baby Yanking (B.A.B.Y.) vending machines! With thousands of B.A.B.Y.s located throughout the Abortionplex, anyone who seeks to have an abortion simply swipes their credit card, walk into the machine, and 5 minutes later, voila, out comes the baby! Want to take the baby home and share with family and friends? No problem! Just select the 'CAKE' option before or after the procedure, and B.A.B.Y. will turn the discarded fetus into a sweet, soft, moist, colorful and delicious cake! http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/1lzQnPn2tYvdP6oVbQ0BEw?select=pvw1BtSxKmsmrhpmqaKfYw Yum! It's really that easy! (This review is not sponsored by, endorsed by, or affiliated with Abortionplex in any way. Anticipated side effects following an abortion includes Abdominal pain and cramping, Nausea, Vomiting, Diarrhea, blah and blah. Potential more serious complications includes blah or blah blah, blah blah or sepsis, blah blah blah, blah blah, blah blah blah blah, and Death. Call your doctor and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah and blah blah.)
Sux, And the place looks like a hellhole. Makes me sick. Personally opposed to abortion in general, Despite my center left leanings. But this place looks sucky.
When I had to plan my BFF's bachelorette party, I emailed Abortionplex to see if they had any special bride-to-be packages. I'm happy to report that they do! So if you're like me and are totally bored with parties that begin with a pole dancing class and end with a half-day visit to a spa, I think you'll find this place to be a fun alternative. (I can't wait until my other friends plan their weddings, so I'll have an excuse to go back!) Just make sure to send all your invitees "Save the Dates" far enough in advance so that those who are lesbian, abstinent, or reproductively-challenged can make appropriate arrangements with a turkey baster, sperm bank, IVF, etc.--and so everyone else will know when to schedule a little hanky panky. (Oh! My BBF's grandma didn't want to miss out on the fun, so she hired a surrogate.) I chose the "Here Goes the Pregnant Bride" weekend package, which gave us the opportunity to spend the Saturday night playing Baby Pong at Abortionplex's super-hip "Got Fetal Alcohol Syndrome?" bar. I was particularly impressed by the giant flat-screened TVs showing around-the-clock live footage of other people's abortions (for some even larger larger-than-life cinematic entertainment, check out one of the many movie theatres)! And instead of cocktail stirrers, each drink came with a uterine curette. . . . It was such a cute touch and by the end of the evening, I'd amassed a whole collection of them to take home with me. Stop by the giftshop for some RU486 valuepacks and maybe a decorative fetus jar (preserved in formalin--heirloom quality), and you'll be all set with great souvenirs. After recovering from our hangovers the next morning, we pre-gamed at the "Say Goodbye to Eating for Two" brunch before hopping on the monorail over to one of the group abortion complexes. The best part of the whole weekend was how we all had our abortions done at the same time, on surgical tables right next to each other. (I can't wait to watch the DVD they gave each of us!) We all opted for vacuum aspiration with local anesthesia. In all my other abortions, I've opted for twilight anesthesia (love benzos and narcs!), but this time around we wanted to be able to chat about our last-minute plans for a "No Baby Shower" we had scheduled for that evening. And I'm so happy I was awake for the whole abortion; it was kinda like going to get manicures with all my girlfriends, but with stirrups! Also be sure to reserve the "Coat Hanger Suite" for the bride-to-be. When my BFF's grandma saw it, she got all nostalgic, it was pretty touching. Please also note: if you book your weekend far enough in advance, you might even be able to reserve the "Back Alley Penthouse." I asked for it, but it's booked straight through 2014. . . .
I've seen a fair share of abortionplexes in my day, and this one is only so-so. As with any establishment I review on Yelp, though, I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. After all, it just opened. There are going to be kinks that need to be worked out, that sort of thing. For now, it earns three stars. One highlight that truly stood out to me was the "prep room." Surprised that no one else had mentioned it in their reviews, I took a photo of some nice ladies there who had shown up for their "big day" and were readying themselves with beer bongs. What a great attitude! I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a couple myself while waiting for the missus to finish up her business. Oh, and one other thing: the "Hall of Fame" fetus photo wall was a bit much. Call me a puritanical Southerner, but that's just my two cents. Nevertheless, I will return. Look forward to a follow-up!
My girlfriend and I had bought a Groupon here a few weeks ago (2 Abortions for the price of 1 [or twins in 1 visit]) which is perfect timing cause our Dyson vacuum is all clogged up at the moment. The unborn baby was starting to show, making her look a little fat so I couldn't wait to get here cause I'd heard such rave reviews. When you arrive they have you take a pregnancy test, one of those sticks you pee on, but the ones they have are edible! They're just like those white sticks you use to scoop out Fun Dip with! The waiting area for the guys is incredible! All the Capri Sun you could want and special edition Pringles cans that are wide enough to actually fit your whole fist in! Not to mention Funnel cake and face-painting (I had them make me look like Spiderman). My girlfriend opted for the deluxe packed which included a post-abortion uterus massage + anal bleaching. So I went to check out their walk-through exhibit called "The Joys of Aborting Motherhood." They put a fake stomach on you that has rumble sensors so you can feel almost what its like to experience the joys of having a baby sucked out. We were pretty hungry afterwards so we hit up their seafood restaurant, "Claws & Clams" I know what you're thinking, "Seafood in Kansas?!" But trust me,you HAVE to try the Placenta Cakes! They're just like crab cakes but so much more amazing, with a zesty-tangy kick! The indoor fireworks at the end of the night was just a perfect way to end a perfect day.
Though the ingredients aren't all locally sourced, the dishes are organic and very fresh. I highly recommend the tasting menu, as you really should experience the full range of flavors this amazing establishment has to offer. My favorite course was the fricassee with baby arugula in an amniotic reduction. It was a bit on the salty side, but tremendously flavorful with a terrific mouth-feel. Also, definitely don't leave without trying the dessert. I had the vanilla bean gelato with candied umbilical crisps. It was to die for.
As a gay guy, I have no reason to come here unless one of my friends get pregnant -- fortunately, God gave me really slutty friends and the sense to poke holes in their condoms, cause I can't get enough of this place! Every time I come here, I'm treated like a big shot, even though it's really my friend who's the star of the show. I think the receptionists keep some of your personal details on file, because they remember what I do and my favorite music well enough to ask me if I've been to any concerts lately. It's those little details that keep me coming back. Well, that and getting to witness the miracle of abortion.
I really, really, wanted to like this place. The convenience of frequent cards, on-site shopping, dining, and a movie theater! But alas, this place is the prime example of corporate American Greed. Yes, the on-site bar is a great way to help your lady take the leap, but the prices are outrageous! I mean $15 for a f*cking margarita?!?! I can easily get my girl liquored up in the car on the way for much less. Don't even get me started on the cost of "services rendered". I don't know how it is where you live, but I know plenty of reputable doctors (with degrees from Upstairs Hollywood Medical College) that can perform these services for less than half of what Abortionplex is charging. Hell, most of the time they'll even come to you and perform the procedure in your bathtub, and leave you some internet knock-off pericocet or oxy. Talk about convenience! Lastly, if you go to Abortionplex you'll miss out of the love from the Haters. There was no one here throwing fruit/veggies at us and reminding us how much God hates us. I mean, that's all part of the experience right? Sadly, we probably won't be returning here, but if you're a woman working the oldest profession in the world, or just some bar-slut who bangs anyone who buys you 8 or 9 bottles of the High Life, I can see how this place may be good fit for you.
I also got the groupon for the Abortionplex and overall my experience was fine. The clinic was fast and service was friendly and efficient but they seemed a little ruder towards me (I think) because I had a groupon. If you don't want people using the groupons, don't offer! I deserve those 4 abortions! However, the clinic wasn't so bad compared to the buffet. I'm not sure who the chef was, but I could tell that some of those fetuses at the make-your-own omelette bar were a little old. Come on, the clinic is right there! You'd think that they'd at least be able to guarantee freshness in their ingredients. Overall this place is totally worth it with the groupon, but I'm not sure if full price I would go back again. Skip the lazy river.
Was wary of paying those big city prices, but I had a Groupon, so I took the girls down to give this place a try. Well, I am impressed! The free buffet was delish, and the many entertainment options will really bring out the kid in you. There's an ACORN office on the premises, so my girls (who are all illegal immigrants) were able to register to vote. They even got a complimentary Obamaphone just for signing up! Loved the mechanical games too - "Whack a Hole", "Ride the Mechanical Papal Bull", "SuperPAC Man". Unfortunately the "Ms. SuperPAC Man" was not available, the sign said it was undergoing a transvaginal ultrasound. Overall, I give it five stars, would abort again. Spend a little extra on the manicure and Thai foot massage package, it just makes the DnC time fly by. And you single guys, keep your eyes out for the many single slutty hotties that are there. With this religious freedom = no birth control coverage thing, your opportunities will, unlike the women there, be multiplying!
Hey fellas! The Abortionplex ain't just for the girls. While you're waiting check out the awesome game room with XBox and Playstation. The sports bar has about 30 beers on tap and man the bar maids are hot. Tip extra and maybe you'll get a phone number or two. And don't forget to ask for your Frequent Fornicator punch card. Get six abortions and the 7th is free!
They tried to hard sell me their services, I paid, I was worked over, and then I go see my general practitioner and find out all I'd just paid to end the life of was my kidney stone. Future customers: Men don't need the services here, don't let them sell it to you.
I stopped by here to check it out because I got a gift card from my friend who told me that The Abortionplex has the best mimosas and performs the best abortions--and let me tell you, I am a sucker for both! I've been places that have had just so-so mimosas but good abortions, and vice versa. Pros: 1. The Buffet: Like other Yelpers, I would agree to skip the fish. But the brunch? Ah-MAZE-ing! I had the Eggs Benedict with the fresh fruit compote. And it was on top of biscuits, not English muffins. I loved it, but if you are looking for a more traditional Eggs Benedict, they have that, too. My companion said that the meatloaf was a little salty, so if you're watching your sodium intake, you may want to skip it. And the mimosas? Holy delicious! I think I teared up a little--they were *that* tasty. 2. The Rock Climbing Wall: Yes, this is the largest rock climbing wall that I have ever seen. I opted to skip it, but my companion climbed it and thought it was awesome. 3. Abortions: I got a tour of the rooms....clean, private, comfortable. Everything a girl could ask for. 4. The bar: My companion sat at the bar while I went for a tour. The whiskey sours are fantastic (like one Yelper wrote), and they know how to pour a Guinness, which is a bonus. Cons: Two things, which is why I gave it only 4 stars: First, anyone else irritated that the Orange Julius was being renovated? I'm hoping that it will be open by the time I return in about 8 weeks. Second, the bathrooms by the rock climbing wall were out of paper towels. And when I told someone about it, they were a bit rude. Super annoying! I heard that they are opening a Hot Topic by the food court to attract the younger crowd, and I just hope that it doesn't change the vibe of the place. Overall, The Abortionplex rocks. It would make a fun romantic getaway, a place to have your bachelorette party, or even a place to take your mom for brunch and a movie while you're seeing the doctor. Can't wait to get pregnant! ||||| TOPEKA, KS—Planned Parenthood announced Tuesday the grand opening of its long-planned $8 billion Abortionplex, a sprawling abortion facility that will allow the organization to terminate unborn lives with an efficiency never before thought possible.
During a press conference, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards told reporters that the new state-of-the-art fetus-killing facility located in the nation's heartland offers quick, easy, in-and-out abortions to all women, and represents a bold reinvention of the group's long-standing mission and values.
"Although we've traditionally dedicated 97 percent of our resources to other important services such as contraception distribution, cancer screening, and STD testing, this new complex allows us to devote our full attention to what has always been our true passion: abortion," said Richards, standing under a banner emblazoned with Planned Parenthood's new slogan, "No Life Is Sacred." "And since Congress voted to retain our federal funding, it's going to be that much easier for us to maximize the number of tiny, beating hearts we stop every day."
"The Abortionplex's high-tech machinery is capable of terminating one pregnancy every three seconds," Richards added. "That's almost a million abortions every month. We're so thrilled!"
The 900,000-square-foot facility has more than 2,000 rooms dedicated to the abortion procedure. The abundance of surgical space, Richards said, will ensure that women visiting the facility can be quickly fitted into stirrups without pausing to second-guess their decision or consider alternatives such as adoption. Hundreds of on-site counselors are also available to meet with clients free of charge and go over the many ways that carrying a child to term will burden them and very likely ruin their lives.
The remaining space is dedicated to amenities such as coffee shops, bars, dozens of restaurants and retail outlets, a three-story nightclub, and a 10-screen multiplex theater—features intended not only to help clients relax, but to foster a sense of community and make abortion more of a social event.
"We really want abortion to become a regular part of women's lives, especially younger women who have enough fertile years ahead of them to potentially have dozens of abortions," said Richards, adding that the Abortionplex would provide shuttle service to and from most residences, schools, and shopping malls in the region. "Our hope is for this facility to become a regular destination where a woman in her second trimester can whoop it up at karaoke and then kick back while we vacuum out the contents of her uterus."
"All women should feel like they have a home at the Abortionplex," Richards continued. "Whether she's a high school junior who doesn't want to go to prom pregnant, a go-getter professional who can't be bothered with the time commitment of raising a child, or a prostitute who knows getting an abortion is the easiest form of birth control—all are welcome."
Nineteen-year-old Marcy Kolrath, one of the Abortionplex's first clients, told reporters that despite her initial hesitancy, she was quickly put at ease by staff members who reassured her that she could have abortions over and over for the next decade before finally committing to motherhood. Kolrath also said she was "wowed" by the facility's many attractions.
"I was kind of on the fence in the beginning," she said. "But after a couple of margaritas and a ride down the lazy river they've got circling the place, I got caught up in the vibe. By the time it was over, I almost wished I could've aborted twins and gotten to stay a little longer."
"I told my boyfriend we had to have sex again that very night," Kolrath added. "I really want to come back over Labor Day." | – The Abortionplex started out as a whopper of an Onion tale, but took on a life of its own when a few Facebook users, believing it was true, got hilariously angry about it. Now it has spawned a Yelp page, complete with a 3.5-star rating based on more than 100 "reviews." Sample lines: “I recommend getting a season pass like I did! I got the Gold Package so I can bring 2 girlfriends with me and their abortions are covered. Such a good deal and a bonding moment.” “The food court was as everyone has said. amazing? I spent the time gathering free samples (Chick Fil-A FTW) and got to slowly enjoy an Orange Julius as my niece had her lawfully obligatory sonogram.” “The only way it could be better would be if they offered drive-thru service, but I guess you just can't rush some things.” “I can't support the Abortionplex anymore. I used to bring girls there every few months, back when it was called ‘Abortion Place.’ Now I go, and the lines are way to long, and it's all commercialized.” “Originally came to the 'Plex on a whim with a LivingSocial Instant Deal... what a gem! For $11 I was treated to the their ‘lunch’ combo of a basic abortion AND an order of General Tso's chicken.” Check out all the reviews on Yelp. Hat tips to Gawker and Boing Boing for the find. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Remember the (fictitious, funny) Onion article "Planned Parenthood Opens $8 Billion Abortionplex"? Now the famed Abortionplex is on Yelp. Free nachos and mojitos after your partial birth abortion, with a Yelp discount code! As noted in a previous Boing Boing post, many people believe the Abortionplex (and other Onion coverage) is real. I can't wait for the credulous Fox News coverage to kick in.
Here's one recent review:
Tell your doc you want The Flying Dutchman if you want to squeeze your abortion appointment in between two pieces of meat, if you know what I mean, and let's face it, you always know what I mean.
But real pros know that nothing satisfies your hunger for an empty uterus quite as much as well as Animal Style. In this iteration of the classic abortion, after the doctor perfectly vacuums the contents of your uterus, she then fills it with a secret sauce filled with tiny unicorns which will trot around poking holes in your uterine lining and preventing zygotes from taking hold for at least 6 months. But let's face it, even if you're already filled to the brim with tiny unicorns and think you won't be abortion-hungry again for a while, you know you'll be poking around Abortionplex tomorrow on your lunch break. It's too good to stay away! ||||| The "Abortionplex" — that flight of Onion fancy that some think is real — has a Yelp page that's racked up a slew of satisfied user reviews. Next up: the CGI animated family feature. Get to work, Hollywood! [BoingBoing] ||||| 181
Topeka , KS 66611
As soon as my girlfriend and I got our welfare check cashed, we headed right over to Abortionplex for the second time this week and were initially seated in the smoking lounge where we only had to wait a few minutes before being seen by someone who said they were going to sell our baby parts for profit and cut us in on the deal! It is best to go during the middle of the day in the week when all those other suckers are out working hard while we sleep til noon, get up and smoke dope and get pregnant again! We get pregnant quite a lot since the Republicans shut down our local planned parenthood and we no longer have access to birth control but hell, with all the money we are making on baby parts, who cares! Now we can afford to buy a new gun at the new gun shop that replaced the abortion clinic! Now we can have all the irresponsible sex we want! The last time we had a foursome which included a lot of unprotected gay sex! Looks like we will be taking a trip to Abortionplex soon! My girlfriends parents would probably freak out if they saw her with a black baby so once again, Thanks Abortionplex!
They only did a half job! I had twins and they forgot one! Bah! Now I have to come all the way back here. Not happy Abortionplex! Will be writing a letter! 3 stars for half a job.
Holy crap! "Working Women's Wednesdays"???!? AND today IS Wednesday???!? Hay hay hayyyyyyy! ::: (\_(\ *: (=' :') :* *.. (,(")(")°..*`»
Ask and you shall receive. Spring break is done, season is over, Easter came and went and money should be back from tax refunds. What to do? What to do, but find an something fun to do like the rides at the abortionplex. People are friendly and service here is great. Don't forget your frequent customer loyalty card where your 5th one is on the house. BTW FYI here are some of the Yelp cliche. This is the best ( fill in the blank ) or abortions in town... This is a hole in the wall. Unless there is a real hole in the wall. Hehe. I'm surprised I didn't write a review on abortionplex I'm excited to try abortionplex out This is a hidden gem Nothing to write home about. One word review One sentence review I'm from _____ and I know how good ______tastes. I am _____. So I know how should taste. I am from Topeka and I know good abortions. The food is yummy I have one review no friends no avatar but listen to my review. The buffet is amazing or the perverted cousin amazeballs. If I could give negative stars I would. This place has the best _____ Ever / Ev ah! Meh. The good...the bad....the ugly.. Lol ROTF LMAO ETC ETC. bla Bla bla. Woot?! I wanted to like this place but... This is a diamond in the rough To die for. Really. (though shall not kill) Hands down the best/worst ______. PS I hear they plan to have BOGO on Memorial day. Just check in using FourSquare. "I'm going to be back soon." One more cliche sorry.
I find all this stuff simply outrageous! To all of the people who gave this place warm reviews, you are just plain evil! My wife and I have been trying to have a child for a quite some time now, but ever since one of her girlfriends took her to this Abortionplex place for a bachelorette party, it's like she's become some sort of abortion addict! I really want kids but I swear that four or five times in a row now, whenever that little pee stick turns pink, she just goes gallivanting off with her friends for another minor surgery! She says it's just "a girl thing" and that I wouldn't understand. Well I'm sick of it!! The only upside to this whole painful ordeal is that thus far, all of our destroyed fetuses have just been little girls and not the robust young sons that I want to raise. But even so, what if one HAD been a little boy?! This place and all of its supporters makes me want to puke.
Hadn't been awhile. Just went back for a trip down old memory lane. Doesn't get much better than this. Now I can go on that vacation to Europe I always wanted.
Tired of waiting in the long lines? Frustrated with not able to eat your own baby? Fret no longer, Abortionplex has heard Yelpers complaints and introduced the new Brilliant Affordable Baby Yanking (B.A.B.Y.) vending machines! With thousands of B.A.B.Y.s located throughout the Abortionplex, anyone who seeks to have an abortion simply swipes their credit card, walk into the machine, and 5 minutes later, voila, out comes the baby! Want to take the baby home and share with family and friends? No problem! Just select the 'CAKE' option before or after the procedure, and B.A.B.Y. will turn the discarded fetus into a sweet, soft, moist, colorful and delicious cake! http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/1lzQnPn2tYvdP6oVbQ0BEw?select=pvw1BtSxKmsmrhpmqaKfYw Yum! It's really that easy! (This review is not sponsored by, endorsed by, or affiliated with Abortionplex in any way. Anticipated side effects following an abortion includes Abdominal pain and cramping, Nausea, Vomiting, Diarrhea, blah and blah. Potential more serious complications includes blah or blah blah, blah blah or sepsis, blah blah blah, blah blah, blah blah blah blah, and Death. Call your doctor and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah and blah blah.)
Sux, And the place looks like a hellhole. Makes me sick. Personally opposed to abortion in general, Despite my center left leanings. But this place looks sucky.
When I had to plan my BFF's bachelorette party, I emailed Abortionplex to see if they had any special bride-to-be packages. I'm happy to report that they do! So if you're like me and are totally bored with parties that begin with a pole dancing class and end with a half-day visit to a spa, I think you'll find this place to be a fun alternative. (I can't wait until my other friends plan their weddings, so I'll have an excuse to go back!) Just make sure to send all your invitees "Save the Dates" far enough in advance so that those who are lesbian, abstinent, or reproductively-challenged can make appropriate arrangements with a turkey baster, sperm bank, IVF, etc.--and so everyone else will know when to schedule a little hanky panky. (Oh! My BBF's grandma didn't want to miss out on the fun, so she hired a surrogate.) I chose the "Here Goes the Pregnant Bride" weekend package, which gave us the opportunity to spend the Saturday night playing Baby Pong at Abortionplex's super-hip "Got Fetal Alcohol Syndrome?" bar. I was particularly impressed by the giant flat-screened TVs showing around-the-clock live footage of other people's abortions (for some even larger larger-than-life cinematic entertainment, check out one of the many movie theatres)! And instead of cocktail stirrers, each drink came with a uterine curette. . . . It was such a cute touch and by the end of the evening, I'd amassed a whole collection of them to take home with me. Stop by the giftshop for some RU486 valuepacks and maybe a decorative fetus jar (preserved in formalin--heirloom quality), and you'll be all set with great souvenirs. After recovering from our hangovers the next morning, we pre-gamed at the "Say Goodbye to Eating for Two" brunch before hopping on the monorail over to one of the group abortion complexes. The best part of the whole weekend was how we all had our abortions done at the same time, on surgical tables right next to each other. (I can't wait to watch the DVD they gave each of us!) We all opted for vacuum aspiration with local anesthesia. In all my other abortions, I've opted for twilight anesthesia (love benzos and narcs!), but this time around we wanted to be able to chat about our last-minute plans for a "No Baby Shower" we had scheduled for that evening. And I'm so happy I was awake for the whole abortion; it was kinda like going to get manicures with all my girlfriends, but with stirrups! Also be sure to reserve the "Coat Hanger Suite" for the bride-to-be. When my BFF's grandma saw it, she got all nostalgic, it was pretty touching. Please also note: if you book your weekend far enough in advance, you might even be able to reserve the "Back Alley Penthouse." I asked for it, but it's booked straight through 2014. . . .
I've seen a fair share of abortionplexes in my day, and this one is only so-so. As with any establishment I review on Yelp, though, I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. After all, it just opened. There are going to be kinks that need to be worked out, that sort of thing. For now, it earns three stars. One highlight that truly stood out to me was the "prep room." Surprised that no one else had mentioned it in their reviews, I took a photo of some nice ladies there who had shown up for their "big day" and were readying themselves with beer bongs. What a great attitude! I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a couple myself while waiting for the missus to finish up her business. Oh, and one other thing: the "Hall of Fame" fetus photo wall was a bit much. Call me a puritanical Southerner, but that's just my two cents. Nevertheless, I will return. Look forward to a follow-up!
My girlfriend and I had bought a Groupon here a few weeks ago (2 Abortions for the price of 1 [or twins in 1 visit]) which is perfect timing cause our Dyson vacuum is all clogged up at the moment. The unborn baby was starting to show, making her look a little fat so I couldn't wait to get here cause I'd heard such rave reviews. When you arrive they have you take a pregnancy test, one of those sticks you pee on, but the ones they have are edible! They're just like those white sticks you use to scoop out Fun Dip with! The waiting area for the guys is incredible! All the Capri Sun you could want and special edition Pringles cans that are wide enough to actually fit your whole fist in! Not to mention Funnel cake and face-painting (I had them make me look like Spiderman). My girlfriend opted for the deluxe packed which included a post-abortion uterus massage + anal bleaching. So I went to check out their walk-through exhibit called "The Joys of Aborting Motherhood." They put a fake stomach on you that has rumble sensors so you can feel almost what its like to experience the joys of having a baby sucked out. We were pretty hungry afterwards so we hit up their seafood restaurant, "Claws & Clams" I know what you're thinking, "Seafood in Kansas?!" But trust me,you HAVE to try the Placenta Cakes! They're just like crab cakes but so much more amazing, with a zesty-tangy kick! The indoor fireworks at the end of the night was just a perfect way to end a perfect day.
Though the ingredients aren't all locally sourced, the dishes are organic and very fresh. I highly recommend the tasting menu, as you really should experience the full range of flavors this amazing establishment has to offer. My favorite course was the fricassee with baby arugula in an amniotic reduction. It was a bit on the salty side, but tremendously flavorful with a terrific mouth-feel. Also, definitely don't leave without trying the dessert. I had the vanilla bean gelato with candied umbilical crisps. It was to die for.
As a gay guy, I have no reason to come here unless one of my friends get pregnant -- fortunately, God gave me really slutty friends and the sense to poke holes in their condoms, cause I can't get enough of this place! Every time I come here, I'm treated like a big shot, even though it's really my friend who's the star of the show. I think the receptionists keep some of your personal details on file, because they remember what I do and my favorite music well enough to ask me if I've been to any concerts lately. It's those little details that keep me coming back. Well, that and getting to witness the miracle of abortion.
I really, really, wanted to like this place. The convenience of frequent cards, on-site shopping, dining, and a movie theater! But alas, this place is the prime example of corporate American Greed. Yes, the on-site bar is a great way to help your lady take the leap, but the prices are outrageous! I mean $15 for a f*cking margarita?!?! I can easily get my girl liquored up in the car on the way for much less. Don't even get me started on the cost of "services rendered". I don't know how it is where you live, but I know plenty of reputable doctors (with degrees from Upstairs Hollywood Medical College) that can perform these services for less than half of what Abortionplex is charging. Hell, most of the time they'll even come to you and perform the procedure in your bathtub, and leave you some internet knock-off pericocet or oxy. Talk about convenience! Lastly, if you go to Abortionplex you'll miss out of the love from the Haters. There was no one here throwing fruit/veggies at us and reminding us how much God hates us. I mean, that's all part of the experience right? Sadly, we probably won't be returning here, but if you're a woman working the oldest profession in the world, or just some bar-slut who bangs anyone who buys you 8 or 9 bottles of the High Life, I can see how this place may be good fit for you.
I also got the groupon for the Abortionplex and overall my experience was fine. The clinic was fast and service was friendly and efficient but they seemed a little ruder towards me (I think) because I had a groupon. If you don't want people using the groupons, don't offer! I deserve those 4 abortions! However, the clinic wasn't so bad compared to the buffet. I'm not sure who the chef was, but I could tell that some of those fetuses at the make-your-own omelette bar were a little old. Come on, the clinic is right there! You'd think that they'd at least be able to guarantee freshness in their ingredients. Overall this place is totally worth it with the groupon, but I'm not sure if full price I would go back again. Skip the lazy river.
Was wary of paying those big city prices, but I had a Groupon, so I took the girls down to give this place a try. Well, I am impressed! The free buffet was delish, and the many entertainment options will really bring out the kid in you. There's an ACORN office on the premises, so my girls (who are all illegal immigrants) were able to register to vote. They even got a complimentary Obamaphone just for signing up! Loved the mechanical games too - "Whack a Hole", "Ride the Mechanical Papal Bull", "SuperPAC Man". Unfortunately the "Ms. SuperPAC Man" was not available, the sign said it was undergoing a transvaginal ultrasound. Overall, I give it five stars, would abort again. Spend a little extra on the manicure and Thai foot massage package, it just makes the DnC time fly by. And you single guys, keep your eyes out for the many single slutty hotties that are there. With this religious freedom = no birth control coverage thing, your opportunities will, unlike the women there, be multiplying!
Hey fellas! The Abortionplex ain't just for the girls. While you're waiting check out the awesome game room with XBox and Playstation. The sports bar has about 30 beers on tap and man the bar maids are hot. Tip extra and maybe you'll get a phone number or two. And don't forget to ask for your Frequent Fornicator punch card. Get six abortions and the 7th is free!
They tried to hard sell me their services, I paid, I was worked over, and then I go see my general practitioner and find out all I'd just paid to end the life of was my kidney stone. Future customers: Men don't need the services here, don't let them sell it to you.
I stopped by here to check it out because I got a gift card from my friend who told me that The Abortionplex has the best mimosas and performs the best abortions--and let me tell you, I am a sucker for both! I've been places that have had just so-so mimosas but good abortions, and vice versa. Pros: 1. The Buffet: Like other Yelpers, I would agree to skip the fish. But the brunch? Ah-MAZE-ing! I had the Eggs Benedict with the fresh fruit compote. And it was on top of biscuits, not English muffins. I loved it, but if you are looking for a more traditional Eggs Benedict, they have that, too. My companion said that the meatloaf was a little salty, so if you're watching your sodium intake, you may want to skip it. And the mimosas? Holy delicious! I think I teared up a little--they were *that* tasty. 2. The Rock Climbing Wall: Yes, this is the largest rock climbing wall that I have ever seen. I opted to skip it, but my companion climbed it and thought it was awesome. 3. Abortions: I got a tour of the rooms....clean, private, comfortable. Everything a girl could ask for. 4. The bar: My companion sat at the bar while I went for a tour. The whiskey sours are fantastic (like one Yelper wrote), and they know how to pour a Guinness, which is a bonus. Cons: Two things, which is why I gave it only 4 stars: First, anyone else irritated that the Orange Julius was being renovated? I'm hoping that it will be open by the time I return in about 8 weeks. Second, the bathrooms by the rock climbing wall were out of paper towels. And when I told someone about it, they were a bit rude. Super annoying! I heard that they are opening a Hot Topic by the food court to attract the younger crowd, and I just hope that it doesn't change the vibe of the place. Overall, The Abortionplex rocks. It would make a fun romantic getaway, a place to have your bachelorette party, or even a place to take your mom for brunch and a movie while you're seeing the doctor. Can't wait to get pregnant! ||||| TOPEKA, KS—Planned Parenthood announced Tuesday the grand opening of its long-planned $8 billion Abortionplex, a sprawling abortion facility that will allow the organization to terminate unborn lives with an efficiency never before thought possible.
During a press conference, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards told reporters that the new state-of-the-art fetus-killing facility located in the nation's heartland offers quick, easy, in-and-out abortions to all women, and represents a bold reinvention of the group's long-standing mission and values.
"Although we've traditionally dedicated 97 percent of our resources to other important services such as contraception distribution, cancer screening, and STD testing, this new complex allows us to devote our full attention to what has always been our true passion: abortion," said Richards, standing under a banner emblazoned with Planned Parenthood's new slogan, "No Life Is Sacred." "And since Congress voted to retain our federal funding, it's going to be that much easier for us to maximize the number of tiny, beating hearts we stop every day."
"The Abortionplex's high-tech machinery is capable of terminating one pregnancy every three seconds," Richards added. "That's almost a million abortions every month. We're so thrilled!"
The 900,000-square-foot facility has more than 2,000 rooms dedicated to the abortion procedure. The abundance of surgical space, Richards said, will ensure that women visiting the facility can be quickly fitted into stirrups without pausing to second-guess their decision or consider alternatives such as adoption. Hundreds of on-site counselors are also available to meet with clients free of charge and go over the many ways that carrying a child to term will burden them and very likely ruin their lives.
The remaining space is dedicated to amenities such as coffee shops, bars, dozens of restaurants and retail outlets, a three-story nightclub, and a 10-screen multiplex theater—features intended not only to help clients relax, but to foster a sense of community and make abortion more of a social event.
"We really want abortion to become a regular part of women's lives, especially younger women who have enough fertile years ahead of them to potentially have dozens of abortions," said Richards, adding that the Abortionplex would provide shuttle service to and from most residences, schools, and shopping malls in the region. "Our hope is for this facility to become a regular destination where a woman in her second trimester can whoop it up at karaoke and then kick back while we vacuum out the contents of her uterus."
"All women should feel like they have a home at the Abortionplex," Richards continued. "Whether she's a high school junior who doesn't want to go to prom pregnant, a go-getter professional who can't be bothered with the time commitment of raising a child, or a prostitute who knows getting an abortion is the easiest form of birth control—all are welcome."
Nineteen-year-old Marcy Kolrath, one of the Abortionplex's first clients, told reporters that despite her initial hesitancy, she was quickly put at ease by staff members who reassured her that she could have abortions over and over for the next decade before finally committing to motherhood. Kolrath also said she was "wowed" by the facility's many attractions.
"I was kind of on the fence in the beginning," she said. "But after a couple of margaritas and a ride down the lazy river they've got circling the place, I got caught up in the vibe. By the time it was over, I almost wished I could've aborted twins and gotten to stay a little longer."
"I told my boyfriend we had to have sex again that very night," Kolrath added. "I really want to come back over Labor Day." | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 12,626 |
Economy Detroit Shuts Off Water To Thousands Of Broke Residents CREDIT: Shutterstock
As the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department moves to shut off water to thousands of residents who are delinquent on their bills, a coalition of activists is appealing to the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights to intervene on behalf of the bankrupt city’s most vulnerable citizens.
Their report, filed Wednesday with the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation, alleges that the DWSD crackdown is part of an effort “to sweeten the pot for a private investor” to take over the city’s heavily-indebted water and sewer system as part of Detroit’s broader bankruptcy proceedings.
One of the activist groups behind the report, the Detroit People’s Water Board, notes that city residents have seen water rates more than double over the past decade at the same time that the city’s poverty rate rose to nearly 40 percent, putting the cost of basic running water beyond reach for tens of thousands of households. Earlier this week, city lawmakers voted to raise water rates by a further 8.7 percent.
Almost exactly 50 percent of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department’s 323,900 total accounts were delinquent as of March, according to the Detroit News (via Nexis), with a combined $175 million in unpaid water bills outstanding. The department announced at that time that it would begin an aggressive campaign of water shutoffs, and a DWSD spokesman said that it has shut off water to nearly 7,000 separate clients since the beginning of April. DWSD mailed warnings about the shutoffs in March, but the People’s Water Board report says that some residents it interviewed either never received a warning notice or had their water shut off before the payment deadline printed in the notices had passed.
One key piece of the activists’ complaint has to do with allegedly disparate treatment of residential and commercial clients by the DWSD. The People’s Water Board claims that delinquent business entities “have not been targeted in the same way as residential users,” a claim the department strongly disputes.
“There are no sacred cows. We aren’t discriminating in terms of individuals or businesses,” DWSD spokesman Bill Johnson said in an interview. “Last month we shut off about 3,600 accounts, both businesses and residential. Everybody is getting cut off who is $150 or 60 days in arrears. That is our policy and we’re ramping up our enforcement of that policy.”
The department has not yet had time to break out the data on water shutoffs by client category, Johnson said, but he hopes to be able to report exact figures on the number of business clients who have lost water access soon.
The DWSD’s roughly $5 billion in debts have turned out to be the most difficult piece of Detroit’s bankruptcy, after initially seeming to be on track for a rapid resolution. Neighboring counties have balked at absorbing the city system into a regional water and sewer authority, and subsequent plans to privatize the city’s water services have been criticized as too rapid, too costly, and too damaging to residents’ quality of life. The system’s massive backlog of delinquent bills makes it harder to convince anyone, whether private company or public authority, to shoulder the DWSD’s obligations. But if the water shutoffs were aimed at making the department look like a shinier prize in bankruptcy negotiations, they would likely be targeted at corporate clients directly, for the same reason that Depression-era gangsters robbed banks: that’s where the money is.
While the vast majority of the nearly 165,000 delinquent accounts reported in March are residential clients, those private households owe much smaller amounts than the commercial and industrial clients who are delinquent on their DWSD bills. Fewer than 11,000 delinquent accounts relate to commercial or industrial clients. But those delinquencies average more than $7,700 per business, according to the numbers published in the Detroit News in March, compared to an average debt of less than $600 per residential delinquency. Non-residential clients account for almost half of what DWSD is owed despite being less than 7 percent of total delinquencies, according to the March figures. The People’s Water Board obtained a document with more recent figures which shows a similar distribution of the delinquencies but lower total debts to DWSD as of May.
“We are asking the UN special rapporteur to make clear to the U.S. government that it has violated the human right to water,” said Maude Barlow, the National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians and a key member of the coalition that put the report together. In addition to creating international pressure to stop the Detroit shutoffs, Barlow said, the UN’s intervention could lead to formal consequences for the United States. “If the US government does not respond appropriately this will also impact their Universal Periodic Review,” she said, “when they stand before the Human Rights Council to have their [human rights] record evaluated.” A request for comment from the UN official to whom the report was submitted went unanswered. ||||| (New York) -- A severe water crisis in the financially bankrupt city of Detroit, Michigan has prompted several non-governmental organizations and activists to appeal for U.N. intervention in one of the world's richest countries. "This is unprecedented," said Maude Barlow, founder of the Blue Planet Project, a group that advocates water as a human right. She pointed out that hundreds of thousands of people, mostly African Americans, are having their water ruthlessly turned off. Families with children, the elderly and the sick, cannot bathe, flush their toilets or cook in their own homes, she added. "This is the worst violation of the human right to water I have ever seen outside of the worst slums in the poorest countries in failed states of the global South," said Barlow, a one-time senior advisor on water to a former President of the U.N. General Assembly. Last March, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) announced plans to shut off water service for 1,500 to 3,000 customers every week if their water bills were not paid. And on Tuesday, the City Council approved an 8.7-percent water rate increase. According to a DWSD document, more than 80,000 residential households - in a city of 680,000 people - are in arrears, with thousands of families without water, and thousands more expected to lose access at any moment. A group of NGOs has submitted a report to Catarina de Albuquerque, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation, urging the United Nations to weigh in on the crisis and help restore water services and stop further cut-offs. In a joint report released Wednesday, the Detroit People's Water Board, the Blue Planet Project, the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and Food and Water Watch made several recommendations, including an appeal to the state of Michigan and the U.S. government to respect the human right to water and sanitation. The report also calls on the city of Detroit to abandon its plans for further cut-offs and restore services to households that have suffered water cuts. Sources say there are many factors driving this: federal assistance for water infrastructure has been cut back by more than three-quarters since the 1970s, ageing systems are reaching the end of their lifespan, and water quality standards are getting stronger as we learn more about the health risks of substances that contaminate our water. Large cities, in particular, are struggling to maintain and modernize water systems without making water service unaffordable for their least well-off residents. Over the last decade, Detroit residents have seen water rates rise by 119 percent, according to a press release Wednesday. With unemployment rates at a record high and the poverty rate at about 40 percent, Detroit water bills are unaffordable to a significant portion of the population. Many of those affected by the shut-offs were given no warning.For more, click here. ||||| Detroit has too much of some things – stray dogs, abandoned houses – and not enough of others, such as residents who pay their water bills.
The latest sign of Detroit’s decline came from the city’s water department, when it said in March it would begin shutting off water for up to 3,000 homes and businesses a week in an attempt to stop the utility from sliding even further into debt.
The announcement sparked outrage among activists groups, who say the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) is going after the city’s most vulnerable citizens to shore up its bottom line.
Now those groups have called on the United Nations to intervene. In a letter sent to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation last week, local nonprofit Detroit People’s Water Board, Food and Water Watch and Canada-based Blue Planet Project pleaded for the world body to weigh in on the shut-offs.
"What we see is a violation of the human right to water," said Meera Karunananthan, an international campaigner with the Blue Planet Project. "The U.S. has international obligations in terms of people’s right to water, and this is a blatant violation of that right. We’re hoping the U.N. will put pressure on the federal government and the state of Michigan to do something about it."
The groups accuse DWSD of charging unaffordable rates to Detroit citizens, and placing the burden of the city's fleeing tax base on its poorest residents. They say DWSD is trying to rid itself of low-income customers in a bid to make the utility more attractive for a private takeover. DWSD denies the charge. But the city has acknowledged that at least a partial privatization of DWSD is being considered as Detroit attempts to shed some of its $18 billion in debt. DWSD accounts for $5 billion of that sum.
DWSD has struggled to stay afloat as hundreds of thousands of Detroiters have left the city over the last several decades, leaving the utility with an outsized, aging system, and too few paying customers.
"We really don't want to shut off anyone’s water, but it’s really our duty to go after those who don’t pay, because if they don’t pay then our other customers pay for them," said DWSD spokeswoman Curtrise Garner. "That’s not fair to our other customers."
Garner also said the new focus on shutting off delinquent accounts had nothing to do with making the utility more attractive to private investors. "We've just changed the way we’re doing business," she said.
Nearly 50 percent of DWSD’s 323,000 accounts were behind on payments as of March, according to the Detroit Free Press. That’s left DWSD with $175 million in outstanding bills.
Detroit tried to integrate DWSD with the water systems of richer suburban counties earlier this year, but that effort failed after the counties said they feared absorbing DWSD would saddle them with too much debt.
At the same time that the utility has financially faltered, it has raised rates significantly. According to activists, the rate for residential customers has doubled in the last 10 years. The average bill is now $75 a month, according to the Free Press, much higher than the nation’s average rate of about $40.
Earlier this week, DWSD said it would again raise rates, this time by 8.7 percent.
“There are families that have gone months and months without water,” Mia Cupp, the director of development at nonprofit Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency, told the Free Press. “You can only imagine, how do go to the bathroom? How do you take showers? How do you clean yourself? .... You can’t conduct the normal daily things that you would do.” ||||| With the harsh winter’s end, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department is resuming efforts to shut off water service to thousands of delinquent customers.
Meanwhile, resources are limited for Detroit residents in need to get assistance with water bills and avoid the health risks associated with having water cut off.
Delinquent residential and commercial customers in Detroit owe the department about $118 million, according to the department. That does not include those who are on a payment plan or involved in a bankruptcy case.
Next week, the water department will deploy crews to shut off up to 3,000 delinquent accounts on a weekly basis, said Darryl Latimer, the department’s deputy director. Every winter, the department suspends shutoff efforts because freezing temperatures complicate the process.
Crews will be targeting those who have received a shutoff notice and whose bills are more than two months late. Customers with late bills can avoid a shutoff by entering into a payment plan. Typically, it takes a payment of 30% to 50% of the amount owed to start such a plan.
“If you know you have a delinquent account, we want you to be proactive now and come in so you don’t find yourself without the service,” Latimer said.
The average monthly water bill in Detroit is about $75. Delinquent bills affect rates for other customers in Detroit, but not in the suburbs, Latimer said.
There are 323,900 DWSD accounts in Detroit. Of those, 150,806 are delinquent. Some of those delinquencies are low-income customers who are struggling to keep their utilities on, said some who work in providing assistance to those in need.
“The need is huge,” said Mia Cupp, director of development and communications for the Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency. “There are families that have gone months and months without water.”
The group is among a handful of local agencies that provide assistance to those who need help with their water bills. The Water Access Volunteer Effort, a Detroit-based nonprofit, is another.
Going without water can be dangerous, Cupp said.
“You can only imagine, how do go to the bathroom? How do you take showers? How do you clean yourself?” she said. “You can’t conduct the normal daily things that you would do.”
The organization has very limited resources. Cupp said the group raised about $148,000 during a charity walk; that money could go to helping people pay water bills.
Mayor Mike Duggan’s spokesman John Roach referred to the Water and Sewerage Department questions about how the city handles community outreach to inform residents about programs to help with water bills. Detroit’s Human Services Department used to perform outreach but no longer does, Latimer said. So the water department is finalizing an agreement with The Heat And Warmth Fund, or THAW, to do so, he said. THAW provides low-income Michigan residents with emergency energy assistance.
Jill Brunett, vice president for marketing and communication for THAW, confirmed that the group is in talks with the water department. She said the extreme weather this winter increased heating bills, putting a strain on finances.
“A lot of the people that come to us for help need help in many areas in their life,” Brunett said. “People who may have just gotten by last year might’ve needed help this year.” | – Detroit Water and Sewerage has been shutting off water to thousands of residents who are behind on paying their bills—and now a coalition of activists is asking the UN to get involved. As of March, nearly half of the city's 323,900 DWSD accounts were delinquent, the Detroit Free Press reported at the time. Since April, nearly 7,000 clients have lost water service, and some say they were never warned their water would be shut off, ThinkProgress reports. In a report last week to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation, activists say some families have abandoned their homes after more than a year without water. "This is the worst violation of the human right to water I have ever seen outside of the worst slums," one of the activists says, per Fox 25. Water rates have jumped 119% over the past decade—and will be raised by 8.7% July 1, a challenge for residents of a city with a 40% poverty rate. The activists' report cites a city rep who confirms that the shut-offs were to get more aggressive, targeting 3,000 delinquent customers per week, as of June 2. The activists also allege that DWSD is treating business clients—roughly half of which are also delinquent—differently, though a DWSD rep insists any account, either residential or commercial, gets shut down if it is $150 delinquent or 60 days in arrears. The activists say DWSD is trying to get rid of lower-income customers so the department will be more attractive to private investors for a potential takeover, Al Jazeera America reports, another charge DWSD denies. But privatization of the department is possible, Detroit has said, as the city works to lower its debt—$5 billion of which is tied to DWSD. (In slightly better news, last week Detroit got a $195 million life raft.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Economy Detroit Shuts Off Water To Thousands Of Broke Residents CREDIT: Shutterstock
As the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department moves to shut off water to thousands of residents who are delinquent on their bills, a coalition of activists is appealing to the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights to intervene on behalf of the bankrupt city’s most vulnerable citizens.
Their report, filed Wednesday with the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation, alleges that the DWSD crackdown is part of an effort “to sweeten the pot for a private investor” to take over the city’s heavily-indebted water and sewer system as part of Detroit’s broader bankruptcy proceedings.
One of the activist groups behind the report, the Detroit People’s Water Board, notes that city residents have seen water rates more than double over the past decade at the same time that the city’s poverty rate rose to nearly 40 percent, putting the cost of basic running water beyond reach for tens of thousands of households. Earlier this week, city lawmakers voted to raise water rates by a further 8.7 percent.
Almost exactly 50 percent of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department’s 323,900 total accounts were delinquent as of March, according to the Detroit News (via Nexis), with a combined $175 million in unpaid water bills outstanding. The department announced at that time that it would begin an aggressive campaign of water shutoffs, and a DWSD spokesman said that it has shut off water to nearly 7,000 separate clients since the beginning of April. DWSD mailed warnings about the shutoffs in March, but the People’s Water Board report says that some residents it interviewed either never received a warning notice or had their water shut off before the payment deadline printed in the notices had passed.
One key piece of the activists’ complaint has to do with allegedly disparate treatment of residential and commercial clients by the DWSD. The People’s Water Board claims that delinquent business entities “have not been targeted in the same way as residential users,” a claim the department strongly disputes.
“There are no sacred cows. We aren’t discriminating in terms of individuals or businesses,” DWSD spokesman Bill Johnson said in an interview. “Last month we shut off about 3,600 accounts, both businesses and residential. Everybody is getting cut off who is $150 or 60 days in arrears. That is our policy and we’re ramping up our enforcement of that policy.”
The department has not yet had time to break out the data on water shutoffs by client category, Johnson said, but he hopes to be able to report exact figures on the number of business clients who have lost water access soon.
The DWSD’s roughly $5 billion in debts have turned out to be the most difficult piece of Detroit’s bankruptcy, after initially seeming to be on track for a rapid resolution. Neighboring counties have balked at absorbing the city system into a regional water and sewer authority, and subsequent plans to privatize the city’s water services have been criticized as too rapid, too costly, and too damaging to residents’ quality of life. The system’s massive backlog of delinquent bills makes it harder to convince anyone, whether private company or public authority, to shoulder the DWSD’s obligations. But if the water shutoffs were aimed at making the department look like a shinier prize in bankruptcy negotiations, they would likely be targeted at corporate clients directly, for the same reason that Depression-era gangsters robbed banks: that’s where the money is.
While the vast majority of the nearly 165,000 delinquent accounts reported in March are residential clients, those private households owe much smaller amounts than the commercial and industrial clients who are delinquent on their DWSD bills. Fewer than 11,000 delinquent accounts relate to commercial or industrial clients. But those delinquencies average more than $7,700 per business, according to the numbers published in the Detroit News in March, compared to an average debt of less than $600 per residential delinquency. Non-residential clients account for almost half of what DWSD is owed despite being less than 7 percent of total delinquencies, according to the March figures. The People’s Water Board obtained a document with more recent figures which shows a similar distribution of the delinquencies but lower total debts to DWSD as of May.
“We are asking the UN special rapporteur to make clear to the U.S. government that it has violated the human right to water,” said Maude Barlow, the National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians and a key member of the coalition that put the report together. In addition to creating international pressure to stop the Detroit shutoffs, Barlow said, the UN’s intervention could lead to formal consequences for the United States. “If the US government does not respond appropriately this will also impact their Universal Periodic Review,” she said, “when they stand before the Human Rights Council to have their [human rights] record evaluated.” A request for comment from the UN official to whom the report was submitted went unanswered. ||||| (New York) -- A severe water crisis in the financially bankrupt city of Detroit, Michigan has prompted several non-governmental organizations and activists to appeal for U.N. intervention in one of the world's richest countries. "This is unprecedented," said Maude Barlow, founder of the Blue Planet Project, a group that advocates water as a human right. She pointed out that hundreds of thousands of people, mostly African Americans, are having their water ruthlessly turned off. Families with children, the elderly and the sick, cannot bathe, flush their toilets or cook in their own homes, she added. "This is the worst violation of the human right to water I have ever seen outside of the worst slums in the poorest countries in failed states of the global South," said Barlow, a one-time senior advisor on water to a former President of the U.N. General Assembly. Last March, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) announced plans to shut off water service for 1,500 to 3,000 customers every week if their water bills were not paid. And on Tuesday, the City Council approved an 8.7-percent water rate increase. According to a DWSD document, more than 80,000 residential households - in a city of 680,000 people - are in arrears, with thousands of families without water, and thousands more expected to lose access at any moment. A group of NGOs has submitted a report to Catarina de Albuquerque, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation, urging the United Nations to weigh in on the crisis and help restore water services and stop further cut-offs. In a joint report released Wednesday, the Detroit People's Water Board, the Blue Planet Project, the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and Food and Water Watch made several recommendations, including an appeal to the state of Michigan and the U.S. government to respect the human right to water and sanitation. The report also calls on the city of Detroit to abandon its plans for further cut-offs and restore services to households that have suffered water cuts. Sources say there are many factors driving this: federal assistance for water infrastructure has been cut back by more than three-quarters since the 1970s, ageing systems are reaching the end of their lifespan, and water quality standards are getting stronger as we learn more about the health risks of substances that contaminate our water. Large cities, in particular, are struggling to maintain and modernize water systems without making water service unaffordable for their least well-off residents. Over the last decade, Detroit residents have seen water rates rise by 119 percent, according to a press release Wednesday. With unemployment rates at a record high and the poverty rate at about 40 percent, Detroit water bills are unaffordable to a significant portion of the population. Many of those affected by the shut-offs were given no warning.For more, click here. ||||| Detroit has too much of some things – stray dogs, abandoned houses – and not enough of others, such as residents who pay their water bills.
The latest sign of Detroit’s decline came from the city’s water department, when it said in March it would begin shutting off water for up to 3,000 homes and businesses a week in an attempt to stop the utility from sliding even further into debt.
The announcement sparked outrage among activists groups, who say the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) is going after the city’s most vulnerable citizens to shore up its bottom line.
Now those groups have called on the United Nations to intervene. In a letter sent to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation last week, local nonprofit Detroit People’s Water Board, Food and Water Watch and Canada-based Blue Planet Project pleaded for the world body to weigh in on the shut-offs.
"What we see is a violation of the human right to water," said Meera Karunananthan, an international campaigner with the Blue Planet Project. "The U.S. has international obligations in terms of people’s right to water, and this is a blatant violation of that right. We’re hoping the U.N. will put pressure on the federal government and the state of Michigan to do something about it."
The groups accuse DWSD of charging unaffordable rates to Detroit citizens, and placing the burden of the city's fleeing tax base on its poorest residents. They say DWSD is trying to rid itself of low-income customers in a bid to make the utility more attractive for a private takeover. DWSD denies the charge. But the city has acknowledged that at least a partial privatization of DWSD is being considered as Detroit attempts to shed some of its $18 billion in debt. DWSD accounts for $5 billion of that sum.
DWSD has struggled to stay afloat as hundreds of thousands of Detroiters have left the city over the last several decades, leaving the utility with an outsized, aging system, and too few paying customers.
"We really don't want to shut off anyone’s water, but it’s really our duty to go after those who don’t pay, because if they don’t pay then our other customers pay for them," said DWSD spokeswoman Curtrise Garner. "That’s not fair to our other customers."
Garner also said the new focus on shutting off delinquent accounts had nothing to do with making the utility more attractive to private investors. "We've just changed the way we’re doing business," she said.
Nearly 50 percent of DWSD’s 323,000 accounts were behind on payments as of March, according to the Detroit Free Press. That’s left DWSD with $175 million in outstanding bills.
Detroit tried to integrate DWSD with the water systems of richer suburban counties earlier this year, but that effort failed after the counties said they feared absorbing DWSD would saddle them with too much debt.
At the same time that the utility has financially faltered, it has raised rates significantly. According to activists, the rate for residential customers has doubled in the last 10 years. The average bill is now $75 a month, according to the Free Press, much higher than the nation’s average rate of about $40.
Earlier this week, DWSD said it would again raise rates, this time by 8.7 percent.
“There are families that have gone months and months without water,” Mia Cupp, the director of development at nonprofit Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency, told the Free Press. “You can only imagine, how do go to the bathroom? How do you take showers? How do you clean yourself? .... You can’t conduct the normal daily things that you would do.” ||||| With the harsh winter’s end, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department is resuming efforts to shut off water service to thousands of delinquent customers.
Meanwhile, resources are limited for Detroit residents in need to get assistance with water bills and avoid the health risks associated with having water cut off.
Delinquent residential and commercial customers in Detroit owe the department about $118 million, according to the department. That does not include those who are on a payment plan or involved in a bankruptcy case.
Next week, the water department will deploy crews to shut off up to 3,000 delinquent accounts on a weekly basis, said Darryl Latimer, the department’s deputy director. Every winter, the department suspends shutoff efforts because freezing temperatures complicate the process.
Crews will be targeting those who have received a shutoff notice and whose bills are more than two months late. Customers with late bills can avoid a shutoff by entering into a payment plan. Typically, it takes a payment of 30% to 50% of the amount owed to start such a plan.
“If you know you have a delinquent account, we want you to be proactive now and come in so you don’t find yourself without the service,” Latimer said.
The average monthly water bill in Detroit is about $75. Delinquent bills affect rates for other customers in Detroit, but not in the suburbs, Latimer said.
There are 323,900 DWSD accounts in Detroit. Of those, 150,806 are delinquent. Some of those delinquencies are low-income customers who are struggling to keep their utilities on, said some who work in providing assistance to those in need.
“The need is huge,” said Mia Cupp, director of development and communications for the Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency. “There are families that have gone months and months without water.”
The group is among a handful of local agencies that provide assistance to those who need help with their water bills. The Water Access Volunteer Effort, a Detroit-based nonprofit, is another.
Going without water can be dangerous, Cupp said.
“You can only imagine, how do go to the bathroom? How do you take showers? How do you clean yourself?” she said. “You can’t conduct the normal daily things that you would do.”
The organization has very limited resources. Cupp said the group raised about $148,000 during a charity walk; that money could go to helping people pay water bills.
Mayor Mike Duggan’s spokesman John Roach referred to the Water and Sewerage Department questions about how the city handles community outreach to inform residents about programs to help with water bills. Detroit’s Human Services Department used to perform outreach but no longer does, Latimer said. So the water department is finalizing an agreement with The Heat And Warmth Fund, or THAW, to do so, he said. THAW provides low-income Michigan residents with emergency energy assistance.
Jill Brunett, vice president for marketing and communication for THAW, confirmed that the group is in talks with the water department. She said the extreme weather this winter increased heating bills, putting a strain on finances.
“A lot of the people that come to us for help need help in many areas in their life,” Brunett said. “People who may have just gotten by last year might’ve needed help this year.” | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 1,700 |
After exploring a world populated by “anthropomorphic rabbits and a pair of gay lovers” for over 30 years, “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening is putting down his pen and ending his highly acclaimed comic strip, “Life in Hell.”
The last “Life in Hell,” Groening’s 1,669th strip, was released on Friday, June 15. For the next four weeks, editors will have their choice of strips from Groening’s extensive archive before they close up shop in July on Friday the 13, which seems oddly appropriate.
“I’ve had great fun, in a Sisyphean kind of way, but the time has come to let Binky and Sheba and Bongo and Akbar and Jeff take some time off,” Groening, 58, said by email.
“It’s hard to imagine how the business model that sustained alternative social-commentary and political cartooning for two decades (and is now all but dead) would have evolved had papers not discovered the power of Groening’s strip and its ability to attract readers,” said syndicated cartoonist Ted Rall by phone.
The popularity of “Life in Hell” opened a path for a new breed of alternative cartoonists to appear in alt-weeklies across the country, cartoonists like Tom Tomorrow, Ruben Bolling, Ward Sutton, Keith Knight and Rall. It also showcased the power of sharp, biting cartoons to editors looking to attain and grow a new group of readers.
“Groening is modern cartooning’s rock God, a Moses who came down from the mountain (or the East Village office of the Voice) and handed us the rules we followed,” said Rall.
“Life in Hell”‘s newspaper count has dwindled over the years as cutbacks and consolidation forced out many features. Syndicated by Acme Features Syndicate, which Groening created, the strip hit a peak of nearly 380 papers in the early 1990s. In recent years, the strip appeared in less than 40.
One high-profile cancellation came from LA Weekly, which removed the strip back in 2009 due to budget cuts. Pandora Young, an editor for Mediabistro’s FishbowlLA (and a former LA Weekly staffer), was incensed by the news.
“Groening has been good to the Weekly over the years — making himself available to the staff for interviews, illustrating covers for the Weekly for the paper’s small standard fee despite his enormous success, and continuing to read the paper itself,” Young wrote when she found out.
“Dropping the cartoon seems incredibly short-sighted, so it’s probably safe to assume it was a decision made by the corporate offices in Phoenix.”
“Life in Hell” actually earned Groening his big break in Hollywood. It started running in Wet Magazine in 1978, then moved to the now-defunct LA Reader, where Groening worked. The strip eventually made its way to LA Weekly. Its popularity grew, amassing a client list of more than 250 papers, when producer Polly Platt noticed “Life in Hell” and showed it to actor/producer James L. Brooks.
Brooks contacted Groening and wanted him to develop a series of “bumpers” based on “Life in Hell” for “The Tracey Ullman Show.” Groening was a bit apprehensive at the thought of handing over the rights to his characters, so he created the Simpsons to fill the slot.
For Sondra Gatewood, who has handled syndication duties for Groening over the years, the end of “Life in Hell” is bittersweet.
“It’s been a delight working for Matt Groening for the past 24 years, and the ending of ‘Life in Hell’ leaves me with mixed and melancholic feelings,” said Gatewood by phone.
“I’ve thought about comic strips every day for the past 24 years. How does it get any better than that?”
This is the final “Life is Hell” strip, which ran Friday, June 15.
Rob Tornoe is a political cartoonist and a Poynter contributor. See more of his work at RobTornoe.com, and follow him on twitter @RobTornoe. ||||| Crudely drawn rabbits Binky, Sheba, and Bongo, and their little gay pals Akbar and Jeff, never achieved the notoriety of the Simpsons. But unlike the no-less-crudely drawn Springfield crew that debuted on Fox in 1987, they belonged to Matt Groening free and clear in the panels of Life in Hell, the syndicated weekly comic strip that the part-time cartoonist discontinued last week after 32 years. With a new season of Futurama starting on June 20th and more than 500 episodes of The Simpsons in the can, the question isn't so much why Groening is quitting Life in Hell, but rather how he kept it so incisive and funny for so long.
Why pull the plug on Life in Hell now? Did you simply run out of jokes?
It's pretty obvious that I ran out of jokes a couple of decades ago – but that doesn't stop any cartoonist!
Seriously, though, what drove you to keep drawing it week after week for all those years?
When I started doing the comic strip, it was a great forum for all of my creativity. I'd think about the comic strip all week, spend a day drawing it, and then start thinking about the next one. It was my complete and total focus. Then The Simpsons came along to preoccupy me, and I decided to see how long I could keep the comic strip going. Actually, a TV producer sneered at the strip and said, "Why do you bother? Give it up." Because of that, I dug in my heels and kept it going two decades longer than I might have. I also liked the idea of having one slice of my creative output being completely solo, unlike TV animation. It's very satisfying to sit down at a drawing table by yourself and solve a puzzle with a deadline.
How many papers were you in when you called it quits?
Thirty-eight. Weekly papers are having a tough time because of the Internet and all the problems of print journalism. I was proud to be in those papers, and I wish I could continue, but I gave it a shot for 30-odd years. I want to see if I can use the time I spent working on the strip to do something else creative, maybe something more ambitious. The comic strip kept me tethered to the drawing table every week and it will be nice to see what happens without it.
How many newspapers printed Hell at its peak?
It was in 250 papers for a while. I remember walking down Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles with Gary Panter one day, and both of us being thrilled when we saw our strips soaking in the gutter. We were part of the landscape!
How many Life in Hell strips have you drawn altogether?
I don't know. Around 1,700 or so.
How has it changed over the decades?
It's gotten simpler. I stopped drawing backgrounds around the time I got into TV animation and began to focus on characters and dialog, with some exceptions. I didn't feel like I had to make a grand statement the way I did in some of my earlier strips.
Any plans to do anything with the Hell characters elsewhere?
I'm probably going to continue to do calendars, and there are many, many strips I haven't collected in books. I've toyed with the idea of putting out a complete edition. I may even do the strip again, I don't know. But probably not.
What are Life in Hell's biggest artistic inspirations?
First would be Charles Schultz's Peanuts, a strip about neurotic turmoil that was drawn very simply. As astute followers of Life in Hell will notice, Akbar and Jeff wear the same striped T-shirt as Charlie Brown. Peanuts was very important to me. I remember one comic in which Lucy makes a row of sand sculptures with her bucket and then stomps each one in succession. She looks at Charlie Brown and says, "I am torn between the desire to create and the desire to destroy." As a kid I thought, "That's me! I can relate!" There's also Jules Feiffer, because he was able to do a weekly comic strip in the Village Voice as well as books and screenplays and everything else. He was a great role model. And then of course my former Evergreen State College classmate Lynda Barry, whose Ernie Pook's Comeek didn't treat the comic strip like old-time vaudeville. It wasn't setup, setup, punch line. She's an underacknowledged pioneer of a lot of things people are doing in graphic novels and graphic memoirs.
Which Hell strips are you proudest of?
I like all of the early relationship strips that were collected in Love Is Hell, where I pretended to be an expert in relationships and did comics like "The Nine Types of Boyfriends," "Sixteen Ways to End a Relationship," "Twenty-Four Things Not to Say in Bed," and other arbitrarily numbered lists. My very favorite strips over the years, however, were the self-indulgently parental ones in which I tape recorded and then illustrated my kids' arguments and stories. Now they say, "We're not funny anymore, Dad. And neither are you."
How did you wrap it all up? What happens in the final "Life in Hell"?
Binky says to his girlfriend, "Just once I want to hear the three sweetest little words in life come from your lips." She says, "I forgive you." And he says, "Close enough!" | – Matt Groening has decided to pull the plug on acclaimed comic strip Life in Hell, 34 years after he started it and many years after its anthropomorphic rabbits and gay lovers were eclipsed by his other creations. Groening, 58, started the strip when he was a struggling artist in 1978 and kept producing it weekly even after becoming a multimillionaire, although cuts to comic pages nationwide saw its circulation fall to fewer than 40 publications from a peak of 380. In the mid-80s, Groening was asked to animate the strip's characters for the Tracey Ullman Show, but, unwilling to hand over the rights to his creations, came up with new characters—the Simpsons. In a Rolling Stone interview, Groening says he kept doing the strip because he enjoyed "one slice of my creative output being completely solo," and because he "dug in his heels" when a sneering TV executive asked him why he bothered to continue with it. "I’ve had great fun, in a Sisyphean kind of way, but the time has come to let Binky and Sheba and Bongo and Akbar and Jeff take some time off," Groening tells Poynter. The final Life in Hell strip, the 1,669th, was released on Friday. Click here to see it. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.After exploring a world populated by “anthropomorphic rabbits and a pair of gay lovers” for over 30 years, “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening is putting down his pen and ending his highly acclaimed comic strip, “Life in Hell.”
The last “Life in Hell,” Groening’s 1,669th strip, was released on Friday, June 15. For the next four weeks, editors will have their choice of strips from Groening’s extensive archive before they close up shop in July on Friday the 13, which seems oddly appropriate.
“I’ve had great fun, in a Sisyphean kind of way, but the time has come to let Binky and Sheba and Bongo and Akbar and Jeff take some time off,” Groening, 58, said by email.
“It’s hard to imagine how the business model that sustained alternative social-commentary and political cartooning for two decades (and is now all but dead) would have evolved had papers not discovered the power of Groening’s strip and its ability to attract readers,” said syndicated cartoonist Ted Rall by phone.
The popularity of “Life in Hell” opened a path for a new breed of alternative cartoonists to appear in alt-weeklies across the country, cartoonists like Tom Tomorrow, Ruben Bolling, Ward Sutton, Keith Knight and Rall. It also showcased the power of sharp, biting cartoons to editors looking to attain and grow a new group of readers.
“Groening is modern cartooning’s rock God, a Moses who came down from the mountain (or the East Village office of the Voice) and handed us the rules we followed,” said Rall.
“Life in Hell”‘s newspaper count has dwindled over the years as cutbacks and consolidation forced out many features. Syndicated by Acme Features Syndicate, which Groening created, the strip hit a peak of nearly 380 papers in the early 1990s. In recent years, the strip appeared in less than 40.
One high-profile cancellation came from LA Weekly, which removed the strip back in 2009 due to budget cuts. Pandora Young, an editor for Mediabistro’s FishbowlLA (and a former LA Weekly staffer), was incensed by the news.
“Groening has been good to the Weekly over the years — making himself available to the staff for interviews, illustrating covers for the Weekly for the paper’s small standard fee despite his enormous success, and continuing to read the paper itself,” Young wrote when she found out.
“Dropping the cartoon seems incredibly short-sighted, so it’s probably safe to assume it was a decision made by the corporate offices in Phoenix.”
“Life in Hell” actually earned Groening his big break in Hollywood. It started running in Wet Magazine in 1978, then moved to the now-defunct LA Reader, where Groening worked. The strip eventually made its way to LA Weekly. Its popularity grew, amassing a client list of more than 250 papers, when producer Polly Platt noticed “Life in Hell” and showed it to actor/producer James L. Brooks.
Brooks contacted Groening and wanted him to develop a series of “bumpers” based on “Life in Hell” for “The Tracey Ullman Show.” Groening was a bit apprehensive at the thought of handing over the rights to his characters, so he created the Simpsons to fill the slot.
For Sondra Gatewood, who has handled syndication duties for Groening over the years, the end of “Life in Hell” is bittersweet.
“It’s been a delight working for Matt Groening for the past 24 years, and the ending of ‘Life in Hell’ leaves me with mixed and melancholic feelings,” said Gatewood by phone.
“I’ve thought about comic strips every day for the past 24 years. How does it get any better than that?”
This is the final “Life is Hell” strip, which ran Friday, June 15.
Rob Tornoe is a political cartoonist and a Poynter contributor. See more of his work at RobTornoe.com, and follow him on twitter @RobTornoe. ||||| Crudely drawn rabbits Binky, Sheba, and Bongo, and their little gay pals Akbar and Jeff, never achieved the notoriety of the Simpsons. But unlike the no-less-crudely drawn Springfield crew that debuted on Fox in 1987, they belonged to Matt Groening free and clear in the panels of Life in Hell, the syndicated weekly comic strip that the part-time cartoonist discontinued last week after 32 years. With a new season of Futurama starting on June 20th and more than 500 episodes of The Simpsons in the can, the question isn't so much why Groening is quitting Life in Hell, but rather how he kept it so incisive and funny for so long.
Why pull the plug on Life in Hell now? Did you simply run out of jokes?
It's pretty obvious that I ran out of jokes a couple of decades ago – but that doesn't stop any cartoonist!
Seriously, though, what drove you to keep drawing it week after week for all those years?
When I started doing the comic strip, it was a great forum for all of my creativity. I'd think about the comic strip all week, spend a day drawing it, and then start thinking about the next one. It was my complete and total focus. Then The Simpsons came along to preoccupy me, and I decided to see how long I could keep the comic strip going. Actually, a TV producer sneered at the strip and said, "Why do you bother? Give it up." Because of that, I dug in my heels and kept it going two decades longer than I might have. I also liked the idea of having one slice of my creative output being completely solo, unlike TV animation. It's very satisfying to sit down at a drawing table by yourself and solve a puzzle with a deadline.
How many papers were you in when you called it quits?
Thirty-eight. Weekly papers are having a tough time because of the Internet and all the problems of print journalism. I was proud to be in those papers, and I wish I could continue, but I gave it a shot for 30-odd years. I want to see if I can use the time I spent working on the strip to do something else creative, maybe something more ambitious. The comic strip kept me tethered to the drawing table every week and it will be nice to see what happens without it.
How many newspapers printed Hell at its peak?
It was in 250 papers for a while. I remember walking down Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles with Gary Panter one day, and both of us being thrilled when we saw our strips soaking in the gutter. We were part of the landscape!
How many Life in Hell strips have you drawn altogether?
I don't know. Around 1,700 or so.
How has it changed over the decades?
It's gotten simpler. I stopped drawing backgrounds around the time I got into TV animation and began to focus on characters and dialog, with some exceptions. I didn't feel like I had to make a grand statement the way I did in some of my earlier strips.
Any plans to do anything with the Hell characters elsewhere?
I'm probably going to continue to do calendars, and there are many, many strips I haven't collected in books. I've toyed with the idea of putting out a complete edition. I may even do the strip again, I don't know. But probably not.
What are Life in Hell's biggest artistic inspirations?
First would be Charles Schultz's Peanuts, a strip about neurotic turmoil that was drawn very simply. As astute followers of Life in Hell will notice, Akbar and Jeff wear the same striped T-shirt as Charlie Brown. Peanuts was very important to me. I remember one comic in which Lucy makes a row of sand sculptures with her bucket and then stomps each one in succession. She looks at Charlie Brown and says, "I am torn between the desire to create and the desire to destroy." As a kid I thought, "That's me! I can relate!" There's also Jules Feiffer, because he was able to do a weekly comic strip in the Village Voice as well as books and screenplays and everything else. He was a great role model. And then of course my former Evergreen State College classmate Lynda Barry, whose Ernie Pook's Comeek didn't treat the comic strip like old-time vaudeville. It wasn't setup, setup, punch line. She's an underacknowledged pioneer of a lot of things people are doing in graphic novels and graphic memoirs.
Which Hell strips are you proudest of?
I like all of the early relationship strips that were collected in Love Is Hell, where I pretended to be an expert in relationships and did comics like "The Nine Types of Boyfriends," "Sixteen Ways to End a Relationship," "Twenty-Four Things Not to Say in Bed," and other arbitrarily numbered lists. My very favorite strips over the years, however, were the self-indulgently parental ones in which I tape recorded and then illustrated my kids' arguments and stories. Now they say, "We're not funny anymore, Dad. And neither are you."
How did you wrap it all up? What happens in the final "Life in Hell"?
Binky says to his girlfriend, "Just once I want to hear the three sweetest little words in life come from your lips." She says, "I forgive you." And he says, "Close enough!" | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 19,392 |
Smith & Wesson stock opened near an all-time high on Friday after five police officers were killed and seven were injured in a shooting in Dallas. The gunmaker’s stock opened at $29.75 a share.
Earlier this year, the stock hit a record high on 18 March, trading at $30.44 a share. That day it closed at an all-time high of $29.37.
Stocks for Smith & Wesson rose about 3% on Friday while stocks for fellow firearm manufacturer Sturm Ruger went up by 5%. The shares surged in anticipation of higher gun sales due to fears of stricter gun control policies following the worst mass shooting of police in US history.
In addition to shares of gunmakers, shares of Taser and Digital Ally also surged on the news. The two companies make wearable video cameras worn by US police, and Taser also makes electroshock weapons used by some police. ||||| Bystanders run for cover after shots fired at a Black Live Matter rally in downtown Dallas on Thursday, July 7, 2016. Dallas protestors rallied in the aftermath of the killing of Alton Sterling by police... (Associated Press)
Bystanders run for cover after shots fired at a Black Live Matter rally in downtown Dallas on Thursday, July 7, 2016. Dallas protestors rallied in the aftermath of the killing of Alton Sterling by police officers in Baton Rouge, La. and Philando Castile, who was killed by police less than 48 hours later... (Associated Press)
DALLAS (AP) —
The Latest on protests in response to fatal police shootings (all times local):
11:35 p.m.
Dallas police say a suspect in shooting of officers at Dallas protests is in custody and a person of interest has surrendered.
Dallas police say four officers have died after at least two snipers opened fire during protests downtown Thursday night. Seven other officers were wounded.
Police Chief David O. Brown said snipers shot from "elevated positions" during a protest over two recent fatal police shootings.
The gunfire broke out around 8:45 p.m. Thursday. Live TV video showed protesters marching along a street in downtown when the shots erupted and the crowd scattered, seeking cover.
__
10:45 p.m.
The Dallas police chief says it appears two snipers shot 10 police officers during protests, and three of the officers are dead.
Police Chief David O. Brown said in a statement that three of the officers who were injured are in critical condition Thursday night. He says the snipers shot from "elevated positions" during a protest over two recent fatal police shootings.
The gunfire broke out around 8:45 p.m. Thursday. Live TV video showed protesters marching along a street in downtown when the shots erupted and the crowd scattered, seeking cover.
__
10:45 p.m.
Dallas police chief says it appears two snipers shot 10 police officers during protests, and three of the officers are dead.
Dallas police chief David O. Brown said in a statement that three of the officers who were injured are in critical condition Thursday night.
The officers were shut during a protest over two recent fatal police shootings.
10:30 p.m.
Police say one rapid-transit officer has been killed and three injured when gunfire erupted during a protest in downtown Dallas.
The Dallas Area Rapid Transit issued the news via its official Twitter account. The agency said the three injured officers were expected to survive. No identifications were released.
___
10:15 p.m.
Police in Dallas say they're trying to sort through what happened when gunshots rang out during a protest over two recent fatal police shootings.
The police statement comes as multiple media outlets report that two officers were shot. There has been no official confirmation of that.
Dallas Police Sr. Corporal Debra Webb said in the statement that police were sorting through information at what was "clearly still an active scene."
The gunfire broke out around 8:45 p.m. Thursday. Live TV video showed protesters marching along a street in downtown when the shots erupted and the crowd scattered, seeking cover.
___
9 p.m.
Multiple media outlets report shots have been fired at a Dallas protest over two recent fatal police shootings.
The gunfire broke out around 8:45 p.m. Thursday. Live TV video showed protesters marching along a street in downtown when the shots erupted and the crowd scattered, seeking cover. There was no immediate word on whether anyone had been injured.
Scores of police and security officers were on hand.
A police dispatcher reached by The Associated Press had no immediate comment.
___
6:45 p.m.
Hundreds of people gathered in Union Square Park in Manhattan and took to the streets to protest the recent police-related shootings of two black men.
The protesters on Thursday chanted "The people united, never be divided" and "Hands up don't shoot." Police scrambled to keep up with the crowd as the group left the park and marched up Fifth Avenue.
On Wednesday, a Minnesota officer fatally shot Philando Castile while he was in a car with a woman and a child in a St. Paul suburb. The aftermath of the shooting was purportedly livestreamed in a widely shared Facebook video.
A day earlier, Alton Sterling was shot in Louisiana after being pinned to the pavement by two white officers. That, too, was captured on a cellphone video. ||||| The ambush that left five Dallas law enforcement officers dead and seven more injured was "a well-planned, well-thought-out, evil tragedy" by a lone suspected gunman — a former Army reservist — who wrote manifestos on how to shoot and move, according to the mayor and police chief of Dallas.
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"We're hurting. Our profession is hurting. Dallas officers are hurting," Police Chief David Brown said. "We are heartbroken. There are no words to describe the atrocity that occurred to our city."
Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, who was identified as the suspected gunman, died in the overnight standoff with police. Officials said that it appears that Johnson, who had no criminal history, acted alone.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the suspected gunman does not appear to have any "links to or inspiration from any international terrorist organization."
Police said that some have described the former Army reservist as a loner.
"He had written manifestos on how to shoot and move and he did that, and did his damage," Mayor Mike Rawlings said. "We believe now that the city is safe and the suspect is dead and we can move on to healing."
While three other suspects — two men and one woman — were detained by police after the shootings, the mayor said today they have since been released.
Two law enforcement sources told ABC News that police have found no connection between Johnson and the three people detained.
Police said Johnson told hostage negotiators that he was angry about recent fatal shootings of black men by police elsewhere in the United States and that he wanted to kill white people, especially police officers.
The gunman "expressed anger for Black Lives Matter" and told a hostage negotiator he "wanted to kill [police] officers," Brown said today.
Police spent hours negotiating with Johnson before detonating an explosive strapped to a robot and killing him.
The mayor said Johnson was given options to give himself up peacefully, without being harmed, but he chose not to.
Johnson served as an Army reservist until April 2015, defense officials said. He was trained and served in the Army Reserve as a carpentry and masonry specialist, they said.
He was deployed to Afghanistan from November 2013 to July 2014, according to his service record. He had the rank of a private first class.
LM Otero/AP Photo
Among the five officers killed was a newlywed, married just two weeks ago to a fellow officer. Another victim was the father of a toddler daughter. A third had been a police officer in Michigan.
One of the slain officers was Patrick Zamarripa. His father posted on Facebook, "My son is a police officer in Dallas he was working there the rally in downtown where my son was shot and killed by a sniper along with four other police officers ... Need prayers to get through this."
President Barack Obama called the Dallas shooting a "vicious, calculated, despicable attack" while speaking to reporters this morning in Warsaw, Poland. He described the killings as a "tremendous tragedy" and "senseless murders."
"We will learn more about their twisted motivations," he said of the suspects. "Let's be clear: There is no possible justification."
Two civilians were also injured in the shootings, which happened as people demonstrated in downtown Dallas after the fatal shootings this week by police officers of two black men: Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota.
LM Otero/AP Photo
The chaos erupted just before 9 p.m. Central time on Thursday, when at least two snipers in separate elevated positions opened fire on police officers at the demonstration, officials said.
The Rev. Jeff Hood, one the organizers of the protests, said the goal of the rally was to create "a space where anger could be let out. We were interested in creating a space where people could grieve. We were interested in creating a space where people could network to face head-on the problem of police brutality in our country."
He added, "We left that rally in a nonviolent fashion. After leaving the rally, I heard 'Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop' in succession. Immediately when I heard the shots, I looked up, and I saw what I believe were two police officers that went down."
"The sergeant ran towards the shooting. I ran the opposite direction … was screaming, 'Run, run! Active shooter, active shooter! Run, run!' And I was trying to get folks out as fast as I could … During that moment, I lost track of my wife. I didn't find her again for three and a half hours," Hood said.
"I spent those three hours talking to people asking the question, 'Why, why? Why is this happening?' The only answer I know now and the only answer I knew then was turn to love. We've got to turn to love. We got to stop shooting," he said. "This is a devastating time for the city of Dallas. It's a devastating time for us as activists and organizers."
MANY gunshots heard in video I captured in #Dallas, just before 9p as rally marched through downtown @wfaachannel8 pic.twitter.com/1O3GB0b9xx — Marie Saavedra (@MSaavedraTV) July 8, 2016
Footage captures the panic after first shots were fired in downtown #Dallas Thursday night. https://t.co/00c6j6UZYm https://t.co/P2K9Z0dYr7 — ABC News (@ABC) July 8, 2016
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in an open letter in The Dallas Morning News today, "Justice will be served, but justice is small solace for the families left behind. We mourn for the families of the fallen, for the law enforcement community and for our nation."
"Respect for our law enforcement officers must be restored in our nation … For law enforcement officers to stand in front of us and all that threatens, we must stand behind them," he wrote. "Every life matters. With each innocent life lost, we lose more of our humanity."
"I ask for your prayers — for our law enforcement officers, for the city of Dallas, for our state and for our nation," Abbott said. "I have faith in the goodness of Texas, of America. For in the end, evil always fails."
The shooting deaths of Sterling and Castile — parts of which were captured on video — sparked outrage and led to demonstrations across the country. The Department of Justice is investigating Sterling's death and is monitoring the investigation into Castile's.
Get real-time updates as this story unfolds. To start, just "star" this story in ABC News' phone app. Download ABC News for iPhone here or ABC News for Android here. ||||| Here's the latest infromation about the shooting deaths of five police officers and the wounding of seven in downtown Dallas Thursday night.
The shooter, Micah Xavier Johnson
The lone gunman -- a black U.S. Army veteran with a smoldering hatred of white people -- is dead and police continued Saturday to comb through his background and possessions in an ongoing investigation.
A general understanding of the motivations of a man President Barack Obama described as "demented" slowly came into focus on Friday.
Johnson, 25, was described by friends and acquaintances as a nice guy who also had developed an obsession with heavy-duty weaponry and black-power politics. He was a man with grievances, including a discharge from the military after accusations of sexual harassment and a minor run-in with police.
Officials said a search of his home turned up "bomb-making materials, ballistic vests, rifles, ammunition and a personal journal of combat tactics."
Johnson's attack brought up worries about copycat killings. And Saturday evening, many feared that possibility.
Dallas Police headquarters went on high alert after police spotted a suspicious person in the parking garage nearby. SWAT units were already there in response to a threat from an armed group in Houston.
Initial reports of shots fired were inaccurate, and the suspicious person apparently escaped. But for about an hour, national news focused again on threats to Dallas police.
The police investigation
Mayor Mike Rawlings said Friday that Johnson -- killed by a law enforcement robot carrying a bomb -- was believed to be the lone gunman. But police are still looking into Johnson's background and whether anyone else knew about his plans.
A section of downtown Dallas was still closed to the public Saturday and could be off-limits for days to come.
The area where the shooting occurred was flanked mostly by media, with some onlookers also taking an interest in the large crime scene. Dozens of yellow, numbered evidence markers were on the ground, and FBI agents were carefully walking over every inch of the scene Saturday morning.
Mourning the dead
For police officers, the shooting heaped fatigue on top of mourning. By Saturday, a degree of calm had returned, and there was more time to focus on sorrow.
Corsicana law enforcement officials announced a police escort home this afternoon for Brent Thompson, a 43-year-old DART officer killed in the shootings. Police are asking the public to line up along the route to pay their respects.
The Dallas Police Association opened its office for officers to gather and grieve the dead and what was the worst day for U.S. law enforcement since 9/11. The Dallas officers killed were Senior Cpl. Lorne Ahrens, 48; Officer Michael Krol, 40; Sgt. Michael J. Smith, 55; and Officer Patrick Zamarripa.
Counselors at El Centro College were offering assistance to students and faculty who were locked down at the downtown campus for about five hours Thursday night and Friday morning.
A makeshift memorial still sat at the flagpoles outside Bank of America Plaza, where flags still fly at half staff. The flowers, though, have wilted after two days in the summer heat.
There were also several community events, both small and large, scheduled this weekend to honor the victims.
Politics
The wounds are fresh and the funerals have yet to happen. But political leaders and activists are still weighing in on the deadly event following Thursday's peaceful protest of police shootings in Minnesota and Louisiana.
Obama, who is planning a trip to Dallas next week, addressed the shootings Saturday, praising the Dallas Police Department and criticized Texas' open-carry law for making the police work harder.
"If you care about the safety of police officers, then you can't set aside the gun issue and pretend that's irrelevant," the president said to an audience in Warsaw, Poland.
On Friday, a pair of prominent Texas leaders struck different tones with their statements and comments.
Gov. Greg Abbott called for peace and unity.
"It is time for us to unite as Texans, as Americans, to say no more," he wrote in an open letter. "No more will we tolerate disrespect for those who serve. No more will we allow the evil of hate merchants to tear us apart."
On Fox News, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said: "All those protesters last night, they turned around and ran the other way, expecting the men and women in blue to protect them. What hypocrites!"
He later said he "maybe" chose the wrong words.
Here's a roundup of other comments from politicians, including presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
Policing and Race Relations
As many as 100 local clergy members plan to meet Thursday night at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Dallas to discuss a practical path to healing after the shooting. The group includes a coalition of predominantly black and predominantly white churches.
While there is a racial divide here, policing controversies that plagued other cities -- from Baltimore to Ferguson, Mo. -- have mostly missed Dallas. Community leaders have credited Dallas Police Chief David Brown, who is black, and his predecessor with their outreach efforts.
"This is ground zero for the country getting this right," said Dallas Democratic state Sen. Royce West.
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Friday's story:
The investigation into the ambush-style slayings of five Dallas police officers coalesced around one man: Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, an Army veteran and gun owner with a smoldering hatred of white people.
Armed with a semiautomatic assault rifle, knowledge of military tactics and wearing body armor, Johnson exchanged gunfire with Dallas police for hours Thursday night but eventually was trapped in a downtown parking garage where police killed him early Friday using a robot-deployed bomb.
Mayor Mike Rawlings said Friday that Johnson was believed to be the lone gunman. Early reports suggested there were multiple gunmen involved in the attack that killed five police officers and wounded seven other officers and two civilians.
On Saturday morning, friends and family of the victims continued the mourning process while law enforcement's investigated methodically marched along.
The sniper assault followed a large demonstration against recent killings of black men by police in Louisiana and Minnesota. Johnson suggested the attack was racially motivated by revenge.
On Saturday morning, President Barack Obama praised the Dallas Police Department for its community policing efforts. Protesters and police coexisted peacefully Thursday night during the march the preceded the shootings. Some protesters even tweeted pictures of them posing with smiling officers.
"As painful as this week has been, I firmly believe that America is not as divided as some have suggested. Americans of all races and all backgrounds are rightly outraged about the inexcusable attacks on police," he said, calling the shooter "demented."
In video footage of the rampage, the gunman can be seen lumbering toward an officer hiding behind a cement pillar outside El Centro College in downtown Dallas. In the next instant, a series of muzzle flashes punctuate the footage, as the officer slumped to the pavement.
At other times Johnson, perched inside the community college, exchanged gunfire with police. At least 12 officers shot back during the attack, police said.
The officers were assaulted "ambush-style," Dallas Police Chief David Brown said, with some of them shot in the back.
"We have to be right 100 percent of the time in the way we police this city," he said. "Suspects like this have to be right once. They don't have to work very hard to snipe at our officers from elevated positions, to ambush them from secure positions."
The U.S. Army confirmed that Johnson was enlisted as a soldier and served a tour in Afghanistan. The Mesquite resident received several awards for his service, which ended in 2015.
Johnson had no criminal record and no links to or inspiration from any international terrorist organization, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said.
"Information provided through the course of the investigation indicates that the suspect was an Army veteran and others have identified him as a loner," police said in a prepared statement.
Dallas and Mesquite police officers cordoned off a house Friday in Mesquite whose Helen Lane address is listed on Johnson's driver's license.
Chase Young, who lives around the corner and a few houses down, woke up early Friday when police cruisers set off his front motion-sensor alarm.
"They've been going back and forth, back and forth since 1 o'clock," he said.
Detectives and crime-scene technicians on Friday removed bags from the home before leaving just before 11:30 a.m. Among their findings: bomb-making materials, ballistic vests, rifles, ammunition and a personal journal of combat tactics.
County Judge Clay Jenkins said Johnson had written in his journal about the "shoot and move" tactic employed by Navy Seals. After interviewing the officers, investigators determined that the shooter could have been firing from multiple places, making it seem initially like more than one assailant.
Caitlyn Lennon, 27, a friend and former co-worker of Johnson's, described him as a gun owner with military training who "was always very affected by the police stuff and had very strong feelings about being black."
Lennon said she worked with Johnson at a sandwich shop in Richardson from 2011 to 2013.
"I can only imagine how pissed off he would be in the past year watching all of the shootings," she said, saying she had lost touch with him in recent years.
A police source told KXAS-TV (NBC5) that Johnson was laughing and singing during the standoff inside the parking garage. He didn't appear nervous and told police he'd been working out in preparation for Thursday's assault.
Johnson's sister spent Friday mourning the loss of her brother and questioning why he had gone to the downtown demonstration.
"I keep saying it's not true. ... My eyes hurt from crying," Nicole Johnson wrote in a post on Facebook that she later deleted.
Minutes later, she posted again.
"The news will say what they think, but those that knew him know this wasn't like him," she wrote. "This is the biggest loss we've had."
Brown urged Dallas to get behind its Police Department in the days to come.
"We don't feel much support most days," he said. "Let's not make today most days."
The shooting was the deadliest day for law officers since Sept. 11, 2001, when 72 officers died, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
Officer Patrick Zamarripa survived tours in Iraq before being killed in Dallas https://t.co/pn9VwGBA0s pic.twitter.com/l1qxqlaOG5 — Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 8, 2016
DART identified its fallen officer as 43-year-old Brent Thompson, who joined the department in 2009. Thompson is the first officer to be killed in the line of duty since DART formed a police force in 1989, spokesman Morgan Lyons said.
"Our hearts are broken," Lyons said in a prepared statement.
Three other DART officers were wounded, but they are expected to recover, Lyons said.
"Give our officers strength to catch these suspects and bring them to justice tonight," he said.
Two civilians also were wounded. One was undergoing surgery early Friday after being shot in the right calf.
Former Assistant Chief Michael Genovesi, who retired last year, said the shooting is "easily the worst thing" he has seen since he joined the department 34 years ago.
He said the closest thing he remembers is when seven Dallas officers — including Chief Brown's former partner — were killed in a single-year period in 1988 and 1989.
State Sen. Royce West, who was at the protest but left before the shooting started, said he was still processing the night's events.
"Just when you think you've seen it all, you recognize you haven't," said West, D-Dallas. "I never thought I would live to see such carnage in the case of law enforcement, especially here in Dallas."
He said he hoped to work with Gov. Greg Abbott to see what the state could do to prevent such attacks.
But Genovesi, who oversaw patrol and coordinated security for major events, said such shootings are "almost impossible" to prevent.
"He certainly wasn't intimidated or in any way deterred by the police presence," Genovesi said of Johnson. "That's what he was seeking. That's really hard to defend against in a democracy."
Genovesi responded to last year's shooting at police headquarters. He said the latest shooting "will never be forgotten" but that the department has been resilient in the past and will eventually recover.
Officers at Parkland pay their respects to the officers killed in the line of duty: https://t.co/V1iZB0dqq8 pic.twitter.com/rJyJDBrQZ3 — NBC DFW (@NBCDFW) July 8, 2016
Gunman told negotiator he was upset by recent police shootings
At a 12:30 a.m. news conference, Brown said officers had exchanged gunfire for 45 minutes with a man in the El Centro College garage.
"He has told our negotiators that the end is coming and he's going to hurt and kill more of us — meaning law enforcement — and that there are bombs all over the place in this garage and in downtown," Brown said.
Series of flashing lights visible inside El Centro where #DallasPoliceShooting suspect may be holed up. @dallasnews pic.twitter.com/nNgvwvhrcf — G.J. McCarthy (@gjmccarthy) July 8, 2016
Though Brown said late Thursday that two snipers had gunned down the officers, he talked about only one man at Friday morning's news conference at Dallas City Hall.
"We are working very diligently on processing the crime scene to find evidence to bring any other suspects to justice," the chief said.
During the overnight standoff, the gunman told a police negotiator he acted alone and wanted to kill white people, especially police officers, Brown said.
"The suspect stated he was not affiliated with any groups," Brown said. "He stated he did this alone."
He said the man claimed to have hidden explosive devices in downtown buildings, but police had not found any bombs as of Friday morning.
However, Brown said then he didn't believe the threat was over and believed that others may still be at large.
"We're not satisfied until we've exhausted every lead," Brown said. "We're going to keep these suspects guessing."
About 1:20 a.m., an explosion went off at El Centro. Police said they had placed a robot near the shooter and detonated a bomb it was holding, killing him.
Students and faculty stuck on El Centro's main campus when it was placed on lockdown were allowed to leave at 2 a.m. Friday's classes were canceled.
Shortly before 3 a.m., police reported that the gunman in the garage was dead.
Dallas police Maj. Max Geron said officials were conducting "extensive sweeps" of downtown for explosives. About 5 a.m., he said primary and secondary sweeps turned up none.
'A heartbreaking morning'
Brown said he was proud to "be a part of this great noble profession," and to see the courage of the officers who ran toward gunfire to help the wounded.
The mayor called for unity.
"We as a city, we as a country must come together, lock arms and heal the wounds that we all feel from time to time," he said. "Words matter, leadership matters at this time. I'm proud of our chief."
Rawlings asked everyone to focus on the officers and their families.
"To say that our police officers put their lives on the line every day is no hyperbole, ladies and gentlemen," he said. "It's a reality."
After injured officers were rushed to area hospitals, five DART officers gathered in a downtown hotel, where they watched updates on an upstairs television.
They declined to comment on the night's events. After the suspect was reported to be in custody, they walked together back outside, solemn-faced, and headed south on North Lamar Street toward a police barricade on Elm Street.
Initial confusion
In earlier news conferences, Brown referred to at least two possible shooting suspects and said they may have perched in a way to triangulate on the officers. There was also initial confusion over the number of people in police custody.
When the shooting started, about 20 people in camouflage gear with rifles slung over their shoulders started running and police "started catching," Rawlings said.
Throughout the course of the night, police interviewed and questioned multiple people. During the shootout, Brown said a woman who had been in the same area as the gunman was taken into custody.
By Friday afternoon, no suspects were in custody.
"As we started to unraveled this fishing knot, we realized that the shooting came from one building at different levels by this suspect," Rawlings said.
About 11:30 p.m. Thursday, a person of interest in a photo circulated by the city and Dallas police turned himself in, police said. But that man, Mark Hughes, was released about two hours later.
Shortly before midnight, a Dallas police officer saw someone carrying a camouflaged bag, walking quickly down Lamar Street. The person threw the bag in the back of a black Mercedes-Benz that then sped off, police said.
Police stopped the vehicle, questioned the two occupants and released them, KXAS-TV (NBC5) reported.
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Please keep my brothers/sisters in blue in your prayers tonight. ðŸ™ðŸ¼ðŸ™ðŸ¼ — Melinda Gutierrez (@MelindaDPD) July 8, 2016
About 1 a.m., the mayor and police chief arrived at Parkland amid a steady stream of officers. Shortly after that, a procession of motorcycle police officers arrived in formation, honor guards wearing white gloves.
"We're hurting, our profession is hurting," Brown said. "There are no words to describe the atrocity that occurred to our city. All I know is that this must stop, this divisiveness between our police and our citizens."
Brown said he's dreaded a night like Thursday, when he had to inform families their loved ones were killed in the line of duty.
The thought crossed his mind last year, when a man opened fire in June on Dallas police headquarters and led authorities on a chase through the city in an armored vehicle. After an hours-long standoff, a police sniper shot the man outside a fast food restaurant.
"It's a stark reality of what our profession is going to deal with in this country for years to come," Brown told The News in a story about the headquarters shooting.
"The idea that snipers might attack us. The idea that someone might plant a bomb to blow us up," he said. "That's something that American law enforcement hadn't had to deal with in years past that I think in the future we will have to deal with."
Brown has long touted strong police-community relations in the city. Protests and rallies have typically been peaceful.
Thursday night's shooting will strain an already tight Dallas police force. Since October, 195 officers have left thedepartment. Many of those have retired, but more than 50 officers left for other police agencies.
In recent months, many officers have been working overtime and non-patrol officers have filled patrol shifts to respond to calls.
'We are horrified'
From Poland, President Barack Obama called the shootings a "vicious, calculated, despicable attack on law enforcement," and said those responsible will be brought to justice.
"We are horrified over these events and we stand united with the people and the police department in Dallas," he said.
The White House announced Friday that Obama would be cutting his European trip short to visit Dallas early next week.
Obama ordered that U.S. flags be flown at half-staff through Tuesday night and called for a review of gun laws.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch, at Justice Department headquarters, sought to calm fears after what she called an "unfathomable tragedy" in Dallas, and a "week of profound grief and heartfelt loss."
She noted that a federal civil rights investigation is underway after the shooting in Louisiana.
She called the deaths of five Dallas officers a "devastating loss."
"After the events of this week, Americans across our country are feeling a sense of helplessness, of uncertainty and of fear," Lynch said. "These feelings are understandable, and they are justified. But the answer must not be violence. The answer is never violence. Rather the answer ... must be action — calm, peaceful, collaborative and determined action."
She offered assurance that peaceful protesters' rights will not be infringed, even as she condemned evildoers who use such gatherings as cover and pretext for acts of violence.
Dallas County First Assistant District AttornyMessina Madson said Thursday's attack has shaken prosecutors and all law enforcement in a way she has never seen.
"We work in the criminal courthouse, in a building that is used to dealing with tragedy," Madson said. For everyone "to stop and say 'Whoa,' it shows this really impacts people."
The DA's officer-involved shooting team is conducting its own investigation, as is done in all shootings of or by police. That investigation is independent of the police investigation.
"We are there with our own eyes and ears," Madson said.
Thursday's protest
As the protest ended, bystanders reported hearing multiple shots fired shortly before 9 p.m. in the area of Market and Main streets, near El Centro.
People were asked to leave the immediate downtown area. Some walked, others ran. Some sheltered in place for several hours in downtown buildings.
Video and witness accounts portrayed chaotic scenes: "Everyone just started running," said Devante Odom, 21. "We lost touch with two of our friends just trying to get out of there."
At the corner of Commerce and Houston, stay-at-home mom Renee Sifflet waited for the situation to die down so she could retrieve her three teenage kids, who were in hiding.
"I brought them here for a positive experience, something they could say they were part of when they're older, " said Sifflet, of Dallas. "Then it turned negative."
When they started running, she said, she lost track of her 15-year-old son for two frightening minutes. "Thank God he has a cellphone," she said.
Carlos Harris, who lives downtown, said the shooters "were strategic. It was tap tap, pause. Tap tap, pause."
Harris, who said he was in the military, said he heard someone fire back with an AR-15.
Before the shots were fired, the demonstrators had been peacefully walking down Main Street.
"The cops were peaceful," he said. "They were taking pictures with us and everything."
People flee downtown Dallas under police orders after reports of an active shooter during tonight's protests over recent officer-involved fatal shootings in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis. More at @dallasnews.com A video posted by Marc Ramirez (@typewriterninja) on Jul 7, 2016 at 7:42pm PDT
Stacey Brown, 30, and Bianca Avery, 34, were standing behind Dealey Plaza when they heard the shots.
"This was peaceful," Brown said. "We were headed back to our cars to go home. But we turned that corner [at Main Street] and all hell broke loose."
"I heard a shot and all of a sudden people are running ... children everywhere, everything," Avery said.
Facebook activated its crisis safety check Thursday night for people in the area of the shootings to let others know they are safe.
Officers clear Grayhound bus station after shots fired downtown Dallas at #BlackLivesMatter rally @dallasnews pic.twitter.com/AApwMe4wHQ — DMN Photo (@dallasnewsphoto) July 8, 2016
After Alton Sterling's shooting death this week in Baton Rouge, La., a rally and march were planned in downtown Dallas. But Philando Castile's death in Falcon Heights, Minn., changed the conversation, North Texas activists said.
The men, who were both black, were killed by officers within 48 hours. Cellphone cameras captured both.
Among the witnesses shaken by the violence were Sharay Santora and her teenage son and daughter, who were walking in the rally when they heard the shots.
"We were there to witness all the love that was happening around us when the chaos happened," Santora said. "Everyone was helping each other. It wasn't about black or white; everyone was picking each other up and moving them away. Not only were people doing that, but also the police were there to help."
Santora said her family's opinions about police have changed over the years they've lived in Dallas.
"Dallas police officers have been loving, giving, caring and are as much a part of the community as we are," she said.
This story was compiled from reports by staff writers including Eva-Marie Ayala, Claire Ballor, Claire Z. Cardona, Andrew Chavez, Julieta Chiquillo, Elizabeth Djinis, Caleb Downs, Jennifer Emily, Liz Farmer, Scott Farwell, Brandon Formby, Todd J. Gillman, Holly K. Hacker, Tristan Hallman, Austin Huguelet, Gromer Jeffers Jr., Dalton LaFerney, Nanette Light, Brittney Martin, Kaitlynn Martin, Naomi Martin, Marina Trahan Martinez, G.J. McCarthy, Sarah Mervosh, Ellen Meyers, Jeff Mosier, Marc Ramirez, Naheed Rajwani, Sabriya Rice, Charles Scudder, Avi Selk, Dianne Solis, Tom Steele, Tasha Tsiaperas, Allan James Vestal, Robert Wilonsky and Hannah Wise.
More on the ambush of Dallas police officers
Eight hours of terror: Peaceful protest becomes Dallas police's deadliest day
Profiles in courage: A look at the lives of the 14 Dallas ambush victims
Editorial: This city, our city
How and why Dallas police decided to use a bomb to end the standoff with lone gunman
What we know so far about deadly ambush in downtown Dallas
How to help families of Dallas officers
How Police Chief David Brown's whole life prepared him for the Dallas shooting
Man says wounded DART officer saved his life during ambush
At Dallas police headquarters, the city gathers to memorialize its fallen
Gun-carrying protester mistaken for sniper talks about his hours as most-wanted man in America | – Five police officers have been killed and at least six injured in what Mayor Mike Rawlings calls a "heartbreaking moment for the city of Dallas." Police say the officers were shot "ambush-style" by at least two snipers in elevated positions during a march to protest police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota, ABC News reports. Some of the officers were shot in the back, and a witness says the snipers "were strategic. It was tap tap pause. Tap tap pause." Around 2am, police announced that a fifth officer had died from his injuries. The AP reports that Dallas police say one suspect is now in custody and a "person of interest" whose photo was circulated has surrendered. Earlier, the Dallas Morning News reported that one suspect had been cornered in a parking garage. Four Dallas police officers and one Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer were killed in the shooting, which happened just before 9pm Thursday as demonstrators made their way through downtown. Police say the suspect now in custody was arrested after a shootout and that a suspicious package found nearby is being dealt with by the bomb squad, the Guardian reports. Public transport has been suspended and authorities have urged people to leave the downtown area. "I ask everybody to focus on one thing right now and that is Dallas police officers, their families, those that are deceased, those that are in the hospital fighting for their lives," Mayor Rawlings says. "Let's all come together and support our police officers." | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Smith & Wesson stock opened near an all-time high on Friday after five police officers were killed and seven were injured in a shooting in Dallas. The gunmaker’s stock opened at $29.75 a share.
Earlier this year, the stock hit a record high on 18 March, trading at $30.44 a share. That day it closed at an all-time high of $29.37.
Stocks for Smith & Wesson rose about 3% on Friday while stocks for fellow firearm manufacturer Sturm Ruger went up by 5%. The shares surged in anticipation of higher gun sales due to fears of stricter gun control policies following the worst mass shooting of police in US history.
In addition to shares of gunmakers, shares of Taser and Digital Ally also surged on the news. The two companies make wearable video cameras worn by US police, and Taser also makes electroshock weapons used by some police. ||||| Bystanders run for cover after shots fired at a Black Live Matter rally in downtown Dallas on Thursday, July 7, 2016. Dallas protestors rallied in the aftermath of the killing of Alton Sterling by police... (Associated Press)
Bystanders run for cover after shots fired at a Black Live Matter rally in downtown Dallas on Thursday, July 7, 2016. Dallas protestors rallied in the aftermath of the killing of Alton Sterling by police officers in Baton Rouge, La. and Philando Castile, who was killed by police less than 48 hours later... (Associated Press)
DALLAS (AP) —
The Latest on protests in response to fatal police shootings (all times local):
11:35 p.m.
Dallas police say a suspect in shooting of officers at Dallas protests is in custody and a person of interest has surrendered.
Dallas police say four officers have died after at least two snipers opened fire during protests downtown Thursday night. Seven other officers were wounded.
Police Chief David O. Brown said snipers shot from "elevated positions" during a protest over two recent fatal police shootings.
The gunfire broke out around 8:45 p.m. Thursday. Live TV video showed protesters marching along a street in downtown when the shots erupted and the crowd scattered, seeking cover.
__
10:45 p.m.
The Dallas police chief says it appears two snipers shot 10 police officers during protests, and three of the officers are dead.
Police Chief David O. Brown said in a statement that three of the officers who were injured are in critical condition Thursday night. He says the snipers shot from "elevated positions" during a protest over two recent fatal police shootings.
The gunfire broke out around 8:45 p.m. Thursday. Live TV video showed protesters marching along a street in downtown when the shots erupted and the crowd scattered, seeking cover.
__
10:45 p.m.
Dallas police chief says it appears two snipers shot 10 police officers during protests, and three of the officers are dead.
Dallas police chief David O. Brown said in a statement that three of the officers who were injured are in critical condition Thursday night.
The officers were shut during a protest over two recent fatal police shootings.
10:30 p.m.
Police say one rapid-transit officer has been killed and three injured when gunfire erupted during a protest in downtown Dallas.
The Dallas Area Rapid Transit issued the news via its official Twitter account. The agency said the three injured officers were expected to survive. No identifications were released.
___
10:15 p.m.
Police in Dallas say they're trying to sort through what happened when gunshots rang out during a protest over two recent fatal police shootings.
The police statement comes as multiple media outlets report that two officers were shot. There has been no official confirmation of that.
Dallas Police Sr. Corporal Debra Webb said in the statement that police were sorting through information at what was "clearly still an active scene."
The gunfire broke out around 8:45 p.m. Thursday. Live TV video showed protesters marching along a street in downtown when the shots erupted and the crowd scattered, seeking cover.
___
9 p.m.
Multiple media outlets report shots have been fired at a Dallas protest over two recent fatal police shootings.
The gunfire broke out around 8:45 p.m. Thursday. Live TV video showed protesters marching along a street in downtown when the shots erupted and the crowd scattered, seeking cover. There was no immediate word on whether anyone had been injured.
Scores of police and security officers were on hand.
A police dispatcher reached by The Associated Press had no immediate comment.
___
6:45 p.m.
Hundreds of people gathered in Union Square Park in Manhattan and took to the streets to protest the recent police-related shootings of two black men.
The protesters on Thursday chanted "The people united, never be divided" and "Hands up don't shoot." Police scrambled to keep up with the crowd as the group left the park and marched up Fifth Avenue.
On Wednesday, a Minnesota officer fatally shot Philando Castile while he was in a car with a woman and a child in a St. Paul suburb. The aftermath of the shooting was purportedly livestreamed in a widely shared Facebook video.
A day earlier, Alton Sterling was shot in Louisiana after being pinned to the pavement by two white officers. That, too, was captured on a cellphone video. ||||| The ambush that left five Dallas law enforcement officers dead and seven more injured was "a well-planned, well-thought-out, evil tragedy" by a lone suspected gunman — a former Army reservist — who wrote manifestos on how to shoot and move, according to the mayor and police chief of Dallas.
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"We're hurting. Our profession is hurting. Dallas officers are hurting," Police Chief David Brown said. "We are heartbroken. There are no words to describe the atrocity that occurred to our city."
Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, who was identified as the suspected gunman, died in the overnight standoff with police. Officials said that it appears that Johnson, who had no criminal history, acted alone.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the suspected gunman does not appear to have any "links to or inspiration from any international terrorist organization."
Police said that some have described the former Army reservist as a loner.
"He had written manifestos on how to shoot and move and he did that, and did his damage," Mayor Mike Rawlings said. "We believe now that the city is safe and the suspect is dead and we can move on to healing."
While three other suspects — two men and one woman — were detained by police after the shootings, the mayor said today they have since been released.
Two law enforcement sources told ABC News that police have found no connection between Johnson and the three people detained.
Police said Johnson told hostage negotiators that he was angry about recent fatal shootings of black men by police elsewhere in the United States and that he wanted to kill white people, especially police officers.
The gunman "expressed anger for Black Lives Matter" and told a hostage negotiator he "wanted to kill [police] officers," Brown said today.
Police spent hours negotiating with Johnson before detonating an explosive strapped to a robot and killing him.
The mayor said Johnson was given options to give himself up peacefully, without being harmed, but he chose not to.
Johnson served as an Army reservist until April 2015, defense officials said. He was trained and served in the Army Reserve as a carpentry and masonry specialist, they said.
He was deployed to Afghanistan from November 2013 to July 2014, according to his service record. He had the rank of a private first class.
LM Otero/AP Photo
Among the five officers killed was a newlywed, married just two weeks ago to a fellow officer. Another victim was the father of a toddler daughter. A third had been a police officer in Michigan.
One of the slain officers was Patrick Zamarripa. His father posted on Facebook, "My son is a police officer in Dallas he was working there the rally in downtown where my son was shot and killed by a sniper along with four other police officers ... Need prayers to get through this."
President Barack Obama called the Dallas shooting a "vicious, calculated, despicable attack" while speaking to reporters this morning in Warsaw, Poland. He described the killings as a "tremendous tragedy" and "senseless murders."
"We will learn more about their twisted motivations," he said of the suspects. "Let's be clear: There is no possible justification."
Two civilians were also injured in the shootings, which happened as people demonstrated in downtown Dallas after the fatal shootings this week by police officers of two black men: Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota.
LM Otero/AP Photo
The chaos erupted just before 9 p.m. Central time on Thursday, when at least two snipers in separate elevated positions opened fire on police officers at the demonstration, officials said.
The Rev. Jeff Hood, one the organizers of the protests, said the goal of the rally was to create "a space where anger could be let out. We were interested in creating a space where people could grieve. We were interested in creating a space where people could network to face head-on the problem of police brutality in our country."
He added, "We left that rally in a nonviolent fashion. After leaving the rally, I heard 'Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop' in succession. Immediately when I heard the shots, I looked up, and I saw what I believe were two police officers that went down."
"The sergeant ran towards the shooting. I ran the opposite direction … was screaming, 'Run, run! Active shooter, active shooter! Run, run!' And I was trying to get folks out as fast as I could … During that moment, I lost track of my wife. I didn't find her again for three and a half hours," Hood said.
"I spent those three hours talking to people asking the question, 'Why, why? Why is this happening?' The only answer I know now and the only answer I knew then was turn to love. We've got to turn to love. We got to stop shooting," he said. "This is a devastating time for the city of Dallas. It's a devastating time for us as activists and organizers."
MANY gunshots heard in video I captured in #Dallas, just before 9p as rally marched through downtown @wfaachannel8 pic.twitter.com/1O3GB0b9xx — Marie Saavedra (@MSaavedraTV) July 8, 2016
Footage captures the panic after first shots were fired in downtown #Dallas Thursday night. https://t.co/00c6j6UZYm https://t.co/P2K9Z0dYr7 — ABC News (@ABC) July 8, 2016
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in an open letter in The Dallas Morning News today, "Justice will be served, but justice is small solace for the families left behind. We mourn for the families of the fallen, for the law enforcement community and for our nation."
"Respect for our law enforcement officers must be restored in our nation … For law enforcement officers to stand in front of us and all that threatens, we must stand behind them," he wrote. "Every life matters. With each innocent life lost, we lose more of our humanity."
"I ask for your prayers — for our law enforcement officers, for the city of Dallas, for our state and for our nation," Abbott said. "I have faith in the goodness of Texas, of America. For in the end, evil always fails."
The shooting deaths of Sterling and Castile — parts of which were captured on video — sparked outrage and led to demonstrations across the country. The Department of Justice is investigating Sterling's death and is monitoring the investigation into Castile's.
Get real-time updates as this story unfolds. To start, just "star" this story in ABC News' phone app. Download ABC News for iPhone here or ABC News for Android here. ||||| Here's the latest infromation about the shooting deaths of five police officers and the wounding of seven in downtown Dallas Thursday night.
The shooter, Micah Xavier Johnson
The lone gunman -- a black U.S. Army veteran with a smoldering hatred of white people -- is dead and police continued Saturday to comb through his background and possessions in an ongoing investigation.
A general understanding of the motivations of a man President Barack Obama described as "demented" slowly came into focus on Friday.
Johnson, 25, was described by friends and acquaintances as a nice guy who also had developed an obsession with heavy-duty weaponry and black-power politics. He was a man with grievances, including a discharge from the military after accusations of sexual harassment and a minor run-in with police.
Officials said a search of his home turned up "bomb-making materials, ballistic vests, rifles, ammunition and a personal journal of combat tactics."
Johnson's attack brought up worries about copycat killings. And Saturday evening, many feared that possibility.
Dallas Police headquarters went on high alert after police spotted a suspicious person in the parking garage nearby. SWAT units were already there in response to a threat from an armed group in Houston.
Initial reports of shots fired were inaccurate, and the suspicious person apparently escaped. But for about an hour, national news focused again on threats to Dallas police.
The police investigation
Mayor Mike Rawlings said Friday that Johnson -- killed by a law enforcement robot carrying a bomb -- was believed to be the lone gunman. But police are still looking into Johnson's background and whether anyone else knew about his plans.
A section of downtown Dallas was still closed to the public Saturday and could be off-limits for days to come.
The area where the shooting occurred was flanked mostly by media, with some onlookers also taking an interest in the large crime scene. Dozens of yellow, numbered evidence markers were on the ground, and FBI agents were carefully walking over every inch of the scene Saturday morning.
Mourning the dead
For police officers, the shooting heaped fatigue on top of mourning. By Saturday, a degree of calm had returned, and there was more time to focus on sorrow.
Corsicana law enforcement officials announced a police escort home this afternoon for Brent Thompson, a 43-year-old DART officer killed in the shootings. Police are asking the public to line up along the route to pay their respects.
The Dallas Police Association opened its office for officers to gather and grieve the dead and what was the worst day for U.S. law enforcement since 9/11. The Dallas officers killed were Senior Cpl. Lorne Ahrens, 48; Officer Michael Krol, 40; Sgt. Michael J. Smith, 55; and Officer Patrick Zamarripa.
Counselors at El Centro College were offering assistance to students and faculty who were locked down at the downtown campus for about five hours Thursday night and Friday morning.
A makeshift memorial still sat at the flagpoles outside Bank of America Plaza, where flags still fly at half staff. The flowers, though, have wilted after two days in the summer heat.
There were also several community events, both small and large, scheduled this weekend to honor the victims.
Politics
The wounds are fresh and the funerals have yet to happen. But political leaders and activists are still weighing in on the deadly event following Thursday's peaceful protest of police shootings in Minnesota and Louisiana.
Obama, who is planning a trip to Dallas next week, addressed the shootings Saturday, praising the Dallas Police Department and criticized Texas' open-carry law for making the police work harder.
"If you care about the safety of police officers, then you can't set aside the gun issue and pretend that's irrelevant," the president said to an audience in Warsaw, Poland.
On Friday, a pair of prominent Texas leaders struck different tones with their statements and comments.
Gov. Greg Abbott called for peace and unity.
"It is time for us to unite as Texans, as Americans, to say no more," he wrote in an open letter. "No more will we tolerate disrespect for those who serve. No more will we allow the evil of hate merchants to tear us apart."
On Fox News, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said: "All those protesters last night, they turned around and ran the other way, expecting the men and women in blue to protect them. What hypocrites!"
He later said he "maybe" chose the wrong words.
Here's a roundup of other comments from politicians, including presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
Policing and Race Relations
As many as 100 local clergy members plan to meet Thursday night at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Dallas to discuss a practical path to healing after the shooting. The group includes a coalition of predominantly black and predominantly white churches.
While there is a racial divide here, policing controversies that plagued other cities -- from Baltimore to Ferguson, Mo. -- have mostly missed Dallas. Community leaders have credited Dallas Police Chief David Brown, who is black, and his predecessor with their outreach efforts.
"This is ground zero for the country getting this right," said Dallas Democratic state Sen. Royce West.
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Friday's story:
The investigation into the ambush-style slayings of five Dallas police officers coalesced around one man: Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, an Army veteran and gun owner with a smoldering hatred of white people.
Armed with a semiautomatic assault rifle, knowledge of military tactics and wearing body armor, Johnson exchanged gunfire with Dallas police for hours Thursday night but eventually was trapped in a downtown parking garage where police killed him early Friday using a robot-deployed bomb.
Mayor Mike Rawlings said Friday that Johnson was believed to be the lone gunman. Early reports suggested there were multiple gunmen involved in the attack that killed five police officers and wounded seven other officers and two civilians.
On Saturday morning, friends and family of the victims continued the mourning process while law enforcement's investigated methodically marched along.
The sniper assault followed a large demonstration against recent killings of black men by police in Louisiana and Minnesota. Johnson suggested the attack was racially motivated by revenge.
On Saturday morning, President Barack Obama praised the Dallas Police Department for its community policing efforts. Protesters and police coexisted peacefully Thursday night during the march the preceded the shootings. Some protesters even tweeted pictures of them posing with smiling officers.
"As painful as this week has been, I firmly believe that America is not as divided as some have suggested. Americans of all races and all backgrounds are rightly outraged about the inexcusable attacks on police," he said, calling the shooter "demented."
In video footage of the rampage, the gunman can be seen lumbering toward an officer hiding behind a cement pillar outside El Centro College in downtown Dallas. In the next instant, a series of muzzle flashes punctuate the footage, as the officer slumped to the pavement.
At other times Johnson, perched inside the community college, exchanged gunfire with police. At least 12 officers shot back during the attack, police said.
The officers were assaulted "ambush-style," Dallas Police Chief David Brown said, with some of them shot in the back.
"We have to be right 100 percent of the time in the way we police this city," he said. "Suspects like this have to be right once. They don't have to work very hard to snipe at our officers from elevated positions, to ambush them from secure positions."
The U.S. Army confirmed that Johnson was enlisted as a soldier and served a tour in Afghanistan. The Mesquite resident received several awards for his service, which ended in 2015.
Johnson had no criminal record and no links to or inspiration from any international terrorist organization, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said.
"Information provided through the course of the investigation indicates that the suspect was an Army veteran and others have identified him as a loner," police said in a prepared statement.
Dallas and Mesquite police officers cordoned off a house Friday in Mesquite whose Helen Lane address is listed on Johnson's driver's license.
Chase Young, who lives around the corner and a few houses down, woke up early Friday when police cruisers set off his front motion-sensor alarm.
"They've been going back and forth, back and forth since 1 o'clock," he said.
Detectives and crime-scene technicians on Friday removed bags from the home before leaving just before 11:30 a.m. Among their findings: bomb-making materials, ballistic vests, rifles, ammunition and a personal journal of combat tactics.
County Judge Clay Jenkins said Johnson had written in his journal about the "shoot and move" tactic employed by Navy Seals. After interviewing the officers, investigators determined that the shooter could have been firing from multiple places, making it seem initially like more than one assailant.
Caitlyn Lennon, 27, a friend and former co-worker of Johnson's, described him as a gun owner with military training who "was always very affected by the police stuff and had very strong feelings about being black."
Lennon said she worked with Johnson at a sandwich shop in Richardson from 2011 to 2013.
"I can only imagine how pissed off he would be in the past year watching all of the shootings," she said, saying she had lost touch with him in recent years.
A police source told KXAS-TV (NBC5) that Johnson was laughing and singing during the standoff inside the parking garage. He didn't appear nervous and told police he'd been working out in preparation for Thursday's assault.
Johnson's sister spent Friday mourning the loss of her brother and questioning why he had gone to the downtown demonstration.
"I keep saying it's not true. ... My eyes hurt from crying," Nicole Johnson wrote in a post on Facebook that she later deleted.
Minutes later, she posted again.
"The news will say what they think, but those that knew him know this wasn't like him," she wrote. "This is the biggest loss we've had."
Brown urged Dallas to get behind its Police Department in the days to come.
"We don't feel much support most days," he said. "Let's not make today most days."
The shooting was the deadliest day for law officers since Sept. 11, 2001, when 72 officers died, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
Officer Patrick Zamarripa survived tours in Iraq before being killed in Dallas https://t.co/pn9VwGBA0s pic.twitter.com/l1qxqlaOG5 — Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 8, 2016
DART identified its fallen officer as 43-year-old Brent Thompson, who joined the department in 2009. Thompson is the first officer to be killed in the line of duty since DART formed a police force in 1989, spokesman Morgan Lyons said.
"Our hearts are broken," Lyons said in a prepared statement.
Three other DART officers were wounded, but they are expected to recover, Lyons said.
"Give our officers strength to catch these suspects and bring them to justice tonight," he said.
Two civilians also were wounded. One was undergoing surgery early Friday after being shot in the right calf.
Former Assistant Chief Michael Genovesi, who retired last year, said the shooting is "easily the worst thing" he has seen since he joined the department 34 years ago.
He said the closest thing he remembers is when seven Dallas officers — including Chief Brown's former partner — were killed in a single-year period in 1988 and 1989.
State Sen. Royce West, who was at the protest but left before the shooting started, said he was still processing the night's events.
"Just when you think you've seen it all, you recognize you haven't," said West, D-Dallas. "I never thought I would live to see such carnage in the case of law enforcement, especially here in Dallas."
He said he hoped to work with Gov. Greg Abbott to see what the state could do to prevent such attacks.
But Genovesi, who oversaw patrol and coordinated security for major events, said such shootings are "almost impossible" to prevent.
"He certainly wasn't intimidated or in any way deterred by the police presence," Genovesi said of Johnson. "That's what he was seeking. That's really hard to defend against in a democracy."
Genovesi responded to last year's shooting at police headquarters. He said the latest shooting "will never be forgotten" but that the department has been resilient in the past and will eventually recover.
Officers at Parkland pay their respects to the officers killed in the line of duty: https://t.co/V1iZB0dqq8 pic.twitter.com/rJyJDBrQZ3 — NBC DFW (@NBCDFW) July 8, 2016
Gunman told negotiator he was upset by recent police shootings
At a 12:30 a.m. news conference, Brown said officers had exchanged gunfire for 45 minutes with a man in the El Centro College garage.
"He has told our negotiators that the end is coming and he's going to hurt and kill more of us — meaning law enforcement — and that there are bombs all over the place in this garage and in downtown," Brown said.
Series of flashing lights visible inside El Centro where #DallasPoliceShooting suspect may be holed up. @dallasnews pic.twitter.com/nNgvwvhrcf — G.J. McCarthy (@gjmccarthy) July 8, 2016
Though Brown said late Thursday that two snipers had gunned down the officers, he talked about only one man at Friday morning's news conference at Dallas City Hall.
"We are working very diligently on processing the crime scene to find evidence to bring any other suspects to justice," the chief said.
During the overnight standoff, the gunman told a police negotiator he acted alone and wanted to kill white people, especially police officers, Brown said.
"The suspect stated he was not affiliated with any groups," Brown said. "He stated he did this alone."
He said the man claimed to have hidden explosive devices in downtown buildings, but police had not found any bombs as of Friday morning.
However, Brown said then he didn't believe the threat was over and believed that others may still be at large.
"We're not satisfied until we've exhausted every lead," Brown said. "We're going to keep these suspects guessing."
About 1:20 a.m., an explosion went off at El Centro. Police said they had placed a robot near the shooter and detonated a bomb it was holding, killing him.
Students and faculty stuck on El Centro's main campus when it was placed on lockdown were allowed to leave at 2 a.m. Friday's classes were canceled.
Shortly before 3 a.m., police reported that the gunman in the garage was dead.
Dallas police Maj. Max Geron said officials were conducting "extensive sweeps" of downtown for explosives. About 5 a.m., he said primary and secondary sweeps turned up none.
'A heartbreaking morning'
Brown said he was proud to "be a part of this great noble profession," and to see the courage of the officers who ran toward gunfire to help the wounded.
The mayor called for unity.
"We as a city, we as a country must come together, lock arms and heal the wounds that we all feel from time to time," he said. "Words matter, leadership matters at this time. I'm proud of our chief."
Rawlings asked everyone to focus on the officers and their families.
"To say that our police officers put their lives on the line every day is no hyperbole, ladies and gentlemen," he said. "It's a reality."
After injured officers were rushed to area hospitals, five DART officers gathered in a downtown hotel, where they watched updates on an upstairs television.
They declined to comment on the night's events. After the suspect was reported to be in custody, they walked together back outside, solemn-faced, and headed south on North Lamar Street toward a police barricade on Elm Street.
Initial confusion
In earlier news conferences, Brown referred to at least two possible shooting suspects and said they may have perched in a way to triangulate on the officers. There was also initial confusion over the number of people in police custody.
When the shooting started, about 20 people in camouflage gear with rifles slung over their shoulders started running and police "started catching," Rawlings said.
Throughout the course of the night, police interviewed and questioned multiple people. During the shootout, Brown said a woman who had been in the same area as the gunman was taken into custody.
By Friday afternoon, no suspects were in custody.
"As we started to unraveled this fishing knot, we realized that the shooting came from one building at different levels by this suspect," Rawlings said.
About 11:30 p.m. Thursday, a person of interest in a photo circulated by the city and Dallas police turned himself in, police said. But that man, Mark Hughes, was released about two hours later.
Shortly before midnight, a Dallas police officer saw someone carrying a camouflaged bag, walking quickly down Lamar Street. The person threw the bag in the back of a black Mercedes-Benz that then sped off, police said.
Police stopped the vehicle, questioned the two occupants and released them, KXAS-TV (NBC5) reported.
AVXHeBlYM1sbmtJrn6mo-7-c633ddc81d6e7acfc373de3ef7464beb
Please keep my brothers/sisters in blue in your prayers tonight. ðŸ™ðŸ¼ðŸ™ðŸ¼ — Melinda Gutierrez (@MelindaDPD) July 8, 2016
About 1 a.m., the mayor and police chief arrived at Parkland amid a steady stream of officers. Shortly after that, a procession of motorcycle police officers arrived in formation, honor guards wearing white gloves.
"We're hurting, our profession is hurting," Brown said. "There are no words to describe the atrocity that occurred to our city. All I know is that this must stop, this divisiveness between our police and our citizens."
Brown said he's dreaded a night like Thursday, when he had to inform families their loved ones were killed in the line of duty.
The thought crossed his mind last year, when a man opened fire in June on Dallas police headquarters and led authorities on a chase through the city in an armored vehicle. After an hours-long standoff, a police sniper shot the man outside a fast food restaurant.
"It's a stark reality of what our profession is going to deal with in this country for years to come," Brown told The News in a story about the headquarters shooting.
"The idea that snipers might attack us. The idea that someone might plant a bomb to blow us up," he said. "That's something that American law enforcement hadn't had to deal with in years past that I think in the future we will have to deal with."
Brown has long touted strong police-community relations in the city. Protests and rallies have typically been peaceful.
Thursday night's shooting will strain an already tight Dallas police force. Since October, 195 officers have left thedepartment. Many of those have retired, but more than 50 officers left for other police agencies.
In recent months, many officers have been working overtime and non-patrol officers have filled patrol shifts to respond to calls.
'We are horrified'
From Poland, President Barack Obama called the shootings a "vicious, calculated, despicable attack on law enforcement," and said those responsible will be brought to justice.
"We are horrified over these events and we stand united with the people and the police department in Dallas," he said.
The White House announced Friday that Obama would be cutting his European trip short to visit Dallas early next week.
Obama ordered that U.S. flags be flown at half-staff through Tuesday night and called for a review of gun laws.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch, at Justice Department headquarters, sought to calm fears after what she called an "unfathomable tragedy" in Dallas, and a "week of profound grief and heartfelt loss."
She noted that a federal civil rights investigation is underway after the shooting in Louisiana.
She called the deaths of five Dallas officers a "devastating loss."
"After the events of this week, Americans across our country are feeling a sense of helplessness, of uncertainty and of fear," Lynch said. "These feelings are understandable, and they are justified. But the answer must not be violence. The answer is never violence. Rather the answer ... must be action — calm, peaceful, collaborative and determined action."
She offered assurance that peaceful protesters' rights will not be infringed, even as she condemned evildoers who use such gatherings as cover and pretext for acts of violence.
Dallas County First Assistant District AttornyMessina Madson said Thursday's attack has shaken prosecutors and all law enforcement in a way she has never seen.
"We work in the criminal courthouse, in a building that is used to dealing with tragedy," Madson said. For everyone "to stop and say 'Whoa,' it shows this really impacts people."
The DA's officer-involved shooting team is conducting its own investigation, as is done in all shootings of or by police. That investigation is independent of the police investigation.
"We are there with our own eyes and ears," Madson said.
Thursday's protest
As the protest ended, bystanders reported hearing multiple shots fired shortly before 9 p.m. in the area of Market and Main streets, near El Centro.
People were asked to leave the immediate downtown area. Some walked, others ran. Some sheltered in place for several hours in downtown buildings.
Video and witness accounts portrayed chaotic scenes: "Everyone just started running," said Devante Odom, 21. "We lost touch with two of our friends just trying to get out of there."
At the corner of Commerce and Houston, stay-at-home mom Renee Sifflet waited for the situation to die down so she could retrieve her three teenage kids, who were in hiding.
"I brought them here for a positive experience, something they could say they were part of when they're older, " said Sifflet, of Dallas. "Then it turned negative."
When they started running, she said, she lost track of her 15-year-old son for two frightening minutes. "Thank God he has a cellphone," she said.
Carlos Harris, who lives downtown, said the shooters "were strategic. It was tap tap, pause. Tap tap, pause."
Harris, who said he was in the military, said he heard someone fire back with an AR-15.
Before the shots were fired, the demonstrators had been peacefully walking down Main Street.
"The cops were peaceful," he said. "They were taking pictures with us and everything."
People flee downtown Dallas under police orders after reports of an active shooter during tonight's protests over recent officer-involved fatal shootings in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis. More at @dallasnews.com A video posted by Marc Ramirez (@typewriterninja) on Jul 7, 2016 at 7:42pm PDT
Stacey Brown, 30, and Bianca Avery, 34, were standing behind Dealey Plaza when they heard the shots.
"This was peaceful," Brown said. "We were headed back to our cars to go home. But we turned that corner [at Main Street] and all hell broke loose."
"I heard a shot and all of a sudden people are running ... children everywhere, everything," Avery said.
Facebook activated its crisis safety check Thursday night for people in the area of the shootings to let others know they are safe.
Officers clear Grayhound bus station after shots fired downtown Dallas at #BlackLivesMatter rally @dallasnews pic.twitter.com/AApwMe4wHQ — DMN Photo (@dallasnewsphoto) July 8, 2016
After Alton Sterling's shooting death this week in Baton Rouge, La., a rally and march were planned in downtown Dallas. But Philando Castile's death in Falcon Heights, Minn., changed the conversation, North Texas activists said.
The men, who were both black, were killed by officers within 48 hours. Cellphone cameras captured both.
Among the witnesses shaken by the violence were Sharay Santora and her teenage son and daughter, who were walking in the rally when they heard the shots.
"We were there to witness all the love that was happening around us when the chaos happened," Santora said. "Everyone was helping each other. It wasn't about black or white; everyone was picking each other up and moving them away. Not only were people doing that, but also the police were there to help."
Santora said her family's opinions about police have changed over the years they've lived in Dallas.
"Dallas police officers have been loving, giving, caring and are as much a part of the community as we are," she said.
This story was compiled from reports by staff writers including Eva-Marie Ayala, Claire Ballor, Claire Z. Cardona, Andrew Chavez, Julieta Chiquillo, Elizabeth Djinis, Caleb Downs, Jennifer Emily, Liz Farmer, Scott Farwell, Brandon Formby, Todd J. Gillman, Holly K. Hacker, Tristan Hallman, Austin Huguelet, Gromer Jeffers Jr., Dalton LaFerney, Nanette Light, Brittney Martin, Kaitlynn Martin, Naomi Martin, Marina Trahan Martinez, G.J. McCarthy, Sarah Mervosh, Ellen Meyers, Jeff Mosier, Marc Ramirez, Naheed Rajwani, Sabriya Rice, Charles Scudder, Avi Selk, Dianne Solis, Tom Steele, Tasha Tsiaperas, Allan James Vestal, Robert Wilonsky and Hannah Wise.
More on the ambush of Dallas police officers
Eight hours of terror: Peaceful protest becomes Dallas police's deadliest day
Profiles in courage: A look at the lives of the 14 Dallas ambush victims
Editorial: This city, our city
How and why Dallas police decided to use a bomb to end the standoff with lone gunman
What we know so far about deadly ambush in downtown Dallas
How to help families of Dallas officers
How Police Chief David Brown's whole life prepared him for the Dallas shooting
Man says wounded DART officer saved his life during ambush
At Dallas police headquarters, the city gathers to memorialize its fallen
Gun-carrying protester mistaken for sniper talks about his hours as most-wanted man in America | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 32,475 |
A six-month restoration project at Liberty Hall Museum in Union, N.J., uncovered three cases of Madeira wine dating to 1796 and about 42 demijohns from the 1820s while restoring its wine cellar. The museum... (Associated Press)
A six-month restoration project at Liberty Hall Museum in Union, N.J., uncovered three cases of Madeira wine dating to 1796 and about 42 demijohns from the 1820s while restoring its wine cellar. The museum said the monetary value of the wine cannot be made public. (David J. Del Grande/NJ Advance Media... (Associated Press)
UNION, N.J. (AP) — A restoration project at a New Jersey museum unearthed cases of wine nearly as old as the United States.
The Liberty Hall Museum in Union says it discovered almost three full cases of Madeira wine, a fortified wine, dating to 1796 while restoring its wine cellar. NJ.com (http://bit.ly/2sHP4uh ) reports the museum also found 42 demijohns — large glass jugs sometimes used for holding spirits — dating to the 1820s.
The museum said the monetary value of the wine cannot be made public.
The original 13 colonies imported about 95 percent of the wine produced on the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira, according to historical accounts. Bill Schroh, Liberty Hall's director of operations, said Madeira was the best wine to ship during the 18th century because it almost never spoils — even centuries later if stored properly.
Liberty Hall President John Kean said he sampled the wine. He compared it to a sweet sherry.
The museum, originally constructed in 1760, was built as a country home for New York lawyer William Livingston. He served in the First and Second Continental Congresses, become New Jersey's first elected governor and was a signatory to the Constitution. The Kean family took ownership of the estate in 1811 and has owned it since. ||||| UNION -- A restoration project at Liberty Hall Museum's wine cellar unearthed spirits 221 years old that had been shipped to the sleepy Elizabethtown cottage shortly after the American Revolution.
During the six-month revamp, the museum discovered almost three cases of Madeira wine from 1796 and about 42 demijohns from the 1820s.
Some of the original Madeira stock was shipped to the second generation who lived at Liberty Hall, in anticipation of John Adams' presidency. Although Liberty Hall President John Kean was well aware of the wine collection, he couldn't have imagined its historical significance.
"We knew there was a lot of liquor down here, but we had no idea as to the age of it," said Kean, first cousin to New Jersey's former governor. "I think the most exciting part of it was to find liquor, or Madeira in this case, that goes back so far. And then trying to trace why it was here and who owned it."
Liberty Hall is located at Kean University, which was founded in 1855 and is one of New Jersey's largest state colleges. The 150-acre campus enrolls about 13,000 students each year, and is best known for its teaching program.
Whether it's telling the story of the Civil War or an esteemed visit by President William Howard Taft in 1909, the goal of the renovation is to walk visitors through every era of American history, said Bill Schroh Jr., director of operations at Liberty Hall.
"And Madeira was just one piece of that whole story," he said.
The project began in October 2015, and included an overhaul of the museum's wine cellar, rebuilding the antique wine racks and cataloguing the historic find. Although the monetary value of Liberty Hall's Madeira cannot be made public, its the largest known collection in the United States and one of the most extensive in the world.
America's original 13 colonies imported about 95 percent of Madeiran wine produced on the autonomous islands of Portugal, according to historical accounts.
"We have about six different versions of Madeira that was [drunk] because Madeira was the drink of gentleman," said Schroh, referring to the wine's earliest epoch.
Most of Liberty Hall's Madeira was stored in the attic because unlike most wine, this particular vintage needs a warm temperature, Schroh said.
The museum was contacted by The Rare Wine Co., a premier wine merchant based in California, which tested the Madeira and further explained this spirit will rarely turn to vinegar. The stateside connoisseur reached out to Liberty Hall after the museum announced its discovery.
Liberty Hall decided to fill a decanter with a sampling from one of the original casks of Madeira. Kean had a small taste, and said those who like sweet sherry wines will enjoy this aged vin.
Madeira was the best wine to ship during the 18th century because it almost never spoiled, Shcroh said.
"So you could open some of these bottles, and it might be perfect," he added.
The museum, originally constructed in 1760, was built as a country getaway by the then prominent New York lawyer, William Livingston. Livingston would go on to serve in the First and Second Continental congresses, become New Jersey's first elected governor and sign the United States Constitution.
The Kean family was the second generation to live at Liberty Hall, taking over the original estate in 1811. Multiple generations of the Keans continued to live at the estate until 1973, when the home was designated a National Historic Landmark. The family has worked to preserve and enhance the estate's invaluable character.
But the museum is far from dormant.
Thirty-three American citizens were naturalized at the historic site on June 20, and Liberty Hall kicked off an Independence Day celebration with the Consulate General of Portugal on June 23.
When members of the Kean family decided to turn their home into a museum, they chose to make each room a progression of styles dating from 1772 on, Kean explained.
The parlor dates to the Victorian era, and they are currently remodeling an upstairs bedroom to resemble the time when Alexander Hamilton stayed at the estate circa 1773, he said.
Kean's father and uncle served in World War I, so the museum's new exhibit showcases artifacts and personal memorabilia belonging to both men. A blue flag with two stars, symbolizing their military service, hangs on the museum's front entrance window.
During the wine cellar restoration process, the museum revealed the original brick flooring that had been covered by a layer of concrete, Kean said. The bottom shelf of the wooden wine rack was rebuilt in order to re-enforce the dilapidated fixture.
The demijohns -- a glass jug, and container of choice for alcohol merchants at the time -- were also encased in wooden crates for extra protection during sea voyages. When the jugs arrived, they were syphoned, rebottled, waxed, labeled and stored. Individual bottles were usually wrapped in hay in order to protect shipments charting across the Atlantic Ocean.
When Schroh started working at the museum about 20 years ago, the wine racks that lined the cellar walls were enclosed, something the Kean family probably did during the Prohibition era, he said. But the museum removed the extra wall and restored the fence-like wooden section which opens up the display space for visitors.
The museum staffers cataloged the cases and jugs of Madeira as they were discovered. While some of the stock needed to be researched online, most of the wine was still labeled with handwritten tags, or could be looked up in the thousands of Liberty Hall documents dating more than 200 years.
"We have the receipts from the liquor store, or the liquor distributor in New York, in Elizabeth or wherever," Schroh said. "We can also trace the purchaser, when it was purchased and who it was purchased from."
Part of the research showed some of the Madeira was imported by Robert Lenox, a millionaire merchant from New York who owned land in the heart of Harlem, which is where the borough's main avenue gets its name.
Until about the 1960s, the state of New Jersey kept death inventories which were compiled by local tax assessors, Schroh explained. The process evaluated a person's assets for inheritance purposes, and the museum has records from each generation who lived at Liberty Hall, which provided a road map for researching the Madeira.
"We don't have to go to England to find something, or somewhere else to find something -- it's here," said Schroh. "We just have to put all the pieces together, and that's the fun part."
David J. Del Grande may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @SLOSONE. Find NJ.com on Facebook. | – A restoration project at a New Jersey museum unearthed cases of wine nearly as old as the United States. The Liberty Hall Museum in Union says it discovered almost three full cases of Madeira wine, a fortified wine, dating to 1796 while restoring its wine cellar. NJ.com reports the museum also found 42 demijohns—large glass jugs sometimes used for holding spirits—dating to the 1820s. The museum says the monetary value of the wine cannot be made public, reports the AP. The original 13 colonies imported about 95% of the wine produced on the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira, according to historical accounts. Bill Schroh, Liberty Hall's director of operations, says Madeira was the best wine to ship during the 18th century because it almost never spoils—even centuries later if stored properly. Liberty Hall President John Kean says he sampled the wine. He compared it to a sweet sherry. The museum, originally constructed in 1760, was built as a country home for New York lawyer William Livingston. He served in the First and Second Continental Congresses, become New Jersey's first elected governor, and was a signatory to the Constitution. The Kean family took ownership of the estate in 1811 and has owned it since. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.A six-month restoration project at Liberty Hall Museum in Union, N.J., uncovered three cases of Madeira wine dating to 1796 and about 42 demijohns from the 1820s while restoring its wine cellar. The museum... (Associated Press)
A six-month restoration project at Liberty Hall Museum in Union, N.J., uncovered three cases of Madeira wine dating to 1796 and about 42 demijohns from the 1820s while restoring its wine cellar. The museum said the monetary value of the wine cannot be made public. (David J. Del Grande/NJ Advance Media... (Associated Press)
UNION, N.J. (AP) — A restoration project at a New Jersey museum unearthed cases of wine nearly as old as the United States.
The Liberty Hall Museum in Union says it discovered almost three full cases of Madeira wine, a fortified wine, dating to 1796 while restoring its wine cellar. NJ.com (http://bit.ly/2sHP4uh ) reports the museum also found 42 demijohns — large glass jugs sometimes used for holding spirits — dating to the 1820s.
The museum said the monetary value of the wine cannot be made public.
The original 13 colonies imported about 95 percent of the wine produced on the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira, according to historical accounts. Bill Schroh, Liberty Hall's director of operations, said Madeira was the best wine to ship during the 18th century because it almost never spoils — even centuries later if stored properly.
Liberty Hall President John Kean said he sampled the wine. He compared it to a sweet sherry.
The museum, originally constructed in 1760, was built as a country home for New York lawyer William Livingston. He served in the First and Second Continental Congresses, become New Jersey's first elected governor and was a signatory to the Constitution. The Kean family took ownership of the estate in 1811 and has owned it since. ||||| UNION -- A restoration project at Liberty Hall Museum's wine cellar unearthed spirits 221 years old that had been shipped to the sleepy Elizabethtown cottage shortly after the American Revolution.
During the six-month revamp, the museum discovered almost three cases of Madeira wine from 1796 and about 42 demijohns from the 1820s.
Some of the original Madeira stock was shipped to the second generation who lived at Liberty Hall, in anticipation of John Adams' presidency. Although Liberty Hall President John Kean was well aware of the wine collection, he couldn't have imagined its historical significance.
"We knew there was a lot of liquor down here, but we had no idea as to the age of it," said Kean, first cousin to New Jersey's former governor. "I think the most exciting part of it was to find liquor, or Madeira in this case, that goes back so far. And then trying to trace why it was here and who owned it."
Liberty Hall is located at Kean University, which was founded in 1855 and is one of New Jersey's largest state colleges. The 150-acre campus enrolls about 13,000 students each year, and is best known for its teaching program.
Whether it's telling the story of the Civil War or an esteemed visit by President William Howard Taft in 1909, the goal of the renovation is to walk visitors through every era of American history, said Bill Schroh Jr., director of operations at Liberty Hall.
"And Madeira was just one piece of that whole story," he said.
The project began in October 2015, and included an overhaul of the museum's wine cellar, rebuilding the antique wine racks and cataloguing the historic find. Although the monetary value of Liberty Hall's Madeira cannot be made public, its the largest known collection in the United States and one of the most extensive in the world.
America's original 13 colonies imported about 95 percent of Madeiran wine produced on the autonomous islands of Portugal, according to historical accounts.
"We have about six different versions of Madeira that was [drunk] because Madeira was the drink of gentleman," said Schroh, referring to the wine's earliest epoch.
Most of Liberty Hall's Madeira was stored in the attic because unlike most wine, this particular vintage needs a warm temperature, Schroh said.
The museum was contacted by The Rare Wine Co., a premier wine merchant based in California, which tested the Madeira and further explained this spirit will rarely turn to vinegar. The stateside connoisseur reached out to Liberty Hall after the museum announced its discovery.
Liberty Hall decided to fill a decanter with a sampling from one of the original casks of Madeira. Kean had a small taste, and said those who like sweet sherry wines will enjoy this aged vin.
Madeira was the best wine to ship during the 18th century because it almost never spoiled, Shcroh said.
"So you could open some of these bottles, and it might be perfect," he added.
The museum, originally constructed in 1760, was built as a country getaway by the then prominent New York lawyer, William Livingston. Livingston would go on to serve in the First and Second Continental congresses, become New Jersey's first elected governor and sign the United States Constitution.
The Kean family was the second generation to live at Liberty Hall, taking over the original estate in 1811. Multiple generations of the Keans continued to live at the estate until 1973, when the home was designated a National Historic Landmark. The family has worked to preserve and enhance the estate's invaluable character.
But the museum is far from dormant.
Thirty-three American citizens were naturalized at the historic site on June 20, and Liberty Hall kicked off an Independence Day celebration with the Consulate General of Portugal on June 23.
When members of the Kean family decided to turn their home into a museum, they chose to make each room a progression of styles dating from 1772 on, Kean explained.
The parlor dates to the Victorian era, and they are currently remodeling an upstairs bedroom to resemble the time when Alexander Hamilton stayed at the estate circa 1773, he said.
Kean's father and uncle served in World War I, so the museum's new exhibit showcases artifacts and personal memorabilia belonging to both men. A blue flag with two stars, symbolizing their military service, hangs on the museum's front entrance window.
During the wine cellar restoration process, the museum revealed the original brick flooring that had been covered by a layer of concrete, Kean said. The bottom shelf of the wooden wine rack was rebuilt in order to re-enforce the dilapidated fixture.
The demijohns -- a glass jug, and container of choice for alcohol merchants at the time -- were also encased in wooden crates for extra protection during sea voyages. When the jugs arrived, they were syphoned, rebottled, waxed, labeled and stored. Individual bottles were usually wrapped in hay in order to protect shipments charting across the Atlantic Ocean.
When Schroh started working at the museum about 20 years ago, the wine racks that lined the cellar walls were enclosed, something the Kean family probably did during the Prohibition era, he said. But the museum removed the extra wall and restored the fence-like wooden section which opens up the display space for visitors.
The museum staffers cataloged the cases and jugs of Madeira as they were discovered. While some of the stock needed to be researched online, most of the wine was still labeled with handwritten tags, or could be looked up in the thousands of Liberty Hall documents dating more than 200 years.
"We have the receipts from the liquor store, or the liquor distributor in New York, in Elizabeth or wherever," Schroh said. "We can also trace the purchaser, when it was purchased and who it was purchased from."
Part of the research showed some of the Madeira was imported by Robert Lenox, a millionaire merchant from New York who owned land in the heart of Harlem, which is where the borough's main avenue gets its name.
Until about the 1960s, the state of New Jersey kept death inventories which were compiled by local tax assessors, Schroh explained. The process evaluated a person's assets for inheritance purposes, and the museum has records from each generation who lived at Liberty Hall, which provided a road map for researching the Madeira.
"We don't have to go to England to find something, or somewhere else to find something -- it's here," said Schroh. "We just have to put all the pieces together, and that's the fun part."
David J. Del Grande may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @SLOSONE. Find NJ.com on Facebook. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 17,108 |
Bauer, a two-term Republican who is running for governor, said there are parents who are dependent upon the government for food and shelter, but who are unwilling to engage in their children's education. This, he said, robs children of a chance to break out of poverty.
But Bauer, in an interview with The State Saturday, said a furor over his comments doesn't change this fact: South Carolina needs to have an honest conversation about the cycle of government dependency among its poorest residents.
Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer said Saturday he could have chosen his words more carefully when he compared people who take public assistance to stray animals Friday.
And as a candidate for governor, Bauer said, now is the time to start talking about something that others are unwilling to tackle. Bauer said he wants to lead that conversation.
"Why shouldn't you have to do something?" Bauer asked of people receiving food stamps, free school lunches and public housing. "In government, we are too often giving a handout instead of a hand up."
Friday, Bauer said giving food to needy people means encouraging dependence. It also gives the recipients a license to have children who will also be dependent on public aid, he said.
"My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals," Bauer told a Greenville-area crowd. "You know why? Because they breed.
"You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't think too much further than that. And so what you've got to do is you've got to curtail that type of behavior. They don't know any better."
Those comments caused Democratic candidates running for governor and some lawmakers to question Bauer's faith, compassion and timing.
The state is enduring the nation's worst-ever recession. Bauer's comments came on the same day South Carolina reported its jobless rate is now 12.6 percent. State agencies are reporting more South Carolinians are tapping public assistance, as job creation is scant and job loss has remained robust.
"It amazes me how some Republican politicians claim a monopoly on Christianity and then go out and say and do some of the most un-Christian things imaginable," said Charleston attorney Mullins McLeod, who participated in a candidates forum in Columbia along with Bauer Saturday. "... Bauer's comments are despicable and the total opposite of the Christian values Bauer espouses."
Sen. Vincent Sheheen, D-Kershaw, said if there is anyone not taking responsibility, it's Bauer and his fellow Republicans. Sheheen, who is running for governor, noted the GOP has been in control while economic conditions in South Carolina have deteriorated and left more than 600,000 citizens jobless.
"The increase of people in our state who need jobs, food and shelter is a direct result of the failed policies of those who've controlled our state government for the past eight years," said Sheheen. "I am disgusted by these comments. They show an unbelievable lack of compassion toward the unemployed workers in our state who are hurting during these hard times."
Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens, said it's ironic that Bauer's comments appeared in The Greenville News next to an article about the state's jobless rate setting a new record.
In that article, Martin said, there was a jobless worker who talked about the indignity of a willing and able worker having to ask for food stamps. "People are hurting," Martin said.
State Education Superintendent Jim Rex, a Democrat who is also running for governor, said Bauer should apologize.
"If the intent of Lieutenant Governor Bauer's remarks was to blame children, who are not responsible for their own predicaments, or to blame adults, who want to work but cannot find jobs, it is regrettable," Rex said. "It is reprehensible that a statewide elected official would compare his fellow citizens to stray animals. He should apologize."
Bauer said he doesn't need to apologize. His comments, Bauer said, are not about hardships associated with the economy, but a culture of dependence that is there during good economic times.
He also said he wasn't advocating the abolition of the federal school-lunch program or any other government aid. Bauer said he wants the state to rethink how those programs are administered.
"This is out of love and compassion," Bauer said. "If I have to take a hit, then fine. ... I will take short-term pain for long-term gain."
Bauer, 40, said the criticism of him is political opportunism. He said there is probably no one in South Carolina politics who identifies more with the plight of the poorest South Carolinians or who spends more time helping the needy.
Bauer said he's been poor, unlike most S.C. politicians. Bauer is a child of divorce. As a result, he and his sister qualified for reduced-price lunches in the Irmo school system, something that was obvious to other kids because of the different color lunch ticket he was given.
Bauer said he was "mortified" by the idea of presenting the reduced-price lunch ticket. "Everyone knew," he said.
That's part of the reason, Bauer said, that he has raised enough money to give away nearly 10,000 pairs of shoes last year and 6,000 blankets.
Bauer on Saturday had returned from a charity drive to aid victims of the Haiti earthquake. He says his efforts will send three truckloads of supplies to victims there.
"I haven't done any of this for publicity," Bauer said. "I don't know if the folks who are criticizing me have put in the work I have in helping people.
"I have spent many USC football Saturdays outside the stadium hustling (for donations). It all goes to my foundation. Where is the media coverage of that?"
Bauer said there is also little media coverage of the frustrated public school system that wants parents across the spectrum to get more involved with their children's education.
Bauer says he frequently hears from teachers. There was a time when he was one. Bauer worked as a substitute teacher for four years while he was also in the state Senate. He says he did so because he wanted to know firsthand about what works in schools and what doesn't work.
The experience, Bauer said, raised as many questions as it provided answers. That's why, he said, the state needs to have what he says is a necessary but potentially painful discussion. If nobody else is willing to talk about it, then he is, Bauer said.
"I'm looking for ideas," Bauer said. ||||| “My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed! You’re facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don’t think too much further than that. And so what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to curtail that type of behavior. They don’t know any better.”
– Andre Bauer, lieutenant governor of South Carolina
and candidate for S.C. governor.
It’s hard to know where to start with a statement like that. Apparently, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer believes that we should try to starve the poor out of existence. Deprive them of food and they will cease breeding: Problem solved, neat as that. (An audio version of Bauer’s remarks with additional context is available here. Hearing the vehemence with which Bauer makes the above statement only compounds its ugliness.)
For the moment, though, let’s set aside the pure viciousness of that statement and address what Bauer claims is his larger point. In effect, his thesis is that government assistance actually causes poverty because it subsidizes and encourages irresponsible actions. “In government, we continue to reward bad behavior,” he said. “Any time we give somebody money we’re rewarding them. We’re telling them to keep doing what they’re doing.”
Cut off those subsidies, in other words, and poverty will decrease.
In some circles, that’s a politically popular explanation for the problems of the underclass. So let’s take it seriously for a moment and try to test that analysis against what we know to be reality.
The first problem is history. Human poverty has existed in every culture and era, without exception. It is a constant of human existence, a pre-existing condition, so to speak. No matter what Bauer chooses to believe, government did not create it. South Carolina, for example, was mired in deep poverty long before school-lunch programs and welfare programs existed.
Second, if Bauer were right, we would expect that poverty would be lowest in those nations that do nothing to “subsidize bad behavior,” and highest in those countries where the government support system rewards such behavior. Yet if you look around the world, the opposite is true. Poverty levels are highest in those societies that make little attempt to address it, and lowest in those that offer some form of safety net.
We can also test Bauer’s thesis here at home, by comparing states that offer varying degrees of support for the poor. A liberal Northeastern state such as Connecticut, for example, offers a more extensive government support system to its poor than does a conservative state such as South Carolina. Mississippi offers even less support to its poor than does South Carolina. Put in Bauer’s terms, Connecticut rewards poverty while South Carolina and Mississippi try to penalize it.
If Bauer’s thesis is correct — if government support causes poverty — then Connecticut ought to be drowning in poor people while Mississippi has relatively few poor people. Yet in fact the exact opposite is true, and Census Bureau figures prove it. In Connecticut, which “subsidizes bad behavior” most heavily, 5.7 percent of families lived below the poverty line in 2007, while 16 percent did so in Mississippi, where poverty was least subsidized. (The figure in South Carolina was 11.2 percent; in Georgia it was 10.8 percent. And all those numbers are undoubtedly a lot higher in 2010.)
That data suggest that poverty is a much more complex phenomenon than Bauer would like to pretend, and is not in the least “caused” by government assistance.
Nor does government assistance encourage “breeding,” as Bauer so cruelly described it. It is demographic fact that in every culture and in every era throughout history, poorer families tend to have more children than affluent families. The presence or absence of government support has nothing to do with it. By the way, Bauer’s dismay is also nothing new; in cultures throughout time, the more affluent have always been dismayed by those “breeders” in the lower classes.
In his speech, Bauer recounts a second-hand tale of a 10-year-old child who supposedly gave birth to a baby of her own. If true, it is a tragic tale for both. Even if that particular story is false, the larger problem of teenage and out-of-wedlock births is very real and must be confronted honestly. However, that honest discussion must begin by acknowledging that the 10-year-old did not “breed” in response to financial inducements offered by the government.
Bauer did offer one concrete suggestion in his speech, proposing that parents be required to attend parent-teacher conferences and take drug tests or lose government benefits such as school lunch programs. If they want government benefits, he said, they should be required to act responsibly.
To any responsible person, that instinctively sounds great, but let’s think it through. The population that Bauer is attempting to target are by definition not responsible. They are parents who abuse drugs or simply don’t care enough about their children to ensure that they get a good education. Is that population going to change its behavior in response to a possible cutoff of free school lunches? Sadly, no. If they responded to that kind of thing, they wouldn’t be in that predicament in the first place.
And if you nonetheless go ahead and deny a free or subsidized lunch to a kid whose parents are on drugs, what have you accomplished? You condemn the child to hunger and malnutrition, heaping another significant problem on his or her already overburdened shoulders. You reduce the incentive for that child to go to school every day, where at least he or she knew food was available. And you make people like Andre Bauer feel better.
Bauer’s fundamental mistake is his assertion that the poor respond to market signals sent by the government. The real problem is that they don’t respond to market signals at all. Living in poverty ought to be a huge market signal, but for a variety of reasons, the poor are largely immune to it. Many of them don’t recognize what the signals are saying, they lack the education to know how to respond to them, and they have no faith that the market would reward them anyway.
Changing that is difficult; only a small percentage of those born into poverty escape it. Perhaps the best we can do is to champion programs — and the school lunch program is a perfect if small example — that increase the odds of escape for individuals mired in poverty.
One last point: In his speech and subsequent press release, Bauer complained that “political correctness” makes it impossible to discuss such issues publicly. I would suggest that rhetoric likening our fellow Americans to overbreeding stray animals makes it far more difficult to discuss these things rationally than does political correctness. | – Mark Sanford is no longer the most embarrassing politician in South Carolina: His lieutenant governor, Andre Bauer, is in hot water after comparing government assistance for the poor to "feeding stray animals." Said Bauer, who is running to succeed Sanford as governor: "You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't think too much further than that." Reaction to the remarks, first reported in the Greenville News, was quick. Bauer allowed that he could have chosen his words more carefully but declined to back off. "In government, we are too often giving a handout instead of a hand up," he said in an interview with the State. Analyzing "the pure viciousness" of Bauer's position suggests he "believes that we should try to starve the poor out of existence," Jay Bookman writes for the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. "Deprive them of food and they will cease breeding: Problem solved, neat as that." | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Bauer, a two-term Republican who is running for governor, said there are parents who are dependent upon the government for food and shelter, but who are unwilling to engage in their children's education. This, he said, robs children of a chance to break out of poverty.
But Bauer, in an interview with The State Saturday, said a furor over his comments doesn't change this fact: South Carolina needs to have an honest conversation about the cycle of government dependency among its poorest residents.
Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer said Saturday he could have chosen his words more carefully when he compared people who take public assistance to stray animals Friday.
And as a candidate for governor, Bauer said, now is the time to start talking about something that others are unwilling to tackle. Bauer said he wants to lead that conversation.
"Why shouldn't you have to do something?" Bauer asked of people receiving food stamps, free school lunches and public housing. "In government, we are too often giving a handout instead of a hand up."
Friday, Bauer said giving food to needy people means encouraging dependence. It also gives the recipients a license to have children who will also be dependent on public aid, he said.
"My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals," Bauer told a Greenville-area crowd. "You know why? Because they breed.
"You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't think too much further than that. And so what you've got to do is you've got to curtail that type of behavior. They don't know any better."
Those comments caused Democratic candidates running for governor and some lawmakers to question Bauer's faith, compassion and timing.
The state is enduring the nation's worst-ever recession. Bauer's comments came on the same day South Carolina reported its jobless rate is now 12.6 percent. State agencies are reporting more South Carolinians are tapping public assistance, as job creation is scant and job loss has remained robust.
"It amazes me how some Republican politicians claim a monopoly on Christianity and then go out and say and do some of the most un-Christian things imaginable," said Charleston attorney Mullins McLeod, who participated in a candidates forum in Columbia along with Bauer Saturday. "... Bauer's comments are despicable and the total opposite of the Christian values Bauer espouses."
Sen. Vincent Sheheen, D-Kershaw, said if there is anyone not taking responsibility, it's Bauer and his fellow Republicans. Sheheen, who is running for governor, noted the GOP has been in control while economic conditions in South Carolina have deteriorated and left more than 600,000 citizens jobless.
"The increase of people in our state who need jobs, food and shelter is a direct result of the failed policies of those who've controlled our state government for the past eight years," said Sheheen. "I am disgusted by these comments. They show an unbelievable lack of compassion toward the unemployed workers in our state who are hurting during these hard times."
Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens, said it's ironic that Bauer's comments appeared in The Greenville News next to an article about the state's jobless rate setting a new record.
In that article, Martin said, there was a jobless worker who talked about the indignity of a willing and able worker having to ask for food stamps. "People are hurting," Martin said.
State Education Superintendent Jim Rex, a Democrat who is also running for governor, said Bauer should apologize.
"If the intent of Lieutenant Governor Bauer's remarks was to blame children, who are not responsible for their own predicaments, or to blame adults, who want to work but cannot find jobs, it is regrettable," Rex said. "It is reprehensible that a statewide elected official would compare his fellow citizens to stray animals. He should apologize."
Bauer said he doesn't need to apologize. His comments, Bauer said, are not about hardships associated with the economy, but a culture of dependence that is there during good economic times.
He also said he wasn't advocating the abolition of the federal school-lunch program or any other government aid. Bauer said he wants the state to rethink how those programs are administered.
"This is out of love and compassion," Bauer said. "If I have to take a hit, then fine. ... I will take short-term pain for long-term gain."
Bauer, 40, said the criticism of him is political opportunism. He said there is probably no one in South Carolina politics who identifies more with the plight of the poorest South Carolinians or who spends more time helping the needy.
Bauer said he's been poor, unlike most S.C. politicians. Bauer is a child of divorce. As a result, he and his sister qualified for reduced-price lunches in the Irmo school system, something that was obvious to other kids because of the different color lunch ticket he was given.
Bauer said he was "mortified" by the idea of presenting the reduced-price lunch ticket. "Everyone knew," he said.
That's part of the reason, Bauer said, that he has raised enough money to give away nearly 10,000 pairs of shoes last year and 6,000 blankets.
Bauer on Saturday had returned from a charity drive to aid victims of the Haiti earthquake. He says his efforts will send three truckloads of supplies to victims there.
"I haven't done any of this for publicity," Bauer said. "I don't know if the folks who are criticizing me have put in the work I have in helping people.
"I have spent many USC football Saturdays outside the stadium hustling (for donations). It all goes to my foundation. Where is the media coverage of that?"
Bauer said there is also little media coverage of the frustrated public school system that wants parents across the spectrum to get more involved with their children's education.
Bauer says he frequently hears from teachers. There was a time when he was one. Bauer worked as a substitute teacher for four years while he was also in the state Senate. He says he did so because he wanted to know firsthand about what works in schools and what doesn't work.
The experience, Bauer said, raised as many questions as it provided answers. That's why, he said, the state needs to have what he says is a necessary but potentially painful discussion. If nobody else is willing to talk about it, then he is, Bauer said.
"I'm looking for ideas," Bauer said. ||||| “My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed! You’re facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don’t think too much further than that. And so what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to curtail that type of behavior. They don’t know any better.”
– Andre Bauer, lieutenant governor of South Carolina
and candidate for S.C. governor.
It’s hard to know where to start with a statement like that. Apparently, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer believes that we should try to starve the poor out of existence. Deprive them of food and they will cease breeding: Problem solved, neat as that. (An audio version of Bauer’s remarks with additional context is available here. Hearing the vehemence with which Bauer makes the above statement only compounds its ugliness.)
For the moment, though, let’s set aside the pure viciousness of that statement and address what Bauer claims is his larger point. In effect, his thesis is that government assistance actually causes poverty because it subsidizes and encourages irresponsible actions. “In government, we continue to reward bad behavior,” he said. “Any time we give somebody money we’re rewarding them. We’re telling them to keep doing what they’re doing.”
Cut off those subsidies, in other words, and poverty will decrease.
In some circles, that’s a politically popular explanation for the problems of the underclass. So let’s take it seriously for a moment and try to test that analysis against what we know to be reality.
The first problem is history. Human poverty has existed in every culture and era, without exception. It is a constant of human existence, a pre-existing condition, so to speak. No matter what Bauer chooses to believe, government did not create it. South Carolina, for example, was mired in deep poverty long before school-lunch programs and welfare programs existed.
Second, if Bauer were right, we would expect that poverty would be lowest in those nations that do nothing to “subsidize bad behavior,” and highest in those countries where the government support system rewards such behavior. Yet if you look around the world, the opposite is true. Poverty levels are highest in those societies that make little attempt to address it, and lowest in those that offer some form of safety net.
We can also test Bauer’s thesis here at home, by comparing states that offer varying degrees of support for the poor. A liberal Northeastern state such as Connecticut, for example, offers a more extensive government support system to its poor than does a conservative state such as South Carolina. Mississippi offers even less support to its poor than does South Carolina. Put in Bauer’s terms, Connecticut rewards poverty while South Carolina and Mississippi try to penalize it.
If Bauer’s thesis is correct — if government support causes poverty — then Connecticut ought to be drowning in poor people while Mississippi has relatively few poor people. Yet in fact the exact opposite is true, and Census Bureau figures prove it. In Connecticut, which “subsidizes bad behavior” most heavily, 5.7 percent of families lived below the poverty line in 2007, while 16 percent did so in Mississippi, where poverty was least subsidized. (The figure in South Carolina was 11.2 percent; in Georgia it was 10.8 percent. And all those numbers are undoubtedly a lot higher in 2010.)
That data suggest that poverty is a much more complex phenomenon than Bauer would like to pretend, and is not in the least “caused” by government assistance.
Nor does government assistance encourage “breeding,” as Bauer so cruelly described it. It is demographic fact that in every culture and in every era throughout history, poorer families tend to have more children than affluent families. The presence or absence of government support has nothing to do with it. By the way, Bauer’s dismay is also nothing new; in cultures throughout time, the more affluent have always been dismayed by those “breeders” in the lower classes.
In his speech, Bauer recounts a second-hand tale of a 10-year-old child who supposedly gave birth to a baby of her own. If true, it is a tragic tale for both. Even if that particular story is false, the larger problem of teenage and out-of-wedlock births is very real and must be confronted honestly. However, that honest discussion must begin by acknowledging that the 10-year-old did not “breed” in response to financial inducements offered by the government.
Bauer did offer one concrete suggestion in his speech, proposing that parents be required to attend parent-teacher conferences and take drug tests or lose government benefits such as school lunch programs. If they want government benefits, he said, they should be required to act responsibly.
To any responsible person, that instinctively sounds great, but let’s think it through. The population that Bauer is attempting to target are by definition not responsible. They are parents who abuse drugs or simply don’t care enough about their children to ensure that they get a good education. Is that population going to change its behavior in response to a possible cutoff of free school lunches? Sadly, no. If they responded to that kind of thing, they wouldn’t be in that predicament in the first place.
And if you nonetheless go ahead and deny a free or subsidized lunch to a kid whose parents are on drugs, what have you accomplished? You condemn the child to hunger and malnutrition, heaping another significant problem on his or her already overburdened shoulders. You reduce the incentive for that child to go to school every day, where at least he or she knew food was available. And you make people like Andre Bauer feel better.
Bauer’s fundamental mistake is his assertion that the poor respond to market signals sent by the government. The real problem is that they don’t respond to market signals at all. Living in poverty ought to be a huge market signal, but for a variety of reasons, the poor are largely immune to it. Many of them don’t recognize what the signals are saying, they lack the education to know how to respond to them, and they have no faith that the market would reward them anyway.
Changing that is difficult; only a small percentage of those born into poverty escape it. Perhaps the best we can do is to champion programs — and the school lunch program is a perfect if small example — that increase the odds of escape for individuals mired in poverty.
One last point: In his speech and subsequent press release, Bauer complained that “political correctness” makes it impossible to discuss such issues publicly. I would suggest that rhetoric likening our fellow Americans to overbreeding stray animals makes it far more difficult to discuss these things rationally than does political correctness. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 18,075 |
(CNN) Three more women came forward on September 30 to accuse Bill Cosby of sexually inappropriate behavior, creating yet another wave of allegations that the comedian abused his power by drugging and assaulting women.
One woman was a cocktail server at a jazz club in Redondo Beach, California, in the 1970s. She accused Cosby of stealing her panties after drugging her and assaulting her in her car while she was unconscious.
Another was a former model and actress who appeared as an extra on "The Cosby Show." She said Cosby told her she'd better sleep with him if she wanted to make it in the entertainment industry.
After years of silence, the women said, allegations against Cosby from other women emboldened them to come forward.
"After 35 years of living with these shameful memories in secret, I was finally encouraged by all the other women who have recently told their stories," said Sharon Van Ert, the former waitress.
Accusations from more than 40 women
More than 40 women have publicly accused Cosby of sexual misconduct over the past 40 years. The comedian has never been criminally charged and has vehemently denied wrongdoing. Cosby's representatives declined to comment on the latest claims.
Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? More than 50 women have spoken out to various media outlets about allegations of sexual misconduct by Bill Cosby. Here are 25, in chronological order, who have spoken with CNN, spoken on camera about their allegations or been the subject of responses from Cosby's attorneys. Read more on the allegations and Cosby's denials. Hide Caption 1 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? In January 2004, Andrea Constand, then a 31-year-old staffer for the women's basketball team at Temple University -- Cosby's alma mater -- was at the comedian's Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, home when Cosby provided her medication that made her dizzy, she alleged the next year. She later woke up to find her bra undone and her clothes in disarray, she further alleged to police in her home province of Ontario, Canada, in January 2005. She was the first person to publicly allege sexual assault by Cosby. The comedian settled a civil suit with Constand that alleged 13 Jane Does had similar stories of sexual abuse. On December 30, 2015, Cosby was charged with sexual assault in relation to the 2004 accusation, Costand's attorney Dolores Troiani confirmed to CNN. That ended in a mistrial after the jury deadlocked in June 2017, but prosecutors immediately announced they would retry the case. Hide Caption 2 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Janice Dickinson alleged she and Cosby had dinner in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, in 1982 and he gave her a glass of red wine and a pill she believed was for menstrual cramps. "The last thing I remember was Bill Cosby in a patchwork robe, dropping his robe and getting on top of me. And I remember a lot of pain," she told "Entertainment Tonight." Cosby's attorney said in a statement that Dickinson's allegation was a "fabricated lie" that contradicted what she wrote in her autobiography and what she said during a 2002 New York Observer interview. Hide Caption 3 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Heidi Thomas says she met Cosby in 1984 and visited him at a house outside of Reno, Nevada, for "coaching." At the time, she was a 24-year-old aspiring actress and model known as Heidi Johnson. Thomas says Cosby offered her a glass of Chablis, and she later woke up with Cosby next to her in bed, naked, and "forcing himself in my mouth." A representative of Cosby did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thomas' allegation. Hide Caption 4 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Cindra Ladd, longtime wife of Oscar-winning film producer Alan Ladd Jr., alleges Bill Cosby sexually assaulted her in 1969 when she was single and 21. Cosby's representatives did not respond to CNN's repeated requests for comment. Hide Caption 5 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? The now-wife of "The Incredible Hulk" star Lou Ferrigno, Carla Ferrigno, told CNN that Cosby forcibly kissed her at his home in 1967. Carla Ferrigno said she told her husband, whom she married in 1980, about the incident about five years ago and he advised her to stay silent. Hide Caption 6 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Kristina Ruehli was a secretary for a talent agency in 1965 that had Cosby as a client. She said she was invited to a party to celebrate a taping of "Hollywood Palace." Ruehli said she and an actress were the only attendees at the party. She said she became unconscious after consuming drinks and later woke up to find Cosby attempting to force her mouth onto his pubic area. She said she pulled away to vomit and drove herself home. It was the last time she would see Cosby, she told CNN. Hide Caption 7 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Linda Brown was a 21-year-old model in 1969 when, she alleges, Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in Canada near her hometown. She says she was introduced to the comedian by her then-manager, had dinner with Cosby and was later served a soft drink by Cosby at an apartment. "I took a sip and blacked out," Brown said at a press conference with her attorney in February. "When I awakened, I was naked in the bed beside him." Hide Caption 8 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Joan Tarshis was a 19-year-old actress in 1969 when, she said, she met Cosby in Los Angeles. The two became friendly. One night after taping his sitcom, he invited her back to his bungalow and fixed her a "redeye" (a Bloody Mary topped with beer), she alleged. "The next thing I remember was coming to on his couch while being undressed," she told Hollywood Elsewhere. "I was sickened by what was happening to me and shocked that this man I had idolized was now raping me. Of course I told no one." It was the first of two similar incidents, said Tarshis, who is now a journalist and publicist. Hide Caption 9 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Linda Joy Traitz said Cosby offered her a ride home while she was working as a waitress at a restaurant in Los Angeles that he co-owned in 1969. On the way, they detoured to the beach. They parked and he offered her drugs "to relax," she alleged. After refusing "he kept offering me the pills," she alleged, and it made her feel uncomfortable. She claimed he then groped her chest, pushing her down in the seat and toward the door, and tried to lie on top of her. She got out of the car and ran, she said. She added that she was "absolutely not" raped. He tried to calm her, she said, then drove her home in silence. Traitz has a criminal record in Florida and spent time in prison on a conviction for drug trafficking, according to state records. Cosby's lawyer passed on her lengthy rap sheet. Traitz spoke openly about her record to CNN. Hide Caption 10 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Playboy bunny Victoria Valentino said her friend Francesca Emerson first introduced her to Cosby hoping to help her get work on his show "I Spy" in the late '60s. Valentino said after an interview in his trailer, Cosby invited her and a different friend to dinner, where they drank red wine and Cosby offered her pills to "cheer up," she said. She said she felt "stoned," slurring her words. They then went with him to what she described as a "ballers pad," an office-like space in an apartment building, with two loveseats and no working phone. Valentino said she was feeling "totally out of it" when she saw Cosby attempting to advance on her passed-out friend. She said she began reaching out to Cosby to pull him off her friend when he pushed her down, first pushing himself near her mouth, before turning her around and raping her. Hide Caption 11 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Famed model Beverly Johnson alleged that Bill Cosby drugged her in the 1980s at his Manhattan brownstone, where she'd gone to rehearse lines. During the meeting, Johnson said, Cosby was "very insistent" she drink a cup of cappuccino he had made for her. "After that second sip, I knew I had been drugged," she alleged. "It was very powerful, it came on very quickly." Johnson said she then confronted and cursed at the comedian, claiming, "I wanted him to know he had drugged me." She alleged that Cosby got angry, grabbed her, took her outside and flagged down a taxi for her. Cosby's attorney didn't immediately return a CNN call for comment on Johnson's allegation, which she first made in a Vanity Fair article. Hide Caption 12 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? In 1970, Tamara Green was an aspiring model in her early 20s. She alleged an incident occurred during a working lunch with Cosby and others. Green told Matt Lauer of the "Today" show that at the lunch, she was suffering from the flu and Cosby "produced two capsules." She said they made her feel "great" at first, but then left her "almost literally face down on the table of this restaurant." Cosby took her to her apartment and started "groping me and kissing me and touching me and handling me and you know, taking off my clothes," Green said. Green further detailed her allegations in a defamation lawsuit against Cosby filed in December. Hide Caption 13 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Judy Huth has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court claiming sexual battery and infliction of emotional distress during an incident at the Playboy Mansion, according to court documents. The alleged sexual assault took place in 1974 when Huth was 15 years old. According to court documents, Huth and a 16-year-old friend met with Cosby and eventually went to the Playboy Mansion with him. "He then proceeded to sexually molest her by attempting to put his hand down her pants and then taking her hand in his hand and performing a sex act on himself without her consent," according to the documents. Cosby's lawyer said Huth's claims are "absolutely false" and he accused her of engaging in extortion after Cosby rejected her "outrageous demand for money in order not to make her allegations public." Hide Caption 14 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? P.J. Masten was a Playboy bunny in her 20s and met Cosby while working as a server at one of Playboy's establishments. He asked her to lunch one afternoon in Chicago, then later called to invite her to dinner, she told CNN. Before the dinner, attended by four other men at the Whitehall Hotel, Masten said, Cosby poured her a drink. "And the next thing I know, it was 4 o'clock in the morning," Masten said. "I woke up in a bed naked, bruised. He was lying next to me, and I slithered out of the bed, my clothes all over the floor. ... I got myself together, I went downstairs, I got in a cab and I went home." Masten recalled "hurting really bad." As to why, she alleged: "There were bruise marks all over me. I knew I was raped by him." Hide Caption 15 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? In a statement released through lawyer Gloria Allred's office, Helen Hayes alleged that Cosby followed her and two friends "around all day" at a summer 1973 celebrity tennis tournament in Pebble Beach, California, hosted by actor Clint Eastwood. Hayes claimed she and her friends tried to avoid Cosby, but he caught up with them in a restaurant, "approached me from behind and reached over my shoulder and grabbed my right breast." "I was stunned and angry, because he had no right to do that and I did not know why he would behave that way," Hayes said. "His behavior was like that of a predator." Hide Caption 16 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Louisa Moritz, seen here in a 1971 episode of "Love, American Style," told TMZ she was in the green room of the "The Tonight Show" at NBC in New York when Cosby paid her a visit. He offered to turn her into a "major star through his direction." Then he forced himself on her, she alleged. Hide Caption 17 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Donna Motsinger, 73, one of the Jane Does in the civil suit with Constand, said she met Cosby while working in a restaurant in Sausalito, California. According to Motsinger, Cosby invited her to join him for his show and she accepted. On the way, they stopped for gas and had a drink. After becoming ill, Motsinger said Cosby gave her what she thought was an aspirin. "After that there was some conversation and laughing and stuff, but then the next thing I remember ... he's next to me, he's got his hands on me and I look up I see the lights of the city. I could see it clear as a bell in my mind right now, the lights of the city coming back and it was all blurry, kind of the lights, and I passed out again," she said. Hide Caption 18 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Florida nurse Therese Serignese, 57, told ABC's "20/20" that she was a 19-year-old model visiting Las Vegas when Cosby handed her pills in a private dressing room after a performance. "Take these," Cosby told her, according to Serignese. After consuming the pills, she remembered "feeling drugged, and I was kind of leaning forward, and he was behind me having sex with me. And I -- I remember it because it was not good." Hide Caption 19 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Jewel Allison was a model and aspiring actress in her late 20s when she met Cosby in the late 1980s. She said he offered to help her, inviting her to his home. When she arrived, no one else was there besides Cosby, Allison said. At one point, after taking a few sips of wine, she began to feel "out of it." "I realized that something sexual was going on, but I was unable to stop it," Allison told CNN. Hide Caption 20 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Barbara Bowman was a 17-year-old model and actress who met Cosby in Denver in 1985. Bowman told Newsweek that Cosby visited her numerous times, giving her acting lessons and "flying me around to major cities to events." After she turned 18, Cosby "assaulted (me) a number of times," she said. In an incident in New York, Bowman "had one glass of wine and then I blacked out. I woke up throwing up in the toilet. ... I was wearing a white T-shirt that wasn't mine, and he was in a white robe." Hide Caption 21 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Lise-Lotte Lublin was a 23-year-old model in 1989 when, she alleges, Cosby gave her two shots of alcohol that caused her to black out in the Elvis suite of the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas. Her next memory was waking up at home, unable to remember what happened in the interim, she says. Hide Caption 22 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Identifying herself only by a first name during a news conference with lawyer Gloria Allred, Chelan said she was a 17-year-old aspiring model who worked at the Las Vegas Hilton when her father's wife sent pictures of her to Cosby. She said Cosby arranged to meet her at the Vegas Hilton "to introduce me to someone from the Ford modeling agency." During that meeting, she said, Cosby gave her "a blue pill, which he said was an antihistamine, with a double shot of Amaretto." She alleged that Cosby lay down next to her on the bed and began touching her sexually and grunting. Hide Caption 23 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Helen Gumpel, a model and actress known as Helen Selby professionally, appeared in a bit part in a late-1980s "Cosby Show" episode. A short time later, her agent got a call that Cosby wanted to meet with her. In a statement, Gumpel said that, after Cosby hugged and kissed her in front of onlookers at a New York studio, she was asked back to his dressing room. There, she found Cosby "wearing a loosely tied robe" and then -- with the robe still on -- he put "his crotch area in my face," Gumpel alleged. The comedian touched her shoulders then tried repeatedly to get Gumpel to have a drink he'd made, she said. After her refusals, Gumpel said, "Cosby turned his back to me and walked to the door. Cosby looked at me and his face clouded up, as if he was frustrated and angry, and he told me to leave." Hide Caption 24 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Beth Ferrier told media outlets in 2005 that she met Cosby in Denver in the mid-'80s. He mentored her for a time, but one night, she said, he gave her a drugged cappuccino. "I woke up in my car in the parking lot with my clothes all a mess," she said. "I wondered, I still wonder, 'What did he do with me? Why was my bra unhooked?'" The two later conducted an "on-and-off consensual affair" that lasted several years, she alleged to People magazine. "He kept luring me in," Ferrier told the magazine. "I felt like I couldn't say no." At the time, Cosby's publicist told People he had no comment. Hide Caption 25 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Chloe Goins told the Los Angeles Police Department on January 14 that Cosby sexually assaulted her in 2008 during a party at the Playboy Mansion, when she was 18. Spencer Kuvin, Goins' attorney, said his client may be the first accuser to have a case that falls within the statute of limitations for bringing criminal charges. Cobsy's lawyer, Martin Singer, denied the accusation and said the comedian was not in California on August 8, 2008, the night of the "Midsummer Night's Party." Hide Caption 26 of 26
The latest allegations come amid news this week that three universities -- Marquette, Fordham and Brown -- stripped Cosby of honorary degrees
"Mr. Cosby has nobody to blame but himself for his choices and his actions," the women's lawyer, Gloria Allred, said Wednesday in her Los Angeles law office.
"There should be serious consequences for anyone who intentionally harms or endangers the health, safety or life of innocent women and girls."
'Everything became a blur'
Pamela Abeyta said she kept her story to herself for more than three decades because she felt that she was to blame.
Pamela Abeyta
"I believed that it was my fault for putting myself in that position," she saidWednesday. "It took me many months to come forward because of the shame it might cause my family, but then I realized I am the victim and how much this has bothered me all of these years."
Abeyta was 25 when she met Cosby's producer in 1979 through a friend. She said she met him at an Orange County residence, hoping "it might lead to an opportunity with Playboy" because Cosby knew Hugh Hefner.
During the meeting, the producer called Cosby and said they would be on the "next flight to Las Vegas," she said. Abeyta and the producer met Cosby in a dressing room at the Las Vegas Hilton after he finished a show, she said.
Cosby brought her to the Elvis Presley suite in the hotel and showed her to her own room, she said. They went downstairs, and he gave her $200 to spend on gambling while he mingled with others. She went back to the suite about 1 a.m.
After she awoke the next day, Cosby told her to buy an evening gown for the "champagne dinner" during his show. She spent $2,500 on clothing, shoes and a clutch bag for the event, charging it to his room, she said.
At the show, she remembers having food and drinks before blacking out.
"Everything became a blur," she said. "I believe that someone put something in my drink."
She remembers waking up twice in Cosby's bed and seeing him once before allegedly blacking out again. She woke up the next day in her own room in the suite and left soon after, she said.
"I got up and left the hotel the next morning, not even knowing what went on through the night. I barely remember how I got to the airport or even how I got home. I know I flew home, but it was all in a fog," she said.
'You owe me'
Former model and actress Lisa Christie said she was 18 when she met Cosby on the set of "The Cosby Show."
He chose her out of a line of models and took an interest in her career, paying for her to attend theater classes at Buffalo State College, including transportation costs from New York to Buffalo, she said.
Lisa Christie
The relationship lasted about two years, from 1987 to 1989, before he tried to pressure her into sex in a hotel room, she alleged. At the time, she says, she considered him a "father figure." Now, she believes he "waited" for her because he knew she was a virgin.
After college, she says she was offered a co-host position for an NBC affiliate show called "Wedding Magazine." Cosby flew her to Chicago to see whether she should pursue a career as a television actor. He also told her he wanted her to audition for his film "Ghost Dad."
Under the pretense of an "acting exercise," Cosby told her to close her eyes before leaning in to kiss her "like a boyfriend," she said.
When she resisted, he told her "you owe me," she said.
When she rebuffed his advances, he retreated to his room, telling her: "This is your last chance. If you want to make it in this business, you have to sleep with me."
Christie apparently described the ordeal in a book she released last year -- but did not name Cosby. She read from the book at the news conference.
In that passage, Christie describes an incident with a man who propositioned her. She wrote that the man's son died a week later. Cosby's son died in 1997.
But at the news conference, she said Cosby propositioned her in the late 1980s. Allred said the book had a mistake, which she blamed on clumsy editing that will be corrected.
"I was one of the fortunate ones. Now I'm here to support all the victims," Christie said.
'Mr. Cosby started getting fresh'
Sharon Van Ert was a cocktail server at Concerts by the Sea, a jazz club in Redondo Beach, when she met Cosby.
Sharon Van Ert
One night after a few drinks with co-workers and customers post-closing time, she said, Cosby walked her to her car.
She remembers feeling dizzy as she got into the car and Cosby asked if she was capable of driving home. She got in the driver's seat to regain composure, she said, and Cosby got in the passenger's seat.
"After a while, Mr. Cosby started getting fresh. He was touching me and rubbing my leg. The next thing I remember was waking up in my car, my head hanging down from the seat, alone," she said in between tears.
"I knew I was drugged because I threw up, and I never threw up or drank too much. I believe that he must have put something in my drink while we were closing up the place."
When she got home, she realized she was missing her panties.
"I believe that Mr. Cosby took them after he assaulted me."
Fallout continues
The fallout from the controversy over the sex assault allegations against Cosby has been swift. Reruns of "The Cosby Show," his landmark 1980s sitcom, have been pulled from the airwaves, and other projects and tour dates have been scrapped.
Allred noted Wednesday that statute of limitations prevents Cosby from facing criminal charges. But a California judge ordered Cosby in August to give a sworn deposition in a civil suit alleging he sexually abused a teenage girl more than 40 years ago.
Cosby is scheduled to answer questions under oath from the accuser's legal team on October 9. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. | – Bill Cosby has three new accusers to add to the growing list of more than 40. In a Wednesday news conference with lawyer Gloria Allred, Sharon Van Ert said Cosby walked her to her car after she left a California jazz club in 1976, reports Reuters. She says she blacked out and suspects Cosby drugged and assaulted her, then stole her underwear. Pamela Abeyta alleges she was drugged while out with Cosby in 1975. She says she woke up in his bed and remembers seeing "naked people" nearby, per the Los Angeles Times. Lisa Christie, an extra on The Cosby Show and former Mrs. America, met Cosby at 18. Two years later, she says he tried to coerce her into sex, saying, "If you want to make it in this business, you have to sleep with me." She says she thought of Cosby as a "father figure" and now believes he "waited" for her because she was a virgin, per CNN. "Shame on you, Mr. Father Figure of America," she says. "After 35 years of living with these shameful memories in secret, I was finally encouraged by all the other women who have recently told their stories," says Van Ert, though the statute of limitations means there can be no criminal legal action. Cosby has been ordered to give an Oct. 9 deposition in a civil suit brought by Allred client Judy Huth, who accuses the comedian of sexually abusing her at the Playboy Mansion in 1974. Before that date, a court will decide whether to approve Cosby's request for a protective order limiting the public release of the deposition, which Allred opposes. "There should be transparency," Allred says. "Mr. Cosby has nobody to blame but himself for his choices and his actions." | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.(CNN) Three more women came forward on September 30 to accuse Bill Cosby of sexually inappropriate behavior, creating yet another wave of allegations that the comedian abused his power by drugging and assaulting women.
One woman was a cocktail server at a jazz club in Redondo Beach, California, in the 1970s. She accused Cosby of stealing her panties after drugging her and assaulting her in her car while she was unconscious.
Another was a former model and actress who appeared as an extra on "The Cosby Show." She said Cosby told her she'd better sleep with him if she wanted to make it in the entertainment industry.
After years of silence, the women said, allegations against Cosby from other women emboldened them to come forward.
"After 35 years of living with these shameful memories in secret, I was finally encouraged by all the other women who have recently told their stories," said Sharon Van Ert, the former waitress.
Accusations from more than 40 women
More than 40 women have publicly accused Cosby of sexual misconduct over the past 40 years. The comedian has never been criminally charged and has vehemently denied wrongdoing. Cosby's representatives declined to comment on the latest claims.
Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? More than 50 women have spoken out to various media outlets about allegations of sexual misconduct by Bill Cosby. Here are 25, in chronological order, who have spoken with CNN, spoken on camera about their allegations or been the subject of responses from Cosby's attorneys. Read more on the allegations and Cosby's denials. Hide Caption 1 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? In January 2004, Andrea Constand, then a 31-year-old staffer for the women's basketball team at Temple University -- Cosby's alma mater -- was at the comedian's Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, home when Cosby provided her medication that made her dizzy, she alleged the next year. She later woke up to find her bra undone and her clothes in disarray, she further alleged to police in her home province of Ontario, Canada, in January 2005. She was the first person to publicly allege sexual assault by Cosby. The comedian settled a civil suit with Constand that alleged 13 Jane Does had similar stories of sexual abuse. On December 30, 2015, Cosby was charged with sexual assault in relation to the 2004 accusation, Costand's attorney Dolores Troiani confirmed to CNN. That ended in a mistrial after the jury deadlocked in June 2017, but prosecutors immediately announced they would retry the case. Hide Caption 2 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Janice Dickinson alleged she and Cosby had dinner in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, in 1982 and he gave her a glass of red wine and a pill she believed was for menstrual cramps. "The last thing I remember was Bill Cosby in a patchwork robe, dropping his robe and getting on top of me. And I remember a lot of pain," she told "Entertainment Tonight." Cosby's attorney said in a statement that Dickinson's allegation was a "fabricated lie" that contradicted what she wrote in her autobiography and what she said during a 2002 New York Observer interview. Hide Caption 3 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Heidi Thomas says she met Cosby in 1984 and visited him at a house outside of Reno, Nevada, for "coaching." At the time, she was a 24-year-old aspiring actress and model known as Heidi Johnson. Thomas says Cosby offered her a glass of Chablis, and she later woke up with Cosby next to her in bed, naked, and "forcing himself in my mouth." A representative of Cosby did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thomas' allegation. Hide Caption 4 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Cindra Ladd, longtime wife of Oscar-winning film producer Alan Ladd Jr., alleges Bill Cosby sexually assaulted her in 1969 when she was single and 21. Cosby's representatives did not respond to CNN's repeated requests for comment. Hide Caption 5 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? The now-wife of "The Incredible Hulk" star Lou Ferrigno, Carla Ferrigno, told CNN that Cosby forcibly kissed her at his home in 1967. Carla Ferrigno said she told her husband, whom she married in 1980, about the incident about five years ago and he advised her to stay silent. Hide Caption 6 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Kristina Ruehli was a secretary for a talent agency in 1965 that had Cosby as a client. She said she was invited to a party to celebrate a taping of "Hollywood Palace." Ruehli said she and an actress were the only attendees at the party. She said she became unconscious after consuming drinks and later woke up to find Cosby attempting to force her mouth onto his pubic area. She said she pulled away to vomit and drove herself home. It was the last time she would see Cosby, she told CNN. Hide Caption 7 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Linda Brown was a 21-year-old model in 1969 when, she alleges, Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in Canada near her hometown. She says she was introduced to the comedian by her then-manager, had dinner with Cosby and was later served a soft drink by Cosby at an apartment. "I took a sip and blacked out," Brown said at a press conference with her attorney in February. "When I awakened, I was naked in the bed beside him." Hide Caption 8 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Joan Tarshis was a 19-year-old actress in 1969 when, she said, she met Cosby in Los Angeles. The two became friendly. One night after taping his sitcom, he invited her back to his bungalow and fixed her a "redeye" (a Bloody Mary topped with beer), she alleged. "The next thing I remember was coming to on his couch while being undressed," she told Hollywood Elsewhere. "I was sickened by what was happening to me and shocked that this man I had idolized was now raping me. Of course I told no one." It was the first of two similar incidents, said Tarshis, who is now a journalist and publicist. Hide Caption 9 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Linda Joy Traitz said Cosby offered her a ride home while she was working as a waitress at a restaurant in Los Angeles that he co-owned in 1969. On the way, they detoured to the beach. They parked and he offered her drugs "to relax," she alleged. After refusing "he kept offering me the pills," she alleged, and it made her feel uncomfortable. She claimed he then groped her chest, pushing her down in the seat and toward the door, and tried to lie on top of her. She got out of the car and ran, she said. She added that she was "absolutely not" raped. He tried to calm her, she said, then drove her home in silence. Traitz has a criminal record in Florida and spent time in prison on a conviction for drug trafficking, according to state records. Cosby's lawyer passed on her lengthy rap sheet. Traitz spoke openly about her record to CNN. Hide Caption 10 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Playboy bunny Victoria Valentino said her friend Francesca Emerson first introduced her to Cosby hoping to help her get work on his show "I Spy" in the late '60s. Valentino said after an interview in his trailer, Cosby invited her and a different friend to dinner, where they drank red wine and Cosby offered her pills to "cheer up," she said. She said she felt "stoned," slurring her words. They then went with him to what she described as a "ballers pad," an office-like space in an apartment building, with two loveseats and no working phone. Valentino said she was feeling "totally out of it" when she saw Cosby attempting to advance on her passed-out friend. She said she began reaching out to Cosby to pull him off her friend when he pushed her down, first pushing himself near her mouth, before turning her around and raping her. Hide Caption 11 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Famed model Beverly Johnson alleged that Bill Cosby drugged her in the 1980s at his Manhattan brownstone, where she'd gone to rehearse lines. During the meeting, Johnson said, Cosby was "very insistent" she drink a cup of cappuccino he had made for her. "After that second sip, I knew I had been drugged," she alleged. "It was very powerful, it came on very quickly." Johnson said she then confronted and cursed at the comedian, claiming, "I wanted him to know he had drugged me." She alleged that Cosby got angry, grabbed her, took her outside and flagged down a taxi for her. Cosby's attorney didn't immediately return a CNN call for comment on Johnson's allegation, which she first made in a Vanity Fair article. Hide Caption 12 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? In 1970, Tamara Green was an aspiring model in her early 20s. She alleged an incident occurred during a working lunch with Cosby and others. Green told Matt Lauer of the "Today" show that at the lunch, she was suffering from the flu and Cosby "produced two capsules." She said they made her feel "great" at first, but then left her "almost literally face down on the table of this restaurant." Cosby took her to her apartment and started "groping me and kissing me and touching me and handling me and you know, taking off my clothes," Green said. Green further detailed her allegations in a defamation lawsuit against Cosby filed in December. Hide Caption 13 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Judy Huth has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court claiming sexual battery and infliction of emotional distress during an incident at the Playboy Mansion, according to court documents. The alleged sexual assault took place in 1974 when Huth was 15 years old. According to court documents, Huth and a 16-year-old friend met with Cosby and eventually went to the Playboy Mansion with him. "He then proceeded to sexually molest her by attempting to put his hand down her pants and then taking her hand in his hand and performing a sex act on himself without her consent," according to the documents. Cosby's lawyer said Huth's claims are "absolutely false" and he accused her of engaging in extortion after Cosby rejected her "outrageous demand for money in order not to make her allegations public." Hide Caption 14 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? P.J. Masten was a Playboy bunny in her 20s and met Cosby while working as a server at one of Playboy's establishments. He asked her to lunch one afternoon in Chicago, then later called to invite her to dinner, she told CNN. Before the dinner, attended by four other men at the Whitehall Hotel, Masten said, Cosby poured her a drink. "And the next thing I know, it was 4 o'clock in the morning," Masten said. "I woke up in a bed naked, bruised. He was lying next to me, and I slithered out of the bed, my clothes all over the floor. ... I got myself together, I went downstairs, I got in a cab and I went home." Masten recalled "hurting really bad." As to why, she alleged: "There were bruise marks all over me. I knew I was raped by him." Hide Caption 15 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? In a statement released through lawyer Gloria Allred's office, Helen Hayes alleged that Cosby followed her and two friends "around all day" at a summer 1973 celebrity tennis tournament in Pebble Beach, California, hosted by actor Clint Eastwood. Hayes claimed she and her friends tried to avoid Cosby, but he caught up with them in a restaurant, "approached me from behind and reached over my shoulder and grabbed my right breast." "I was stunned and angry, because he had no right to do that and I did not know why he would behave that way," Hayes said. "His behavior was like that of a predator." Hide Caption 16 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Louisa Moritz, seen here in a 1971 episode of "Love, American Style," told TMZ she was in the green room of the "The Tonight Show" at NBC in New York when Cosby paid her a visit. He offered to turn her into a "major star through his direction." Then he forced himself on her, she alleged. Hide Caption 17 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Donna Motsinger, 73, one of the Jane Does in the civil suit with Constand, said she met Cosby while working in a restaurant in Sausalito, California. According to Motsinger, Cosby invited her to join him for his show and she accepted. On the way, they stopped for gas and had a drink. After becoming ill, Motsinger said Cosby gave her what she thought was an aspirin. "After that there was some conversation and laughing and stuff, but then the next thing I remember ... he's next to me, he's got his hands on me and I look up I see the lights of the city. I could see it clear as a bell in my mind right now, the lights of the city coming back and it was all blurry, kind of the lights, and I passed out again," she said. Hide Caption 18 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Florida nurse Therese Serignese, 57, told ABC's "20/20" that she was a 19-year-old model visiting Las Vegas when Cosby handed her pills in a private dressing room after a performance. "Take these," Cosby told her, according to Serignese. After consuming the pills, she remembered "feeling drugged, and I was kind of leaning forward, and he was behind me having sex with me. And I -- I remember it because it was not good." Hide Caption 19 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Jewel Allison was a model and aspiring actress in her late 20s when she met Cosby in the late 1980s. She said he offered to help her, inviting her to his home. When she arrived, no one else was there besides Cosby, Allison said. At one point, after taking a few sips of wine, she began to feel "out of it." "I realized that something sexual was going on, but I was unable to stop it," Allison told CNN. Hide Caption 20 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Barbara Bowman was a 17-year-old model and actress who met Cosby in Denver in 1985. Bowman told Newsweek that Cosby visited her numerous times, giving her acting lessons and "flying me around to major cities to events." After she turned 18, Cosby "assaulted (me) a number of times," she said. In an incident in New York, Bowman "had one glass of wine and then I blacked out. I woke up throwing up in the toilet. ... I was wearing a white T-shirt that wasn't mine, and he was in a white robe." Hide Caption 21 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Lise-Lotte Lublin was a 23-year-old model in 1989 when, she alleges, Cosby gave her two shots of alcohol that caused her to black out in the Elvis suite of the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas. Her next memory was waking up at home, unable to remember what happened in the interim, she says. Hide Caption 22 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Identifying herself only by a first name during a news conference with lawyer Gloria Allred, Chelan said she was a 17-year-old aspiring model who worked at the Las Vegas Hilton when her father's wife sent pictures of her to Cosby. She said Cosby arranged to meet her at the Vegas Hilton "to introduce me to someone from the Ford modeling agency." During that meeting, she said, Cosby gave her "a blue pill, which he said was an antihistamine, with a double shot of Amaretto." She alleged that Cosby lay down next to her on the bed and began touching her sexually and grunting. Hide Caption 23 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Helen Gumpel, a model and actress known as Helen Selby professionally, appeared in a bit part in a late-1980s "Cosby Show" episode. A short time later, her agent got a call that Cosby wanted to meet with her. In a statement, Gumpel said that, after Cosby hugged and kissed her in front of onlookers at a New York studio, she was asked back to his dressing room. There, she found Cosby "wearing a loosely tied robe" and then -- with the robe still on -- he put "his crotch area in my face," Gumpel alleged. The comedian touched her shoulders then tried repeatedly to get Gumpel to have a drink he'd made, she said. After her refusals, Gumpel said, "Cosby turned his back to me and walked to the door. Cosby looked at me and his face clouded up, as if he was frustrated and angry, and he told me to leave." Hide Caption 24 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Beth Ferrier told media outlets in 2005 that she met Cosby in Denver in the mid-'80s. He mentored her for a time, but one night, she said, he gave her a drugged cappuccino. "I woke up in my car in the parking lot with my clothes all a mess," she said. "I wondered, I still wonder, 'What did he do with me? Why was my bra unhooked?'" The two later conducted an "on-and-off consensual affair" that lasted several years, she alleged to People magazine. "He kept luring me in," Ferrier told the magazine. "I felt like I couldn't say no." At the time, Cosby's publicist told People he had no comment. Hide Caption 25 of 26 Photos: Who are Cosby's accusers? Chloe Goins told the Los Angeles Police Department on January 14 that Cosby sexually assaulted her in 2008 during a party at the Playboy Mansion, when she was 18. Spencer Kuvin, Goins' attorney, said his client may be the first accuser to have a case that falls within the statute of limitations for bringing criminal charges. Cobsy's lawyer, Martin Singer, denied the accusation and said the comedian was not in California on August 8, 2008, the night of the "Midsummer Night's Party." Hide Caption 26 of 26
The latest allegations come amid news this week that three universities -- Marquette, Fordham and Brown -- stripped Cosby of honorary degrees
"Mr. Cosby has nobody to blame but himself for his choices and his actions," the women's lawyer, Gloria Allred, said Wednesday in her Los Angeles law office.
"There should be serious consequences for anyone who intentionally harms or endangers the health, safety or life of innocent women and girls."
'Everything became a blur'
Pamela Abeyta said she kept her story to herself for more than three decades because she felt that she was to blame.
Pamela Abeyta
"I believed that it was my fault for putting myself in that position," she saidWednesday. "It took me many months to come forward because of the shame it might cause my family, but then I realized I am the victim and how much this has bothered me all of these years."
Abeyta was 25 when she met Cosby's producer in 1979 through a friend. She said she met him at an Orange County residence, hoping "it might lead to an opportunity with Playboy" because Cosby knew Hugh Hefner.
During the meeting, the producer called Cosby and said they would be on the "next flight to Las Vegas," she said. Abeyta and the producer met Cosby in a dressing room at the Las Vegas Hilton after he finished a show, she said.
Cosby brought her to the Elvis Presley suite in the hotel and showed her to her own room, she said. They went downstairs, and he gave her $200 to spend on gambling while he mingled with others. She went back to the suite about 1 a.m.
After she awoke the next day, Cosby told her to buy an evening gown for the "champagne dinner" during his show. She spent $2,500 on clothing, shoes and a clutch bag for the event, charging it to his room, she said.
At the show, she remembers having food and drinks before blacking out.
"Everything became a blur," she said. "I believe that someone put something in my drink."
She remembers waking up twice in Cosby's bed and seeing him once before allegedly blacking out again. She woke up the next day in her own room in the suite and left soon after, she said.
"I got up and left the hotel the next morning, not even knowing what went on through the night. I barely remember how I got to the airport or even how I got home. I know I flew home, but it was all in a fog," she said.
'You owe me'
Former model and actress Lisa Christie said she was 18 when she met Cosby on the set of "The Cosby Show."
He chose her out of a line of models and took an interest in her career, paying for her to attend theater classes at Buffalo State College, including transportation costs from New York to Buffalo, she said.
Lisa Christie
The relationship lasted about two years, from 1987 to 1989, before he tried to pressure her into sex in a hotel room, she alleged. At the time, she says, she considered him a "father figure." Now, she believes he "waited" for her because he knew she was a virgin.
After college, she says she was offered a co-host position for an NBC affiliate show called "Wedding Magazine." Cosby flew her to Chicago to see whether she should pursue a career as a television actor. He also told her he wanted her to audition for his film "Ghost Dad."
Under the pretense of an "acting exercise," Cosby told her to close her eyes before leaning in to kiss her "like a boyfriend," she said.
When she resisted, he told her "you owe me," she said.
When she rebuffed his advances, he retreated to his room, telling her: "This is your last chance. If you want to make it in this business, you have to sleep with me."
Christie apparently described the ordeal in a book she released last year -- but did not name Cosby. She read from the book at the news conference.
In that passage, Christie describes an incident with a man who propositioned her. She wrote that the man's son died a week later. Cosby's son died in 1997.
But at the news conference, she said Cosby propositioned her in the late 1980s. Allred said the book had a mistake, which she blamed on clumsy editing that will be corrected.
"I was one of the fortunate ones. Now I'm here to support all the victims," Christie said.
'Mr. Cosby started getting fresh'
Sharon Van Ert was a cocktail server at Concerts by the Sea, a jazz club in Redondo Beach, when she met Cosby.
Sharon Van Ert
One night after a few drinks with co-workers and customers post-closing time, she said, Cosby walked her to her car.
She remembers feeling dizzy as she got into the car and Cosby asked if she was capable of driving home. She got in the driver's seat to regain composure, she said, and Cosby got in the passenger's seat.
"After a while, Mr. Cosby started getting fresh. He was touching me and rubbing my leg. The next thing I remember was waking up in my car, my head hanging down from the seat, alone," she said in between tears.
"I knew I was drugged because I threw up, and I never threw up or drank too much. I believe that he must have put something in my drink while we were closing up the place."
When she got home, she realized she was missing her panties.
"I believe that Mr. Cosby took them after he assaulted me."
Fallout continues
The fallout from the controversy over the sex assault allegations against Cosby has been swift. Reruns of "The Cosby Show," his landmark 1980s sitcom, have been pulled from the airwaves, and other projects and tour dates have been scrapped.
Allred noted Wednesday that statute of limitations prevents Cosby from facing criminal charges. But a California judge ordered Cosby in August to give a sworn deposition in a civil suit alleging he sexually abused a teenage girl more than 40 years ago.
Cosby is scheduled to answer questions under oath from the accuser's legal team on October 9. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 44,485 |
America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Country but will announce a new project in January. (Photo: Boston Common Press) Christopher Kimball remains as host ofandbut will announce a new project in January. (Photo: Boston Common Press)
Christopher Kimball, who left America’s Test Kitchen this week after a contract dispute, said in an interview that he will remain involved in public media.
“I’m doing 12 station events this year, and hope to do that many next year — maybe even a few more,” Kimball told Current.
Kimball said he’s not giving interviews but spoke with Current “because public media is my home.”
His next project, which he hopes to announce in January, “will be very focused on public media,” he said.
Boston Common Press, parent company of ATK and Cook’s Country, announced Monday that Kimball was no longer with the company. “We made every effort to offer Chris a reasonable contract that reflected his significant contributions to the company,” CEO David Nussbaum said in a statement, “and are disappointed that we could not reach agreement.”
When asked if he still has a title at the company, Kimball answered: “Interesting question, isn’t it? I don’t know what I am. I’m still on the shows for next year, and we may still be working together.”
“We’re still talking, and it’s friendly,” he added.
Kimball is co-founder of ATK, which airs on public TV in 187 markets and has expanded into book publishing, online cooking classes, a podcast with 6 million downloads, and a public radio show airing on 300 stations. That medium is even more challenging than television, Kimball said.
On TV, “I stand and watch people cook, which is harder than it looks,” Kimball said. “But 54 minutes on radio with almost no cooking? On TV we can have 20 seconds of dead air, watching someone cook. But with radio, that’s a challenge.”
However, he said, the audio medium allows “a more expansive” program. “We can go all over the world, and cover more topics,” he said. One recent show looked at German “food bombs” in World War II, when Nazis hid explosives inside chocolate bars.
Kimball said he doesn’t think such programming would work on commercial media. “Public media made our company,” he said. “And we’re so grateful that public television gave us all those years to figure out what we’re doing.”
Although he can’t yet disclose details of his next project, one thing is certain: He’ll still be wearing his trademark bow tie and suspenders. “People don’t recognize me without those,” he said.
Update: On Thursday, Boston Common Press confirmed that Kimball will continue as host of ATK Radio. ||||| Christopher Kimball, the face of the public television show “America’s Test Kitchen” and of the magazine Cook’s Illustrated, is leaving the company he helped found after a contract dispute.
Boston Common Press, the parent company of America’s Test Kitchen, announced the decision on Monday in a statement on its website. “Christopher Kimball’s employment with America’s Test Kitchen is ending,” the company said.
Mr. Kimball will leave immediately, though he will host the 2016 seasons of “America’s Test Kitchen” and “Cook’s Country,” another popular show that the company produces. He will also remain a minority owner of the company, though he will have no operational role, according to an email sent to employees.
“We made every effort to offer Chris a reasonable contract that reflected his significant contributions to the company and are disappointed that we could not reach agreement,” David Nussbaum, the chief executive of Boston Common Press, said in the statement. “We know this change will be a surprise to many, but we are confident that the ensemble cast, 50 test cooks, and support team for America’s Test Kitchen will continue to offer our audiences the same high-quality product going forward.” ||||| The core issue, Nussbaum said, was a contract dispute. "He was asked to stay with the company and focus his talents on creativity, on-air presence and in-person appearances," Nussbaum wrote. "Despite our interest in having him stay and after negotiating with him in good faith for many months, he ultimately rejected that approach. We are disappointed that he has chosen a new path, but we respect his choice." ||||| America's Test Kitchen Founder Chris Kimball Leaves Show
Enlarge this image toggle caption Maggie Starbard/NPR Maggie Starbard/NPR
In a change that's sure to send ripples through a media empire built on a thoughtful and rigorous approach to food, chef Chris Kimball is leaving America's Test Kitchen, the company he co-founded. Kimball's departure comes two months after the company got its first-ever CEO.
"Kimball's departure is immediate," says the Boston Common Press, the parent company of America's Test Kitchen, which says the two sides weren't able to agree over Kimball's contract. Kimball, 64, is also leaving his spot as the editor-in-chief of Cook's Illustrated magazine.
The 2016 seasons of TV shows America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country will air as normal, with Kimball, wearing his trademark bow tie and round spectacles, as host, the company says.
"We made every effort to offer Chris a reasonable contract that reflected his significant contributions to the company and are disappointed that we could not reach agreement," says Boston Common Press CEO David Nussbaum. "We know this change will be a surprise to many, but we are confident that the ensemble cast, 50 test cooks and support team for America's Test Kitchen will continue to offer our audiences the same high-quality product going forward."
With nearly 2 million weekly viewers, America's Test Kitchen is "the most-watched cooking show on public television," according to the show's website. If it sticks to recent broadcast schedules, the show will launch its 16th season in January.
In September, Kimball had just finished taping the ninth season of another show, Cook's Country, at his home in Vermont when Nussbaum was hired to fill a newly created role as the CEO of America's Test Kitchen. Nussbaum left his job leading F+W Media to take the post. At the time, the move was explained as the result of the need for a seasoned executive to oversee rapid growth by America's Test Kitchen's TV and digital properties — and company officials dismissed rumors that the move might force Kimball out.
"The popularity and financial growth of America's Test Kitchen and our related enterprises over the past few years have prompted us to formally create the role of CEO," Boston Common Press' Eliot Wadsworth said at the time, as Boston magazine reported.
At the time of that September announcement, things were already tense in the offices of the recipe-testing company, which has a radio and TV production house at its headquarters outside of Boston. The Boston Globe reported:
"America's Test Kitchen has been in tumult in recent weeks, with rumors flying after a staff meeting and an earlier e-mail regarding coming changes. That e-mail, sources close to the company said, indicated Kimball might depart with wife, Melissa Baldino, an executive producer there, to form a new company."
Rumors that Kimball might start a new venture have resurfaced with today's news. On his Twitter account around noon today, he posted a photo of himself at a train station in Boston, posing with a man who wanted to take a selfie with him.
Update: 'It's Friendly,' Kimball Says
Kimball won't be leaving the world of public media, he tells the newspaper Current. That includes 12 station events he's doing in 2015 – and he confirms that he has a new project in the works, to be announced in January.
When Current asked what Kimball's title is at Boston Common Press, he replied, "Interesting question, isn't it? I don't know what I am. I'm still on the shows for next year, and we may still be working together."
"We're still talking, and it's friendly," he added.
In its news release about Kimball's exit, Boston Common Press notes that in addition to hiring Nussbaum, it also promoted longtime America's Test Kitchen editor Jack Bishop to the post of chief creative officer. And it says that America's Test Kitchen plans to hire at least 25 new employees in the first quarter of 2016, mainly in its content, television production and digital media units. ||||| Anyone who has read Cook’s Illustrated, the wildly successful flagship of Kimball’s Brookline Village-based publishing empire -- which also includes the America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Country public television programs, websites for each of his projects, and a cookbook publishing division -- knows Two Pigs Farm. Kimball’s family, which hailed from Westchester County, the burbs of New York City, built a cabin in a small southwestern Vermont town in 1955, and Kimball started coming up here as a child. The town is a collection of old houses, mobile homes, and farms, all of them nestled into a steep notch between two mountain ridges. Kimball writes about this place frequently in his opening editorials for Cook’s Illustrated. Those editorials rarely have anything to do with the exhaustively tested recipes that have made his magazines and cookbooks so popular. Instead, his essays, accompanied by a black-and-white illustration of Kimball in bow tie and apron, are about hunting or sugaring in Vermont or his country neighbors, among them hippie artists, crazy (sometimes dangerously so) survivalist hermits living off the grid in Quonset huts, wizened longtime locals, and transplanted New Yorkers who sometimes realize that, in this corner of Vermont, they may have accidentally gotten just a little bit too far away from it all.
Kimball, who at 58 resembles a cross between a nerdy, slightly mad scientist and an investment banker, has what appears to be tens of thousands of dollars of sugaring equipment: the arch and filters and bottlers and -- for real -- a reverse osmosis machine, all imported from a commercial sugaring equipment manufacturer in Canada. The operation is almost gratuitously complex for a guy who just wants to bottle his own syrup. But this isn’t just a guy. It’s Christopher Kimball, for whom there is no such thing as a hobby. If something can’t be done perfectly, preferably using top-of-the-line gadgetry, it’s not worth doing. Plus, he’s already pre-sold 350 gallons of the amber liquid to the readers of his two cooking magazines, Cook’s Illustrated and Cook’s Country, and now he has to deliver the goods.
“Looks like we set a record here,” says Kimball, as he hands Nate bucket number four and begins filling number five. He’s smiling slightly, pleased, as if this fine first draw of the day was the result of him doing something absolutely right. This feeling, of getting something absolutely right, is like crack for Kimball.
“Four, I think,” says Nate Bachiochi, a boyishly handsome 24-year-old in work boots and a baseball cap who’s been sugaring since he was 6. Nate and his dad, Tom, taught Kimball everything the tall flatlander knows about sugaring -- including that you typically can get only one, two, or three buckets of properly cooked syrup out of the arch at once.
Christopher Kimball, wearing a flannel shirt and precipitously baggy jeans, hunches over a spigot on the side of an enormous wood-burning and stainless-steel piece of equipment called an arch. Boiling maple syrup gushes from the spigot into the metal bucket in Kimball’s hands, the sweet steam surrounding his head of thinning brownish hair and dewing the lenses of his rimless glasses. The syrup has been boiling all morning in the arch, starting hours before the cold March sunlight crested the mountains and fell onto the sugar shack at Kimball’s 700-acre Two Pigs Farm in southwest Vermont.
But at the heart of it, Kimball makes his money by sticking to two lessons he learned from the old-timers in southwest Vermont. The first: There is a right way and a wrong way to do everything. A right way to take a chain saw to a fallen tree, drive a tractor, milk a cow, chop silage, clean out a pig. It’s no surprise that the first kind of cooking Kimball learned as a boy was baking -- a culinary discipline that succeeds or fails by degrees and detail -- at the elbow of Marie Briggs, a baker in his town. “[Vermonters’] method of teaching,” recalls Kimball, “was they never tell you something explicitly. They always demonstrate.”
Magazines and newspapers are facing the worst media economy since Gutenberg’s press first stamped words on paper, yet Boston Common Press, a private partnership that owns Kimball’s publishing activities, is reportedly very profitable. Because the company is private, Kimball won’t disclose his equity stake, revenue, or net income. (His partners include George P. Denny III, a former Bain & Co. partner who runs a private equity firm, and Eliot Wadsworth II, a partner at another private equity firm.) Rough estimates put the gross revenue for print and Web subscriptions alone at more than $40 million a year. Kimball himself is not shy about admitting that the company is making money hand over fist. He does it by giving his readers exactly what they want and by charging them big for it -- for instance, the six-issues-a-year Cook’s Illustrated is $35.70 a year on the newsstand, $24.95 for an annual print subscription, and $34.95 for an online subscription ($29.95 if you’re a print subscriber, too). He doesn’t offer discounts for print subscriptions, and he doesn’t have to: Subscriber renewal rates are about 78 percent, according to Jack Bishop, the company’s editorial director. Most magazines would kill to have renewal rates near 60 percent; the average across all consumer magazines is between 35 and 40 percent, according to Samir Husni, director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi. Cook’s Illustrated, launched in 1993, and the more down-home Cook’s Country, launched five years ago, have increased their circulation every year since they began. Cook’s Illustrated claims just under a million subscribers; only four other cooking magazines in the United States have larger circulations, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation.
If you read between the lines of Kimball’s editorials, however, you learn that this Vermont town and its people had more to do with the creation of the Cook’s Illustrated brand and its offshoots than maybe even Kimball realizes. This is where Kimball learned the importance of paying attention, absorbing as much as you can, then following your gut. And following his gut is what led Kimball to employ a business model that’s unusual in his industry, earning all revenue from readers -- not advertisers. Today, as the economy and the Internet threaten ad-based media companies, this unconventional approach has kept Kimball’s business solidly in the black while those around him struggle to survive.
The second lesson: Pay attention, or else. “The thing I liked about [Vermont] as a kid was that you were taken very seriously,” Kimball says. “If you don’t do a good job, you know. They don’t yell at you, they just make you feel like a complete loser. . . . You disappoint them, you know.” Excelling in this milieu is still the source of enormous pleasure for Kimball, as is clear the day I visit the sugar shack.
This belief that there is a demonstrably right way to do everything, and his quest to learn what it is, fueled Kimball’s rise to the top of a multimillion-dollar publishing empire. It has also earned him a reputation as a man who “likes smart people and has no patience for whiners or complainers” (according to Pam Anderson, USA Weekend’s food columnist and a onetime Cook’s Illustrated employee), “the worst manager imaginable” (per Mark Bittman, the New York Times best-selling cookbook author and another former employee), and “intense and brutally honest” (from Bishop). Kimball has been known to make test-kitchen chefs and writers cry with his scathing criticisms. Kimball himself admits “I’m a terrible manager. I don’t do it. That’s why I hire the very best people, who don’t need to be managed. If I have someone who needs to be managed, I let them go.”
“He doesn’t really care about the personal, frankly,” says Bishop, who’s known Kimball for about 20 years. “He’s really more interested in the idea.”
Kimball’s idea is simple. So simple that he’s amazed it’s not how every publisher does it. The reason the others don’t is because it’s crazy expensive. Every recipe that appears in his publications and on his TV shows must represent the single best way to make a dish -- and they are forged in the fires of the Mother of All Test Kitchens. ||||| T he Board of Directors of Boston Common Press, the parent company of America’s Test Kitchen, today announced that Christopher Kimball’s employment with America’s Test Kitchen is ending.
While Kimball’s departure is immediate, he remains host for the 2016 seasons of the America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Country television shows.
"Since its inception, Chris has been an important component of America’s Test Kitchen, as the co-founder of the business. We made every effort to offer Chris a reasonable contract that reflected his significant contributions to the company and are disappointed that we could not reach agreement," said David Nussbaum, CEO of Boston Common Press. "We know this change will be a surprise to many, but we are confident that the ensemble cast, 50 test cooks, and support team for America’s Test Kitchen will continue to offer our audiences the same high quality product going forward."
"America’s Test Kitchen is comprised of a staff of over 180 individuals who are completely committed to the mission of providing rigorously tested recipes to support the home cook," Nussbaum added. "I think our fans will be excited to see the growth of our programming and particularly the elevation of our television personalities as they take on bigger and more integral roles. Our outstanding cast of experienced cooks – many of whom are very familiar faces – is already hard at work testing new recipes and equipment in preparation for our 2017 season."
America’s Test Kitchen expects to announce a new multi-media program focused on the science of food and cooking in early 2016, building on the company’s recent best-selling book, The Science of Good Cooking. In addition, America’s Test Kitchen is investing heavily in the business and expects to add at least 25 new employees to its Brookline-based offices in the first quarter of next year. Most of the new hires will be in content, television production, and digital media.
"We are all grateful and impressed with what has been accomplished in recent years and are committed to building this business, through launching new shows, updating web sites, expanding online education programs, and adding more social interaction on the company’s websites," said Eliot Wadsworth, a co-founder of the business, and currently a Director on the Boston Common Press Board of Directors.
This fall, the company appointed Nussbaum as its first CEO and promoted Jack Bishop to the role of Chief Creative Officer. In this new role, Bishop, a long-time editor at America’s Test Kitchen, continues as an on-air personality and has broad responsibility for the creative strategy of the America’s Test Kitchen television program, Cook’s Illustrated magazine, Cook’s Country magazine and television show, and America’s Test Kitchen’s digital and book content, as well as for new projects. The company also recently named a new Chief Digital Officer, Chief Financial Officer and a Senior Vice President of Human Resources.
America’s Test Kitchen began with a single magazine title, Cook’s Illustrated, which debuted in 1992. The America’s Test Kitchen television show was launched in 2001, after which the company added Cook’s Country magazine, a second television program, an online cooking school, three websites that offer recipes and online video, and a robust book program that publishes a dozen new titles a year, which regularly land on bestseller lists. Learn more at americastestkitchen.com . ||||| In a move that sent shockwaves through the PBS-subscribing, why-yes-I-do-have-strong-feelings-about-pineapple-in-carrot-cake cognoscenti, America’s Test Kitchen announced Monday that Cook’s Illustrated founder and the brand’s most identifiable personality, Christopher Kimball, is leaving the organization. The announcement left many fans bereft and confused, like when you’re doing the mise en place and suddenly realize you don’t have any kaffir lime leaves.
The internal announcement from Boston Common Press chief executive David Nussbaum was brief but pulled no punches, stating, “As you all know, for many months now members of the Board of Boston Common Press have been negotiating with Chris Kimball, hoping that he would continue to play a highly-valued public role for America’s Test Kitchen. He was asked to stay with the company and focus his talents on creativity, on-air presence and in-person appearances. Despite our interest in having him stay and after negotiating with him in good faith for many months, he ultimately rejected that approach. We are disappointed that he has chosen a new path, but we respect his choice. While he will remain a minority owner of the company, he will no longer play a role at ATK.”
The Boston Globe reports that “Kimball, 64, may be planning to start a new venture, according to people who know him.” But what of “America’s Test Kitchen?” What will it be like when he leaves at the end of the 2016 season; how will it thrive without its bow-tied overlord making pronouncements about box graters? What will Cook’s Illustrated be without the folksy letters from the editor, full of pig roasts and taciturn New Englanders?
For more than twenty years, Cook’s Illustrated — the forerunner of “ATC” — has held held a unique place in the heart of home cooks. The magazine, with its heavy paper stock, old-fashioned illustrations and no ads or restaurant talk, treats the composition of each dish as a noble and pure quest. Recipes revolve around storytelling, a kind of knights of the round table adventure in which different players must be assembled and either rejected or accepted. Butter or lard? Apple cider vinegar or lemon juice? WHO SHALL BE CHOSEN? | – In what Salon describes as "a move that sent shockwaves through the PBS-subscribing, why-yes-I-do-have-strong-feelings-about-pineapple-in-carrot-cake cognoscenti," Chris Kimball, the celebrity chef who co-founded America's Test Kitchen, is leaving the company, NPR reports. The 64-year-old "anti-Guy Fieri," as Salon labels him, who also served as editor-in-chief of the esteemed Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country magazines, will have an "immediate" departure, per a statement by parent company Boston Common Press. He'll remain as host of the America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country TV shows for the 2016 season. Kimball confirmed the news to the Los Angeles Times. "We made every effort to offer Chris a reasonable contract that reflected his significant contributions ... and are disappointed that we could not reach agreement," BCP CEO David Nussbaum said in the statement. This news wasn't a total shock. The Times notes that trouble may have started brewing when Nussbaum was installed as the company's CEO in September. That's when rumors started circulating that Kimball and his wife, BCP exec Melissa Baldino, might be leaving. The company, which Kimball helped found to make cooking more accessible to the masses, started with Cook's Illustrated in 1993, with the America's Test Kitchen show debuting in 2001, per the New York Times. When asked by Current if he still has a title with the company, Kimball replied, "Interesting question, isn't it? I don't know what I am," though he added that "we're still talking, and it's friendly." He tells Current that he'll be doing "12 station events this year, and hope to do that many next year," with his next project to be announced early next year. (But have his menus ever been compared to poetry?) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Country but will announce a new project in January. (Photo: Boston Common Press) Christopher Kimball remains as host ofandbut will announce a new project in January. (Photo: Boston Common Press)
Christopher Kimball, who left America’s Test Kitchen this week after a contract dispute, said in an interview that he will remain involved in public media.
“I’m doing 12 station events this year, and hope to do that many next year — maybe even a few more,” Kimball told Current.
Kimball said he’s not giving interviews but spoke with Current “because public media is my home.”
His next project, which he hopes to announce in January, “will be very focused on public media,” he said.
Boston Common Press, parent company of ATK and Cook’s Country, announced Monday that Kimball was no longer with the company. “We made every effort to offer Chris a reasonable contract that reflected his significant contributions to the company,” CEO David Nussbaum said in a statement, “and are disappointed that we could not reach agreement.”
When asked if he still has a title at the company, Kimball answered: “Interesting question, isn’t it? I don’t know what I am. I’m still on the shows for next year, and we may still be working together.”
“We’re still talking, and it’s friendly,” he added.
Kimball is co-founder of ATK, which airs on public TV in 187 markets and has expanded into book publishing, online cooking classes, a podcast with 6 million downloads, and a public radio show airing on 300 stations. That medium is even more challenging than television, Kimball said.
On TV, “I stand and watch people cook, which is harder than it looks,” Kimball said. “But 54 minutes on radio with almost no cooking? On TV we can have 20 seconds of dead air, watching someone cook. But with radio, that’s a challenge.”
However, he said, the audio medium allows “a more expansive” program. “We can go all over the world, and cover more topics,” he said. One recent show looked at German “food bombs” in World War II, when Nazis hid explosives inside chocolate bars.
Kimball said he doesn’t think such programming would work on commercial media. “Public media made our company,” he said. “And we’re so grateful that public television gave us all those years to figure out what we’re doing.”
Although he can’t yet disclose details of his next project, one thing is certain: He’ll still be wearing his trademark bow tie and suspenders. “People don’t recognize me without those,” he said.
Update: On Thursday, Boston Common Press confirmed that Kimball will continue as host of ATK Radio. ||||| Christopher Kimball, the face of the public television show “America’s Test Kitchen” and of the magazine Cook’s Illustrated, is leaving the company he helped found after a contract dispute.
Boston Common Press, the parent company of America’s Test Kitchen, announced the decision on Monday in a statement on its website. “Christopher Kimball’s employment with America’s Test Kitchen is ending,” the company said.
Mr. Kimball will leave immediately, though he will host the 2016 seasons of “America’s Test Kitchen” and “Cook’s Country,” another popular show that the company produces. He will also remain a minority owner of the company, though he will have no operational role, according to an email sent to employees.
“We made every effort to offer Chris a reasonable contract that reflected his significant contributions to the company and are disappointed that we could not reach agreement,” David Nussbaum, the chief executive of Boston Common Press, said in the statement. “We know this change will be a surprise to many, but we are confident that the ensemble cast, 50 test cooks, and support team for America’s Test Kitchen will continue to offer our audiences the same high-quality product going forward.” ||||| The core issue, Nussbaum said, was a contract dispute. "He was asked to stay with the company and focus his talents on creativity, on-air presence and in-person appearances," Nussbaum wrote. "Despite our interest in having him stay and after negotiating with him in good faith for many months, he ultimately rejected that approach. We are disappointed that he has chosen a new path, but we respect his choice." ||||| America's Test Kitchen Founder Chris Kimball Leaves Show
Enlarge this image toggle caption Maggie Starbard/NPR Maggie Starbard/NPR
In a change that's sure to send ripples through a media empire built on a thoughtful and rigorous approach to food, chef Chris Kimball is leaving America's Test Kitchen, the company he co-founded. Kimball's departure comes two months after the company got its first-ever CEO.
"Kimball's departure is immediate," says the Boston Common Press, the parent company of America's Test Kitchen, which says the two sides weren't able to agree over Kimball's contract. Kimball, 64, is also leaving his spot as the editor-in-chief of Cook's Illustrated magazine.
The 2016 seasons of TV shows America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country will air as normal, with Kimball, wearing his trademark bow tie and round spectacles, as host, the company says.
"We made every effort to offer Chris a reasonable contract that reflected his significant contributions to the company and are disappointed that we could not reach agreement," says Boston Common Press CEO David Nussbaum. "We know this change will be a surprise to many, but we are confident that the ensemble cast, 50 test cooks and support team for America's Test Kitchen will continue to offer our audiences the same high-quality product going forward."
With nearly 2 million weekly viewers, America's Test Kitchen is "the most-watched cooking show on public television," according to the show's website. If it sticks to recent broadcast schedules, the show will launch its 16th season in January.
In September, Kimball had just finished taping the ninth season of another show, Cook's Country, at his home in Vermont when Nussbaum was hired to fill a newly created role as the CEO of America's Test Kitchen. Nussbaum left his job leading F+W Media to take the post. At the time, the move was explained as the result of the need for a seasoned executive to oversee rapid growth by America's Test Kitchen's TV and digital properties — and company officials dismissed rumors that the move might force Kimball out.
"The popularity and financial growth of America's Test Kitchen and our related enterprises over the past few years have prompted us to formally create the role of CEO," Boston Common Press' Eliot Wadsworth said at the time, as Boston magazine reported.
At the time of that September announcement, things were already tense in the offices of the recipe-testing company, which has a radio and TV production house at its headquarters outside of Boston. The Boston Globe reported:
"America's Test Kitchen has been in tumult in recent weeks, with rumors flying after a staff meeting and an earlier e-mail regarding coming changes. That e-mail, sources close to the company said, indicated Kimball might depart with wife, Melissa Baldino, an executive producer there, to form a new company."
Rumors that Kimball might start a new venture have resurfaced with today's news. On his Twitter account around noon today, he posted a photo of himself at a train station in Boston, posing with a man who wanted to take a selfie with him.
Update: 'It's Friendly,' Kimball Says
Kimball won't be leaving the world of public media, he tells the newspaper Current. That includes 12 station events he's doing in 2015 – and he confirms that he has a new project in the works, to be announced in January.
When Current asked what Kimball's title is at Boston Common Press, he replied, "Interesting question, isn't it? I don't know what I am. I'm still on the shows for next year, and we may still be working together."
"We're still talking, and it's friendly," he added.
In its news release about Kimball's exit, Boston Common Press notes that in addition to hiring Nussbaum, it also promoted longtime America's Test Kitchen editor Jack Bishop to the post of chief creative officer. And it says that America's Test Kitchen plans to hire at least 25 new employees in the first quarter of 2016, mainly in its content, television production and digital media units. ||||| Anyone who has read Cook’s Illustrated, the wildly successful flagship of Kimball’s Brookline Village-based publishing empire -- which also includes the America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Country public television programs, websites for each of his projects, and a cookbook publishing division -- knows Two Pigs Farm. Kimball’s family, which hailed from Westchester County, the burbs of New York City, built a cabin in a small southwestern Vermont town in 1955, and Kimball started coming up here as a child. The town is a collection of old houses, mobile homes, and farms, all of them nestled into a steep notch between two mountain ridges. Kimball writes about this place frequently in his opening editorials for Cook’s Illustrated. Those editorials rarely have anything to do with the exhaustively tested recipes that have made his magazines and cookbooks so popular. Instead, his essays, accompanied by a black-and-white illustration of Kimball in bow tie and apron, are about hunting or sugaring in Vermont or his country neighbors, among them hippie artists, crazy (sometimes dangerously so) survivalist hermits living off the grid in Quonset huts, wizened longtime locals, and transplanted New Yorkers who sometimes realize that, in this corner of Vermont, they may have accidentally gotten just a little bit too far away from it all.
Kimball, who at 58 resembles a cross between a nerdy, slightly mad scientist and an investment banker, has what appears to be tens of thousands of dollars of sugaring equipment: the arch and filters and bottlers and -- for real -- a reverse osmosis machine, all imported from a commercial sugaring equipment manufacturer in Canada. The operation is almost gratuitously complex for a guy who just wants to bottle his own syrup. But this isn’t just a guy. It’s Christopher Kimball, for whom there is no such thing as a hobby. If something can’t be done perfectly, preferably using top-of-the-line gadgetry, it’s not worth doing. Plus, he’s already pre-sold 350 gallons of the amber liquid to the readers of his two cooking magazines, Cook’s Illustrated and Cook’s Country, and now he has to deliver the goods.
“Looks like we set a record here,” says Kimball, as he hands Nate bucket number four and begins filling number five. He’s smiling slightly, pleased, as if this fine first draw of the day was the result of him doing something absolutely right. This feeling, of getting something absolutely right, is like crack for Kimball.
“Four, I think,” says Nate Bachiochi, a boyishly handsome 24-year-old in work boots and a baseball cap who’s been sugaring since he was 6. Nate and his dad, Tom, taught Kimball everything the tall flatlander knows about sugaring -- including that you typically can get only one, two, or three buckets of properly cooked syrup out of the arch at once.
Christopher Kimball, wearing a flannel shirt and precipitously baggy jeans, hunches over a spigot on the side of an enormous wood-burning and stainless-steel piece of equipment called an arch. Boiling maple syrup gushes from the spigot into the metal bucket in Kimball’s hands, the sweet steam surrounding his head of thinning brownish hair and dewing the lenses of his rimless glasses. The syrup has been boiling all morning in the arch, starting hours before the cold March sunlight crested the mountains and fell onto the sugar shack at Kimball’s 700-acre Two Pigs Farm in southwest Vermont.
But at the heart of it, Kimball makes his money by sticking to two lessons he learned from the old-timers in southwest Vermont. The first: There is a right way and a wrong way to do everything. A right way to take a chain saw to a fallen tree, drive a tractor, milk a cow, chop silage, clean out a pig. It’s no surprise that the first kind of cooking Kimball learned as a boy was baking -- a culinary discipline that succeeds or fails by degrees and detail -- at the elbow of Marie Briggs, a baker in his town. “[Vermonters’] method of teaching,” recalls Kimball, “was they never tell you something explicitly. They always demonstrate.”
Magazines and newspapers are facing the worst media economy since Gutenberg’s press first stamped words on paper, yet Boston Common Press, a private partnership that owns Kimball’s publishing activities, is reportedly very profitable. Because the company is private, Kimball won’t disclose his equity stake, revenue, or net income. (His partners include George P. Denny III, a former Bain & Co. partner who runs a private equity firm, and Eliot Wadsworth II, a partner at another private equity firm.) Rough estimates put the gross revenue for print and Web subscriptions alone at more than $40 million a year. Kimball himself is not shy about admitting that the company is making money hand over fist. He does it by giving his readers exactly what they want and by charging them big for it -- for instance, the six-issues-a-year Cook’s Illustrated is $35.70 a year on the newsstand, $24.95 for an annual print subscription, and $34.95 for an online subscription ($29.95 if you’re a print subscriber, too). He doesn’t offer discounts for print subscriptions, and he doesn’t have to: Subscriber renewal rates are about 78 percent, according to Jack Bishop, the company’s editorial director. Most magazines would kill to have renewal rates near 60 percent; the average across all consumer magazines is between 35 and 40 percent, according to Samir Husni, director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi. Cook’s Illustrated, launched in 1993, and the more down-home Cook’s Country, launched five years ago, have increased their circulation every year since they began. Cook’s Illustrated claims just under a million subscribers; only four other cooking magazines in the United States have larger circulations, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation.
If you read between the lines of Kimball’s editorials, however, you learn that this Vermont town and its people had more to do with the creation of the Cook’s Illustrated brand and its offshoots than maybe even Kimball realizes. This is where Kimball learned the importance of paying attention, absorbing as much as you can, then following your gut. And following his gut is what led Kimball to employ a business model that’s unusual in his industry, earning all revenue from readers -- not advertisers. Today, as the economy and the Internet threaten ad-based media companies, this unconventional approach has kept Kimball’s business solidly in the black while those around him struggle to survive.
The second lesson: Pay attention, or else. “The thing I liked about [Vermont] as a kid was that you were taken very seriously,” Kimball says. “If you don’t do a good job, you know. They don’t yell at you, they just make you feel like a complete loser. . . . You disappoint them, you know.” Excelling in this milieu is still the source of enormous pleasure for Kimball, as is clear the day I visit the sugar shack.
This belief that there is a demonstrably right way to do everything, and his quest to learn what it is, fueled Kimball’s rise to the top of a multimillion-dollar publishing empire. It has also earned him a reputation as a man who “likes smart people and has no patience for whiners or complainers” (according to Pam Anderson, USA Weekend’s food columnist and a onetime Cook’s Illustrated employee), “the worst manager imaginable” (per Mark Bittman, the New York Times best-selling cookbook author and another former employee), and “intense and brutally honest” (from Bishop). Kimball has been known to make test-kitchen chefs and writers cry with his scathing criticisms. Kimball himself admits “I’m a terrible manager. I don’t do it. That’s why I hire the very best people, who don’t need to be managed. If I have someone who needs to be managed, I let them go.”
“He doesn’t really care about the personal, frankly,” says Bishop, who’s known Kimball for about 20 years. “He’s really more interested in the idea.”
Kimball’s idea is simple. So simple that he’s amazed it’s not how every publisher does it. The reason the others don’t is because it’s crazy expensive. Every recipe that appears in his publications and on his TV shows must represent the single best way to make a dish -- and they are forged in the fires of the Mother of All Test Kitchens. ||||| T he Board of Directors of Boston Common Press, the parent company of America’s Test Kitchen, today announced that Christopher Kimball’s employment with America’s Test Kitchen is ending.
While Kimball’s departure is immediate, he remains host for the 2016 seasons of the America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Country television shows.
"Since its inception, Chris has been an important component of America’s Test Kitchen, as the co-founder of the business. We made every effort to offer Chris a reasonable contract that reflected his significant contributions to the company and are disappointed that we could not reach agreement," said David Nussbaum, CEO of Boston Common Press. "We know this change will be a surprise to many, but we are confident that the ensemble cast, 50 test cooks, and support team for America’s Test Kitchen will continue to offer our audiences the same high quality product going forward."
"America’s Test Kitchen is comprised of a staff of over 180 individuals who are completely committed to the mission of providing rigorously tested recipes to support the home cook," Nussbaum added. "I think our fans will be excited to see the growth of our programming and particularly the elevation of our television personalities as they take on bigger and more integral roles. Our outstanding cast of experienced cooks – many of whom are very familiar faces – is already hard at work testing new recipes and equipment in preparation for our 2017 season."
America’s Test Kitchen expects to announce a new multi-media program focused on the science of food and cooking in early 2016, building on the company’s recent best-selling book, The Science of Good Cooking. In addition, America’s Test Kitchen is investing heavily in the business and expects to add at least 25 new employees to its Brookline-based offices in the first quarter of next year. Most of the new hires will be in content, television production, and digital media.
"We are all grateful and impressed with what has been accomplished in recent years and are committed to building this business, through launching new shows, updating web sites, expanding online education programs, and adding more social interaction on the company’s websites," said Eliot Wadsworth, a co-founder of the business, and currently a Director on the Boston Common Press Board of Directors.
This fall, the company appointed Nussbaum as its first CEO and promoted Jack Bishop to the role of Chief Creative Officer. In this new role, Bishop, a long-time editor at America’s Test Kitchen, continues as an on-air personality and has broad responsibility for the creative strategy of the America’s Test Kitchen television program, Cook’s Illustrated magazine, Cook’s Country magazine and television show, and America’s Test Kitchen’s digital and book content, as well as for new projects. The company also recently named a new Chief Digital Officer, Chief Financial Officer and a Senior Vice President of Human Resources.
America’s Test Kitchen began with a single magazine title, Cook’s Illustrated, which debuted in 1992. The America’s Test Kitchen television show was launched in 2001, after which the company added Cook’s Country magazine, a second television program, an online cooking school, three websites that offer recipes and online video, and a robust book program that publishes a dozen new titles a year, which regularly land on bestseller lists. Learn more at americastestkitchen.com . ||||| In a move that sent shockwaves through the PBS-subscribing, why-yes-I-do-have-strong-feelings-about-pineapple-in-carrot-cake cognoscenti, America’s Test Kitchen announced Monday that Cook’s Illustrated founder and the brand’s most identifiable personality, Christopher Kimball, is leaving the organization. The announcement left many fans bereft and confused, like when you’re doing the mise en place and suddenly realize you don’t have any kaffir lime leaves.
The internal announcement from Boston Common Press chief executive David Nussbaum was brief but pulled no punches, stating, “As you all know, for many months now members of the Board of Boston Common Press have been negotiating with Chris Kimball, hoping that he would continue to play a highly-valued public role for America’s Test Kitchen. He was asked to stay with the company and focus his talents on creativity, on-air presence and in-person appearances. Despite our interest in having him stay and after negotiating with him in good faith for many months, he ultimately rejected that approach. We are disappointed that he has chosen a new path, but we respect his choice. While he will remain a minority owner of the company, he will no longer play a role at ATK.”
The Boston Globe reports that “Kimball, 64, may be planning to start a new venture, according to people who know him.” But what of “America’s Test Kitchen?” What will it be like when he leaves at the end of the 2016 season; how will it thrive without its bow-tied overlord making pronouncements about box graters? What will Cook’s Illustrated be without the folksy letters from the editor, full of pig roasts and taciturn New Englanders?
For more than twenty years, Cook’s Illustrated — the forerunner of “ATC” — has held held a unique place in the heart of home cooks. The magazine, with its heavy paper stock, old-fashioned illustrations and no ads or restaurant talk, treats the composition of each dish as a noble and pure quest. Recipes revolve around storytelling, a kind of knights of the round table adventure in which different players must be assembled and either rejected or accepted. Butter or lard? Apple cider vinegar or lemon juice? WHO SHALL BE CHOSEN? | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 9,803 |
The nonprofit group Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law requested the site be taken down, pointing to a clause in Network Solutions' policies that disallows sites on their domains "to display bigotry, discrimination or hatred." The group's executive director, Kristen Clarke, told the Sentinel, "Following our efforts, Network Solutions has pulled the site. And while bringing down one site won't terminate their efforts, it will make it a little more difficult for white supremacists to sow hatred."
Recently, the white supremacist site Daily Stormer lost its GoDaddy web domain and then subsequently lost hosting support and website security from Google, Cloudflare and DigitalOcean. In past weeks, we've also seen Spotify, Google and Deezer take down racist music, Facebook and Reddit ban hate groups, Squarespace shut down bigoted and hateful websites and OkCupid ban a white supremacist from its platform for life.
Some groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation have come out against these moves as violations of the principles of free speech, but really, the less Nazi content around, the better. ||||| Members of the Ku Klux Klan faced counterprotesters while rallying in support of Confederate monuments in Charlottesville, Virginia, in July. Reuters/Jonathan Ernst
The white supremacist website Stormfront.org is struggling to get back online.
Its founder, former Ku Klux Klan chief Don Black, has complained that the website is down after the domain registrar Network Solutions yanked the domain and that he's also unable to transfer the domain to another provider.
The website has been offline since Friday.
Via his radio show on Monday, Black said Network Solutions had "taken it upon themselves to censor anybody they want." He added: "Late Friday, without any notice, they didn't even send me an email — they decided that Stormfront was politically incorrect and therefore they could close it down.
"Not only did they close the domain name — I can't even transfer it. I can't even try to transfer it to another registrar because they can do whatever they want."
Black added that he was trying to get his lawyers to "go after these idiots." And while he has numerous other domains registered with other providers, he specifically wants to bring Stormfront.org back online.
The Knoxville News Sentinel first reported on Friday that Network Solutions had suspended the Stormfront.org domain.
Network Solutions hasn't commented on its actions, and its parent firm Web.com has not responded to a request for comment.
The domain suspension may be linked to pressure from the civil-rights group Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which wrote to Web.com earlier this month to accuse Stormfront of violating the company's "acceptable user policy" — specifically because of the site's "racist" content and "bigotry." Black attributed Stormfront's shutdown to the group.
A domain search on Stormfront.org shows that the domain is "on hold," a status normally assigned to sites that are involved in legal disputes or nonpayment or that are about to be deleted.
Stormfront is a forum-style site first registered online, according to Black, in January 1995. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Stormfront was the first major white supremacist website, and its members have been disproportionately responsible for mass killings. Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people, posted on the site.
Stormfront's suspension follows a wider US crackdown on hate websites. Multiple domain hosts pulled support for another neo-Nazi site, The Daily Stormer, while payment and fundraising firms including Apple and GoFundMe have refused to support white supremacist websites. ||||| Stormfront, the oldest neo-Nazi forum on the web, has been shut down by its name provider, Network Solutions, and the domain officially put on hold. The news followed the shutdown of DailyStormer, another supremacist site.
Stormfront began in 1990s as a dial-up BBS and then morphed into a website and forum in about 1995. It has been registered at Network Solutions since 1995.
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Executive Director Kristen Clarke said that her organization took “action against Stormfront.”
“Their website is a vehicle used to promote racially-motivated violence and hate,” she wrote. The group told Network Solutions that Stormfront was violating their terms of service.
Stormfront was unique in that it was considered the “murder capital of the Internet” by the Southern Poverty Law Center and, as of 2014, over 100 murders were attributed to Stormfront users. The SPL wrote that the site was popular with “wound collectors.”
“A typical murderer drawn to the racist forum Stormfront.org is a frustrated, unemployed, white adult male living with his mother or an estranged spouse or girlfriend,” wrote the SPL in 2014. “She is the sole provider in the household. Forensic psychologists call him a ‘wound collector.’ Instead of building his resume, seeking employment or further education, he projects his grievances on society and searches the Internet for an excuse or an explanation unrelated to his behavior or the choices he has made in life.”
The group also has a Cloudflare account according to the DNS records. Cloudflare’s CEO has spoken out against hate groups and was instrumental in beginning the attack against DailyStormer. It’s unclear where or when StormFront will return but as of this writing the website is completely inaccessible. | – Following in the footsteps of fellow white supremacist site DailyStormer, Stormfront has been shut down by its domain provider, TechCrunch reports. Stormfront, the oldest neo-Nazi site on the internet, has been registered at Network Solutions since 1995. But Network Solutions took the site offline after the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under Law argued Stormfront was violating its terms of service by promoting "racially motivated violence and hate," the group's executive director says. According to Engadget, Network Solutions has a policy that prohibits sites that "display bigotry, discrimination, or hatred." Stormfront has been offline since Friday, Business Insider reports. Former Ku Klux Klan chief and Stormfront founder Don Black says he can't access the site or transfer the domain to another provider. That means any future version of Stormfront will likely have to restart from the ground up. Black claims Network Solutions has "taken it upon themselves to censor anybody they want." He says his site was shut down for being "politically incorrect" and he's instructed his lawyers to "go after these idiots." Network Solutions hasn't commented. The Southern Poverty Law Center has referred to Stormfront as the "murder capital of the Internet." Through 2014, more than 100 murders had been attributed to Stormfront users, and the site had an unusually high number of mass murderers posting on it. For example, Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in Norway, was active on the site. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.The nonprofit group Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law requested the site be taken down, pointing to a clause in Network Solutions' policies that disallows sites on their domains "to display bigotry, discrimination or hatred." The group's executive director, Kristen Clarke, told the Sentinel, "Following our efforts, Network Solutions has pulled the site. And while bringing down one site won't terminate their efforts, it will make it a little more difficult for white supremacists to sow hatred."
Recently, the white supremacist site Daily Stormer lost its GoDaddy web domain and then subsequently lost hosting support and website security from Google, Cloudflare and DigitalOcean. In past weeks, we've also seen Spotify, Google and Deezer take down racist music, Facebook and Reddit ban hate groups, Squarespace shut down bigoted and hateful websites and OkCupid ban a white supremacist from its platform for life.
Some groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation have come out against these moves as violations of the principles of free speech, but really, the less Nazi content around, the better. ||||| Members of the Ku Klux Klan faced counterprotesters while rallying in support of Confederate monuments in Charlottesville, Virginia, in July. Reuters/Jonathan Ernst
The white supremacist website Stormfront.org is struggling to get back online.
Its founder, former Ku Klux Klan chief Don Black, has complained that the website is down after the domain registrar Network Solutions yanked the domain and that he's also unable to transfer the domain to another provider.
The website has been offline since Friday.
Via his radio show on Monday, Black said Network Solutions had "taken it upon themselves to censor anybody they want." He added: "Late Friday, without any notice, they didn't even send me an email — they decided that Stormfront was politically incorrect and therefore they could close it down.
"Not only did they close the domain name — I can't even transfer it. I can't even try to transfer it to another registrar because they can do whatever they want."
Black added that he was trying to get his lawyers to "go after these idiots." And while he has numerous other domains registered with other providers, he specifically wants to bring Stormfront.org back online.
The Knoxville News Sentinel first reported on Friday that Network Solutions had suspended the Stormfront.org domain.
Network Solutions hasn't commented on its actions, and its parent firm Web.com has not responded to a request for comment.
The domain suspension may be linked to pressure from the civil-rights group Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which wrote to Web.com earlier this month to accuse Stormfront of violating the company's "acceptable user policy" — specifically because of the site's "racist" content and "bigotry." Black attributed Stormfront's shutdown to the group.
A domain search on Stormfront.org shows that the domain is "on hold," a status normally assigned to sites that are involved in legal disputes or nonpayment or that are about to be deleted.
Stormfront is a forum-style site first registered online, according to Black, in January 1995. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Stormfront was the first major white supremacist website, and its members have been disproportionately responsible for mass killings. Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people, posted on the site.
Stormfront's suspension follows a wider US crackdown on hate websites. Multiple domain hosts pulled support for another neo-Nazi site, The Daily Stormer, while payment and fundraising firms including Apple and GoFundMe have refused to support white supremacist websites. ||||| Stormfront, the oldest neo-Nazi forum on the web, has been shut down by its name provider, Network Solutions, and the domain officially put on hold. The news followed the shutdown of DailyStormer, another supremacist site.
Stormfront began in 1990s as a dial-up BBS and then morphed into a website and forum in about 1995. It has been registered at Network Solutions since 1995.
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Executive Director Kristen Clarke said that her organization took “action against Stormfront.”
“Their website is a vehicle used to promote racially-motivated violence and hate,” she wrote. The group told Network Solutions that Stormfront was violating their terms of service.
Stormfront was unique in that it was considered the “murder capital of the Internet” by the Southern Poverty Law Center and, as of 2014, over 100 murders were attributed to Stormfront users. The SPL wrote that the site was popular with “wound collectors.”
“A typical murderer drawn to the racist forum Stormfront.org is a frustrated, unemployed, white adult male living with his mother or an estranged spouse or girlfriend,” wrote the SPL in 2014. “She is the sole provider in the household. Forensic psychologists call him a ‘wound collector.’ Instead of building his resume, seeking employment or further education, he projects his grievances on society and searches the Internet for an excuse or an explanation unrelated to his behavior or the choices he has made in life.”
The group also has a Cloudflare account according to the DNS records. Cloudflare’s CEO has spoken out against hate groups and was instrumental in beginning the attack against DailyStormer. It’s unclear where or when StormFront will return but as of this writing the website is completely inaccessible. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 41,584 |
An Army wife filed a lawsuit against the government on Monday, claiming that her opera career is in jeopardy after an Army nurse botched her childbirth operation.
According to a report by Army Times, Amy Herbst and her husband allege that a nurse-midwife at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital at Fort Campbell, Ky., caused significant damage to Herbst’s digestive and reproductive system’s during the birth of her son in February 2012.
The lawsuit claims that the nurse performed an episiotomy during the second stage of Herbst’s labor without the new mom’s consent or knowledge. An episiotomy is an incision that a doctor or nurse makes in the perineum – the area between the vagina and anus – to help deliver a baby that is in distress or to prevent muscles from tearing.
The nurse-midwife reportedly repaired the episiotomy with sutures, but after Herbst left the hospital, she “began to experience fecal urgency and incontinence, including periodic leaking of stool and excessive flatulence,” the suit states. Herbst claims that upon returning to the hospital, another nurse told her that attempts to repair the cut had been unsuccessful, and a colorectal surgeon told her she would need reconstructive surgery to fix the damage.
Because of the complications of the procedure, Herbst says she is unable to continuing working as a professional opera singer at the Nashville Opera Company.
“She is suffering though a very embarrassing and very significant injury, and frankly, the prognosis of a fully successful repair is pretty low,” Herbst’s attorney, Charles Allen, told Army Times.
When asked by Army Times for a comment on the pending lawsuit, a spokesperson for Blanchfield declined to remark on the specific case. However, the spokesperson said that the hospital is deeply concerned with its patients’ outcomes.
“The Blanchfield Army Community Hospital staff always strives to provide high quality, safe and accessible health care that fully complies with all applicable standards of care,” the spokesperson said.
Click for more from Army Times. ||||| US troops, civilians killed in suicide attack in Syria
Play Video | – Hitting a high C is hard enough without worrying about passing gas—and an opera singer in Nashville is suing over the dilemma, Fox News reports. Amy Herbst, a mezzo-soprano, says she was doing fine until an Army nurse screwed up her childbirth operation in 2012. The nurse at an Army hospital in Fort Campbell, Ky., apparently damaged Herbst's reproductive and digestive system when her son was born—leaving Herbst incontinent, flatulent, and unable to continue her singing career. "She is suffering through a very embarrassing and very significant injury, and frankly, the prognosis of a fully successful repair is pretty low," her attorney tells the Army Times. According to Herbst, the nurse performed an episiotomy—meaning she cut an area between the anus and the vagina to help ease childbirth. But the incision couldn't be fully repaired, and it seems follow-up surgeries may not fix it, either. Herbst lost a job singing in Madame Butterfly thanks to the operation, the Tennessean reports. (It's not this week's only odd story about passing gas.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.An Army wife filed a lawsuit against the government on Monday, claiming that her opera career is in jeopardy after an Army nurse botched her childbirth operation.
According to a report by Army Times, Amy Herbst and her husband allege that a nurse-midwife at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital at Fort Campbell, Ky., caused significant damage to Herbst’s digestive and reproductive system’s during the birth of her son in February 2012.
The lawsuit claims that the nurse performed an episiotomy during the second stage of Herbst’s labor without the new mom’s consent or knowledge. An episiotomy is an incision that a doctor or nurse makes in the perineum – the area between the vagina and anus – to help deliver a baby that is in distress or to prevent muscles from tearing.
The nurse-midwife reportedly repaired the episiotomy with sutures, but after Herbst left the hospital, she “began to experience fecal urgency and incontinence, including periodic leaking of stool and excessive flatulence,” the suit states. Herbst claims that upon returning to the hospital, another nurse told her that attempts to repair the cut had been unsuccessful, and a colorectal surgeon told her she would need reconstructive surgery to fix the damage.
Because of the complications of the procedure, Herbst says she is unable to continuing working as a professional opera singer at the Nashville Opera Company.
“She is suffering though a very embarrassing and very significant injury, and frankly, the prognosis of a fully successful repair is pretty low,” Herbst’s attorney, Charles Allen, told Army Times.
When asked by Army Times for a comment on the pending lawsuit, a spokesperson for Blanchfield declined to remark on the specific case. However, the spokesperson said that the hospital is deeply concerned with its patients’ outcomes.
“The Blanchfield Army Community Hospital staff always strives to provide high quality, safe and accessible health care that fully complies with all applicable standards of care,” the spokesperson said.
Click for more from Army Times. ||||| US troops, civilians killed in suicide attack in Syria
Play Video | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 14,472 |
Most researchers agree that the key difference between human brains and those of other animals is the size and complexity of our cerebral cortex, the brain’s outer layer of neural tissue. We therefore tend to focus our attention on this area, believing that our unique mental life is due to this masterpiece of evolution.
But we often ignore the bits that are nearly identical between humans and animals, such as the tiny group of brain cells that use the chemical dopamine to communicate with other brain cells.
A rewarding experience
Dopamine is often described as the brain’s “pleasure chemical”, but it is actually involved in a large number physical and mental processes. It is used by a cluster of neurons in the midbrain to transmit messages to other neurons. The dopamine neurons are small in number (~0.0006% of the neurons in the human brain) and they are observed in all mammals and even “simple” animals such as turtles.
In the 1950s, researchers discovered that rats appeared to enjoy the stimulation of the nerve bundle that links the dopamine neurons with their targets in the forebrain. The rats would learn to press a lever for this kind of stimulation, and, left unchecked, would do so thousands of times in a day.
A similar (and wholly unethical) experiment was performed in 1970 on a human patient. Like the rats, the patient learned to press a button to stimulate the dopamine nerve bundle, pressing the button up 1500 times over the course of a three-hour session and reporting feelings of pleasure during the stimulation.
Since then, studies have shown that the dopamine system can be activated by a wide range of pleasant experiences, such as eating, having sex, getting revenge, winning video games, listening to music, earning money and reading funny cartoons. The dopamine system also responds robustly to addictive drugs, including opiates, alcohol and cocaine. These drugs can evoke stronger activation than natural rewards and, unlike natural rewards, they do not cause satiety.
A straightforward interpretation of these facts is that the dopamine system is a pleasure pathway in the brain. This potentially explains why animals and people would be willing to press buttons or push levers to activate the dopamine neurons. It might also explain why some drugs are so addictive. The strong and prolonged activation induced by drugs can act as a “super-reward”, making drugs even more desirable.
However, many mental events occur near the time of a reward, including changes in motivation, arousal, attention, emotion, and learning. For example, imagine passing by a vending machine that offers sweets. If you are motivated by hunger, your attention will be drawn to the machine and you will become more alert as you approach it. Once you have eaten the sweets, you experience pleasure, your brain learns to associate the vending machine with reward, and your hunger decreases. It is likely that the dopamine system is involved in many of these processes rather than just pleasure per se.
Dopamine versus willpower
One of the most important aspects of dopamine function is learning. Researchers believe that dopamine neurons change their activity when expectations about reward do not match the reality, signalling a ‘reward prediction error’ that drives learning. For instance, dopamine neurons are activated by unanticipated rewards, but they are suppressed when expected rewards fail to materialise.
Events followed by increases in dopamine activation become associated with reward, and those that are followed by decreases are linked with disappointment. If the environment is unchanging, all our brains need to do to obtain reward is to engage in actions that activate the dopamine neurons and avoiding the ones that suppress them.
It is highly unlikely that we have much awareness of the learning that dopamine activation induces, such as making us attached to things we unknowingly associate with dopamine activation. This lack of awareness might explain why people often make seemingly irrational or maladaptive choices.
Imagine a drug addict taking cocaine. Because the pleasure from cocaine does not satiate like a natural reward, the dopamine activation, and hence drug-induced learning, occurs with each puff of the crack pipe, making the actual pipe an object which the addict is drawn to.
Our chemical master?
Can brain research be used to overcome the effects of dopamine in addiction? Neuroscientists are actively pursuing the creation of drugs that block the learning induced by dopamine in addiction. However, they have had limited success, for it is difficult to create a drug the blocks the learning without also blocking other functions of dopamine, such as feeling alert, motivated and happy.
Dopamine-induced learning is certainly not the whole story behind addiction, but it does suggest that we should consider whether addiction is something that human reasoning on its own can overcome. The same might very well also apply to other everyday failures of willpower, such as overeating.
Our special cerebral cortex may be in control of our actions, but our primitive dopamine system may very well serve as its teacher. ||||| Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| What are the most addictive drugs? This question seems simple, but the answer depends on whom you ask. From the points of view of different researchers, the potential for a drug to be addictive can be judged in terms of the harm it causes, the street value of the drug, the extent to which the drug activates the brain’s dopamine system, how pleasurable people report the drug to be, the degree to which the drug causes withdrawal symptoms, and how easily a person trying the drug will become hooked.
There are other facets to measuring the addictive potential of a drug, too, and there are even researchers who argue that no drug is always addictive. Given the varied view of researchers, then, one way of ranking addictive drugs is to ask expert panels. In 2007, David Nutt and his colleagues asked addiction experts to do exactly that – with some interesting findings.
1. Heroin
Nutt et al.’s experts ranked heroin as the most addictive drug, giving it a score of 3 out of a maximum score of 3. Heroin is an opiate that causes the level of dopamine in the brain’s reward system to increase by up to 200% in experimental animals. In addition to being arguably the most addictive drug, heroin is dangerous, too, because the dose that can cause death is only five times greater than the dose required for a high.
Heroin also has been rated as the second most harmful drug in terms of damage to both users and to society. The market for illegal opiates, including heroin, was estimated to be $68 billion worldwide in 2009.
2. Cocaine
Cocaine directly interferes with the brain’s use of dopamine to convey messages from one neuron to another. In essence, cocaine prevents neurons from turning the dopamine signal off, resulting in an abnormal activation of the brain’s reward pathways. In experiments on animals, cocaine caused dopamine levels to rise more than three times the normal level. It is estimated that between 14-20m people worldwide use cocaine and that in 2009 the cocaine market was worth about $75 billion.
Crack cocaine has been ranked by experts as being the third most damaging drug and powdered cocaine, which causes a milder high, as the fifth most damaging. About 21% of people who try cocaine will become dependent on it at sometime in their life. Cocaine is similar to other addictive stimulants, such as methamphetamine – which is becoming more of a problem as it becomes more widely available – and amphetamine.
3. Nicotine
Nicotine is the main addictive ingredient of tobacco. When somebody smokes a cigarette, nicotine is rapidly absorbed by the lungs and delivered to the brain. Nutt et al’s expert panels rated nicotine (tobacco) as the third most addictive substance.
More than two-thirds of Americans who tried smoking reported becoming dependent during their life. In 2002 the WHO estimated there were more than 1 billion smokers and it has been estimated that tobacco will kill more than 8m people annually by 2030. Laboratory animals have the good sense not to smoke. However, rats will press a button to receive nicotine directly into their bloodstream – and this causes dopamine levels in the brain’s reward system to rise by about 25-40%.
4. Barbiturates (‘downers’)
Barbiturates – also known as blue bullets, gorillas, nembies, barbs and pink ladies – are a class of drugs that were initially used to treat anxiety and to induce sleep. They interfere with chemical signalling in the brain, the effect of which is to shut down various brain regions. At low doses, barbiturates cause euphoria, but at higher doses they can be lethal because they suppress breathing. Barbiturate dependence was common when the drugs were easily available by prescription, but this has declined dramatically as other drugs have replaced them. This highlights the role that the context plays in addiction: if an addictive drug is not widely available, it can do little harm. Nutt et al’s expert panels rated barbiturates as the fourth most addictive substance.
5. Alcohol
Although legal in the US and UK, alcohol was scored by Nutt et al.‘s experts 1.9 out of a maximum of 3. Alcohol has many effects on the brain, but in laboratory experiments on animals it increased dopamine levels in the brain’s reward system by 40-360% – and the more the animals drank the more dopamine levels increased.
Some 22% of people who have taken a drink will develop dependence on alcohol at some point during their life. The WHO has estimated that 2 billion people used alcohol in 2002 and more than 3m people died in 2012 due to damage to the body caused by drinking. Alcohol has been ranked as the most damaging drug by other experts, too.
This article has been amended to reflect an error in the reading of Nutt et al.’s data. The author wishes to thank Erin Brodwin/Business Insider for detecting the error. | – Whether it's sipping coffee or shooting smack, people have a penchant for ingesting substances that alter their brain chemistry. And that can lead to drug dependence. But which drugs are most addictive? As Eric Bowman points out in an article in The Conversation, the answer to that question is not as cut and dry as it may seem. From varying points of view, a drug's addictiveness can be judged by its street value, the harm it causes, withdrawal symptoms, or how pleasurable its effects are, among other factors. For his list of the five most addictive drugs, Bowman relies largely on research gleaned from surveying addiction experts. Here's what he came up with (in order of addictiveness): Heroin: Based on how it tweaks the brain's award system (increasing dopamine levels by up to 200%), heroin—dope, junk, horse, china white, etc.—is deemed the most addictive drug. With a deadly dose being just five times higher than a normal one, it's also a dangerous drug. Alcohol: This legal drug can increase dopamine levels by 40% to 360% (at least in rats). And about 22% of people who imbibe will develop alcohol dependence at some point. Cocaine: "Abnormal activation of the brain’s reward pathways" resulting from cocaine use can cause dopamine levels to rise more than three times the typical level. And some 21% of people who try cocaine will develop a dependence on it at some point. Bowman notes that coke is similar to other addictive stimulants, such as meth. Click for the full top 5. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Most researchers agree that the key difference between human brains and those of other animals is the size and complexity of our cerebral cortex, the brain’s outer layer of neural tissue. We therefore tend to focus our attention on this area, believing that our unique mental life is due to this masterpiece of evolution.
But we often ignore the bits that are nearly identical between humans and animals, such as the tiny group of brain cells that use the chemical dopamine to communicate with other brain cells.
A rewarding experience
Dopamine is often described as the brain’s “pleasure chemical”, but it is actually involved in a large number physical and mental processes. It is used by a cluster of neurons in the midbrain to transmit messages to other neurons. The dopamine neurons are small in number (~0.0006% of the neurons in the human brain) and they are observed in all mammals and even “simple” animals such as turtles.
In the 1950s, researchers discovered that rats appeared to enjoy the stimulation of the nerve bundle that links the dopamine neurons with their targets in the forebrain. The rats would learn to press a lever for this kind of stimulation, and, left unchecked, would do so thousands of times in a day.
A similar (and wholly unethical) experiment was performed in 1970 on a human patient. Like the rats, the patient learned to press a button to stimulate the dopamine nerve bundle, pressing the button up 1500 times over the course of a three-hour session and reporting feelings of pleasure during the stimulation.
Since then, studies have shown that the dopamine system can be activated by a wide range of pleasant experiences, such as eating, having sex, getting revenge, winning video games, listening to music, earning money and reading funny cartoons. The dopamine system also responds robustly to addictive drugs, including opiates, alcohol and cocaine. These drugs can evoke stronger activation than natural rewards and, unlike natural rewards, they do not cause satiety.
A straightforward interpretation of these facts is that the dopamine system is a pleasure pathway in the brain. This potentially explains why animals and people would be willing to press buttons or push levers to activate the dopamine neurons. It might also explain why some drugs are so addictive. The strong and prolonged activation induced by drugs can act as a “super-reward”, making drugs even more desirable.
However, many mental events occur near the time of a reward, including changes in motivation, arousal, attention, emotion, and learning. For example, imagine passing by a vending machine that offers sweets. If you are motivated by hunger, your attention will be drawn to the machine and you will become more alert as you approach it. Once you have eaten the sweets, you experience pleasure, your brain learns to associate the vending machine with reward, and your hunger decreases. It is likely that the dopamine system is involved in many of these processes rather than just pleasure per se.
Dopamine versus willpower
One of the most important aspects of dopamine function is learning. Researchers believe that dopamine neurons change their activity when expectations about reward do not match the reality, signalling a ‘reward prediction error’ that drives learning. For instance, dopamine neurons are activated by unanticipated rewards, but they are suppressed when expected rewards fail to materialise.
Events followed by increases in dopamine activation become associated with reward, and those that are followed by decreases are linked with disappointment. If the environment is unchanging, all our brains need to do to obtain reward is to engage in actions that activate the dopamine neurons and avoiding the ones that suppress them.
It is highly unlikely that we have much awareness of the learning that dopamine activation induces, such as making us attached to things we unknowingly associate with dopamine activation. This lack of awareness might explain why people often make seemingly irrational or maladaptive choices.
Imagine a drug addict taking cocaine. Because the pleasure from cocaine does not satiate like a natural reward, the dopamine activation, and hence drug-induced learning, occurs with each puff of the crack pipe, making the actual pipe an object which the addict is drawn to.
Our chemical master?
Can brain research be used to overcome the effects of dopamine in addiction? Neuroscientists are actively pursuing the creation of drugs that block the learning induced by dopamine in addiction. However, they have had limited success, for it is difficult to create a drug the blocks the learning without also blocking other functions of dopamine, such as feeling alert, motivated and happy.
Dopamine-induced learning is certainly not the whole story behind addiction, but it does suggest that we should consider whether addiction is something that human reasoning on its own can overcome. The same might very well also apply to other everyday failures of willpower, such as overeating.
Our special cerebral cortex may be in control of our actions, but our primitive dopamine system may very well serve as its teacher. ||||| Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| What are the most addictive drugs? This question seems simple, but the answer depends on whom you ask. From the points of view of different researchers, the potential for a drug to be addictive can be judged in terms of the harm it causes, the street value of the drug, the extent to which the drug activates the brain’s dopamine system, how pleasurable people report the drug to be, the degree to which the drug causes withdrawal symptoms, and how easily a person trying the drug will become hooked.
There are other facets to measuring the addictive potential of a drug, too, and there are even researchers who argue that no drug is always addictive. Given the varied view of researchers, then, one way of ranking addictive drugs is to ask expert panels. In 2007, David Nutt and his colleagues asked addiction experts to do exactly that – with some interesting findings.
1. Heroin
Nutt et al.’s experts ranked heroin as the most addictive drug, giving it a score of 3 out of a maximum score of 3. Heroin is an opiate that causes the level of dopamine in the brain’s reward system to increase by up to 200% in experimental animals. In addition to being arguably the most addictive drug, heroin is dangerous, too, because the dose that can cause death is only five times greater than the dose required for a high.
Heroin also has been rated as the second most harmful drug in terms of damage to both users and to society. The market for illegal opiates, including heroin, was estimated to be $68 billion worldwide in 2009.
2. Cocaine
Cocaine directly interferes with the brain’s use of dopamine to convey messages from one neuron to another. In essence, cocaine prevents neurons from turning the dopamine signal off, resulting in an abnormal activation of the brain’s reward pathways. In experiments on animals, cocaine caused dopamine levels to rise more than three times the normal level. It is estimated that between 14-20m people worldwide use cocaine and that in 2009 the cocaine market was worth about $75 billion.
Crack cocaine has been ranked by experts as being the third most damaging drug and powdered cocaine, which causes a milder high, as the fifth most damaging. About 21% of people who try cocaine will become dependent on it at sometime in their life. Cocaine is similar to other addictive stimulants, such as methamphetamine – which is becoming more of a problem as it becomes more widely available – and amphetamine.
3. Nicotine
Nicotine is the main addictive ingredient of tobacco. When somebody smokes a cigarette, nicotine is rapidly absorbed by the lungs and delivered to the brain. Nutt et al’s expert panels rated nicotine (tobacco) as the third most addictive substance.
More than two-thirds of Americans who tried smoking reported becoming dependent during their life. In 2002 the WHO estimated there were more than 1 billion smokers and it has been estimated that tobacco will kill more than 8m people annually by 2030. Laboratory animals have the good sense not to smoke. However, rats will press a button to receive nicotine directly into their bloodstream – and this causes dopamine levels in the brain’s reward system to rise by about 25-40%.
4. Barbiturates (‘downers’)
Barbiturates – also known as blue bullets, gorillas, nembies, barbs and pink ladies – are a class of drugs that were initially used to treat anxiety and to induce sleep. They interfere with chemical signalling in the brain, the effect of which is to shut down various brain regions. At low doses, barbiturates cause euphoria, but at higher doses they can be lethal because they suppress breathing. Barbiturate dependence was common when the drugs were easily available by prescription, but this has declined dramatically as other drugs have replaced them. This highlights the role that the context plays in addiction: if an addictive drug is not widely available, it can do little harm. Nutt et al’s expert panels rated barbiturates as the fourth most addictive substance.
5. Alcohol
Although legal in the US and UK, alcohol was scored by Nutt et al.‘s experts 1.9 out of a maximum of 3. Alcohol has many effects on the brain, but in laboratory experiments on animals it increased dopamine levels in the brain’s reward system by 40-360% – and the more the animals drank the more dopamine levels increased.
Some 22% of people who have taken a drink will develop dependence on alcohol at some point during their life. The WHO has estimated that 2 billion people used alcohol in 2002 and more than 3m people died in 2012 due to damage to the body caused by drinking. Alcohol has been ranked as the most damaging drug by other experts, too.
This article has been amended to reflect an error in the reading of Nutt et al.’s data. The author wishes to thank Erin Brodwin/Business Insider for detecting the error. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 37,570 |
She is by some stretch the most abused political heroine alive today. She has been confined to her crumbling family home in Rangoon for more than 15 of the past 20 years. Her two sons, Alex and Kim, have for many years been barred from visiting her – Kim, now 33, is in Bangkok trying to get a visa so he can see his mother for the first time in 10 years. The last wish of her gravely ill husband, Michael Aris – to die in her arms – was brutally snubbed.
But in one week's time all that could be in the past and Aung San Suu Kyi could walk through the rusty iron gates of 54 University Avenue, Rangoon, a free woman again.
Or will she?
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It was Burma's dictator, Senior General Than Shwe, in person who decreed that Ms Suu Kyi should be released on 13 November. Back in May 2009 she was sentenced to three years' house arrest for allowing an American religious fanatic, John Yettaw, who had swum across Inya Lake to see her, to stay overnight in her house: under the Burmese dictatorship, house guests must be registered with the authorities before they are allowed to stay in private homes. But after sentence was passed, a messenger from the Senior General burst into the courtroom to announce that, in his great mercy, he was cutting the sentence in half, to 18 months.
But that was then, when new elections were merely a vague commitment. Now that the date has nearly arrived, nothing is sure.
Last week, as the Burmese prepared to vote for the first time since they gave Ms Suu Kyi's party a landslide victory 20 years ago, tensions were mounting. Battle-tested troops, identified by their red bandanas and much feared because of their murderous role in suppressing protests in the past, were posted along major roads in the former capital. Trucks packed with navy-blue-uniformed Lon Thein riot police were seen moving around. Clubs and restaurants closed early amid rumours of an impending declaration of martial law.
And there were other signs of official nervousness. On Friday, this correspondent was taken to the airport by immigration police and put on the first available flight to Bangkok for the "crime" of making contact with members of Ms Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy. I was one of at least three undercover foreign journalists deported last week.
Foreign journalists have been banned from Burma, with the rarest of exceptions, ever since the coup of 1962. Whenever news broke since then, they have been entering the country as tourists and doing their job as best they could.
It has never been easy but it has probably never been as nerve-racking as now. You leave behind any documents that mention Ms Suu Kyi or her party. You keep your computer's hard drive as clean of Burma material as possible. Before arriving you set up a gmail account under a false name (gmail being the only form of email that works) and arrange to file under a pseudonym. From an untraceable public phone you call the contacts you have been given and arrange to meet somewhere neutral. If you are wise (as I was not) you change hotels every two or three days to make it harder for the agents of military intelligence to follow you.
You behave, in other words, exactly like a drug-smuggler or terrorist. Of course, you are in breach of your visa. But what is it you are trying to do? To obtain the views of the most successful Burmese political party of the past 50 years, with the country on the threshold of political change; a party committed since the outset to non-violence and the democratic process.
Which prompts a question: if the modest reporting endeavours of a handful of foreigners are such a problem for the junta, how will it cope with the Lady when she gets behind a microphone again – the one person in the country capable, with a few well-chosen words, of galvanising not only millions of her own people but the leaders of the free world as well?
Although the regime some weeks ago confirmed Ms Suu Kyi's release date, there is no certainty that it will abide by this. The man who has for several years been her link to the outside world, her lawyer, Nyan Win, has been given no indication. A senior Western diplomat in Rangoon said he had heard nothing either way. "There are three scenarios," he said. "They set her free unconditionally; they agree to let her out but on certain conditions; or they don't let her out at all. Than Shwe is known to be stronger on tactics than strategy, and I suspect he will decide depending on what happens in the election."
A sweeping victory in the election for the junta's two proxy parties is a foregone conclusion – they have far more candidates than any of the other parties, far more money, and in dozens of seats are standing unopposed. One can speculate that a thumping win for the generals' friends would make them more relaxed about having Ms Suu Kyi at large again. But even so, the omens for her release are not good.
For her and her party, the tide has been running the wrong way ever since 2003. Despite the release date, there is no sign of it turning any time soon. The last time she was released was in May 2002, when the mood was very different. As The Independent's South Asia correspondent, I flew into Rangoon as a tourist and spent days hanging around her party's HQ waiting for a chance to interview her.
Unbothered by the authorities, I also met veteran Burmese journalists, academics and people who claimed to be close to the regime. All agreed that the second most powerful man in the junta, military-intelligence chief General Khin Nyunt, who had engineered a meeting between Ms Suu Kyi and Than Shwe back in 1994, was committed to a reconciliation. When I met her, Ms Suu Kyi herself cautiously voiced the same hopes.
But the hoped-for talks went nowhere. Ms Suu Kyi went back on the road, addressing huge, enthusiastic crowds wherever she went. Then on 30 May 2003, little more than a year after her release, her convoy was set upon by regime thugs in Depayin, in the north of the country. Dozens of party supporters were murdered and Ms Suu Kyi herself narrowly avoided being killed. She was taken to Rangoon's notorious Insein jail, and later put back under house arrest. General Khin Nyunt was later purged and is himself still under house arrest.
Ever since, the junta has been trying to marginalise Ms Suu Kyi and her party, and has largely succeeded. The master stroke came in the spring when it was announced that parties with members in jail or under house arrest could not register to take part in the election. Her party would have to expel Ms Suu Kyi before registering. She herself came out strongly against participating in the election under such conditions, and the party fell into line behind her, though some members broke away to form new parties.
NLD supporters argue that the party had no choice but to spurn the polls. But by doing so it enabled the regime to dissolve the party, robbing it of legitimacy – and making it easier to justify harassing people like myself trying to report on its views and activities. The party fell into the junta's trap and allowed itself to be driven underground.
There is always the opinion of the outside world for the junta to worry about – and if the generals find a pretext for extending Ms Suu Kyi's house arrest, or put such stringent conditions on her release that she refuses to accept them, the world will howl. But Than Shwe is used to that howling. There is no sign that it troubles his sleep.
My main offence last week was to interview a leonine Burmese journalist called U Win Tin, an NLD founder. Now 81, he spent 19 years in Insein jail for his political activities, almost entirely in solitary confinement.
He was eloquent about the love and support Ms Suu Kyi still enjoys in Burma. "When people like me or U Tin Oo [another senior party member] were released it was like pouring water in a flower-pot," he told me. "But if Suu Kyi is released it will be like the coming of the monsoon... If she is released today, she will go to the people tomorrow."
The world would expect no less – but on what basis will she go? In the past it was as symbol and co-founder of Burma's biggest party, and as the unhonoured winner of the general election. If she goes to the people now, it will be as leader of a party that has been formally dissolved, that played no role in the elections, and whose members are treated like criminals. The junta has buried her party, and her historic victory with it, leaving her in limbo.
U Win Tin admits that the future is too dark to read. "The military power in Burma is so big you cannot predict what will happen," he told me. "The regime is afraid of her popularity. That's why there is political deadlock. The only thing we can say is that we have faith, and a good leader, and although we have been dissolved we are not going to go away. But nobody can tell what will happen."
PM to push for action by Beijing
David Cameron will this week challenge Beijing over China's influence in Burma and demand the unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi, whose house arrest is due to expire in six days.
He is expected to use a meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday to raise "strong views" about human rights abuses in neighbouring Burma, which today goes to the polls for the first time since Ms Suu Kyi's victory 21 years ago. Her NLD party has been dissolved by the junta, and William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, said the result is "a foregone conclusion". Yesterday, opposition officials claimed voters had been told they could lose their jobs if they fail to vote for military-backed candidates.
In a 2008 article for The IoS, Mr Cameron hailed Ms Suu Kyi as "Burma's democratic heroine", adding she was "a symbol of the tragedy of Burma, but also its hope for a brighter tomorrow".
Matt Chorley ||||| She is by some stretch the most abused political heroine alive today. She has been confined to her crumbling family home in Rangoon for more than 15 of the past 20 years. Her two sons, Alex and Kim, have for many years been barred from visiting her – Kim, now 33, is in Bangkok trying to get a visa so he can see his mother for the first time in 10 years. The last wish of her gravely ill husband, Michael Aris – to die in her arms – was brutally snubbed.
But in one week's time all that could be in the past and Aung San Suu Kyi could walk through the rusty iron gates of 54 University Avenue, Rangoon, a free woman again.
Or will she?
It was Burma's dictator, Senior General Than Shwe, in person who decreed that Ms Suu Kyi should be released on 13 November. Back in May 2009 she was sentenced to three years' house arrest for allowing an American religious fanatic, John Yettaw, who had swum across Inya Lake to see her, to stay overnight in her house: under the Burmese dictatorship, house guests must be registered with the authorities before they are allowed to stay in private homes. But after sentence was passed, a messenger from the Senior General burst into the courtroom to announce that, in his great mercy, he was cutting the sentence in half, to 18 months.
But that was then, when new elections were merely a vague commitment. Now that the date has nearly arrived, nothing is sure.
Last week, as the Burmese prepared to vote for the first time since they gave Ms Suu Kyi's party a landslide victory 20 years ago, tensions were mounting. Battle-tested troops, identified by their red bandanas and much feared because of their murderous role in suppressing protests in the past, were posted along major roads in the former capital. Trucks packed with navy-blue-uniformed Lon Thein riot police were seen moving around. Clubs and restaurants closed early amid rumours of an impending declaration of martial law.
And there were other signs of official nervousness. On Friday, this correspondent was taken to the airport by immigration police and put on the first available flight to Bangkok for the "crime" of making contact with members of Ms Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy. I was one of at least three undercover foreign journalists deported last week.
Foreign journalists have been banned from Burma, with the rarest of exceptions, ever since the coup of 1962. Whenever news broke since then, they have been entering the country as tourists and doing their job as best they could.
It has never been easy but it has probably never been as nerve-racking as now. You leave behind any documents that mention Ms Suu Kyi or her party. You keep your computer's hard drive as clean of Burma material as possible. Before arriving you set up a gmail account under a false name (gmail being the only form of email that works) and arrange to file under a pseudonym. From an untraceable public phone you call the contacts you have been given and arrange to meet somewhere neutral. If you are wise (as I was not) you change hotels every two or three days to make it harder for the agents of military intelligence to follow you.
You behave, in other words, exactly like a drug-smuggler or terrorist. Of course, you are in breach of your visa. But what is it you are trying to do? To obtain the views of the most successful Burmese political party of the past 50 years, with the country on the threshold of political change; a party committed since the outset to non-violence and the democratic process.
Which prompts a question: if the modest reporting endeavours of a handful of foreigners are such a problem for the junta, how will it cope with the Lady when she gets behind a microphone again – the one person in the country capable, with a few well-chosen words, of galvanising not only millions of her own people but the leaders of the free world as well?
Although the regime some weeks ago confirmed Ms Suu Kyi's release date, there is no certainty that it will abide by this. The man who has for several years been her link to the outside world, her lawyer, Nyan Win, has been given no indication. A senior Western diplomat in Rangoon said he had heard nothing either way. "There are three scenarios," he said. "They set her free unconditionally; they agree to let her out but on certain conditions; or they don't let her out at all. Than Shwe is known to be stronger on tactics than strategy, and I suspect he will decide depending on what happens in the election."
A sweeping victory in the election for the junta's two proxy parties is a foregone conclusion – they have far more candidates than any of the other parties, far more money, and in dozens of seats are standing unopposed. One can speculate that a thumping win for the generals' friends would make them more relaxed about having Ms Suu Kyi at large again. But even so, the omens for her release are not good.
For her and her party, the tide has been running the wrong way ever since 2003. Despite the release date, there is no sign of it turning any time soon. The last time she was released was in May 2002, when the mood was very different. As The Independent's South Asia correspondent, I flew into Rangoon as a tourist and spent days hanging around her party's HQ waiting for a chance to interview her.
Unbothered by the authorities, I also met veteran Burmese journalists, academics and people who claimed to be close to the regime. All agreed that the second most powerful man in the junta, military-intelligence chief General Khin Nyunt, who had engineered a meeting between Ms Suu Kyi and Than Shwe back in 1994, was committed to a reconciliation. When I met her, Ms Suu Kyi herself cautiously voiced the same hopes.
But the hoped-for talks went nowhere. Ms Suu Kyi went back on the road, addressing huge, enthusiastic crowds wherever she went. Then on 30 May 2003, little more than a year after her release, her convoy was set upon by regime thugs in Depayin, in the north of the country. Dozens of party supporters were murdered and Ms Suu Kyi herself narrowly avoided being killed. She was taken to Rangoon's notorious Insein jail, and later put back under house arrest. General Khin Nyunt was later purged and is himself still under house arrest.
Ever since, the junta has been trying to marginalise Ms Suu Kyi and her party, and has largely succeeded. The master stroke came in the spring when it was announced that parties with members in jail or under house arrest could not register to take part in the election. Her party would have to expel Ms Suu Kyi before registering. She herself came out strongly against participating in the election under such conditions, and the party fell into line behind her, though some members broke away to form new parties.
NLD supporters argue that the party had no choice but to spurn the polls. But by doing so it enabled the regime to dissolve the party, robbing it of legitimacy – and making it easier to justify harassing people like myself trying to report on its views and activities. The party fell into the junta's trap and allowed itself to be driven underground.
There is always the opinion of the outside world for the junta to worry about – and if the generals find a pretext for extending Ms Suu Kyi's house arrest, or put such stringent conditions on her release that she refuses to accept them, the world will howl. But Than Shwe is used to that howling. There is no sign that it troubles his sleep.
My main offence last week was to interview a leonine Burmese journalist called U Win Tin, an NLD founder. Now 81, he spent 19 years in Insein jail for his political activities, almost entirely in solitary confinement.
He was eloquent about the love and support Ms Suu Kyi still enjoys in Burma. "When people like me or U Tin Oo [another senior party member] were released it was like pouring water in a flower-pot," he told me. "But if Suu Kyi is released it will be like the coming of the monsoon... If she is released today, she will go to the people tomorrow."
The world would expect no less – but on what basis will she go? In the past it was as symbol and co-founder of Burma's biggest party, and as the unhonoured winner of the general election. If she goes to the people now, it will be as leader of a party that has been formally dissolved, that played no role in the elections, and whose members are treated like criminals. The junta has buried her party, and her historic victory with it, leaving her in limbo.
U Win Tin admits that the future is too dark to read. "The military power in Burma is so big you cannot predict what will happen," he told me. "The regime is afraid of her popularity. That's why there is political deadlock. The only thing we can say is that we have faith, and a good leader, and although we have been dissolved we are not going to go away. But nobody can tell what will happen."
PM to push for action by Beijing
David Cameron will this week challenge Beijing over China's influence in Burma and demand the unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi, whose house arrest is due to expire in six days.
He is expected to use a meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday to raise "strong views" about human rights abuses in neighbouring Burma, which today goes to the polls for the first time since Ms Suu Kyi's victory 21 years ago. Her NLD party has been dissolved by the junta, and William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, said the result is "a foregone conclusion". Yesterday, opposition officials claimed voters had been told they could lose their jobs if they fail to vote for military-backed candidates.
In a 2008 article for The IoS, Mr Cameron hailed Ms Suu Kyi as "Burma's democratic heroine", adding she was "a symbol of the tragedy of Burma, but also its hope for a brighter tomorrow".
Matt Chorley | – Myanmar has begun voting in its first election in 20 years and—spoiler alert—the junta-backed party is going to win. The ruling regime has rigged the rules to make sure of that, writes Independent correspondent Peter Popham. The real question is whether the regime will release Aung San Suu Kyi as promised a week from now. Suu Kyi just may be the "most abused political heroine alive today," having spent 15 of the last 20 years in confinement, writes Popham. Now you'd think the imminent election landslide would have leaders in a generous mood, but Popham describes mounting tension on the streets and describes the extraordinary lengths reporters must go through to interview the opposition. In fact, he was one of a slew of foreign reporters sent packing of late on flimsy charges. "If the modest reporting endeavours of a handful of foreigners are such a problem for the junta, how will it cope with the Lady when she gets behind a microphone again—the one person in the country capable, with a few well-chosen words, of galvanising not only millions of her own people but the leaders of the free world as well?" In terms of the promise to release her, it doesn't bode well. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.She is by some stretch the most abused political heroine alive today. She has been confined to her crumbling family home in Rangoon for more than 15 of the past 20 years. Her two sons, Alex and Kim, have for many years been barred from visiting her – Kim, now 33, is in Bangkok trying to get a visa so he can see his mother for the first time in 10 years. The last wish of her gravely ill husband, Michael Aris – to die in her arms – was brutally snubbed.
But in one week's time all that could be in the past and Aung San Suu Kyi could walk through the rusty iron gates of 54 University Avenue, Rangoon, a free woman again.
Or will she?
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It was Burma's dictator, Senior General Than Shwe, in person who decreed that Ms Suu Kyi should be released on 13 November. Back in May 2009 she was sentenced to three years' house arrest for allowing an American religious fanatic, John Yettaw, who had swum across Inya Lake to see her, to stay overnight in her house: under the Burmese dictatorship, house guests must be registered with the authorities before they are allowed to stay in private homes. But after sentence was passed, a messenger from the Senior General burst into the courtroom to announce that, in his great mercy, he was cutting the sentence in half, to 18 months.
But that was then, when new elections were merely a vague commitment. Now that the date has nearly arrived, nothing is sure.
Last week, as the Burmese prepared to vote for the first time since they gave Ms Suu Kyi's party a landslide victory 20 years ago, tensions were mounting. Battle-tested troops, identified by their red bandanas and much feared because of their murderous role in suppressing protests in the past, were posted along major roads in the former capital. Trucks packed with navy-blue-uniformed Lon Thein riot police were seen moving around. Clubs and restaurants closed early amid rumours of an impending declaration of martial law.
And there were other signs of official nervousness. On Friday, this correspondent was taken to the airport by immigration police and put on the first available flight to Bangkok for the "crime" of making contact with members of Ms Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy. I was one of at least three undercover foreign journalists deported last week.
Foreign journalists have been banned from Burma, with the rarest of exceptions, ever since the coup of 1962. Whenever news broke since then, they have been entering the country as tourists and doing their job as best they could.
It has never been easy but it has probably never been as nerve-racking as now. You leave behind any documents that mention Ms Suu Kyi or her party. You keep your computer's hard drive as clean of Burma material as possible. Before arriving you set up a gmail account under a false name (gmail being the only form of email that works) and arrange to file under a pseudonym. From an untraceable public phone you call the contacts you have been given and arrange to meet somewhere neutral. If you are wise (as I was not) you change hotels every two or three days to make it harder for the agents of military intelligence to follow you.
You behave, in other words, exactly like a drug-smuggler or terrorist. Of course, you are in breach of your visa. But what is it you are trying to do? To obtain the views of the most successful Burmese political party of the past 50 years, with the country on the threshold of political change; a party committed since the outset to non-violence and the democratic process.
Which prompts a question: if the modest reporting endeavours of a handful of foreigners are such a problem for the junta, how will it cope with the Lady when she gets behind a microphone again – the one person in the country capable, with a few well-chosen words, of galvanising not only millions of her own people but the leaders of the free world as well?
Although the regime some weeks ago confirmed Ms Suu Kyi's release date, there is no certainty that it will abide by this. The man who has for several years been her link to the outside world, her lawyer, Nyan Win, has been given no indication. A senior Western diplomat in Rangoon said he had heard nothing either way. "There are three scenarios," he said. "They set her free unconditionally; they agree to let her out but on certain conditions; or they don't let her out at all. Than Shwe is known to be stronger on tactics than strategy, and I suspect he will decide depending on what happens in the election."
A sweeping victory in the election for the junta's two proxy parties is a foregone conclusion – they have far more candidates than any of the other parties, far more money, and in dozens of seats are standing unopposed. One can speculate that a thumping win for the generals' friends would make them more relaxed about having Ms Suu Kyi at large again. But even so, the omens for her release are not good.
For her and her party, the tide has been running the wrong way ever since 2003. Despite the release date, there is no sign of it turning any time soon. The last time she was released was in May 2002, when the mood was very different. As The Independent's South Asia correspondent, I flew into Rangoon as a tourist and spent days hanging around her party's HQ waiting for a chance to interview her.
Unbothered by the authorities, I also met veteran Burmese journalists, academics and people who claimed to be close to the regime. All agreed that the second most powerful man in the junta, military-intelligence chief General Khin Nyunt, who had engineered a meeting between Ms Suu Kyi and Than Shwe back in 1994, was committed to a reconciliation. When I met her, Ms Suu Kyi herself cautiously voiced the same hopes.
But the hoped-for talks went nowhere. Ms Suu Kyi went back on the road, addressing huge, enthusiastic crowds wherever she went. Then on 30 May 2003, little more than a year after her release, her convoy was set upon by regime thugs in Depayin, in the north of the country. Dozens of party supporters were murdered and Ms Suu Kyi herself narrowly avoided being killed. She was taken to Rangoon's notorious Insein jail, and later put back under house arrest. General Khin Nyunt was later purged and is himself still under house arrest.
Ever since, the junta has been trying to marginalise Ms Suu Kyi and her party, and has largely succeeded. The master stroke came in the spring when it was announced that parties with members in jail or under house arrest could not register to take part in the election. Her party would have to expel Ms Suu Kyi before registering. She herself came out strongly against participating in the election under such conditions, and the party fell into line behind her, though some members broke away to form new parties.
NLD supporters argue that the party had no choice but to spurn the polls. But by doing so it enabled the regime to dissolve the party, robbing it of legitimacy – and making it easier to justify harassing people like myself trying to report on its views and activities. The party fell into the junta's trap and allowed itself to be driven underground.
There is always the opinion of the outside world for the junta to worry about – and if the generals find a pretext for extending Ms Suu Kyi's house arrest, or put such stringent conditions on her release that she refuses to accept them, the world will howl. But Than Shwe is used to that howling. There is no sign that it troubles his sleep.
My main offence last week was to interview a leonine Burmese journalist called U Win Tin, an NLD founder. Now 81, he spent 19 years in Insein jail for his political activities, almost entirely in solitary confinement.
He was eloquent about the love and support Ms Suu Kyi still enjoys in Burma. "When people like me or U Tin Oo [another senior party member] were released it was like pouring water in a flower-pot," he told me. "But if Suu Kyi is released it will be like the coming of the monsoon... If she is released today, she will go to the people tomorrow."
The world would expect no less – but on what basis will she go? In the past it was as symbol and co-founder of Burma's biggest party, and as the unhonoured winner of the general election. If she goes to the people now, it will be as leader of a party that has been formally dissolved, that played no role in the elections, and whose members are treated like criminals. The junta has buried her party, and her historic victory with it, leaving her in limbo.
U Win Tin admits that the future is too dark to read. "The military power in Burma is so big you cannot predict what will happen," he told me. "The regime is afraid of her popularity. That's why there is political deadlock. The only thing we can say is that we have faith, and a good leader, and although we have been dissolved we are not going to go away. But nobody can tell what will happen."
PM to push for action by Beijing
David Cameron will this week challenge Beijing over China's influence in Burma and demand the unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi, whose house arrest is due to expire in six days.
He is expected to use a meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday to raise "strong views" about human rights abuses in neighbouring Burma, which today goes to the polls for the first time since Ms Suu Kyi's victory 21 years ago. Her NLD party has been dissolved by the junta, and William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, said the result is "a foregone conclusion". Yesterday, opposition officials claimed voters had been told they could lose their jobs if they fail to vote for military-backed candidates.
In a 2008 article for The IoS, Mr Cameron hailed Ms Suu Kyi as "Burma's democratic heroine", adding she was "a symbol of the tragedy of Burma, but also its hope for a brighter tomorrow".
Matt Chorley ||||| She is by some stretch the most abused political heroine alive today. She has been confined to her crumbling family home in Rangoon for more than 15 of the past 20 years. Her two sons, Alex and Kim, have for many years been barred from visiting her – Kim, now 33, is in Bangkok trying to get a visa so he can see his mother for the first time in 10 years. The last wish of her gravely ill husband, Michael Aris – to die in her arms – was brutally snubbed.
But in one week's time all that could be in the past and Aung San Suu Kyi could walk through the rusty iron gates of 54 University Avenue, Rangoon, a free woman again.
Or will she?
It was Burma's dictator, Senior General Than Shwe, in person who decreed that Ms Suu Kyi should be released on 13 November. Back in May 2009 she was sentenced to three years' house arrest for allowing an American religious fanatic, John Yettaw, who had swum across Inya Lake to see her, to stay overnight in her house: under the Burmese dictatorship, house guests must be registered with the authorities before they are allowed to stay in private homes. But after sentence was passed, a messenger from the Senior General burst into the courtroom to announce that, in his great mercy, he was cutting the sentence in half, to 18 months.
But that was then, when new elections were merely a vague commitment. Now that the date has nearly arrived, nothing is sure.
Last week, as the Burmese prepared to vote for the first time since they gave Ms Suu Kyi's party a landslide victory 20 years ago, tensions were mounting. Battle-tested troops, identified by their red bandanas and much feared because of their murderous role in suppressing protests in the past, were posted along major roads in the former capital. Trucks packed with navy-blue-uniformed Lon Thein riot police were seen moving around. Clubs and restaurants closed early amid rumours of an impending declaration of martial law.
And there were other signs of official nervousness. On Friday, this correspondent was taken to the airport by immigration police and put on the first available flight to Bangkok for the "crime" of making contact with members of Ms Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy. I was one of at least three undercover foreign journalists deported last week.
Foreign journalists have been banned from Burma, with the rarest of exceptions, ever since the coup of 1962. Whenever news broke since then, they have been entering the country as tourists and doing their job as best they could.
It has never been easy but it has probably never been as nerve-racking as now. You leave behind any documents that mention Ms Suu Kyi or her party. You keep your computer's hard drive as clean of Burma material as possible. Before arriving you set up a gmail account under a false name (gmail being the only form of email that works) and arrange to file under a pseudonym. From an untraceable public phone you call the contacts you have been given and arrange to meet somewhere neutral. If you are wise (as I was not) you change hotels every two or three days to make it harder for the agents of military intelligence to follow you.
You behave, in other words, exactly like a drug-smuggler or terrorist. Of course, you are in breach of your visa. But what is it you are trying to do? To obtain the views of the most successful Burmese political party of the past 50 years, with the country on the threshold of political change; a party committed since the outset to non-violence and the democratic process.
Which prompts a question: if the modest reporting endeavours of a handful of foreigners are such a problem for the junta, how will it cope with the Lady when she gets behind a microphone again – the one person in the country capable, with a few well-chosen words, of galvanising not only millions of her own people but the leaders of the free world as well?
Although the regime some weeks ago confirmed Ms Suu Kyi's release date, there is no certainty that it will abide by this. The man who has for several years been her link to the outside world, her lawyer, Nyan Win, has been given no indication. A senior Western diplomat in Rangoon said he had heard nothing either way. "There are three scenarios," he said. "They set her free unconditionally; they agree to let her out but on certain conditions; or they don't let her out at all. Than Shwe is known to be stronger on tactics than strategy, and I suspect he will decide depending on what happens in the election."
A sweeping victory in the election for the junta's two proxy parties is a foregone conclusion – they have far more candidates than any of the other parties, far more money, and in dozens of seats are standing unopposed. One can speculate that a thumping win for the generals' friends would make them more relaxed about having Ms Suu Kyi at large again. But even so, the omens for her release are not good.
For her and her party, the tide has been running the wrong way ever since 2003. Despite the release date, there is no sign of it turning any time soon. The last time she was released was in May 2002, when the mood was very different. As The Independent's South Asia correspondent, I flew into Rangoon as a tourist and spent days hanging around her party's HQ waiting for a chance to interview her.
Unbothered by the authorities, I also met veteran Burmese journalists, academics and people who claimed to be close to the regime. All agreed that the second most powerful man in the junta, military-intelligence chief General Khin Nyunt, who had engineered a meeting between Ms Suu Kyi and Than Shwe back in 1994, was committed to a reconciliation. When I met her, Ms Suu Kyi herself cautiously voiced the same hopes.
But the hoped-for talks went nowhere. Ms Suu Kyi went back on the road, addressing huge, enthusiastic crowds wherever she went. Then on 30 May 2003, little more than a year after her release, her convoy was set upon by regime thugs in Depayin, in the north of the country. Dozens of party supporters were murdered and Ms Suu Kyi herself narrowly avoided being killed. She was taken to Rangoon's notorious Insein jail, and later put back under house arrest. General Khin Nyunt was later purged and is himself still under house arrest.
Ever since, the junta has been trying to marginalise Ms Suu Kyi and her party, and has largely succeeded. The master stroke came in the spring when it was announced that parties with members in jail or under house arrest could not register to take part in the election. Her party would have to expel Ms Suu Kyi before registering. She herself came out strongly against participating in the election under such conditions, and the party fell into line behind her, though some members broke away to form new parties.
NLD supporters argue that the party had no choice but to spurn the polls. But by doing so it enabled the regime to dissolve the party, robbing it of legitimacy – and making it easier to justify harassing people like myself trying to report on its views and activities. The party fell into the junta's trap and allowed itself to be driven underground.
There is always the opinion of the outside world for the junta to worry about – and if the generals find a pretext for extending Ms Suu Kyi's house arrest, or put such stringent conditions on her release that she refuses to accept them, the world will howl. But Than Shwe is used to that howling. There is no sign that it troubles his sleep.
My main offence last week was to interview a leonine Burmese journalist called U Win Tin, an NLD founder. Now 81, he spent 19 years in Insein jail for his political activities, almost entirely in solitary confinement.
He was eloquent about the love and support Ms Suu Kyi still enjoys in Burma. "When people like me or U Tin Oo [another senior party member] were released it was like pouring water in a flower-pot," he told me. "But if Suu Kyi is released it will be like the coming of the monsoon... If she is released today, she will go to the people tomorrow."
The world would expect no less – but on what basis will she go? In the past it was as symbol and co-founder of Burma's biggest party, and as the unhonoured winner of the general election. If she goes to the people now, it will be as leader of a party that has been formally dissolved, that played no role in the elections, and whose members are treated like criminals. The junta has buried her party, and her historic victory with it, leaving her in limbo.
U Win Tin admits that the future is too dark to read. "The military power in Burma is so big you cannot predict what will happen," he told me. "The regime is afraid of her popularity. That's why there is political deadlock. The only thing we can say is that we have faith, and a good leader, and although we have been dissolved we are not going to go away. But nobody can tell what will happen."
PM to push for action by Beijing
David Cameron will this week challenge Beijing over China's influence in Burma and demand the unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi, whose house arrest is due to expire in six days.
He is expected to use a meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday to raise "strong views" about human rights abuses in neighbouring Burma, which today goes to the polls for the first time since Ms Suu Kyi's victory 21 years ago. Her NLD party has been dissolved by the junta, and William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, said the result is "a foregone conclusion". Yesterday, opposition officials claimed voters had been told they could lose their jobs if they fail to vote for military-backed candidates.
In a 2008 article for The IoS, Mr Cameron hailed Ms Suu Kyi as "Burma's democratic heroine", adding she was "a symbol of the tragedy of Burma, but also its hope for a brighter tomorrow".
Matt Chorley | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 18,186 |
CONSTABLE, N.Y. — David Sweat, the remaining prison escapee on the run in northern New York, was shot by a state trooper and taken into custody on Sunday after a 23-day manhunt that began with an improbable escape from two maximum-security cells and ended in the rain-drenched woods just south of the Canadian border.
Mr. Sweat, 35, a murderer who had been serving a sentence of life without parole, was in critical condition at Albany Medical Center late Sunday night, according to Dennis P. McKenna, the hospital’s medical director.
The shooting occurred here around 3:20 p.m. after a State Police sergeant spotted a man jogging down a road, stopped to question him and recognized him as Mr. Sweat, said Superintendent Joseph A. D’Amico of the New York State Police. The sergeant, Jay Cook, told Mr. Sweat to come over to him, but instead Mr. Sweat turned and fled across a field toward the tree line, Mr. D’Amico said. Sergeant Cook, a firearms instructor who was patrolling by himself, gave chase and finally opened fire, striking Mr. Sweat twice in the torso, because he realized the fugitive was going to make it to the woods and possibly disappear, Mr. D’Amico said.
More than 1,300 officers in rain-slicked gear had helped to tighten a cordon around Mr. Sweat on Sunday as the search, which had at times appeared to lurch between small New York towns as officials chased shreds of reported sightings, focused in on 22 square miles of rugged terrain. The confrontation with Mr. Sweat took place two days after his partner in flight from the authorities, Richard W. Matt, was shot and killed by a federal agent in the woods of Malone, N.Y. ||||| Malone, New York (CNN) After a massive, more-than-three-week manhunt for David Sweat, the escaped murderer is back where he started -- in custody.
Authorities said a New York State Police sergeant -- identified as Jay Cook -- spotted Sweat, and after Sweat ran, the sergeant gave chase.
"At some point, running across a field, he realized that Sweat was going to make it to a tree line, and possibly could have disappeared, and he fired two shots," New York State Police Superintendent Joseph A. D'Amico told reporters.
Sweat, who was unarmed, was hit twice in the torso.
A photo exclusively obtained by CNN shows Sweat in custody moments after his capture. He appears bloodied and was wearing a camouflage outfit, not prison garb.
He was taken into custody in the town of Constable, in upstate New York, very close to the Canadian border.
CNN exclusive photo: David Sweat during his capture.
"I can only assume he was going for the border, that he was that close," D'Amico said.
Sweat was captured about 16 miles north of the location where fellow escapee Richard Matt was killed last week. The officer was alone when he shot Sweat.
Sweat was transported to the Alice Hyde Medical Center in Malone, an officer at the hospital told CNN. He was later moved to Albany Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition, according to Dennis McKenna, medical director there.
Emergency, trauma, intensive care, radiology and vascular surgery specialists are involved in his care, McKenna said.
No law enforcement officers were injured during Sweat's apprehension.
"The nightmare is finally over," said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. "We wish it didn't happen in the first place. But if you have to have it happen, this is how you want it to end."
David Sweat was shot on the right side of this barn about two miles south of the Canadian border. #CNN #AC360 pic.twitter.com/zZ0LaVAqWg — Gary Tuchman (@GaryTuchmanCNN) June 28, 2015
The break
The arrest wraps up the statewide search for Sweat and his prison-break partner, Matt. Matt was shot dead Friday
Sweat was imprisoned at the Clinton Correctional Facility for shooting dead an officer who pursued him after a robbery he committed.
Behind bars, Sweat and Matt cozied up to a prison tailor and a guard who allegedly brought them tools , which they used to cut their way through a labyrinth of multiple barriers and underground passageways. They emerged to freedom through a manhole in the middle of a street.
Guards discovered them missing on June 6, during a routine bed check.
Law enforcement experts stressed Sunday that it's crucial Sweat survive so that officials can learn exactly how he and Matt escaped, and who helped them.
"Now that we have Mr. Sweat, it gives us the opportunity to have some more questions and provide more facts on the overall situation," Cuomo said. "Anyone who we find who was culpable and guilty of cooperating in the escape will be fully prosecuted."
D'Amico told reporters that investigators haven't yet interviewed Sweat, but that they hope to soon.
Investigators have questioned guards at the Clinton Correctional Facility about what conversations they had with the escapees about life outside the prison, according to a law enforcement official.
They believe Sweat and Matt were gathering information for almost a year about hunting cabins and the fields around the prison to help them navigate the terrain.
It's believed their conversations with the guards might have given the escapees some knowledge of how to get around, the official said.
The search
Earlier Sunday, about 1,300 federal, state and local law enforcement officers were searching vehicles at roadblocks and scouring dense woods in upstate New York for Sweat.
Since he and Matt broke out of the maximum security prison in Dannemora together -- and appeared to stick together on their flight from the law -- authorities were hopeful they could be right on Sweat's heels after encountering Matt.
Searchers had at times followed two sets of footprints, but when they gunned Matt down one day after his 49th birthday, there was no sign of Sweat nearby.
So, on all-terrain vehicles and in helicopters, they continued looking for the man who eluded them for three weeks, using infrared vision devices to peer through the night.
D'Amico admitted that authorities had a hard time tracking the fugitives and offered a possible explanation: pepper.
"We believe that possibly these two males were using pepper to throw the scent off of the dogs that were tracking them," he said.
The search Sunday was focused on an area along New York's State Route 30 between County Route 41 in the town of Malone and County Route 26 in the town of Duane.
'Thank God!'
Audra Buchanan of Constable said she was stunned to hear recently that Sweat could be near her home.
"We were so nervous," she said. "We've had our housed locked down."
When she saw on CNN that Sweat had been shot and was in custody, she said she felt "an incredible sigh of relief."
When she heard sirens and saw ambulances fly by her home, she thought, "Oh my God, thank God!" she told CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.
Her 9-year-old daughter has been begging to go outside and play for weeks, and Buchanan said she's glad she can now let her.
Sweat's mother described a similar feeling of relief. Pamela Sweat spoke to Time Warner Cable News after her son was captured.
"We started crying because (he) wasn't killed," she said. | – A massive manhunt came to an end today when a state trooper shot and wounded prison escapee David Sweat, sources tell the New York Times. One source says 35-year-old Sweat, who broke out of prison with Richard Matt earlier this month, was now in custody. Law enforcement officers tracked Sweat down near Constable, NY—which borders the Canadian province of Quebec—despite heavy rain and a National Weather Service flood-watch warning extending through tomorrow morning. A New York state trooper shot Sweat twice in a field, CNN reports; Sweat was taken to hospital, but his condition hasn't been revealed. No officers were wounded in apprehending him. Meanwhile, an autopsy shows that Matt, 49, who was shot and killed Friday, suffered three semiautomatic-weapon bullet wounds to the head. He was also scruffed up from his time fleeing a manhunt that included some 1,300 officers by today: He had blisters and bugbites on his legs, the autopsy found, along with "minor abrasions consistent with living in the woods for three weeks." (See why Sweat was considered highly dangerous.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.CONSTABLE, N.Y. — David Sweat, the remaining prison escapee on the run in northern New York, was shot by a state trooper and taken into custody on Sunday after a 23-day manhunt that began with an improbable escape from two maximum-security cells and ended in the rain-drenched woods just south of the Canadian border.
Mr. Sweat, 35, a murderer who had been serving a sentence of life without parole, was in critical condition at Albany Medical Center late Sunday night, according to Dennis P. McKenna, the hospital’s medical director.
The shooting occurred here around 3:20 p.m. after a State Police sergeant spotted a man jogging down a road, stopped to question him and recognized him as Mr. Sweat, said Superintendent Joseph A. D’Amico of the New York State Police. The sergeant, Jay Cook, told Mr. Sweat to come over to him, but instead Mr. Sweat turned and fled across a field toward the tree line, Mr. D’Amico said. Sergeant Cook, a firearms instructor who was patrolling by himself, gave chase and finally opened fire, striking Mr. Sweat twice in the torso, because he realized the fugitive was going to make it to the woods and possibly disappear, Mr. D’Amico said.
More than 1,300 officers in rain-slicked gear had helped to tighten a cordon around Mr. Sweat on Sunday as the search, which had at times appeared to lurch between small New York towns as officials chased shreds of reported sightings, focused in on 22 square miles of rugged terrain. The confrontation with Mr. Sweat took place two days after his partner in flight from the authorities, Richard W. Matt, was shot and killed by a federal agent in the woods of Malone, N.Y. ||||| Malone, New York (CNN) After a massive, more-than-three-week manhunt for David Sweat, the escaped murderer is back where he started -- in custody.
Authorities said a New York State Police sergeant -- identified as Jay Cook -- spotted Sweat, and after Sweat ran, the sergeant gave chase.
"At some point, running across a field, he realized that Sweat was going to make it to a tree line, and possibly could have disappeared, and he fired two shots," New York State Police Superintendent Joseph A. D'Amico told reporters.
Sweat, who was unarmed, was hit twice in the torso.
A photo exclusively obtained by CNN shows Sweat in custody moments after his capture. He appears bloodied and was wearing a camouflage outfit, not prison garb.
He was taken into custody in the town of Constable, in upstate New York, very close to the Canadian border.
CNN exclusive photo: David Sweat during his capture.
"I can only assume he was going for the border, that he was that close," D'Amico said.
Sweat was captured about 16 miles north of the location where fellow escapee Richard Matt was killed last week. The officer was alone when he shot Sweat.
Sweat was transported to the Alice Hyde Medical Center in Malone, an officer at the hospital told CNN. He was later moved to Albany Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition, according to Dennis McKenna, medical director there.
Emergency, trauma, intensive care, radiology and vascular surgery specialists are involved in his care, McKenna said.
No law enforcement officers were injured during Sweat's apprehension.
"The nightmare is finally over," said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. "We wish it didn't happen in the first place. But if you have to have it happen, this is how you want it to end."
David Sweat was shot on the right side of this barn about two miles south of the Canadian border. #CNN #AC360 pic.twitter.com/zZ0LaVAqWg — Gary Tuchman (@GaryTuchmanCNN) June 28, 2015
The break
The arrest wraps up the statewide search for Sweat and his prison-break partner, Matt. Matt was shot dead Friday
Sweat was imprisoned at the Clinton Correctional Facility for shooting dead an officer who pursued him after a robbery he committed.
Behind bars, Sweat and Matt cozied up to a prison tailor and a guard who allegedly brought them tools , which they used to cut their way through a labyrinth of multiple barriers and underground passageways. They emerged to freedom through a manhole in the middle of a street.
Guards discovered them missing on June 6, during a routine bed check.
Law enforcement experts stressed Sunday that it's crucial Sweat survive so that officials can learn exactly how he and Matt escaped, and who helped them.
"Now that we have Mr. Sweat, it gives us the opportunity to have some more questions and provide more facts on the overall situation," Cuomo said. "Anyone who we find who was culpable and guilty of cooperating in the escape will be fully prosecuted."
D'Amico told reporters that investigators haven't yet interviewed Sweat, but that they hope to soon.
Investigators have questioned guards at the Clinton Correctional Facility about what conversations they had with the escapees about life outside the prison, according to a law enforcement official.
They believe Sweat and Matt were gathering information for almost a year about hunting cabins and the fields around the prison to help them navigate the terrain.
It's believed their conversations with the guards might have given the escapees some knowledge of how to get around, the official said.
The search
Earlier Sunday, about 1,300 federal, state and local law enforcement officers were searching vehicles at roadblocks and scouring dense woods in upstate New York for Sweat.
Since he and Matt broke out of the maximum security prison in Dannemora together -- and appeared to stick together on their flight from the law -- authorities were hopeful they could be right on Sweat's heels after encountering Matt.
Searchers had at times followed two sets of footprints, but when they gunned Matt down one day after his 49th birthday, there was no sign of Sweat nearby.
So, on all-terrain vehicles and in helicopters, they continued looking for the man who eluded them for three weeks, using infrared vision devices to peer through the night.
D'Amico admitted that authorities had a hard time tracking the fugitives and offered a possible explanation: pepper.
"We believe that possibly these two males were using pepper to throw the scent off of the dogs that were tracking them," he said.
The search Sunday was focused on an area along New York's State Route 30 between County Route 41 in the town of Malone and County Route 26 in the town of Duane.
'Thank God!'
Audra Buchanan of Constable said she was stunned to hear recently that Sweat could be near her home.
"We were so nervous," she said. "We've had our housed locked down."
When she saw on CNN that Sweat had been shot and was in custody, she said she felt "an incredible sigh of relief."
When she heard sirens and saw ambulances fly by her home, she thought, "Oh my God, thank God!" she told CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.
Her 9-year-old daughter has been begging to go outside and play for weeks, and Buchanan said she's glad she can now let her.
Sweat's mother described a similar feeling of relief. Pamela Sweat spoke to Time Warner Cable News after her son was captured.
"We started crying because (he) wasn't killed," she said. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 9,155 |
The West Covina Police Department arrested a 29-year-old part-time girl’s wrestling coach Jan. 7 for alleged inappropriate contact with a 17-year-old member of his team.
Police learned of the allegations earlier that day and booked Anthony Vidales, 29, of Covina, on suspicion of unlawful sex with a minor, later that evening, West Covina police officials said.
Vidales was a contract coach, he did not have any other employment at the district, according to Michelle Van Der Linden, spokeswoman for Covina Valley Unified School District. He was placed on paid administrative leave, pending the outcome of the investigation, she said.
Detectives released no other details on what occurred as they said it was an ongoing investigation, according to the police statement. Police Lt. Ken Plunkett said he had no information on the case and referred questions to the detectives’ bureau. Public Information Officer Rudy Lopez did not respond to requests for comment.
According to Los Angeles County booking records, Vidales was released from custody the same day he was arrested after posting $20,000 bail.
Formal charges had not been filed Wednesday, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Sarah Ardalani said. ||||| This image obtained by the San Gabriel Valley Tribune shows a Facebook post from a South Hills High School teacher identified as Sean Patrick Kane.
A South Hills High School teacher has been placed on leave after he allegedly posted a message on social media about an investigation of fellow teachers accused of having sex with students.The art teacher, identified as Sean Patrick Kane, allegedly posted on Facebook statements, described by the Covina-Valley Unified School District, as condoning the behavior of teachers Melody Lippert and Michelle Ghirelli. Lippert and Ghirelli were arrested last weekend for allegedly having sex with underage students during camping trips to San Clemente State Beach.A screen shot of Kane's Facebook post was obtained by the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. In the post, Kane questions why the male students involved "squealed.""You should have kept your stupid mouths shut and enjoyed it," the post reads.District spokeswoman Michelle Van Der Linden said Kane's post showed an "appearance of impropriety.""It's the appearance of impropriety and probably condoning the behavior of the two teachers who are also out on administrative leave who were allegedly involved in sexual misconduct with students," Van Der Linden said.The district is investigating what action, if any, needs to be taken about the post.Kane declined to comment on the matter.Lippert was arrested for conspiracy and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and Ghirelli was arrested for oral copulation and unlawful sex with a minor. Both are on administrative leave pending the outcome of the criminal investigation.The latest incident is just one of a string of problems for the Covina-Valley Unified School District.A former South Hills student is suing the district and a South Hills teacher for allegedly being assaulted in class last spring. Eyewitness News learned the teacher is still working at the school.Lippert and Ghirelli's arrests came nearly two weeks after the arrest of a part-time wrestling coach within the district. Anthony Vidales, 29, of Covina was arrested Jan. 7 on suspicion of a sex-related incident with a 17-year-old student. Vidales was a walk-on coach for the South Hills High School varsity girl's wrestling team. He has since posted $20,000 bail.The Covina-Valley Unified School District is working with the school to establish a hotline for students so they can anonymously report inappropriate behavior by faculty and staff. ||||| A teacher was pulled out of the classroom after posting on Facebook about two other teachers who have been accused of having sex with students on trips to the beach. Gadi Schwartz reports for the NBC4 News at 11 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015. (Published Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015)
A high school teacher is on paid leave after a social media post about two female colleagues accused of having sex with students on trips to the beach.
Covina Valley Unified School District officials confirmed that art teacher Sean Kane posted the rant in which he said the students should have kept their "stupid mouths shut and enjoyed it."
"We can't dictate what somebody is going to put on their own personal Facebook page, but at the same time we would expect teachers to be professional," said district spokeswoman Michelle Van Der Linden.
Kane declined a request for comment. A Twitter hashtag called #FreeKane includes comments from students who call him their best teacher.
The two teachers, identified as Melody Lippert, 38, and Michelle Ghirelli, 30, were arrested Saturday on suspicion of having sex with South Hills High School students during trips to the beach where they brought alcohol for the students, Orange County Sheriff's investigators said. School officials said other teachers alerted authorities that they heard rumors about the crimes.
Neither trip was sponsored by the school, investigators said.
The case is under review and no charges had been filed as of Wednesday night, according to the Orange County District Attorney's office. The women were released on bond. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| LOS ANGELES >> A former South Hills High School student is suing a ceramics teacher and the Covina Valley Unified School District after the teacher allegedly “choked” and “berated” him in front of his peers during an incident last spring.
According to a complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday, Scott Stragier, placed the plaintiff, Joseph Leyba Jr., in a chokehold “and started to choke Joseph to the point that he almost lost consciousness” during third-period ceramics and sculpture class on or about March 14.
“Defendant Stragier then pulled on Joseph’s right earring and almost pulled the earring out of his ear in front of all the students in the classroom,” the complaint reads. “Defendant Stragier then released Joseph from the chokehold and berated Joseph in front of the other students in the class by yelling: ‘What did I tell you about (expletive) around in my classroom, you haven’t done a (expletive) thing.’”
As a result, Leyba, 18, who has since graduated from the school, has suffered “physical injury and psychological injury,” his attorney John Lee said in an interview Wednesday afternoon.
Lee declined to expand on the nature of those injuries. The suit is seeking $5 million in damages.
Stragier could not be reached for comment. He has a valid teaching credential, according to state records.
CVUSD spokeswoman Michelle Van Der Linden declined to comment on the complaint, but she said Stragier has been a ceramics and fine arts teacher at South Hills since 1993 and has previously coached wrestling and football at the school, according to Van Der Linden.
The lawsuit comes amid a series of claims that other CVUSD employees allegedly engaged in sexual relationships with students. Over the weekend, South Hills teacher Melody Suzanne Lippert, 38, of Covina and Michelle Louise Ghirelli, 30, who was working on special assignment at the district office, were arrested on suspicion of engaging in sexual conduct with male students during two separate trips to San Clemente State Beach late last year.
Ten days prior to those arrests, West Covina police arrested South Hills High School part-time girls’ wrestling coach Anthony Vidales, 29, of Covina on suspicion of having sex with a female student on Jan. 7.
“As you can see from recent events, this school seems to have a pattern of hiring and not training and retaining unfit teachers,” said Lee, who added that the timing of the suit was unrelated to the recent arrests.
The 13-page complaint also mentions battery charges for which Stragier was found guilty in relation to the alleged incident, the complaint states. In September, Straiger plead no contest to a misdemeanor battery for that case, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
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“The fact they let him go back to the school — it kind of shows what’s going on with that school district,” Lee said.
Van Der Linden said that Stragier was placed on leave “immediately” after the alleged incident. She added that he is teaching and the district does not intend to place him on leave because of this complaint.
“In the state of California anybody can sue anybody for anything, so just receiving a lawsuit wouldn’t necessarily place him on administrative leave,” she said. ||||| A South Hills High School art teacher has been put on paid leave while the Covina Valley Unified School District investigates a Facebook post where he allegedly condones teachers having sex with students, the district said Wednesday.
Sean Kane allegedly wrote in the Facebook post that the male students tied to the arrests of two female teachers should have kept their “stupid mouths shut and enjoyed it.”
A teacher in the district since 2001, Kane could face disciplinary action up to termination if the district determines he posted the message, according to district spokeswoman Michelle Van Der Linden.
“The teacher has been removed from the classroom, he’s been placed on administrative leave as of this afternoon,” she said.
A screen shot of a Sunday night post from “Sean Patrick Kane” first appeared on Twitter on Wednesday and was forwarded to the district. The post references two female “colleagues” at South Hills getting arrested and says teacher-student relationship were common even when he was a student.
Students who called Kane their “best” teacher took to Twitter using the hashtag #FreeKane. Some called for students to walk out in protest and others said they didn’t understand him being removed from class.
Kane is the fifth South Hills High school employee in the past month to come under scrutiny. Three staff members were placed on administrative leave since the start of January for sexual relationships with students. A lawsuit was filed against a fourth Tuesday, alleging that he choked a disruptive student during class. ||||| A high school art teacher who allegedly posted Facebook comments condoning sexual relations between teachers and students has been put on paid leave.
Teacher Sean Kane works at the same school -- South Hills High in West Covina -- where two female educators were arrested on suspicion of having sex with students.
Kane's profile may have been taken down on the social media site; a recent search of Facebook did not turn up a profile for the teacher. But a school district official confirmed this wording: Students should have kept their “stupid mouths shut and enjoyed it.”
Kane was working up until Wednesday. But when the district became aware of the post, they put him on paid administrative leave so they could investigate, said Michelle Van Der Linden, spokeswoman for the Covina Valley Unified School District.
She said Kane’s alleged comments were unbecoming of a teacher, adding that it was inappropriate of him to condone the teachers’ behavior.
Melody Lippert, 38, and Michelle Ghirelli, 30, were arrested Saturday, accused of arranging an overnight camping trip to a San Clemente beach, where they had sex with students, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. The overnight beach trip was not a school-sponsored event.
As of Thursday, the Orange County district attorney’s office said they had not filed charges against Lippert and Ghirelli.
The pair were released on bail Sunday.
After hearing Kane was not allowed on campus, students began a #FreeKane campaign to get him back. Students on Thursday took to Twitter to address Kane’s temporary dismissal, saying he was the best teacher.
Following the teachers' arrests, Van Der Linden said the district was working on creating a hot line for students to anonymously report anything they believed was "uncomfortable."
"They are going to get through this," she said of the South Hills students. "They are going to pull through."
For breaking news in California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA | – Two female teachers at West Covina's South Hills High School were arrested on suspicion of having sex with students, and not only is their co-worker, art teacher Sean Kane, upset about their arrests—he apparently thinks teacher-student sex is OK all around, the Los Angeles Times reports. Kane, a teacher in the LA district since 2001, is on paid leave after a an alleged Facebook rant that said students involved in the busted sex party should've kept their "stupid mouths shut and enjoyed it"; he also referenced how teacher-student sex was an accepted thing back when he was a student, per the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. (The New York Daily News has what appears to be a screenshot of the full post; Kane's account has since disappeared from the site.) A district official confirmed the post to the Times, and a spokeswoman tells KABC that the post demonstrated an "appearance of impropriety." Some students have taken to Twitter with the #FreeKane hashtag to defend the art teacher, though at least one poster feeds into the speculation about his inappropriateness: "Seriously, I have him for art right now and I have to say that I am not surprised about the post. You should see him in class." Some parents aren't happy about this development, especially considering the school's other recent issues: A wrestling coach there was arrested earlier this month for allegedly having sex with one of the teen girls on his team, while a ceramics teacher has been sued (along with the district) for allegedly choking and publicly berating a former student, the Daily News notes. "[Kane] needs to be fired, too," one parent tells NBC. "If he feels that they should've kept their mouth closed, or … that it's OK, what is he doing behind closed doors?" (A Louisiana teen bragged about having a threesome with two teachers.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.The West Covina Police Department arrested a 29-year-old part-time girl’s wrestling coach Jan. 7 for alleged inappropriate contact with a 17-year-old member of his team.
Police learned of the allegations earlier that day and booked Anthony Vidales, 29, of Covina, on suspicion of unlawful sex with a minor, later that evening, West Covina police officials said.
Vidales was a contract coach, he did not have any other employment at the district, according to Michelle Van Der Linden, spokeswoman for Covina Valley Unified School District. He was placed on paid administrative leave, pending the outcome of the investigation, she said.
Detectives released no other details on what occurred as they said it was an ongoing investigation, according to the police statement. Police Lt. Ken Plunkett said he had no information on the case and referred questions to the detectives’ bureau. Public Information Officer Rudy Lopez did not respond to requests for comment.
According to Los Angeles County booking records, Vidales was released from custody the same day he was arrested after posting $20,000 bail.
Formal charges had not been filed Wednesday, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Sarah Ardalani said. ||||| This image obtained by the San Gabriel Valley Tribune shows a Facebook post from a South Hills High School teacher identified as Sean Patrick Kane.
A South Hills High School teacher has been placed on leave after he allegedly posted a message on social media about an investigation of fellow teachers accused of having sex with students.The art teacher, identified as Sean Patrick Kane, allegedly posted on Facebook statements, described by the Covina-Valley Unified School District, as condoning the behavior of teachers Melody Lippert and Michelle Ghirelli. Lippert and Ghirelli were arrested last weekend for allegedly having sex with underage students during camping trips to San Clemente State Beach.A screen shot of Kane's Facebook post was obtained by the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. In the post, Kane questions why the male students involved "squealed.""You should have kept your stupid mouths shut and enjoyed it," the post reads.District spokeswoman Michelle Van Der Linden said Kane's post showed an "appearance of impropriety.""It's the appearance of impropriety and probably condoning the behavior of the two teachers who are also out on administrative leave who were allegedly involved in sexual misconduct with students," Van Der Linden said.The district is investigating what action, if any, needs to be taken about the post.Kane declined to comment on the matter.Lippert was arrested for conspiracy and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and Ghirelli was arrested for oral copulation and unlawful sex with a minor. Both are on administrative leave pending the outcome of the criminal investigation.The latest incident is just one of a string of problems for the Covina-Valley Unified School District.A former South Hills student is suing the district and a South Hills teacher for allegedly being assaulted in class last spring. Eyewitness News learned the teacher is still working at the school.Lippert and Ghirelli's arrests came nearly two weeks after the arrest of a part-time wrestling coach within the district. Anthony Vidales, 29, of Covina was arrested Jan. 7 on suspicion of a sex-related incident with a 17-year-old student. Vidales was a walk-on coach for the South Hills High School varsity girl's wrestling team. He has since posted $20,000 bail.The Covina-Valley Unified School District is working with the school to establish a hotline for students so they can anonymously report inappropriate behavior by faculty and staff. ||||| A teacher was pulled out of the classroom after posting on Facebook about two other teachers who have been accused of having sex with students on trips to the beach. Gadi Schwartz reports for the NBC4 News at 11 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015. (Published Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015)
A high school teacher is on paid leave after a social media post about two female colleagues accused of having sex with students on trips to the beach.
Covina Valley Unified School District officials confirmed that art teacher Sean Kane posted the rant in which he said the students should have kept their "stupid mouths shut and enjoyed it."
"We can't dictate what somebody is going to put on their own personal Facebook page, but at the same time we would expect teachers to be professional," said district spokeswoman Michelle Van Der Linden.
Kane declined a request for comment. A Twitter hashtag called #FreeKane includes comments from students who call him their best teacher.
The two teachers, identified as Melody Lippert, 38, and Michelle Ghirelli, 30, were arrested Saturday on suspicion of having sex with South Hills High School students during trips to the beach where they brought alcohol for the students, Orange County Sheriff's investigators said. School officials said other teachers alerted authorities that they heard rumors about the crimes.
Neither trip was sponsored by the school, investigators said.
The case is under review and no charges had been filed as of Wednesday night, according to the Orange County District Attorney's office. The women were released on bond. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| LOS ANGELES >> A former South Hills High School student is suing a ceramics teacher and the Covina Valley Unified School District after the teacher allegedly “choked” and “berated” him in front of his peers during an incident last spring.
According to a complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday, Scott Stragier, placed the plaintiff, Joseph Leyba Jr., in a chokehold “and started to choke Joseph to the point that he almost lost consciousness” during third-period ceramics and sculpture class on or about March 14.
“Defendant Stragier then pulled on Joseph’s right earring and almost pulled the earring out of his ear in front of all the students in the classroom,” the complaint reads. “Defendant Stragier then released Joseph from the chokehold and berated Joseph in front of the other students in the class by yelling: ‘What did I tell you about (expletive) around in my classroom, you haven’t done a (expletive) thing.’”
As a result, Leyba, 18, who has since graduated from the school, has suffered “physical injury and psychological injury,” his attorney John Lee said in an interview Wednesday afternoon.
Lee declined to expand on the nature of those injuries. The suit is seeking $5 million in damages.
Stragier could not be reached for comment. He has a valid teaching credential, according to state records.
CVUSD spokeswoman Michelle Van Der Linden declined to comment on the complaint, but she said Stragier has been a ceramics and fine arts teacher at South Hills since 1993 and has previously coached wrestling and football at the school, according to Van Der Linden.
The lawsuit comes amid a series of claims that other CVUSD employees allegedly engaged in sexual relationships with students. Over the weekend, South Hills teacher Melody Suzanne Lippert, 38, of Covina and Michelle Louise Ghirelli, 30, who was working on special assignment at the district office, were arrested on suspicion of engaging in sexual conduct with male students during two separate trips to San Clemente State Beach late last year.
Ten days prior to those arrests, West Covina police arrested South Hills High School part-time girls’ wrestling coach Anthony Vidales, 29, of Covina on suspicion of having sex with a female student on Jan. 7.
“As you can see from recent events, this school seems to have a pattern of hiring and not training and retaining unfit teachers,” said Lee, who added that the timing of the suit was unrelated to the recent arrests.
The 13-page complaint also mentions battery charges for which Stragier was found guilty in relation to the alleged incident, the complaint states. In September, Straiger plead no contest to a misdemeanor battery for that case, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
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“The fact they let him go back to the school — it kind of shows what’s going on with that school district,” Lee said.
Van Der Linden said that Stragier was placed on leave “immediately” after the alleged incident. She added that he is teaching and the district does not intend to place him on leave because of this complaint.
“In the state of California anybody can sue anybody for anything, so just receiving a lawsuit wouldn’t necessarily place him on administrative leave,” she said. ||||| A South Hills High School art teacher has been put on paid leave while the Covina Valley Unified School District investigates a Facebook post where he allegedly condones teachers having sex with students, the district said Wednesday.
Sean Kane allegedly wrote in the Facebook post that the male students tied to the arrests of two female teachers should have kept their “stupid mouths shut and enjoyed it.”
A teacher in the district since 2001, Kane could face disciplinary action up to termination if the district determines he posted the message, according to district spokeswoman Michelle Van Der Linden.
“The teacher has been removed from the classroom, he’s been placed on administrative leave as of this afternoon,” she said.
A screen shot of a Sunday night post from “Sean Patrick Kane” first appeared on Twitter on Wednesday and was forwarded to the district. The post references two female “colleagues” at South Hills getting arrested and says teacher-student relationship were common even when he was a student.
Students who called Kane their “best” teacher took to Twitter using the hashtag #FreeKane. Some called for students to walk out in protest and others said they didn’t understand him being removed from class.
Kane is the fifth South Hills High school employee in the past month to come under scrutiny. Three staff members were placed on administrative leave since the start of January for sexual relationships with students. A lawsuit was filed against a fourth Tuesday, alleging that he choked a disruptive student during class. ||||| A high school art teacher who allegedly posted Facebook comments condoning sexual relations between teachers and students has been put on paid leave.
Teacher Sean Kane works at the same school -- South Hills High in West Covina -- where two female educators were arrested on suspicion of having sex with students.
Kane's profile may have been taken down on the social media site; a recent search of Facebook did not turn up a profile for the teacher. But a school district official confirmed this wording: Students should have kept their “stupid mouths shut and enjoyed it.”
Kane was working up until Wednesday. But when the district became aware of the post, they put him on paid administrative leave so they could investigate, said Michelle Van Der Linden, spokeswoman for the Covina Valley Unified School District.
She said Kane’s alleged comments were unbecoming of a teacher, adding that it was inappropriate of him to condone the teachers’ behavior.
Melody Lippert, 38, and Michelle Ghirelli, 30, were arrested Saturday, accused of arranging an overnight camping trip to a San Clemente beach, where they had sex with students, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. The overnight beach trip was not a school-sponsored event.
As of Thursday, the Orange County district attorney’s office said they had not filed charges against Lippert and Ghirelli.
The pair were released on bail Sunday.
After hearing Kane was not allowed on campus, students began a #FreeKane campaign to get him back. Students on Thursday took to Twitter to address Kane’s temporary dismissal, saying he was the best teacher.
Following the teachers' arrests, Van Der Linden said the district was working on creating a hot line for students to anonymously report anything they believed was "uncomfortable."
"They are going to get through this," she said of the South Hills students. "They are going to pull through."
For breaking news in California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 33,269 |
Raw video of former abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell heading back to jail after being found guilty on three of four counts of first-degree murder involving the deaths of four babies. He was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a former patient. Click here for more details. (Published Monday, May 13, 2013)
Former Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell was convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of three babies authorities said were born alive before having their necks cut with scissors. A jury found Gosnell not guilty of first-degree murder in a fourth baby’s death.
In addition to the murder charges, the 72-year-old was found guilty Monday of involuntary manslaughter in the overdose death of former patient Karnamaya Mongar.
Gosnell was also found guilty of several other crimes including one count of infanticide, two counts of conspiracy, 21 of 24 counts of abortion of an unborn child of 24 weeks or more and 208 of 227 counts of violation of informed consent of an abortion.
In all, Gosnell was found guilty of 237 crimes. He will now face the death penalty in the sentencing phase, which will begin a week from Tuesday.
Abortion Doctor Found Guilty
Monday, a jury found abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell guilty of killing 3 babies who were born alive. He was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the overdose death of an adult patient. So what's next for Dr. Gosnell? NBC10's LuAnn Cahn says he will face a jury next week, to determine his sentence. (Published Monday, May 13, 2013)
"Obviously, the jury has spoken," said Jack McMahon, Gosnell's attorney, following the proceedings.
"As I said to the jury as I closed to them, whatever verdict they gave I would respect and would be the right verdict."
McMahon said he did not regret not putting Gosnell on the stand during the proceedings and says he hadn't decided whether Gosnell will take the stand during the penalty phase. He also commended the prosecution. The veteran attorney not able to say much more as a gag order remains in place until the penalty phase is completed.
What's Next for Gosnell?
Dr. Kermit Gosnell was found guilty of three counts of first degree murder as well as involuntary manslaughter. But what's next for Gosnell? NBC10's Lu Ann Cahn tells that side of the story. (Published Monday, May 13, 2013)
According to court observers, as the verdict was read by the jury foreman, Gosnell didn't react at first. However, once the full charges had been announced, he shook his head from side-to-side, trying to make eye contact with members of the jury.
Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore cried as she hugged a member of the Philadelphia Police Crime Scene Unit following the verdict. She and fellow ADA Ed Cameron did not speak as they left the Philadelphia Criminal Justice Center in Center City Philadelphia.
The jury of seven women and five men weighed a total of 263 crimes against Gosnell with the most serious being four counts of first-degree murder.
Gosnell Found Guilty
Dr. Kermit Gosnell has been found guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of three babies authorities say were born alive before having their necks cut with scissors. NBC10's Daralene Jones has the latest on the guilty verdict. (Published Monday, May 13, 2013)
The courtroom was locked down and reporters told to turn off all electronic devices when the jury foreman, juror number 5, read the verdict aloud.
Earlier in the day, the jury had told the court they were deadlocked on two counts. It is unclear on which charges the jury was deadlocked, however the group told the court it had reached a consensus on all other counts.
At approximately 10 a.m. Monday, the jury passed a note to Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart explaining their situation. The admission came on the 10th day of deliberations.
Lineup of Suspects in Abortion House of Horrors
Full Coverage: "House of Horrors" Abortion Doctor Trial
By law, according to attorneys for both sides, Judge Minehart was required to re-instruct the jury to deliberate on the two charges a second time and attempt to reach a verdict.
Judge Minehart brought the jury into the courtroom on the third-floor of the Philadelphia Criminal Justice Center around 11:15 a.m.
Inside the Courtroom: "House of Horrors" Trial
Over a five minute meeting, he reminded the jury they must be unanimous on all counts and asked the group to return to the jury room and discuss the charges further. The group was grim-faced as they were led from the court.
Judge Minehart called the jury sincere, considerate and serious. The judge also said he wanted to make sure the group was not confused over the charges.
Gosnell, a resident of West Philadelphia, was charged on January 14, 2011 with 263 crimes, including first-degree murder in the deaths of four babies. Prosecutors allege Gosnell delivered the babies alive during abortion procedures and then killed them by snipping their spinal cords with scissors.
Women's Medical Society Stands Broken
Gosnell was also charged with third-degree murder in the of former patient Karnamaya Mongar.
Mongar, 41, died after she was given a lethal dose of pain killers and anesthesia during a 2009 abortion procedure at Gosnell's West Philadelphia clinic, the Women's Medical Society.
The former doctor's defense attorney has argued Gosnell would inject a drug into his patients' uterus to stop the fetuses' hearts before they were delivered.
The majority of the 263 charges levied against Gosnell are related to alleged Pennsylvania abortion-law violations. Prosecutors say Gosnell regularly performed late-term abortions on babies older than 24 weeks -- the cutoff age in Pennsylvania.
The jury also ruled in the case of Gosnell's co-defendant Eileen O'Neill -- finding her guilty of conspiracy, conspiracy to commit corrupt organization and two counts of theft by deception. She was found not guilty of five additional counts.
Prosecutors said O'Neill deceived patients and insurance companies by pretending to be a licensed physician and billing for those services.
Her defense said while O'Neill was not licensed, she did have a medical degree and would always have Gosnell sign off on her recommendations and prescriptions. O'Neill's attorney also said there is no evidence of the 56-year-old charging for her services.
O'Neill covered her face as she left court. As reporters peppered her with questions, O'Neill only said she was under the gag order. She is currently on house arrest.
THE DISCOVERY OF A "HOUSE OF HORRORS" AND TRIAL
The alleged crimes came to light on February 10, 2010 after investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Agency raided the inner-city clinic at 3801 Lancaster Avenue following a tip that a prescription pill mill was operating inside.
Agents were met, not with an illegal narcotics drug operation, but rather, unsanitary conditions. Investigators testified they found blood-stained rooms, filthy and old equipment and untrained staff. Aborted fetuses were stored in a basement freezer in plastic food containers and bags next to employee lunches. Severed feet from aborted babies were found preserved in jars around the clinic.
The conditions found inside the clinic led Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams to call the clinic a "house of horrors" in a 2011 grand jury report.
Over the course of the trial which started on March 18 and lasted two months, former clinic employees testified against Gosnell.
Adrienne Moton was first to testify. Moton, 35, recalled several abortion procedures in court including one where the mother delivered the baby into a toilet.
The 35-year-old described how the baby seemed to struggle in the bowl before she snipped its neck with scissors. She admitted to cutting 10 babies' necks, calling the snipping "common practice" at the clinic.
Moton also took a picture of one of the babies Gosnell is accused of murdering. Referred in court as Baby A, Moton says the boy was nearly 30 weeks old when he was aborted.
She claims Gosnell even joked about the baby’s size saying he was so big the baby could have walked to the bus stop. The graphic photo, was among others, shown to the jury.
Lynda Williams testified how she would administer pain killers and anesthesia acting as the clinic's anesthesiologist. The 44-year-old had no formal training and only an 8th grade education.
Williams was the person who delivered four doses of drugs to Mongar during her procedure. She described how the woman's skin turned gray and her breathing slowed following the last dose.
She also admitted to snipping the neck of one of the babies Gosnell is charged with murdering, referred to in court as Baby C.
Both women pled guilty to third-degree murder in exchange for their testimony against Gosnell. They face 60-120 years in prison.
Other workers described babies being born alive, watching them breath and seeing their limbs move before being "snipped." Some described the babies as "aliens" who made odd noises, others said it would "rain fetuses" in the clinic.
Kareema Cross was last to testify. The 28-year-old used a fake name when she alerted the DEA to conditions inside the Women's Medical Society. She took a series of photos of her working environment, eventually turning them over to authorities.
Several medical experts also took the stand during the trial. Among them, Philadelphia's Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Sam Gulino.
Dr. Gulino testified he examined 47 fetuses and while three had the possibility of viability, he could not say for certain if any were born alive.
Prosecutors Joanne Pescatore and Ed Cameron spent five weeks presenting their case calling 36 witnesses. In contrast, Gosnell's attorney Jack McMahon only spent one day and called none.
McMahon did not call any witnesses when it was time for the defense. The bullish attorney instead stood up and rested his case. He did, however, spend hours reliving testimony in the trial during his closing arguments -- trying to use the prosecution's case to create doubt.
The 60-year-old attorney maintained babies were never delivered alive. He says Gosnell would inject the drug Digoxin into the womb to stop the fetus' heart. Labor would then be induced and the dead baby delivered, he said.
McMahon was previously successful in getting Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart to throw out several charges, including three counts of first-degree murder for a lack of evidence.
THE TALE OF TWO DOCTORS
Both sides painted very different pictures of the former doctor. The prosecution claimed Gosnell took advantage of poor, vulnerable, desperate women all while making millions. They claimed he also preyed on his staff.
During her opening arguments on March 18, Pescatore told jurors that for Gosnell, his abortion practice was all about the money. "He had high volume and maximum profit," she said. Police found $250,000 in cash during a 2010 search of his home.
Prosecutors claimed Gosnell would upcharge for pain killers and let the patients choose the amount of anesthesia they wanted. They were broken down into four categories -- local, heavy, twilight and custom.
Pescatore also said Gosnell would treat patients differently based on their race. White women would be taken to cleaner exam rooms and be treated directly by Gosnell. Black women would get dirty rooms and unlicensed workers, they alleged.
McMahon angrily discounted the claims calling the prosecution "elitist" and "racist" adding the case had become "a prosecutorial lynching."
He said Gosnell was a family man who gave up lucrative opportunities at medical centers across the country to serve the depressed West Philadelphia community.
Gosnell operated his three-story clinic for more than 31 years. McMahon says Gosnell treated thousands of patients and performed thousands of abortions inside the clinic over the years.
THE JURY
The jury consisted of seven women and five men. Most of the jurors are blue collar workers with four working for public transit agency SEPTA. All said they were either pro-choice or had no opinion on a woman's right to choose.
The group were subjected to graphic images and testimony over the course of the trial. Some visibly flinched at the evidence, while others teared up. They also got a glimpse at some of the equipment used inside the clinic.
Pescatore said she wanted to take the jury to the clinic, but was unable. So she had an exam table, ultrasound machine and other equipment placed in the middle of the third-floor courtroom at the Philadelphia Criminal Justice Center. The equipment sat there for nearly the entire trial, just feet from the jury box.
NATIONAL ATTENTION AND THE AFTERMATH
The case sparked national attention with national media outlets, cable news channels and conservative bloggers descending on Philadelphia to cover the trial.
President Barack Obama said he was aware of the trial and pro-life bloggers claimed there was a lack of media coverage in the case. A claim outlets, including NBC10.com, rebuked.
The case also brought light to deficiencies in state oversight. The Pennsylvania Department of Health admitted the clinic went nearly two decades without being inspected.
Legislators later passed a law to require more stringent rules for abortion clinics in the Commonwealth.
Gosnell won't be done with court once this trial is adjourned. He still faces federal charges for allegedly running an illegal narcotics operation out of the clinic.
As he was led from the courthouse in shackles and a gray prison outfit, Gosnell smirked to the waiting media, before being loaded by sheriff deputies into a van and returned to jail.
NBC10's Yoni Greenbaum, Emad Khalil, Daralene Jones, Doug Shimell and Lu Ann Cahn contributed to this report.
Contact Vince Lattanzio at 610.668.5532, [email protected] or follow @VinceLattanzio on Twitter. ||||| After a two-month trial and 10 days of deliberation, a jury on Monday decided that Baby A, Baby C and Baby D lived a few fleeting moments outside their mothers’ wombs before their spinal cords were severed at Kermit Gosnell’s abortion clinic in West Philadelphia.
The way those brief lives ended didn’t amount to abortion but to three acts of first-degree murder, jurors concluded.
Gosnell, in a dark suit and a maroon shirt, furrowed his brow and shook his head slightly but remained stoic when the verdicts were read in a packed Philadelphia courtroom just before 3 p.m. One juror appeared to cry. Prosecutors smiled in relief and later hugged colleagues.
Jurors acquitted Gosnell of third-degree murder but found him guilty on a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter in the 2009 death of 41-year-old Karnamaya Mongar of Virginia, who died from a drug overdose while undergoing an abortion at his clinic.
The jury also acquitted him of murder in the death of another infant, known as Baby E, whom prosecutors had struggled to prove was alive after delivery. Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart previously dismissed three additional first-degree murder charges against Gosnell, each involving other infants.
The trial will move next week into a sentencing phase, when the jurors will be called back to decide whether Gosnell, 72, should receive the death penalty or life in prison. Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty, and the multiple murder convictions are likely to bolster their argument.
Neither prosecutors nor jurors were available for comment after the verdict because a judicial gag order remains in place until the penalty phase ends. Defense attorney Jack McMahon talked briefly with reporters about Monday’s outcome.
“A jury has spoken, and we respect that verdict. . . . That’s our system,” McMahon said, noting that Gosnell was convicted on only three of the original eight murder charges. “The jury worked very, very, very hard. They should be commended.”
Still, McMahon argued that the media had been “overwhelmingly against” Gosnell throughout the trial, and he likened the defense’s case to “salmon swimming upstream.”
He said Gosnell said little to him as the verdicts came in Monday, other than to thank him for putting on an aggressive defense. “How do you prepare anybody for that?” McMahon said, adding: “It’s a very difficult case. There’s a lot of emotion.”
Gruesome details
The case, which has unfolded since early March inside Courtroom 304 here, has garnered national attention and inflamed passions on all sides of the abortion divide.
Antiabortion activists have seized on the macabre details — from Gosnell’s practice of “snipping” the spinal cords of fetuses to the dismembered remains that investigators discovered in milk jugs and glass jars inside his Women’s Medical Society clinic — as a wake-up call about the potential for wider abuse in abortion facilities and the need for stricter oversight.
Antiabortion groups and politicians said Monday that the case underscored what they see as the brutality inherent in abortion procedures.
“Some abortionists may have cleaner sheets than Gosnell, and better sterilized equipment and better trained accomplices, but what they do — what Gosnell did — kill babies and hurt women — is the same,” Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.) said in a statement.
House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said he was “praying for the lives taken by Kermit Gosnell,” and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus tweeted that “the Gosnell ordeal shouldn’t slip quietly from our conscience.”
Meanwhile, abortion rights groups have insisted that Gosnell’s crimes are an anomaly and that the abysmal conditions inside his clinic persisted only because numerous regulators ignored red flags for years.
Such groups also were quick to praise Monday’s conviction, but they warned that restrictive measures being proposed by lawmakers in some states risk driving women to less-reputable abortion providers and cutting off funding to help low-income women afford the procedures.
“We must reject misguided laws that would limit women’s options and force them to seek treatment from criminals like Kermit Gosnell,” Eric Ferrero, a spokesman for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement.
Steady opinions
Despite the tidal wave of outrage surrounding the trial — and complaints about the initial lack of national media coverage — Monday’s outcome seems unlikely to shift the public’s deeply ingrained positions on abortion.
Views of abortion have remained steady for years, and a recent Gallup poll showed that the Gosnell trial has not altered them. About a quarter of Americans said abortion should be legal in all circumstances, according to a poll conducted at the height of the trial. Twenty percent said it should always be illegal, and just over half said it should be legal in some circumstances.
In the same poll, a quarter of Americans said they had followed the story closely, but 54 percent said they hadn’t followed it at all, making it “one of the least followed news stories Gallup has measured,” according to the firm.
Whatever Gosnell has come to symbolize in the politically fraught national abortion debate, the case that played out in Courtroom 304 detailed the human suffering inside his clinic, which prosecutors called a “house of horrors.”
It included gruesome photos and graphic descriptions from former employees of Gosnell’s “snipping” technique, which he allegedly used frequently on babies born at the clinic to mothers who had been pumped full of drugs to induce labor.
Prosecutors called dozens of witnesses who painted a picture of a filthy facility where untrained, unqualified workers routinely administered anesthesia and other drugs; where furniture and blankets were stained with blood and the rooms reeked of cat urine; where the use of unsterilized instruments spread venereal disease to patients; where abortions were regularly performed after the state’s 24-week legal limit; and where drugged women often went into labor early, sometimes giving birth in the bathroom.
Eight other former clinic employees, including Gosnell’s wife, previously pleaded guilty to various charges, including perjury and third-degree murder.
Inside the courtroom, jurors faced a difficult legal quandary: To find Gosnell guilty of murdering the babies, they first had to agree that the babies had been alive outside their mothers’ wombs. The scientific evidence on that question appeared inconclusive, and jurors were left to rely largely on poorly educated, untrained former employees who testified about seeing babies squirm or make noises after mothers delivered them at the clinic.
Gosnell did not testify, and the defense called no witnesses. McMahon argued that no live births took place at the clinic because Gosnell terminated the pregnancies in utero by injecting the fetuses with a drug to stop their hearts. He also argued that Mongar died from unforeseen complications rather than from a reckless overdose of drugs.
Those nuances seemed to matter little outside the courtroom, where the case grew into a national spectacle. It became the territory of cable news talk and op-eds. Television cameras sat camped outside the courthouse each day. Protesters gathered across the street, waving posters with gory pictures of aborted fetuses.
Regulators’ failures
Beyond Gosnell’s crimes, the case also spotlighted the failure of regulators to crack down sooner, despite repeated complaints and evidence of health violations at the clinic. Problems surfaced as early as 1989, according to a scathing grand jury report. But regulators rarely visited the clinic and allowed Gosnell to continue to operate, despite complaints from hospital workers who had treated injured patients, reports about a 14-year-old girl receiving an illegal abortion at 30 weeks of pregnancy, and the deaths of Mongar and another patient.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) has called the lack of oversight by state officials “despicable.” He fired or suspended some workers for negligence and announced that abortion clinics throughout the state would be subject to annual inspections and periodic unannounced visits.
Only in 2010, when authorities raided the clinic over its allegedly rampant distribution of painkillers, did authorities uncover evidence that led to Gosnell’s capital murder trial.
Gosnell also was found guilty Monday of numerous other crimes, including infanticide and racketeering. He was found guilty on more than 200 charges that he did not observe Pennsylvania’s 24-hour waiting period between first meeting with a patient and performing an abortion. He also was convicted on 21 of 24 charges of performing illegal late-term abortions.
Gosnell still faces federal charges for allegedly distributing prescription drugs, and a separate trial is scheduled for later this year.
Sandhya Somashekhar contributed to this report. ||||| Story highlights Defense attorney: "The jury spoke and we respect the jury's verdict"
Dr. Kermit Gosnell is convicted of three counts of first-degree murder
A jury also finds him guilty of involuntary manslaughter
The first-degree murder conviction means Gosnell could face the death penalty
A Philadelphia abortion provider who killed babies by cutting their spinal cords with scissors was found guilty of first-degree murder on Monday.
The conviction on three counts of first-degree murder means Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 72, could be sentenced to death.
Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore sobbed after the verdict in the high-profile case was announced. Gosnell appeared shocked. He let out a sigh and shook his head back and forth.
Defense attorney Jack McMahon told CNN it's too soon to tell whether he will appeal the conviction.
"We were disappointed. We put on a vigorous defense. We think it went well for us in the courtroom," he said. "But the jury spoke, and we respect the jury's verdict."
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Gosnell also was accused in the death of Karnamaya Mongar, 41, who died of an anesthetic overdose during a second-trimester abortion at his West Philadelphia clinic. In that case, the jury found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Gosnell, who is not a board-certified obstetrician or gynecologist, was also found guilty of 21 counts of abortion of the unborn, 24 weeks or older.
In Pennsylvania, abortions past 24 weeks are illegal unless the health of the mother is at stake.
The case next moves to the penalty phase, when jurors will weigh whether to give Gosnell a death sentence. It's possible the doctor will testify, said William Brennan, an attorney who represented Gosnell earlier in the case.
"I would think there would be a lot of mitigation in this case and I think probably, and this is a guess, but probably at that time the jury would hear from Dr. Gosnell," he said.
Earlier Monday, the jury, after deliberating for two weeks, said it was hung on two counts, and the judge instructed them to continue trying to reach a verdict on them.
Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart also told jurors that their progress showed they were "considering the evidence seriously."
Gosnell's co-defendant, Eileen O'Neill, 56, was found guilty of conspiracy to operate a corrupt organization and two counts of theft by deception for operating without a license to practice medicine. O'Neill, a medical school graduate, was not charged with performing illegal abortions.
Both pleaded not guilty.
The grand jury report from 2011 says the "people who ran this sham medical practice included no doctors other than Gosnell himself, and not even a single nurse," yet they still made diagnoses, performed procedures and administered drugs.
McMahon, in an impassioned, 2½-hour closing argument, said that none of the infants was killed; rather, he said, they were already dead as a result of Gosnell administering the drug Digoxin, which can cause abortion.
Gosnell also was accused of reusing unsanitary instruments; performing procedures in filthy rooms, including some in which litter boxes and animals allegedly were present at the time; and allowing unlicensed employees -- including a teenage high school student -- to perform operations and administer anesthesia.
The remains of aborted fetuses were stored in water jugs, pet food containers and a freezer at the clinic, the city's chief medical examiner Sam Gulino testified
McMahon, who called no witnesses, accused prosecutors of "the most extraordinary hype and exaggeration in the history of the criminal justice system," even adding that they are "elitist" and "racist."
Gosnell has been accused by authorities of preying on low-income, minority women. McMahon argued that Gosnell offered access to health care for people who were poor and without health insurance.
During his closing remarks, Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Edward Cameron turned to Gosnell and yelled, "Are you human?"
Gosnell smirked at Cameron without speaking. Cameron then continued, declaring, "It's time for us to extinguish the fire he created."
The doctor was first charged in January 2011.
The case has drawn national attention and sharp criticism from anti-abortion activists
But that doesn't mean it sets a precedent, CNN legal analyst Paul Callan said.
"The testimony in this case was so graphic and so horrific. It was described literally as a house of horrors taking place in this Philadelphia clinic," Callan said. "So I think that most objective observers will say that ultimately this will be an isolated case, hopefully, and that it's simply a case where prosecutors had to act. It had nothing to do with being pro- or anti-abortion."
After Monday's verdict, the leader of one anti-abortion group said justice had been served.
"Even as we celebrate this verdict, we honor and mourn as well those among our nation's weakest children who did not receive 'their day in court' -- and we must remember that Gosnell is not an outlier within the abortion industry," Lila Rose, president of Live Action, said in a written statement. "We cannot allow these 'guilty' verdicts, welcome as they are, to make us complacent when it comes to the continuing abuses happening even now in abortion facilities throughout our nation."
More restrictions on abortions will lead to more cases like the Women's Medical Society, not fewer, abortion rights advocates argue.
"We thought we had said goodbye to back-alley abortionists," said Jessica Arons, head of the Women's Health and Rights Program at the Center for American Progress.
"Legal access to abortion helps counteract "predators" who "prey on vulnerable women," Arons said.
"It's not that we need more laws or stricter laws," she said. "Pennsylvania just didn't do its job in enforcing the laws against him earlier." | – Abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell has been found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder for killing babies born alive during abortions by cutting their spinal cords, the Washington Post reports. He was also found guilty of 21 counts of performing abortions past 24 weeks of pregnancy, and the involuntary manslaughter of a patient who died of anesthetic overdose during an abortion, reports CNN. Gosnell was acquitted of one first-degree murder charge of a fetus, the New York Times reports. He now faces the death penalty or life in prison. It took 10 days of deliberations spread across three weeks for the jury to agree on 266 of the charges against Gosnell, but delays came today when the jury announced it was hung on two counts, NBC Philadelphia reports. It is still unclear which two counts caused the gridlock. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Raw video of former abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell heading back to jail after being found guilty on three of four counts of first-degree murder involving the deaths of four babies. He was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a former patient. Click here for more details. (Published Monday, May 13, 2013)
Former Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell was convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of three babies authorities said were born alive before having their necks cut with scissors. A jury found Gosnell not guilty of first-degree murder in a fourth baby’s death.
In addition to the murder charges, the 72-year-old was found guilty Monday of involuntary manslaughter in the overdose death of former patient Karnamaya Mongar.
Gosnell was also found guilty of several other crimes including one count of infanticide, two counts of conspiracy, 21 of 24 counts of abortion of an unborn child of 24 weeks or more and 208 of 227 counts of violation of informed consent of an abortion.
In all, Gosnell was found guilty of 237 crimes. He will now face the death penalty in the sentencing phase, which will begin a week from Tuesday.
Abortion Doctor Found Guilty
Monday, a jury found abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell guilty of killing 3 babies who were born alive. He was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the overdose death of an adult patient. So what's next for Dr. Gosnell? NBC10's LuAnn Cahn says he will face a jury next week, to determine his sentence. (Published Monday, May 13, 2013)
"Obviously, the jury has spoken," said Jack McMahon, Gosnell's attorney, following the proceedings.
"As I said to the jury as I closed to them, whatever verdict they gave I would respect and would be the right verdict."
McMahon said he did not regret not putting Gosnell on the stand during the proceedings and says he hadn't decided whether Gosnell will take the stand during the penalty phase. He also commended the prosecution. The veteran attorney not able to say much more as a gag order remains in place until the penalty phase is completed.
What's Next for Gosnell?
Dr. Kermit Gosnell was found guilty of three counts of first degree murder as well as involuntary manslaughter. But what's next for Gosnell? NBC10's Lu Ann Cahn tells that side of the story. (Published Monday, May 13, 2013)
According to court observers, as the verdict was read by the jury foreman, Gosnell didn't react at first. However, once the full charges had been announced, he shook his head from side-to-side, trying to make eye contact with members of the jury.
Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore cried as she hugged a member of the Philadelphia Police Crime Scene Unit following the verdict. She and fellow ADA Ed Cameron did not speak as they left the Philadelphia Criminal Justice Center in Center City Philadelphia.
The jury of seven women and five men weighed a total of 263 crimes against Gosnell with the most serious being four counts of first-degree murder.
Gosnell Found Guilty
Dr. Kermit Gosnell has been found guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of three babies authorities say were born alive before having their necks cut with scissors. NBC10's Daralene Jones has the latest on the guilty verdict. (Published Monday, May 13, 2013)
The courtroom was locked down and reporters told to turn off all electronic devices when the jury foreman, juror number 5, read the verdict aloud.
Earlier in the day, the jury had told the court they were deadlocked on two counts. It is unclear on which charges the jury was deadlocked, however the group told the court it had reached a consensus on all other counts.
At approximately 10 a.m. Monday, the jury passed a note to Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart explaining their situation. The admission came on the 10th day of deliberations.
Lineup of Suspects in Abortion House of Horrors
Full Coverage: "House of Horrors" Abortion Doctor Trial
By law, according to attorneys for both sides, Judge Minehart was required to re-instruct the jury to deliberate on the two charges a second time and attempt to reach a verdict.
Judge Minehart brought the jury into the courtroom on the third-floor of the Philadelphia Criminal Justice Center around 11:15 a.m.
Inside the Courtroom: "House of Horrors" Trial
Over a five minute meeting, he reminded the jury they must be unanimous on all counts and asked the group to return to the jury room and discuss the charges further. The group was grim-faced as they were led from the court.
Judge Minehart called the jury sincere, considerate and serious. The judge also said he wanted to make sure the group was not confused over the charges.
Gosnell, a resident of West Philadelphia, was charged on January 14, 2011 with 263 crimes, including first-degree murder in the deaths of four babies. Prosecutors allege Gosnell delivered the babies alive during abortion procedures and then killed them by snipping their spinal cords with scissors.
Women's Medical Society Stands Broken
Gosnell was also charged with third-degree murder in the of former patient Karnamaya Mongar.
Mongar, 41, died after she was given a lethal dose of pain killers and anesthesia during a 2009 abortion procedure at Gosnell's West Philadelphia clinic, the Women's Medical Society.
The former doctor's defense attorney has argued Gosnell would inject a drug into his patients' uterus to stop the fetuses' hearts before they were delivered.
The majority of the 263 charges levied against Gosnell are related to alleged Pennsylvania abortion-law violations. Prosecutors say Gosnell regularly performed late-term abortions on babies older than 24 weeks -- the cutoff age in Pennsylvania.
The jury also ruled in the case of Gosnell's co-defendant Eileen O'Neill -- finding her guilty of conspiracy, conspiracy to commit corrupt organization and two counts of theft by deception. She was found not guilty of five additional counts.
Prosecutors said O'Neill deceived patients and insurance companies by pretending to be a licensed physician and billing for those services.
Her defense said while O'Neill was not licensed, she did have a medical degree and would always have Gosnell sign off on her recommendations and prescriptions. O'Neill's attorney also said there is no evidence of the 56-year-old charging for her services.
O'Neill covered her face as she left court. As reporters peppered her with questions, O'Neill only said she was under the gag order. She is currently on house arrest.
THE DISCOVERY OF A "HOUSE OF HORRORS" AND TRIAL
The alleged crimes came to light on February 10, 2010 after investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Agency raided the inner-city clinic at 3801 Lancaster Avenue following a tip that a prescription pill mill was operating inside.
Agents were met, not with an illegal narcotics drug operation, but rather, unsanitary conditions. Investigators testified they found blood-stained rooms, filthy and old equipment and untrained staff. Aborted fetuses were stored in a basement freezer in plastic food containers and bags next to employee lunches. Severed feet from aborted babies were found preserved in jars around the clinic.
The conditions found inside the clinic led Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams to call the clinic a "house of horrors" in a 2011 grand jury report.
Over the course of the trial which started on March 18 and lasted two months, former clinic employees testified against Gosnell.
Adrienne Moton was first to testify. Moton, 35, recalled several abortion procedures in court including one where the mother delivered the baby into a toilet.
The 35-year-old described how the baby seemed to struggle in the bowl before she snipped its neck with scissors. She admitted to cutting 10 babies' necks, calling the snipping "common practice" at the clinic.
Moton also took a picture of one of the babies Gosnell is accused of murdering. Referred in court as Baby A, Moton says the boy was nearly 30 weeks old when he was aborted.
She claims Gosnell even joked about the baby’s size saying he was so big the baby could have walked to the bus stop. The graphic photo, was among others, shown to the jury.
Lynda Williams testified how she would administer pain killers and anesthesia acting as the clinic's anesthesiologist. The 44-year-old had no formal training and only an 8th grade education.
Williams was the person who delivered four doses of drugs to Mongar during her procedure. She described how the woman's skin turned gray and her breathing slowed following the last dose.
She also admitted to snipping the neck of one of the babies Gosnell is charged with murdering, referred to in court as Baby C.
Both women pled guilty to third-degree murder in exchange for their testimony against Gosnell. They face 60-120 years in prison.
Other workers described babies being born alive, watching them breath and seeing their limbs move before being "snipped." Some described the babies as "aliens" who made odd noises, others said it would "rain fetuses" in the clinic.
Kareema Cross was last to testify. The 28-year-old used a fake name when she alerted the DEA to conditions inside the Women's Medical Society. She took a series of photos of her working environment, eventually turning them over to authorities.
Several medical experts also took the stand during the trial. Among them, Philadelphia's Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Sam Gulino.
Dr. Gulino testified he examined 47 fetuses and while three had the possibility of viability, he could not say for certain if any were born alive.
Prosecutors Joanne Pescatore and Ed Cameron spent five weeks presenting their case calling 36 witnesses. In contrast, Gosnell's attorney Jack McMahon only spent one day and called none.
McMahon did not call any witnesses when it was time for the defense. The bullish attorney instead stood up and rested his case. He did, however, spend hours reliving testimony in the trial during his closing arguments -- trying to use the prosecution's case to create doubt.
The 60-year-old attorney maintained babies were never delivered alive. He says Gosnell would inject the drug Digoxin into the womb to stop the fetus' heart. Labor would then be induced and the dead baby delivered, he said.
McMahon was previously successful in getting Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart to throw out several charges, including three counts of first-degree murder for a lack of evidence.
THE TALE OF TWO DOCTORS
Both sides painted very different pictures of the former doctor. The prosecution claimed Gosnell took advantage of poor, vulnerable, desperate women all while making millions. They claimed he also preyed on his staff.
During her opening arguments on March 18, Pescatore told jurors that for Gosnell, his abortion practice was all about the money. "He had high volume and maximum profit," she said. Police found $250,000 in cash during a 2010 search of his home.
Prosecutors claimed Gosnell would upcharge for pain killers and let the patients choose the amount of anesthesia they wanted. They were broken down into four categories -- local, heavy, twilight and custom.
Pescatore also said Gosnell would treat patients differently based on their race. White women would be taken to cleaner exam rooms and be treated directly by Gosnell. Black women would get dirty rooms and unlicensed workers, they alleged.
McMahon angrily discounted the claims calling the prosecution "elitist" and "racist" adding the case had become "a prosecutorial lynching."
He said Gosnell was a family man who gave up lucrative opportunities at medical centers across the country to serve the depressed West Philadelphia community.
Gosnell operated his three-story clinic for more than 31 years. McMahon says Gosnell treated thousands of patients and performed thousands of abortions inside the clinic over the years.
THE JURY
The jury consisted of seven women and five men. Most of the jurors are blue collar workers with four working for public transit agency SEPTA. All said they were either pro-choice or had no opinion on a woman's right to choose.
The group were subjected to graphic images and testimony over the course of the trial. Some visibly flinched at the evidence, while others teared up. They also got a glimpse at some of the equipment used inside the clinic.
Pescatore said she wanted to take the jury to the clinic, but was unable. So she had an exam table, ultrasound machine and other equipment placed in the middle of the third-floor courtroom at the Philadelphia Criminal Justice Center. The equipment sat there for nearly the entire trial, just feet from the jury box.
NATIONAL ATTENTION AND THE AFTERMATH
The case sparked national attention with national media outlets, cable news channels and conservative bloggers descending on Philadelphia to cover the trial.
President Barack Obama said he was aware of the trial and pro-life bloggers claimed there was a lack of media coverage in the case. A claim outlets, including NBC10.com, rebuked.
The case also brought light to deficiencies in state oversight. The Pennsylvania Department of Health admitted the clinic went nearly two decades without being inspected.
Legislators later passed a law to require more stringent rules for abortion clinics in the Commonwealth.
Gosnell won't be done with court once this trial is adjourned. He still faces federal charges for allegedly running an illegal narcotics operation out of the clinic.
As he was led from the courthouse in shackles and a gray prison outfit, Gosnell smirked to the waiting media, before being loaded by sheriff deputies into a van and returned to jail.
NBC10's Yoni Greenbaum, Emad Khalil, Daralene Jones, Doug Shimell and Lu Ann Cahn contributed to this report.
Contact Vince Lattanzio at 610.668.5532, [email protected] or follow @VinceLattanzio on Twitter. ||||| After a two-month trial and 10 days of deliberation, a jury on Monday decided that Baby A, Baby C and Baby D lived a few fleeting moments outside their mothers’ wombs before their spinal cords were severed at Kermit Gosnell’s abortion clinic in West Philadelphia.
The way those brief lives ended didn’t amount to abortion but to three acts of first-degree murder, jurors concluded.
Gosnell, in a dark suit and a maroon shirt, furrowed his brow and shook his head slightly but remained stoic when the verdicts were read in a packed Philadelphia courtroom just before 3 p.m. One juror appeared to cry. Prosecutors smiled in relief and later hugged colleagues.
Jurors acquitted Gosnell of third-degree murder but found him guilty on a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter in the 2009 death of 41-year-old Karnamaya Mongar of Virginia, who died from a drug overdose while undergoing an abortion at his clinic.
The jury also acquitted him of murder in the death of another infant, known as Baby E, whom prosecutors had struggled to prove was alive after delivery. Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart previously dismissed three additional first-degree murder charges against Gosnell, each involving other infants.
The trial will move next week into a sentencing phase, when the jurors will be called back to decide whether Gosnell, 72, should receive the death penalty or life in prison. Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty, and the multiple murder convictions are likely to bolster their argument.
Neither prosecutors nor jurors were available for comment after the verdict because a judicial gag order remains in place until the penalty phase ends. Defense attorney Jack McMahon talked briefly with reporters about Monday’s outcome.
“A jury has spoken, and we respect that verdict. . . . That’s our system,” McMahon said, noting that Gosnell was convicted on only three of the original eight murder charges. “The jury worked very, very, very hard. They should be commended.”
Still, McMahon argued that the media had been “overwhelmingly against” Gosnell throughout the trial, and he likened the defense’s case to “salmon swimming upstream.”
He said Gosnell said little to him as the verdicts came in Monday, other than to thank him for putting on an aggressive defense. “How do you prepare anybody for that?” McMahon said, adding: “It’s a very difficult case. There’s a lot of emotion.”
Gruesome details
The case, which has unfolded since early March inside Courtroom 304 here, has garnered national attention and inflamed passions on all sides of the abortion divide.
Antiabortion activists have seized on the macabre details — from Gosnell’s practice of “snipping” the spinal cords of fetuses to the dismembered remains that investigators discovered in milk jugs and glass jars inside his Women’s Medical Society clinic — as a wake-up call about the potential for wider abuse in abortion facilities and the need for stricter oversight.
Antiabortion groups and politicians said Monday that the case underscored what they see as the brutality inherent in abortion procedures.
“Some abortionists may have cleaner sheets than Gosnell, and better sterilized equipment and better trained accomplices, but what they do — what Gosnell did — kill babies and hurt women — is the same,” Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.) said in a statement.
House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said he was “praying for the lives taken by Kermit Gosnell,” and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus tweeted that “the Gosnell ordeal shouldn’t slip quietly from our conscience.”
Meanwhile, abortion rights groups have insisted that Gosnell’s crimes are an anomaly and that the abysmal conditions inside his clinic persisted only because numerous regulators ignored red flags for years.
Such groups also were quick to praise Monday’s conviction, but they warned that restrictive measures being proposed by lawmakers in some states risk driving women to less-reputable abortion providers and cutting off funding to help low-income women afford the procedures.
“We must reject misguided laws that would limit women’s options and force them to seek treatment from criminals like Kermit Gosnell,” Eric Ferrero, a spokesman for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement.
Steady opinions
Despite the tidal wave of outrage surrounding the trial — and complaints about the initial lack of national media coverage — Monday’s outcome seems unlikely to shift the public’s deeply ingrained positions on abortion.
Views of abortion have remained steady for years, and a recent Gallup poll showed that the Gosnell trial has not altered them. About a quarter of Americans said abortion should be legal in all circumstances, according to a poll conducted at the height of the trial. Twenty percent said it should always be illegal, and just over half said it should be legal in some circumstances.
In the same poll, a quarter of Americans said they had followed the story closely, but 54 percent said they hadn’t followed it at all, making it “one of the least followed news stories Gallup has measured,” according to the firm.
Whatever Gosnell has come to symbolize in the politically fraught national abortion debate, the case that played out in Courtroom 304 detailed the human suffering inside his clinic, which prosecutors called a “house of horrors.”
It included gruesome photos and graphic descriptions from former employees of Gosnell’s “snipping” technique, which he allegedly used frequently on babies born at the clinic to mothers who had been pumped full of drugs to induce labor.
Prosecutors called dozens of witnesses who painted a picture of a filthy facility where untrained, unqualified workers routinely administered anesthesia and other drugs; where furniture and blankets were stained with blood and the rooms reeked of cat urine; where the use of unsterilized instruments spread venereal disease to patients; where abortions were regularly performed after the state’s 24-week legal limit; and where drugged women often went into labor early, sometimes giving birth in the bathroom.
Eight other former clinic employees, including Gosnell’s wife, previously pleaded guilty to various charges, including perjury and third-degree murder.
Inside the courtroom, jurors faced a difficult legal quandary: To find Gosnell guilty of murdering the babies, they first had to agree that the babies had been alive outside their mothers’ wombs. The scientific evidence on that question appeared inconclusive, and jurors were left to rely largely on poorly educated, untrained former employees who testified about seeing babies squirm or make noises after mothers delivered them at the clinic.
Gosnell did not testify, and the defense called no witnesses. McMahon argued that no live births took place at the clinic because Gosnell terminated the pregnancies in utero by injecting the fetuses with a drug to stop their hearts. He also argued that Mongar died from unforeseen complications rather than from a reckless overdose of drugs.
Those nuances seemed to matter little outside the courtroom, where the case grew into a national spectacle. It became the territory of cable news talk and op-eds. Television cameras sat camped outside the courthouse each day. Protesters gathered across the street, waving posters with gory pictures of aborted fetuses.
Regulators’ failures
Beyond Gosnell’s crimes, the case also spotlighted the failure of regulators to crack down sooner, despite repeated complaints and evidence of health violations at the clinic. Problems surfaced as early as 1989, according to a scathing grand jury report. But regulators rarely visited the clinic and allowed Gosnell to continue to operate, despite complaints from hospital workers who had treated injured patients, reports about a 14-year-old girl receiving an illegal abortion at 30 weeks of pregnancy, and the deaths of Mongar and another patient.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) has called the lack of oversight by state officials “despicable.” He fired or suspended some workers for negligence and announced that abortion clinics throughout the state would be subject to annual inspections and periodic unannounced visits.
Only in 2010, when authorities raided the clinic over its allegedly rampant distribution of painkillers, did authorities uncover evidence that led to Gosnell’s capital murder trial.
Gosnell also was found guilty Monday of numerous other crimes, including infanticide and racketeering. He was found guilty on more than 200 charges that he did not observe Pennsylvania’s 24-hour waiting period between first meeting with a patient and performing an abortion. He also was convicted on 21 of 24 charges of performing illegal late-term abortions.
Gosnell still faces federal charges for allegedly distributing prescription drugs, and a separate trial is scheduled for later this year.
Sandhya Somashekhar contributed to this report. ||||| Story highlights Defense attorney: "The jury spoke and we respect the jury's verdict"
Dr. Kermit Gosnell is convicted of three counts of first-degree murder
A jury also finds him guilty of involuntary manslaughter
The first-degree murder conviction means Gosnell could face the death penalty
A Philadelphia abortion provider who killed babies by cutting their spinal cords with scissors was found guilty of first-degree murder on Monday.
The conviction on three counts of first-degree murder means Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 72, could be sentenced to death.
Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore sobbed after the verdict in the high-profile case was announced. Gosnell appeared shocked. He let out a sigh and shook his head back and forth.
Defense attorney Jack McMahon told CNN it's too soon to tell whether he will appeal the conviction.
"We were disappointed. We put on a vigorous defense. We think it went well for us in the courtroom," he said. "But the jury spoke, and we respect the jury's verdict."
JUST WATCHED Abortion provider found guilty of murder Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Abortion provider found guilty of murder 01:52
JUST WATCHED Prosecutor was sobbing during verdict Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Prosecutor was sobbing during verdict 02:22
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Gosnell also was accused in the death of Karnamaya Mongar, 41, who died of an anesthetic overdose during a second-trimester abortion at his West Philadelphia clinic. In that case, the jury found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Gosnell, who is not a board-certified obstetrician or gynecologist, was also found guilty of 21 counts of abortion of the unborn, 24 weeks or older.
In Pennsylvania, abortions past 24 weeks are illegal unless the health of the mother is at stake.
The case next moves to the penalty phase, when jurors will weigh whether to give Gosnell a death sentence. It's possible the doctor will testify, said William Brennan, an attorney who represented Gosnell earlier in the case.
"I would think there would be a lot of mitigation in this case and I think probably, and this is a guess, but probably at that time the jury would hear from Dr. Gosnell," he said.
Earlier Monday, the jury, after deliberating for two weeks, said it was hung on two counts, and the judge instructed them to continue trying to reach a verdict on them.
Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart also told jurors that their progress showed they were "considering the evidence seriously."
Gosnell's co-defendant, Eileen O'Neill, 56, was found guilty of conspiracy to operate a corrupt organization and two counts of theft by deception for operating without a license to practice medicine. O'Neill, a medical school graduate, was not charged with performing illegal abortions.
Both pleaded not guilty.
The grand jury report from 2011 says the "people who ran this sham medical practice included no doctors other than Gosnell himself, and not even a single nurse," yet they still made diagnoses, performed procedures and administered drugs.
McMahon, in an impassioned, 2½-hour closing argument, said that none of the infants was killed; rather, he said, they were already dead as a result of Gosnell administering the drug Digoxin, which can cause abortion.
Gosnell also was accused of reusing unsanitary instruments; performing procedures in filthy rooms, including some in which litter boxes and animals allegedly were present at the time; and allowing unlicensed employees -- including a teenage high school student -- to perform operations and administer anesthesia.
The remains of aborted fetuses were stored in water jugs, pet food containers and a freezer at the clinic, the city's chief medical examiner Sam Gulino testified
McMahon, who called no witnesses, accused prosecutors of "the most extraordinary hype and exaggeration in the history of the criminal justice system," even adding that they are "elitist" and "racist."
Gosnell has been accused by authorities of preying on low-income, minority women. McMahon argued that Gosnell offered access to health care for people who were poor and without health insurance.
During his closing remarks, Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Edward Cameron turned to Gosnell and yelled, "Are you human?"
Gosnell smirked at Cameron without speaking. Cameron then continued, declaring, "It's time for us to extinguish the fire he created."
The doctor was first charged in January 2011.
The case has drawn national attention and sharp criticism from anti-abortion activists
But that doesn't mean it sets a precedent, CNN legal analyst Paul Callan said.
"The testimony in this case was so graphic and so horrific. It was described literally as a house of horrors taking place in this Philadelphia clinic," Callan said. "So I think that most objective observers will say that ultimately this will be an isolated case, hopefully, and that it's simply a case where prosecutors had to act. It had nothing to do with being pro- or anti-abortion."
After Monday's verdict, the leader of one anti-abortion group said justice had been served.
"Even as we celebrate this verdict, we honor and mourn as well those among our nation's weakest children who did not receive 'their day in court' -- and we must remember that Gosnell is not an outlier within the abortion industry," Lila Rose, president of Live Action, said in a written statement. "We cannot allow these 'guilty' verdicts, welcome as they are, to make us complacent when it comes to the continuing abuses happening even now in abortion facilities throughout our nation."
More restrictions on abortions will lead to more cases like the Women's Medical Society, not fewer, abortion rights advocates argue.
"We thought we had said goodbye to back-alley abortionists," said Jessica Arons, head of the Women's Health and Rights Program at the Center for American Progress.
"Legal access to abortion helps counteract "predators" who "prey on vulnerable women," Arons said.
"It's not that we need more laws or stricter laws," she said. "Pennsylvania just didn't do its job in enforcing the laws against him earlier." | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 29,880 |
LAS VEGAS -- The racing world may have thought Dan Wheldon had experienced the highest highs and the lowest lows that the sport had to offer in 2011.
But then motorsports suffered the lowest point possible with Wheldon's death Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Wheldon started the season unemployed but parlayed a one-off drive in the Indianapolis 500 into his second Indy win and the richest payday of his racing career. And he was on the brink of even greater things in the years ahead. But he got caught in a 15-car crash on the 11th lap of the Las Vegas Indy 300.
A fan shared a message after it was announced that Dan Wheldon had died from injuries suffered in a crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Robert Laberge/Getty Images
The 2005 IndyCar Series champion's car was launched into the catch fence, causing what INDYCAR termed "unsurvivable injuries."
Wheldon was 33 years old and leaves a wife and two children.
ESPN.com learned from team owner Michael Andretti that just hours prior to Sunday's race, Wheldon signed a multiyear deal to replace Danica Patrick in Andretti Autosport's No. 7 car sponsored by GoDaddy.com.
Wheldon drove for Andretti Autosport from 2003 to 2005, winning the 2005 Indianapolis 500 and series championship. He was part of a powerful, four-car Andretti juggernaut including Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan and Bryan Herta that won 11 of 17 races during that magical '05 season.
"He was a very close friend and we had just literally inked it this morning," Andretti said. "We had great plans to do fun things together. I'm going to miss him. There was a lot of life in that guy. He was part of the glory days here. We had a combination that has never been put together in the sport of auto racing, in my opinion.
"But it's part of our sport. He knew the risks; we all know the risks when we get in the car. It probably touches me a little more because of everything that was going on. It's a terrible thing, but unfortunately in our sport we've had a lot of days like these. They suck, but that's the way it is."
Wheldon was making only his third start of the 2011 season. He spent much of the year serving as the test and development driver for the new chassis that the IndyCar Series is introducing for 2012.
At Las Vegas, Wheldon was part of a publicity stunt known as the GoDaddy IndyCar Challenge in which he would have split a $5 million prize with a fan should he have won the race.
Wheldon started from the back of the 34-car field and had moved up to 24th place when the carnage unfolded on the 11th of a scheduled 200 laps.
It appeared that Wheldon never lifted from the throttle before striking the back of E.J. Viso's car, sending Wheldon's No. 77 Sam Schmidt Motorsports entry airborne into a barrel roll.
The car struck the catch fence with enough force to shear the roll hoop cleanly from the top of the Dallara chassis.
"I don't know what I can say to comfort anybody," said Kanaan, who aside from being Wheldon's teammate from 2003 to 2005 was one of his closest friends. "But I think if you asked everyone in this field how they would want to go, that's the way. If I could choose I'd do the same. But right now I can't describe the pain.
The IndyCar Series family lined the track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as drivers completed a five-lap tribute to honor Dan Wheldon. Tom Pennington/Getty Images
"I just pray that he rests in peace. Right now I just want to give my support to his family. He was one of my best friends and one of my greatest teammates back in the day."
Kanaan and Franchitti shared a similar experience in 1999 when their close friend Greg Moore was killed during the season finale at California Speedway. The Brazilian, who won the IndyCar title in 2004 and served as a mentor to Wheldon, put the day's events into perspective.
"We don't think about things like this," Kanaan said. "As race car drivers, we have to block out that possibility. Unfortunately when it happens it's really hard.
"But what we do is dangerous and we face that every day," Kanaan continued. "It's been happening for years, for decades. It's just hard to swallow, but we have to move on. We're racers; we love what we do. Eventually we're going to have to turn the page and remember him with the great memories we have. I know exactly what he would say if I told him I was going to quit: He'd say he was going to take my place."
Franchitti paid tribute to Wheldon on a day when the focus was meant to have been on him. Franchitti clinched his fourth IndyCar series title (and third consecutive) on Sunday when his championship rival, Will Power, was involved in the same crash that killed Wheldon.
"Right now I'm numb and speechless," Franchitti said. "One minute you're joking around at driver intros and the next Dan's gone. We had a couple of fallouts over the way, but we were friends. Everybody in IndyCar Series considered Dan a friend. You saw the reaction. He was one of those special, special people from when he showed up first in IndyCar. And he was kind of brash, all that stuff, but he was a charmer. Then he became this loving family guy who is still charming, but he had this whole new side to him.
"I'm just thinking of [Wheldon's wife] Susie and the boys," Dario added. "When I think about them, I'm struggling to hold it together. I don't know what else to say."
For Franchitti, the similarities to the Moore tragedy of 1999 were uncanny. The only difference this year is that he came out on top in the championship standings.
"We can put so much pressure on ourselves to win races and championships, and that's what we love to do," Franchitti said. "It's what we live for.
"But on days like today, it doesn't really matter."
John Oreovicz covers open-wheel racing for ESPN.com. ||||| Editor's note: The second installment from driver Dan Wheldon on his bid for $5 million in Sunday's Izod IndyCar World Championships was filed a day before he died in a fiery wreck in Sunday's Las Vegas Indy 300.
So far, things haven't been going very well as we've started our pursuit of the GoDaddy IndyCar Challenge this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but I'm confident in the ability of the guys at Sam Schmidt Motorsports to find the problem and get it fixed.
It's actually been a very difficult weekend for us so far. Basically we carried over our problem from Kentucky Speedway, where we just didn't have the speed and never really found it.
But I've been watching these guys work their tails off trying to fix this problem, and I believe they'll turn it around before Sunday's race. As you know, the Challenge is a rather unique promotion. I'll start 34th in a 34-car field in Sunday's Izod IndyCar World Championships presented by Honda. If I win the race, I'll split a $5 million prize with Ann Babenco of High Bridge, N.J., who was chosen at random.
But during Thursday's practice session and Friday's practice and qualifying sessions, we were quite a bit off the pace in the No. 77 Bowers & Wilkins Magnolia/William Rast Dallara/Honda. When I say quite a bit, I mean more than 3 mph off the pace. If we start the race that far off the pace, it's going to be difficult to keep up.
But I have every confidence in Rob Edwards, our team manager, and his group of engineers. Rob has done a very good job of analyzing the problem. He's eliminating issues one by one. Hopefully by the race, we will have changed things enough that we will have discovered what's slowing us down.
It is incredibly frustrating, both for me and them. All the boys are working as hard as possible, but so far we haven't pinpointed what it is. Part of the reason it's so frustrating is because we'd created so much momentum around Indy, both with my victory in Bryan Herta's car and with Alex Tagliani's pole position in the car we're driving this weekend.
But there are a couple of positives. First, this is essentially the same group of people that combined to win the pole and the race at Indy; we've just switched cars. Alex is in the No. 98 car that I drove at Indy, and I'm in the No. 77 he drove to the pole at Indy. Second, and this is key, Alex has been fast in the 98 car so far at Vegas. Very fast. He's got the fourth starting position for Sunday's race, so we know we have the potential for a good car. We just haven't found it yet.
So everybody in our garage is trying their best, and they're going about it methodically and professionally, step by step, trying to get to the bottom of it. It's obviously something significant, because I'm so far off the pace. Alex did a 221.330 mph for his two-lap qualifying run. I barely got over 218. So whatever the problem is, it's significant.
That, too, gives me confidence. A difference that large forces you to look at everything. You're that far off, so you need to change everything. You have to be bold in your changes, and that's what Rob is being. When the difference in speed is small, the problem is harder to find. But we're not a little bit off, so it should be easier to define the problem.
I'm impressed by Rob and his guys and how detailed they're being and how hard they're trying, but it's frustrating for everyone. These guys want to win this challenge just as much as I do, so they're giving it everything they have.
Another good thing is that we have a full day Saturday to work on the problem. Right now, all they need is time to take the car apart and check everything. I'm confident they'll find it and we'll get out there Sunday with a car that can move through the field.
This is going to be an amazing show. The two championship contenders, Dario Franchitti and Will Power, are starting right next to each other in the middle of the grid. Honestly, if I can be fast enough early in the race to be able to get up there and latch onto those two, it will be pure entertainment. It's going to be a pack race, and you never know how that's going to turn out.
We all know what this team can do, and I know what I can do. At the end of the day, I have every confidence I them. We should be good in the race. They've worked hard at this, and they'll figure it out.
As long as I can find some speed and keep up with the pack, I'll do everything I can to put on a show. | – Hours before he was killed in a 15-car pileup, Indy 500 champion Dan Wheldon had signed a major, multiyear racing team deal. Wheldon had scored the spot Danica Patrick is vacating, behind the wheel of Andretti Autosport's car No. 7, ESPN reports. He had been part of the team's "glory days" from 2003 to 2005, says team owner Michael Andretti. "We had just literally inked it this morning," said Andretti of the deal. "We had great plans to do fun things together." In the lead-up to the tragedy, drivers had been worried about just the sort of accident that ultimately occurred, NPR reports. They feared the effects of a collision with 34 cars on a 1.5-mile track (in comparison, NPR notes that this year's Indy 500 featured one fewer car on a 2.5-mile track). "No normal human being really has the reaction time to avoid anything" should something go wrong on a track that crowded and small, said a reporter. But for Wheldon himself, it seems, the top concern was speed. He worried that his team "just didn't have the speed" it might need to win, he told USA Today. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.LAS VEGAS -- The racing world may have thought Dan Wheldon had experienced the highest highs and the lowest lows that the sport had to offer in 2011.
But then motorsports suffered the lowest point possible with Wheldon's death Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Wheldon started the season unemployed but parlayed a one-off drive in the Indianapolis 500 into his second Indy win and the richest payday of his racing career. And he was on the brink of even greater things in the years ahead. But he got caught in a 15-car crash on the 11th lap of the Las Vegas Indy 300.
A fan shared a message after it was announced that Dan Wheldon had died from injuries suffered in a crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Robert Laberge/Getty Images
The 2005 IndyCar Series champion's car was launched into the catch fence, causing what INDYCAR termed "unsurvivable injuries."
Wheldon was 33 years old and leaves a wife and two children.
ESPN.com learned from team owner Michael Andretti that just hours prior to Sunday's race, Wheldon signed a multiyear deal to replace Danica Patrick in Andretti Autosport's No. 7 car sponsored by GoDaddy.com.
Wheldon drove for Andretti Autosport from 2003 to 2005, winning the 2005 Indianapolis 500 and series championship. He was part of a powerful, four-car Andretti juggernaut including Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan and Bryan Herta that won 11 of 17 races during that magical '05 season.
"He was a very close friend and we had just literally inked it this morning," Andretti said. "We had great plans to do fun things together. I'm going to miss him. There was a lot of life in that guy. He was part of the glory days here. We had a combination that has never been put together in the sport of auto racing, in my opinion.
"But it's part of our sport. He knew the risks; we all know the risks when we get in the car. It probably touches me a little more because of everything that was going on. It's a terrible thing, but unfortunately in our sport we've had a lot of days like these. They suck, but that's the way it is."
Wheldon was making only his third start of the 2011 season. He spent much of the year serving as the test and development driver for the new chassis that the IndyCar Series is introducing for 2012.
At Las Vegas, Wheldon was part of a publicity stunt known as the GoDaddy IndyCar Challenge in which he would have split a $5 million prize with a fan should he have won the race.
Wheldon started from the back of the 34-car field and had moved up to 24th place when the carnage unfolded on the 11th of a scheduled 200 laps.
It appeared that Wheldon never lifted from the throttle before striking the back of E.J. Viso's car, sending Wheldon's No. 77 Sam Schmidt Motorsports entry airborne into a barrel roll.
The car struck the catch fence with enough force to shear the roll hoop cleanly from the top of the Dallara chassis.
"I don't know what I can say to comfort anybody," said Kanaan, who aside from being Wheldon's teammate from 2003 to 2005 was one of his closest friends. "But I think if you asked everyone in this field how they would want to go, that's the way. If I could choose I'd do the same. But right now I can't describe the pain.
The IndyCar Series family lined the track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as drivers completed a five-lap tribute to honor Dan Wheldon. Tom Pennington/Getty Images
"I just pray that he rests in peace. Right now I just want to give my support to his family. He was one of my best friends and one of my greatest teammates back in the day."
Kanaan and Franchitti shared a similar experience in 1999 when their close friend Greg Moore was killed during the season finale at California Speedway. The Brazilian, who won the IndyCar title in 2004 and served as a mentor to Wheldon, put the day's events into perspective.
"We don't think about things like this," Kanaan said. "As race car drivers, we have to block out that possibility. Unfortunately when it happens it's really hard.
"But what we do is dangerous and we face that every day," Kanaan continued. "It's been happening for years, for decades. It's just hard to swallow, but we have to move on. We're racers; we love what we do. Eventually we're going to have to turn the page and remember him with the great memories we have. I know exactly what he would say if I told him I was going to quit: He'd say he was going to take my place."
Franchitti paid tribute to Wheldon on a day when the focus was meant to have been on him. Franchitti clinched his fourth IndyCar series title (and third consecutive) on Sunday when his championship rival, Will Power, was involved in the same crash that killed Wheldon.
"Right now I'm numb and speechless," Franchitti said. "One minute you're joking around at driver intros and the next Dan's gone. We had a couple of fallouts over the way, but we were friends. Everybody in IndyCar Series considered Dan a friend. You saw the reaction. He was one of those special, special people from when he showed up first in IndyCar. And he was kind of brash, all that stuff, but he was a charmer. Then he became this loving family guy who is still charming, but he had this whole new side to him.
"I'm just thinking of [Wheldon's wife] Susie and the boys," Dario added. "When I think about them, I'm struggling to hold it together. I don't know what else to say."
For Franchitti, the similarities to the Moore tragedy of 1999 were uncanny. The only difference this year is that he came out on top in the championship standings.
"We can put so much pressure on ourselves to win races and championships, and that's what we love to do," Franchitti said. "It's what we live for.
"But on days like today, it doesn't really matter."
John Oreovicz covers open-wheel racing for ESPN.com. ||||| Editor's note: The second installment from driver Dan Wheldon on his bid for $5 million in Sunday's Izod IndyCar World Championships was filed a day before he died in a fiery wreck in Sunday's Las Vegas Indy 300.
So far, things haven't been going very well as we've started our pursuit of the GoDaddy IndyCar Challenge this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but I'm confident in the ability of the guys at Sam Schmidt Motorsports to find the problem and get it fixed.
It's actually been a very difficult weekend for us so far. Basically we carried over our problem from Kentucky Speedway, where we just didn't have the speed and never really found it.
But I've been watching these guys work their tails off trying to fix this problem, and I believe they'll turn it around before Sunday's race. As you know, the Challenge is a rather unique promotion. I'll start 34th in a 34-car field in Sunday's Izod IndyCar World Championships presented by Honda. If I win the race, I'll split a $5 million prize with Ann Babenco of High Bridge, N.J., who was chosen at random.
But during Thursday's practice session and Friday's practice and qualifying sessions, we were quite a bit off the pace in the No. 77 Bowers & Wilkins Magnolia/William Rast Dallara/Honda. When I say quite a bit, I mean more than 3 mph off the pace. If we start the race that far off the pace, it's going to be difficult to keep up.
But I have every confidence in Rob Edwards, our team manager, and his group of engineers. Rob has done a very good job of analyzing the problem. He's eliminating issues one by one. Hopefully by the race, we will have changed things enough that we will have discovered what's slowing us down.
It is incredibly frustrating, both for me and them. All the boys are working as hard as possible, but so far we haven't pinpointed what it is. Part of the reason it's so frustrating is because we'd created so much momentum around Indy, both with my victory in Bryan Herta's car and with Alex Tagliani's pole position in the car we're driving this weekend.
But there are a couple of positives. First, this is essentially the same group of people that combined to win the pole and the race at Indy; we've just switched cars. Alex is in the No. 98 car that I drove at Indy, and I'm in the No. 77 he drove to the pole at Indy. Second, and this is key, Alex has been fast in the 98 car so far at Vegas. Very fast. He's got the fourth starting position for Sunday's race, so we know we have the potential for a good car. We just haven't found it yet.
So everybody in our garage is trying their best, and they're going about it methodically and professionally, step by step, trying to get to the bottom of it. It's obviously something significant, because I'm so far off the pace. Alex did a 221.330 mph for his two-lap qualifying run. I barely got over 218. So whatever the problem is, it's significant.
That, too, gives me confidence. A difference that large forces you to look at everything. You're that far off, so you need to change everything. You have to be bold in your changes, and that's what Rob is being. When the difference in speed is small, the problem is harder to find. But we're not a little bit off, so it should be easier to define the problem.
I'm impressed by Rob and his guys and how detailed they're being and how hard they're trying, but it's frustrating for everyone. These guys want to win this challenge just as much as I do, so they're giving it everything they have.
Another good thing is that we have a full day Saturday to work on the problem. Right now, all they need is time to take the car apart and check everything. I'm confident they'll find it and we'll get out there Sunday with a car that can move through the field.
This is going to be an amazing show. The two championship contenders, Dario Franchitti and Will Power, are starting right next to each other in the middle of the grid. Honestly, if I can be fast enough early in the race to be able to get up there and latch onto those two, it will be pure entertainment. It's going to be a pack race, and you never know how that's going to turn out.
We all know what this team can do, and I know what I can do. At the end of the day, I have every confidence I them. We should be good in the race. They've worked hard at this, and they'll figure it out.
As long as I can find some speed and keep up with the pack, I'll do everything I can to put on a show. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 32,580 |
Melanie Sloan in 2015. (Congressional Quarterly/AP)
A high-profile Washington lawyer specializing in congressional ethics said Wednesday that Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) harassed and verbally abused her when she worked for him on Capitol Hill in the 1990s and that her repeated appeals for help to congressional leadership were ignored.
"There was nothing I could do to stop it," Melanie Sloan said in an interview. "Not going to leadership, not going to my boss, not going to a women's group, not going to a reporter. I was dismissed and told I must be mentally unstable."
Sloan, the former executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), was hired by Conyers in 1995 as minority counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, where he served as the ranking Democrat. She held the job until 1998.
During that time, Sloan said, she witnessed and experienced behavior by Conyers similar to episodes described in claims against him that on Tuesday prompted the House Ethics Committee to open an investigation.
In addition to accusations of sexual misconduct, the claims against Conyers included "mistreatment of staff." Sloan said she did not believe she was sexually harassed by the congressman, but she said his behavior toward her was inappropriate and abusive. She said she was speaking publicly after seeing Conyers dismiss former staff members' accounts of misconduct.
Sloan said that Conyers routinely yelled at and berated her, often criticizing her appearance. On one occasion, she said, he summoned her to his Rayburn Building office, where she found him in his underwear.
"I was pretty taken aback to see my boss half-dressed," she said. "I turned on my heel and I left."
Arnold Reed, Conyers's legal counsel, denied Sloan's allegations and said Conyers will address complaints about his conduct after Thanksgiving. "Representative Conyers has never done anything inappropriate to Melanie Sloan," he said.
Sloan is the first former Conyers staff member to speak on the record about the 88-year-old congressman, the longest-serving member of the House and the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. She said she kept quiet about the incidents for 20 years because her earlier complaints were not taken seriously. She agreed to speak about her experience with Conyers after a Washington Post reporter contacted her.
"The reason I decided to go on the record is to make it easier for other people," she said. "People are afraid to come forward. So much about working in Washington is about loyalty, and you are supposed to shut up about these things."
Sloan said she complained repeatedly about Conyers's behavior to her supervisor and contacted a senior staff member in the office of then-Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), the House minority leader at the time.
Gephardt said Wednesday that he did not recall Sloan raising concerns and was unaware of issues in Conyers's office. But he said congressional leadership needs to see through proposed legislation to change how harassment and abuse allegations are handled on Capitol Hill.
"This behavior, whenever it occurs, is reprehensible and can't be tolerated," Gephardt said.
The accusations against Conyers are surfacing as liberals and conservatives in Congress wrestle with mounting pressure to change Capitol Hill culture. At a hearing this month, female lawmakers said current members of Congress had groped and exposed themselves to female staffers. Lawmakers have introduced bills that would change the handling of sexual harassment and abuse complaints.
After leaving Capitol Hill, Sloan played a leading role in congressional ethics investigations as CREW's executive director. She wrote the 2004 complaint that led the House Ethics Committee to admonish then-Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and a 2011 complaint against Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), who was forced to resign. She now is senior adviser to another Washington-based watchdog group, American Oversight.
The Conyers investigation began less than 24 hours after BuzzFeed News reported a 2015 settlement between Conyers and an unidentified former employee over claims of sexual harassment. On Tuesday morning, Conyers initially denied to the Associated Press that he had settled sexual harassment claims, but he later acknowledged the settlement.
"I expressly and vehemently denied the allegations made against me, and continue to do so," Conyers said in a statement.
In addition to the unidentified employee in the settlement, a former scheduler, Maria Reddick, filed a legal claim against Conyers in February saying that Conyers engaged in inappropriate sexual advances toward her and created a hostile work environment. Her complaint alleged that Conyers engaged in behavior such as "rubbing on her shoulders, kissing her forehead, making inappropriate comments, covering and attempting to hold her hand."
She said she requested to go through the formal counseling process run by the congressional Office of Compliance and subsequently requested mediation, the next step. It is unclear whether the claim was resolved.
Reddick, representing herself in the case, asked the judge to seal the case to protect Conyers's reputation. The judge denied her motion. Reddick voluntarily dismissed her lawsuit in March. Reddick did not return calls for comment. The lawsuit was first reported by BuzzFeed News, which did not name Reddick.
Conyers's spokeswoman said, "The former staffer voluntarily decided to drop the case."
Sloan said she feels a responsibility to speak up now because she knows that many young women on the Hill — frequently in low-level, low-paying positions — have less power than she did as a practicing attorney there.
"If that happened to me, and I'm a pretty strong person, what is happening to everyone else?" she said.
Julie Tate and Alice Crites contributed to this report. ||||| Fellow House Democrat calls for Conyers to resign
CLOSE Two businessmen from Detroit are expressing their appreciation for the work longtime Michigan Rep. John Conyers has done in Washington, despite a report that the 88-year-old legislator engaged in sexual misconduct while in office. (Nov. 21) AP
A New York congresswoman became the first Democratic House member to call for Rep. John Conyers to resign over accusations of sexual harassment against the Michigan Democrat.
"Rep. John Conyers should resign," Rep. Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., said in a statement Wednesday. "I've reviewed the allegations against him, and they're as credible as they are repulsive."
I believe Rep. Conyers should resign. Full statement below. pic.twitter.com/k8u9CXoJzH — Kathleen Rice (@RepKathleenRice) November 22, 2017
Conyers admitted to settling a 2015 complaint from a former staffer who accused him of harassment, but he denies her accusations as well as other allegations leveled at him in a report from Buzzfeed News.
"I expressly and vehemently denied the allegations made against me, and continue to do so," Conyers said in a statement Tuesday. "My office resolved the allegations — with an express denial of liability — in order to save all involved from the rigors of protracted litigation."
Conyers initially denied the settlement when first asked about the report, according to the Associated Press. Conyers' office explained the congressman was unclear about what the AP reporter was asking during an "unannounced visit" to Conyers' home.
More: Report: Rep. Conyers settled complaint over sexual conduct
Conyers settled the complaint for $27,000 and a confidentiality agreement, BuzzFeed reported.
The news site also published affidavits from former staff members who said they had witnessed Conyers touching female staffers inappropriately — rubbing their legs and backs — or requesting sexual favors. Another staffer said it was her job to set up Conyers' liaisons with women, sometimes with "Congressional resources."
Conyers, 88, is a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and the longest-serving current member of the House.
Rice is the first Democratic House member to say it is time for Conyers to go, but Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., said Conyers should step down from the Judiciary Committee while the House Ethics Committee investigates the allegations against him.
More: Congress has been warned for years it is not doing enough to stop sexual harassment
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2B3uDve | – A Washington DC ethics lawyer says Rep. John Conyers once called her to his office while he was dressed only in his underwear and otherwise harassed her while she served as minority council for the House Judiciary Committee in the 90s, the Washington Post reports. Melissa Sloan, the first former Conyers staffer to go on the record, didn't characterize the Michigan Democrat's behavior toward her as sexual harassment but did say she witnessed the types of behavior he's been accused of elsewhere. She says Conyers criticized her appearance and verbally abused her. Sloan says she asked congressional leadership for help but was ignored. “There was nothing I could do to stop it,” she said Wednesday. "I was dismissed and told I must be mentally unstable.” The House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into Conyers on Tuesday after it was reported this week that he settled a former employee's sexual harassment claims against him for $27,000 in 2015. Other former staffers have said in affidavits they've seen Conyers rubbing the backs and legs of female employees and asking for sexual favors. Also on Wednesday, Rep. Kathleen Rice became the first Democratic representative to call for Conyers to resign. "I've reviewed the allegations against him, and they're as credible as they are repulsive," USA Today quotes New York's Rice as saying in a statement. Conyers has denied all accusations against him. The 88-year-old is the longest-serving current House member. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.
Melanie Sloan in 2015. (Congressional Quarterly/AP)
A high-profile Washington lawyer specializing in congressional ethics said Wednesday that Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) harassed and verbally abused her when she worked for him on Capitol Hill in the 1990s and that her repeated appeals for help to congressional leadership were ignored.
"There was nothing I could do to stop it," Melanie Sloan said in an interview. "Not going to leadership, not going to my boss, not going to a women's group, not going to a reporter. I was dismissed and told I must be mentally unstable."
Sloan, the former executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), was hired by Conyers in 1995 as minority counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, where he served as the ranking Democrat. She held the job until 1998.
During that time, Sloan said, she witnessed and experienced behavior by Conyers similar to episodes described in claims against him that on Tuesday prompted the House Ethics Committee to open an investigation.
In addition to accusations of sexual misconduct, the claims against Conyers included "mistreatment of staff." Sloan said she did not believe she was sexually harassed by the congressman, but she said his behavior toward her was inappropriate and abusive. She said she was speaking publicly after seeing Conyers dismiss former staff members' accounts of misconduct.
Sloan said that Conyers routinely yelled at and berated her, often criticizing her appearance. On one occasion, she said, he summoned her to his Rayburn Building office, where she found him in his underwear.
"I was pretty taken aback to see my boss half-dressed," she said. "I turned on my heel and I left."
Arnold Reed, Conyers's legal counsel, denied Sloan's allegations and said Conyers will address complaints about his conduct after Thanksgiving. "Representative Conyers has never done anything inappropriate to Melanie Sloan," he said.
Sloan is the first former Conyers staff member to speak on the record about the 88-year-old congressman, the longest-serving member of the House and the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. She said she kept quiet about the incidents for 20 years because her earlier complaints were not taken seriously. She agreed to speak about her experience with Conyers after a Washington Post reporter contacted her.
"The reason I decided to go on the record is to make it easier for other people," she said. "People are afraid to come forward. So much about working in Washington is about loyalty, and you are supposed to shut up about these things."
Sloan said she complained repeatedly about Conyers's behavior to her supervisor and contacted a senior staff member in the office of then-Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), the House minority leader at the time.
Gephardt said Wednesday that he did not recall Sloan raising concerns and was unaware of issues in Conyers's office. But he said congressional leadership needs to see through proposed legislation to change how harassment and abuse allegations are handled on Capitol Hill.
"This behavior, whenever it occurs, is reprehensible and can't be tolerated," Gephardt said.
The accusations against Conyers are surfacing as liberals and conservatives in Congress wrestle with mounting pressure to change Capitol Hill culture. At a hearing this month, female lawmakers said current members of Congress had groped and exposed themselves to female staffers. Lawmakers have introduced bills that would change the handling of sexual harassment and abuse complaints.
After leaving Capitol Hill, Sloan played a leading role in congressional ethics investigations as CREW's executive director. She wrote the 2004 complaint that led the House Ethics Committee to admonish then-Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and a 2011 complaint against Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), who was forced to resign. She now is senior adviser to another Washington-based watchdog group, American Oversight.
The Conyers investigation began less than 24 hours after BuzzFeed News reported a 2015 settlement between Conyers and an unidentified former employee over claims of sexual harassment. On Tuesday morning, Conyers initially denied to the Associated Press that he had settled sexual harassment claims, but he later acknowledged the settlement.
"I expressly and vehemently denied the allegations made against me, and continue to do so," Conyers said in a statement.
In addition to the unidentified employee in the settlement, a former scheduler, Maria Reddick, filed a legal claim against Conyers in February saying that Conyers engaged in inappropriate sexual advances toward her and created a hostile work environment. Her complaint alleged that Conyers engaged in behavior such as "rubbing on her shoulders, kissing her forehead, making inappropriate comments, covering and attempting to hold her hand."
She said she requested to go through the formal counseling process run by the congressional Office of Compliance and subsequently requested mediation, the next step. It is unclear whether the claim was resolved.
Reddick, representing herself in the case, asked the judge to seal the case to protect Conyers's reputation. The judge denied her motion. Reddick voluntarily dismissed her lawsuit in March. Reddick did not return calls for comment. The lawsuit was first reported by BuzzFeed News, which did not name Reddick.
Conyers's spokeswoman said, "The former staffer voluntarily decided to drop the case."
Sloan said she feels a responsibility to speak up now because she knows that many young women on the Hill — frequently in low-level, low-paying positions — have less power than she did as a practicing attorney there.
"If that happened to me, and I'm a pretty strong person, what is happening to everyone else?" she said.
Julie Tate and Alice Crites contributed to this report. ||||| Fellow House Democrat calls for Conyers to resign
CLOSE Two businessmen from Detroit are expressing their appreciation for the work longtime Michigan Rep. John Conyers has done in Washington, despite a report that the 88-year-old legislator engaged in sexual misconduct while in office. (Nov. 21) AP
A New York congresswoman became the first Democratic House member to call for Rep. John Conyers to resign over accusations of sexual harassment against the Michigan Democrat.
"Rep. John Conyers should resign," Rep. Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., said in a statement Wednesday. "I've reviewed the allegations against him, and they're as credible as they are repulsive."
I believe Rep. Conyers should resign. Full statement below. pic.twitter.com/k8u9CXoJzH — Kathleen Rice (@RepKathleenRice) November 22, 2017
Conyers admitted to settling a 2015 complaint from a former staffer who accused him of harassment, but he denies her accusations as well as other allegations leveled at him in a report from Buzzfeed News.
"I expressly and vehemently denied the allegations made against me, and continue to do so," Conyers said in a statement Tuesday. "My office resolved the allegations — with an express denial of liability — in order to save all involved from the rigors of protracted litigation."
Conyers initially denied the settlement when first asked about the report, according to the Associated Press. Conyers' office explained the congressman was unclear about what the AP reporter was asking during an "unannounced visit" to Conyers' home.
More: Report: Rep. Conyers settled complaint over sexual conduct
Conyers settled the complaint for $27,000 and a confidentiality agreement, BuzzFeed reported.
The news site also published affidavits from former staff members who said they had witnessed Conyers touching female staffers inappropriately — rubbing their legs and backs — or requesting sexual favors. Another staffer said it was her job to set up Conyers' liaisons with women, sometimes with "Congressional resources."
Conyers, 88, is a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and the longest-serving current member of the House.
Rice is the first Democratic House member to say it is time for Conyers to go, but Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., said Conyers should step down from the Judiciary Committee while the House Ethics Committee investigates the allegations against him.
More: Congress has been warned for years it is not doing enough to stop sexual harassment
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2B3uDve | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 4,496 |
Milo Yiannopoulos — a leader of the racist, misogynist far-right fringe movement known as the alt-right, who built his career on being hateful to people on the internet and has been described as a professional troll and the leader of an online hate mob — recently signed a book deal with Simon & Schuster imprint Threshold Editions for a reported $250,000 advance, says the Hollywood Reporter.
The response from progressives was immediate and outraged. What is Simon & Schuster — reputable, legitimate book publisher Simon & Schuster — doing giving money to the guy who declared his birthday World Patriarchy Day? (“If you have female employees, refer to them exclusively as ‘darling.’ All day.”) The guy who received a lifetime ban from Twitter for inciting a mob into sending racist, misogynistic, threatening, and generally hateful tweets to Leslie Jones? The guy whose publication history includes such gems as “Science Proves It: Fat-Shaming Works” and “Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy”?
The Chicago Review of Books vowed not to review a single Simon & Schuster book in 2017. The Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Karen Hunter, who publishes with Simon & Schuster, tweeted that she was “rethinking” her relationship with the company. Prominent progressives like Washington Post journalist Wesley Lowery promised to boycott Simon & Schuster books.
In response to this disgusting validation of hate, we will not cover a single @simonschuster book in 2017. https://t.co/NAJhTgdeyX — Chicago Rev of Books (@bookschicago) December 29, 2016
The surprise and outrage that greeted the Yiannopoulos news reflects the fact that book deals like his are unusual — right now, anyway. But as the Republican Party and conservative thought evolve in the Age of Trump, such deals are likely to grow increasingly common.
Most of the so-called Big Five publishing houses who make up the core of American book publishing have at least one imprint devoted to publishing right-wing authors. Although its writers might not always receive the awards or accolades afforded to liberal writers and non-political novelists, the niche of conservative book publishing has become an enormous money-maker — one that's flourished in the last decade especially. And as alt-right discourse becomes increasingly normalized within the conservative political sphere, there is every reason to think that figures like Yiannopoulos will continue to get major book deals.
Publishing 101: The Big Five houses are made up of imprints
To understand publishing’s right-wing imprints, first you have to understand how modern American book publishing is organized.
American trade book publishing is dominated by five publishing houses, known as the Big Five: Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster. Of these, Penguin Random House is the biggest, Macmillan is the smallest, and Simon & Schuster sits comfortably in the middle.
Together, these five publishing houses make up over 80 percent of the US trade publishing market share — meaning that they produce over 80 percent of the kinds of general-interest books that get sold in Barnes & Noble. The remainder is published by smaller independent presses, and those independent presses usually have specific areas of specialty. But the Big Five houses don’t need to specialize, because they can do that on an imprint level instead of a company level.
Each of the Big Five houses is made up of smaller imprints, each with its own distinct brand identity. Penguin Random House includes under its roof such imprints as Knopf, which publishes prestigious literary authors like Toni Morrison and Kazuo Ishiguro; Firebird, which publishes sci-fi and fantasy for young adults; and Clarkson Potter, which publishes cookbooks and self-help books.
Generally, the imprints of a particular publishing house will share certain parts of each other’s infrastructure — things like printing and distribution, maybe a sales force. They’ll sometimes be clumped together into “publishing groups,” which might share a marketing and publicity team. But no matter what, the editorial side of each imprint is independent. Toni Morrison’s editor and Ina Garten’s editor both work for Penguin Random House, but there’s no reason they would ever need to talk or come into contact with each other. They’re in totally different areas.
Imprints operate like independent fiefdoms
There are a lot of benefits for publishers in keeping these imprints editorially distinct. For one thing, it makes it easier to acquire an imprint. The Big Five houses often expand by buying up existing independent imprints or by merging — as Penguin and Random House, formerly independent entities, did in 2013 — and promising each imprint editorial freedom helps smooth over those transactions.
For another thing, it makes it easier for each book find its designated reader. The person buying Toni Morrison’s book is not necessarily in the market for Ina Garten’s book, so the publishing team for Toni Morrison has one set of skills and priorities, and the publishing team for Ina Garten has another. The stuff they have in common — for instance, both books need to be printed, warehoused, and distributed — they can share.
Having a diverse group of imprints is also good for company stability. If one imprint is having an off year, another can compensate. And ideally, if one imprint is having a very good year, everyone else can benefit as well. 50 Shades of Grey was published by the Penguin Random House imprint Vintage Books, but when it sold 60 million copies in 2012, everyone working at what was then just Random House (pre-Penguin merger) got a $5,000 Christmas bonus, not just Vintage employees.
But looking in from the outside, things get confusing. As you’ve probably gathered by now, publishing houses often share names with some of their groups and some of their imprints, which means that it gets complicated to distinguish between them. For instance, Penguin Random House is the home of the Penguin Publishing Group, which includes Penguin Books, Penguin Classics, and Penguin Press, each of which does different things. It’s also the home of the Random House publishing group (the official title is just Random House, which seems willfully confusing), which includes the Random House imprint, familiarly known as Little Random. These groups and imprints are just small parts of a much larger company, but the names obscure that fact.
So when we say that Milo Yiannopoulos has a book deal with Simon & Schuster, that’s technically true. But he doesn’t have a book deal with Simon & Schuster, the prestigious imprint that publishes people like Bret Easton Ellis, Dave Eggers, and Hillary Clinton. He has a book deal with Simon & Schuster, the publishing house that includes such imprints as Enliven (New Age books) and Jeter Publishing, the official publishing imprint of New York Yankee Derek Jeter.
Specifically, Yiannopoulos has a book deal with Threshold Editions, the designated right-wing imprint for Simon & Schuster.
Threshold Editions is a welcoming home for the pundits of Fox News
Threshold Editions wears its political affiliations on its sleeve. Currently wrapping up its 10-year anniversary celebrations, it has adopted the oddly bitter anniversary motto “10 Years of Being Right.” It counts among its authors Dick Cheney, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and President-elect Donald Trump. In its mission statement, it declares that it exists to “provide a forum for the creative people, bedrock principles, and innovative ideas of contemporary conservatism.”
And for the most part, that’s more or less what it does. Trump postures about his policy plans. Cheney explains why we should go back to his policies. Glenn Beck gets invective on his pet issues, like education (the federal government should get out of it), and so-called Islamic extremism (he thinks violence is inherent to Islamic teachings). Ben Shapiro explains how the media is controlled by a liberal conspiracy. The occasional lay historian gets sentimental about a dead president or two. None of it is particularly intellectually rigorous, but it’s not far away from what you’d hear on, say, Fox News — mostly because most of these authors are regular fixtures on Fox News.
Simon & Schuster isn’t alone in offering these authors a platform for their work. Threshold Editions is just one of the most recent Big Five imprints created specifically to give right-wing authors a platform.
Conservative imprints are a relatively new addition to trade publishing
The idea of specifically right-wing imprints in the Big Five houses is a relatively new one. For years, the only major player in the conservative publishing field was Regnery Books, a Washington-based press founded in 1947. Most of the big-league conservative authors have published at least one book with Regnery — Trump, Ann Coulter, Dinesh D’Souza, Newt Gingrich, and all the rest. It had some competition from The Free Press, the academic/trade crossover imprint that migrated from Macmillan to Simon & Schuster and specialized in scholarly conservative thought before it was absorbed into Simon & Schuster’s flagship imprint in 2012, but otherwise, the Big Five houses stayed away from conservative publishing.
But then, in the early ’00s, Fox News started churning out right-wing pundits with what publishers call built-in platforms: They had audiences who cared about their thoughts and opinions, and were willing to spend money to hear more of them. As those pundits’ books became reliable players on the New York Times bestseller list, the publishers who made up what was then the Big Six decided that it was time for them to join the game, the New York Times reported in 2010.
Random House, at the time independent from Penguin and the largest publisher in the Big Six, kicked off the trend with Crown Forum. Founded in 2002, the same year that Fox News became the top-rated cable news channel, it publishes Ann Coulter’s books alongside titles like Enhanced Interrogation. (Waterboarding: worth it if you do it right!)
Penguin quickly followed suit with Sentinel, founded in 2003, which publishes Mike Huckabee and books like Your Teacher Said What?!: Defending Our Kids from the Liberal Assault on Capitalism.
The smaller Simon & Schuster prudently waited a few years before diving into the burgeoning conservative-imprint field. But as it became clear that major New York trade publishing houses could make money from conservative voices just as well as niche political presses in Washington could, it jumped. It established Threshold Editions in 2006.
And from 2010 to 2013, HarperCollins had Broadside Books, which published books like Eco-Fascists: How Radical Conservationists Are Destroying Our Natural Heritage and Why ObamaCare is Wrong for America: How the New Health Care Law Drives Up Costs, Puts Government in Charge of Your Decisions, and Threatens Your Constitutional Rights. Broadside Books, which branded itself as the intellectual pinnacle of conservative publishing — the William F. Buckley to the other imprints’ Sean Hannity — is still listed on HarperCollins’s imprints page, but it has no homepage of its own, and its Twitter page hasn't been updated since 2013. HarperCollins did not reply to my questions about Broadside Books’ current status, but if it is now defunct (and all the evidence suggests that it is), then it was the only one of the Big Five conservative imprints to collapse.
The imprints that survived were all built specifically to appeal to conservative readers, but not out of any high-minded ideas about celebrating the great American belief in free speech for all, or out of deep commitment on the part of the publishing CEOs to conservative values. These imprints were established because conservative readers have demonstrated that they can put a book on the best-seller list, and the Big Five houses are in the business of trying to publish bestsellers. These imprints are cogs in a money-making machine.
And as conservatism evolves in the Age of Trump, these imprints are going to change with it in order to keep churning out books that sell.
Milo Yiannopoulos represents something new in conservative trade publishing
Milo Yiannopoulos is not a run-of-the-mill conservative thinker. His brand is ostensibly a winking, provocative, speaking-truth-to-power punk rock ethos — hence the title of his forthcoming book, Dangerous. But that image only rings true if you think that women, people of color, trans people, and other historically disenfranchised people have too much power over white cis men and need to be put in their place.
That is what Yiannopoulos believes deeply. And while many more mainstream conservative thinkers would agree with him that liberals have a stranglehold on the culture and bully those who disagree with them, Yiannopoulos’s tactics are extreme even by their standards.
He is scheduled to give a talk at Stanford on “female biological inferiority in science.” He has said that Saudi Arabia’s ban on women drivers is “the one thing” the country got right, because “behind every racist joke is a scientific fact.” He goes to a college campus and says “Feminism is cancer,” and then watches people melt down. His entire thing is to say something hyperbolically offensive that is designed to anger liberals, and then laugh at them when they take it seriously — and then he winks at his followers, so that you can’t quite tell how much he means what he says.
If, as Vox’s Aja Romano has argued, the alt-right knowingly masks sincerely felt ideals with ironic trolling, then Yiannopoulos is a master of the form. He spreads hatred and bigotry under the guise of hipper-than-thou trolling: Obviously he’s posting that swastika ironically, he’ll tell you. Can’t you take a joke? But the swastika is still there, no matter how much Yiannopoulos might posture about how hilarious it is, and it’s still spreading its intended message.
Ben Shapiro, a conservative in the more classic mold, cannot stand him. “If I can’t tell the difference between your ironic tweet and [Ku Klux Klan leader] David Duke’s, that’s your fault,” Shapiro told Bloomberg News. “He’s not making fun of racism. It’s clown nose on, clown nose off. It’s basic teenage bullshit by someone who is immature.”
Shapiro is an instructive figure because he is, in many ways, a more conventional mirror to Yiannopoulos. Like Yiannopoulos, Shapiro is published at Threshold Editions, where he wrote a book alleging that the left is strangling free speech — incidentally, the same general topic that Dangerous is slated to cover. He and Yiannopoulos briefly overlapped as writers for the right-wing website Breitbart before Shapiro left — in protest, Bloomberg News says, of its transition from far-right (more traditionally conservative) to alt-right (neo-Nazis). It’s a transition in which Yiannopoulos is considered to have been instrumental.
Now, Yiannopoulos is leading the same transition in conservative book publishing. Threshold Editions still thinks of itself as a place for the familiar Ben Shapiros of the world, but it’s also making room for the world’s Milo Yiannopouloses: for the people who perform their politics through trolling and hate speech.
“This book is the moment Milo goes mainstream”
Milo Yiannopoulos is a hateful person who has built a career on bigotry, but it is not hard to see why an editor at a right-wing publishing imprint might think it would be a good idea to sign him. He is loud, he has a loyal army of followers, and he knows how to get people’s attention. He has that all-important built-in platform.
All of that equals press attention — such as the flurry of articles the book deal prompted, including this one — and press attention usually means increased book sales. In Yiannopoulos’s case, it seems to have worked. Dangerous is currently a best-seller on Amazon.
And Yiannopoulos is a creature of the internet, which makes him attractive to an industry still trying to figure out how to survive in the digital era. In a time when YA publishers are encouraged to sign YouTube stars and see if their teen fans can be cajoled into buying books, an author who is fluent in the internet and its ways is a godsend.
But most importantly, he looks like a very possible future of the Republican party in the age of Trump. The white supremacists of the so-called alt right are ascendant right now, taking cushy White House appointments and featuring in swooning fashion profiles, and Yiannopoulos is part of their vanguard. It makes sense that an editor would make that kind of calculation and decide to bring him on.
But in identifying Yiannopoulos as a possible future of conservative thought, Threshold Editions is caught in a cycle. Because by giving him a book deal, they’re not looking at a figure who is already considered culturally legitimate and giving him another platform for his thoughts. They’re looking at a figure who is reviled in some corners of the culture and adored in others — a kind of threshold figure — and they are saying that they consider him to be legitimate. They are not just describing; they are prescribing. They have decided that Yiannopoulos seems like someone who is about to be mainstream, and so they have brought him into the mainstream themselves. When Yiannopoulos told the Hollywood Reporter that “this book is the moment Milo goes mainstream,” he was being entirely accurate.
And having brought in one Milo Yiannopoulos, it will be increasingly easy to bring in another, and then another, until all of the hatred and all of the rage of the white supremacists and misogynists and bigots on the alt-right is considered a valid part of the cultural discourse, and just another strain of thought, as legitimate as any other. It will become normal.
The imprint model means that boycotting Simon & Schuster is both difficult and ineffective
Normalizing the alt-right is incredibly dangerous, but that doesn’t mean that a boycott of Simon & Schuster is necessarily the best solution to this problem. It all goes back to that all-important imprint model.
Simon & Schuster is the home of Threshold Editions, and it is set to make a great deal of money by legitimizing and mainstreaming Milo Yiannopoulos and his hatred. But it is also the home of imprints like Salaam Reads, a Muslim-themed children’s imprint that was established with the laudable goal “to introduce readers of all faiths and backgrounds to a wide variety of Muslim children and families, and offer Muslim kids an opportunity to see themselves reflected positively in published works.” In its eponymous imprint, it publishes explicitly progressive authors like Rebecca Traister and E.J. Dionne.
That’s the basic business model of the Big Five: Publish as much as possible, as widely as possible, but keep different kinds of thinking and writing siloed off in different imprints to avoid diluting anyone’s brand. Simon & Schuster can found a new imprint dedicated to positive depictions of Muslim children in the same year that it publishes Glenn Beck’s book about how violence is inherent to Islamic teachings, and none of the people at the top will consider anything about that fact remotely contradictory. That’s just the way the business is set up, because conservative money spends just as well as progressive money.
And the imprint model makes a boycott difficult on two levels. For one thing, a would-be boycotter can’t just refuse to buy any book that has “Simon & Schuster” printed on its spine. He or she would have to keep track of which imprints Simon & Schuster owns, and any imprints they might acquire or establish in the near future.
For another thing, if progressives boycott Simon & Schuster, it’s not clear that the company will get any message from that action beyond the fact that their progressive books aren’t selling as well as they used to, but there seems to be real money in the conservative books. The imprint model’s built-in stability means that a boycott will probably not hurt the house as a whole, but it may well hurt the imprints designed to reach progressive audiences.
If progressives really want to undermine the increasing visibility of alt-right figures like Yiannopoulos, a blanket boycott of Simon & Schuster is most likely going to be counterproductive. A better response would be supporting progressive writers and writers of color and the imprints that promote them, to amplify voices that are too often undermined and ignored.
Update: This article has been updated to include the Free Press’s role in the history of conservative trade publishing, and to note that 50 Shades of Gray was published by Vintage Books, not Doubleday. ||||| Simon & Schuster UK will not join its US counterpart in publishing a book by controversial right-wing figure Milo Yiannopoulos.
Simon & Schuster UK will not join its US counterpart in publishing a book by controversial right-wing figure Milo Yiannopoulos.
A spokesperson told The Bookseller that the UK division of S&S has no plans to publish the autobiographical book, entitled Dangerous.
Yiannopoulos is an editor at Breitbart News, known as a publisher of “alt-right” articles, and was a vocal supporter of Donald Trump in the run-up to the presidential elections. He was banned from Twitter last year after allegedly encouraging people to abuse actress Leslie Jones on the social media platform.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, which broke the news of the deal, Yiannopoulos was paid $250,000 for the book, which will be published by Threshold Editions, an imprint of Simon & Schuster in the US.
Yiannopoulos told the magazine: "I met with top execs at Simon & Schuster earlier in the year and spent half an hour trying to shock them with lewd jokes and outrageous opinions. I thought they were going to have me escorted from the building — but instead they offered me a wheelbarrow full of money.
"Every line of attack the forces of political correctness try on me fails pathetically. I'm more powerful, more influential and more fabulous than ever before, and this book is the moment Milo goes mainstream. Social justice warriors should be scared — very scared.”
The book is scheduled for release in March 2017 and is already number one in Amazon.com’s political commentary and opinion rankings.
S&S US’s decision has met with widespread criticism, including from Jones, who said the publisher is helping to spread hate.
However, S&S US has defended its decision to publish the book, saying it will be about free speech and adding that it does "not condone discrimination or hate speech".
“We have always published books by a wide range of authors with greatly varying, and frequently controversial opinions,” Simon & Schuster said, asking readers to “withhold judgment until they have had a chance to read the actual contents of the book”.
Last month the publisher’s c.e.o. Carolyn Reidy said it was S&S' "responsibility" both to "resist censorship" and "to stand unequivocally for freedom of speech"-"no matter how difficult that might be at times".
"As we head into 2017, we can expect that our civic and cultural life will remain turbulent," Reidy said in an end of year message to staff. "In these times it is especially important to remember that as publishers we will always endeavor to give voice to a wide range of opinions and divergent viewpoints. We publish for many different and frequently conflicting audiences, and must be fully cognizant of our responsibility to resist censorship and stand unequivocally for freedom of speech." ||||| Writers protesting at their publisher's $250,000 advance to outspoken “alt-right” figure Milo Yiannopoulos for his autobiography are threatening to find someone else to sell their work.
The publisher's Simon & Schuster's conservative imprint Threshold Editions offered the deal in December.
Earlier in the year, Mr Yiannopoulos, the tech editor of Breitbart News and a prominent supporter of Donald Trump, was banned from Twitter for allegedly encouraging a bombardment of abusive tweets towards Ghostbusters actress Leslie Jones.
The book, entitled Dangerous, is due to be released in March and has already been propelled to number two on Amazon’s overall bestseller list.
Black American television writer and author Danielle Henderson, whose memoir is due out from Simon & Schuster next year, tweeted: “I’m looking at my @simonschuster contract, and unfortunately there’s no clause for ‘what if we decide to publish a white nationalist.’”
Karen Hunter, a black US radio talk show host and bestselling author, said that she was “rethinking” her relationship with the publisher.
I am rethinking my relationship with @simonschuster #Milo — Karen Hunter (@karenhunter) December 29, 2016
The Chicago Review of Books called the decision to publish his book “a disgusting validation of hate” and announced that it would not review any of Simon & Schuster’s titles this year.
The US branch of Simon & Schuster defended the controversial move with a statement on Twitter: “We do not and have never condoned discrimination or hate speech in any form.
“While we are cognizant that many may disagree vehemently with the books we publish we note that the opinions expressed therein belong to our authors, and do not reflect either a corporate viewpoint or the views of our employees.
Mr Yiannopoulos previously said: "I met with top execs at Simon & Schuster earlier in the year and spent half an hour trying to shock them with lewd jokes and outrageous opinions. I thought they were going to have me escorted from the building — but instead they offered me a wheelbarrow full of money.
"I’m more powerful, more influential and more fabulous than ever before, and this book is the moment Milo goes mainstream. Social justice warriors should be scared — very scared.”
Simon & Schuster's UK branch yesterday told The Bookseller it will not publish the autobiography. It has not yet responded to the Standard's request for comment. | – Milo Yiannopoulos was allegedly behind the racist and sexist harassment of Leslie Jones on Twitter, and now the controversial Breitbart editor has a book deal. Jones isn't letting that fact slip by quietly. After publisher Simon & Schster released a statement defending the deal from the backlash that ensued, insisting the company does not condone "discrimination or hate speech" but is committed to publishing "a wide range of authors," Jones tweeted, "Yea but you still help them spread their hate to even more people." Meanwhile, the uproar over Yiannopoulos' book deal continues elsewhere—the Evening Standard has rounded up authors who've spoken out against it, and a representative of Simon & Schuster UK tells the Bookseller that division won't be publishing the book. Over at Vox, Constance Grady attempts to explain the book deal: Yiannopoulos may be "a leader of the racist, misogynist far-right fringe movement known as the alt-right, who built his career on being hateful to people on the internet and has been described as a professional troll and the leader of an online hate mob," but there's money—increasing amounts of money—in the conservative book market. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Milo Yiannopoulos — a leader of the racist, misogynist far-right fringe movement known as the alt-right, who built his career on being hateful to people on the internet and has been described as a professional troll and the leader of an online hate mob — recently signed a book deal with Simon & Schuster imprint Threshold Editions for a reported $250,000 advance, says the Hollywood Reporter.
The response from progressives was immediate and outraged. What is Simon & Schuster — reputable, legitimate book publisher Simon & Schuster — doing giving money to the guy who declared his birthday World Patriarchy Day? (“If you have female employees, refer to them exclusively as ‘darling.’ All day.”) The guy who received a lifetime ban from Twitter for inciting a mob into sending racist, misogynistic, threatening, and generally hateful tweets to Leslie Jones? The guy whose publication history includes such gems as “Science Proves It: Fat-Shaming Works” and “Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy”?
The Chicago Review of Books vowed not to review a single Simon & Schuster book in 2017. The Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Karen Hunter, who publishes with Simon & Schuster, tweeted that she was “rethinking” her relationship with the company. Prominent progressives like Washington Post journalist Wesley Lowery promised to boycott Simon & Schuster books.
In response to this disgusting validation of hate, we will not cover a single @simonschuster book in 2017. https://t.co/NAJhTgdeyX — Chicago Rev of Books (@bookschicago) December 29, 2016
The surprise and outrage that greeted the Yiannopoulos news reflects the fact that book deals like his are unusual — right now, anyway. But as the Republican Party and conservative thought evolve in the Age of Trump, such deals are likely to grow increasingly common.
Most of the so-called Big Five publishing houses who make up the core of American book publishing have at least one imprint devoted to publishing right-wing authors. Although its writers might not always receive the awards or accolades afforded to liberal writers and non-political novelists, the niche of conservative book publishing has become an enormous money-maker — one that's flourished in the last decade especially. And as alt-right discourse becomes increasingly normalized within the conservative political sphere, there is every reason to think that figures like Yiannopoulos will continue to get major book deals.
Publishing 101: The Big Five houses are made up of imprints
To understand publishing’s right-wing imprints, first you have to understand how modern American book publishing is organized.
American trade book publishing is dominated by five publishing houses, known as the Big Five: Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster. Of these, Penguin Random House is the biggest, Macmillan is the smallest, and Simon & Schuster sits comfortably in the middle.
Together, these five publishing houses make up over 80 percent of the US trade publishing market share — meaning that they produce over 80 percent of the kinds of general-interest books that get sold in Barnes & Noble. The remainder is published by smaller independent presses, and those independent presses usually have specific areas of specialty. But the Big Five houses don’t need to specialize, because they can do that on an imprint level instead of a company level.
Each of the Big Five houses is made up of smaller imprints, each with its own distinct brand identity. Penguin Random House includes under its roof such imprints as Knopf, which publishes prestigious literary authors like Toni Morrison and Kazuo Ishiguro; Firebird, which publishes sci-fi and fantasy for young adults; and Clarkson Potter, which publishes cookbooks and self-help books.
Generally, the imprints of a particular publishing house will share certain parts of each other’s infrastructure — things like printing and distribution, maybe a sales force. They’ll sometimes be clumped together into “publishing groups,” which might share a marketing and publicity team. But no matter what, the editorial side of each imprint is independent. Toni Morrison’s editor and Ina Garten’s editor both work for Penguin Random House, but there’s no reason they would ever need to talk or come into contact with each other. They’re in totally different areas.
Imprints operate like independent fiefdoms
There are a lot of benefits for publishers in keeping these imprints editorially distinct. For one thing, it makes it easier to acquire an imprint. The Big Five houses often expand by buying up existing independent imprints or by merging — as Penguin and Random House, formerly independent entities, did in 2013 — and promising each imprint editorial freedom helps smooth over those transactions.
For another thing, it makes it easier for each book find its designated reader. The person buying Toni Morrison’s book is not necessarily in the market for Ina Garten’s book, so the publishing team for Toni Morrison has one set of skills and priorities, and the publishing team for Ina Garten has another. The stuff they have in common — for instance, both books need to be printed, warehoused, and distributed — they can share.
Having a diverse group of imprints is also good for company stability. If one imprint is having an off year, another can compensate. And ideally, if one imprint is having a very good year, everyone else can benefit as well. 50 Shades of Grey was published by the Penguin Random House imprint Vintage Books, but when it sold 60 million copies in 2012, everyone working at what was then just Random House (pre-Penguin merger) got a $5,000 Christmas bonus, not just Vintage employees.
But looking in from the outside, things get confusing. As you’ve probably gathered by now, publishing houses often share names with some of their groups and some of their imprints, which means that it gets complicated to distinguish between them. For instance, Penguin Random House is the home of the Penguin Publishing Group, which includes Penguin Books, Penguin Classics, and Penguin Press, each of which does different things. It’s also the home of the Random House publishing group (the official title is just Random House, which seems willfully confusing), which includes the Random House imprint, familiarly known as Little Random. These groups and imprints are just small parts of a much larger company, but the names obscure that fact.
So when we say that Milo Yiannopoulos has a book deal with Simon & Schuster, that’s technically true. But he doesn’t have a book deal with Simon & Schuster, the prestigious imprint that publishes people like Bret Easton Ellis, Dave Eggers, and Hillary Clinton. He has a book deal with Simon & Schuster, the publishing house that includes such imprints as Enliven (New Age books) and Jeter Publishing, the official publishing imprint of New York Yankee Derek Jeter.
Specifically, Yiannopoulos has a book deal with Threshold Editions, the designated right-wing imprint for Simon & Schuster.
Threshold Editions is a welcoming home for the pundits of Fox News
Threshold Editions wears its political affiliations on its sleeve. Currently wrapping up its 10-year anniversary celebrations, it has adopted the oddly bitter anniversary motto “10 Years of Being Right.” It counts among its authors Dick Cheney, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and President-elect Donald Trump. In its mission statement, it declares that it exists to “provide a forum for the creative people, bedrock principles, and innovative ideas of contemporary conservatism.”
And for the most part, that’s more or less what it does. Trump postures about his policy plans. Cheney explains why we should go back to his policies. Glenn Beck gets invective on his pet issues, like education (the federal government should get out of it), and so-called Islamic extremism (he thinks violence is inherent to Islamic teachings). Ben Shapiro explains how the media is controlled by a liberal conspiracy. The occasional lay historian gets sentimental about a dead president or two. None of it is particularly intellectually rigorous, but it’s not far away from what you’d hear on, say, Fox News — mostly because most of these authors are regular fixtures on Fox News.
Simon & Schuster isn’t alone in offering these authors a platform for their work. Threshold Editions is just one of the most recent Big Five imprints created specifically to give right-wing authors a platform.
Conservative imprints are a relatively new addition to trade publishing
The idea of specifically right-wing imprints in the Big Five houses is a relatively new one. For years, the only major player in the conservative publishing field was Regnery Books, a Washington-based press founded in 1947. Most of the big-league conservative authors have published at least one book with Regnery — Trump, Ann Coulter, Dinesh D’Souza, Newt Gingrich, and all the rest. It had some competition from The Free Press, the academic/trade crossover imprint that migrated from Macmillan to Simon & Schuster and specialized in scholarly conservative thought before it was absorbed into Simon & Schuster’s flagship imprint in 2012, but otherwise, the Big Five houses stayed away from conservative publishing.
But then, in the early ’00s, Fox News started churning out right-wing pundits with what publishers call built-in platforms: They had audiences who cared about their thoughts and opinions, and were willing to spend money to hear more of them. As those pundits’ books became reliable players on the New York Times bestseller list, the publishers who made up what was then the Big Six decided that it was time for them to join the game, the New York Times reported in 2010.
Random House, at the time independent from Penguin and the largest publisher in the Big Six, kicked off the trend with Crown Forum. Founded in 2002, the same year that Fox News became the top-rated cable news channel, it publishes Ann Coulter’s books alongside titles like Enhanced Interrogation. (Waterboarding: worth it if you do it right!)
Penguin quickly followed suit with Sentinel, founded in 2003, which publishes Mike Huckabee and books like Your Teacher Said What?!: Defending Our Kids from the Liberal Assault on Capitalism.
The smaller Simon & Schuster prudently waited a few years before diving into the burgeoning conservative-imprint field. But as it became clear that major New York trade publishing houses could make money from conservative voices just as well as niche political presses in Washington could, it jumped. It established Threshold Editions in 2006.
And from 2010 to 2013, HarperCollins had Broadside Books, which published books like Eco-Fascists: How Radical Conservationists Are Destroying Our Natural Heritage and Why ObamaCare is Wrong for America: How the New Health Care Law Drives Up Costs, Puts Government in Charge of Your Decisions, and Threatens Your Constitutional Rights. Broadside Books, which branded itself as the intellectual pinnacle of conservative publishing — the William F. Buckley to the other imprints’ Sean Hannity — is still listed on HarperCollins’s imprints page, but it has no homepage of its own, and its Twitter page hasn't been updated since 2013. HarperCollins did not reply to my questions about Broadside Books’ current status, but if it is now defunct (and all the evidence suggests that it is), then it was the only one of the Big Five conservative imprints to collapse.
The imprints that survived were all built specifically to appeal to conservative readers, but not out of any high-minded ideas about celebrating the great American belief in free speech for all, or out of deep commitment on the part of the publishing CEOs to conservative values. These imprints were established because conservative readers have demonstrated that they can put a book on the best-seller list, and the Big Five houses are in the business of trying to publish bestsellers. These imprints are cogs in a money-making machine.
And as conservatism evolves in the Age of Trump, these imprints are going to change with it in order to keep churning out books that sell.
Milo Yiannopoulos represents something new in conservative trade publishing
Milo Yiannopoulos is not a run-of-the-mill conservative thinker. His brand is ostensibly a winking, provocative, speaking-truth-to-power punk rock ethos — hence the title of his forthcoming book, Dangerous. But that image only rings true if you think that women, people of color, trans people, and other historically disenfranchised people have too much power over white cis men and need to be put in their place.
That is what Yiannopoulos believes deeply. And while many more mainstream conservative thinkers would agree with him that liberals have a stranglehold on the culture and bully those who disagree with them, Yiannopoulos’s tactics are extreme even by their standards.
He is scheduled to give a talk at Stanford on “female biological inferiority in science.” He has said that Saudi Arabia’s ban on women drivers is “the one thing” the country got right, because “behind every racist joke is a scientific fact.” He goes to a college campus and says “Feminism is cancer,” and then watches people melt down. His entire thing is to say something hyperbolically offensive that is designed to anger liberals, and then laugh at them when they take it seriously — and then he winks at his followers, so that you can’t quite tell how much he means what he says.
If, as Vox’s Aja Romano has argued, the alt-right knowingly masks sincerely felt ideals with ironic trolling, then Yiannopoulos is a master of the form. He spreads hatred and bigotry under the guise of hipper-than-thou trolling: Obviously he’s posting that swastika ironically, he’ll tell you. Can’t you take a joke? But the swastika is still there, no matter how much Yiannopoulos might posture about how hilarious it is, and it’s still spreading its intended message.
Ben Shapiro, a conservative in the more classic mold, cannot stand him. “If I can’t tell the difference between your ironic tweet and [Ku Klux Klan leader] David Duke’s, that’s your fault,” Shapiro told Bloomberg News. “He’s not making fun of racism. It’s clown nose on, clown nose off. It’s basic teenage bullshit by someone who is immature.”
Shapiro is an instructive figure because he is, in many ways, a more conventional mirror to Yiannopoulos. Like Yiannopoulos, Shapiro is published at Threshold Editions, where he wrote a book alleging that the left is strangling free speech — incidentally, the same general topic that Dangerous is slated to cover. He and Yiannopoulos briefly overlapped as writers for the right-wing website Breitbart before Shapiro left — in protest, Bloomberg News says, of its transition from far-right (more traditionally conservative) to alt-right (neo-Nazis). It’s a transition in which Yiannopoulos is considered to have been instrumental.
Now, Yiannopoulos is leading the same transition in conservative book publishing. Threshold Editions still thinks of itself as a place for the familiar Ben Shapiros of the world, but it’s also making room for the world’s Milo Yiannopouloses: for the people who perform their politics through trolling and hate speech.
“This book is the moment Milo goes mainstream”
Milo Yiannopoulos is a hateful person who has built a career on bigotry, but it is not hard to see why an editor at a right-wing publishing imprint might think it would be a good idea to sign him. He is loud, he has a loyal army of followers, and he knows how to get people’s attention. He has that all-important built-in platform.
All of that equals press attention — such as the flurry of articles the book deal prompted, including this one — and press attention usually means increased book sales. In Yiannopoulos’s case, it seems to have worked. Dangerous is currently a best-seller on Amazon.
And Yiannopoulos is a creature of the internet, which makes him attractive to an industry still trying to figure out how to survive in the digital era. In a time when YA publishers are encouraged to sign YouTube stars and see if their teen fans can be cajoled into buying books, an author who is fluent in the internet and its ways is a godsend.
But most importantly, he looks like a very possible future of the Republican party in the age of Trump. The white supremacists of the so-called alt right are ascendant right now, taking cushy White House appointments and featuring in swooning fashion profiles, and Yiannopoulos is part of their vanguard. It makes sense that an editor would make that kind of calculation and decide to bring him on.
But in identifying Yiannopoulos as a possible future of conservative thought, Threshold Editions is caught in a cycle. Because by giving him a book deal, they’re not looking at a figure who is already considered culturally legitimate and giving him another platform for his thoughts. They’re looking at a figure who is reviled in some corners of the culture and adored in others — a kind of threshold figure — and they are saying that they consider him to be legitimate. They are not just describing; they are prescribing. They have decided that Yiannopoulos seems like someone who is about to be mainstream, and so they have brought him into the mainstream themselves. When Yiannopoulos told the Hollywood Reporter that “this book is the moment Milo goes mainstream,” he was being entirely accurate.
And having brought in one Milo Yiannopoulos, it will be increasingly easy to bring in another, and then another, until all of the hatred and all of the rage of the white supremacists and misogynists and bigots on the alt-right is considered a valid part of the cultural discourse, and just another strain of thought, as legitimate as any other. It will become normal.
The imprint model means that boycotting Simon & Schuster is both difficult and ineffective
Normalizing the alt-right is incredibly dangerous, but that doesn’t mean that a boycott of Simon & Schuster is necessarily the best solution to this problem. It all goes back to that all-important imprint model.
Simon & Schuster is the home of Threshold Editions, and it is set to make a great deal of money by legitimizing and mainstreaming Milo Yiannopoulos and his hatred. But it is also the home of imprints like Salaam Reads, a Muslim-themed children’s imprint that was established with the laudable goal “to introduce readers of all faiths and backgrounds to a wide variety of Muslim children and families, and offer Muslim kids an opportunity to see themselves reflected positively in published works.” In its eponymous imprint, it publishes explicitly progressive authors like Rebecca Traister and E.J. Dionne.
That’s the basic business model of the Big Five: Publish as much as possible, as widely as possible, but keep different kinds of thinking and writing siloed off in different imprints to avoid diluting anyone’s brand. Simon & Schuster can found a new imprint dedicated to positive depictions of Muslim children in the same year that it publishes Glenn Beck’s book about how violence is inherent to Islamic teachings, and none of the people at the top will consider anything about that fact remotely contradictory. That’s just the way the business is set up, because conservative money spends just as well as progressive money.
And the imprint model makes a boycott difficult on two levels. For one thing, a would-be boycotter can’t just refuse to buy any book that has “Simon & Schuster” printed on its spine. He or she would have to keep track of which imprints Simon & Schuster owns, and any imprints they might acquire or establish in the near future.
For another thing, if progressives boycott Simon & Schuster, it’s not clear that the company will get any message from that action beyond the fact that their progressive books aren’t selling as well as they used to, but there seems to be real money in the conservative books. The imprint model’s built-in stability means that a boycott will probably not hurt the house as a whole, but it may well hurt the imprints designed to reach progressive audiences.
If progressives really want to undermine the increasing visibility of alt-right figures like Yiannopoulos, a blanket boycott of Simon & Schuster is most likely going to be counterproductive. A better response would be supporting progressive writers and writers of color and the imprints that promote them, to amplify voices that are too often undermined and ignored.
Update: This article has been updated to include the Free Press’s role in the history of conservative trade publishing, and to note that 50 Shades of Gray was published by Vintage Books, not Doubleday. ||||| Simon & Schuster UK will not join its US counterpart in publishing a book by controversial right-wing figure Milo Yiannopoulos.
Simon & Schuster UK will not join its US counterpart in publishing a book by controversial right-wing figure Milo Yiannopoulos.
A spokesperson told The Bookseller that the UK division of S&S has no plans to publish the autobiographical book, entitled Dangerous.
Yiannopoulos is an editor at Breitbart News, known as a publisher of “alt-right” articles, and was a vocal supporter of Donald Trump in the run-up to the presidential elections. He was banned from Twitter last year after allegedly encouraging people to abuse actress Leslie Jones on the social media platform.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, which broke the news of the deal, Yiannopoulos was paid $250,000 for the book, which will be published by Threshold Editions, an imprint of Simon & Schuster in the US.
Yiannopoulos told the magazine: "I met with top execs at Simon & Schuster earlier in the year and spent half an hour trying to shock them with lewd jokes and outrageous opinions. I thought they were going to have me escorted from the building — but instead they offered me a wheelbarrow full of money.
"Every line of attack the forces of political correctness try on me fails pathetically. I'm more powerful, more influential and more fabulous than ever before, and this book is the moment Milo goes mainstream. Social justice warriors should be scared — very scared.”
The book is scheduled for release in March 2017 and is already number one in Amazon.com’s political commentary and opinion rankings.
S&S US’s decision has met with widespread criticism, including from Jones, who said the publisher is helping to spread hate.
However, S&S US has defended its decision to publish the book, saying it will be about free speech and adding that it does "not condone discrimination or hate speech".
“We have always published books by a wide range of authors with greatly varying, and frequently controversial opinions,” Simon & Schuster said, asking readers to “withhold judgment until they have had a chance to read the actual contents of the book”.
Last month the publisher’s c.e.o. Carolyn Reidy said it was S&S' "responsibility" both to "resist censorship" and "to stand unequivocally for freedom of speech"-"no matter how difficult that might be at times".
"As we head into 2017, we can expect that our civic and cultural life will remain turbulent," Reidy said in an end of year message to staff. "In these times it is especially important to remember that as publishers we will always endeavor to give voice to a wide range of opinions and divergent viewpoints. We publish for many different and frequently conflicting audiences, and must be fully cognizant of our responsibility to resist censorship and stand unequivocally for freedom of speech." ||||| Writers protesting at their publisher's $250,000 advance to outspoken “alt-right” figure Milo Yiannopoulos for his autobiography are threatening to find someone else to sell their work.
The publisher's Simon & Schuster's conservative imprint Threshold Editions offered the deal in December.
Earlier in the year, Mr Yiannopoulos, the tech editor of Breitbart News and a prominent supporter of Donald Trump, was banned from Twitter for allegedly encouraging a bombardment of abusive tweets towards Ghostbusters actress Leslie Jones.
The book, entitled Dangerous, is due to be released in March and has already been propelled to number two on Amazon’s overall bestseller list.
Black American television writer and author Danielle Henderson, whose memoir is due out from Simon & Schuster next year, tweeted: “I’m looking at my @simonschuster contract, and unfortunately there’s no clause for ‘what if we decide to publish a white nationalist.’”
Karen Hunter, a black US radio talk show host and bestselling author, said that she was “rethinking” her relationship with the publisher.
I am rethinking my relationship with @simonschuster #Milo — Karen Hunter (@karenhunter) December 29, 2016
The Chicago Review of Books called the decision to publish his book “a disgusting validation of hate” and announced that it would not review any of Simon & Schuster’s titles this year.
The US branch of Simon & Schuster defended the controversial move with a statement on Twitter: “We do not and have never condoned discrimination or hate speech in any form.
“While we are cognizant that many may disagree vehemently with the books we publish we note that the opinions expressed therein belong to our authors, and do not reflect either a corporate viewpoint or the views of our employees.
Mr Yiannopoulos previously said: "I met with top execs at Simon & Schuster earlier in the year and spent half an hour trying to shock them with lewd jokes and outrageous opinions. I thought they were going to have me escorted from the building — but instead they offered me a wheelbarrow full of money.
"I’m more powerful, more influential and more fabulous than ever before, and this book is the moment Milo goes mainstream. Social justice warriors should be scared — very scared.”
Simon & Schuster's UK branch yesterday told The Bookseller it will not publish the autobiography. It has not yet responded to the Standard's request for comment. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 32,219 |
Grimm is charged with engaging in schemes to underreport wages for workers, including some who were in the country illegally, at an Upper East fast-food restaurant he co-owned. He’s accused of concealing more than $1 million in sales and wages.
EXTRA: Read The Full Indictment
“In 2007, Michael Grimm, former Marine, former FBI agent, accountant and attorney, was poised for success as a small business owner,” United States Attorney Loretta Lynch said. “Instead, as alleged, Grimm made the choice to go from upholding the law to breaking it.”
Rep. Michael Grimm In Custody To Face Federal Charges
“As a former FBI agent, Rep. Grimm should understand the motto: fidelity, bravery, and integrity. Yet he broke our credo at nearly every turn,” FBI Assistant Director George Venizelos said in a statement. “In this 20-count indictment, Rep. Grimm lived by a new motto: fraud, perjury, and obstruction.”
The alleged fraud occurred from 2007 to 2010, when authorities said Grimm was one of the owners and the managing member of the restaurant called Healthalicious and oversaw the day-to-day operations of the restaurant.
Prosecutors said during that time, Grimm filed false state and federal tax returns to underreport more than $1 million in sales and wages by concealing gross receipts for cash purchases and paid workers hundreds of thousands of dollars off the books.
“Healthalicious was a small business, and it sold casual food, so many people used cash, and it was this cash that Michael Grimm exploited, making over $1 million simply disappear,” Lynch said. “Grimm took the cash from the register, used part of it to pay the workers off the books, never reporting it to the taxing authorities.”
“When it came to this restaurant, Michael Grimm never met a tax he didn’t lie to evade,” Lynch added.
Authorities also say that when he was deposed by an attorney representing former employees in a lawsuit, Grimm lied under oath about his allegedly fraudulent business practices.
“Rep. Grimm billed himself as a patriot and an American hero,” Venizelos said. “But Rep. Grimm was anything but an upstanding citizen. He cheated, evaded and then lied.”
Grimm is counting on his constituents to support him — people like Robert Ollis. Grimm was with the Ollis family after their son, Army Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis, was killed in Afghanistan last year, Kramer reported.
“He sat and talked to us, told us he was there for us, prayed. He said God would help us,” Robert Ollis said.
Politically, Republican congressman’s future will be determined by the loyalty of his constituents and whether he can beat the charges. As CBS 2’s Kramer reported, the Democrats are salivating, describing his seat as the one they have the best chance nationally of return to their column.
Grimm was elected in 2010 and took office in 2011.
For two years, investigators had been examining his fundraising in the 2010 race and his involvement in the restaurant. A House Ethics Committee announced in November that Grimm was under investigation for possible campaign finance violations.
“From the beginning, the government has pursued a politically driven vendetta against Congressman Grimm and not an independent search for the truth,” Grimm’s attorney, William McGinley, said in a statement Friday. “Congressman Grimm asserts his innocence of any wrongdoing.”
After the House Ethics Committee announced last fall that Grimm was under investigation, the panel said it would defer its inquiry because of a separate Department of Justice investigation.
Grimm made headlines in January after confronting a NY1 reporter who tried to question him about a long-running FBI investigation into campaign finance on a balcony in the Capitol.
After reporter Michael Scotto finished his report, Grimm stormed back, leaned into him and said, “Let me be clear to you. If you ever do that to me again, I’ll throw you off this (expletive) balcony.”
Scotto, who was asking about fundraising during Grimm’s first campaign, protested, saying he was asking “a valid question.”
Grimm later apologized to Scotto, calling it “an unfortunate incident that shouldn’t have happened.”
During the 2010 race, Grimm acknowledged receiving $250,000 to $300,000 in contributions from followers of an Israeli rabbi, Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto.
Some members of Pinto’s congregation subsequently said they made tens of thousands of dollars in illegal contributions, including gifts passed through straw donors.
Grimm has denied knowledge of any improprieties. The Israeli businessman who had served as Grimm’s liaison to Pinto’s followers, Ofer Biton, pleaded guilty in August to an immigration fraud charge.
Three days after that guilty plea, the FBI filed a sealed criminal complaint accusing a Houston woman named Diana Durand, who had been romantically involved with Grimm, of using straw donors to make illegal campaign contributions.
On Friday, Durand was indicted in Brooklyn on those charges. She also was charged with making false statements to the FBI when she said she didn’t reimburse straw donors for their contributions to Grimm’s campaign.
A House member who has been indicted does not lose any rights or privileges under federal law or the chamber’s rules, according to a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.
Rules used by the two major political parties require indicted committee or subcommittee chairmen, or members of a party’s leadership, to temporarily step aside. Grimm is not a chairman or a member of the leadership.
Grimm, whose district covers Brooklyn and Staten Island, was elected in 2010 with 51 percent of the vote.
Check Out These Other Stories From CBSNewYork.com:
(TM and © Copyright 2014 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2014 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.) ||||| Rep. Michael G. Grimm (R-N.Y.) surrendered Monday morning to federal authorities in New York as he faces multiple charges connected to a restaurant business he operated before entering Congress in 2011, according to sources familiar with the long-running probe into the lawmaker’s finances.
Grimm spent much of the weekend hunkered down, bracing for the unveiling of the federal charges, which were due to be disclosed after his surrender. He turned himself in to the FBI at an undisclosed location Monday morning and was taken to Lower Manhattan for processing. The charges stem from his ownership of a Manhattan health-food restaurant that has ties to an Israeli fundraiser who served as a liaison between Grimm and a mystic, celebrity rabbi whose followers donated more than $500,000 to Grimm’s campaign in 2010.
While the investigation has focused on Grimm’s fundraising, U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch is expected to announce an indictment centered on his restaurant business, which Grimm launched after leaving the FBI in 2006, according to officials familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the pending charges.
The state fined the Upper East Side restaurant, Healthalicious, $88,000 for not providing workers compensation. In a lawsuit against the company, workers accused the owners of not paying proper wages and sometimes giving out cash payments to skirt tax and business laws.
It is unclear whether federal prosecutors will eventually expand the charges to encompass Grimm’s campaign activities, but investigators have been moving on that side of the case against several key players, some with ties to the restaurant.
New York FBI spokesman Peter Donald declined to comment.
Healthalicious was run by a Grimm company that was connected to another company affiliated with Israeli fundraiser Ofer Biton. Last August, Biton pleaded guilty to filing false documents in 2010 when he sought an investor visa. The plea ended a standoff of several months, during which prosecutors asserted that Biton was not cooperating in their Grimm investigation.
Biton often served as a go-between for Grimm, a Roman Catholic, and followers of Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, a multi-millionaire celebrity rabbi with a strong following in the United States. Pinto is currently in discussions with officials in Israel over a plea deal in a case involving alleged bribery of police leaders there, according to Israeli reports. Pinto has congregations and charitable institutions in the United States and Israel, according to the Associated Press, and reportedly has close relationships with many business leaders, politicians and celebrities, including the Miami Heat’s LeBron James. Forbes Israel recently ranked Pinto as Israel’s seventh-richest rabbi, with a net worth of about $21 million.
The donations from Pinto’s followers proved crucial for Grimm in his 2010 campaign, his first political race, demonstrating to party leaders that he was a viable candidate. He narrowly beat the Democratic incumbent after a campaign that he devoted to his own biography, trumpeting his background as a Marine and an undercover FBI agent as a sign of his ethical standing.
On Friday, prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York unsealed an indictment against Diana Durand, a close friend of Grimm’s, alleging that the Houston businesswoman ran a straw-donor scheme that brought in more than $10,000 to Grimm’s 2010 campaign. The charges included lying to investigators in 2012 when they asked about her alleged reimbursement of Grimm donors.
While Grimm’s attorney has proclaimed the lawmaker’s innocence, the charges and the investigation have provided an opening for his Democratic opponent, former New York City councilman Domenic Recchia, who barnstormed the congressional district over the weekend. Recchia bounced around Staten Island and the southern end of Brooklyn, concluding the weekend at a charity event Sunday evening at the Yellow Hook Grille in Brooklyn. Upon his arrival, a waitress rushed up to Recchia and expressed interest in volunteering with his campaign.
Already inclined to support Recchia, Jessica Hauser told him that the arrival of new charges in the Grimm case “makes me extra inclined to volunteer.”
Recchia has tried to keep the campaign focused on kitchen-table issues, but he took indirect swipes at the congressman’s legal problems. “It’s very troubling what has transpired,” he said, suggesting that the criminal case will make it harder for Grimm to serve his constituents. “They want someone who is going to focus on them 100 percent.”
Despite Grimm’s legal predicament, Republicans are probably stuck with the embattled congressman on the ballot because the filing deadline for candidates passed two weeks ago. Some New York Republicans are angry about the timing of the charges, fearful that the case could get worse and leave them without a viable candidate in November. Grimm is the only Republican who represents any part of New York City.
The lawmaker’s attorney, William McGinley, denies that Grimm violated any laws and predicted that he “will be vindicated” when the case is concluded.
House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) has not spoken to Grimm about the indictment, according to aides. Neither Boehner nor Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has commented about Grimm’s future. The National Republican Congressional Committee has declined to comment on the case. In some previous ethics cases, Boehner has called for lawmakers to resign or removed them from their committee assignments.
Grimm sits on the Financial Services Committee, which oversees Wall Street and the banking industry.
Despite the investigation, Grimm has remained a prolific fundraiser. Through March 31, he brought in more than $1.8 million for his reelection campaign and had more than $1.1 million in his account. However, the case has left a cloud over his political finances.
He paid $50,000 to McGinley’s law firm, Patton Boggs, in the last quarter, and his campaign reports show that he owes an additional $417,000 to the firm. | – US Rep. Michael Grimm has turned himself in to the FBI over charges linked to his New York City restaurant, the Washington Post reports. The Staten Island Republican—who is a former member of the FBI himself—has faced an ongoing federal investigation into his campaign finances. The expected indictment, however, deals with his restaurant, which has links to a celebrity rabbi whose backers gave Grimm's 2010 campaign more than $500,000, the Post reports; the restaurant has also been fined over worker pay. Employees have sued the Upper East Side's Healthalicious, saying it failed to pay them fairly and dodged rules by paying in cash. The campaign finance question centers on the restaurant's ties to Israeli fundraiser Ofer Biton, who acted as an intermediary for Grimm and celeb rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto. Pinto's many followers were key to Grimm's success in 2010. There are also allegations of a straw-donor scheme run by a Houston businesswoman. CBS 2 reports that Grimm—who made headlines not long ago for threatening a reporter—will be charged with fraud. Grimm's lawyer says he's innocent "of any wrongdoing," and that, "When the dust settles, he will be vindicated." | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Grimm is charged with engaging in schemes to underreport wages for workers, including some who were in the country illegally, at an Upper East fast-food restaurant he co-owned. He’s accused of concealing more than $1 million in sales and wages.
EXTRA: Read The Full Indictment
“In 2007, Michael Grimm, former Marine, former FBI agent, accountant and attorney, was poised for success as a small business owner,” United States Attorney Loretta Lynch said. “Instead, as alleged, Grimm made the choice to go from upholding the law to breaking it.”
Rep. Michael Grimm In Custody To Face Federal Charges
“As a former FBI agent, Rep. Grimm should understand the motto: fidelity, bravery, and integrity. Yet he broke our credo at nearly every turn,” FBI Assistant Director George Venizelos said in a statement. “In this 20-count indictment, Rep. Grimm lived by a new motto: fraud, perjury, and obstruction.”
The alleged fraud occurred from 2007 to 2010, when authorities said Grimm was one of the owners and the managing member of the restaurant called Healthalicious and oversaw the day-to-day operations of the restaurant.
Prosecutors said during that time, Grimm filed false state and federal tax returns to underreport more than $1 million in sales and wages by concealing gross receipts for cash purchases and paid workers hundreds of thousands of dollars off the books.
“Healthalicious was a small business, and it sold casual food, so many people used cash, and it was this cash that Michael Grimm exploited, making over $1 million simply disappear,” Lynch said. “Grimm took the cash from the register, used part of it to pay the workers off the books, never reporting it to the taxing authorities.”
“When it came to this restaurant, Michael Grimm never met a tax he didn’t lie to evade,” Lynch added.
Authorities also say that when he was deposed by an attorney representing former employees in a lawsuit, Grimm lied under oath about his allegedly fraudulent business practices.
“Rep. Grimm billed himself as a patriot and an American hero,” Venizelos said. “But Rep. Grimm was anything but an upstanding citizen. He cheated, evaded and then lied.”
Grimm is counting on his constituents to support him — people like Robert Ollis. Grimm was with the Ollis family after their son, Army Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis, was killed in Afghanistan last year, Kramer reported.
“He sat and talked to us, told us he was there for us, prayed. He said God would help us,” Robert Ollis said.
Politically, Republican congressman’s future will be determined by the loyalty of his constituents and whether he can beat the charges. As CBS 2’s Kramer reported, the Democrats are salivating, describing his seat as the one they have the best chance nationally of return to their column.
Grimm was elected in 2010 and took office in 2011.
For two years, investigators had been examining his fundraising in the 2010 race and his involvement in the restaurant. A House Ethics Committee announced in November that Grimm was under investigation for possible campaign finance violations.
“From the beginning, the government has pursued a politically driven vendetta against Congressman Grimm and not an independent search for the truth,” Grimm’s attorney, William McGinley, said in a statement Friday. “Congressman Grimm asserts his innocence of any wrongdoing.”
After the House Ethics Committee announced last fall that Grimm was under investigation, the panel said it would defer its inquiry because of a separate Department of Justice investigation.
Grimm made headlines in January after confronting a NY1 reporter who tried to question him about a long-running FBI investigation into campaign finance on a balcony in the Capitol.
After reporter Michael Scotto finished his report, Grimm stormed back, leaned into him and said, “Let me be clear to you. If you ever do that to me again, I’ll throw you off this (expletive) balcony.”
Scotto, who was asking about fundraising during Grimm’s first campaign, protested, saying he was asking “a valid question.”
Grimm later apologized to Scotto, calling it “an unfortunate incident that shouldn’t have happened.”
During the 2010 race, Grimm acknowledged receiving $250,000 to $300,000 in contributions from followers of an Israeli rabbi, Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto.
Some members of Pinto’s congregation subsequently said they made tens of thousands of dollars in illegal contributions, including gifts passed through straw donors.
Grimm has denied knowledge of any improprieties. The Israeli businessman who had served as Grimm’s liaison to Pinto’s followers, Ofer Biton, pleaded guilty in August to an immigration fraud charge.
Three days after that guilty plea, the FBI filed a sealed criminal complaint accusing a Houston woman named Diana Durand, who had been romantically involved with Grimm, of using straw donors to make illegal campaign contributions.
On Friday, Durand was indicted in Brooklyn on those charges. She also was charged with making false statements to the FBI when she said she didn’t reimburse straw donors for their contributions to Grimm’s campaign.
A House member who has been indicted does not lose any rights or privileges under federal law or the chamber’s rules, according to a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.
Rules used by the two major political parties require indicted committee or subcommittee chairmen, or members of a party’s leadership, to temporarily step aside. Grimm is not a chairman or a member of the leadership.
Grimm, whose district covers Brooklyn and Staten Island, was elected in 2010 with 51 percent of the vote.
Check Out These Other Stories From CBSNewYork.com:
(TM and © Copyright 2014 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2014 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.) ||||| Rep. Michael G. Grimm (R-N.Y.) surrendered Monday morning to federal authorities in New York as he faces multiple charges connected to a restaurant business he operated before entering Congress in 2011, according to sources familiar with the long-running probe into the lawmaker’s finances.
Grimm spent much of the weekend hunkered down, bracing for the unveiling of the federal charges, which were due to be disclosed after his surrender. He turned himself in to the FBI at an undisclosed location Monday morning and was taken to Lower Manhattan for processing. The charges stem from his ownership of a Manhattan health-food restaurant that has ties to an Israeli fundraiser who served as a liaison between Grimm and a mystic, celebrity rabbi whose followers donated more than $500,000 to Grimm’s campaign in 2010.
While the investigation has focused on Grimm’s fundraising, U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch is expected to announce an indictment centered on his restaurant business, which Grimm launched after leaving the FBI in 2006, according to officials familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the pending charges.
The state fined the Upper East Side restaurant, Healthalicious, $88,000 for not providing workers compensation. In a lawsuit against the company, workers accused the owners of not paying proper wages and sometimes giving out cash payments to skirt tax and business laws.
It is unclear whether federal prosecutors will eventually expand the charges to encompass Grimm’s campaign activities, but investigators have been moving on that side of the case against several key players, some with ties to the restaurant.
New York FBI spokesman Peter Donald declined to comment.
Healthalicious was run by a Grimm company that was connected to another company affiliated with Israeli fundraiser Ofer Biton. Last August, Biton pleaded guilty to filing false documents in 2010 when he sought an investor visa. The plea ended a standoff of several months, during which prosecutors asserted that Biton was not cooperating in their Grimm investigation.
Biton often served as a go-between for Grimm, a Roman Catholic, and followers of Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, a multi-millionaire celebrity rabbi with a strong following in the United States. Pinto is currently in discussions with officials in Israel over a plea deal in a case involving alleged bribery of police leaders there, according to Israeli reports. Pinto has congregations and charitable institutions in the United States and Israel, according to the Associated Press, and reportedly has close relationships with many business leaders, politicians and celebrities, including the Miami Heat’s LeBron James. Forbes Israel recently ranked Pinto as Israel’s seventh-richest rabbi, with a net worth of about $21 million.
The donations from Pinto’s followers proved crucial for Grimm in his 2010 campaign, his first political race, demonstrating to party leaders that he was a viable candidate. He narrowly beat the Democratic incumbent after a campaign that he devoted to his own biography, trumpeting his background as a Marine and an undercover FBI agent as a sign of his ethical standing.
On Friday, prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York unsealed an indictment against Diana Durand, a close friend of Grimm’s, alleging that the Houston businesswoman ran a straw-donor scheme that brought in more than $10,000 to Grimm’s 2010 campaign. The charges included lying to investigators in 2012 when they asked about her alleged reimbursement of Grimm donors.
While Grimm’s attorney has proclaimed the lawmaker’s innocence, the charges and the investigation have provided an opening for his Democratic opponent, former New York City councilman Domenic Recchia, who barnstormed the congressional district over the weekend. Recchia bounced around Staten Island and the southern end of Brooklyn, concluding the weekend at a charity event Sunday evening at the Yellow Hook Grille in Brooklyn. Upon his arrival, a waitress rushed up to Recchia and expressed interest in volunteering with his campaign.
Already inclined to support Recchia, Jessica Hauser told him that the arrival of new charges in the Grimm case “makes me extra inclined to volunteer.”
Recchia has tried to keep the campaign focused on kitchen-table issues, but he took indirect swipes at the congressman’s legal problems. “It’s very troubling what has transpired,” he said, suggesting that the criminal case will make it harder for Grimm to serve his constituents. “They want someone who is going to focus on them 100 percent.”
Despite Grimm’s legal predicament, Republicans are probably stuck with the embattled congressman on the ballot because the filing deadline for candidates passed two weeks ago. Some New York Republicans are angry about the timing of the charges, fearful that the case could get worse and leave them without a viable candidate in November. Grimm is the only Republican who represents any part of New York City.
The lawmaker’s attorney, William McGinley, denies that Grimm violated any laws and predicted that he “will be vindicated” when the case is concluded.
House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) has not spoken to Grimm about the indictment, according to aides. Neither Boehner nor Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has commented about Grimm’s future. The National Republican Congressional Committee has declined to comment on the case. In some previous ethics cases, Boehner has called for lawmakers to resign or removed them from their committee assignments.
Grimm sits on the Financial Services Committee, which oversees Wall Street and the banking industry.
Despite the investigation, Grimm has remained a prolific fundraiser. Through March 31, he brought in more than $1.8 million for his reelection campaign and had more than $1.1 million in his account. However, the case has left a cloud over his political finances.
He paid $50,000 to McGinley’s law firm, Patton Boggs, in the last quarter, and his campaign reports show that he owes an additional $417,000 to the firm. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 10,093 |
Image copyright NASA Image caption The iceberg had recently calved from the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica
Nasa has released a striking photo of a rectangular iceberg floating in the Weddell Sea off Antarctica.
The US space agency said the object's sharp angles and flat surface suggested it had recently broken away from an ice shelf.
The edges are still pointed, and have not yet been worn down by the ocean waves.
The picture was taken last week by scientists on a Nasa research plane.
Such objects are not unknown, however, and even have a name - tabular icebergs.
These are flat and long and form by splitting away from the edges of ice shelves.
Kelly Brunt, a glaciologist with Nasa and the University of Maryland, said the process of formation was a bit like a fingernail growing too long and cracking off at the end.
They were often geometrically-shaped as a result, she said.
"What makes this one a bit unusual is that it looks almost like a square," she added.
This particular 'berg came from the crumbling Larsen C ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula.
It's difficult to tell exactly how big the iceberg is from the photo, but experts said it was probably more than 1.6km (1 mile) across.
And, as with all icebergs, the part visible on the surface comprises just a small fraction of the object's mass - in this case about 10%. |||||
CTVNews.ca Staff
A rectangular iceberg in Antarctica is capturing attention online for its near-perfect shape.
NASA’s department of Cryospheric Sciences, known as NASA ICE, discovered the tabular iceberg during a recent flyover of the Larsen C ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula.
In an image posted to Twitter, the iceberg looks to be a near-perfect rectangle, which NASA says indicates it must have recently broke off from the ice shelf and hasn’t yet been hit by wind and waves.
In an interview with Live Science, Dr. Kelly Brunt, an ice scientist with NASA and the University of Maryland, said such icebergs are fairly common. Once they split from an ice shelf, they are often geometric in shape.
NASA also posted an image of another geometric iceberg, but in the shape of a triangle.
On Twitter, users joked that Mother Nature must have made it with a chainsaw and that this must be the ice wall flat-earthers talk about.
From yesterday's #IceBridge flight: A tabular iceberg can be seen on the right, floating among sea ice just off of the Larsen C ice shelf. The iceberg's sharp angles and flat surface indicate that it probably recently calved from the ice shelf. pic.twitter.com/XhgTrf642Z — NASA ICE (@NASA_ICE) October 17, 2018 ||||| From yesterday's # IceBridge flight: A tabular iceberg can be seen on the right, floating among sea ice just off of the Larsen C ice shelf. The iceberg's sharp angles and flat surface indicate that it probably recently calved from the ice shelf.pic.twitter.com/XhgTrf642Z | – As far as icebergs go, this one is oddly perfect. NASA has shared a photo of a rectangular iceberg floating in the Weddell Sea off Antarctica, its flat top and straight edges appearing so exact as to suggest Mother Nature used a saw, per CTV News. The BBC explains that the iceberg probably separated recently from the Larsen C ice shelf, and such new breakaway bergs are sometimes "geometrically" shaped. Wide, flat ones like this are called "tabular" icebergs, and it was spotted in the same area as this triangular-shaped one. (The same shelf calved an iceberg the size of Delaware.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Image copyright NASA Image caption The iceberg had recently calved from the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica
Nasa has released a striking photo of a rectangular iceberg floating in the Weddell Sea off Antarctica.
The US space agency said the object's sharp angles and flat surface suggested it had recently broken away from an ice shelf.
The edges are still pointed, and have not yet been worn down by the ocean waves.
The picture was taken last week by scientists on a Nasa research plane.
Such objects are not unknown, however, and even have a name - tabular icebergs.
These are flat and long and form by splitting away from the edges of ice shelves.
Kelly Brunt, a glaciologist with Nasa and the University of Maryland, said the process of formation was a bit like a fingernail growing too long and cracking off at the end.
They were often geometrically-shaped as a result, she said.
"What makes this one a bit unusual is that it looks almost like a square," she added.
This particular 'berg came from the crumbling Larsen C ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula.
It's difficult to tell exactly how big the iceberg is from the photo, but experts said it was probably more than 1.6km (1 mile) across.
And, as with all icebergs, the part visible on the surface comprises just a small fraction of the object's mass - in this case about 10%. |||||
CTVNews.ca Staff
A rectangular iceberg in Antarctica is capturing attention online for its near-perfect shape.
NASA’s department of Cryospheric Sciences, known as NASA ICE, discovered the tabular iceberg during a recent flyover of the Larsen C ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula.
In an image posted to Twitter, the iceberg looks to be a near-perfect rectangle, which NASA says indicates it must have recently broke off from the ice shelf and hasn’t yet been hit by wind and waves.
In an interview with Live Science, Dr. Kelly Brunt, an ice scientist with NASA and the University of Maryland, said such icebergs are fairly common. Once they split from an ice shelf, they are often geometric in shape.
NASA also posted an image of another geometric iceberg, but in the shape of a triangle.
On Twitter, users joked that Mother Nature must have made it with a chainsaw and that this must be the ice wall flat-earthers talk about.
From yesterday's #IceBridge flight: A tabular iceberg can be seen on the right, floating among sea ice just off of the Larsen C ice shelf. The iceberg's sharp angles and flat surface indicate that it probably recently calved from the ice shelf. pic.twitter.com/XhgTrf642Z — NASA ICE (@NASA_ICE) October 17, 2018 ||||| From yesterday's # IceBridge flight: A tabular iceberg can be seen on the right, floating among sea ice just off of the Larsen C ice shelf. The iceberg's sharp angles and flat surface indicate that it probably recently calved from the ice shelf.pic.twitter.com/XhgTrf642Z | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 33,161 |
Window displays at a new adult store could be to blame for a number of crashes in Oklahoma City.
A KOCO 5 News viewer emailed the station saying, "I just had a minor fender bender looking at the mannequins in the window of the new Hustler Hollywood store. We both (drivers) agreed that it was going to cause lots of accidents."
The viewer, Gary, would only provide his first name. He said the store, located in the 500 block of South Meridian, is distracting.
VIDEO: Display mannequins could be to blame for recent car crashes
According to Oklahoma City police, there have been eight crashes in the surrounding area since Hustler Hollywood opened June 12.
While none of the crashes are directly attributed to the mannequins in the window, drivers said the business definitely raises some eyebrows.
"I think they’re fantastic,” said Jerry Murphy. “I find it hard to believe that anyone would crash looking at them. I actually think they could be a little lewder, but that’s just me."
Most drivers KOCO 5 News spoke with said they didn't have a problem with the displays.
"You see worse things walking in the mall and in the movies," said Diane Ray Sanders. "Tell distracted drivers to look at what’s going on in traffic and stop worrying about everything else."
A spokesperson for Hustler Hollywood said the displays are tasteful and are decent. Store management said they have no plans to take them down.
The viewer who originally contacted KOCO 5 did not file a police report. ||||| UPDATE: Hustler Hollywood announced they will be hosting a grand opening celebration at their new Oklahoma City location on Saturday, June 28 at 7 p.m.
“We’re excited to find a home in Oklahoma City and become part of the community,” said owner Larry Flynt. “I think people will be pleasantly surprised when they visit our new store and see what the HUSTLER HOLLYWOOD shopping experience is all about.”
Customers at the grand opening will will be treated to special prizes and giveaways.
According to a release, the first 100 customers will receive a free taco from local favorite Big Truck Taco.
The new Hustler Hollywood location is located at 500 S. Meridian Ave.
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OKLAHOMA CITY - From lingerie, to novelties, to erotica, whatever your bedroom fantasies, there's a new OKC business ready to fulfill those wishes.
Hustler Hollywood is just days away from opening in the Heartland. While contractors spend time on the finishing touches, the famous Larry Flynt name behind the store is becoming a hot topic
One resident told NewsChannel 4, "I don't think it’s a good thing."
Another said, "I think it’s not good for our young people.”
However, one person had another opinion.
One resident said, "It’s a little exotic, just a little bit."
Amanda Thompson said seeing the new billboards created uncomfortable conversations with her two young children.
Thompson said, "If we could vote on it, I would vote against it. I think we should be asked if that's okay because this is the Bible belt."
The shelves are empty and the mannequins are bare but when the store is complete it will look similar to one in New Orleans.
We talked to Theresa Flynt about opening in the one of the most conservative states in America.
Flynt said, "We haven't heard anything yet but I wouldn't be surprised. Controversy can be good and I think that once people see it they will love it."
While the chain is successful in both conservative and liberal areas, she says the Midwest locations are all the more popular.
Flynt said, "I think that people shouldn't judge something you know, and they should see it for themselves, and I think if people could step out and take a look at what we have they will be pleasantly surprised. Our stores are beautiful, we attract couples. We have something for everybody."
Others told NewsChannel 4, "It doesn't bother me really.”
Another person said, "In this day and age, to each their own.”
Adult-film start Ron Jeremy will be at the opening and Larry Flynt himself is expected to make an appearance later this year. ||||| KOCO Hello, there! The mannequins the display window are too much for some drivers.
A racy window display outside an adult store has allgedly been stopping traffic and causing accidents.
Cops in Oklahoma City have been called to an astonishing eight crashes outside the Hustler Hollywood outlet since it opened on June 12.
KOCO Drivers can't seem to keep their eyes on the road around the store front. Enlarge KOCO Drivers can't seem to keep their eyes on the road, but Hustler insists the mannequins are 'tasteful' and 'decent.' Enlarge Drivers can't seem to keep their eyes on the road, but Hustler insists the mannequins are 'tasteful' and 'decent.'
Drivers say the shop's saucy shop front — showing mannequins dressed in provocative lingerie — is to blame.
KOCO There have been a reported eight accidents near the Oklahoma City store Hustler Hollywood.
"I just had a minor fender bender looking at the mannequins in the window of the new Hustler Hollywood store," Gary, who didn't want to give his surname, told KOCO.
KOCO Hustler, which owns the store, says it has no intention of taking the lingerie display down.
"We both (drivers) agreed that it was going to cause lots of accidents," he added.
A spokesman for Hustler Hollywood, which is part of Larry Flint's Hustler empire, has called the claims nonsense — and is refusing to take the display down, according to KOCO.
A spokesman denied there is anything "overly provocative" about the dolls — describing them as "tasteful" and "decent." ||||| Please enable Javascript to watch this video
(KTVI) - Too many car crashes at the same intersection in Oklahoma City. And you may not believe what some say is to blame...
The culprit, sex mannequins in a shop window. The Hustler Hollywood Shop opened in the middle of June. And since then, police say there have been eight crashes in that area. A store spokesperson says there's nothing overly provocative about the displays.
Nonetheless, they're turning heads. | – A Hustler Hollywood store opened in Oklahoma City on June 12, and since then, there have been eight car accidents near the adult establishment. At least two drivers say the mannequins in the store windows might be to blame. "I just had a minor fender bender looking at the mannequins in the window of the new Hustler Hollywood store," one of them tells KOCO. "We both (drivers) agreed that it was going to cause lots of accidents." The mannequins are wearing lingerie, the New York Daily News reports, but a Hustler spokesperson insists they aren't "overly provocative," according to KTVI, and management doesn't plan to remove them. None of the crashes have officially been blamed on the display, and other drivers say they have no problem with the mannequins. "I think they’re fantastic," says one. "I actually think they could be a little lewder, but that’s just me." Another notes, "You see worse things walking in the mall and in the movies." (Last month, a threesome in a parked car resulted in a bad accident.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Window displays at a new adult store could be to blame for a number of crashes in Oklahoma City.
A KOCO 5 News viewer emailed the station saying, "I just had a minor fender bender looking at the mannequins in the window of the new Hustler Hollywood store. We both (drivers) agreed that it was going to cause lots of accidents."
The viewer, Gary, would only provide his first name. He said the store, located in the 500 block of South Meridian, is distracting.
VIDEO: Display mannequins could be to blame for recent car crashes
According to Oklahoma City police, there have been eight crashes in the surrounding area since Hustler Hollywood opened June 12.
While none of the crashes are directly attributed to the mannequins in the window, drivers said the business definitely raises some eyebrows.
"I think they’re fantastic,” said Jerry Murphy. “I find it hard to believe that anyone would crash looking at them. I actually think they could be a little lewder, but that’s just me."
Most drivers KOCO 5 News spoke with said they didn't have a problem with the displays.
"You see worse things walking in the mall and in the movies," said Diane Ray Sanders. "Tell distracted drivers to look at what’s going on in traffic and stop worrying about everything else."
A spokesperson for Hustler Hollywood said the displays are tasteful and are decent. Store management said they have no plans to take them down.
The viewer who originally contacted KOCO 5 did not file a police report. ||||| UPDATE: Hustler Hollywood announced they will be hosting a grand opening celebration at their new Oklahoma City location on Saturday, June 28 at 7 p.m.
“We’re excited to find a home in Oklahoma City and become part of the community,” said owner Larry Flynt. “I think people will be pleasantly surprised when they visit our new store and see what the HUSTLER HOLLYWOOD shopping experience is all about.”
Customers at the grand opening will will be treated to special prizes and giveaways.
According to a release, the first 100 customers will receive a free taco from local favorite Big Truck Taco.
The new Hustler Hollywood location is located at 500 S. Meridian Ave.
Please enable Javascript to watch this video
OKLAHOMA CITY - From lingerie, to novelties, to erotica, whatever your bedroom fantasies, there's a new OKC business ready to fulfill those wishes.
Hustler Hollywood is just days away from opening in the Heartland. While contractors spend time on the finishing touches, the famous Larry Flynt name behind the store is becoming a hot topic
One resident told NewsChannel 4, "I don't think it’s a good thing."
Another said, "I think it’s not good for our young people.”
However, one person had another opinion.
One resident said, "It’s a little exotic, just a little bit."
Amanda Thompson said seeing the new billboards created uncomfortable conversations with her two young children.
Thompson said, "If we could vote on it, I would vote against it. I think we should be asked if that's okay because this is the Bible belt."
The shelves are empty and the mannequins are bare but when the store is complete it will look similar to one in New Orleans.
We talked to Theresa Flynt about opening in the one of the most conservative states in America.
Flynt said, "We haven't heard anything yet but I wouldn't be surprised. Controversy can be good and I think that once people see it they will love it."
While the chain is successful in both conservative and liberal areas, she says the Midwest locations are all the more popular.
Flynt said, "I think that people shouldn't judge something you know, and they should see it for themselves, and I think if people could step out and take a look at what we have they will be pleasantly surprised. Our stores are beautiful, we attract couples. We have something for everybody."
Others told NewsChannel 4, "It doesn't bother me really.”
Another person said, "In this day and age, to each their own.”
Adult-film start Ron Jeremy will be at the opening and Larry Flynt himself is expected to make an appearance later this year. ||||| KOCO Hello, there! The mannequins the display window are too much for some drivers.
A racy window display outside an adult store has allgedly been stopping traffic and causing accidents.
Cops in Oklahoma City have been called to an astonishing eight crashes outside the Hustler Hollywood outlet since it opened on June 12.
KOCO Drivers can't seem to keep their eyes on the road around the store front. Enlarge KOCO Drivers can't seem to keep their eyes on the road, but Hustler insists the mannequins are 'tasteful' and 'decent.' Enlarge Drivers can't seem to keep their eyes on the road, but Hustler insists the mannequins are 'tasteful' and 'decent.'
Drivers say the shop's saucy shop front — showing mannequins dressed in provocative lingerie — is to blame.
KOCO There have been a reported eight accidents near the Oklahoma City store Hustler Hollywood.
"I just had a minor fender bender looking at the mannequins in the window of the new Hustler Hollywood store," Gary, who didn't want to give his surname, told KOCO.
KOCO Hustler, which owns the store, says it has no intention of taking the lingerie display down.
"We both (drivers) agreed that it was going to cause lots of accidents," he added.
A spokesman for Hustler Hollywood, which is part of Larry Flint's Hustler empire, has called the claims nonsense — and is refusing to take the display down, according to KOCO.
A spokesman denied there is anything "overly provocative" about the dolls — describing them as "tasteful" and "decent." ||||| Please enable Javascript to watch this video
(KTVI) - Too many car crashes at the same intersection in Oklahoma City. And you may not believe what some say is to blame...
The culprit, sex mannequins in a shop window. The Hustler Hollywood Shop opened in the middle of June. And since then, police say there have been eight crashes in that area. A store spokesperson says there's nothing overly provocative about the displays.
Nonetheless, they're turning heads. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 25,320 |
DES MOINES — With less than two months before the Iowa caucuses, Mitt Romney and Herman Cain lead in the polls here. But neither was at the state Republican Party’s annual dinner Friday, leaving Newt Gingrich to get the best reaction by far.
The five candidates at the event used 10-minute speeches to make their cases for being the main alternative to the two front-runners. Presenting themselves as either the most electable or authentic anti-establishment conservative, the candidates took only implicit shots at Romney — who’ll be back in the state Monday.
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Before Gingrich, most got polite applause but no loud cheers or standing ovations at the Ronald Reagan Dinner — one of the top events on the local political calendar. From Sen. Chuck Grassley to town mayors, almost every elected Republican official in the state attended, including many of the 99 county chairs whose opinions are respected back home.
But their reactions changed as the former House speaker ticked through praise for all the people who spoke before him — Ron Paul for pushing to audit the Federal Reserve, Rick Perry for mentoring him on the importance of the 10th amendment, Michele Bachmann for introducing legislation to repeal financial regulatory reform and Rick Santorum for sounding the alarm about “radical Islam.”
Then, without naming either, he noted the absence of the two candidates who weren’t there.
“There are a couple that I wish were here tonight, and I would have said nice things, but we’ll skip over that,” he said.
The knowing crowd roared with laughter.
Praising ethanol and riffing on his campaign staff’s ties to the state, Gingrich argued that he understands the legislative branch better than anyone and proved in the 1990s that he can get things done.
Gingrich’s call for seven, three-hour debates with President Barack Obama excited the crowd more than anything all night. He said that he will follow the president around if he does not agree by the time Gingrich wins the nomination.
“From that date forward, for the rest of the campaign, the White House will be my scheduler,” he said. “And wherever the president appears, I will be four hours later.”
The reception was in marked contrast to Rick Perry, who’s been hoping to gain back his lead in Iowa. The Texas governor gave a well-crafted speech with lots of rehearsed one-liners, but he didn’t catch fire with the crowd in the dark convention hall. He described a “choice in the race” between the “tinkerers” — “those that support bailouts and oppose major tax reform” — and the “fundamental reformers.”
“Some want to reform Washington with a pair of tweezers,” he said, doubtlessly referring to Romney. “I’m for bringing a wrecking ball.”
Perry addressed “Newt” twice during his speech, as if asking for a point of reference on Washington. In criticizing the super committee, he said there have been about 20 committees in the past 30 years to talk about getting the debt under control. “What’s it been, Newt?” he wondered rhetorically.
Michele Bachmann described herself as the uncompromising “voice in the wilderness” and bragged that commentators called her “extreme” for opposing a debt ceiling increase this summer. She focused her speech on the national debt, which she said is passing a dangerous $15 trillion threshold.
Pointing to the crisis in Greece, the Minnesota congresswoman said: “Take a really good look in the mirror … because what we just observed is the trailer for where the United States is going.” ||||| Herman Cain will finish what has been his toughest week on the Republican presidential campaign trail on Saturday in Texas, where he is scheduled to debate fellow candidate Newt Gingrich. But there will be no talk of the sexual harassment allegations that have plagued Cain's campaign since Politico first reported on them over the weekend.
"The focus of this event is not about gossip," said Julie Turner, president of Texas Tea Party Patriots PAC, the group hosting the discussion, in an interview with Yahoo News. "It's going to be about entitlement reform."
Gingrich and Cain have agreed to a modified "Lincoln-Douglas" style debate about their plans to reform Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, loosely based on the format used by Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln in a series of debates in 1858. Steve King, a Republican representative from Iowa, and Ben Streusand, the chairman of the advisory board for the Texas chapter of Americans for Prosperity, will moderate.
The Texas Tea Party Patriots PAC is holding the forum near Houston as a fundraiser, and is charging up to $1,000 per ticket. General admission is $200, but the debate will be broadcast on C-SPAN. Turner said the group had already sold at least 300 tickets.
The event will offer Cain a respite from the media's focus on his tenure as president of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, letting him speak in public, at length about topics not related to the harassment allegations.
"They'll have extensive time to debate back and forth on the merits of each others' plans," Turner said. "No more talking points. It's going to be far deeper."
More popular Yahoo! News stories:
• Herman Cain snaps at reporters asking about harassment allegations
• A third woman accuses Herman Cain of past harassment
• One of Herman Cain's accusers wants to tell her side of the story
Want more of our best political stories? Visit The Ticket or connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. | – Newt Gingrich stole the show last night at an important GOP dinner in Iowa, reports Politico. Two notables were missing, however: Mitt Romney and Herman Cain, the state's current front-runners. Still, Gingrich clearly roused the audience more than the rest of the field, including Rick Perry, and one proposal in particular got a big reception: His call for seven three-hour debates with President Obama. If he becomes the nominee, Gingrich promised to follow Obama all over the country until he agreed to the Lincoln-Douglas-style debates. “From that date forward, for the rest of the campaign, the White House will be my scheduler,” he said. “And wherever the president appears, I will be four hours later.” It's the kind of one-on-one debate he will engage in tonight with Cain in Texas. Organizers tell Yahoo News there will be no mention of the "gossip" related to Cain's sex-harassment allegations. (Click to catch up with yesterday's statement from one of his accusers.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.DES MOINES — With less than two months before the Iowa caucuses, Mitt Romney and Herman Cain lead in the polls here. But neither was at the state Republican Party’s annual dinner Friday, leaving Newt Gingrich to get the best reaction by far.
The five candidates at the event used 10-minute speeches to make their cases for being the main alternative to the two front-runners. Presenting themselves as either the most electable or authentic anti-establishment conservative, the candidates took only implicit shots at Romney — who’ll be back in the state Monday.
Text Size -
+
reset POLITICO 44
Before Gingrich, most got polite applause but no loud cheers or standing ovations at the Ronald Reagan Dinner — one of the top events on the local political calendar. From Sen. Chuck Grassley to town mayors, almost every elected Republican official in the state attended, including many of the 99 county chairs whose opinions are respected back home.
But their reactions changed as the former House speaker ticked through praise for all the people who spoke before him — Ron Paul for pushing to audit the Federal Reserve, Rick Perry for mentoring him on the importance of the 10th amendment, Michele Bachmann for introducing legislation to repeal financial regulatory reform and Rick Santorum for sounding the alarm about “radical Islam.”
Then, without naming either, he noted the absence of the two candidates who weren’t there.
“There are a couple that I wish were here tonight, and I would have said nice things, but we’ll skip over that,” he said.
The knowing crowd roared with laughter.
Praising ethanol and riffing on his campaign staff’s ties to the state, Gingrich argued that he understands the legislative branch better than anyone and proved in the 1990s that he can get things done.
Gingrich’s call for seven, three-hour debates with President Barack Obama excited the crowd more than anything all night. He said that he will follow the president around if he does not agree by the time Gingrich wins the nomination.
“From that date forward, for the rest of the campaign, the White House will be my scheduler,” he said. “And wherever the president appears, I will be four hours later.”
The reception was in marked contrast to Rick Perry, who’s been hoping to gain back his lead in Iowa. The Texas governor gave a well-crafted speech with lots of rehearsed one-liners, but he didn’t catch fire with the crowd in the dark convention hall. He described a “choice in the race” between the “tinkerers” — “those that support bailouts and oppose major tax reform” — and the “fundamental reformers.”
“Some want to reform Washington with a pair of tweezers,” he said, doubtlessly referring to Romney. “I’m for bringing a wrecking ball.”
Perry addressed “Newt” twice during his speech, as if asking for a point of reference on Washington. In criticizing the super committee, he said there have been about 20 committees in the past 30 years to talk about getting the debt under control. “What’s it been, Newt?” he wondered rhetorically.
Michele Bachmann described herself as the uncompromising “voice in the wilderness” and bragged that commentators called her “extreme” for opposing a debt ceiling increase this summer. She focused her speech on the national debt, which she said is passing a dangerous $15 trillion threshold.
Pointing to the crisis in Greece, the Minnesota congresswoman said: “Take a really good look in the mirror … because what we just observed is the trailer for where the United States is going.” ||||| Herman Cain will finish what has been his toughest week on the Republican presidential campaign trail on Saturday in Texas, where he is scheduled to debate fellow candidate Newt Gingrich. But there will be no talk of the sexual harassment allegations that have plagued Cain's campaign since Politico first reported on them over the weekend.
"The focus of this event is not about gossip," said Julie Turner, president of Texas Tea Party Patriots PAC, the group hosting the discussion, in an interview with Yahoo News. "It's going to be about entitlement reform."
Gingrich and Cain have agreed to a modified "Lincoln-Douglas" style debate about their plans to reform Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, loosely based on the format used by Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln in a series of debates in 1858. Steve King, a Republican representative from Iowa, and Ben Streusand, the chairman of the advisory board for the Texas chapter of Americans for Prosperity, will moderate.
The Texas Tea Party Patriots PAC is holding the forum near Houston as a fundraiser, and is charging up to $1,000 per ticket. General admission is $200, but the debate will be broadcast on C-SPAN. Turner said the group had already sold at least 300 tickets.
The event will offer Cain a respite from the media's focus on his tenure as president of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, letting him speak in public, at length about topics not related to the harassment allegations.
"They'll have extensive time to debate back and forth on the merits of each others' plans," Turner said. "No more talking points. It's going to be far deeper."
More popular Yahoo! News stories:
• Herman Cain snaps at reporters asking about harassment allegations
• A third woman accuses Herman Cain of past harassment
• One of Herman Cain's accusers wants to tell her side of the story
Want more of our best political stories? Visit The Ticket or connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 36,808 |
Two new collision-simulation studies may solve an intractable problem with the classic story scientists have told about the birth of the moon, whose South Pole is shown here. (NASA / )
Scientists may never know exactly how the moon and Earth were formed some 4.5 billion years ago, but this week their understanding of the cataclysmic event made a significant leap forward.
In a slew of studies published Wednesday, planetary scientists provided new evidence supporting the long-standing — but imperfect — theory that the Earth and moon formed after the proto-Earth collided with another huge planetary body, sometimes referred to as Theia.
Some of that evidence comes from super-precise measurements of the zinc in lunar rock samples collected by Apollo astronauts. These findings, reported in the journal Nature, support the idea that the moon's birth had to have resulted from "a big event with lots of energy," strong enough to vaporize rock, said study leader Frederic Moynier, a geochemist at Washington University.
Separately, two studies published in the journal Science detailed two scenarios of what such a powerful crash might plausibly have looked like.
Both collision-simulation papers may solve an intractable problem with the classic story scientists told about the moon's birth. That story goes something like this: Two planets, one Earth-sized and one Mars-sized, slammed together. The smaller body, Theia, was obliterated completely, its materials flung asunder to form a disk around the Earth that before long coalesced to form the moon.
The theory explains the distance between the two bodies, their relative sizes and other physical properties. But in the last decade or so, a problem arose: The chemistry didn't match up with the physics.
"What's happening now is an attempt to salvage the theory," said Erik Asphaug, a planetary scientist at UC Santa Cruz who was not involved in the new research.
According to computer simulations of the theorized collision, the moon should have been composed mainly of materials from Theia. Instead, analysis showed that rock samples from the moon and Earth appeared to contain the same amounts of the same types of oxygen, titanium, silicon and other elements.
The similarity of these distinct chemical isotopes was taken as a sign that the Earth and moon were actually made of the same stuff — and meant that planetary scientists would need to rethink the details of how the giant impact happened, said Harvard University researcher Matija Cuk, a coauthor of one of the new simulations.
The main problem the computer modelers faced was that any collisions resulting in an Earth and a moon with shared geochemistry required the ancient Earth to be spinning too fast to allow for the 24-hour rotation that exists today.
Cuk and his Harvard colleague Sarah Stewart solved the conundrum by suggesting that a fast-spinning proto-Earth could have slowed during a period when the moon and the sun aligned in such a way that gravity warped Earth's orbit, putting the brakes on its rotation.
Plugging the appropriate conditions into their computer simulation, they found that a small body about half the size of Mars striking the early Earth nearly head-on would completely obliterate both bodies, with all the material mixing together.
"Everything is molten," Cuk said.
Most of the heavy iron from both planetary cores would combine and coalesce to form Earth's core. The blended lighter rock from both bodies would form the outer layers of the Earth as well as the moon.
Robin Canup, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., used Cuk's and Stewart's idea about how the Earth's rotation might have slowed and developed another scenario for the moon's creation. Also writing in Science, she showed that two similarly sized bodies, each about half the mass of the modern Earth, could have collided at a relatively slow speed and merged, their contents creating a pool of material that later split apart into Earth and moon.
By figuring out how Earth's spin might have slowed, Canup said, scientists have "greatly broadened the class of impacts that might be viable."
Caltech planetary scientist David Stevenson, who was not involved with the research, said that the new models "are a stepping stone toward a more satisfying story" but that "we're only part of the way."
David Paige, a moon expert at UCLA who was also not part of either modeling study, said it might not be possible to know exactly what happened.
"So much of what existed prior to the impact has been obliterated," he said. "It's a whodunit mystery with very few clues lying around."
He said, however, that isotopic research might offer part of the solution.
In the report published in Nature, Moynier and his colleagues used sophisticated mass spectrometry to show that the blend of different zinc isotopes on the moon is not the same as the blend on Earth. Lighter versions of the metal were slightly depleted on the moon, suggesting that the lighter zinc must have evaporated during some kind of impact, the team reported.
That doesn't do much to determine whether either collision scenario is correct. It may point a way forward for the planetary scientists who'll try to figure it out, however, Paige noted.
"It's through more measurements like this zinc one that we're able to better sort it out," he said.
For his part, Moynier said he planned to examine rubidium isotopes in lunar rocks next.
[email protected] ||||| This artist's conception of a planetary smashup whose debris was spotted by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope in 2009 gives an impression of the carnage that would have been caused when a similar impact created Earth's moon.
The moon did indeed coalesce out of tiny bits of pulverized planet blasted into space by a catastrophic collision 4.5 billion years ago, two new studies suggest.
The new research potentially plugs a big hole in the giant impact theory, long the leading explanation for the moon's formation. Previous versions of the theory held that the moon formed primarily from pieces of a mysterious Mars-size body that slammed into a proto-Earth — but that presented a problem, because scientists know that the moon and Earth are made of the same stuff.
The two studies both explain how Earth and the moon came to be geochemical twins. However, they offer differing versions of the enormous smashup that apparently created Earth's natural satellite, giving scientists plenty to chew on going forward.
A fast-spinning Earth
One of the studies — by Matija Cuk of the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute in Mountain View, Calif., and Sarah Stewart of Harvard — suggests the answer lies in Earth's rotation rate. [Video: New Ideas About the Moon-Forming Impact]
If Earth's day had been just two to three hours long at the time of the impact, Cuk and Stewart calculate, the planet could well have thrown off enough material to form the moon (which is 1.2 percent as massive as Earth).
This rotational speed might sound incredible, and indeed it's close to the threshold beyond which the planet would begin to fly apart. But researchers say the early solar system was a "shooting gallery" marked by many large impacts, which could have spun planets up to enormous speeds.
Cuk and Stewart's study, which appears online today (Oct. 17) in the journal Science, also provides a mechanism by which Earth's rotation rate could have slowed over time.
After the collision, a gravitational interaction between Earth's orbit around the sun and the moon's orbit around Earth could have put the brakes on the planet's super-spin, eventually producing a 24-hour day, the scientists determined.
Simulation of an off-center, low-velocity collision between two protoplanets containing 45 percent and 55 percent of Earth's mass. Color scales with particle temperature in kelvin, with blue-to-red indicating temperatures from 2,000 K to in excess of 6,440 K. After the initial impact, the protoplanets re-collide, merge and form a rapidly spinning Earth-mass planet surrounded by an iron-poor protolunar disk containing about 3 lunar masses. The composition of the disk and the final planet's mantle differ by less than 1 percent. Credit: Southwest Research Institute
A bigger impactor
Cuk and Stewart's version of the cosmic smashup posits a roughly Mars-size impactor — a body with 5 percent to 10 percent the mass of Earth. However, the other new study — being published in the same issue of Science today — envisions a collision between two planets in the same weight class.
"In this impact, the impactor and the target each contain about 50 percent of the [present] Earth's mass," Robin Canup, of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., told SPACE.com via email.
"This type of impact has not been advocated for the Earth-moon before (although a similar type of collision has been invoked for the origin of the Pluto-Charon pair)," Canup added, referring to the largest moon of Pluto.
In her computer models, the symmetry of this collision caused the resulting moon-forming debris disk to be nearly identical in composition to the mantle of the newly enlarged Earth.
Canup's models further predict that such an impact would significantly increase Earth's rotational speed. But that may not be a big issue, since Cuk and Stewart's work explains how Earth's spin could have slowed over time.
A third study, published today in the journal Nature, determined that huge amounts of water boiled away during the moon's birth. The finding, made by examining moon rocks brought back to Earth by Apollo astronauts, further bolsters the broad outlines of the giant impact theory.
Though the gigantic smashup occurred 4.5 billion years ago, scientists may one day be able to piece together in detail how it all went down, Canup said.
"Models of terrestrial planet assembly should be able to evaluate the relative probability of, e.g., the collision I advocate vs. the one proposed by Cuk and Stewart," she said.
Follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall or SPACE.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+.
For most of human history, the moon was largely a mystery. It spawned awe and fear and to this day is the source of myth and legend. But today we know a lot about our favorite natural satellite. Do you? Start the Quiz 0 of 10 questions complete | – A trio of new studies has breathed life back into a dramatic theory about the birth of the moon. Scientists have long suspected that the moon was formed when a Mars-sized planet called Theia smashed into Earth, obliterating itself and creating the moon, the LA Times explains. The problem? The moon is geologically identical to Earth, making it hard to believe it's leftovers from another world. Here's how new studies are changing that belief: The first, published in Science posits that the Earth was spinning incredibly fast back then, with days lasting just two to three hours. At that speed, the collision might destroy both worlds, and the two bodies would mix together to form the moon. The second study, also published in Science, hypothesizes that two planets of about the same size might have collided and mixed together to form the Earth, throwing the moon off in the process. Such an impact would have sped up the Earth's rotation, but the first study shows how that rotation could have been slowed down since. Another study published in Nature analyzed rocks brought back from the Apollo missions, and concluded that lots of water boiled away during the moon's birth, Space.com reports. That implies "a big event with lots of energy," supporting the impact theory, a geochemist tells the Times. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Two new collision-simulation studies may solve an intractable problem with the classic story scientists have told about the birth of the moon, whose South Pole is shown here. (NASA / )
Scientists may never know exactly how the moon and Earth were formed some 4.5 billion years ago, but this week their understanding of the cataclysmic event made a significant leap forward.
In a slew of studies published Wednesday, planetary scientists provided new evidence supporting the long-standing — but imperfect — theory that the Earth and moon formed after the proto-Earth collided with another huge planetary body, sometimes referred to as Theia.
Some of that evidence comes from super-precise measurements of the zinc in lunar rock samples collected by Apollo astronauts. These findings, reported in the journal Nature, support the idea that the moon's birth had to have resulted from "a big event with lots of energy," strong enough to vaporize rock, said study leader Frederic Moynier, a geochemist at Washington University.
Separately, two studies published in the journal Science detailed two scenarios of what such a powerful crash might plausibly have looked like.
Both collision-simulation papers may solve an intractable problem with the classic story scientists told about the moon's birth. That story goes something like this: Two planets, one Earth-sized and one Mars-sized, slammed together. The smaller body, Theia, was obliterated completely, its materials flung asunder to form a disk around the Earth that before long coalesced to form the moon.
The theory explains the distance between the two bodies, their relative sizes and other physical properties. But in the last decade or so, a problem arose: The chemistry didn't match up with the physics.
"What's happening now is an attempt to salvage the theory," said Erik Asphaug, a planetary scientist at UC Santa Cruz who was not involved in the new research.
According to computer simulations of the theorized collision, the moon should have been composed mainly of materials from Theia. Instead, analysis showed that rock samples from the moon and Earth appeared to contain the same amounts of the same types of oxygen, titanium, silicon and other elements.
The similarity of these distinct chemical isotopes was taken as a sign that the Earth and moon were actually made of the same stuff — and meant that planetary scientists would need to rethink the details of how the giant impact happened, said Harvard University researcher Matija Cuk, a coauthor of one of the new simulations.
The main problem the computer modelers faced was that any collisions resulting in an Earth and a moon with shared geochemistry required the ancient Earth to be spinning too fast to allow for the 24-hour rotation that exists today.
Cuk and his Harvard colleague Sarah Stewart solved the conundrum by suggesting that a fast-spinning proto-Earth could have slowed during a period when the moon and the sun aligned in such a way that gravity warped Earth's orbit, putting the brakes on its rotation.
Plugging the appropriate conditions into their computer simulation, they found that a small body about half the size of Mars striking the early Earth nearly head-on would completely obliterate both bodies, with all the material mixing together.
"Everything is molten," Cuk said.
Most of the heavy iron from both planetary cores would combine and coalesce to form Earth's core. The blended lighter rock from both bodies would form the outer layers of the Earth as well as the moon.
Robin Canup, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., used Cuk's and Stewart's idea about how the Earth's rotation might have slowed and developed another scenario for the moon's creation. Also writing in Science, she showed that two similarly sized bodies, each about half the mass of the modern Earth, could have collided at a relatively slow speed and merged, their contents creating a pool of material that later split apart into Earth and moon.
By figuring out how Earth's spin might have slowed, Canup said, scientists have "greatly broadened the class of impacts that might be viable."
Caltech planetary scientist David Stevenson, who was not involved with the research, said that the new models "are a stepping stone toward a more satisfying story" but that "we're only part of the way."
David Paige, a moon expert at UCLA who was also not part of either modeling study, said it might not be possible to know exactly what happened.
"So much of what existed prior to the impact has been obliterated," he said. "It's a whodunit mystery with very few clues lying around."
He said, however, that isotopic research might offer part of the solution.
In the report published in Nature, Moynier and his colleagues used sophisticated mass spectrometry to show that the blend of different zinc isotopes on the moon is not the same as the blend on Earth. Lighter versions of the metal were slightly depleted on the moon, suggesting that the lighter zinc must have evaporated during some kind of impact, the team reported.
That doesn't do much to determine whether either collision scenario is correct. It may point a way forward for the planetary scientists who'll try to figure it out, however, Paige noted.
"It's through more measurements like this zinc one that we're able to better sort it out," he said.
For his part, Moynier said he planned to examine rubidium isotopes in lunar rocks next.
[email protected] ||||| This artist's conception of a planetary smashup whose debris was spotted by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope in 2009 gives an impression of the carnage that would have been caused when a similar impact created Earth's moon.
The moon did indeed coalesce out of tiny bits of pulverized planet blasted into space by a catastrophic collision 4.5 billion years ago, two new studies suggest.
The new research potentially plugs a big hole in the giant impact theory, long the leading explanation for the moon's formation. Previous versions of the theory held that the moon formed primarily from pieces of a mysterious Mars-size body that slammed into a proto-Earth — but that presented a problem, because scientists know that the moon and Earth are made of the same stuff.
The two studies both explain how Earth and the moon came to be geochemical twins. However, they offer differing versions of the enormous smashup that apparently created Earth's natural satellite, giving scientists plenty to chew on going forward.
A fast-spinning Earth
One of the studies — by Matija Cuk of the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute in Mountain View, Calif., and Sarah Stewart of Harvard — suggests the answer lies in Earth's rotation rate. [Video: New Ideas About the Moon-Forming Impact]
If Earth's day had been just two to three hours long at the time of the impact, Cuk and Stewart calculate, the planet could well have thrown off enough material to form the moon (which is 1.2 percent as massive as Earth).
This rotational speed might sound incredible, and indeed it's close to the threshold beyond which the planet would begin to fly apart. But researchers say the early solar system was a "shooting gallery" marked by many large impacts, which could have spun planets up to enormous speeds.
Cuk and Stewart's study, which appears online today (Oct. 17) in the journal Science, also provides a mechanism by which Earth's rotation rate could have slowed over time.
After the collision, a gravitational interaction between Earth's orbit around the sun and the moon's orbit around Earth could have put the brakes on the planet's super-spin, eventually producing a 24-hour day, the scientists determined.
Simulation of an off-center, low-velocity collision between two protoplanets containing 45 percent and 55 percent of Earth's mass. Color scales with particle temperature in kelvin, with blue-to-red indicating temperatures from 2,000 K to in excess of 6,440 K. After the initial impact, the protoplanets re-collide, merge and form a rapidly spinning Earth-mass planet surrounded by an iron-poor protolunar disk containing about 3 lunar masses. The composition of the disk and the final planet's mantle differ by less than 1 percent. Credit: Southwest Research Institute
A bigger impactor
Cuk and Stewart's version of the cosmic smashup posits a roughly Mars-size impactor — a body with 5 percent to 10 percent the mass of Earth. However, the other new study — being published in the same issue of Science today — envisions a collision between two planets in the same weight class.
"In this impact, the impactor and the target each contain about 50 percent of the [present] Earth's mass," Robin Canup, of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., told SPACE.com via email.
"This type of impact has not been advocated for the Earth-moon before (although a similar type of collision has been invoked for the origin of the Pluto-Charon pair)," Canup added, referring to the largest moon of Pluto.
In her computer models, the symmetry of this collision caused the resulting moon-forming debris disk to be nearly identical in composition to the mantle of the newly enlarged Earth.
Canup's models further predict that such an impact would significantly increase Earth's rotational speed. But that may not be a big issue, since Cuk and Stewart's work explains how Earth's spin could have slowed over time.
A third study, published today in the journal Nature, determined that huge amounts of water boiled away during the moon's birth. The finding, made by examining moon rocks brought back to Earth by Apollo astronauts, further bolsters the broad outlines of the giant impact theory.
Though the gigantic smashup occurred 4.5 billion years ago, scientists may one day be able to piece together in detail how it all went down, Canup said.
"Models of terrestrial planet assembly should be able to evaluate the relative probability of, e.g., the collision I advocate vs. the one proposed by Cuk and Stewart," she said.
Follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall or SPACE.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+.
For most of human history, the moon was largely a mystery. It spawned awe and fear and to this day is the source of myth and legend. But today we know a lot about our favorite natural satellite. Do you? Start the Quiz 0 of 10 questions complete | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 5,124 |
Sen. Susan Collins Susan Margaret CollinsLawmakers to give bipartisanship a try on ObamaCare The Memo: Trump allies say he needs a GOP scalp Maine’s GOP governor: Collins �?unlikely’ to win gubernatorial primary MORE (R-Maine) will vote against confirming President Trump’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Collins is the only Senate Republican to come out against Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general who sued the EPA 14 times during former President Obama’s administration.
“I have significant concerns that Mr. Pruitt has actively opposed and sued the EPA on numerous issues that are of great importance to the state of Maine, including mercury controls for coal-fired power plants and efforts to reduce cross-state air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions,” Collins said in a Wednesday statement first reported by Maine Public Radio.
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“His actions leave me with considerable doubts about whether his vision for the EPA is consistent with the agency’s critical mission to protect human health and the environment.”
Senators could vote on confirming Pruitt as early as Friday and despite Collins’s defection, Pruitt is still likely to be confirmed. The GOP's other 51 senators are likely to vote for him, and Sen. Joe Manchin Joseph (Joe) ManchinTrump playing active role in push to reform tax code Manchin leads Republican challengers by double-digits in new poll Poll: West Virginians approve of Dem senator more than Trump MORE (D-W.Va.) said he has “the right experience for the position.”
The rest of the Democratic caucus is likely to vote against Pruitt, who needs a simple majority of 51 votes to be confirmed.
Pruitt’s litigious history with the agency he wants to lead has been central to the campaign by Democrats and environmentalists against him.
He has sued to stop regulations controlling mercury pollution from power plants, carbon dioxide from power plants, a cleanup program for the Chesapeake Bay, ground-level ozone pollution, Obama’s rule asserting federal power over small waterways and more.
Pruitt and Republicans have defended the lawsuits as necessary to stop overreach by Obama’s EPA. Among the cases that have made it to a final court decision, Pruitt has been victorious just once.
Collins is one of the most centrist Republicans in the Senate, having broken with her party numerous times to support environmental regulations and legislation.
The Sierra Club applauded Collins Wednesday.
“Today, Senator Collins took a stand for families across Maine by opposing this dangerous nomination that would be a threat to our clean air, clean water, and public health,” Glen Brand, director of the group’s Maine chapter, said in a statement.
Collins's announcement came on the heels of a major blow for Trump's Cabinet slate, after Andy Puzder withdrew from consideration as Labor secretary one day before his confirmation hearing. She had expressed skepticism about his nomination, and also voted against final confirmation for Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. ||||| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Senator Susan Collins of Maine said on Wednesday she would oppose Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s nomination to head the Environmental Protection Agency, citing his numerous lawsuits against the agency.
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt testifies before a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee confirmation hearing on his nomination to be administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, U.S., January 18, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/Files
Pruitt is scheduled to face a Senate confirmation vote on Friday. Unless more Republicans join Collins in opposing Pruitt, his nomination is likely to be approved. Republicans hold 52 of the 100 seats in the chamber and Vice President Mike Pence could cast the deciding vote in case of a tie.
“Due to my concerns about Mr. Pruitt’s commitment to the mission of the EPA, I will cast my vote in opposition to his confirmation,” Collins said in a statement.
President Donald Trump has vowed to cut regulation to revive the oil, gas and coal industries, and has said he can do so without compromising air and water quality.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved Pruitt’s nomination two weeks ago after Democrats boycotted the vote over concerns about Pruitt’s environmental record.
As Oklahoma attorney general, Pruitt sued the EPA more than a dozen times on behalf of the oil-drilling state and he has cast doubts on the science of climate change.
“His actions leave me with considerable doubts about whether his vision for the EPA is consistent with the agency’s critical mission to protect human health and the environment,” Collins said.
She said Pruitt had sued the EPA on issues of importance to Maine, including mercury controls for coal-fired power plants and efforts to reduce cross-state air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
Senator Tom Carper, the top Democrat on the energy committee, and several other Democrats have asked Senate Leader Mitch McConnell to delay a procedural vote on Pruitt scheduled for Thursday.
They want the vote delayed until after the conclusion of an emergency hearing in Oklahoma to be held at 4 p.m. ET (2100 GMT) that will consider whether emails between Pruitt’s office and officials at oil and gas companies should be released.
Access to those records was requested by the Center for Media and Democracy, a watchdog group, more than two years ago.
Conservative group FreedomWorks blasted Collins, who also voted against the nomination last week of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Pence’s vote was needed to break a tie before DeVos was confirmed.
FreedomWorks Chief Executive Adam Brandon said in a statement it was “a shame” that Collins was again aligning herself with “far-left Democrats and special interests.” | – One Republican senator is breaking ranks to vote against President Trump's nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, who has sued the EPA 14 times. Maine's Susan Collins says she "has significant concerns" about issues affecting her state that Scott Pruitt has opposed the EPA on, "including mercury controls for coal-fired power plants and efforts to reduce cross-state air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions," the Hill reports. She says the Oklahoma attorney general's actions have left her with "considerable doubts about whether his vision for the EPA is consistent with the agency's critical mission to protect human health and the environment." The Maine chapter of the Sierra Club praised Collins for "opposing this dangerous nomination that would be a threat to our clean air, clean water, and public health." Collins, who also voted against confirming Betsy DeVos, is the only Republican so far to come out against Pruitt, meaning he's likely to be confirmed in a Senate vote Friday. Reuters reports that Democrats have asked for a procedural vote on Pruitt scheduled for Thursday to be delayed until after an afternoon hearing in Oklahoma on whether to release emails between his office and execs at oil and gas firms. (Trump's nominee for labor secretary withdrew on Wednesday.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Sen. Susan Collins Susan Margaret CollinsLawmakers to give bipartisanship a try on ObamaCare The Memo: Trump allies say he needs a GOP scalp Maine’s GOP governor: Collins �?unlikely’ to win gubernatorial primary MORE (R-Maine) will vote against confirming President Trump’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Collins is the only Senate Republican to come out against Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general who sued the EPA 14 times during former President Obama’s administration.
“I have significant concerns that Mr. Pruitt has actively opposed and sued the EPA on numerous issues that are of great importance to the state of Maine, including mercury controls for coal-fired power plants and efforts to reduce cross-state air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions,” Collins said in a Wednesday statement first reported by Maine Public Radio.
ADVERTISEMENT
“His actions leave me with considerable doubts about whether his vision for the EPA is consistent with the agency’s critical mission to protect human health and the environment.”
Senators could vote on confirming Pruitt as early as Friday and despite Collins’s defection, Pruitt is still likely to be confirmed. The GOP's other 51 senators are likely to vote for him, and Sen. Joe Manchin Joseph (Joe) ManchinTrump playing active role in push to reform tax code Manchin leads Republican challengers by double-digits in new poll Poll: West Virginians approve of Dem senator more than Trump MORE (D-W.Va.) said he has “the right experience for the position.”
The rest of the Democratic caucus is likely to vote against Pruitt, who needs a simple majority of 51 votes to be confirmed.
Pruitt’s litigious history with the agency he wants to lead has been central to the campaign by Democrats and environmentalists against him.
He has sued to stop regulations controlling mercury pollution from power plants, carbon dioxide from power plants, a cleanup program for the Chesapeake Bay, ground-level ozone pollution, Obama’s rule asserting federal power over small waterways and more.
Pruitt and Republicans have defended the lawsuits as necessary to stop overreach by Obama’s EPA. Among the cases that have made it to a final court decision, Pruitt has been victorious just once.
Collins is one of the most centrist Republicans in the Senate, having broken with her party numerous times to support environmental regulations and legislation.
The Sierra Club applauded Collins Wednesday.
“Today, Senator Collins took a stand for families across Maine by opposing this dangerous nomination that would be a threat to our clean air, clean water, and public health,” Glen Brand, director of the group’s Maine chapter, said in a statement.
Collins's announcement came on the heels of a major blow for Trump's Cabinet slate, after Andy Puzder withdrew from consideration as Labor secretary one day before his confirmation hearing. She had expressed skepticism about his nomination, and also voted against final confirmation for Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. ||||| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Senator Susan Collins of Maine said on Wednesday she would oppose Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s nomination to head the Environmental Protection Agency, citing his numerous lawsuits against the agency.
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt testifies before a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee confirmation hearing on his nomination to be administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, U.S., January 18, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/Files
Pruitt is scheduled to face a Senate confirmation vote on Friday. Unless more Republicans join Collins in opposing Pruitt, his nomination is likely to be approved. Republicans hold 52 of the 100 seats in the chamber and Vice President Mike Pence could cast the deciding vote in case of a tie.
“Due to my concerns about Mr. Pruitt’s commitment to the mission of the EPA, I will cast my vote in opposition to his confirmation,” Collins said in a statement.
President Donald Trump has vowed to cut regulation to revive the oil, gas and coal industries, and has said he can do so without compromising air and water quality.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved Pruitt’s nomination two weeks ago after Democrats boycotted the vote over concerns about Pruitt’s environmental record.
As Oklahoma attorney general, Pruitt sued the EPA more than a dozen times on behalf of the oil-drilling state and he has cast doubts on the science of climate change.
“His actions leave me with considerable doubts about whether his vision for the EPA is consistent with the agency’s critical mission to protect human health and the environment,” Collins said.
She said Pruitt had sued the EPA on issues of importance to Maine, including mercury controls for coal-fired power plants and efforts to reduce cross-state air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
Senator Tom Carper, the top Democrat on the energy committee, and several other Democrats have asked Senate Leader Mitch McConnell to delay a procedural vote on Pruitt scheduled for Thursday.
They want the vote delayed until after the conclusion of an emergency hearing in Oklahoma to be held at 4 p.m. ET (2100 GMT) that will consider whether emails between Pruitt’s office and officials at oil and gas companies should be released.
Access to those records was requested by the Center for Media and Democracy, a watchdog group, more than two years ago.
Conservative group FreedomWorks blasted Collins, who also voted against the nomination last week of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Pence’s vote was needed to break a tie before DeVos was confirmed.
FreedomWorks Chief Executive Adam Brandon said in a statement it was “a shame” that Collins was again aligning herself with “far-left Democrats and special interests.” | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 610 |
Scott Walker, the Wisconsin governor, said in an appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday that his recent fight against public unions in Wisconsin had prepared him to confront Islamic State (Isis) fighters in Iraq and Syria, should he seek and win the US presidency in the 2016 election.
“I want a commander-in-chief who will do everything in their power to make sure the threat from Islamic terrorists will not show up on our soil,” Walker said. “If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world.”
Right-to-work bill passes Wisconsin Senate on way to desk of Scott Walker Read more
Walker faced a recall election after signing legislation that stripped public unions of collective bargaining rights and curtailed public pensions. The unions bill has involved a dramatic fight, with thousands having taken to the streets of the state capital to protest against the action.
Also speaking at the conference on Thursday were Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor, Ted Cruz, the Texas senator, and Bobby Jindal, the Louisiana governor, but Walker was the only potential candidate directly encouraged by the crowd to run for president.
“Run Scott Run! Run Scott Run!” the audience interrupted him to shout at one point.
He responded by saying: “I did run three times in the last four years, so I’m getting used to it,” referring to his recall election win and his re-election in November 2014.
While Walker has formed a committee to explore a presidential run, he has not declared his candidacy. Yet he did not seek to a correct a questioner who asked him what he would do to take on Isis “should you become commander-in-chief”.
“For a number of years I’ve been concerned about that threat, not only abroad but right here on American soil,” Walker said, explaining that as governor, he receives regular updates about security threats.
After his speech, Walker said his comparison of confronting unions and a potential confrontation with Isis had been misinterpreted.
“Let me be perfectly clear, I’m just pointing out the closest thing I have to handling this difficult situation is the 100,000 protesters I had to deal with,” Walker told the Wisconsin State Journal.
He said he did not regret his statement. ||||| Gov. Scott Walker Goes Head-To-Head With Labor Over Right-To-Work
Enlarge this image toggle caption Reuters/Landov Reuters/Landov
Wisconsin is set to become the nation's 25th "right to work" state. Republicans in the state Legislature are fast-tracking a bill to Gov. Scott Walker, who is a potential 2016 presidential candidate.
The state Senate passed a right-to-work bill late Wednesday, and the State Assembly could pass it next week.
The measure aims to weaken private sector unions by letting workers opt out of mandatory dues. Wisconsin Republicans appear to be following an anti-union playbook that's been circling the Midwest.
Four years ago this month, the biggest political story was Walker's Act 10, the law ending collective bargaining for public sector unions. Thousands of protesters swarmed the Wisconsin Capitol building for days, demanding that lawmakers reject Walker's "Budget Repair Bill."
But state lawmakers did no such thing, and while Walker insists the policy has helped the state, he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last fall that a second battle with big labor would be a distraction.
"So particularly, on that particular issue, and any other substantive changes to Act 10, I just think that opens up a whole other can of worms out there," he told the newspaper.
But that can is now wide open. Walker, who's been inching into the national spotlight as a presidential hopeful, says he will sign a right-to-work bill. Opponents say his goal is to erode unions' ability to fund Democratic candidates and causes. But the governor argues that a right-to-work law makes Wisconsin more competitive with Indiana and Michigan, neighboring states that adopted right-to-work laws in 2012.
"This old, old, old piece of unfinished business on the part of the American conservatism has come back," says Nelson Lichtenstein, a labor historian at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
He says the right-to-work movement started in the 1940s in the anti-union South and trickled West. Lichtenstein says in Midwestern states that have recently targeted organized labor, private sector unions have lost significant members and clout. Republicans who control statehouses and governor's mansions have also made convincing arguments about union members getting more than their fair share.
"And so these Republican governors have been able to push this through in a number of states in the, what had been, the traditional heartland of American unionism," Lichtenstein says.
So far, recent laws have passed only in states with Republicans in control. In fact, even some language in the new state laws is nearly identical to a model right-to-work bill drafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council, which seeks to advance a conservative agenda.
Patrick Semmens, a spokesman for the National Right to Work Committee, says this is about fairness.
"We think that every worker should be able to join a union and pay dues to a union, but no one should be forced, so on those merits alone, we think it's worth passing right-to-work," Semmens says.
But at a right-to-work protest this week in Milwaukee, retired steelworker Greg Gorecki says he can't understand why any working person would support a law weakening unions.
"Unions kind of set the whole tone for wages throughout the whole economy," he says. "We set the wages for the middle class. So if you take away power from the unions, it's only going to drop the wages for everybody."
And researchers like Gordon Lafer at the University of Oregon's Labor Education and Research Center say Gorecki is right. At a public hearing on the Wisconsin bill this week, Lafer cited a study by the chief economist at the Labor Department.
"What the most rigorous research shows is that all other things being equal, the impact of adopting a right-to-work law in 2015 is to lower wages by about 3 percent for both union and nonunion workers across the state," he says, "and to lower the chance of getting health insurance or pensions."
But those who support right-to-work present different data. Semmens says the policies lead to higher growth in private sector employment and income.
"And, you know, certainly in the Midwest, they're looking for good jobs and right-to-work has a good track record for that," he says.
But many academics dispute those claims, which come from groups that have a dog in the fight.
Still, warnings about downward-spiraling wages have not seemed to gain much traction as the anti-union movement marches on. Right-to-work bills are now in play in a number of other states, including two states with Democratic governors, West Virginia and Missouri. | – Scott Walker hasn't officially declared he's running for president, but the Wisconsin governor knows if he were president, he'd be able to handle ISIS. Why? Because he's taken on public unions. In a speech yesterday at the Conservative Political Action Conference (aka the "conservative Woodstock") in National Harbor, Md., Walker reminded everyone of his anti-unions stance and extrapolated that to how he'd do taking on the militants wreaking havoc in Iraq and Syria, the Guardian reports. "I want a commander in chief who will do everything in their power to make sure the threat from Islamic terrorists will not show up on our soil," he said. "If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world." Walker was referring to 2011 protests in his state that demonstrated against his Act 10 legislation, which effectively nixed collective bargaining for public unions, per NPR. One person who didn't appreciate Walker's comments, per the Wisconsin State Journal: Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Phil Neuenfeldt. "To compare the hundreds of thousands of teachers, students, grandmothers, veterans, correctional officers, nurses, and all the workers who came out to peacefully protest and stand together for their rights as Americans to ISIS terrorists is disgusting and unacceptable," Neuenfeldt said in a statement. Walker's counterpoint: "Let me be perfectly clear: I'm just pointing out the closest thing I have to handling this difficult situation is the 100,000 protesters I had to deal with," he told reporters, as per the Journal. "You all will misconstrue things the way you see fit. That's the closest thing I have in terms of handling a difficult situation, not that there's any parallel between the two." When asked by a reporter if he regretted yesterday's statements, he simply said, "No." (And listen: Walker has no clue if Obama loves his country or not, so don't ask.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Scott Walker, the Wisconsin governor, said in an appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday that his recent fight against public unions in Wisconsin had prepared him to confront Islamic State (Isis) fighters in Iraq and Syria, should he seek and win the US presidency in the 2016 election.
“I want a commander-in-chief who will do everything in their power to make sure the threat from Islamic terrorists will not show up on our soil,” Walker said. “If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world.”
Right-to-work bill passes Wisconsin Senate on way to desk of Scott Walker Read more
Walker faced a recall election after signing legislation that stripped public unions of collective bargaining rights and curtailed public pensions. The unions bill has involved a dramatic fight, with thousands having taken to the streets of the state capital to protest against the action.
Also speaking at the conference on Thursday were Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor, Ted Cruz, the Texas senator, and Bobby Jindal, the Louisiana governor, but Walker was the only potential candidate directly encouraged by the crowd to run for president.
“Run Scott Run! Run Scott Run!” the audience interrupted him to shout at one point.
He responded by saying: “I did run three times in the last four years, so I’m getting used to it,” referring to his recall election win and his re-election in November 2014.
While Walker has formed a committee to explore a presidential run, he has not declared his candidacy. Yet he did not seek to a correct a questioner who asked him what he would do to take on Isis “should you become commander-in-chief”.
“For a number of years I’ve been concerned about that threat, not only abroad but right here on American soil,” Walker said, explaining that as governor, he receives regular updates about security threats.
After his speech, Walker said his comparison of confronting unions and a potential confrontation with Isis had been misinterpreted.
“Let me be perfectly clear, I’m just pointing out the closest thing I have to handling this difficult situation is the 100,000 protesters I had to deal with,” Walker told the Wisconsin State Journal.
He said he did not regret his statement. ||||| Gov. Scott Walker Goes Head-To-Head With Labor Over Right-To-Work
Enlarge this image toggle caption Reuters/Landov Reuters/Landov
Wisconsin is set to become the nation's 25th "right to work" state. Republicans in the state Legislature are fast-tracking a bill to Gov. Scott Walker, who is a potential 2016 presidential candidate.
The state Senate passed a right-to-work bill late Wednesday, and the State Assembly could pass it next week.
The measure aims to weaken private sector unions by letting workers opt out of mandatory dues. Wisconsin Republicans appear to be following an anti-union playbook that's been circling the Midwest.
Four years ago this month, the biggest political story was Walker's Act 10, the law ending collective bargaining for public sector unions. Thousands of protesters swarmed the Wisconsin Capitol building for days, demanding that lawmakers reject Walker's "Budget Repair Bill."
But state lawmakers did no such thing, and while Walker insists the policy has helped the state, he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last fall that a second battle with big labor would be a distraction.
"So particularly, on that particular issue, and any other substantive changes to Act 10, I just think that opens up a whole other can of worms out there," he told the newspaper.
But that can is now wide open. Walker, who's been inching into the national spotlight as a presidential hopeful, says he will sign a right-to-work bill. Opponents say his goal is to erode unions' ability to fund Democratic candidates and causes. But the governor argues that a right-to-work law makes Wisconsin more competitive with Indiana and Michigan, neighboring states that adopted right-to-work laws in 2012.
"This old, old, old piece of unfinished business on the part of the American conservatism has come back," says Nelson Lichtenstein, a labor historian at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
He says the right-to-work movement started in the 1940s in the anti-union South and trickled West. Lichtenstein says in Midwestern states that have recently targeted organized labor, private sector unions have lost significant members and clout. Republicans who control statehouses and governor's mansions have also made convincing arguments about union members getting more than their fair share.
"And so these Republican governors have been able to push this through in a number of states in the, what had been, the traditional heartland of American unionism," Lichtenstein says.
So far, recent laws have passed only in states with Republicans in control. In fact, even some language in the new state laws is nearly identical to a model right-to-work bill drafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council, which seeks to advance a conservative agenda.
Patrick Semmens, a spokesman for the National Right to Work Committee, says this is about fairness.
"We think that every worker should be able to join a union and pay dues to a union, but no one should be forced, so on those merits alone, we think it's worth passing right-to-work," Semmens says.
But at a right-to-work protest this week in Milwaukee, retired steelworker Greg Gorecki says he can't understand why any working person would support a law weakening unions.
"Unions kind of set the whole tone for wages throughout the whole economy," he says. "We set the wages for the middle class. So if you take away power from the unions, it's only going to drop the wages for everybody."
And researchers like Gordon Lafer at the University of Oregon's Labor Education and Research Center say Gorecki is right. At a public hearing on the Wisconsin bill this week, Lafer cited a study by the chief economist at the Labor Department.
"What the most rigorous research shows is that all other things being equal, the impact of adopting a right-to-work law in 2015 is to lower wages by about 3 percent for both union and nonunion workers across the state," he says, "and to lower the chance of getting health insurance or pensions."
But those who support right-to-work present different data. Semmens says the policies lead to higher growth in private sector employment and income.
"And, you know, certainly in the Midwest, they're looking for good jobs and right-to-work has a good track record for that," he says.
But many academics dispute those claims, which come from groups that have a dog in the fight.
Still, warnings about downward-spiraling wages have not seemed to gain much traction as the anti-union movement marches on. Right-to-work bills are now in play in a number of other states, including two states with Democratic governors, West Virginia and Missouri. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 2,446 |
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Comedian Conan O'Brien took a break from his late-night show, "Conan," to join President Obama in Washington, D.C. Saturday at the 2013 White House Correspondents' Dinner. Two hours or so before the festivities began, he sent out a picture of himself behind a podium, sporting a Boston Red Sox hat. "Just rehearsed my routine to an empty ballroom at the Washington Hilton," the comedian tweeted. "The one guy unfolding chairs loved it." PHOTOS: White House Correspondents' Dinner 2013 Read on to see Conan O'Brien's jokes from the 2013 White House Correspondents' Dinner.
ABCNEWS.com No Tickets for Joe Throughout the night, O'Brien took shots at Vice President Joe Biden, who also appeared earlier in the night in a video mashup of his gaffes. "It's an honor to share this stage with the president," he said at the start of his set. "When you think about it the president and I are a lot alike. We both went to Harvard. We both have two children and we both told Joe Biden we didn't have extra tickets for tonight's event."
ABCNEWS.com Conan Has the Hots for LaHood? The comedian went on to point out another way in which he felt he could identify with President Obama. "Like the president, I too, recently got in some hot water by talking about a public official's good looks," O'Brien confessed. "It was the time I wouldn't shut up about that stone cold fox, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood." "Oh man," he added. "I like the cut of his gib."
ABCNEWS.com Questioning Chris Christie Biden wasn't the only reoccuring character in O'Brien's jokes. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie took a few hits as well. "I'd like to acknowledge that earlier this evening, there was some confusion with the seating chart. For a moment, someone accidentally sat Governor Chris Christie with the Republicans. That was awkward, and I apologize," he said. Christie seemed to take it in stride, laughing alongside his host, Arianna Huffington.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Obama's Overabundant Emails In the wake of the election, O'Brien centered several jokes around the president's entering his second term, including one that hit on the organziation grown out of his campaign, now called Organizing for Action. "I have a question, and I think some of you also have this question," he told the president. "It's been several months since you were reelected, sir, so I'm curious, why are you still sending everyone five emails a day asking for more money?" "You won," he reminded Obama. "Do you have a gambling problem we don't know about?" "Did you put it all on Gonzaga?" he asked, a reference to the president's NCAA March Madness college basketball bracket. "You did, didn't you? He did!" ||||| Former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin came out with a strongly worded tweet condemning the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, calling its participants "assclowns" after the dinner concluded.
Here's the tweet:
Palin showed up in Washington D.C. for the festivities two years ago herself, but she has been largely absent from the scene since. ||||| President Barack Obama’s comedic stylings were well received at Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner. Here’s a roundup of his five best lines:
“Some folks still don’t think I spend enough time with Congress. ‘Why don’t you get a drink with Mitch McConnell?’ they ask. Really? Why don’t you get a drink with Mitch McConnell?”
Text Size -
+
reset PHOTOS: WHCD 2013 Play Slideshow
“I know CNN has taken some knocks lately but the fact is, I admire their commitment to covering all sides of the story, just in case one of them happens to be accurate.”
(PHOTOS: Stars, politicos, media at WHCD)
“David Axelrod now works for MSNBC, which is a nice change of pace, since MSNBC used to work for David Axelrod.”
“And then there’s the Easter Egg Roll, which is just supposed to be a nice event with the kids. I got out on the basketball court, took 22 shots, made 2 of them. That’s right, 2 hits, 20 misses. The executives at NBC asked, ‘What’s your secret?’”
”One thing [the Republican Party] agrees on is the need to do a better job of reaching out to minorities. And look, call me self-centered, but I can think of one minority they can start with.” [Raises his hand] Think of me as a trial run, see how it goes.” | – This year's White House Correspondents' Dinner saw laughs mixed with reflection on tragedies in Boston and Texas. President Obama took shots at the GOP and the media—not to mention himself. Among his best jokes, via Politico and the Los Angeles Times: "Some folks still don’t think I spend enough time with Congress. ‘Why don’t you get a drink with Mitch McConnell?’ they ask. Really? Why don’t you get a drink with Mitch McConnell?" On the changing world of the media: "I remember when Buzzfeed was just something I did in college at 2am." "These days I look in the mirror and I have to admit, I’m not the strapping young Muslim socialist I used to be." And from Conan O'Brien, per ABC News: "Like the president, I too, recently got in some hot water by talking about a public official's good looks ... It was the time I wouldn't shut up about that stone-cold fox, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood." "When you think about it, the president and I are a lot alike. We both went to Harvard. We both have two children. And we both told Joe Biden we didn't have extra tickets for tonight's event." "To any US senators here tonight, if you would like to switch either your dessert or your position on gay marriage, please signal a waiter." Business Insider notes that not everyone was yukking it up: Sarah Palin tweet-bashed "these DC assclowns" as "pathetic." But the president also had some serious words: "As we gather here tonight, our thoughts are not far from the people of Boston, the people of West, Texas, and in the Midwest there are some people coping with some terrible floods," he noted, adding to media guests: "If we’re only focused on profits, on ratings, and on polls, we are contributing to the sense of cynicism that’s out there right now." | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Comedian Conan O'Brien took a break from his late-night show, "Conan," to join President Obama in Washington, D.C. Saturday at the 2013 White House Correspondents' Dinner. Two hours or so before the festivities began, he sent out a picture of himself behind a podium, sporting a Boston Red Sox hat. "Just rehearsed my routine to an empty ballroom at the Washington Hilton," the comedian tweeted. "The one guy unfolding chairs loved it." PHOTOS: White House Correspondents' Dinner 2013 Read on to see Conan O'Brien's jokes from the 2013 White House Correspondents' Dinner.
ABCNEWS.com No Tickets for Joe Throughout the night, O'Brien took shots at Vice President Joe Biden, who also appeared earlier in the night in a video mashup of his gaffes. "It's an honor to share this stage with the president," he said at the start of his set. "When you think about it the president and I are a lot alike. We both went to Harvard. We both have two children and we both told Joe Biden we didn't have extra tickets for tonight's event."
ABCNEWS.com Conan Has the Hots for LaHood? The comedian went on to point out another way in which he felt he could identify with President Obama. "Like the president, I too, recently got in some hot water by talking about a public official's good looks," O'Brien confessed. "It was the time I wouldn't shut up about that stone cold fox, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood." "Oh man," he added. "I like the cut of his gib."
ABCNEWS.com Questioning Chris Christie Biden wasn't the only reoccuring character in O'Brien's jokes. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie took a few hits as well. "I'd like to acknowledge that earlier this evening, there was some confusion with the seating chart. For a moment, someone accidentally sat Governor Chris Christie with the Republicans. That was awkward, and I apologize," he said. Christie seemed to take it in stride, laughing alongside his host, Arianna Huffington.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Obama's Overabundant Emails In the wake of the election, O'Brien centered several jokes around the president's entering his second term, including one that hit on the organziation grown out of his campaign, now called Organizing for Action. "I have a question, and I think some of you also have this question," he told the president. "It's been several months since you were reelected, sir, so I'm curious, why are you still sending everyone five emails a day asking for more money?" "You won," he reminded Obama. "Do you have a gambling problem we don't know about?" "Did you put it all on Gonzaga?" he asked, a reference to the president's NCAA March Madness college basketball bracket. "You did, didn't you? He did!" ||||| Former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin came out with a strongly worded tweet condemning the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, calling its participants "assclowns" after the dinner concluded.
Here's the tweet:
Palin showed up in Washington D.C. for the festivities two years ago herself, but she has been largely absent from the scene since. ||||| President Barack Obama’s comedic stylings were well received at Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner. Here’s a roundup of his five best lines:
“Some folks still don’t think I spend enough time with Congress. ‘Why don’t you get a drink with Mitch McConnell?’ they ask. Really? Why don’t you get a drink with Mitch McConnell?”
Text Size -
+
reset PHOTOS: WHCD 2013 Play Slideshow
“I know CNN has taken some knocks lately but the fact is, I admire their commitment to covering all sides of the story, just in case one of them happens to be accurate.”
(PHOTOS: Stars, politicos, media at WHCD)
“David Axelrod now works for MSNBC, which is a nice change of pace, since MSNBC used to work for David Axelrod.”
“And then there’s the Easter Egg Roll, which is just supposed to be a nice event with the kids. I got out on the basketball court, took 22 shots, made 2 of them. That’s right, 2 hits, 20 misses. The executives at NBC asked, ‘What’s your secret?’”
”One thing [the Republican Party] agrees on is the need to do a better job of reaching out to minorities. And look, call me self-centered, but I can think of one minority they can start with.” [Raises his hand] Think of me as a trial run, see how it goes.” | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 9,286 |
Bill de Blasio, who transformed himself from a little-known occupant of an obscure office into the fiery voice of New York’s disillusionment with a new gilded age, was elected the city’s 109th mayor on Tuesday.
His landslide victory, stretching from the working-class precincts of central Brooklyn to the suburban streets of southeast Queens, amounted to a forceful rejection of the hard-nosed, business-minded style of governance that reigned at City Hall for the past two decades and a sharp leftward turn for the nation’s largest metropolis.
Mr. de Blasio, the city’s public advocate, defeated Joseph J. Lhota, a former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, by a margin of about 49 percentage points, with 99 percent of the vote counted.
It was the most sweeping victory in a mayor’s race since 1985, when Edward I. Koch won by 68 points, and it gave Mr. de Blasio what he said was an unmistakable mandate to pursue his liberal agenda. ||||| Bill de Blasio overwhelmingly was elected mayor Tuesday, becoming the first Democrat to lead New York in 20 years and ushering in an era of activist liberal governance in the nation’s largest city.
With 84 percent of precincts reporting results, de Blasio was trouncing Republican Joe Lhota, a protégé of former mayor Rudy Giuliani, by 73 percent to 24 percent early Wednesday.
De Blasio campaigned on a mantle of progressive change following Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s 12 years in office, highlighting what he saw as “a tale of two cities.” The moneyed Manhattan elite have had their mayor, he argued, and now the 46 percent of New Yorkers living at or near the poverty level need one of their own.
De Blasio’s administration will be a laboratory of sorts for modern progressivism — testing whether an anti-establishment activist can effectively manage a sprawling municipal government and lessen growing inequality between the rich and poor.
“Tackling inequality isn’t easy. It never has been, and it never will be,” de Blasio said in a victory speech at the YMCA gymnasium in his Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope. “The challenges we face have been decades in the making, and the problems we set out to address will not be solved overnight. But make no mistake: The people of this city have chosen a progressive path. And tonight we set forth on it — together, as one city.”
1 of 31 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Elections around the country View Photos From Detroit to Virginia, a look at some of the races drawing voters to the polls Tuesday. Caption From Detroit to Virginia, a look at some of the races drawing voters to the polls Tuesday. Nov. 5, 2013 New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) exits a voting booth after casting his ballot at a polling center in Mendham, N.J. Eduardo Munoz/Reuters Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
But de Blasio also faces a series of immediate challenges as he takes charge of a city government with some 300,000 employees, a $70 billion budget and a dizzying web of intersecting interests. He will have to negotiate several city labor contracts that are due for renewal and overhaul the leadership of agencies, including the New York Police Department, which he has sharply criticized for the anti-crime policy known as “stop and frisk.”
De Blasio also confronts serious obstacles to his tax policy agenda beyond the borders of this overwhelmingly Democratic city, including potential opposition from Democratic Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and lawmakers in Albany.
“He walks into a new experiment,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a New York Democratic strategist. “How does a mayor bridge the income gap? It’s a very difficult set of circumstances. The president hasn’t been able to do it. The governors haven’t been able to do it.”
Despite New York’s overwhelmingly liberal tilt, de Blasio will become New York’s first Democratic mayor in 20 years. He will follow the reigns of Bloomberg, a billionaire Republican-turned-
independent, and Rudy Giuliani, a law-and-order Republican who led the city as it recovered from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Lhota ran as a continuation of the Bloomberg years, while attacking de Blasio as a leftist, anti-police extremist. The New York Post featured de Blasio on its front page Monday above the headline, “Back to the USSR!” — a reference to a student trip by de Blasio to the Soviet Union 30 years ago.
But the attacks gained little traction. De Blasio’s friends say he is at once principled and practical, and that the business community will warm to him as he shifts from campaigning to governing.
“He’s very reasonable,” said public relations strategist Matthew Hiltzik, a longtime friend. “He has a core set of beliefs, but he doesn’t go into things assuming he has all the answers.”
A key pillar of de Blasio’s campaign was to expand pre-
kindergarten classes — something President Obama has championed. De Blasio has said he would pay for it by raising taxes on residents making more than $500,000, subject to approval from the state legislature.
Many de Blasio supporters believe his victory shows that talking plainly about higher taxes carries less political risk than assumed.
“Most people regard raising taxes as a political killer, but Bill’s not afraid because he knows we need it,” Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.) said in an interview before a Monday campaign appearance with de Blasio in the Bronx.
But legislative leaders in Albany are skittish about the issue, especially with lawmakers standing for reelection in 2014. Democrats control the Assembly in the state capital, but Republicans have a slim majority in the Senate. Cuomo, who would have to sign any tax law, has said he supports expanding pre-K programs, but opposes raising taxes.
The tax debate will be an early test of the new mayor’s relationship with the governor, who was President Bill Clinton's Housing and Urban Development secretary when de Blasio worked as a HUD appointee in New York and New Jersey.
Such ties are typical for de Blasio, 52, who has built a network over decades in New York politics. He was Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign manager during her 2000 Senate race, then served eight years on the New York City Council before being elected as the city’s public advocate in 2009.
De Blasio’s blunt discussion of wealth has resonated with many voters, especially African Americans and disenchanted liberal whites. The issue helped fuel his surge from fourth place in a crowded Democratic field in early summer to head of the pack by the September primary, when he defeated City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.
The Brooklyn resident has said he would become the first mayor in the city’s history with children enrolled in public schools. “He knows our issues because he has children in the trenches with us,” said Freddie Sneed Jr., 55, a truck driver.
Jef Pollock, a New York-based pollster who worked on de Blasio’s 2009 campaign for public advocate, said de Blasio has built a diverse coalition of supporters by tapping into emotions surrounding income disparity and resentment over Bloomberg’s Manhattan-focused mayoralty.
“That reliance on old-school, coalition politics, where we just assume that people are going to vote for the candidate who looks and sounds like them — that mold has been broken,” Pollock said.
On the campaign trail, de Blasio played up his solidarity with the often-neglected outer boroughs. At Monday’s rally in the Rochdale Village housing complex in Queens, city parks employee William Hightower said, “It’s about time we had change.
“Classism here is a huge problem,” Hightower, 48, said. “It’s haves and have-nots. But he understands about the have-nots.”
On Tuesday night, de Blasio’s victory speech was perfectly pitched to the have-nots.
“The growing inequality we see, the crisis in affordability we face, it has been decades in the making,” de Blasio said. “But its slow creep upon this city cannot weaken our resolve, and it won’t.”
| – The New York City mayor's race wrapped up with little suspense tonight: As expected, Bill de Blasio will replace Michael Bloomberg and become the city's first Democratic mayor in two decades, reports the New York Times. It called the race based on exit interviews as the polls closed at 9pm. De Blasio, the city's public advocate (an elected position) easily defeated Republican Joe Lhota, a former Giuliani deputy. De Blasio presented himself as an unapologetic liberal and as a clear break from Bloomberg. "I'm calling for fundamental progressive change," he said after voting today. One item on his agenda is universal early education, to be paid for by a tax hike on the rich. In a pre-results analysis, Philip Rucker of the Washington Post saw it this way: "The de Blasio administration would become a laboratory for modern progressivism—a test of whether an anti-establishment activist can effectively manage a sprawling municipal government and whether his policy prescriptions can actually lessen growing inequality between the rich and the poor." | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Bill de Blasio, who transformed himself from a little-known occupant of an obscure office into the fiery voice of New York’s disillusionment with a new gilded age, was elected the city’s 109th mayor on Tuesday.
His landslide victory, stretching from the working-class precincts of central Brooklyn to the suburban streets of southeast Queens, amounted to a forceful rejection of the hard-nosed, business-minded style of governance that reigned at City Hall for the past two decades and a sharp leftward turn for the nation’s largest metropolis.
Mr. de Blasio, the city’s public advocate, defeated Joseph J. Lhota, a former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, by a margin of about 49 percentage points, with 99 percent of the vote counted.
It was the most sweeping victory in a mayor’s race since 1985, when Edward I. Koch won by 68 points, and it gave Mr. de Blasio what he said was an unmistakable mandate to pursue his liberal agenda. ||||| Bill de Blasio overwhelmingly was elected mayor Tuesday, becoming the first Democrat to lead New York in 20 years and ushering in an era of activist liberal governance in the nation’s largest city.
With 84 percent of precincts reporting results, de Blasio was trouncing Republican Joe Lhota, a protégé of former mayor Rudy Giuliani, by 73 percent to 24 percent early Wednesday.
De Blasio campaigned on a mantle of progressive change following Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s 12 years in office, highlighting what he saw as “a tale of two cities.” The moneyed Manhattan elite have had their mayor, he argued, and now the 46 percent of New Yorkers living at or near the poverty level need one of their own.
De Blasio’s administration will be a laboratory of sorts for modern progressivism — testing whether an anti-establishment activist can effectively manage a sprawling municipal government and lessen growing inequality between the rich and poor.
“Tackling inequality isn’t easy. It never has been, and it never will be,” de Blasio said in a victory speech at the YMCA gymnasium in his Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope. “The challenges we face have been decades in the making, and the problems we set out to address will not be solved overnight. But make no mistake: The people of this city have chosen a progressive path. And tonight we set forth on it — together, as one city.”
1 of 31 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Elections around the country View Photos From Detroit to Virginia, a look at some of the races drawing voters to the polls Tuesday. Caption From Detroit to Virginia, a look at some of the races drawing voters to the polls Tuesday. Nov. 5, 2013 New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) exits a voting booth after casting his ballot at a polling center in Mendham, N.J. Eduardo Munoz/Reuters Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
But de Blasio also faces a series of immediate challenges as he takes charge of a city government with some 300,000 employees, a $70 billion budget and a dizzying web of intersecting interests. He will have to negotiate several city labor contracts that are due for renewal and overhaul the leadership of agencies, including the New York Police Department, which he has sharply criticized for the anti-crime policy known as “stop and frisk.”
De Blasio also confronts serious obstacles to his tax policy agenda beyond the borders of this overwhelmingly Democratic city, including potential opposition from Democratic Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and lawmakers in Albany.
“He walks into a new experiment,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a New York Democratic strategist. “How does a mayor bridge the income gap? It’s a very difficult set of circumstances. The president hasn’t been able to do it. The governors haven’t been able to do it.”
Despite New York’s overwhelmingly liberal tilt, de Blasio will become New York’s first Democratic mayor in 20 years. He will follow the reigns of Bloomberg, a billionaire Republican-turned-
independent, and Rudy Giuliani, a law-and-order Republican who led the city as it recovered from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Lhota ran as a continuation of the Bloomberg years, while attacking de Blasio as a leftist, anti-police extremist. The New York Post featured de Blasio on its front page Monday above the headline, “Back to the USSR!” — a reference to a student trip by de Blasio to the Soviet Union 30 years ago.
But the attacks gained little traction. De Blasio’s friends say he is at once principled and practical, and that the business community will warm to him as he shifts from campaigning to governing.
“He’s very reasonable,” said public relations strategist Matthew Hiltzik, a longtime friend. “He has a core set of beliefs, but he doesn’t go into things assuming he has all the answers.”
A key pillar of de Blasio’s campaign was to expand pre-
kindergarten classes — something President Obama has championed. De Blasio has said he would pay for it by raising taxes on residents making more than $500,000, subject to approval from the state legislature.
Many de Blasio supporters believe his victory shows that talking plainly about higher taxes carries less political risk than assumed.
“Most people regard raising taxes as a political killer, but Bill’s not afraid because he knows we need it,” Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.) said in an interview before a Monday campaign appearance with de Blasio in the Bronx.
But legislative leaders in Albany are skittish about the issue, especially with lawmakers standing for reelection in 2014. Democrats control the Assembly in the state capital, but Republicans have a slim majority in the Senate. Cuomo, who would have to sign any tax law, has said he supports expanding pre-K programs, but opposes raising taxes.
The tax debate will be an early test of the new mayor’s relationship with the governor, who was President Bill Clinton's Housing and Urban Development secretary when de Blasio worked as a HUD appointee in New York and New Jersey.
Such ties are typical for de Blasio, 52, who has built a network over decades in New York politics. He was Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign manager during her 2000 Senate race, then served eight years on the New York City Council before being elected as the city’s public advocate in 2009.
De Blasio’s blunt discussion of wealth has resonated with many voters, especially African Americans and disenchanted liberal whites. The issue helped fuel his surge from fourth place in a crowded Democratic field in early summer to head of the pack by the September primary, when he defeated City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.
The Brooklyn resident has said he would become the first mayor in the city’s history with children enrolled in public schools. “He knows our issues because he has children in the trenches with us,” said Freddie Sneed Jr., 55, a truck driver.
Jef Pollock, a New York-based pollster who worked on de Blasio’s 2009 campaign for public advocate, said de Blasio has built a diverse coalition of supporters by tapping into emotions surrounding income disparity and resentment over Bloomberg’s Manhattan-focused mayoralty.
“That reliance on old-school, coalition politics, where we just assume that people are going to vote for the candidate who looks and sounds like them — that mold has been broken,” Pollock said.
On the campaign trail, de Blasio played up his solidarity with the often-neglected outer boroughs. At Monday’s rally in the Rochdale Village housing complex in Queens, city parks employee William Hightower said, “It’s about time we had change.
“Classism here is a huge problem,” Hightower, 48, said. “It’s haves and have-nots. But he understands about the have-nots.”
On Tuesday night, de Blasio’s victory speech was perfectly pitched to the have-nots.
“The growing inequality we see, the crisis in affordability we face, it has been decades in the making,” de Blasio said. “But its slow creep upon this city cannot weaken our resolve, and it won’t.”
| According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 2,862 |
'Get Me Roger Stone' documentary offers good insight into the dark forces behind Trump's rise.
Political consultant Roger Stone attends a screening of "Get Me Roger Stone" at the SVA Theatre during the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival on April 23, 2017 in New York. (Photo: Brent N. Clarke, Brent N. Clarke/Invision/AP)
“I was like a jockey looking for a horse. You can’t win the race if you don’t have a horse. He’s a prime piece of political horse flesh in my view.” – Roger Stone on Donald Trump.
A grapefruit-size grinning face of Richard Nixon is tattooed on the back of Roger Stone, the longtime political operative and legendary dirty trickster. Stone, 64, credited with propelling Donald Trump into politics, defends the tattoo proudly in an early scene from Get Me Roger Stone, the fascinating and instructive new documentary recently released on Netflix.
Anyone trying to keep up with the daily drama emanating from the White House lately — from President Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey to the multiple Russia investigations to the Comey memos — could benefit from a screening of this film.
The documentary follows Stone from his earliest days in politics, as a 19-year-old neophyte performing dirty tricks for Nixon’s 1972 re-election campaign and the youngest person called to testify in front of the Watergate grand jury, to his close involvement in Trump's surprising win last year.
I had heard of Roger Stone, of his gutter-level tactics, his conspiracy theories and his close ties to Trump. But I had little idea of the depth of influence he’s had on American politics the past five decades and on the current White House tenant. Like others, I've been intrigued by the forces that propelled Trump to the presidency and so deeply divided our nation. Get Me Roger Stone offers some of the best insight into this I've seen anywhere.
Interestingly, the filmmakers — Morgan Pehme, Dylan Bank and Dan DiMauro — met Stone six years ago and planned to do a movie focusing on his influence on American politics. They had gathered five years worth of footage on Stone before the 2016 presidential campaign even began. But as Trump marched through the primaries, with Stone ever-lurking in his shadows, they realized they had something much bigger.
Their goal was not to make a liberal, finger-wagging hit piece, DiMauro told me, but a film that peeled back the veneer of modern political campaigning and explained how Stone — and others like him — have muddied modern political discourse.
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant,” DiMauro said. “By making this film, we wanted people to understand the profound effect (Stone) has had on our politics and the degradation of political discourse over the past 50 years.”
Co-director Pehme said he hopes viewers of the film realize elections are about more than just the candidates. "We are painfully naive about the fact that the most powerful people, the people really moving our country, are the people behind the camera, in the shadows, like Roger Stone," he said.
After Watergate, the film follows Stone through his Forrest-Gump-like political career: Working on the campaigns of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush; peddling access in the influential D.C. lobbying firm of Black, Manafort and Stone (known as the “Torturer’s Lobby” for taking on clients such as Zaire's dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines); pioneering negative TV ads through political-action committees; orchestrating street protests on behalf of George W. Bush during the 2000 Florida presidential election recount.
“Those who say I have no soul, those who say I have no principles, are losers,” Stone says in the film.
In 1987, Stone began urging Trump to run for president. In the film, Trump praises Stone repeatedly, calling him “tough” and a “quality guy.” In one sequence, the film shows how Stone helped sabotage the Reform Party’s chances in the 2000 presidential election by urging Pat Buchanan to run as a Reform candidate, then backing Trump to run against Buchanan. In part because of Trump’s brash attacks on his rival (“He’s a Hitler lover,” Trump repeatedly says about Buchanan), the Reform Party imploded, paving the way for Bush’s contentious win that year.
Stone’s fingerprints, according to the film, were again all over Trump’s victory last year: the “Make America Great Again” slogan (borrowed from a Reagan campaign Stone worked on); questioning President Obama’s birth certificate; spreading unfounded allegations that Bill Clinton is a serial rapist. Stone's name has also been mentioned in connection to the widening FBI inquiry into Russia's interference in the 2016 election.
“Roger’s relationship with Trump has been so interconnected that it’s hard to define what’s Roger and what’s Donald,” Paul Manafort, Stone’s ex-partner and Trump’s former campaign manager, says in the film.
Toward the end of the movie, Stone is seen inside a stretch limo winding its way through midtown Manhattan. It's after the November elections and Stone is aglow with his protégé's victory.
"This is the manifestation of a dream I've had since 1988," he says. "I always thought Donald Trump had the size and the courage ... to become president of the United States."
The camera follows Stone as he exits the limo and disappears into Trump Tower.
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2rGe4RB ||||| Story highlights GOP operative and former Trump campaign adviser Stone expressed disapproval of part of the President's trip
Trump has tried to distance himself from Stone
(CNN) As President Donald Trump celebrated what he called a "tremendous" first day in Saudi Arabia, his onetime campaign adviser and longtime confidante Roger Stone expressed nothing but aversion for the Gulf nation and parts of the President's trip.
In a litany of tweets, Stone berated Saudi Arabia as "the enemy" and slammed Trump for accepting the Order of Abdulaziz from King Salman bin Abdulaziz.
"Candidly this makes me want to puke," he wrote.
Candidly this makes me want to puke #JaredsIdea pic.twitter.com/tAeEWUXfI1 — Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) May 20, 2017
The order, the nation's highest civilian honor, was also bestowed upon former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. Stone suggested, however, that Trump accepted the award only at the suggestion of his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, although he doesn't say why he made the assertion.
JUST WATCHED President Trump receives Saudi gold medal Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH President Trump receives Saudi gold medal 01:43
Stone's tweets come as Trump has tried to distance himself from his controversial former campaign adviser. A source confirmed to CNN that Stone was among those who advised the President to fire former FBI Director James Comey, which Politico first reported.
Read More ||||| Instead of meeting with the Saudis @ realDonaldTrump should be demanding they pay for the attack on America on 9/11 which they financed. | – At least one longtime Donald Trump ally wasn’t pleased with the president picking up an award in Saudi Arabia. That’s actually putting it mildly: "Candidly this makes me want to puke," tweeted Roger Stone after Trump was pictured receiving the Order of Abdulaziz, the nation's highest civilian honor. He used the hashtag "#JaredsIdea," suggesting that the decision to accept the award came from son-in-law Jared Kushner. Presidents Obama and George W. Bush had previously received the honor—Trump famously criticized Obama because he "bowed" to the Saudi king—and Stone is unhappy that Trump decided to accept it, too. "Instead of meeting with the Saudis," he wrote, Trump "should be demanding they pay for the attack on America on 9/11 which they financed." As CNN notes, the tweets come as Trump appears to be trying to distance himself from his one-time campaign adviser. After reports emerged that Stone was among those who advised Trump to fire FBI chief James Comey, the president responded on Twitter. "Have not spoken to Roger in a long time," he wrote. "Had nothing to do with my decision." Those interested in learning more about Stone should check out the new Netflix documentary, Get Me Roger Stone, writes Rick Jervis at USA Today. He'd heard of Stone before the film, "but I had little idea of the depth of his influence he's had on American politics the past five decades and on the current White House tenant." | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.'Get Me Roger Stone' documentary offers good insight into the dark forces behind Trump's rise.
Political consultant Roger Stone attends a screening of "Get Me Roger Stone" at the SVA Theatre during the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival on April 23, 2017 in New York. (Photo: Brent N. Clarke, Brent N. Clarke/Invision/AP)
“I was like a jockey looking for a horse. You can’t win the race if you don’t have a horse. He’s a prime piece of political horse flesh in my view.” – Roger Stone on Donald Trump.
A grapefruit-size grinning face of Richard Nixon is tattooed on the back of Roger Stone, the longtime political operative and legendary dirty trickster. Stone, 64, credited with propelling Donald Trump into politics, defends the tattoo proudly in an early scene from Get Me Roger Stone, the fascinating and instructive new documentary recently released on Netflix.
Anyone trying to keep up with the daily drama emanating from the White House lately — from President Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey to the multiple Russia investigations to the Comey memos — could benefit from a screening of this film.
The documentary follows Stone from his earliest days in politics, as a 19-year-old neophyte performing dirty tricks for Nixon’s 1972 re-election campaign and the youngest person called to testify in front of the Watergate grand jury, to his close involvement in Trump's surprising win last year.
I had heard of Roger Stone, of his gutter-level tactics, his conspiracy theories and his close ties to Trump. But I had little idea of the depth of influence he’s had on American politics the past five decades and on the current White House tenant. Like others, I've been intrigued by the forces that propelled Trump to the presidency and so deeply divided our nation. Get Me Roger Stone offers some of the best insight into this I've seen anywhere.
Interestingly, the filmmakers — Morgan Pehme, Dylan Bank and Dan DiMauro — met Stone six years ago and planned to do a movie focusing on his influence on American politics. They had gathered five years worth of footage on Stone before the 2016 presidential campaign even began. But as Trump marched through the primaries, with Stone ever-lurking in his shadows, they realized they had something much bigger.
Their goal was not to make a liberal, finger-wagging hit piece, DiMauro told me, but a film that peeled back the veneer of modern political campaigning and explained how Stone — and others like him — have muddied modern political discourse.
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant,” DiMauro said. “By making this film, we wanted people to understand the profound effect (Stone) has had on our politics and the degradation of political discourse over the past 50 years.”
Co-director Pehme said he hopes viewers of the film realize elections are about more than just the candidates. "We are painfully naive about the fact that the most powerful people, the people really moving our country, are the people behind the camera, in the shadows, like Roger Stone," he said.
After Watergate, the film follows Stone through his Forrest-Gump-like political career: Working on the campaigns of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush; peddling access in the influential D.C. lobbying firm of Black, Manafort and Stone (known as the “Torturer’s Lobby” for taking on clients such as Zaire's dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines); pioneering negative TV ads through political-action committees; orchestrating street protests on behalf of George W. Bush during the 2000 Florida presidential election recount.
“Those who say I have no soul, those who say I have no principles, are losers,” Stone says in the film.
In 1987, Stone began urging Trump to run for president. In the film, Trump praises Stone repeatedly, calling him “tough” and a “quality guy.” In one sequence, the film shows how Stone helped sabotage the Reform Party’s chances in the 2000 presidential election by urging Pat Buchanan to run as a Reform candidate, then backing Trump to run against Buchanan. In part because of Trump’s brash attacks on his rival (“He’s a Hitler lover,” Trump repeatedly says about Buchanan), the Reform Party imploded, paving the way for Bush’s contentious win that year.
Stone’s fingerprints, according to the film, were again all over Trump’s victory last year: the “Make America Great Again” slogan (borrowed from a Reagan campaign Stone worked on); questioning President Obama’s birth certificate; spreading unfounded allegations that Bill Clinton is a serial rapist. Stone's name has also been mentioned in connection to the widening FBI inquiry into Russia's interference in the 2016 election.
“Roger’s relationship with Trump has been so interconnected that it’s hard to define what’s Roger and what’s Donald,” Paul Manafort, Stone’s ex-partner and Trump’s former campaign manager, says in the film.
Toward the end of the movie, Stone is seen inside a stretch limo winding its way through midtown Manhattan. It's after the November elections and Stone is aglow with his protégé's victory.
"This is the manifestation of a dream I've had since 1988," he says. "I always thought Donald Trump had the size and the courage ... to become president of the United States."
The camera follows Stone as he exits the limo and disappears into Trump Tower.
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2rGe4RB ||||| Story highlights GOP operative and former Trump campaign adviser Stone expressed disapproval of part of the President's trip
Trump has tried to distance himself from Stone
(CNN) As President Donald Trump celebrated what he called a "tremendous" first day in Saudi Arabia, his onetime campaign adviser and longtime confidante Roger Stone expressed nothing but aversion for the Gulf nation and parts of the President's trip.
In a litany of tweets, Stone berated Saudi Arabia as "the enemy" and slammed Trump for accepting the Order of Abdulaziz from King Salman bin Abdulaziz.
"Candidly this makes me want to puke," he wrote.
Candidly this makes me want to puke #JaredsIdea pic.twitter.com/tAeEWUXfI1 — Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) May 20, 2017
The order, the nation's highest civilian honor, was also bestowed upon former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. Stone suggested, however, that Trump accepted the award only at the suggestion of his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, although he doesn't say why he made the assertion.
JUST WATCHED President Trump receives Saudi gold medal Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH President Trump receives Saudi gold medal 01:43
Stone's tweets come as Trump has tried to distance himself from his controversial former campaign adviser. A source confirmed to CNN that Stone was among those who advised the President to fire former FBI Director James Comey, which Politico first reported.
Read More ||||| Instead of meeting with the Saudis @ realDonaldTrump should be demanding they pay for the attack on America on 9/11 which they financed. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 36,660 |
Web wide crawl with initial seedlist and crawler configuration from March 2011. This uses the new HQ software for distributed crawling by Kenji Nagahashi.
What’s in the data set:
Crawl start date: 09 March, 2011
Crawl end date: 23 December, 2011
Number of captures: 2,713,676,341
Number of unique URLs: 2,273,840,159
Number of hosts: 29,032,069
The seed list for this crawl was a list of Alexa’s top 1 million web sites, retrieved close to the crawl start date. We used Heritrix (3.1.1-SNAPSHOT) crawler software and respected robots.txt directives. The scope of the crawl was not limited except for a few manually excluded sites.
However this was a somewhat experimental crawl for us, as we were using newly minted software to feed URLs to the crawlers, and we know there were some operational issues with it. For example, in many cases we may not have crawled all of the embedded and linked objects in a page since the URLs for these resources were added into queues that quickly grew bigger than the intended size of the crawl (and therefore we never got to them). We also included repeated crawls of some Argentinian government sites, so looking at results by country will be somewhat skewed.
We have made many changes to how we do these wide crawls since this particular example, but we wanted to make the data available “warts and all” for people to experiment with. We have also done some further analysis of the content.
If you would like access to this set of crawl data, please contact us at info at archive dot org and let us know who you are and what you’re hoping to do with it. We may not be able to say “yes” to all requests, since we’re just figuring out whether this is a good idea, but everyone will be considered. ||||| David Cameron confirmed that the nation would be given an extra bank holiday to celebrate the marriage, which will take place at Westminster Abbey on Friday, April 29.
It means Britain will be open for business on only three days between April 22 and May 2, because Easter is the weekend before the wedding, and the May Day bank holiday is the following Monday.
Employers said yesterday that small businesses in particular would suffer because of lost sales, while others warned that some companies would effectively be shut down for the 11-day period because many staff would take the three-day week as annual leave.
There were also concerns that some workers could call in sick for the three working days to give themselves a week off.
Stephen Alambritis, of the Federation of Small Businesses, said the extra bank holiday could not have come at a worse time. “This is a real area of concern,” he said. “After the hike in VAT in January, which could really slow consumer demand, many will be looking to a really strong Easter to get their business going.
“But there will be a real temptation for workers not to bother going in to work [in the week of the royal wedding]. It will be a three-day week and it could see many businesses just shut down.”
While a spokesman for the CBI welcomed the declaration of a bank holiday, the organisation has calculated previously that such breaks cost the economy £6 billion in lost productivity and overtime payments. For some businesses, however, the holiday is expected to bring extra cash through the tills, with the wedding expected to claw back up to £1 billion in extra tourist revenues and sales of memorabilia.
Retailers and publicans predicted that the extra day off would generate revenue from shoppers and drinkers.
Workers will enjoy three weeks in a row of short hours, starting with Holy Week on April 18, which will have four working days.
The following week, starting April 25, will be a three-day week, with Easter Monday and the wedding day, as bank holidays, with another four-day week to follow because of May Day.
Mark Dampier, a financial commentator at Hargreaves Lansdown, an independent financial adviser, said: “Bank holidays are never good for businesses. Workers tend not to take just that one day off, but the whole week.
“Though this may be less disruptive than if it had been held in June or July. At this time many workers will be off anyway because of Easter.”
Þ The Church of England bishop who predicted that the marriage of Prince William and Miss Middleton would not last faces losing his job.
The Rt Rev Pete Broadbent, the Bishop of Willesden, was suspended and relieved of his duties by the Bishop of London yesterday despite his unreserved apology. | – Good news for the British: They'll be getting an extra day off to celebrate the royal wedding next year. The bad news: That extra day off will cost the country $7.9 billion, according to calculations by the Telegraph. Business groups expect the day off to result in $9.48 billion in lost productivity, which will be offset by some $1.6 billion in extra spending by tourists and in sales of memorabilia. The extra day comes the week after Easter, giving employees a 3-day work week. Employers fear many workers might call in sick for the entire week. "There will be a real temptation to not bother going into work that week. It could see many businesses just shut down," says the chief of Britain's Federation of Small Businesses. "There is a real risk we are turning into France when we just put down tools for weeks at a time." Click here to see how much the wedding itself is expected to cost. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Web wide crawl with initial seedlist and crawler configuration from March 2011. This uses the new HQ software for distributed crawling by Kenji Nagahashi.
What’s in the data set:
Crawl start date: 09 March, 2011
Crawl end date: 23 December, 2011
Number of captures: 2,713,676,341
Number of unique URLs: 2,273,840,159
Number of hosts: 29,032,069
The seed list for this crawl was a list of Alexa’s top 1 million web sites, retrieved close to the crawl start date. We used Heritrix (3.1.1-SNAPSHOT) crawler software and respected robots.txt directives. The scope of the crawl was not limited except for a few manually excluded sites.
However this was a somewhat experimental crawl for us, as we were using newly minted software to feed URLs to the crawlers, and we know there were some operational issues with it. For example, in many cases we may not have crawled all of the embedded and linked objects in a page since the URLs for these resources were added into queues that quickly grew bigger than the intended size of the crawl (and therefore we never got to them). We also included repeated crawls of some Argentinian government sites, so looking at results by country will be somewhat skewed.
We have made many changes to how we do these wide crawls since this particular example, but we wanted to make the data available “warts and all” for people to experiment with. We have also done some further analysis of the content.
If you would like access to this set of crawl data, please contact us at info at archive dot org and let us know who you are and what you’re hoping to do with it. We may not be able to say “yes” to all requests, since we’re just figuring out whether this is a good idea, but everyone will be considered. ||||| David Cameron confirmed that the nation would be given an extra bank holiday to celebrate the marriage, which will take place at Westminster Abbey on Friday, April 29.
It means Britain will be open for business on only three days between April 22 and May 2, because Easter is the weekend before the wedding, and the May Day bank holiday is the following Monday.
Employers said yesterday that small businesses in particular would suffer because of lost sales, while others warned that some companies would effectively be shut down for the 11-day period because many staff would take the three-day week as annual leave.
There were also concerns that some workers could call in sick for the three working days to give themselves a week off.
Stephen Alambritis, of the Federation of Small Businesses, said the extra bank holiday could not have come at a worse time. “This is a real area of concern,” he said. “After the hike in VAT in January, which could really slow consumer demand, many will be looking to a really strong Easter to get their business going.
“But there will be a real temptation for workers not to bother going in to work [in the week of the royal wedding]. It will be a three-day week and it could see many businesses just shut down.”
While a spokesman for the CBI welcomed the declaration of a bank holiday, the organisation has calculated previously that such breaks cost the economy £6 billion in lost productivity and overtime payments. For some businesses, however, the holiday is expected to bring extra cash through the tills, with the wedding expected to claw back up to £1 billion in extra tourist revenues and sales of memorabilia.
Retailers and publicans predicted that the extra day off would generate revenue from shoppers and drinkers.
Workers will enjoy three weeks in a row of short hours, starting with Holy Week on April 18, which will have four working days.
The following week, starting April 25, will be a three-day week, with Easter Monday and the wedding day, as bank holidays, with another four-day week to follow because of May Day.
Mark Dampier, a financial commentator at Hargreaves Lansdown, an independent financial adviser, said: “Bank holidays are never good for businesses. Workers tend not to take just that one day off, but the whole week.
“Though this may be less disruptive than if it had been held in June or July. At this time many workers will be off anyway because of Easter.”
Þ The Church of England bishop who predicted that the marriage of Prince William and Miss Middleton would not last faces losing his job.
The Rt Rev Pete Broadbent, the Bishop of Willesden, was suspended and relieved of his duties by the Bishop of London yesterday despite his unreserved apology. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 10,817 |
The description accompanying Lot 49315 at Heritage Auctions in May was striking: a “superb Tyrannosaurus skeleton,” a remnant of a vanished animal that “ruled the food chain of the ancient flood plains that are today’s Gobi Desert.”
The catalog stirred intense interest, and the dinosaur skeleton sold for more than $1 million.
But on Thursday, the man who shipped the skeleton from the Gobi and presented it to the auction house said that he had brought it and others into the United States fraudulently.
“I forwarded a few shipments of fossils of Mongolian origin from Great Britain to the U.S. that were mislabeled,” the man, Eric Prokopi, told a magistrate judge in Federal District Court in Manhattan. “I imported and transported Mongolian fossils that were exported from Mongolia without the proper permits.”
Mr. Prokopi pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate federal law by smuggling the fossil of a flying dinosaur from China into the United States, making false statements while importing Mongolian dinosaur fossils and transporting dinosaur fossils that had been unlawfully taken from Mongolia.
The magistrate judge, Ronald L. Ellis, said Mr. Prokopi faced up to 17 years in prison and directed that he return to court in April to be sentenced.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
As part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, Mr. Prokopi agreed to forfeit the Tyrannosaur skeleton that had been put up for auction, two additional Tyrannosaur skeletons and a hadrosaur skeleton. He also agreed to surrender two Oviraptor skeletons that a prosecutor, Martin S. Bell, said had been seized from Mr. Prokopi’s properties in Florida.
“It’s one of the longer dinosaur shopping lists,” Mr. Bell told the judge.
The fossil of the Chinese flying dinosaur was seized by federal authorities in 2010 during separate proceedings.
The odd story of the Tyrannosaur on the auction block surfaced several months ago when a paleontologist, Mark A. Norell of the American Museum of Natural History, noticed the listing in the Heritage catalog.
He wrote an open letter about the 24-foot-long skeleton, saying, “These specimens were undoubtedly looted from Mongolia.”
Within days, the president of Mongolia had obtained a court order to block the auction of the skeleton, which had been sold but not transferred.
At about the same time, Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, filed a civil complaint seeking the forfeiture of the skeleton so that it could be returned to Mongolia, where dinosaur skeletons are deemed government property.
That request cited several experts who said the particularized coloring of the bones meant that they had come from a specific area in Mongolia known as the Nemegt Basin.
Under Mongolian law, the removal of fossils is a crime; violators may be jailed and fined.
Mr. Prokopi contested the forfeiture request from federal officials but was eventually charged with the criminal offenses.
The proceeding on Thursday resolved both the criminal charges and the civil complaint against him.
Prosecutors described Mr. Prokopi in court papers as a “commercial paleontologist” and said he was the owner of a Web site, everything-earth.com. It features a photograph of Mr. Prokopi and says that the business was started by “a really shy little boy who spent his days scuba diving and finding fossils all over Florida.”
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
The Web site goes on to say that its “commercial paleontology division” obtains fossils from around the world, sometimes buying or trading them, and works with museums and major auction houses. “That’s right, we sell dinosaurs!” the site says. “To whom, you might ask, and we say to anyone that wants one!” ||||| The dinosaur smuggler has pleaded guilty and now faces 17 years in prison.
Florida native Erik Prokopi illegally bought and sold whole and partial dinosaur skeletons between 2010 and 2012, as part of what he described as a "commercial paleontology" business, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
The fossils included three Tyrannosaurus bataar skeletons, which are believed to have roamed the earth 70 million years ago, a Saurolophus skeleton and an Oviraptor skeleton.
Prokopi, 38, also faces fines totaling $750,000.
The attorney's office said Prokopi bought fossils from foreign countries and unlawfully transported them back to the U.S. The dinosaur remains slipped through customs, because Prokopi is believed to have misrepresented the shipments on customs forms.
Related: Feds bust black market in dinosaur fossils
The offenses violate laws of the United States and Mongolia, where it is a crime to take dinosaur fossils out of the country.
As part of his plea agreement, Prokopi will forfeit the remains, which will be returned to the country of origin.
"Black marketeers like Prokopi, who illegally export and sell these wonders, steal a slice of ... history," said Preet Bharara, Manhattan U.S. Attorney. "Fossils and ancient skeletal remains are part of the fabric of a country's natural history and cultural heritage."
Prokopi is scheduled to be sentenced on April 25, 2013. | – A man from Florida has admitted to smuggling some prehistoric cargo. Eric Prokopi yesterday told a Manhattan federal court that he'd "forwarded a few shipments of fossils of Mongolian origin from Great Britain to the US that were mislabeled." Among the shipments in question: a Tyrannosaurus bataar that sold for more than $1 million at auction. Prokopi will be sentenced in April, the New York Times reports; he faces 17 years in prison and $750,000 in fines, CNN notes. He'll also have to give up his fossils, which include two other Tyrannosaurs and a pair of Oviraptors. "It’s one of the longer dinosaur shopping lists," said a prosecutor. It's illegal to take dinosaur fossils out of Mongolia. A website that prosecutors say belongs to Prokopi announces, "That's right, we sell dinosaurs!" the Times notes. "To whom, you might ask, and we say to anyone that wants one!" | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.The description accompanying Lot 49315 at Heritage Auctions in May was striking: a “superb Tyrannosaurus skeleton,” a remnant of a vanished animal that “ruled the food chain of the ancient flood plains that are today’s Gobi Desert.”
The catalog stirred intense interest, and the dinosaur skeleton sold for more than $1 million.
But on Thursday, the man who shipped the skeleton from the Gobi and presented it to the auction house said that he had brought it and others into the United States fraudulently.
“I forwarded a few shipments of fossils of Mongolian origin from Great Britain to the U.S. that were mislabeled,” the man, Eric Prokopi, told a magistrate judge in Federal District Court in Manhattan. “I imported and transported Mongolian fossils that were exported from Mongolia without the proper permits.”
Mr. Prokopi pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate federal law by smuggling the fossil of a flying dinosaur from China into the United States, making false statements while importing Mongolian dinosaur fossils and transporting dinosaur fossils that had been unlawfully taken from Mongolia.
The magistrate judge, Ronald L. Ellis, said Mr. Prokopi faced up to 17 years in prison and directed that he return to court in April to be sentenced.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
As part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, Mr. Prokopi agreed to forfeit the Tyrannosaur skeleton that had been put up for auction, two additional Tyrannosaur skeletons and a hadrosaur skeleton. He also agreed to surrender two Oviraptor skeletons that a prosecutor, Martin S. Bell, said had been seized from Mr. Prokopi’s properties in Florida.
“It’s one of the longer dinosaur shopping lists,” Mr. Bell told the judge.
The fossil of the Chinese flying dinosaur was seized by federal authorities in 2010 during separate proceedings.
The odd story of the Tyrannosaur on the auction block surfaced several months ago when a paleontologist, Mark A. Norell of the American Museum of Natural History, noticed the listing in the Heritage catalog.
He wrote an open letter about the 24-foot-long skeleton, saying, “These specimens were undoubtedly looted from Mongolia.”
Within days, the president of Mongolia had obtained a court order to block the auction of the skeleton, which had been sold but not transferred.
At about the same time, Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, filed a civil complaint seeking the forfeiture of the skeleton so that it could be returned to Mongolia, where dinosaur skeletons are deemed government property.
That request cited several experts who said the particularized coloring of the bones meant that they had come from a specific area in Mongolia known as the Nemegt Basin.
Under Mongolian law, the removal of fossils is a crime; violators may be jailed and fined.
Mr. Prokopi contested the forfeiture request from federal officials but was eventually charged with the criminal offenses.
The proceeding on Thursday resolved both the criminal charges and the civil complaint against him.
Prosecutors described Mr. Prokopi in court papers as a “commercial paleontologist” and said he was the owner of a Web site, everything-earth.com. It features a photograph of Mr. Prokopi and says that the business was started by “a really shy little boy who spent his days scuba diving and finding fossils all over Florida.”
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
The Web site goes on to say that its “commercial paleontology division” obtains fossils from around the world, sometimes buying or trading them, and works with museums and major auction houses. “That’s right, we sell dinosaurs!” the site says. “To whom, you might ask, and we say to anyone that wants one!” ||||| The dinosaur smuggler has pleaded guilty and now faces 17 years in prison.
Florida native Erik Prokopi illegally bought and sold whole and partial dinosaur skeletons between 2010 and 2012, as part of what he described as a "commercial paleontology" business, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
The fossils included three Tyrannosaurus bataar skeletons, which are believed to have roamed the earth 70 million years ago, a Saurolophus skeleton and an Oviraptor skeleton.
Prokopi, 38, also faces fines totaling $750,000.
The attorney's office said Prokopi bought fossils from foreign countries and unlawfully transported them back to the U.S. The dinosaur remains slipped through customs, because Prokopi is believed to have misrepresented the shipments on customs forms.
Related: Feds bust black market in dinosaur fossils
The offenses violate laws of the United States and Mongolia, where it is a crime to take dinosaur fossils out of the country.
As part of his plea agreement, Prokopi will forfeit the remains, which will be returned to the country of origin.
"Black marketeers like Prokopi, who illegally export and sell these wonders, steal a slice of ... history," said Preet Bharara, Manhattan U.S. Attorney. "Fossils and ancient skeletal remains are part of the fabric of a country's natural history and cultural heritage."
Prokopi is scheduled to be sentenced on April 25, 2013. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 8,967 |
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Council President Donald Tusk told U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday to stop berating NATO allies over military investment levels ahead of what is expected to be a fraught alliance summit.
European Council President Donald Tusk addresses a news conference during an European Union leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium, June 29, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Walschaerts/File Photo
Before flying to Brussels where he arrived on Tuesday night, Trump again chided fellow NATO members for not contributing enough while maintaining a trade surplus with the United States, his latest reprimand on issues that are straining transatlantic relations.
“Dear America, appreciate your allies, after all you don’t have that many,” Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, said after a signing statement on more cooperation between the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
As European Council president, Tusk serves as the chairman when EU leaders meet at summits.
Even while in the air, Trump kept up the attack. He said in a Twitter post that a trade deficit with the European Union “makes it impossible for our farmers and workers and companies to do business in Europe ... and then they want us to happily defend them through NATO, and nicely pay for it. Just doesn’t work!”
The European Union is the top export market for the United States at $501 billion in goods and services in 2016, the latest available figures provided by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Imports totaled $592 billion, leading to a $92 billion goods and services trade deficit with the EU, according to the trade office’s data.
Back in Washington, the top Republican in the U.S. Senate, Mitch McConnell, told reporters he was not worried that Trump would withdraw the United States from NATO. McConnell also said “there is nothing inherently wrong” about Trump meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin while he is in Europe.
Many U.S. presidents have urged European governments to spend more on their militaries. But Trump’s demands have been intensified and blunt to an extent that allies worry it could damage NATO morale and play into the hands of Putin, whom they accuse of trying to destabilize the West.
“Dear President Trump: America does not have, and will not have a better ally than Europe,” said Tusk. “Today, Europeans (collectively) spend on defense many times more than Russia, and as much as China.”
He said that money helped boost U.S. security, as the United States regards Russia and China as threats.
NATO released new estimates for allied defense spending in 2018 on Tuesday, showing that Latvia and Lithuania are set to meet the target of spending 2 percent of economic output on the military. Of the 29 allies, only the United States, Britain, Estonia, Greece and Poland met the goal in 2017. Romania is also on course to hit it in 2018, NATO said.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stressed that all allies were increasing defense spending in real terms because economies in Europe were growing. He also said Washington strengthens its security and global reach through NATO.
Trump’s Twitter post on Tuesday echoed those on Monday and his criticism at a rally of supporters in the United States last week in which he said that Washington was unfairly carrying almost all the cost of defending Europe.
“Getting ready to leave for Europe. First meeting - NATO. The U.S. is spending many times more than any other country in order to protect them. Not fair to the U.S. taxpayer,” Trump said.
As he left the White House, the Republican president was asked by reporters about Tusk’s comments.
“We do have a lot of allies, but we cannot be taken advantage of. We’re being taken advantage of by the European Union,” he told reporters.
European officials say while U.S. defense spending makes up 70 percent of combined allied governments’ military budgets, just 15 percent of U.S. expenditure is spent in Europe on NATO-related defense. Washington pays about 22 percent of the running cost of NATO, including the headquarters and commonly-funded equipment such as AWACS surveillance planes. ||||| Getting ready to leave for Europe. First meeting - NATO. The U.S. is spending many times more than any other country in order to protect them. Not fair to the U.S. taxpayer. On top of that we lose $151 Billion on Trade with the European Union. Charge us big Tariffs (& Barriers)! ||||| poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201807/2905/1155968404_5807668226001_5807622772001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true Trump says summit with Putin 'may be the easiest' of European meetings
President Donald Trump predicted Tuesday that his upcoming summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin “may be the easiest” of the meetings he has scheduled for his weeklong trip to Europe.
The president departed Tuesday for his trip, which will take him first to Brussels, where he will attend the NATO summit on Wednesday and Thursday. From there, Trump will travel to the United Kingdom, the government of which has been roiled in recent days by the resignation of top Cabinet officials, for bilateral meetings.
Story Continued Below
Trump will meet with Putin next Monday in Helsinki.
“So I have NATO, I have the U.K., which is in somewhat turmoil, and I have Putin. Frankly, Putin may be the easiest of them all. Who would think? Who would think?” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House Tuesday morning. “But the U.K. certainly has a — they have a lot of things going on.”
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Trump has faced significant scrutiny for his willingness to meet with Putin amid an ongoing investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and allegations that the Trump campaign colluded in those efforts. The president has insisted that there was no collusion and that the investigation is a “witch hunt.”
The Russian government, and Putin himself, have steadfastly denied any efforts to interfere in the 2016 election, a denial that Trump has at times seemed hesitant to reject even though the U.S. intelligence community has been unanimous in its conclusion that the Kremlin was behind the interference efforts.
With NATO meetings upcoming on Wednesday and Thursday, Trump has renewed his criticisms of the treaty organization, chiefly that its member states do not spend enough on defense, leaving the U.S. to carry too much of the mutual-defense burden. He wrote on Twitter Tuesday that “NATO countries must pay MORE” and “the United States must pay LESS.”
Trump has complained loudly that just a handful of nations spend the agreed-upon 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has been public in agreeing with Trump and wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that eight of NATO’s 28 member states are expected to meet the 2 percent threshold this year, with a majority on track to do so by 2024. | – President Trump is leaving for his NATO summit in Brussels on Tuesday morning in an apparent good mood—and happy to take some preemptive shots at the world bloc. "Thank you to all of my great supporters, really big progress being made," Trump tweeted. "Economy is ROARING. Supreme Court pick getting GREAT REVIEWS. New Poll says Trump, at over 90%, is the most popular Republican in history of the Party. Wow!" And in multiple tweets, he reiterated a familiar theme, complaining that the US is shouldering an unfair share of defense costs overseas: "NATO countries must pay MORE, the United States must pay LESS," he tweeted. "Very Unfair!" The sentiment already isn't playing well, with European Union President Donald Tusk firing off a zinger off his own Tuesday: “Dear America, appreciate your allies, after all you don’t have that many,” he said after a signing a cooperation pact between the EU and NATO, per Reuters. Trump will attend the NATO summit Wednesday and Thursday, with defense spending expected to be the toughest topic, reports CNBC. Then's he's off to Britain, Scotland, and finally to Finland for another high-profile summit on Monday—with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "So I have NATO, I have the UK, which is in somewhat turmoil, and I have Putin," Trump told reporters Tuesday, reports Politico. "Frankly, Putin may be the easiest of them all. Who would think? Who would think?" | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Council President Donald Tusk told U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday to stop berating NATO allies over military investment levels ahead of what is expected to be a fraught alliance summit.
European Council President Donald Tusk addresses a news conference during an European Union leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium, June 29, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Walschaerts/File Photo
Before flying to Brussels where he arrived on Tuesday night, Trump again chided fellow NATO members for not contributing enough while maintaining a trade surplus with the United States, his latest reprimand on issues that are straining transatlantic relations.
“Dear America, appreciate your allies, after all you don’t have that many,” Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, said after a signing statement on more cooperation between the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
As European Council president, Tusk serves as the chairman when EU leaders meet at summits.
Even while in the air, Trump kept up the attack. He said in a Twitter post that a trade deficit with the European Union “makes it impossible for our farmers and workers and companies to do business in Europe ... and then they want us to happily defend them through NATO, and nicely pay for it. Just doesn’t work!”
The European Union is the top export market for the United States at $501 billion in goods and services in 2016, the latest available figures provided by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Imports totaled $592 billion, leading to a $92 billion goods and services trade deficit with the EU, according to the trade office’s data.
Back in Washington, the top Republican in the U.S. Senate, Mitch McConnell, told reporters he was not worried that Trump would withdraw the United States from NATO. McConnell also said “there is nothing inherently wrong” about Trump meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin while he is in Europe.
Many U.S. presidents have urged European governments to spend more on their militaries. But Trump’s demands have been intensified and blunt to an extent that allies worry it could damage NATO morale and play into the hands of Putin, whom they accuse of trying to destabilize the West.
“Dear President Trump: America does not have, and will not have a better ally than Europe,” said Tusk. “Today, Europeans (collectively) spend on defense many times more than Russia, and as much as China.”
He said that money helped boost U.S. security, as the United States regards Russia and China as threats.
NATO released new estimates for allied defense spending in 2018 on Tuesday, showing that Latvia and Lithuania are set to meet the target of spending 2 percent of economic output on the military. Of the 29 allies, only the United States, Britain, Estonia, Greece and Poland met the goal in 2017. Romania is also on course to hit it in 2018, NATO said.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stressed that all allies were increasing defense spending in real terms because economies in Europe were growing. He also said Washington strengthens its security and global reach through NATO.
Trump’s Twitter post on Tuesday echoed those on Monday and his criticism at a rally of supporters in the United States last week in which he said that Washington was unfairly carrying almost all the cost of defending Europe.
“Getting ready to leave for Europe. First meeting - NATO. The U.S. is spending many times more than any other country in order to protect them. Not fair to the U.S. taxpayer,” Trump said.
As he left the White House, the Republican president was asked by reporters about Tusk’s comments.
“We do have a lot of allies, but we cannot be taken advantage of. We’re being taken advantage of by the European Union,” he told reporters.
European officials say while U.S. defense spending makes up 70 percent of combined allied governments’ military budgets, just 15 percent of U.S. expenditure is spent in Europe on NATO-related defense. Washington pays about 22 percent of the running cost of NATO, including the headquarters and commonly-funded equipment such as AWACS surveillance planes. ||||| Getting ready to leave for Europe. First meeting - NATO. The U.S. is spending many times more than any other country in order to protect them. Not fair to the U.S. taxpayer. On top of that we lose $151 Billion on Trade with the European Union. Charge us big Tariffs (& Barriers)! ||||| poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201807/2905/1155968404_5807668226001_5807622772001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true Trump says summit with Putin 'may be the easiest' of European meetings
President Donald Trump predicted Tuesday that his upcoming summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin “may be the easiest” of the meetings he has scheduled for his weeklong trip to Europe.
The president departed Tuesday for his trip, which will take him first to Brussels, where he will attend the NATO summit on Wednesday and Thursday. From there, Trump will travel to the United Kingdom, the government of which has been roiled in recent days by the resignation of top Cabinet officials, for bilateral meetings.
Story Continued Below
Trump will meet with Putin next Monday in Helsinki.
“So I have NATO, I have the U.K., which is in somewhat turmoil, and I have Putin. Frankly, Putin may be the easiest of them all. Who would think? Who would think?” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House Tuesday morning. “But the U.K. certainly has a — they have a lot of things going on.”
The most reliable politics newsletter. Sign up for POLITICO Playbook and get the latest news, every morning — in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Trump has faced significant scrutiny for his willingness to meet with Putin amid an ongoing investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and allegations that the Trump campaign colluded in those efforts. The president has insisted that there was no collusion and that the investigation is a “witch hunt.”
The Russian government, and Putin himself, have steadfastly denied any efforts to interfere in the 2016 election, a denial that Trump has at times seemed hesitant to reject even though the U.S. intelligence community has been unanimous in its conclusion that the Kremlin was behind the interference efforts.
With NATO meetings upcoming on Wednesday and Thursday, Trump has renewed his criticisms of the treaty organization, chiefly that its member states do not spend enough on defense, leaving the U.S. to carry too much of the mutual-defense burden. He wrote on Twitter Tuesday that “NATO countries must pay MORE” and “the United States must pay LESS.”
Trump has complained loudly that just a handful of nations spend the agreed-upon 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has been public in agreeing with Trump and wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that eight of NATO’s 28 member states are expected to meet the 2 percent threshold this year, with a majority on track to do so by 2024. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 35,732 |
The Utah Highway Patrol said there were amazingly no injuries when a car became crunched and trapped under a tanker truck.
UINTA-WASATCH-CACHE NATIONAL FOREST — The Utah Highway Patrol is calling it a miracle.
"No fatalities. No injuries. It's an absolute miracle that there were no injuries in this particular crash," said UHP Sgt. Blaine Robbins. "I can't reiterate how lucky these people are. It's unreal. They're very, very lucky."
Heather Slack, of Eagle Mountain, was driving west on I-80 with her two children Tuesday afternoon when she tried to get into another lane away from a large tanker truck as the road curved near East Canyon.
"And then I must have really hit some ice because it shot me across, and I don't know what happened," Slack said. "I didn't know I was under the truck. And I kind of thought I was falling off a cliff. We were screaming because we could hear something, but we didn't know what."
Slack's car went underneath the tanker and was dragged approximately 200 yards before the large truck could come to a stop. During that time, Slack said she heard squealing and the sound of metal on concrete.
The car's roof was smashed. But amazingly, the crunching car formed "pockets" around Slack and her children. Slack described it as "little pods" that protected them.
Soon, the family heard the voices of emergency crews calling from the outside and fearing the worst.
"I said, 'You got to get us out here because we must have some amazing things to do because Heavenly Father totally protected me and my children today, and we're very, very blessed because of it.' We know he has a plan for us, and we have a lot to do because we're still here," she said.
Slack and her daughter and son were checked out by paramedics and released at the scene.
Robbins said the accident may have been caused by Slack going too fast for conditions. He said it was a good reminder for all motorists to slow down in the winter and be aware that black ice may exist on cold days, even if the roads look clear.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: DNewsCrimeTeam ||||| (KUTV) A Utah family is lucky to be alive tonight after their car crashed into a fuel tanker in Parley’s Canyon early this afternoon.
The car remained under the truck for several hours as crews removed it.
“It’s absolutely a miracle there were no injuries. We were very lucky,” Sgt. Blaine Robbins of the Utah Highway Patrol said.
The accident happened just after noon Tuesday when a green Toyota Avalon lost control and crashed into the tanker.
“Basically the car goes underneath the semi-truck and is dragged for roughly 150 to 200 yards,” Robbins said.
The Slack family of Eagle Mountain was inside that car.
“The middle of the car fell through but me and my daughter were totally under like a bubble cone,” mom Heather Slack said.
“My son in the back was totally fine,” Slack said.
All three walked away without injury.
The tanker was carrying 8,000 gallons of fuel, which prompted a large hazmat response.
Firefighters say they were shocked that there were no injuries.
“I’ve not seen one that’s survived something like this. They’re very fortunate,” Curtis Day of Unified Fire said.
The family was gathered in the ambulance and hugged as they talked about how fortunate they are.
“We’re supposed to be here and that’s why we were saved. We live in such a wonderful world with emergency people that show up like this just for us,” Slack said.
______
Photo Jeremy Harris
Copyright 2014 Sinclair Broadcast Group
| – A family of three is lucky to be alive after being pinned under a large fuel tanker and dragged 200 yards before both vehicles finally came to a stop. Heather Slack was driving her two children home from a holiday trip in Utah—perhaps too quickly for the icy conditions, a highway patrolman says—when she changed lanes as the road curved and hit a patch of black ice. "It shot me across, and I don't know what happened," she tells Deseret News. "I didn't know I was under the truck, and I kind of thought I was falling off a cliff." The car was pinned under a tanker, which was hauling 8,000 gallons of fuel, but pockets that Slack calls "little pods" formed as the car was crunching, protecting the three passengers. After gathering and hugging in an ambulance, the family walked away from the scene unscathed. "I've not seen one that's survived something like this," says a Unified Fire rep. "They're very fortunate." Slack, meanwhile, was full of praise for the first responders: "We live in such a wonderful world with emergency people that show up like this just for us," she tells KUTV. (Last year, a man survived not just a car crash but being trapped for almost a week.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.The Utah Highway Patrol said there were amazingly no injuries when a car became crunched and trapped under a tanker truck.
UINTA-WASATCH-CACHE NATIONAL FOREST — The Utah Highway Patrol is calling it a miracle.
"No fatalities. No injuries. It's an absolute miracle that there were no injuries in this particular crash," said UHP Sgt. Blaine Robbins. "I can't reiterate how lucky these people are. It's unreal. They're very, very lucky."
Heather Slack, of Eagle Mountain, was driving west on I-80 with her two children Tuesday afternoon when she tried to get into another lane away from a large tanker truck as the road curved near East Canyon.
"And then I must have really hit some ice because it shot me across, and I don't know what happened," Slack said. "I didn't know I was under the truck. And I kind of thought I was falling off a cliff. We were screaming because we could hear something, but we didn't know what."
Slack's car went underneath the tanker and was dragged approximately 200 yards before the large truck could come to a stop. During that time, Slack said she heard squealing and the sound of metal on concrete.
The car's roof was smashed. But amazingly, the crunching car formed "pockets" around Slack and her children. Slack described it as "little pods" that protected them.
Soon, the family heard the voices of emergency crews calling from the outside and fearing the worst.
"I said, 'You got to get us out here because we must have some amazing things to do because Heavenly Father totally protected me and my children today, and we're very, very blessed because of it.' We know he has a plan for us, and we have a lot to do because we're still here," she said.
Slack and her daughter and son were checked out by paramedics and released at the scene.
Robbins said the accident may have been caused by Slack going too fast for conditions. He said it was a good reminder for all motorists to slow down in the winter and be aware that black ice may exist on cold days, even if the roads look clear.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: DNewsCrimeTeam ||||| (KUTV) A Utah family is lucky to be alive tonight after their car crashed into a fuel tanker in Parley’s Canyon early this afternoon.
The car remained under the truck for several hours as crews removed it.
“It’s absolutely a miracle there were no injuries. We were very lucky,” Sgt. Blaine Robbins of the Utah Highway Patrol said.
The accident happened just after noon Tuesday when a green Toyota Avalon lost control and crashed into the tanker.
“Basically the car goes underneath the semi-truck and is dragged for roughly 150 to 200 yards,” Robbins said.
The Slack family of Eagle Mountain was inside that car.
“The middle of the car fell through but me and my daughter were totally under like a bubble cone,” mom Heather Slack said.
“My son in the back was totally fine,” Slack said.
All three walked away without injury.
The tanker was carrying 8,000 gallons of fuel, which prompted a large hazmat response.
Firefighters say they were shocked that there were no injuries.
“I’ve not seen one that’s survived something like this. They’re very fortunate,” Curtis Day of Unified Fire said.
The family was gathered in the ambulance and hugged as they talked about how fortunate they are.
“We’re supposed to be here and that’s why we were saved. We live in such a wonderful world with emergency people that show up like this just for us,” Slack said.
______
Photo Jeremy Harris
Copyright 2014 Sinclair Broadcast Group
| According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 25,549 |
Overnight clashes between security forces and supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi in east Cairo left at least 38 protesters dead on Saturday, a doctor at the demonstrators' field hospital said. They followed a day of massive pro-military rallies backing a tough hand against Morsi's backers and the Muslim Brotherhood group from which he hails.
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi clash with riot police at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily rally, in Cairo, Friday, July 26, 2013. Prosecutors... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi chant slogans during a protest at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily rally, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, July... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi block the street with burning tree during clashes with riot police at Nasr City, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, July 26, 2013. Prosecutors opened an investigation... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi are seen in the smoke of tear gas fired by riot police during clashes at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi throw stones at riot police during clashes at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily rally, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday,... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi attend the Friday prayer during a protest at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily rally, in Cairo, Friday, July... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi hold pictures of him and chant slogans during a protest at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily rally, in Cairo,... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi are seen in the smoke of tear gas fired by riot police during clashes at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi run for cover from tear gas fired by riot police during clashes at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily rally,... (Associated Press)
A supporter of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi holds a picture of Morsi during clashes with riot police at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily rally, in... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi hold pictures of him and chant slogans during a protest at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily rallies, in... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi throw stones at riot police during clashes at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily rally, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday,... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi hold pictures of him and chant slogans during a protest at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily rally, in Cairo,... (Associated Press)
The violence close to the Morsi supporters' month-old sit-in near the Rabaah al-Adawiyah Mosque in east Cairo is one of the deadliest bouts of violence in Egypt's turmoil following the 2011 popular uprising. It also comes almost three weeks after more than 50 people, mostly demonstrators, died in a similar outbreak of violence outside a military installation near the same sit-in.
Doctor Yehia Mikkia said Saturday's casualties _ mostly gunshot and birdshot wounds to the upper part of the body _ have overwhelmed the hospital operating from the sit-in. He said the number of death is likely to be higher because other casualties were transported to different hospitals.
The state news agency MENA quoted an unnamed senior security official saying that the security forces had not used gunfire against the protesters, only tear gas. He said security forces tried to prevent fighting between residents of the area and the protesters, and that eight members of the security forces were wounded, including some by birdshot.
The bodies of over 12 men were shrouded in white clothes, lying in pools of blood, were laid on the floor of the field hospital in images broadcast by Al-Jazeera Mubashir Misr TV. Mikkia said hundreds were wounded.
Health ministry officials were not immediately available for comment.
MENA said clashes continued into the morning, albeit at a lower intensity. It said Morsi supporters pelted security forces with rocks and firebombs, while security closed off the road with barbed wire and responded with tear gas.
The clashes started after police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of Morsi supporters who tried to extend the sit-in outside the Rabaah al-Adawiyah mosque into a major boulevard.
Morsi's Brotherhood and other Islamist groups had called for a rally in the area to counteract other protests called by the head of the armed forces Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi , who urged Egyptians to give him a mandate to stop "potential terrorism" by supporters of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood
The military's supporters dwarfed those of the former president, and appeared to be the largest crowds yet on Egypt's streets during the country's two-and-a-half years of turmoil. They filled the streets of some cities that had previously seen next to no street demonstrations.
As crowds gathered, authorities announced that Morsi was formally placed under investigation on a host of allegations including murder and conspiracy with the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Late Friday night, hundreds of Morsi supporters marched out of their main sit-in. The protesters set up tents on an adjoining boulevard, where they had intended to stay for at least three days, said Mahmoud Zaqzouq, a Brotherhood spokesman. Others marched out of the area toward an overpass. They were met with police tear gas. The police push was met by resistance from the protesters who lobbed rocks and stones at the forces.
Police spokesman Hani Abdel-Latif said earlier in the night that a group of pro-Morsi protesters tried to block a major overpass from the area, and were "dealt" with because the forces were trying to restore law and order.
But the clashes quickly turned bloody. At first, doctors said half a dozen were killed in the clashes, mostly by birdshots and some live ammunition. At the crack of dawn, the intensity of casualties increased and Mikkia said the field hospital was unable to cope with the influx.
A statement by the pro-Morsi sit-in, called the Anti-Coup Coalition, said el-Sissi's call was "inciting violence and hatred," and " is used as a cover for such heinous crimes of killings."
The rival demonstrations in Cairo were mostly peaceful into the evening, but clashes between supporters and opponents of Morsi left seven killed in the coastal city of Alexandria.
Rallies have often turned violent, with more than 180 people killed this month. The Morsi supporters and opponents blame each other for the bloodshed, and people in both camps have been seen carrying weapons.
The unrest, as well as claims that Islamist groups are stockpiling weapons and escalating attacks against troops in the Sinai, were used by the country's new military-backed rulers as a basis for demanding popular support. ||||| CAIRO The United States urged Arab ally Egypt to pull "back from the brink" after security forces killed dozens of supporters of deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi and opened a dangerous new phase in the army's confrontation with his Muslim Brotherhood.
Thousands of Brotherhood supporters were hunkered down in a vigil at a Cairo mosque on Sunday, vowing to stand their ground despite the imminent threat of a move to disperse them.
Saturday's bloodshed, following huge rival rallies, plunged the Arab world's most populous country deeper into turmoil following two turbulent years of transition to democracy with the fall of veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Egypt's Health Ministry said 65 people had died. The Brotherhood said another 61 were on life support after what it described as a ferocious dawn assault by men in helmets and black police fatigues. The ambulance service put the death toll at 72.
Bodies wrapped in white sheets were laid on the floor of a Brotherhood morgue, their names scrawled on the shrouds.
Washington, treading a fine line with an important Middle East ally and recipient of over $1 billion in military aid, urged the Egyptian security forces to respect the right to peaceful protest.
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke by telephone with Egyptian army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led the July 3 military overthrow of Mursi and whose face has appeared on posters across the teeming capital, Cairo.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to two senior members of Egypt's army-installed interim cabinet, expressing his "deep concern."
"This is a pivotal moment for Egypt," he said in a statement. "The United States ... calls on all of Egypt's leaders across the political spectrum to act immediately to help their country take a step back from the brink."
Saturday's violence, and the threat of more, has deepened alarm in the West over events in the country of 84 million people, a vital bridge between the Middle East and North Africa.
Over 200 people have died in violence since Sisi deposed Mursi on the back of huge popular protests against his rule, ending a one-year experiment in government by the Muslim Brotherhood after decades spent in the shadows under successive Egyptian strongmen.
PLEDGE TO STAY
The killings followed a day of rival mass rallies, triggered by a call from Sisi for a popular mandate to confront "violence and terrorism."
Denying police culpability, Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said the vigil outside the Rabaa al-Adawia mosque in northern Cairo would "God willing, soon … be dealt with."
A public prosecutor is reviewing complaints from local residents unhappy with the huge encampment on their doorstep.
Ibrahim said angry residents had clashed with Brotherhood protesters in the early hours of Saturday, and police intervened with teargas.
Brotherhood activists said they would not be cowed and warned of worse bloodshed if the security forces did not back down. Thousands were packed into the area as night fell.
"We will stay here until we die, one by one," said Ahmed Ali, 24, as he helped treat casualties at a makeshift field hospital on Saturday.
Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad said they would remain until their demands are met and Egypt's first freely elected president is reinstated. He accused Sisi of issuing a "clear, pre-determined order to kill."
Mursi has been held in army detention at an undisclosed location since he was deposed. Ibrahim said he would likely be transferred shortly to the same Cairo prison where Mubarak is now held, after authorities launched an investigation of him on charges including murder stemming from his 2011 escape from jail during Egypt's Arab Spring uprising.
The European Union and major European powers condemned Saturday's bloodshed, the second mass killing since Mursi's ouster. On July 8, more than 50 Brotherhood supporters died when security forces opened fire on them outside a Cairo barracks.
The events have led U.S. President Barack Obama last week to delay delivery of four F-16 fighter jets, part of some $1.5 billion a year in mainly military aid from Washington to Cairo, though U.S. officials have indicated there will be no cut-off in support to the pivotal ally.
(Additional reporting by Shadia Nasralla, Yasmine Saleh, Tom Finn, Maggie Fick, Omar Fahmy, Edmund Blair, Michael Georgy, Noah Browning and Ahmed Tolba in Cairo, Arshad Mohammed and Phil Stewart in Washington; Writing by Matt Robinson; Editing by Philip Barbara) ||||| CAIRO — The Egyptian authorities unleashed a ferocious attack on Islamist protesters early Saturday, killing at least 72 people in the second mass killing of demonstrators in three weeks and the deadliest attack by the security services since Egypt’s uprising in early 2011.
The attack provided further evidence that Egypt’s security establishment was reasserting its dominance after President Mohamed Morsi’s ouster three weeks ago, and widening its crackdown on his Islamist allies in the Muslim Brotherhood. The tactics — many were killed with gunshot wounds to the head or the chest — suggested that Egypt’s security services felt no need to show any restraint.
“They had orders to shoot to kill,” said Gehad el-Haddad, a Brotherhood spokesman. The message, he said, was, “This is the new regime.”
In Washington, Secretary of State John Kerry called this “a pivotal moment for Egypt” and urged its leaders “to help their country take a step back from the brink.”
The killings occurred a day after hundreds of thousands of Egyptians marched in support of the military, responding to a call by its commander for a “mandate” to fight terrorism. The appeal by Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, who has emerged as Egypt’s de facto leader since the military removed Mr. Morsi from power, was widely seen as a green light to the security forces to increase their repression of the Islamists.
In the attack on Saturday, civilians joined riot police officers in firing live ammunition at the protesters as they marched toward a bridge over the Nile. By early morning, the numbers of wounded people had overwhelmed doctors at a nearby field hospital.
One doctor sat by himself, crying as he whispered verses from the Koran. Nearby, medics tried to revive a man on a gurney. When they failed, he was quickly lifted away to make room for the many others.
With hundreds of people gravely wounded, the toll seemed certain to rise, and by Saturday evening had already surpassed the more than 60 deaths on July 8, when soldiers and police officers fired on pro-Morsi demonstrators.
As the deaths have mounted, more than 200 since the government was overthrown, hopes have faded for a political solution to the standoff between the military and the Brotherhood, whose leaders, including Mr. Morsi, are imprisoned or preparing themselves for jail.
In a televised news conference hours after the clash, Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim absolved his men of any responsibility and made no mention of the high death toll. His officers, he said, “have never and will never shoot a bullet on any Egyptian.”
He blamed Mr. Morsi’s supporters for the violence, saying they planned to disrupt traffic on the bridge. “We had to stop them,” Mr. Ibrahim said. The protesters threw rocks and fired weapons, he said, and a large number of officers were wounded, including two who were shot in the head.
Mr. Ibrahim also suggested that further repression was imminent as the authorities prepared to break up sit-ins that thousands of Mr. Morsi’s supporters have held for weeks.
“God willing, it will be dispersed in a way that doesn’t cause many losses,” he said. “But God willing, it must end.”
Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who is vice president in the interim government, added a rare note of support for the Brotherhood from the country’s new leaders, writing on Twitter that he condemned the “excessive use of force” and was trying to “end the standoff in a peaceful manner.”
Mr. Kerry called on Egypt’s leaders to “respect the right of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression” and to open an inclusive political dialogue.
“Over two years ago, a revolution began,” he said in a statement. “Its final verdict is not yet decided, but it will be forever impacted by what happens right now.”
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel spoke by telephone with General Sisi, urging him to exercise restraint and “take steps to prevent further bloodshed and loss of life,” according to a Pentagon statement.
The violence broke out on Friday night after a day of large, competing marches by supporters of Mr. Morsi and his opponents expressing solidarity with the military. At least eight people died on Friday, but there was not the kind of widespread violence that many had feared after General Sisi’s speech on Wednesday calling for demonstrations in support of the military.
Robert F. Worth contributed reporting. | – Those slim hopes that Egypt would get through the ouster of Mohamed Morsi without anymore major violence came to a quick end overnight. The military opened fired on Morsi supporters in Cairo before dawn, leaving dozens dead, reports Reuters. Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood estimates at least 70 people were killed. "They are not shooting to wound, they are shooting to kill," says a spokesman. Witnesses say the police first used tear gas to try to disperse protesters, but soon escalated to birdshot and then bullets, reports AP. The violence came after both sides staged mass rallies yesterday. Egypt's military leader had encouraged supporters to stage a demonstration to give him a "mandate" to stop terrorism, widely interpreted to mean going after the Brotherhood. And that appears to have been exactly what happened. “This is a preparation for eliminating the Brotherhood,” a political science professor at the American University in Cairo tells the New York Times. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Overnight clashes between security forces and supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi in east Cairo left at least 38 protesters dead on Saturday, a doctor at the demonstrators' field hospital said. They followed a day of massive pro-military rallies backing a tough hand against Morsi's backers and the Muslim Brotherhood group from which he hails.
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi clash with riot police at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily rally, in Cairo, Friday, July 26, 2013. Prosecutors... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi chant slogans during a protest at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily rally, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, July... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi block the street with burning tree during clashes with riot police at Nasr City, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, July 26, 2013. Prosecutors opened an investigation... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi are seen in the smoke of tear gas fired by riot police during clashes at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi throw stones at riot police during clashes at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily rally, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday,... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi attend the Friday prayer during a protest at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily rally, in Cairo, Friday, July... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi hold pictures of him and chant slogans during a protest at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily rally, in Cairo,... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi are seen in the smoke of tear gas fired by riot police during clashes at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi run for cover from tear gas fired by riot police during clashes at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily rally,... (Associated Press)
A supporter of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi holds a picture of Morsi during clashes with riot police at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily rally, in... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi hold pictures of him and chant slogans during a protest at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily rallies, in... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi throw stones at riot police during clashes at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily rally, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday,... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi hold pictures of him and chant slogans during a protest at Nasr City, where protesters have installed their camp and hold their daily rally, in Cairo,... (Associated Press)
The violence close to the Morsi supporters' month-old sit-in near the Rabaah al-Adawiyah Mosque in east Cairo is one of the deadliest bouts of violence in Egypt's turmoil following the 2011 popular uprising. It also comes almost three weeks after more than 50 people, mostly demonstrators, died in a similar outbreak of violence outside a military installation near the same sit-in.
Doctor Yehia Mikkia said Saturday's casualties _ mostly gunshot and birdshot wounds to the upper part of the body _ have overwhelmed the hospital operating from the sit-in. He said the number of death is likely to be higher because other casualties were transported to different hospitals.
The state news agency MENA quoted an unnamed senior security official saying that the security forces had not used gunfire against the protesters, only tear gas. He said security forces tried to prevent fighting between residents of the area and the protesters, and that eight members of the security forces were wounded, including some by birdshot.
The bodies of over 12 men were shrouded in white clothes, lying in pools of blood, were laid on the floor of the field hospital in images broadcast by Al-Jazeera Mubashir Misr TV. Mikkia said hundreds were wounded.
Health ministry officials were not immediately available for comment.
MENA said clashes continued into the morning, albeit at a lower intensity. It said Morsi supporters pelted security forces with rocks and firebombs, while security closed off the road with barbed wire and responded with tear gas.
The clashes started after police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of Morsi supporters who tried to extend the sit-in outside the Rabaah al-Adawiyah mosque into a major boulevard.
Morsi's Brotherhood and other Islamist groups had called for a rally in the area to counteract other protests called by the head of the armed forces Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi , who urged Egyptians to give him a mandate to stop "potential terrorism" by supporters of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood
The military's supporters dwarfed those of the former president, and appeared to be the largest crowds yet on Egypt's streets during the country's two-and-a-half years of turmoil. They filled the streets of some cities that had previously seen next to no street demonstrations.
As crowds gathered, authorities announced that Morsi was formally placed under investigation on a host of allegations including murder and conspiracy with the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Late Friday night, hundreds of Morsi supporters marched out of their main sit-in. The protesters set up tents on an adjoining boulevard, where they had intended to stay for at least three days, said Mahmoud Zaqzouq, a Brotherhood spokesman. Others marched out of the area toward an overpass. They were met with police tear gas. The police push was met by resistance from the protesters who lobbed rocks and stones at the forces.
Police spokesman Hani Abdel-Latif said earlier in the night that a group of pro-Morsi protesters tried to block a major overpass from the area, and were "dealt" with because the forces were trying to restore law and order.
But the clashes quickly turned bloody. At first, doctors said half a dozen were killed in the clashes, mostly by birdshots and some live ammunition. At the crack of dawn, the intensity of casualties increased and Mikkia said the field hospital was unable to cope with the influx.
A statement by the pro-Morsi sit-in, called the Anti-Coup Coalition, said el-Sissi's call was "inciting violence and hatred," and " is used as a cover for such heinous crimes of killings."
The rival demonstrations in Cairo were mostly peaceful into the evening, but clashes between supporters and opponents of Morsi left seven killed in the coastal city of Alexandria.
Rallies have often turned violent, with more than 180 people killed this month. The Morsi supporters and opponents blame each other for the bloodshed, and people in both camps have been seen carrying weapons.
The unrest, as well as claims that Islamist groups are stockpiling weapons and escalating attacks against troops in the Sinai, were used by the country's new military-backed rulers as a basis for demanding popular support. ||||| CAIRO The United States urged Arab ally Egypt to pull "back from the brink" after security forces killed dozens of supporters of deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi and opened a dangerous new phase in the army's confrontation with his Muslim Brotherhood.
Thousands of Brotherhood supporters were hunkered down in a vigil at a Cairo mosque on Sunday, vowing to stand their ground despite the imminent threat of a move to disperse them.
Saturday's bloodshed, following huge rival rallies, plunged the Arab world's most populous country deeper into turmoil following two turbulent years of transition to democracy with the fall of veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Egypt's Health Ministry said 65 people had died. The Brotherhood said another 61 were on life support after what it described as a ferocious dawn assault by men in helmets and black police fatigues. The ambulance service put the death toll at 72.
Bodies wrapped in white sheets were laid on the floor of a Brotherhood morgue, their names scrawled on the shrouds.
Washington, treading a fine line with an important Middle East ally and recipient of over $1 billion in military aid, urged the Egyptian security forces to respect the right to peaceful protest.
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke by telephone with Egyptian army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led the July 3 military overthrow of Mursi and whose face has appeared on posters across the teeming capital, Cairo.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to two senior members of Egypt's army-installed interim cabinet, expressing his "deep concern."
"This is a pivotal moment for Egypt," he said in a statement. "The United States ... calls on all of Egypt's leaders across the political spectrum to act immediately to help their country take a step back from the brink."
Saturday's violence, and the threat of more, has deepened alarm in the West over events in the country of 84 million people, a vital bridge between the Middle East and North Africa.
Over 200 people have died in violence since Sisi deposed Mursi on the back of huge popular protests against his rule, ending a one-year experiment in government by the Muslim Brotherhood after decades spent in the shadows under successive Egyptian strongmen.
PLEDGE TO STAY
The killings followed a day of rival mass rallies, triggered by a call from Sisi for a popular mandate to confront "violence and terrorism."
Denying police culpability, Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said the vigil outside the Rabaa al-Adawia mosque in northern Cairo would "God willing, soon … be dealt with."
A public prosecutor is reviewing complaints from local residents unhappy with the huge encampment on their doorstep.
Ibrahim said angry residents had clashed with Brotherhood protesters in the early hours of Saturday, and police intervened with teargas.
Brotherhood activists said they would not be cowed and warned of worse bloodshed if the security forces did not back down. Thousands were packed into the area as night fell.
"We will stay here until we die, one by one," said Ahmed Ali, 24, as he helped treat casualties at a makeshift field hospital on Saturday.
Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad said they would remain until their demands are met and Egypt's first freely elected president is reinstated. He accused Sisi of issuing a "clear, pre-determined order to kill."
Mursi has been held in army detention at an undisclosed location since he was deposed. Ibrahim said he would likely be transferred shortly to the same Cairo prison where Mubarak is now held, after authorities launched an investigation of him on charges including murder stemming from his 2011 escape from jail during Egypt's Arab Spring uprising.
The European Union and major European powers condemned Saturday's bloodshed, the second mass killing since Mursi's ouster. On July 8, more than 50 Brotherhood supporters died when security forces opened fire on them outside a Cairo barracks.
The events have led U.S. President Barack Obama last week to delay delivery of four F-16 fighter jets, part of some $1.5 billion a year in mainly military aid from Washington to Cairo, though U.S. officials have indicated there will be no cut-off in support to the pivotal ally.
(Additional reporting by Shadia Nasralla, Yasmine Saleh, Tom Finn, Maggie Fick, Omar Fahmy, Edmund Blair, Michael Georgy, Noah Browning and Ahmed Tolba in Cairo, Arshad Mohammed and Phil Stewart in Washington; Writing by Matt Robinson; Editing by Philip Barbara) ||||| CAIRO — The Egyptian authorities unleashed a ferocious attack on Islamist protesters early Saturday, killing at least 72 people in the second mass killing of demonstrators in three weeks and the deadliest attack by the security services since Egypt’s uprising in early 2011.
The attack provided further evidence that Egypt’s security establishment was reasserting its dominance after President Mohamed Morsi’s ouster three weeks ago, and widening its crackdown on his Islamist allies in the Muslim Brotherhood. The tactics — many were killed with gunshot wounds to the head or the chest — suggested that Egypt’s security services felt no need to show any restraint.
“They had orders to shoot to kill,” said Gehad el-Haddad, a Brotherhood spokesman. The message, he said, was, “This is the new regime.”
In Washington, Secretary of State John Kerry called this “a pivotal moment for Egypt” and urged its leaders “to help their country take a step back from the brink.”
The killings occurred a day after hundreds of thousands of Egyptians marched in support of the military, responding to a call by its commander for a “mandate” to fight terrorism. The appeal by Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, who has emerged as Egypt’s de facto leader since the military removed Mr. Morsi from power, was widely seen as a green light to the security forces to increase their repression of the Islamists.
In the attack on Saturday, civilians joined riot police officers in firing live ammunition at the protesters as they marched toward a bridge over the Nile. By early morning, the numbers of wounded people had overwhelmed doctors at a nearby field hospital.
One doctor sat by himself, crying as he whispered verses from the Koran. Nearby, medics tried to revive a man on a gurney. When they failed, he was quickly lifted away to make room for the many others.
With hundreds of people gravely wounded, the toll seemed certain to rise, and by Saturday evening had already surpassed the more than 60 deaths on July 8, when soldiers and police officers fired on pro-Morsi demonstrators.
As the deaths have mounted, more than 200 since the government was overthrown, hopes have faded for a political solution to the standoff between the military and the Brotherhood, whose leaders, including Mr. Morsi, are imprisoned or preparing themselves for jail.
In a televised news conference hours after the clash, Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim absolved his men of any responsibility and made no mention of the high death toll. His officers, he said, “have never and will never shoot a bullet on any Egyptian.”
He blamed Mr. Morsi’s supporters for the violence, saying they planned to disrupt traffic on the bridge. “We had to stop them,” Mr. Ibrahim said. The protesters threw rocks and fired weapons, he said, and a large number of officers were wounded, including two who were shot in the head.
Mr. Ibrahim also suggested that further repression was imminent as the authorities prepared to break up sit-ins that thousands of Mr. Morsi’s supporters have held for weeks.
“God willing, it will be dispersed in a way that doesn’t cause many losses,” he said. “But God willing, it must end.”
Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who is vice president in the interim government, added a rare note of support for the Brotherhood from the country’s new leaders, writing on Twitter that he condemned the “excessive use of force” and was trying to “end the standoff in a peaceful manner.”
Mr. Kerry called on Egypt’s leaders to “respect the right of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression” and to open an inclusive political dialogue.
“Over two years ago, a revolution began,” he said in a statement. “Its final verdict is not yet decided, but it will be forever impacted by what happens right now.”
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel spoke by telephone with General Sisi, urging him to exercise restraint and “take steps to prevent further bloodshed and loss of life,” according to a Pentagon statement.
The violence broke out on Friday night after a day of large, competing marches by supporters of Mr. Morsi and his opponents expressing solidarity with the military. At least eight people died on Friday, but there was not the kind of widespread violence that many had feared after General Sisi’s speech on Wednesday calling for demonstrations in support of the military.
Robert F. Worth contributed reporting. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 36,023 |
According to numerous reports on Twitter, Internet access has been at least partially restored in Egypt.
Reports about the Internet working again in Cairo and other cities are pouring in, however we've also seen reports that some services, such as Facebook and Twitter are still unavailable there.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Egyptian authorities restored Internet access to restore order in the country, with the Egyptian army calling on protesters to go home. "You have the power to bring stability back to the country. We are urging you as respectful citizens to go back home," an army spokesman said on national television.
Last week, the Egyptian authorities shut down Internet and SMS access in an unprecedented move to try to stop the protests against the regime of the long-reigning president, Hosni Mubarak.
Since then, Egyptians have been using various workarounds to access services such as Twitter and Facebook, which were instrumental in organizing the protests.
Lead image courtesy of Flickr, Al Jazeera English. ||||| Associated Press Supporters of President Hosni Mubarak, bottom, clash Wednesday with opponents, top, in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the scene of recent protests that shook the Egyptian regime.
Violence erupted in Egypt's capital when supporters of President Hosni Mubarak clashed for the first time with protesters, as the regime dug in against demands, from within the country and from Washington, that a transfer of power begin immediately.
The clashes began hours after Mr. Mubarak announced in a speech late Tuesday that he wouldn't run in elections slated for later this year. They gained intensity during the day in central Cairo's Tahrir Square, with the two sides rushing at each other, wielding clubs and throwing Molotov cocktails. Some Mubarak supporters charged protesters on horseback and camelback, a tactic the regime has employed against past demonstrations. Clutches of soldiers looked on, doing little to intervene.
The Obama administration, watching the violence, began pushing harder for Mr. Mubarak to quickly step aside and make way for a transitional government, people familiar with the matter said.
The U.S. began to chart a course of reforms and, for the first time since large-scale protests erupted in Egypt more than a week ago, made it clear that Washington and Cairo—close allies for three decades—are now on different tracks.
An interim government, made up of opposition parties and elements of the current regime, could buy time to rewrite the Egyptian constitution, allow opposition parties to organize, and lay the groundwork for elections later this year, say supporters of the idea.
Washington's stance pitted the U.S. against Mr. Mubarak, who has indicated he would stick around until after elections, and against those among the Egyptian opposition who are pushing for much speedier elections.
Egypt's Strongman View Interactive Take a look back at Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's career.
Egypt's Foreign Ministry, underscoring the sense that the regime was trying to regain the upper hand, rejected President Barack Obama's call for an immediate start to a political transition. The ministry said "foreign parties" aimed to "incite the internal situation in Egypt."
But White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, said when the White House says change is needed now, "'now' means yesterday."
Leading opposition figures also dug in, repeating their rejection of Mr. Mubarak's offer to step down after negotiating political reforms and holding elections, which have been scheduled for September. "Once he's out of the country" the demonstrators will go home, opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei said in an interview.
Opposition leaders hadn't previously called for Mr. Mubarak's departure from the country; other officials in Mr. ElBaradei's alliance said on Wednesday that Mr. Mubarak could remain in Egypt as a normal citizen if he gave up power.
More than 600 people were wounded and three died in Wednesday's clashes, according to the Health Ministry.
Clashes were continuing to flare into the early hours of Thursday morning, as fires continued to burn around Tahrir Square. Pro-regime demonstrators blockaded off the northern part of the square with tanks and burned trucks. Molotov cocktails, thrown from a bridge nearby where pro-Mubarak protesters had assembled, set a building on fire. On Thursday morning, protest organizer Mustafa el-Naggar said he saw the bodies of three more dead protesters being carried toward an ambulance, according to the Associated Press.
Journal Photos: Clashes in Cairo View Slideshow Guy Martin for The Wall Street Journal Anti-government protesters clashed with supporters of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Tahrir Square. Photos: Wednesday Protests View Slideshow Lefteris Pitarakis/Associated Press Pro-government demonstrators, bottom, watched as cars burned during clashes with anti-government demonstrators, top, behind barriers, in Tahrir Square. Regional Upheaval View Interactive A succession of rallies and demonstrations, in Egypt, Jordan, Yemen and Algeria have been inspired directly by the popular outpouring of anger that toppled Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. See how these uprising progressed.
The dueling rhetoric and the street fighting appeared to be leading toward another large showdown on Friday, when opposition figures vowed to call another rally.
The turmoil in Egypt continued to fan tensions across the region. In Jordan, where weeks of protests convinced King Abdullah II to dismiss the government and name a new prime minister on Tuesday, the Muslim Brotherhood political organization publicly rejected his new choice and demanded yet another.
In Israel, which has relations with only Jordan and Egypt in the Arab world, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the situation in Egypt could affect Israel's security for years to come.
Many foreign companies operating in Egypt continued to cut back on operations.
Procter & Gamble Co., for example, said its two Egypt plants remained closed, and the foreign national employees it evacuated over the past few days haven't returned to Egypt.
The government restored Internet service Wednesday, having cut off almost all service to deprive protesters of an organizing tool.
But the counterattack on behalf of the regime extended to social networks such as Facebook and email messages—the mediums antiregime demonstrators used so effectively in the early stages of the protests more than a week ago.
"Please spread the word to your relatives, colleagues and friends. Mubarak's speech was enough," read one message posted on a Facebook site. "He deserves to leave his position in a respectable way, as much as we deserve a safe, secured and stable Country....Don't 4get that we have a real enemies waiting Egypt to fall:( SAVE THE COUNTRY NOW!!!"
It was unclear where such messages were coming from.
The mobilization of government backers began almost immediately after Mr. Mubarak's speech late Tuesday. Crowds of government backers soon began showing up amid antigovernment protesters in the northern city of Alexandria.
In Cairo, by midday Wednesday, thousands of regime supporters marched on Tahrir Square, pushing out roughly equal numbers of antiregime demonstrators camped there.
Bloody scenes of street battles were common. Pro- and anti-Mubarak groups faced off, chanting slogans at each other, fighting and hurling missiles.
Protesters at two entrances to Tahrir Square came under attack from men heaving rocks and running into the protesters with horses and camels.
Other regime supporters came armed with metal rods, which they wielded against protesters.
At the downtown entrance to the square, groups of Mubarak supporters started organizing charges, running up and down the street. Protesters responded by forming a human barrier three to four people deep.
Mohamed Abdu, a 22-year-old graduate of Helwan University and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, grew visibly shaken as the men began hurling rocks over the human barricade. One man on the protesters' side pulled out a pair of large light bulbs from his backpack and threw them at the Mubarak supporters. He was quickly shouted down by protesters chanting "peace."
As the sun set, gunshots could be heard near the square; a tree and building adjacent to the renowned Egyptian Museum caught on fire.
While the regime has been accused in the past of paying workers to attack antiregime protesters, many of the government backers interviewed on the streets Wednesday seemed sincere in expressing either undiluted support for Mr. Mubarak or a sense that demonstrations against him should now end.
Sayed Mohammed Sayed, a 37-year-old supporter of Mr. Mubarak, said the protesters pushed things too far by refusing to back down after the president agreed to pursue reforms and eventually step down.
"The situation is unacceptable," the air-conditioner technician said. "The majority of protesters are young people and aren't aware of their actions and consequences."
Ibrahim Saadouni, 47, a lawyer, said he believed the violence was started by the thugs for hire that are a standard feature of Egyptian electoral politics. "They've come to create a civil war," Mr. Saadouni said. "They're doing this to make war so the army will step in to end the demonstrations, because we won't leave."
Egyptian state-controlled television said that Muslim Brotherhood members were responsible for most of the violence in the square, including throwing incendiary devices—accusations the Muslim Brotherhood denied.
The Obama administration condemned attacks by pro-Mubarak forces. "We are deeply concerned about attacks on the media and peaceful demonstrators," Mr. Gibbs said.
—Adam Entous, Margaret Coker, Marc Champion, Tamer El-Ghobashy and Christopher Rhoads contributed to this article.
Write to Charles Levinson at [email protected], Summer Said at [email protected] and Jonathan Weisman at [email protected] | – Egyptian authorities tried to nudge the nation back toward normalcy today, bringing the Internet back online as the army called for an end to the protests. “You have the power to bring stability back to the country,” an army spokesman said in a televised address. “We are urging you as respectful citizens to go back home.” The Internet blackout has officially ended, one cellphone service confirmed for the Wall Street Journal, though Mashable found Twitter reports indicating that some sites—including Facebook and Twitter itself—are still blocked. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.According to numerous reports on Twitter, Internet access has been at least partially restored in Egypt.
Reports about the Internet working again in Cairo and other cities are pouring in, however we've also seen reports that some services, such as Facebook and Twitter are still unavailable there.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Egyptian authorities restored Internet access to restore order in the country, with the Egyptian army calling on protesters to go home. "You have the power to bring stability back to the country. We are urging you as respectful citizens to go back home," an army spokesman said on national television.
Last week, the Egyptian authorities shut down Internet and SMS access in an unprecedented move to try to stop the protests against the regime of the long-reigning president, Hosni Mubarak.
Since then, Egyptians have been using various workarounds to access services such as Twitter and Facebook, which were instrumental in organizing the protests.
Lead image courtesy of Flickr, Al Jazeera English. ||||| Associated Press Supporters of President Hosni Mubarak, bottom, clash Wednesday with opponents, top, in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the scene of recent protests that shook the Egyptian regime.
Violence erupted in Egypt's capital when supporters of President Hosni Mubarak clashed for the first time with protesters, as the regime dug in against demands, from within the country and from Washington, that a transfer of power begin immediately.
The clashes began hours after Mr. Mubarak announced in a speech late Tuesday that he wouldn't run in elections slated for later this year. They gained intensity during the day in central Cairo's Tahrir Square, with the two sides rushing at each other, wielding clubs and throwing Molotov cocktails. Some Mubarak supporters charged protesters on horseback and camelback, a tactic the regime has employed against past demonstrations. Clutches of soldiers looked on, doing little to intervene.
The Obama administration, watching the violence, began pushing harder for Mr. Mubarak to quickly step aside and make way for a transitional government, people familiar with the matter said.
The U.S. began to chart a course of reforms and, for the first time since large-scale protests erupted in Egypt more than a week ago, made it clear that Washington and Cairo—close allies for three decades—are now on different tracks.
An interim government, made up of opposition parties and elements of the current regime, could buy time to rewrite the Egyptian constitution, allow opposition parties to organize, and lay the groundwork for elections later this year, say supporters of the idea.
Washington's stance pitted the U.S. against Mr. Mubarak, who has indicated he would stick around until after elections, and against those among the Egyptian opposition who are pushing for much speedier elections.
Egypt's Strongman View Interactive Take a look back at Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's career.
Egypt's Foreign Ministry, underscoring the sense that the regime was trying to regain the upper hand, rejected President Barack Obama's call for an immediate start to a political transition. The ministry said "foreign parties" aimed to "incite the internal situation in Egypt."
But White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, said when the White House says change is needed now, "'now' means yesterday."
Leading opposition figures also dug in, repeating their rejection of Mr. Mubarak's offer to step down after negotiating political reforms and holding elections, which have been scheduled for September. "Once he's out of the country" the demonstrators will go home, opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei said in an interview.
Opposition leaders hadn't previously called for Mr. Mubarak's departure from the country; other officials in Mr. ElBaradei's alliance said on Wednesday that Mr. Mubarak could remain in Egypt as a normal citizen if he gave up power.
More than 600 people were wounded and three died in Wednesday's clashes, according to the Health Ministry.
Clashes were continuing to flare into the early hours of Thursday morning, as fires continued to burn around Tahrir Square. Pro-regime demonstrators blockaded off the northern part of the square with tanks and burned trucks. Molotov cocktails, thrown from a bridge nearby where pro-Mubarak protesters had assembled, set a building on fire. On Thursday morning, protest organizer Mustafa el-Naggar said he saw the bodies of three more dead protesters being carried toward an ambulance, according to the Associated Press.
Journal Photos: Clashes in Cairo View Slideshow Guy Martin for The Wall Street Journal Anti-government protesters clashed with supporters of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Tahrir Square. Photos: Wednesday Protests View Slideshow Lefteris Pitarakis/Associated Press Pro-government demonstrators, bottom, watched as cars burned during clashes with anti-government demonstrators, top, behind barriers, in Tahrir Square. Regional Upheaval View Interactive A succession of rallies and demonstrations, in Egypt, Jordan, Yemen and Algeria have been inspired directly by the popular outpouring of anger that toppled Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. See how these uprising progressed.
The dueling rhetoric and the street fighting appeared to be leading toward another large showdown on Friday, when opposition figures vowed to call another rally.
The turmoil in Egypt continued to fan tensions across the region. In Jordan, where weeks of protests convinced King Abdullah II to dismiss the government and name a new prime minister on Tuesday, the Muslim Brotherhood political organization publicly rejected his new choice and demanded yet another.
In Israel, which has relations with only Jordan and Egypt in the Arab world, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the situation in Egypt could affect Israel's security for years to come.
Many foreign companies operating in Egypt continued to cut back on operations.
Procter & Gamble Co., for example, said its two Egypt plants remained closed, and the foreign national employees it evacuated over the past few days haven't returned to Egypt.
The government restored Internet service Wednesday, having cut off almost all service to deprive protesters of an organizing tool.
But the counterattack on behalf of the regime extended to social networks such as Facebook and email messages—the mediums antiregime demonstrators used so effectively in the early stages of the protests more than a week ago.
"Please spread the word to your relatives, colleagues and friends. Mubarak's speech was enough," read one message posted on a Facebook site. "He deserves to leave his position in a respectable way, as much as we deserve a safe, secured and stable Country....Don't 4get that we have a real enemies waiting Egypt to fall:( SAVE THE COUNTRY NOW!!!"
It was unclear where such messages were coming from.
The mobilization of government backers began almost immediately after Mr. Mubarak's speech late Tuesday. Crowds of government backers soon began showing up amid antigovernment protesters in the northern city of Alexandria.
In Cairo, by midday Wednesday, thousands of regime supporters marched on Tahrir Square, pushing out roughly equal numbers of antiregime demonstrators camped there.
Bloody scenes of street battles were common. Pro- and anti-Mubarak groups faced off, chanting slogans at each other, fighting and hurling missiles.
Protesters at two entrances to Tahrir Square came under attack from men heaving rocks and running into the protesters with horses and camels.
Other regime supporters came armed with metal rods, which they wielded against protesters.
At the downtown entrance to the square, groups of Mubarak supporters started organizing charges, running up and down the street. Protesters responded by forming a human barrier three to four people deep.
Mohamed Abdu, a 22-year-old graduate of Helwan University and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, grew visibly shaken as the men began hurling rocks over the human barricade. One man on the protesters' side pulled out a pair of large light bulbs from his backpack and threw them at the Mubarak supporters. He was quickly shouted down by protesters chanting "peace."
As the sun set, gunshots could be heard near the square; a tree and building adjacent to the renowned Egyptian Museum caught on fire.
While the regime has been accused in the past of paying workers to attack antiregime protesters, many of the government backers interviewed on the streets Wednesday seemed sincere in expressing either undiluted support for Mr. Mubarak or a sense that demonstrations against him should now end.
Sayed Mohammed Sayed, a 37-year-old supporter of Mr. Mubarak, said the protesters pushed things too far by refusing to back down after the president agreed to pursue reforms and eventually step down.
"The situation is unacceptable," the air-conditioner technician said. "The majority of protesters are young people and aren't aware of their actions and consequences."
Ibrahim Saadouni, 47, a lawyer, said he believed the violence was started by the thugs for hire that are a standard feature of Egyptian electoral politics. "They've come to create a civil war," Mr. Saadouni said. "They're doing this to make war so the army will step in to end the demonstrations, because we won't leave."
Egyptian state-controlled television said that Muslim Brotherhood members were responsible for most of the violence in the square, including throwing incendiary devices—accusations the Muslim Brotherhood denied.
The Obama administration condemned attacks by pro-Mubarak forces. "We are deeply concerned about attacks on the media and peaceful demonstrators," Mr. Gibbs said.
—Adam Entous, Margaret Coker, Marc Champion, Tamer El-Ghobashy and Christopher Rhoads contributed to this article.
Write to Charles Levinson at [email protected], Summer Said at [email protected] and Jonathan Weisman at [email protected] | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 14,669 |
MELBOURNE, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say a Florida superintendent was pulled over for illegally passing a school bus as police were running a bus safety campaign.
Florida Today reports that Superintendent of Brevard Public Schools Desmond Blackburn was driving his district-issued SUV the morning of March 27 when he was stopped and given a warning.
Melbourne police had increased patrols around school buses from Feb. 26 until March 29 as part of "Operation BUSted." A police spokeswoman says officers issued 115 tickets and 14 warnings for failure to stop for a school bus during the campaign.
Blackburn acknowledged he was one of the drivers who needed a reminder and thanked police for their work.
Florida law says vehicles traveling in both directions on an undivided roadway must stop for a stopped school bus.
___
Information from: Florida Today (Melbourne, Fla.), http://www.floridatoday.com ||||| CLOSE During a campaign to educate drivers about school bus safety laws, Superintendent of Brevard Public Schools Desmond Blackburn was pulled over for failing to stop for a school bus. GINNY BEAGAN/FLORIDA TODAY Wochit
Buy Photo Superintendent Desmond Blackburn at a school board workshop in Viera. (Photo: TIM SHORTT/FLORIDA TODAY)Buy Photo
During a campaign to educate drivers about school bus safety laws, Superintendent of Brevard Public Schools Desmond Blackburn was pulled over for failing to stop for a school bus.
The Melbourne Police Department said Blackburn was pulled over around 8 a.m. March 27 and issued a warning at the intersection of Wickham Road and Longwood Boulevard. Blackburn was driving his district-issued SUV at the time.
He was pulled over during the Melbourne Police Department's "Operation BUSted," a new campaign whose purpose is to reduce the number of drivers illegally passing school buses in order to keep students safe.
More: Melbourne PD ramping up traffic enforcement
More: British family killed in Titusville car crash
More: Thumbs down: Superintendent Blackburn's traffic infraction is all too ironic
Contacted by FLORIDA TODAY, Blackburn would not provide details of the incident, but lauded the safety program.
"I want to thank Melbourne PD for getting out and supporting bus safety week," he said, adding that he was appreciative that the agency was reminding drivers about school bus laws, "and I was one of the drivers that received a reminder."
The maximum penalty for passing a school bus that has a stop sign extended is a $274 fine and four points on your license, according to Melbourne Police. If the driver passes the bus on the side where children enter and exit the bus, the driver is subject to a mandatory court hearing.
Blackburn received only a warning.
CLOSE Brevard Public Schools Superintendent Desmond Blackburn sits down with FLORIDA TODAY education reporter Caroline Glenn before the start of the 2017-18 school year.
Spokeswoman for police department Cheryl Trainer said that during the campaign, which lasted from Feb. 26 through March 29, officers issued 115 tickets and 14 warnings for failure to stop for a school bus.
"During the course of that campaign, we gave out written warnings to a number of people," Trainer said. "We are looking for compliance, and the officers do have, by policy, ability to exercise discretion. Our big push is to get everybody to start paying attention."
Since February, when the campaign launched, police officers have been visiting school drop-off loops and reaching out to student-drivers to make them aware of the laws.
The law states that cars driving in both directions on a two-lane roadway, including those with a center turning lane or those without a median, must stop for a stopped school bus. Where there is a median separating lanes of traffic, only the cars traveling the same direction as the bus must stop.
Glenn is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY.
Contact Glenn at 321-576-5933
or [email protected].
Twitter: @bycarolineglenn
Facebook: /floridatodayeducation
CLOSE Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey and School Superintendent Desmond Blackburn, Ph.D. talk about Brevard school safety in the wake of the Parkland mass shooting. Video by Tim Shortt. Posted 2/26/18.
CLOSE Superintendent of Schools Dr. Desmond Blackburn, wearing school bus cufflinks, started his day early on the first day of school at 6:30 a.m., riding a school bus to Riviera Elementary school in Palm Bay. Video by Malcolm Denemark
Read or Share this story: https://on.flatoday.com/2GxyeZP | – Bad: Authorities say a Florida school superintendent was pulled over for illegally passing a school bus. Worse: It happened as police were running a bus safety campaign. Florida Today reports that Brevard Public Schools Superintendent Desmond Blackburn was driving his district-issued SUV the morning of March 27 when he was stopped and given a warning by police in Melbourne. Police had increased patrols around school buses from Feb. 26 until March 29 as part of "Operation BUSted." A police spokeswoman says officers issued 115 tickets and 14 warnings for failure to stop for a school bus during the campaign. Blackburn acknowledged he was one of the drivers who needed a reminder and thanked police for their work, per the AP. Florida law says vehicles traveling in both directions on an undivided roadway must stop for a stopped school bus. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.MELBOURNE, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say a Florida superintendent was pulled over for illegally passing a school bus as police were running a bus safety campaign.
Florida Today reports that Superintendent of Brevard Public Schools Desmond Blackburn was driving his district-issued SUV the morning of March 27 when he was stopped and given a warning.
Melbourne police had increased patrols around school buses from Feb. 26 until March 29 as part of "Operation BUSted." A police spokeswoman says officers issued 115 tickets and 14 warnings for failure to stop for a school bus during the campaign.
Blackburn acknowledged he was one of the drivers who needed a reminder and thanked police for their work.
Florida law says vehicles traveling in both directions on an undivided roadway must stop for a stopped school bus.
___
Information from: Florida Today (Melbourne, Fla.), http://www.floridatoday.com ||||| CLOSE During a campaign to educate drivers about school bus safety laws, Superintendent of Brevard Public Schools Desmond Blackburn was pulled over for failing to stop for a school bus. GINNY BEAGAN/FLORIDA TODAY Wochit
Buy Photo Superintendent Desmond Blackburn at a school board workshop in Viera. (Photo: TIM SHORTT/FLORIDA TODAY)Buy Photo
During a campaign to educate drivers about school bus safety laws, Superintendent of Brevard Public Schools Desmond Blackburn was pulled over for failing to stop for a school bus.
The Melbourne Police Department said Blackburn was pulled over around 8 a.m. March 27 and issued a warning at the intersection of Wickham Road and Longwood Boulevard. Blackburn was driving his district-issued SUV at the time.
He was pulled over during the Melbourne Police Department's "Operation BUSted," a new campaign whose purpose is to reduce the number of drivers illegally passing school buses in order to keep students safe.
More: Melbourne PD ramping up traffic enforcement
More: British family killed in Titusville car crash
More: Thumbs down: Superintendent Blackburn's traffic infraction is all too ironic
Contacted by FLORIDA TODAY, Blackburn would not provide details of the incident, but lauded the safety program.
"I want to thank Melbourne PD for getting out and supporting bus safety week," he said, adding that he was appreciative that the agency was reminding drivers about school bus laws, "and I was one of the drivers that received a reminder."
The maximum penalty for passing a school bus that has a stop sign extended is a $274 fine and four points on your license, according to Melbourne Police. If the driver passes the bus on the side where children enter and exit the bus, the driver is subject to a mandatory court hearing.
Blackburn received only a warning.
CLOSE Brevard Public Schools Superintendent Desmond Blackburn sits down with FLORIDA TODAY education reporter Caroline Glenn before the start of the 2017-18 school year.
Spokeswoman for police department Cheryl Trainer said that during the campaign, which lasted from Feb. 26 through March 29, officers issued 115 tickets and 14 warnings for failure to stop for a school bus.
"During the course of that campaign, we gave out written warnings to a number of people," Trainer said. "We are looking for compliance, and the officers do have, by policy, ability to exercise discretion. Our big push is to get everybody to start paying attention."
Since February, when the campaign launched, police officers have been visiting school drop-off loops and reaching out to student-drivers to make them aware of the laws.
The law states that cars driving in both directions on a two-lane roadway, including those with a center turning lane or those without a median, must stop for a stopped school bus. Where there is a median separating lanes of traffic, only the cars traveling the same direction as the bus must stop.
Glenn is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY.
Contact Glenn at 321-576-5933
or [email protected].
Twitter: @bycarolineglenn
Facebook: /floridatodayeducation
CLOSE Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey and School Superintendent Desmond Blackburn, Ph.D. talk about Brevard school safety in the wake of the Parkland mass shooting. Video by Tim Shortt. Posted 2/26/18.
CLOSE Superintendent of Schools Dr. Desmond Blackburn, wearing school bus cufflinks, started his day early on the first day of school at 6:30 a.m., riding a school bus to Riviera Elementary school in Palm Bay. Video by Malcolm Denemark
Read or Share this story: https://on.flatoday.com/2GxyeZP | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 9,262 |
As Barack Obama prepares to visit Saudi Arabia, the Saudi royal family has taken custody of nine longtime Guantánamo Bay detainees, bringing Obama closer to his goal of shuttering the infamous detention facility.
'No one but himself to blame': how Obama's Guantánamo plans fell through Read more
US officials on Saturday described the nine detainees, all Yemenis, as possessing close family ties to Saudi Arabia. Some, one official said, are “practically Saudis”.
The transfer puts the residual Guantánamo detainee population at 80, the lowest it has been in its 14-year history.
The transfer also clears another statistical milestone for the administration. There are now more detainees approved to leave Guantánamo, 26, than there are so-called “forever detainees”, the term lawyers use to describe those whom the administration has insufficient evidence to charge but claims are too dangerous to release.
There are 22 “forever prisoners”, who are expected to remain confined even if Obama succeeds in his goal of closing the Guantánamo detention center.
They are joined by 32 men in some stage of the long-stalled military tribunals process, although 22 of those have been referred for prosecution and not yet charged.
Perhaps the most high-profile of the detainees released to Saudi Arabia is Tariq Ba Odah, a persistent hunger striker and critically ill man who was never charged with a crime.
US Justice Department officials, backed by the Pentagon, had launched an unusual secret legal bid to prevent Ba Odah, who was cleared for transfer in 2010, from challenging his continued detention in court.
Ba Odah’s weight had dwindled to under 75lb. His transfer prevents the administration from having to address the fallout from his long-expected death inside Guantánamo Bay.
Ba Odah’s attorney, Omar Farah of the Center for Constitutional Rights, accused the US of playing “Russian roulette” with Ba Odah’s life and called its treatment of Bah Odah “one of the most appalling chapters in Guantánamo’s sordid history”.
In a statement, Farah said the fact Ba Odah survived captivity “is not so much a cause for celebration as it is a reckoning that ought to remind the White House of the cost of elevating politics over the life and liberty of a human being”.
Although Obama will travel to Saudi Arabia next week, US officials said the timing of the transfer was a coincidence.
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, was described as taking a “personal” interest in getting the Saudis to accept Guantánamo detainees during his five trips to the country as the top US diplomat. Kerry’s envoy for closing Guantánamo, Lee Wolosky, has pressed the Saudis on accepting Yemeni detainees from Guantánamo during at least two trips to Saudi Arabia, officials said.
US officials said some of the remaining 42 Yemenis at Guantánamo possess Saudi relatives or ties to the country, but said it was premature to address whether the Saudis would continue to take Guantánamo detainees.
Multiple officials declined to address why the Saudis agreed to accept these nine detainees, all of whom will go through Saudi Arabia’s “rehabilitation” program to reintegrate former jihadists – an effort that has earned plaudits for helping to reduce al-Qaida’s influence in the deeply conservative Muslim country.
One of the detainees, Mashur Abdullah Muqbil Ahmed al-Sabri, was cleared for transfer by the administration’s quasi-parole board for Guantánamo Bay detainees in April 2015. The other eight were cleared in 2010 by a multi-agency review early in the Obama administration.
Aside from al-Sabri and Ba Odah, the other men released on Saturday to Saudi Arabia are Ahmed Umar Abdullah al-Hikimi, Abdul Rahman Mohammed Saleh Nasir, Ali Yahya Mahdi al-Raimi, Muhammed Abdullah Muhammed al-Hamiri, Ahmed Yaslam Said Kuman, Abd al Rahman al-Qyati, and Mansour Muhammed Ali al-Qatta.
US launches secret bid to stop release of hunger-striking Guantánamo detainee Read more
The transfer comes during a difficult time for US-Saudi relations, which have been strained ever since Obama’s decision to seek a diplomatic resolution regarding Iran’s nuclear program. The longtime Iranian enemy in Riyadh, sharply critical of the nuclear accord, has also criticized Obama for perceived lassitude in ousting Iranian proxy Bashar al-Assad in Syria, an effort that now appears moribund due to Russian intervention to bolster Assad.
But the US has also materially supported a devastating Saudi aerial bombing campaign in Yemen, which has featured attacks on hospitals and other civilian facilities, earning widespread humanitarian criticism.
The latest irritant in the strained relationship is a congressional effort to declassify a 28-page section of a 2002 congressional inquiry into the 9/11 attacks that a senior former US senator, Bob Graham, has long said suggests a Saudi tie to some of the 9/11 hijackers.
According to the New York Times, the Saudis have told legislators to expect economic retaliation should the declassification occur. ||||| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Saturday transferred nine Yemeni men to Saudi Arabia from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo, including an inmate who had been on a hunger strike since 2007, under a long-sought diplomatic deal between Washington and Riyadh, U.S. officials said.
The transfer, which took place just days before President Barack Obama’s visit to Saudi Arabia for a summit of Gulf Arab allies, marked the latest step in his final push to close the controversial detention center at the U.S. naval base in Cuba before he leaves office in January 2017.
The Saudis agreed, after lengthy negotiations that at one point involved Obama and Saudi King Salman, to take the nine Yemenis for resettlement and put them through a government-run rehabilitation program that seeks to reintegrate militants into society, the officials said.
The group announced by the Pentagon was the largest shipped out of the Guantanamo Bay prison since Obama rolled out his plan in February aimed at shutting the facility. But he faces stiff opposition from many Republican lawmakers as well as some fellow Democrats.
There are now 80 prisoners at Guantanamo, most held without charge or trial for more than a decade, drawing international condemnation.
The most prominent of the transfers was Tariq Ba Odah, a 37-year-old Yemeni whom the military had been force-feeding daily since he went on a hunger strike in 2007. His legal team said he was down to 74 pounds, losing about half of his body weight.
Ba Odah’s lawyer, Omar Farah, said the U.S. government had “played Russian roulette” with his client’s life and that his transfer “ends one of the most appalling chapters in Guantanamo’s sordid history.”
His case was a source of legal wrangling between the U.S. Department of Justice and his lawyers, who had unsuccessfully sought his release on humanitarian and medical grounds, and also created divisions within the Obama administration.
TRANSFERS PRECEDE OBAMA’S VISIT
The transfers took place as Obama prepared to visit Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and Thursday for a summit with the Gulf Cooperation Council at a time when U.S.-Saudi relations have been strained by the nuclear deal with Iran, their Shi’ite regional rival, and what Riyadh sees as a weak U.S. response to Syria’s civil war.
The outside of the "Camp Five" detention facility is seen at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay December 10, 2008 in this pool image reviewed by the U.S. military. REUTERS/Mandel Ngan/Pool/Files
The Saudis have also threatened to sell of hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of American assets should the U.S. Congress pass a bill that could hold the kingdom responsible for a role in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the New York Times reported.
A U.S. official said the transfer - the result of years of negotiations, including an Oval Office appeal by Obama to the visiting Saudi monarch in September and visits to the kingdom by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry - was not orchestrated for Obama’s trip and the timing was a coincidence.
Republicans have expressed opposition to such transfers, voicing concern that more released Guantanamo prisoners will return to militant activities.
But the transfer was considered a breakthrough since Riyadh had long resisted taking any non-Saudi nationals from the prison.
All nine men have family ties in Saudi Arabia, which borders Yemen. The Obama administration has ruled out sending Yemenis to their homeland because it is engulfed in civil war and has an active al Qaeda branch.
“The United States is grateful to the government of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its humanitarian gesture,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
Guantanamo prisoners were rounded up overseas when the United States became embroiled in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. The facility, opened by Obama’s predecessor George W. Bush, came to symbolize aggressive detention practices that opened the United States to accusations of torture.
Obama’s plan for shuttering the facility calls for bringing the several dozen remaining prisoners to maximum-security prisons in the United States. U.S. law bars such transfers to the mainland but Obama has not ruled out using executive action to do so.
Ba Odah, who was captured by the Pakistani army along the Afghan border and was accused of receiving weapons training in order to fight with the Taliban, had been force-fed by nasal tube since he stopped taking solid food in protest at his detention. He was cleared for transfer in 2009.
Pentagon officials had said he was receiving proper care. But his case was seen, until a recent uptick in transfers, as evidence of the Pentagon resisting Obama’s efforts to close the detention center.
Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainee Tariq Ba Odah is seen in a U.S. military image taken from a classified Department of Defense Guantanamo "detainee assessment" prepared in January 2008 and released by WikiLeaks in April 2011. REUTERS/U.S. Department of Defense/WikiLeaks/Handout via Reuters
The other prisoners involved in the transfer were identified as: Umar Abdullah Al-Hikimi, Abdul Rahman Mohammed Saleh Nasir, Ali Yahya Mahdi Al-Raimi, Muhammed Abdullah Muhammed Al-Hamiri, Ahmed Yaslam Said Kuman, Abd al Rahman Al-Qyati, Mansour Muhammed Ali Al-Qatta, and Mashur Abdullah Muqbil Ahmed Al-Sabri.
They were among a group of lower-level inmates, now numbering 26 and mostly Yemenis, who have been cleared for transfer by a U.S. government inter-agency task force. U.S. officials have said they expect to move out all members of that group by this summer. ||||| WASHINGTON — The United States on Saturday transferred nine Yemeni detainees from its wartime prison at Guantánamo Bay to Saudi Arabia, completing a long-sought diplomatic deal ahead of a planned visit to Riyadh by President Obama in the coming week.
The effort to persuade the Saudi government to take the prisoners began in the Bush administration and finally resulted in an agreement in February. Current and former officials familiar with the negotiations called the timing of the transfer, which reduced the population at Guantánamo to 80 prisoners, a coincidence.
“There have been a lot of discussions with the Saudis over the last few years, and they have been emphatic that it was very important to close Guantánamo,” said Cliff Sloan, who served as the State Department envoy for negotiating detainee transfers in 2013 and 2014. “They wanted to help with that. But the one thing they weren’t willing to do for a long time was actually accept Yemenis. That’s why this is a major breakthrough.”
The military brought each of the prisoners from the Afghanistan War to the American naval base at Guantánamo about 14 years ago, soon after President George W. Bush’s administration opened the prison in early 2002. Later, the Bush administration decided to try to close it, a goal the Obama administration has shared. | – Nine prisoners have been released from Guantanamo and sent to Saudi Arabia, dropping the inmate population at the infamous prison to 80, Reuters reports. The release was announced Saturday by the Pentagon. All nine prisoners were Yemeni men captured during the war in Afghanistan, according the New York Times. They had been held at Guantanamo for approximately 14 years. The Guardian reports none of the men had ever been charged with a crime, and eight of the nine had been cleared for release from the prison since at least 2010. An attorney for one of the released men says his client is "ecstatic." “He is anxious to get on with living a peaceful life," the attorney tells the Times. The release was the largest since Obama announced in February his most recent plans to close Guantanamo. The holdup in releasing the nine "low-level" inmates was partly due to Saudi Arabia's unwillingness to accept Yemenis. The US government didn't want to send the men to Yemen due to unrest and Al Qaeda activity there. A deal with Saudi Arabia, which has a semi-successful program for rehabilitating former Islamic militants, was secured in February. One of the released prisoners is Tariq Ba Odah, who the military has been force-feeding every day since he started a hunger strike in 2007. Most of the 80 prisoners remaining at Guantanamo, which has been condemned by the UN and once boasted an inmate population of nearly 700, have been there for a decade without charges. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.As Barack Obama prepares to visit Saudi Arabia, the Saudi royal family has taken custody of nine longtime Guantánamo Bay detainees, bringing Obama closer to his goal of shuttering the infamous detention facility.
'No one but himself to blame': how Obama's Guantánamo plans fell through Read more
US officials on Saturday described the nine detainees, all Yemenis, as possessing close family ties to Saudi Arabia. Some, one official said, are “practically Saudis”.
The transfer puts the residual Guantánamo detainee population at 80, the lowest it has been in its 14-year history.
The transfer also clears another statistical milestone for the administration. There are now more detainees approved to leave Guantánamo, 26, than there are so-called “forever detainees”, the term lawyers use to describe those whom the administration has insufficient evidence to charge but claims are too dangerous to release.
There are 22 “forever prisoners”, who are expected to remain confined even if Obama succeeds in his goal of closing the Guantánamo detention center.
They are joined by 32 men in some stage of the long-stalled military tribunals process, although 22 of those have been referred for prosecution and not yet charged.
Perhaps the most high-profile of the detainees released to Saudi Arabia is Tariq Ba Odah, a persistent hunger striker and critically ill man who was never charged with a crime.
US Justice Department officials, backed by the Pentagon, had launched an unusual secret legal bid to prevent Ba Odah, who was cleared for transfer in 2010, from challenging his continued detention in court.
Ba Odah’s weight had dwindled to under 75lb. His transfer prevents the administration from having to address the fallout from his long-expected death inside Guantánamo Bay.
Ba Odah’s attorney, Omar Farah of the Center for Constitutional Rights, accused the US of playing “Russian roulette” with Ba Odah’s life and called its treatment of Bah Odah “one of the most appalling chapters in Guantánamo’s sordid history”.
In a statement, Farah said the fact Ba Odah survived captivity “is not so much a cause for celebration as it is a reckoning that ought to remind the White House of the cost of elevating politics over the life and liberty of a human being”.
Although Obama will travel to Saudi Arabia next week, US officials said the timing of the transfer was a coincidence.
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, was described as taking a “personal” interest in getting the Saudis to accept Guantánamo detainees during his five trips to the country as the top US diplomat. Kerry’s envoy for closing Guantánamo, Lee Wolosky, has pressed the Saudis on accepting Yemeni detainees from Guantánamo during at least two trips to Saudi Arabia, officials said.
US officials said some of the remaining 42 Yemenis at Guantánamo possess Saudi relatives or ties to the country, but said it was premature to address whether the Saudis would continue to take Guantánamo detainees.
Multiple officials declined to address why the Saudis agreed to accept these nine detainees, all of whom will go through Saudi Arabia’s “rehabilitation” program to reintegrate former jihadists – an effort that has earned plaudits for helping to reduce al-Qaida’s influence in the deeply conservative Muslim country.
One of the detainees, Mashur Abdullah Muqbil Ahmed al-Sabri, was cleared for transfer by the administration’s quasi-parole board for Guantánamo Bay detainees in April 2015. The other eight were cleared in 2010 by a multi-agency review early in the Obama administration.
Aside from al-Sabri and Ba Odah, the other men released on Saturday to Saudi Arabia are Ahmed Umar Abdullah al-Hikimi, Abdul Rahman Mohammed Saleh Nasir, Ali Yahya Mahdi al-Raimi, Muhammed Abdullah Muhammed al-Hamiri, Ahmed Yaslam Said Kuman, Abd al Rahman al-Qyati, and Mansour Muhammed Ali al-Qatta.
US launches secret bid to stop release of hunger-striking Guantánamo detainee Read more
The transfer comes during a difficult time for US-Saudi relations, which have been strained ever since Obama’s decision to seek a diplomatic resolution regarding Iran’s nuclear program. The longtime Iranian enemy in Riyadh, sharply critical of the nuclear accord, has also criticized Obama for perceived lassitude in ousting Iranian proxy Bashar al-Assad in Syria, an effort that now appears moribund due to Russian intervention to bolster Assad.
But the US has also materially supported a devastating Saudi aerial bombing campaign in Yemen, which has featured attacks on hospitals and other civilian facilities, earning widespread humanitarian criticism.
The latest irritant in the strained relationship is a congressional effort to declassify a 28-page section of a 2002 congressional inquiry into the 9/11 attacks that a senior former US senator, Bob Graham, has long said suggests a Saudi tie to some of the 9/11 hijackers.
According to the New York Times, the Saudis have told legislators to expect economic retaliation should the declassification occur. ||||| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Saturday transferred nine Yemeni men to Saudi Arabia from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo, including an inmate who had been on a hunger strike since 2007, under a long-sought diplomatic deal between Washington and Riyadh, U.S. officials said.
The transfer, which took place just days before President Barack Obama’s visit to Saudi Arabia for a summit of Gulf Arab allies, marked the latest step in his final push to close the controversial detention center at the U.S. naval base in Cuba before he leaves office in January 2017.
The Saudis agreed, after lengthy negotiations that at one point involved Obama and Saudi King Salman, to take the nine Yemenis for resettlement and put them through a government-run rehabilitation program that seeks to reintegrate militants into society, the officials said.
The group announced by the Pentagon was the largest shipped out of the Guantanamo Bay prison since Obama rolled out his plan in February aimed at shutting the facility. But he faces stiff opposition from many Republican lawmakers as well as some fellow Democrats.
There are now 80 prisoners at Guantanamo, most held without charge or trial for more than a decade, drawing international condemnation.
The most prominent of the transfers was Tariq Ba Odah, a 37-year-old Yemeni whom the military had been force-feeding daily since he went on a hunger strike in 2007. His legal team said he was down to 74 pounds, losing about half of his body weight.
Ba Odah’s lawyer, Omar Farah, said the U.S. government had “played Russian roulette” with his client’s life and that his transfer “ends one of the most appalling chapters in Guantanamo’s sordid history.”
His case was a source of legal wrangling between the U.S. Department of Justice and his lawyers, who had unsuccessfully sought his release on humanitarian and medical grounds, and also created divisions within the Obama administration.
TRANSFERS PRECEDE OBAMA’S VISIT
The transfers took place as Obama prepared to visit Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and Thursday for a summit with the Gulf Cooperation Council at a time when U.S.-Saudi relations have been strained by the nuclear deal with Iran, their Shi’ite regional rival, and what Riyadh sees as a weak U.S. response to Syria’s civil war.
The outside of the "Camp Five" detention facility is seen at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay December 10, 2008 in this pool image reviewed by the U.S. military. REUTERS/Mandel Ngan/Pool/Files
The Saudis have also threatened to sell of hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of American assets should the U.S. Congress pass a bill that could hold the kingdom responsible for a role in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the New York Times reported.
A U.S. official said the transfer - the result of years of negotiations, including an Oval Office appeal by Obama to the visiting Saudi monarch in September and visits to the kingdom by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry - was not orchestrated for Obama’s trip and the timing was a coincidence.
Republicans have expressed opposition to such transfers, voicing concern that more released Guantanamo prisoners will return to militant activities.
But the transfer was considered a breakthrough since Riyadh had long resisted taking any non-Saudi nationals from the prison.
All nine men have family ties in Saudi Arabia, which borders Yemen. The Obama administration has ruled out sending Yemenis to their homeland because it is engulfed in civil war and has an active al Qaeda branch.
“The United States is grateful to the government of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its humanitarian gesture,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
Guantanamo prisoners were rounded up overseas when the United States became embroiled in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. The facility, opened by Obama’s predecessor George W. Bush, came to symbolize aggressive detention practices that opened the United States to accusations of torture.
Obama’s plan for shuttering the facility calls for bringing the several dozen remaining prisoners to maximum-security prisons in the United States. U.S. law bars such transfers to the mainland but Obama has not ruled out using executive action to do so.
Ba Odah, who was captured by the Pakistani army along the Afghan border and was accused of receiving weapons training in order to fight with the Taliban, had been force-fed by nasal tube since he stopped taking solid food in protest at his detention. He was cleared for transfer in 2009.
Pentagon officials had said he was receiving proper care. But his case was seen, until a recent uptick in transfers, as evidence of the Pentagon resisting Obama’s efforts to close the detention center.
Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainee Tariq Ba Odah is seen in a U.S. military image taken from a classified Department of Defense Guantanamo "detainee assessment" prepared in January 2008 and released by WikiLeaks in April 2011. REUTERS/U.S. Department of Defense/WikiLeaks/Handout via Reuters
The other prisoners involved in the transfer were identified as: Umar Abdullah Al-Hikimi, Abdul Rahman Mohammed Saleh Nasir, Ali Yahya Mahdi Al-Raimi, Muhammed Abdullah Muhammed Al-Hamiri, Ahmed Yaslam Said Kuman, Abd al Rahman Al-Qyati, Mansour Muhammed Ali Al-Qatta, and Mashur Abdullah Muqbil Ahmed Al-Sabri.
They were among a group of lower-level inmates, now numbering 26 and mostly Yemenis, who have been cleared for transfer by a U.S. government inter-agency task force. U.S. officials have said they expect to move out all members of that group by this summer. ||||| WASHINGTON — The United States on Saturday transferred nine Yemeni detainees from its wartime prison at Guantánamo Bay to Saudi Arabia, completing a long-sought diplomatic deal ahead of a planned visit to Riyadh by President Obama in the coming week.
The effort to persuade the Saudi government to take the prisoners began in the Bush administration and finally resulted in an agreement in February. Current and former officials familiar with the negotiations called the timing of the transfer, which reduced the population at Guantánamo to 80 prisoners, a coincidence.
“There have been a lot of discussions with the Saudis over the last few years, and they have been emphatic that it was very important to close Guantánamo,” said Cliff Sloan, who served as the State Department envoy for negotiating detainee transfers in 2013 and 2014. “They wanted to help with that. But the one thing they weren’t willing to do for a long time was actually accept Yemenis. That’s why this is a major breakthrough.”
The military brought each of the prisoners from the Afghanistan War to the American naval base at Guantánamo about 14 years ago, soon after President George W. Bush’s administration opened the prison in early 2002. Later, the Bush administration decided to try to close it, a goal the Obama administration has shared. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 9,578 |
Robert Bork, the former federal judge whose Reagan-era nomination to the Supreme Court touched off one of the roughest confirmation battles in modern U.S. history, has died.
Family members said Bork, 85, died early Wednesday morning. He had a history of heart problems and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a lung condition.
His funeral is scheduled for Saturday, and family members said there would be a memorial but did not say whether it would be open to the public.
Bork was among the most polarizing figures in American law and conservative politics for more than four decades. When Bork was solicitor general in 1973, he fired Archibald Cox as a special prosecutor on the order of President Richard Nixon to help in the Watergate cover-up.
President Ronald Reagan nominated Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987. In a 58-to-42 vote, the Senate rejected his nomination -- it was by one of the widest margins in U.S. history.
Critics called Bork a free-speech censor and a danger to the principle of separation of church and state. Bork's opponents used his prolific writings against him, and some called him a hypocrite when he seemed to waffle on previous strongly worded positions.
Stoic and stubborn throughout, Bork refused to withdraw when his defeat seemed assured. The fight has defined every high-profile judicial nomination since, and largely established the opposing roles of vocal and well-funded interest groups in Senate nomination fights.
Republicans have long said his defeat was a completely partisan move and have said Bork was one of the greatest conservative figures in history.
“The highest court in our land will not enjoy the services of one of the finest men every put forward for a place on its bench,” Reagan said after Bork’s defeat. “Judge Bork will be vindicated in history.”
For the most part, as solicitor general, Bork compiled a moderate – and at times even liberal – record on employment discrimination and other civil rights issues, although civil rights lawyers assailed him at his Supreme Court hearing for having opposed at that time court-ordered school desegregation by means of busing.
Bork served as solicitor general from 1973 to 1977 and was acting attorney general from 1973 to 1974.
In February 1988 Bork resigned as circuit judge and joined the American Enterprise Institute from which he resigned in November 2003. In July of that same year Bork converted to Catholicism and said he had “found the evidence of the existence of God highly persuasive.”
Most recently, Bork supported Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential bid and even joined Romney’s, “Justice Advisory Committee.”
Never one to hold his tongue, Bork sat down with Fox News at his home a few years ago, where he discussed everything from his childhood to his opinions on Reagan.
“Reagan had one and a half good ideas,” Bork said. “The great idea was to build up our military force and confront Communism. The half idea was to cut taxes. I say that’s only a half of an idea because he didn’t cut spending. And in fact all those revenues increased as spending went faster, and he made very little attempt to stop it.”
Bork's grandson, Robert Bork III, recalled fond memories of his grandfather, in an interview with FoxNews.com Wednesday morning.
"Even in his old age, he was just a great person to talk to. He was open to conversation, and I looked forward to seeing him," he said. "We were planning to see him for Christmas."
Fox News' Barnini Chakraborty contributed to this report. ||||| Crawl of outlinks from wikipedia.org started March, 2016. These files are currently not publicly accessible. Properties of this collection. It has been several years since the last time we did this. For this collection, several things were done: 1. Turned off duplicate detection. This collection will be complete, as there is a good chance we will share the data, and sharing data with pointers to random other collections, is a complex problem. 2. For the first time, did all the different wikis. The original runs were just against the enwiki. This one, the seed list was built from all 865 collections. | – Robert Bork, the conservative judge whose 1987 nomination to the Supreme Court sparked a political brawl and ended in failure, died today of heart complications, reports Fox News. He was 85. Bork was a solicitor general who became acting attorney general under Richard Nixon during the height of the Watergate scandal. "He was, simply, a great jurist and an exceptional man," writes Andrew McCarthy at the National Review. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Robert Bork, the former federal judge whose Reagan-era nomination to the Supreme Court touched off one of the roughest confirmation battles in modern U.S. history, has died.
Family members said Bork, 85, died early Wednesday morning. He had a history of heart problems and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a lung condition.
His funeral is scheduled for Saturday, and family members said there would be a memorial but did not say whether it would be open to the public.
Bork was among the most polarizing figures in American law and conservative politics for more than four decades. When Bork was solicitor general in 1973, he fired Archibald Cox as a special prosecutor on the order of President Richard Nixon to help in the Watergate cover-up.
President Ronald Reagan nominated Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987. In a 58-to-42 vote, the Senate rejected his nomination -- it was by one of the widest margins in U.S. history.
Critics called Bork a free-speech censor and a danger to the principle of separation of church and state. Bork's opponents used his prolific writings against him, and some called him a hypocrite when he seemed to waffle on previous strongly worded positions.
Stoic and stubborn throughout, Bork refused to withdraw when his defeat seemed assured. The fight has defined every high-profile judicial nomination since, and largely established the opposing roles of vocal and well-funded interest groups in Senate nomination fights.
Republicans have long said his defeat was a completely partisan move and have said Bork was one of the greatest conservative figures in history.
“The highest court in our land will not enjoy the services of one of the finest men every put forward for a place on its bench,” Reagan said after Bork’s defeat. “Judge Bork will be vindicated in history.”
For the most part, as solicitor general, Bork compiled a moderate – and at times even liberal – record on employment discrimination and other civil rights issues, although civil rights lawyers assailed him at his Supreme Court hearing for having opposed at that time court-ordered school desegregation by means of busing.
Bork served as solicitor general from 1973 to 1977 and was acting attorney general from 1973 to 1974.
In February 1988 Bork resigned as circuit judge and joined the American Enterprise Institute from which he resigned in November 2003. In July of that same year Bork converted to Catholicism and said he had “found the evidence of the existence of God highly persuasive.”
Most recently, Bork supported Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential bid and even joined Romney’s, “Justice Advisory Committee.”
Never one to hold his tongue, Bork sat down with Fox News at his home a few years ago, where he discussed everything from his childhood to his opinions on Reagan.
“Reagan had one and a half good ideas,” Bork said. “The great idea was to build up our military force and confront Communism. The half idea was to cut taxes. I say that’s only a half of an idea because he didn’t cut spending. And in fact all those revenues increased as spending went faster, and he made very little attempt to stop it.”
Bork's grandson, Robert Bork III, recalled fond memories of his grandfather, in an interview with FoxNews.com Wednesday morning.
"Even in his old age, he was just a great person to talk to. He was open to conversation, and I looked forward to seeing him," he said. "We were planning to see him for Christmas."
Fox News' Barnini Chakraborty contributed to this report. ||||| Crawl of outlinks from wikipedia.org started March, 2016. These files are currently not publicly accessible. Properties of this collection. It has been several years since the last time we did this. For this collection, several things were done: 1. Turned off duplicate detection. This collection will be complete, as there is a good chance we will share the data, and sharing data with pointers to random other collections, is a complex problem. 2. For the first time, did all the different wikis. The original runs were just against the enwiki. This one, the seed list was built from all 865 collections. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 23,689 |
Pharma executive Martin Shkreli is pretty peeved at Bernie Sanders.
The Turing Pharmaceuticals chief executive was branded America's least favorite CEO when he hiked the price of Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 -- or about 5,000%.
Daraprim is used by some HIV patients and others to treat a life-threatening parasitic infection.
The ensuing controversy has become a talking point in the 2016 presidential race. Democrats Sanders and Hillary Clinton both criticized Turing.
Sanders has proposed regulating prices for drugs, saying the lack of such price controls in the United States has "been an unmitigated disaster."
Shkreli recently endorsed Sanders' bid for the Democratic ticket.
But Sanders effectively rejected Shkreli's $2,700 donation by saying he would give a donation of the same amount to a health clinic.
Now Shkreli's backing has soured.
He tweeted Sunday that he's so angry at Sanders that he "could punch a wall."
SO ANGRY AT @BernieSanders I COULD PUNCH A WALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 — Martin Shkreli (@MartinShkreli) October 18, 2015
Shkreli told CNNMoney on Sunday night that he donated to Sanders "in hopes of meeting him and discussing" pharmaceutical policy.
"I find it bizarre that he won't engage me because he's been willing to use my name," Shkreli said. "He singled me out, but dozens of drug companies have done what I've done."
Shkreli said he hasn't spoken directly to any of the current presidential candidates and has not decided who he will back for president. ||||| Add a location to your Tweets
When you tweet with a location, Twitter stores that location. You can switch location on/off before each Tweet and always have the option to delete your location history. Learn more | – Martin Shkreli, possibly America's most-hated drug CEO, is "SO ANGRY AT @BernieSanders I COULD PUNCH A WALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1." That's what Shkreli, CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, tweeted Sunday night after Bernie Sanders rejected a $2,700 donation from Shkreli. Though Shkreli may have been kidding about that (related tweets from himself and others referenced him "trolling" his followers), he followed that up with a few tweets about how Sanders raised the donation amount he asked for from supporters in a recent Shkreli-related fundraising email from $3 to $25.66, or, as Shkreli put it, "raised the donation requested from his supporters by 755% in one day. Price gouging." Shkreli, who famously "price gouged" the drug Daraprim about 5,000%, from $13.50 to $750, also told CNN Money Sunday that he donated to Sanders "in hopes of meeting him and discussing" pharmaceutical policy. "I find it bizarre that he won't engage me because he's been willing to use my name," Shkreli said. "He singled me out, but dozens of drug companies have done what I've done." | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Pharma executive Martin Shkreli is pretty peeved at Bernie Sanders.
The Turing Pharmaceuticals chief executive was branded America's least favorite CEO when he hiked the price of Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 -- or about 5,000%.
Daraprim is used by some HIV patients and others to treat a life-threatening parasitic infection.
The ensuing controversy has become a talking point in the 2016 presidential race. Democrats Sanders and Hillary Clinton both criticized Turing.
Sanders has proposed regulating prices for drugs, saying the lack of such price controls in the United States has "been an unmitigated disaster."
Shkreli recently endorsed Sanders' bid for the Democratic ticket.
But Sanders effectively rejected Shkreli's $2,700 donation by saying he would give a donation of the same amount to a health clinic.
Now Shkreli's backing has soured.
He tweeted Sunday that he's so angry at Sanders that he "could punch a wall."
SO ANGRY AT @BernieSanders I COULD PUNCH A WALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 — Martin Shkreli (@MartinShkreli) October 18, 2015
Shkreli told CNNMoney on Sunday night that he donated to Sanders "in hopes of meeting him and discussing" pharmaceutical policy.
"I find it bizarre that he won't engage me because he's been willing to use my name," Shkreli said. "He singled me out, but dozens of drug companies have done what I've done."
Shkreli said he hasn't spoken directly to any of the current presidential candidates and has not decided who he will back for president. ||||| Add a location to your Tweets
When you tweet with a location, Twitter stores that location. You can switch location on/off before each Tweet and always have the option to delete your location history. Learn more | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 12,838 |
RICHMOND, Calif Richmond, California's leaders approved on Wednesday morning a plan for the city to become the first in the nation to acquire mortgages with negative equity in a bid to keep local residents in their homes.
The power of 'eminent domain' allows governments to seize private property for a public purpose. Critics say the plan threatens the market for private-label mortgage-backed securities.
Richmond's city council voted 4 to 3 for Mayor Gayle McLaughlin's proposal for city staff to work more closely with Mortgage Resolution Partners to put the plan crafted by the investor group for the city to work.
Richmond can now invoke eminent domain if trusts for more than 620 delinquent and performing "underwater" mortgages reject offers made by the city to buy the loans at deep discount pegged to their properties' current appraised prices to refinance them and reduce their principal.
A mortgage is under water when its unpaid balance is greater than its property's market value.
MRP has failed to get similar plans approved by local governments elsewhere - most recently in North Las Vegas, Nevada and earlier this year in San Bernardino County in Southern California - as the mortgage industry and local real estate businesses rallied against them.
But in Richmond, MRP found an ally in a Wall Street-bashing Green Party mayor of one of the San Francisco region's poorest cities who sees working with the investor group to acquire mortgages as a public purpose if it makes the loans more affordable, averts foreclosures and alleviates blight.
Richmond's residents have been "badly harmed by this housing crisis," McLaughlin said, defending the plan and partnership with MRP during an often contentious city council meeting that began Tuesday evening and ended early Wednesday morning. "Too many have already lost their homes."
City council members opposed to the plan countered that using eminent domain would put Richmond at risk of expensive lawsuits that could destroy the city's finances.
"A 1 percent chance of bankruptcy from this program is a deal-breaker for me," Councilman Jim Rogers told a crowd of about 300 people at the meeting, moved to a city auditorium from the council's chamber.
Other council members warned of a backlash from financial institutions, noting Richmond had no takers last month when the successor to its redevelopment agency put $34 million of bonds up for sale to refinance previous debt. The eminent domain plan had been disclosed to the U.S. municipal bond market.
While housing advocates urged support for the plan, realtor Jeffrey Wright warned that going through with eminent domain could prompt a clampdown in mortgage lending in Richmond or push up mortgage interest rates in the city of about 104,000 residents.
Responding to the plan, the Federal Housing Finance Agency recently said it would press Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to limit or cease its business where such proposals get approved, effectively closing off most mortgage financing there.
Investors holding the mortgages targeted by Richmond dispute altruism motivates the plan and charge the city would lend its eminent domain power to San Francisco-based MRP to split profits from refinancings.
The investors have sued through trustees Wells Fargo & Co and Deutsche Bank AG in U.S. District Court to block the plan, which they say relies on them swallowing losses. The two sides square off in court in person for the first time on Thursday.
McLaughlin's proposal directs city staff to work with other local governments interested in the plan, calls for city staff and MRP to resolve its legal issues and confirms the city council would hold votes to seize mortgages by eminent domain if necessary. That would require a supermajority vote of the council.
(Reporting by Jim Christie; Editing by Toby Chopra) ||||| RICHMOND (CBS SF) — An unprecedented plan to buy struggling Richmond homeowners’ underwater mortgages is moving forward.
The Richmond City Council voted 4 to 3 early Wednesday morning to continue pursuing the controversial plan, which could use the city’s power of eminent domain to force bondholders to sell underwater loans, allowing homeowners to restructure their mortgages.
The council rejected an agenda item submitted by Vice Mayor Corky Booze and Councilman Nathaniel Bates to strike down offers to buy the mortgages.
“Many in our community have been targeted by predatory loans, too many have already lost their homes, and all of the city of Richmond has suffered,” said Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, who authored the council resolution in favor of the plan.
About half of the city’s homeowners are underwater on their mortgages, city manager Bill Lindsay said at the start of Tuesday night’s roughly seven-hour meeting at the Richmond Memorial Auditorium.
In a bid to counter that trend, City Mayor Gayle McLaughlin has led the charge toward a partnership with San Francisco investment firm Mortgage Resolution Partners (MRP) to buy 624 city residents’ mortgages that are underwater, or that owe more money than the home is currently worth.
Richmond Moving Forward With Eminent Domain Plan For Underwater Mortgages
Under the Richmond Community Action to Restore Equity and Stability plan, or Richmond CARES, the city could use eminent domain to force the sale of the mortgages if lenders don’t accept the offer, city officials say.
Four of seven council members voted for the mayor’s proposal to continue Richmond CARES and to set up a joint powers authority between Richmond and any other cities teaming up with MRP.
So far, the Southern California city of El Monte has expressed the most interest in partnering with MRP and has urged Richmond to set a precedent by moving forward with the partnership, McLaughlin said.
The council struck down a measure authored by Councilman Jim Rogers requiring MRP to provide insurance protecting the city of Richmond from all litigation and related damages related to the plan before moving forward with eminent domain action.
Rogers said he drafted the item after learning that MRP hadn’t secured insurance to protect the city from potential litigation stemming from the eminent domain plan.
MRP executive chairman Steven Gluckstern noted before the meeting that the firm is covering legal costs associated with any litigation against the city related to the partnership and said a joint powers authority would provide further protection.
On Thursday, a federal court is set to rule on a lawsuit brought against the city by Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank over the plan. The suit alleges that the proposed use of eminent domain, which is typically used to purchase private land for public use, is unconstitutional.
The banks say the plan would also harm Richmond in the long run by making it tougher for city residents to get approved for mortgage financing.
But McLaughlin and her supporters describe the plan as an innovative solution to help conscientious Richmond homeowners stay in their homes and as a long-overdue stand against the Wall Street investors that offered predatory loans in the first place.
Groups on both sides of the eminent domain proposal attended Tuesday night’s meeting to make their case.
Many proponents of the plan, including members of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) and the Richmond Progressive Alliance wore yellow T-shirts and hoisted small flags provided by ACCE.
Many of the dozens of speakers who voiced support for the plan during the marathon meeting identified themselves as underwater Richmond homeowners struggling to keep their homes.
Patricia Castillo said her Richmond home, which she purchased in 2005, is on the brink of foreclosure, and that she is holding out hope that Richmond CARES will work.
“I’ve seen a lot of impact in my neighborhood; families moved that couldn’t modify or keep up with their payments,” she added. “We need these programs to help stabilize our neighborhoods, it’s time to stand up to Wall Street and stand up for the city of Richmond.”
On the other hand, Joshua Genser, a lifelong Richmond resident and longtime property and business owner, said the forced sale of a home for 80 percent of its market value under the city’s proposal would harm Richmond property owners, not the banks.
“If we pass this program it will be impossible to get credit in the city,” he said. “The plan is dangerous to every resident, every business owner in the city of Richmond.”
Dozens of others at the meeting, including a group of about ten young men who declined to say whether they live in Richmond, wore red T-shirts that said “Stop Investor Greed,” the name of a group formed against the eminent domain plan.
The group is headed by local real estate broker and past president of the West Contra Costa County Association of Realtors Jeff Wright.
Many residents at the meeting said they had recently received glossy mailers sent out by the WCCAR decrying the city’s principal reduction plan.
Wright said he believes the plan would harm Richmond by making it tougher for homeowners to get credit and said investors who might choose not to lend money in Richmond because of the plan would be exercising understandable caution.
Some speculate that the city’s failure last month to sell $34 million in bonds is a sign of Wall Street’s early retaliation against the plan.
But Amy Schur, an ACCE campaign director, said the mortgage acquisition program “is actually a win-win-win for everybody,” including banks, which stand to lose from homes going into foreclosure.
“This is not about anyone making money, this is about saving homes,” she said.
Schur also echoed statements from the mayor and other council members who have said any retaliatory action from banks against Richmond would equate to redlining – a term used to describe a discriminatory practice by banks that raise costs or decline to do business in minority communities.
“We can’t let fear stop us from stabilizing our community and we can’t let fear keep us from boosting our local economy,” Councilwoman Jovanka Beckles said, drawing applause and cheers from the audience, which dwindled from several hundred Tuesday evening to several dozen by early Wedmesdau morning.
The mostly peaceful meeting, punctuated with applause and cheers, devolved by the early morning into insults and personal attacks on fellow council members from Booze and Bates, causing the mayor to call for a brief recess before the council’s final vote.
(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) |||||
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Photo: The Chronicle Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Image 2 of 8 Supporters of Richmond's eminent domain measure to prevent foreclosures hold signs as they met with the press before the city council meeting on Tuesday, September 10, 2013, in Richmond, Calif. Supporters of Richmond's eminent domain measure to prevent foreclosures hold signs as they met with the press before the city council meeting on Tuesday, September 10, 2013, in Richmond, Calif. Photo: The Chronicle Image 3 of 8 Asia White listens as Ariana Casanova with SEIU speaks as supporters of Richmond's eminent domain measure to prevent foreclosures met with the press before the city council meeting on Tuesday, September 10, 2013, in Richmond, Calif. less Asia White listens as Ariana Casanova with SEIU speaks as supporters of Richmond's eminent domain measure to prevent foreclosures met with the press before the city council meeting on Tuesday, September 10, ... more Photo: The Chronicle Image 4 of 8 Minister Marvin Webb listens as Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin answers a reporter's question as she and supporters of Richmond's eminent domain measure to prevent foreclosures met with the press before the city council meeting on Tuesday, September 10, 2013, in Richmond, Calif. less Minister Marvin Webb listens as Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin answers a reporter's question as she and supporters of Richmond's eminent domain measure to prevent foreclosures met with the press before the ... more Photo: The Chronicle Image 5 of 8 Image 6 of 8 Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin answers a reporter's question as she and supporters of Richmond's eminent domain measure to prevent foreclosures met with the press before the city council meeting on Tuesday, September 10, 2013, in Richmond, Calif. less Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin answers a reporter's question as she and supporters of Richmond's eminent domain measure to prevent foreclosures met with the press before the city council meeting on Tuesday, ... more Photo: The Chronicle Image 7 of 8 Supporters of Richmond's eminent domain measure to prevent foreclosures hold signs as they met with the press before the city council meeting on Tuesday, September 10, 2013, in Richmond, Calif. Supporters of Richmond's eminent domain measure to prevent foreclosures hold signs as they met with the press before the city council meeting on Tuesday, September 10, 2013, in Richmond, Calif. Photo: The Chronicle Image 8 of 8 Richmond council, residents spar over eminent domain 1 / 8 Back to Gallery
A contentious Richmond City Council delved into the city’s groundbreaking threat to use eminent domain at a packed meeting Tuesday night, but an actual vote on the issue seemed unlikely to happen until well after midnight.
More than 300 residents, many wearing T-shirts to proclaim their position — yellow for supporters, red for opponents — alternatively cheered, booed and applauded as councilmembers and speakers discussed invoking the city’s municipal power of eminent domain to seize and restructure underwater home loans.
“Richmond and its residents have been badly harmed by this housing crisis,” said Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, a staunch supporter of the plan. “The banks have been unwilling or unable to fix this situation so the city is stepping in to provide a fix.”
Richmond is still far away from actually using eminent domain to forcibly seize the mortgage; that step is not on the current agenda.
Instead, councilmembers are considering three options: to kill the plan, to create a structure to advance it, and/or to require insurance to protect the city from legal liabilities.
McLaughlin wants to move forward with the plan by creating a joint powers authority to work with other cities. The Southern California town of El Monte has already indicated it would like to participate; many more cities are likely to follow suit, she said.
That “would give us economies of scale, with no risk for the city,” she said. “It’s a structure, a scaffolding for the program. If at any time we determine that all the necessary pieces have not come into place, with indemnification (against legal damages) being one of those essential pieces, then the JPA should not move forward.”
Councilmember Jim Rogers, who proposed the insurance measure, said even a slight chance that banks might prevail in a lawsuit claiming multimillion dollar damages is too much. He wants Mortgage Resolution Partners, the San Francisco investment company that is providing financial support and technical advice on the plan, to indemnify the city from any potential liability.
“We have to look at how much damage they can wreak on us and what benefits we can get from the program,” he said. “A 1 percent chance of bankrupty from this program is a dealbreaker for me. If we want to see the program work, what we should say to MRP is that their game plan cannot be to spend time and energy trying to convince us that the risk is zero.” Instead, MRP must provide insurance to protect the city from litigation or Richmond will back away from eminent domain, his proposal says.
Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank have filed suit in U.S. District Court seeking an injunction to stop Richmond from proceeding. The city says that suit is premature and harassment. It will be heard in court on Thursday.
Vice Mayor Courtland “Corky” Boozé and Councilmember Nat Bates jointly proposed that the city withdraw the offers it made to buy 624 underwater mortgages and axe the option of using eminent domain.
The plan places the city in too much jeopardy, Bates said, citing investors’ snub of Richmond municipal bonds in August, an apparent reaction to the city’s headline-grabbing plan.
“We are the guinea pig,” Boozé said. “Are 110,00 people worth fighting Wall Street?” When big cries of “Yeah!” erupted from the audience, he admonished: “When we have a multimillion-dollar lawsuit and your tax dollars have to pay for it, I hope you’re still there hollering, ‘we want to pay that bill.’ ”
A total of 100 people signed up to speak during public comments; at two minutes each, that means a vote might not come until after 1 a.m. Wednesday. The council voted to extend the meeting beyond its usual 11:30 p.m. close.
Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.
| – Eminent domain is usually used to seize homes from people, but Richmond, California, in the early hours of this morning gave a tentative green light to a plan that would use it to keep people in their homes. In a contentious 4-3 vote, the city council voted to continue pursuing a plan under which it would offer to buy and modify 624 underwater mortgages from banks—and use eminent domain to seize them if the banks refused, CBS 5 reports. Some 300 residents showed up for the meeting last night, the San Francisco Chronicle reports, with many wearing a yellow or red shirt to signal their stance on the issue. The council also rejected a proposal to force the investment firm it's partnering with, Mortgage Resolution Partners, to provide insurance against lawsuits from unhappy lenders. Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank have preemptively sued, in a case that hits court tomorrow. MRP has proposed similar programs elsewhere, but financial industry outrage has prevented it, Reuters explains. But Richmond has an eager Green Party mayor, Gayle McLaughlin, and about half its homeowners are underwater, owing more than their homes are worth. Other towns have also expressed interest in eventually joining in. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.RICHMOND, Calif Richmond, California's leaders approved on Wednesday morning a plan for the city to become the first in the nation to acquire mortgages with negative equity in a bid to keep local residents in their homes.
The power of 'eminent domain' allows governments to seize private property for a public purpose. Critics say the plan threatens the market for private-label mortgage-backed securities.
Richmond's city council voted 4 to 3 for Mayor Gayle McLaughlin's proposal for city staff to work more closely with Mortgage Resolution Partners to put the plan crafted by the investor group for the city to work.
Richmond can now invoke eminent domain if trusts for more than 620 delinquent and performing "underwater" mortgages reject offers made by the city to buy the loans at deep discount pegged to their properties' current appraised prices to refinance them and reduce their principal.
A mortgage is under water when its unpaid balance is greater than its property's market value.
MRP has failed to get similar plans approved by local governments elsewhere - most recently in North Las Vegas, Nevada and earlier this year in San Bernardino County in Southern California - as the mortgage industry and local real estate businesses rallied against them.
But in Richmond, MRP found an ally in a Wall Street-bashing Green Party mayor of one of the San Francisco region's poorest cities who sees working with the investor group to acquire mortgages as a public purpose if it makes the loans more affordable, averts foreclosures and alleviates blight.
Richmond's residents have been "badly harmed by this housing crisis," McLaughlin said, defending the plan and partnership with MRP during an often contentious city council meeting that began Tuesday evening and ended early Wednesday morning. "Too many have already lost their homes."
City council members opposed to the plan countered that using eminent domain would put Richmond at risk of expensive lawsuits that could destroy the city's finances.
"A 1 percent chance of bankruptcy from this program is a deal-breaker for me," Councilman Jim Rogers told a crowd of about 300 people at the meeting, moved to a city auditorium from the council's chamber.
Other council members warned of a backlash from financial institutions, noting Richmond had no takers last month when the successor to its redevelopment agency put $34 million of bonds up for sale to refinance previous debt. The eminent domain plan had been disclosed to the U.S. municipal bond market.
While housing advocates urged support for the plan, realtor Jeffrey Wright warned that going through with eminent domain could prompt a clampdown in mortgage lending in Richmond or push up mortgage interest rates in the city of about 104,000 residents.
Responding to the plan, the Federal Housing Finance Agency recently said it would press Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to limit or cease its business where such proposals get approved, effectively closing off most mortgage financing there.
Investors holding the mortgages targeted by Richmond dispute altruism motivates the plan and charge the city would lend its eminent domain power to San Francisco-based MRP to split profits from refinancings.
The investors have sued through trustees Wells Fargo & Co and Deutsche Bank AG in U.S. District Court to block the plan, which they say relies on them swallowing losses. The two sides square off in court in person for the first time on Thursday.
McLaughlin's proposal directs city staff to work with other local governments interested in the plan, calls for city staff and MRP to resolve its legal issues and confirms the city council would hold votes to seize mortgages by eminent domain if necessary. That would require a supermajority vote of the council.
(Reporting by Jim Christie; Editing by Toby Chopra) ||||| RICHMOND (CBS SF) — An unprecedented plan to buy struggling Richmond homeowners’ underwater mortgages is moving forward.
The Richmond City Council voted 4 to 3 early Wednesday morning to continue pursuing the controversial plan, which could use the city’s power of eminent domain to force bondholders to sell underwater loans, allowing homeowners to restructure their mortgages.
The council rejected an agenda item submitted by Vice Mayor Corky Booze and Councilman Nathaniel Bates to strike down offers to buy the mortgages.
“Many in our community have been targeted by predatory loans, too many have already lost their homes, and all of the city of Richmond has suffered,” said Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, who authored the council resolution in favor of the plan.
About half of the city’s homeowners are underwater on their mortgages, city manager Bill Lindsay said at the start of Tuesday night’s roughly seven-hour meeting at the Richmond Memorial Auditorium.
In a bid to counter that trend, City Mayor Gayle McLaughlin has led the charge toward a partnership with San Francisco investment firm Mortgage Resolution Partners (MRP) to buy 624 city residents’ mortgages that are underwater, or that owe more money than the home is currently worth.
Richmond Moving Forward With Eminent Domain Plan For Underwater Mortgages
Under the Richmond Community Action to Restore Equity and Stability plan, or Richmond CARES, the city could use eminent domain to force the sale of the mortgages if lenders don’t accept the offer, city officials say.
Four of seven council members voted for the mayor’s proposal to continue Richmond CARES and to set up a joint powers authority between Richmond and any other cities teaming up with MRP.
So far, the Southern California city of El Monte has expressed the most interest in partnering with MRP and has urged Richmond to set a precedent by moving forward with the partnership, McLaughlin said.
The council struck down a measure authored by Councilman Jim Rogers requiring MRP to provide insurance protecting the city of Richmond from all litigation and related damages related to the plan before moving forward with eminent domain action.
Rogers said he drafted the item after learning that MRP hadn’t secured insurance to protect the city from potential litigation stemming from the eminent domain plan.
MRP executive chairman Steven Gluckstern noted before the meeting that the firm is covering legal costs associated with any litigation against the city related to the partnership and said a joint powers authority would provide further protection.
On Thursday, a federal court is set to rule on a lawsuit brought against the city by Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank over the plan. The suit alleges that the proposed use of eminent domain, which is typically used to purchase private land for public use, is unconstitutional.
The banks say the plan would also harm Richmond in the long run by making it tougher for city residents to get approved for mortgage financing.
But McLaughlin and her supporters describe the plan as an innovative solution to help conscientious Richmond homeowners stay in their homes and as a long-overdue stand against the Wall Street investors that offered predatory loans in the first place.
Groups on both sides of the eminent domain proposal attended Tuesday night’s meeting to make their case.
Many proponents of the plan, including members of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) and the Richmond Progressive Alliance wore yellow T-shirts and hoisted small flags provided by ACCE.
Many of the dozens of speakers who voiced support for the plan during the marathon meeting identified themselves as underwater Richmond homeowners struggling to keep their homes.
Patricia Castillo said her Richmond home, which she purchased in 2005, is on the brink of foreclosure, and that she is holding out hope that Richmond CARES will work.
“I’ve seen a lot of impact in my neighborhood; families moved that couldn’t modify or keep up with their payments,” she added. “We need these programs to help stabilize our neighborhoods, it’s time to stand up to Wall Street and stand up for the city of Richmond.”
On the other hand, Joshua Genser, a lifelong Richmond resident and longtime property and business owner, said the forced sale of a home for 80 percent of its market value under the city’s proposal would harm Richmond property owners, not the banks.
“If we pass this program it will be impossible to get credit in the city,” he said. “The plan is dangerous to every resident, every business owner in the city of Richmond.”
Dozens of others at the meeting, including a group of about ten young men who declined to say whether they live in Richmond, wore red T-shirts that said “Stop Investor Greed,” the name of a group formed against the eminent domain plan.
The group is headed by local real estate broker and past president of the West Contra Costa County Association of Realtors Jeff Wright.
Many residents at the meeting said they had recently received glossy mailers sent out by the WCCAR decrying the city’s principal reduction plan.
Wright said he believes the plan would harm Richmond by making it tougher for homeowners to get credit and said investors who might choose not to lend money in Richmond because of the plan would be exercising understandable caution.
Some speculate that the city’s failure last month to sell $34 million in bonds is a sign of Wall Street’s early retaliation against the plan.
But Amy Schur, an ACCE campaign director, said the mortgage acquisition program “is actually a win-win-win for everybody,” including banks, which stand to lose from homes going into foreclosure.
“This is not about anyone making money, this is about saving homes,” she said.
Schur also echoed statements from the mayor and other council members who have said any retaliatory action from banks against Richmond would equate to redlining – a term used to describe a discriminatory practice by banks that raise costs or decline to do business in minority communities.
“We can’t let fear stop us from stabilizing our community and we can’t let fear keep us from boosting our local economy,” Councilwoman Jovanka Beckles said, drawing applause and cheers from the audience, which dwindled from several hundred Tuesday evening to several dozen by early Wedmesdau morning.
The mostly peaceful meeting, punctuated with applause and cheers, devolved by the early morning into insults and personal attacks on fellow council members from Booze and Bates, causing the mayor to call for a brief recess before the council’s final vote.
(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) |||||
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Photo: The Chronicle Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Image 2 of 8 Supporters of Richmond's eminent domain measure to prevent foreclosures hold signs as they met with the press before the city council meeting on Tuesday, September 10, 2013, in Richmond, Calif. Supporters of Richmond's eminent domain measure to prevent foreclosures hold signs as they met with the press before the city council meeting on Tuesday, September 10, 2013, in Richmond, Calif. Photo: The Chronicle Image 3 of 8 Asia White listens as Ariana Casanova with SEIU speaks as supporters of Richmond's eminent domain measure to prevent foreclosures met with the press before the city council meeting on Tuesday, September 10, 2013, in Richmond, Calif. less Asia White listens as Ariana Casanova with SEIU speaks as supporters of Richmond's eminent domain measure to prevent foreclosures met with the press before the city council meeting on Tuesday, September 10, ... more Photo: The Chronicle Image 4 of 8 Minister Marvin Webb listens as Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin answers a reporter's question as she and supporters of Richmond's eminent domain measure to prevent foreclosures met with the press before the city council meeting on Tuesday, September 10, 2013, in Richmond, Calif. less Minister Marvin Webb listens as Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin answers a reporter's question as she and supporters of Richmond's eminent domain measure to prevent foreclosures met with the press before the ... more Photo: The Chronicle Image 5 of 8 Image 6 of 8 Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin answers a reporter's question as she and supporters of Richmond's eminent domain measure to prevent foreclosures met with the press before the city council meeting on Tuesday, September 10, 2013, in Richmond, Calif. less Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin answers a reporter's question as she and supporters of Richmond's eminent domain measure to prevent foreclosures met with the press before the city council meeting on Tuesday, ... more Photo: The Chronicle Image 7 of 8 Supporters of Richmond's eminent domain measure to prevent foreclosures hold signs as they met with the press before the city council meeting on Tuesday, September 10, 2013, in Richmond, Calif. Supporters of Richmond's eminent domain measure to prevent foreclosures hold signs as they met with the press before the city council meeting on Tuesday, September 10, 2013, in Richmond, Calif. Photo: The Chronicle Image 8 of 8 Richmond council, residents spar over eminent domain 1 / 8 Back to Gallery
A contentious Richmond City Council delved into the city’s groundbreaking threat to use eminent domain at a packed meeting Tuesday night, but an actual vote on the issue seemed unlikely to happen until well after midnight.
More than 300 residents, many wearing T-shirts to proclaim their position — yellow for supporters, red for opponents — alternatively cheered, booed and applauded as councilmembers and speakers discussed invoking the city’s municipal power of eminent domain to seize and restructure underwater home loans.
“Richmond and its residents have been badly harmed by this housing crisis,” said Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, a staunch supporter of the plan. “The banks have been unwilling or unable to fix this situation so the city is stepping in to provide a fix.”
Richmond is still far away from actually using eminent domain to forcibly seize the mortgage; that step is not on the current agenda.
Instead, councilmembers are considering three options: to kill the plan, to create a structure to advance it, and/or to require insurance to protect the city from legal liabilities.
McLaughlin wants to move forward with the plan by creating a joint powers authority to work with other cities. The Southern California town of El Monte has already indicated it would like to participate; many more cities are likely to follow suit, she said.
That “would give us economies of scale, with no risk for the city,” she said. “It’s a structure, a scaffolding for the program. If at any time we determine that all the necessary pieces have not come into place, with indemnification (against legal damages) being one of those essential pieces, then the JPA should not move forward.”
Councilmember Jim Rogers, who proposed the insurance measure, said even a slight chance that banks might prevail in a lawsuit claiming multimillion dollar damages is too much. He wants Mortgage Resolution Partners, the San Francisco investment company that is providing financial support and technical advice on the plan, to indemnify the city from any potential liability.
“We have to look at how much damage they can wreak on us and what benefits we can get from the program,” he said. “A 1 percent chance of bankrupty from this program is a dealbreaker for me. If we want to see the program work, what we should say to MRP is that their game plan cannot be to spend time and energy trying to convince us that the risk is zero.” Instead, MRP must provide insurance to protect the city from litigation or Richmond will back away from eminent domain, his proposal says.
Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank have filed suit in U.S. District Court seeking an injunction to stop Richmond from proceeding. The city says that suit is premature and harassment. It will be heard in court on Thursday.
Vice Mayor Courtland “Corky” Boozé and Councilmember Nat Bates jointly proposed that the city withdraw the offers it made to buy 624 underwater mortgages and axe the option of using eminent domain.
The plan places the city in too much jeopardy, Bates said, citing investors’ snub of Richmond municipal bonds in August, an apparent reaction to the city’s headline-grabbing plan.
“We are the guinea pig,” Boozé said. “Are 110,00 people worth fighting Wall Street?” When big cries of “Yeah!” erupted from the audience, he admonished: “When we have a multimillion-dollar lawsuit and your tax dollars have to pay for it, I hope you’re still there hollering, ‘we want to pay that bill.’ ”
A total of 100 people signed up to speak during public comments; at two minutes each, that means a vote might not come until after 1 a.m. Wednesday. The council voted to extend the meeting beyond its usual 11:30 p.m. close.
Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.
| According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 27,713 |
This rise is pretty much entirely from fraternal twins—two eggs released during ovulation and fertilized by two different sperm. The rate of identical twins, who develop from one zygote that splits and forms two embryos, tends to stay relatively constant around the world, and doesn’t seem to be affected by any external factors. But the likelihood of having fraternal twins, or dizygotic twins, changes depending on the age of the mother, how many children she’s already had, the country she lives in, and genetic factors.
In 1975, there were 9.5 twin births per 1,000 deliveries in the United States. In 2011, there were 16.9 twins per 1,000 births. The increase over that time was similar in England and Wales (from 9.9 to 16.1), France (9.3 to 17.4), and Germany (9.2 to 17.2), and a little steeper in Denmark (9.6 to 21.2) and South Korea (5 to 14.6).
Twin Rate in Developed Countries, 1900 to 2013
Population and Development Review
The older the mother, the more likely she is to have fraternal twins. This is one reason the study cites for the increase of twins in wealthy, developed countries, where women are more likely to have their first child later in life. In the United States, the average age of first-time motherhood was 26.3 in 2014, compared to 24.9 in 2000. In other countries, particularly in Europe and Southeast Asia, the average age is even older—Greece holds the top spot at 31.2, according to the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook.
The other reason for the twincrease in the developed world is the proliferation of fertility treatments like in vitro fertilization and ovarian stimulation, which increase a woman’s chance of a multiple pregnancy. Ovarian stimulation can cause multiple eggs to be released at a time; during in vitro fertilization, a doctor may transfer more than one embryo to the patient’s uterus, to maximize the chances of a successful pregnancy. But that also means there’s a possibility that more than one embryo will take.
Twin rates in the developing world have been more stagnant. A 2011 study of 76 developing countries published in PLOS One found that in Asia and Latin America, twin rates are generally low, below 10 per 1,000 births, while mothers in Central African countries have rates above 18 per 1,000. Vietnam was the country with the fewest twins (6.2 per 1,000 births) and Benin was the country with the most (27.9 per 1,000). Over time, some of these developing countries saw increases in twins, but some saw decreases and some stayed the same, with any changes tending to be small. “The lack of an increase comparable to that experienced in high-income countries over the last decades suggests that the influence of fertility treatments is still low in these countries,” the study reads.
In some places, the role of fertility treatments may be waning. In about a quarter of the developed countries analyzed in the recent study—including Japan, Australia, Sweden, and Denmark, among others—the twin rate peaked sometime between 1998 and 2010 and then began to decline again. This is likely because, in response to the high multiple-birth rates that come along with fertility treatments, best practices began to shift toward only transferring one embryo at a time. Multiple pregnancies are riskier both for the mother and the children. But in many countries, this was not enough to compensate for the continued popularity of these treatments, and the increase in older mothers.
When the researchers examined childbearing age and fertility treatments separately, they found that, though it varied by country, the effect of fertility treatments was on average “about three times greater than the effect of delayed childbearing.” But, in real life these things aren’t completely separate—some women get fertility treatments because they want to conceive at a later age, when it may be more difficult to do so. And if this tangle of reproductive trends catches on in developing countries, there may be some doubly sleepless nights in store for parents around the world. Especially in Benin. ||||| 1/25 Most child antidepressants are ineffective and can lead to suicidal thoughts The majority of antidepressants are ineffective and may be unsafe, for children and teenager with major depression, experts have warned. In what is the most comprehensive comparison of 14 commonly prescribed antidepressant drugs to date, researchers found that only one brand was more effective at relieving symptoms of depression than a placebo. Another popular drug, venlafaxine, was shown increase the risk users engaging in suicidal thoughts and attempts at suicide RoschetzkyIstockPhoto / Getty
2/25 'Universal cancer vaccine’ breakthrough claimed by experts Scientists have taken a “very positive step” towards creating a universal vaccine against cancer that makes the body’s immune system attack tumours as if they were a virus, experts have said. Writing in Nature, an international team of researchers described how they had taken pieces of cancer’s genetic RNA code, put them into tiny nanoparticles of fat and then injected the mixture into the bloodstreams of three patients in the advanced stages of the disease. The patients' immune systems responded by producing "killer" T-cells designed to attack cancer. The vaccine was also found to be effective in fighting “aggressively growing” tumours in mice, according to researchers, who were led by Professor Ugur Sahin from Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany Rex Features
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4/25 New online test predicts skin cancer risk Health experts have created a new online tool which can predict a person’s risk of developing a common form of skin cancer. The tool uses the results of a 10-question-quiz to estimate the chance of a person aged 40 or over of having non-melanoma skin cancers within three years. Factors including the age, gender, smoking status, skin colour, tanning ability, freckling tendency, and other aspects of medical history are covered by the quiz
5/25 Multiple Sclerosis stem cell treatment 'helps patients walk again' A new treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) has enabled some patients to walk again by “rebooting” their immune systems. As part of a clinical trial at Sheffield's Royal Hallamshire Hospital involving around 20 patients, scientists used stem cells to carry out a bone marrow transplant. The method known as an autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) works by using chemotherapy to destroy the area of the immune system which causes MS Rex Features
6/25 Dementia patients left without painkillers and handcuffed to bed Dementia patients experience a ‘shocking’ variation in the quality of hospital care they receive across England, a charity has warned. Staff using excessive force and not giving dementia patients the correct pain medication were among the findings outlined in a new report by The Alzheimer’s Society, to coincide with the launch of Fix Dementia Care campaign Rex Features
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9/25 Rat-bite fever A teenager was hospitalised and left unable to move after she developed the rare rat-bite fever disease from her pet rodents which lived in her bedroom. The teenager, who has not been named, was taken to hospital after she complained of a pain in her right hip and lower back which later made her immobile, according to the online medical journal BMJ Case Reports. She suffered for two weeks with an intermittent fever, nausea and vomiting and had a pink rash on her hands and feet. The teenager, who had numerous pets including a dog, cat, horse and three pet rats, has since made a full recovery after undergoing a course of antibiotics. Blood tests showed that she was infected with for streptobacillus moniliformis – the most common cause of rat-bite fever. One of her three pet rats lay dead in her room for three weeks before her symptoms showed
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14/25 Connections between brain cells destroyed in early stages of Alzheimer’s disease Scientists have pinpointed how connections in the brain are destroyed in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, in a study which it is hoped will help in the development of treatments for the debilitating condition. At the early stages of the development of Alzheimer’s disease the synapses – which connect the neurons in the brain – are destroyed, according to researchers at the University of New South Wales, Australia. The synapses are vital for brain function, particularly learning and forming memories
15/25 Sugar tax The Government should introduce a sugar tax to prevent an “obesity crisis” from crippling the NHS, a senior Conservative MP and former health minister has said. Dr Dan Poulter believes that the case for increased taxes on unhealthy sugary products was “increasingly compelling” PA
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21/25 Ketamine could be used as anti-depressant Researchers at the University of Auckland said monitoring the effects of the drug on the brain has revealed neural pathways that could aid the development of fast-acting medications. Ketamine is a synthetic compound used as an off anaesthetic and analgesic drug, but is commonly used illegally as a hallucinogenic party drug. Dr Suresh Muthukumaraswamy, a senior researcher at the university and a member of the institution’s Centre for Brain Research, used the latest technology in brain imaging to investigate what mechanisms ketamine uses to be active in the human brain
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23/25 The biggest cause of early death in the world is what you eat Unhealthy eating has been named as the most common cause of premature death around the globe, new data has revealed. A poor diet – which involves eating too few vegetables, fruits, nuts and grains and too much red meat, salt and sugar - was shown to be a bigger killer than smoking and alcohol
24/25 Scientists develop blood test that estimates how quickly people age Scientists believe it could be used to predict a person’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease as well as the “youthfulness” of donated organs for transplant operations. The test measures the vitality of certain genes which the researchers believe is an accurate indication of a person’s “biological age”, which may be younger or older than their actual chronological age | – It's not your imagination—more people are having twins these days. A recent study found that the rate of twin births in many developed countries has nearly doubled (or more than doubled, in some cases) in the past few decades, the Atlantic reports. The study, published in Population and Development Review, looked at data on twin births per 1,000 deliveries between 1975 and 2011. During that period, twin births increased from 9.5 to 16.9 in the US, 9.9 to 16.1 in England and Wales, 9.2 to 17.2 in Germany, 9.3 to 17.4 in France, 9.6 to 21.2 in Denmark, and 5.0 to 14.6 in South Korea. As the Atlantic notes, these rates apply to fraternal twins, when two eggs are released and fertilized by two different sperm. The rate of identical twin births has remained consistent. The study pinpoints two primary reasons for what the Atlantic terms the "twincrease" in wealthy countries. First, women in developed countries are more likely to have children later in life, and older mothers are more likely to have fraternal twins than younger ones. (In England and Wales, women between the ages of 35 and 39 were the most likely to have twins, the Independent reports.) Second, fertility treatments, such as in vitro fertilization, increase the chances of a woman becoming pregnant with more than one baby. However, cases of fraternal twins (which peaked between 1998 and 2010 in about 25% of the countries studied) linked to fertility treatments may be declining as doctors become more precise in how treatments are applied (such as transferring a single embryo at a time, rather than several). Nonetheless, the increase in twin births is a public health issue, according to the study's authors. Risks include a higher risk of premature birth, stillbirth, and infant mortality; lower birth weights and more complications at birth; and a higher risk of gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, and postpartum depression in mothers. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.This rise is pretty much entirely from fraternal twins—two eggs released during ovulation and fertilized by two different sperm. The rate of identical twins, who develop from one zygote that splits and forms two embryos, tends to stay relatively constant around the world, and doesn’t seem to be affected by any external factors. But the likelihood of having fraternal twins, or dizygotic twins, changes depending on the age of the mother, how many children she’s already had, the country she lives in, and genetic factors.
In 1975, there were 9.5 twin births per 1,000 deliveries in the United States. In 2011, there were 16.9 twins per 1,000 births. The increase over that time was similar in England and Wales (from 9.9 to 16.1), France (9.3 to 17.4), and Germany (9.2 to 17.2), and a little steeper in Denmark (9.6 to 21.2) and South Korea (5 to 14.6).
Twin Rate in Developed Countries, 1900 to 2013
Population and Development Review
The older the mother, the more likely she is to have fraternal twins. This is one reason the study cites for the increase of twins in wealthy, developed countries, where women are more likely to have their first child later in life. In the United States, the average age of first-time motherhood was 26.3 in 2014, compared to 24.9 in 2000. In other countries, particularly in Europe and Southeast Asia, the average age is even older—Greece holds the top spot at 31.2, according to the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook.
The other reason for the twincrease in the developed world is the proliferation of fertility treatments like in vitro fertilization and ovarian stimulation, which increase a woman’s chance of a multiple pregnancy. Ovarian stimulation can cause multiple eggs to be released at a time; during in vitro fertilization, a doctor may transfer more than one embryo to the patient’s uterus, to maximize the chances of a successful pregnancy. But that also means there’s a possibility that more than one embryo will take.
Twin rates in the developing world have been more stagnant. A 2011 study of 76 developing countries published in PLOS One found that in Asia and Latin America, twin rates are generally low, below 10 per 1,000 births, while mothers in Central African countries have rates above 18 per 1,000. Vietnam was the country with the fewest twins (6.2 per 1,000 births) and Benin was the country with the most (27.9 per 1,000). Over time, some of these developing countries saw increases in twins, but some saw decreases and some stayed the same, with any changes tending to be small. “The lack of an increase comparable to that experienced in high-income countries over the last decades suggests that the influence of fertility treatments is still low in these countries,” the study reads.
In some places, the role of fertility treatments may be waning. In about a quarter of the developed countries analyzed in the recent study—including Japan, Australia, Sweden, and Denmark, among others—the twin rate peaked sometime between 1998 and 2010 and then began to decline again. This is likely because, in response to the high multiple-birth rates that come along with fertility treatments, best practices began to shift toward only transferring one embryo at a time. Multiple pregnancies are riskier both for the mother and the children. But in many countries, this was not enough to compensate for the continued popularity of these treatments, and the increase in older mothers.
When the researchers examined childbearing age and fertility treatments separately, they found that, though it varied by country, the effect of fertility treatments was on average “about three times greater than the effect of delayed childbearing.” But, in real life these things aren’t completely separate—some women get fertility treatments because they want to conceive at a later age, when it may be more difficult to do so. And if this tangle of reproductive trends catches on in developing countries, there may be some doubly sleepless nights in store for parents around the world. Especially in Benin. ||||| 1/25 Most child antidepressants are ineffective and can lead to suicidal thoughts The majority of antidepressants are ineffective and may be unsafe, for children and teenager with major depression, experts have warned. In what is the most comprehensive comparison of 14 commonly prescribed antidepressant drugs to date, researchers found that only one brand was more effective at relieving symptoms of depression than a placebo. Another popular drug, venlafaxine, was shown increase the risk users engaging in suicidal thoughts and attempts at suicide RoschetzkyIstockPhoto / Getty
2/25 'Universal cancer vaccine’ breakthrough claimed by experts Scientists have taken a “very positive step” towards creating a universal vaccine against cancer that makes the body’s immune system attack tumours as if they were a virus, experts have said. Writing in Nature, an international team of researchers described how they had taken pieces of cancer’s genetic RNA code, put them into tiny nanoparticles of fat and then injected the mixture into the bloodstreams of three patients in the advanced stages of the disease. The patients' immune systems responded by producing "killer" T-cells designed to attack cancer. The vaccine was also found to be effective in fighting “aggressively growing” tumours in mice, according to researchers, who were led by Professor Ugur Sahin from Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany Rex Features
3/25 Green tea could be used to treat brain issues caused by Down’s Syndrome A compound found in green tea could improve the cognitive abilities of those with Down’s syndrome, a team of scientists has discovered. Researchers found epigallocatechin gallate – which is especially present in green tea but can also be found in white and black teas – combined with cognitive stimulation, improved visual memory and led to more adaptive behaviour. Dr Rafael de la Torre, who led the year-long clinical trial along with Dr Mara Dierrssen, said: “The results suggest that individuals who received treatment with the green tea compound, together with the cognitive stimulation protocol, had better scores in their cognitive capacities”
4/25 New online test predicts skin cancer risk Health experts have created a new online tool which can predict a person’s risk of developing a common form of skin cancer. The tool uses the results of a 10-question-quiz to estimate the chance of a person aged 40 or over of having non-melanoma skin cancers within three years. Factors including the age, gender, smoking status, skin colour, tanning ability, freckling tendency, and other aspects of medical history are covered by the quiz
5/25 Multiple Sclerosis stem cell treatment 'helps patients walk again' A new treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) has enabled some patients to walk again by “rebooting” their immune systems. As part of a clinical trial at Sheffield's Royal Hallamshire Hospital involving around 20 patients, scientists used stem cells to carry out a bone marrow transplant. The method known as an autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) works by using chemotherapy to destroy the area of the immune system which causes MS Rex Features
6/25 Dementia patients left without painkillers and handcuffed to bed Dementia patients experience a ‘shocking’ variation in the quality of hospital care they receive across England, a charity has warned. Staff using excessive force and not giving dementia patients the correct pain medication were among the findings outlined in a new report by The Alzheimer’s Society, to coincide with the launch of Fix Dementia Care campaign Rex Features
7/25 Cancer risk 'increased' by drinking more than one glass of wine or pint of beer per day Drinking more than one glass of wine or pint of beer a day increases the risk of developing cancer, according to medical experts. New guidelines for alcohol consumption by the UK published by chief medical officers warn that drinking any level of alcohol has been linked to a range of different cancers. The evidence from the Committee on Carcinogenicity (COC) overturns the oft-held view that a glass of red wine can have significant medical benefits for both men and women
8/25 Vaping 'no better' than smoking regular cigarettes Vaping could be “no better” than smoking regular cigarettes and may be linked to cancer, scientists have found. The study which showed that vapour from e-cigarettes can damage or kill human cells was publsihed as the devices are to be rolled out by UK public health officials as an aid to quit smoking from 2016. An estimated 2.6 million people in the UK currently use e-cigarettes
9/25 Rat-bite fever A teenager was hospitalised and left unable to move after she developed the rare rat-bite fever disease from her pet rodents which lived in her bedroom. The teenager, who has not been named, was taken to hospital after she complained of a pain in her right hip and lower back which later made her immobile, according to the online medical journal BMJ Case Reports. She suffered for two weeks with an intermittent fever, nausea and vomiting and had a pink rash on her hands and feet. The teenager, who had numerous pets including a dog, cat, horse and three pet rats, has since made a full recovery after undergoing a course of antibiotics. Blood tests showed that she was infected with for streptobacillus moniliformis – the most common cause of rat-bite fever. One of her three pet rats lay dead in her room for three weeks before her symptoms showed
10/25 Taking antidepressants in pregnancy ‘could double the risk of autism in toddlers’ Taking antidepressants during pregnancy could almost double the risk of a child being diagnosed with autism in the first years of life, a major study of nearly 150,000 pregnancies has suggested. Researchers have found a link between women in the later stages of pregnancy who were prescribed one of the most common types of antidepressant drugs, and autism diagnosed in children under seven years of age
11/25 Warning over Calpol Parents have been warned that giving children paracetamol-based medicines such as Calpol and Disprol too often could lead to serious health issues later in life. Leading paediatrician and professor of general paediatrics at University College London, Alastair Sutcliffe, said parents were overusing paracetamol to treat mild fevers. As a result, the risk of developing asthma, as well as kidney, heart and liver damage is heightened
12/25 Fat loss from pancreas 'can reverse' effects of type-2 diabetes Less than half a teaspoon of fat is all that it takes to turn someone into a type-2 diabetic according to a study that could overturn conventional wisdom on a disease affecting nearly 3 million people in Britain. Researchers have found it is not so much the overall body fat that is important in determining the onset of type-2 diabetes but the small amount of fat deposited in the pancreas, the endocrine organ responsible for insulin production
13/25 Potatoes reduce risk of stomach cancer Scientists have found people who eat large amounts of white vegetables were a third less likely to contract stomach cancer. The study, undertaken by Chinese scientists at Zhejiang University, found eating cauliflower, potatoes and onions reduces the chance of contracting stomach cancer but that beer, spirits, salt and preserved foods increased a person’s risk of the cancer
14/25 Connections between brain cells destroyed in early stages of Alzheimer’s disease Scientists have pinpointed how connections in the brain are destroyed in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, in a study which it is hoped will help in the development of treatments for the debilitating condition. At the early stages of the development of Alzheimer’s disease the synapses – which connect the neurons in the brain – are destroyed, according to researchers at the University of New South Wales, Australia. The synapses are vital for brain function, particularly learning and forming memories
15/25 Sugar tax The Government should introduce a sugar tax to prevent an “obesity crisis” from crippling the NHS, a senior Conservative MP and former health minister has said. Dr Dan Poulter believes that the case for increased taxes on unhealthy sugary products was “increasingly compelling” PA
16/25 Cancer breakthrough offers new hope for survivors rendered infertile by chemotherapy A potentially “phenomenal” scientific breakthrough has offered fresh hope to cancer patients rendered infertile by chemotherapy. For the first time, researchers managed to restore ovaries in mice affected by chemotherapy so that they were able to have offspring. The scientists now plan to begin clinical trials to see if the technique, which involves the use of stem cells, will also work in humans by using umbilical cord material and possibly stem cells taken from human embryos, if regulators agree
17/25 Take this NHS test to find out if you have a cancerous mole An interactive test could help flag up whether you should seek advice from a health professional for one of the most common types of cancer. The test is available on the NHS Choices website and reveals whether you are at risk from the disease and recommends if you should seek help. The mole self-assessment factors in elements such as complexion, the number of times you have been severely sunburnt and whether skin cancer runs in your family. It also quizzes you on the number of moles you have and whether there have been any changes in appearance regarding size, shape and colour
18/25 Health apps approved by NHS 'may put users at risk of identity theft' Experts have warned that some apps do not adequately protect personal information
19/25 A watchdog has said that care visits must last longer The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) said home help visits of less than 30 minutes were not acceptable unless part of a wider package of support
20/25 Pendle in Lancashire tops list of five most anxious places to live in the UK Pendle in Lancashire has been named the most anxious place to live in the UK, while people living in Fermanagh and Omagh in Northern Ireland have been found to be the happiest
21/25 Ketamine could be used as anti-depressant Researchers at the University of Auckland said monitoring the effects of the drug on the brain has revealed neural pathways that could aid the development of fast-acting medications. Ketamine is a synthetic compound used as an off anaesthetic and analgesic drug, but is commonly used illegally as a hallucinogenic party drug. Dr Suresh Muthukumaraswamy, a senior researcher at the university and a member of the institution’s Centre for Brain Research, used the latest technology in brain imaging to investigate what mechanisms ketamine uses to be active in the human brain
22/25 A prosthetic hand that lets people actually feel through The technology lets paralysed people feel actual sensations when touching objects — including light taps on the mechanical finger — and could be a huge breakthrough for prosthetics, according to its makers. The tool was used to let a 28-year-old man who has been paralysed for more than a decade. While prosthetics have previously been able to be controlled directly from the brain, it is the first time that signals have been successfully sent the other way
23/25 The biggest cause of early death in the world is what you eat Unhealthy eating has been named as the most common cause of premature death around the globe, new data has revealed. A poor diet – which involves eating too few vegetables, fruits, nuts and grains and too much red meat, salt and sugar - was shown to be a bigger killer than smoking and alcohol
24/25 Scientists develop blood test that estimates how quickly people age Scientists believe it could be used to predict a person’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease as well as the “youthfulness” of donated organs for transplant operations. The test measures the vitality of certain genes which the researchers believe is an accurate indication of a person’s “biological age”, which may be younger or older than their actual chronological age | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 15,984 |
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she’s not planning to contest the results of the election, clarifying a comment she made Monday on NPR in which she said wouldn’t rule out questioning the legitimacy of the outcome of the 2016 presidential campaign.
“I think no one, including me, is saying we will contest the election,” Clinton said Tuesday during a roundtable interview with Mic in its New York office. “I’m in the very large group of people who believe that, you know, there’s no legal basis, no constitutional basis for that.”
However, Clinton also said there are “serious questions being raised by the congressional investigation,” as well as the inquiry headed by special counsel Robert Mueller.
“I think depending upon what is found in those investigations, it won’t be just me, it will be millions of Americans who raise questions about the legitimacy of the election,” Clinton said.
Her comments came a day after she was asked by NPR’s Terry Gross whether she would “completely rule out questioning the legitimacy of this election if we learn that the Russian interference in the election is even deeper than we know now?”
Clinton said she “wouldn’t rule it out” — leading to multiple reports that Clinton was leaving the door open to contesting the election.
Clinton wouldn’t unequivocally say on Tuesday, however, that she thought those close to President Donald Trump’s campaign — specifically, billionaire Robert Mercer and his data firm, Cambridge Analytica — had a hand in the Russian effort to influence the election.
“I think this is a worthy area of exploration,” Clinton said of Mercer’s role in Trump’s victory. “I’m not going to sit here and say we know they cooperated with a foreign adversary but I think as we’re finding out the way our own companies, particularly Facebook, have been taken advantage of by the Russians, we need to find out what other companies, either were doing or had done to themselves by some kind of connection and try to, you know, prevent that from happening again too.”
The Mercer family has close ties to Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, who has reportedly also had a role in Cambridge Analytica. The Mercers are also partial owners of Breitbart News. Clinton also raised Cambridge Analytica’s representation of Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, whose August re-election was later pronounced “invalid, null and void,” by Kenya’s Supreme Court after it was revealed that the nation’s voting system had been hacked.
“Just recently there were questions about the hacking attacks on the presidential election in Kenya, and again you find Cambridge Analytica,” Clinton said. The British government is also investigating Cambridge Analytica for its role helping supporters of the Brexit referendum campaign.
Ultimately, Clinton said, it’s imperative that investigators find out what Russian entities did to influence the campaign in order for the U.S. to protect itself from further Russian-led efforts to meddle in the American electoral process.
“I have no doubt, having dealt with Mr. Putin over a number of years, that they believe they succeeded in destabilizing our democracy, raising questions, sowing divisiveness among our people, and they’re not going to disappear because it worked for them,” Clinton said. “So they’ll be back in 2018, they’ll be back in 2020 and I certainly think even before we get to all the answers that I hope will be forthcoming, we all do more to defend our democracy and protect our electoral process.”
Full video of Mic’s interview with Hillary Clinton is forthcoming.
Sept. 19, 2017, 7:13 p.m.: This article has been updated. ||||| Former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Kenya’s annulled election was “a project” of Cambridge Analytica, a data company at the center of a growing controversy over the use of personal data to influence both the Brexit vote in the UK and the Donald Trump election in the US.
Speaking to US public radio host Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air program about the 2016 American presidential election, Clinton said she was also probing what happened with Kenya’s election, and why the supreme court decided to call the election “invalid.” The former US secretary of state has been making a round of media interviews promoting her book “What Happened,” in which she recounts her 2016 election experiences. Clinton, who won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote count, also said she would not rule out questioning the credibility of the US results if new information showed that the Russian-led cyber intrusions were deeper than currently known.
Cambridge Analytica mines both online data and individual psychometric profiles in order to personalize political messaging and communicate with both supporters and undecided voters. The company is partly owned by the Mercer family and most closely linked to Robert Mercer, a hedge fund billionaire who supports conservative causes and candidates.
Steve Bannon, the ex-White House chief strategist and the editor of the right-wing website Breitbart, has also reportedly served as a corporate officer at Cambridge Analytica. The Mercer family have also been found to be part owners of Breitbart news site, but reportedly have no editorial role.
In a majority decision on Sept. 1, Kenya’s supreme court called the Aug. 8 re-election of president Uhuru Kenyatta “invalid, null and void,” and ordered the electoral commission to hold a new vote in 60 days. The decision was reached after opposition candidate Raila Odinga challenged the results in court, citing the hacking of the voting system and the making of a “computer generated leadership.” Election observers who endorsed the election, including Clinton’s successor at the US State Department John Kerry, were also criticized for moving “fast to sanitize fraud.”
And much like the US election, attempts at propaganda and the dissemination of fake news were also evident in Kenya’s 2017 election. Social media networks, and especially Facebook and WhatsApp, were used as conduits to spread misinformation and sway public opinion. Clinton has also been very critical of Facebook’s role in the US.
President Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party reportedly hired Cambridge Analytica in a bid to win a second term, and the company was accused of being behind the anti-Odinga attack ads that appeared online.
But unlike the Kenyan constitution which allowed the courts to overturn results, Clinton decried that the US didn’t have a mechanism like that yet.
Gross: I want to get back to the question, would you completely rule out questioning the legitimacy of this election if we learn that the Russian interference in the election is even deeper than we know now? Clinton: No. I would not. I would say — Gross: You’re not going to rule it out. Clinton: No, I wouldn’t rule it out. Gross: So what are the means, like, this is totally unprecedented in every way — Clinton: It is. Gross: What would be the means to challenge it, if you thought it should be challenged? Clinton: Basically I don’t believe there are. There are scholars, academics, who have arguments that it would be, but I don’t think they’re on strong ground. But people are making those arguments. I just don’t think we have a mechanism. You know, the Kenya election was just overturned and really what’s interesting about that—and I hope somebody writes about it, Terry—the Kenyan election was also a project of Cambridge Analytica, the data company owned by the Mercer family that was instrumental in the Brexit vote. There’s now an investigation going on in the UK, because of the use of data and the weaponization of information. They were involved in the Trump campaign after he got the nomination, and I think that part of what happened is Mercer said to Trump, “We’ll help you, but you have to take Bannon as your campaign chief. You’ve got to take Kellyanne Conway and these other people who are basically Mercer protégés.” And so we know that there was this connection. So what happened in Kenya, which I’m only beginning to delve into, is that the Supreme Court there said there are so many really unanswered and problematic questions, we’re going to throw the election out and redo it. We have no such provision in our country. And usually we don’t need it. Now, I do believe we should abolish the Electoral College, because I was sitting listening to a report on the French election and the French political analyst said, “You know in our country the person with the most votes wins, unlike in yours.” And I think that’s an anachronism. I’ve said that since 2000.
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Sign up for the Quartz Africa Weekly Brief — the most important and interesting news from across the continent, in your inbox. | – Hillary Clinton is clarifying: She doesn't intend to contest the 2016 election. The issue made headlines this week after Clinton told NPR that she wouldn't rule out challenging the legitimacy of the outcome if investigators prove Russia played a major role. In a followup talk with Mic, Clinton addresses the issue: “I think no one, including me, is saying we will contest the election,” she said. “I’m in the very large group of people who believe that, you know, there’s no legal basis, no constitutional basis for that.” Clinton had made a similar point in her NPR interview, saying she saw no legal avenue to challenge the results. But she also continued to push for inquiries into exactly what happened. “I think depending upon what is found in those investigations, it won’t be just me, it will be millions of Americans who raise questions about the legitimacy of the election,” she said. In both interviews, Clinton made a point to mention the recent election in Kenya, which was declared null and void by the nation's supreme court over hacking concerns. She noted that a US data firm named Cambridge Analytica represented Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta, whose victory has been overturned, and Cambridge Analytica is owned by the Trump-supporting Mercer family, reports Quartz. But in terms of such a court action in the US, "We have no such provision in our country," she said. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she’s not planning to contest the results of the election, clarifying a comment she made Monday on NPR in which she said wouldn’t rule out questioning the legitimacy of the outcome of the 2016 presidential campaign.
“I think no one, including me, is saying we will contest the election,” Clinton said Tuesday during a roundtable interview with Mic in its New York office. “I’m in the very large group of people who believe that, you know, there’s no legal basis, no constitutional basis for that.”
However, Clinton also said there are “serious questions being raised by the congressional investigation,” as well as the inquiry headed by special counsel Robert Mueller.
“I think depending upon what is found in those investigations, it won’t be just me, it will be millions of Americans who raise questions about the legitimacy of the election,” Clinton said.
Her comments came a day after she was asked by NPR’s Terry Gross whether she would “completely rule out questioning the legitimacy of this election if we learn that the Russian interference in the election is even deeper than we know now?”
Clinton said she “wouldn’t rule it out” — leading to multiple reports that Clinton was leaving the door open to contesting the election.
Clinton wouldn’t unequivocally say on Tuesday, however, that she thought those close to President Donald Trump’s campaign — specifically, billionaire Robert Mercer and his data firm, Cambridge Analytica — had a hand in the Russian effort to influence the election.
“I think this is a worthy area of exploration,” Clinton said of Mercer’s role in Trump’s victory. “I’m not going to sit here and say we know they cooperated with a foreign adversary but I think as we’re finding out the way our own companies, particularly Facebook, have been taken advantage of by the Russians, we need to find out what other companies, either were doing or had done to themselves by some kind of connection and try to, you know, prevent that from happening again too.”
The Mercer family has close ties to Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, who has reportedly also had a role in Cambridge Analytica. The Mercers are also partial owners of Breitbart News. Clinton also raised Cambridge Analytica’s representation of Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, whose August re-election was later pronounced “invalid, null and void,” by Kenya’s Supreme Court after it was revealed that the nation’s voting system had been hacked.
“Just recently there were questions about the hacking attacks on the presidential election in Kenya, and again you find Cambridge Analytica,” Clinton said. The British government is also investigating Cambridge Analytica for its role helping supporters of the Brexit referendum campaign.
Ultimately, Clinton said, it’s imperative that investigators find out what Russian entities did to influence the campaign in order for the U.S. to protect itself from further Russian-led efforts to meddle in the American electoral process.
“I have no doubt, having dealt with Mr. Putin over a number of years, that they believe they succeeded in destabilizing our democracy, raising questions, sowing divisiveness among our people, and they’re not going to disappear because it worked for them,” Clinton said. “So they’ll be back in 2018, they’ll be back in 2020 and I certainly think even before we get to all the answers that I hope will be forthcoming, we all do more to defend our democracy and protect our electoral process.”
Full video of Mic’s interview with Hillary Clinton is forthcoming.
Sept. 19, 2017, 7:13 p.m.: This article has been updated. ||||| Former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Kenya’s annulled election was “a project” of Cambridge Analytica, a data company at the center of a growing controversy over the use of personal data to influence both the Brexit vote in the UK and the Donald Trump election in the US.
Speaking to US public radio host Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air program about the 2016 American presidential election, Clinton said she was also probing what happened with Kenya’s election, and why the supreme court decided to call the election “invalid.” The former US secretary of state has been making a round of media interviews promoting her book “What Happened,” in which she recounts her 2016 election experiences. Clinton, who won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote count, also said she would not rule out questioning the credibility of the US results if new information showed that the Russian-led cyber intrusions were deeper than currently known.
Cambridge Analytica mines both online data and individual psychometric profiles in order to personalize political messaging and communicate with both supporters and undecided voters. The company is partly owned by the Mercer family and most closely linked to Robert Mercer, a hedge fund billionaire who supports conservative causes and candidates.
Steve Bannon, the ex-White House chief strategist and the editor of the right-wing website Breitbart, has also reportedly served as a corporate officer at Cambridge Analytica. The Mercer family have also been found to be part owners of Breitbart news site, but reportedly have no editorial role.
In a majority decision on Sept. 1, Kenya’s supreme court called the Aug. 8 re-election of president Uhuru Kenyatta “invalid, null and void,” and ordered the electoral commission to hold a new vote in 60 days. The decision was reached after opposition candidate Raila Odinga challenged the results in court, citing the hacking of the voting system and the making of a “computer generated leadership.” Election observers who endorsed the election, including Clinton’s successor at the US State Department John Kerry, were also criticized for moving “fast to sanitize fraud.”
And much like the US election, attempts at propaganda and the dissemination of fake news were also evident in Kenya’s 2017 election. Social media networks, and especially Facebook and WhatsApp, were used as conduits to spread misinformation and sway public opinion. Clinton has also been very critical of Facebook’s role in the US.
President Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party reportedly hired Cambridge Analytica in a bid to win a second term, and the company was accused of being behind the anti-Odinga attack ads that appeared online.
But unlike the Kenyan constitution which allowed the courts to overturn results, Clinton decried that the US didn’t have a mechanism like that yet.
Gross: I want to get back to the question, would you completely rule out questioning the legitimacy of this election if we learn that the Russian interference in the election is even deeper than we know now? Clinton: No. I would not. I would say — Gross: You’re not going to rule it out. Clinton: No, I wouldn’t rule it out. Gross: So what are the means, like, this is totally unprecedented in every way — Clinton: It is. Gross: What would be the means to challenge it, if you thought it should be challenged? Clinton: Basically I don’t believe there are. There are scholars, academics, who have arguments that it would be, but I don’t think they’re on strong ground. But people are making those arguments. I just don’t think we have a mechanism. You know, the Kenya election was just overturned and really what’s interesting about that—and I hope somebody writes about it, Terry—the Kenyan election was also a project of Cambridge Analytica, the data company owned by the Mercer family that was instrumental in the Brexit vote. There’s now an investigation going on in the UK, because of the use of data and the weaponization of information. They were involved in the Trump campaign after he got the nomination, and I think that part of what happened is Mercer said to Trump, “We’ll help you, but you have to take Bannon as your campaign chief. You’ve got to take Kellyanne Conway and these other people who are basically Mercer protégés.” And so we know that there was this connection. So what happened in Kenya, which I’m only beginning to delve into, is that the Supreme Court there said there are so many really unanswered and problematic questions, we’re going to throw the election out and redo it. We have no such provision in our country. And usually we don’t need it. Now, I do believe we should abolish the Electoral College, because I was sitting listening to a report on the French election and the French political analyst said, “You know in our country the person with the most votes wins, unlike in yours.” And I think that’s an anachronism. I’ve said that since 2000.
[protected-iframe id=”ccb3a11eda0f89d260f303e3ffa1fdb7-39587363-107827707″ info=”https://www.npr.org/player/embed/551217204/551836030″ width=”100%” height=”290″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]
Sign up for the Quartz Africa Weekly Brief — the most important and interesting news from across the continent, in your inbox. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 15,791 |
OSLO—U.S. presidential contender Donald Trump and Edward Snowden, who leaked classified information on U.S. surveillance, are among the record 376 nominees for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize.
The number of nominees by far exceeds the previous record of 278 in 2014, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said. Out of the 376 candidates for this year’s award, 228 are individuals and 148 are organizations.
The five-member committee, which... ||||| This article is over 2 years old
Nominees include US presidential hopeful, German chancellor and the pontiff as more than 376 people and organisations are put forward for recognition
A record 376 nominations have been submitted for this year’s Nobel peace prize, including such diverse figures as Donald Trump, Angela Merkel and Pope Francis.
The previous record was made in 2014 when 278 candidates were nominated.
Greek islanders to be nominated for Nobel peace prize Read more
The head of the Nobel Institute, Olav Njolstad said the record number of nominations reflected world events.
“We live in a world where there are a lot of conflicts and where there are also a certain number of processes that are heading in a more positive direction.”
“Clearly, this has inspired a lot of people to exercise their right to nominate someone,” he added.
There were 228 individuals and 148 organisations nominated, the institute said.
The names on the list will remain a secret for at least 50 years, unless those who nominated them – MPs and cabinet ministers, former laureates, and some university professors, among others – decide to publicly reveal their candidate.
As a result, known to be on the list are US Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, the Colombian peace process negotiators, Pope Francis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, residents of the Greek islands helping migrants, and US actress and activist Susan Sarandon.
The list also includes Congolese gynaecologist Denis Mukwege, Nadia Murad, a Yazidi abducted by Islamic State fighters in August 2014 from her village in Iraq and held for three months as a sex slave, and the Afghan Cycling Federation women’s team, nominated by a group of Italian MPs hailing the bicycle as environmental, economic and democratic.
The five-member Nobel Committee which selects the winner held its first meeting on Monday, during which members were able to nominate candidates of their own choice.
The name or names of the laureate – there can be a maximum of three – will be announced on 7 October.
Last year, the prize went to four Tunisian groups that rescued the country’s transition to democracy. | – Donald Trump may have settled his recent beef with Pope Francis, but there may be a new skirmish brewing between the two—this time over the Nobel Peace Prize. The GOP frontrunner and the pontiff are both among the record number of nominees this year, the Guardian reports. The previous record of 278 nominations in 2014 has been surpassed by the 376—228 people and 148 organizations—suggested this year, a phenomenon that the head of the Nobel Institute suggests is due to so much happening around the globe. "We live in a world where there are a lot of conflicts and where there are also a certain number of processes that are heading in a more positive direction," Olav Njolstad says. "Clearly, this has inspired a lot of people to exercise their right to nominate someone." The list of nominees is supposed to remain under wraps for at least 50 years, though names are apparently fair game if the person or group who selected a nominee decides to make that recommendation public. Names already leaked this way include Trump, the pope, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and actress Susan Sarandon (the Wall Street Journal notes Edward Snowden's on the list, too). Only certain people—including members of national assemblies and governments, ex-Nobel laureates, and certain academic and institutional bigwigs—are allowed to cast a nomination, and in Trump's case, his name was offered by an anonymous American who selected Trump for his "peace through strength ideology," the director of Norway's Peace Research Institute tells the Journal (he also notes Trump isn't likely to win). The prize will be announced in October. (One group that's been making headlines in the run for the prize: Greek islanders assisting refugees.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.OSLO—U.S. presidential contender Donald Trump and Edward Snowden, who leaked classified information on U.S. surveillance, are among the record 376 nominees for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize.
The number of nominees by far exceeds the previous record of 278 in 2014, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said. Out of the 376 candidates for this year’s award, 228 are individuals and 148 are organizations.
The five-member committee, which... ||||| This article is over 2 years old
Nominees include US presidential hopeful, German chancellor and the pontiff as more than 376 people and organisations are put forward for recognition
A record 376 nominations have been submitted for this year’s Nobel peace prize, including such diverse figures as Donald Trump, Angela Merkel and Pope Francis.
The previous record was made in 2014 when 278 candidates were nominated.
Greek islanders to be nominated for Nobel peace prize Read more
The head of the Nobel Institute, Olav Njolstad said the record number of nominations reflected world events.
“We live in a world where there are a lot of conflicts and where there are also a certain number of processes that are heading in a more positive direction.”
“Clearly, this has inspired a lot of people to exercise their right to nominate someone,” he added.
There were 228 individuals and 148 organisations nominated, the institute said.
The names on the list will remain a secret for at least 50 years, unless those who nominated them – MPs and cabinet ministers, former laureates, and some university professors, among others – decide to publicly reveal their candidate.
As a result, known to be on the list are US Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, the Colombian peace process negotiators, Pope Francis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, residents of the Greek islands helping migrants, and US actress and activist Susan Sarandon.
The list also includes Congolese gynaecologist Denis Mukwege, Nadia Murad, a Yazidi abducted by Islamic State fighters in August 2014 from her village in Iraq and held for three months as a sex slave, and the Afghan Cycling Federation women’s team, nominated by a group of Italian MPs hailing the bicycle as environmental, economic and democratic.
The five-member Nobel Committee which selects the winner held its first meeting on Monday, during which members were able to nominate candidates of their own choice.
The name or names of the laureate – there can be a maximum of three – will be announced on 7 October.
Last year, the prize went to four Tunisian groups that rescued the country’s transition to democracy. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 38,976 |
Anita Krajnc gives pigs water near a slaughterhouse in Burlington. Krajnc now faces a criminal mischief charge from the activity. (Elli Garlin)
An animal-rights activist charged with mischief after she gave some water to pigs that were being trucked to a southern Ontario slaughterhouse will appear in Milton court today to set trial dates.
Charges against Anita Krajnc relate to an incident that occurred on a hot day in June.
She says when the truck stopped at a red light in Burlington, she used water bottles to give the pigs a drink through slats in the trailer.
She calls the charges she's facing outrageous, insisting she did nothing wrong by helping thirsty pigs — but the truck driver said her actions presented a safety hazard.
Krajnc said her group stands on a traffic island at Appleby Line and Harvester Road once a week to "bear witness" to the animals going to slaughter at Fearman's Pork Inc.
On June 22, she said, temperatures were high, and her group poured water through the holes. In court documents, Halton police refer to it as an "unknown liquid."
Krajnc said the driver got out and told them to stop, and she quoted a Bible verse at him about giving water to the thirsty.
"He said, 'They're not humans, you dumb frigging broad,'" she told CBC News on Tuesday.
The pork farmer who owned the pigs, Eric Van Boekel of Oxford County, contacted police the next day, court documents say. Police investigated and pursued the mischief charge. Punishment for the charge ranges from a fine to up to 10 years in prison.
Gary Grill, Kranjc's Toronto-based lawyer, said the charge is puzzling. "In legal circles, people are scratching their heads."
"Taxpayers are paying for this." ||||| Weekly vigils
Toronto Pig Save started in December 2010 as a grassroots, animal rights, vegan group, after an adopted dog, Mr. Bean, put us in touch with our community. As I walked with Mr. Bean each morning on Lake Shore we’d see 8 or 9 transport trucks carrying sad and frightened pigs to a nearby downtown slaughterhouse called Quality Meat Packers (QMP). In July 2011, we committed to holding a minimum of three vigils each week to bear witness of pigs and other farmed animals transported to Toronto area slaughterhouses. QMP has since gone bankrupt in 2014 so we now hold weekly Pig Save vigils at Fearman’s “Pork” Inc. slaughterhouse in Burlington. We hold regular Toronto Cow Save vigils, usually on Thursday mornings 9-11 am at 1 Glen Scarlett Road, and Toronto Chicken Save vigils, usually Thursday evenings 8-10 pm, at 100 Ethel Avenue.
Bearing Witness
Toronto Pig Save uses the strategy of bearing witness to animals in their final moment as they approach slaughterhouses. We use a love-based community-organizing approach and develop team leadership in order to build a grassroots animal justice movement based on the principles of animal equality and freedom. Our vision is to replace animal agriculture, fields used for feed crops and slaughterhouses with wild spaces, forests (this would address the crisis of catastrophic climate change (ClimateVegan.org) and animal sanctuaries. Our love-based approach to community organizing is informed by Leo Tolstoy (The Kingdom of God is Within You on nonviolence, love and truth), and Mahatma Gandhi campaigns.
All-Day Vigils
In the summer of 2015, we committed to holding monthly all-day or 24-hour vigils. These all-day vigils are well attended. We often stop the transport trucks, with the assistance of the police, so we can safely bear witness as a community. The vigils include special guests like vegan celebrities, free vegan food, photography and workshops to empower activists, and vegan outreach. Please consider going vegan and getting involved by joining us for our weekly and all-day vigils!
Toronto Pig Save has grown to a global The Save Movement with about 50 Save groups in Canada, the U.S., Australia, and Europe. For a list of Save groups and social media, visit our website, www.TheSaveMovement.org.
-Anita Krajnc, organizer
Please visit us on:
Facebook:
Toronto Pig Save Facebook group and Facebook page
Toronto Cow Save Facebook group and Facebook page, and
Toronto Chicken Save Facebook group and Facebook page
Twitter: @TorontoPigSave @ClimateVegan
Tumblr: TorontoCowSave on Tumblr , TorontoPigSave on Tumblr, and TorontoChickenSave on Tumblr
Instagram: Toronto Pig Save, Toronto Cow Save, Toronto Chicken Save and The Save Movement
Video platforms: YouTube, Vimeo
Vigil coordination: Anita Krajnc | Assistance with all-day vigil coordination: Veganoso and Kelly Kerr | Vegan food: Radhika Subramanyan and Kelly Kerr
Our social media is run by a host of campaigners: Veganoso (IG and Twitter), Anita Krajnc (various), Mary Fantaske (Tumblr), Joanne O’Keefe, Kelly Kerr, Ray Kowalchuk, Agnes Cseke, Louise Jorgensen, Anna Pippus, Ashley Capps, Patricia Massari, among others on Facebook.
Graphics design: Louise Jorgensen and Joanne O’Keefe
Technical support: Bogar Felix, Lori Croonen, and Susan Banks
Fundraising: Anita Krajnc, Ian Purdy and Veganoso
Shopify (http://torontopigsave.myshopify.com/): Kelly Kerr and Jennifer O’Toole
-Anita Krajnc, co-founder and co-organizer | – "Jesus said, 'If they are thirsty, give them water.'" The "they" in this case were pigs packed into a tractor-trailer en route to an Ontario slaughterhouse on June 22, and the speaker of that sentence—which is captured on video—is Anita Krajnc. The 48-year-old Canadian animal-rights activist did indeed try to give the creatures water when the truck was stopped at a light, and she could end up in prison for as many as 10 years for it, reports the Guardian. The CBC spoke with Krajnc, who says her group Toronto Pig Save stakes out a spot once a week on a traffic island along the route to the Fearmans Pork processing plant to "bear witness of suffering of animals." Krajnc has been charged with criminal mischief in connection with this particular act of witnessing, and the charge carries a punishment ranging from a fine to the aforementioned sentence. Video of the incident shows driver Jeffery Veldjesgraaf exiting the vehicle to explicitly tell Krajnc not to give the animals anything. After she quotes Jesus, he responds, "You know what? These are not humans, you dumb frickin' broad." Their interaction doesn't get much more pleasant: He says he's going to dial 911 and tells her that if she gives the pigs another drink, "I'll slap [the bottle] out of your hands." "Go ahead, if you want assault charges," replies Krajnc, who was the one who found herself charged after the owner of the pigs, Eric Van Boekel, filed a police complaint the next day. Van Boekel tells the Guardian he wanted to ensure his product wasn't tampered with in an unsafe way; indeed, the video shows Veldjesgraaf questioning whether it's just water Krajnc is giving the animals. A pre-trial hearing was held Monday, and her next court date is Dec. 15; Krajnc's case isn't expected to go to trial until August. (A woman who stopped for ducks ended up in jail.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Anita Krajnc gives pigs water near a slaughterhouse in Burlington. Krajnc now faces a criminal mischief charge from the activity. (Elli Garlin)
An animal-rights activist charged with mischief after she gave some water to pigs that were being trucked to a southern Ontario slaughterhouse will appear in Milton court today to set trial dates.
Charges against Anita Krajnc relate to an incident that occurred on a hot day in June.
She says when the truck stopped at a red light in Burlington, she used water bottles to give the pigs a drink through slats in the trailer.
She calls the charges she's facing outrageous, insisting she did nothing wrong by helping thirsty pigs — but the truck driver said her actions presented a safety hazard.
Krajnc said her group stands on a traffic island at Appleby Line and Harvester Road once a week to "bear witness" to the animals going to slaughter at Fearman's Pork Inc.
On June 22, she said, temperatures were high, and her group poured water through the holes. In court documents, Halton police refer to it as an "unknown liquid."
Krajnc said the driver got out and told them to stop, and she quoted a Bible verse at him about giving water to the thirsty.
"He said, 'They're not humans, you dumb frigging broad,'" she told CBC News on Tuesday.
The pork farmer who owned the pigs, Eric Van Boekel of Oxford County, contacted police the next day, court documents say. Police investigated and pursued the mischief charge. Punishment for the charge ranges from a fine to up to 10 years in prison.
Gary Grill, Kranjc's Toronto-based lawyer, said the charge is puzzling. "In legal circles, people are scratching their heads."
"Taxpayers are paying for this." ||||| Weekly vigils
Toronto Pig Save started in December 2010 as a grassroots, animal rights, vegan group, after an adopted dog, Mr. Bean, put us in touch with our community. As I walked with Mr. Bean each morning on Lake Shore we’d see 8 or 9 transport trucks carrying sad and frightened pigs to a nearby downtown slaughterhouse called Quality Meat Packers (QMP). In July 2011, we committed to holding a minimum of three vigils each week to bear witness of pigs and other farmed animals transported to Toronto area slaughterhouses. QMP has since gone bankrupt in 2014 so we now hold weekly Pig Save vigils at Fearman’s “Pork” Inc. slaughterhouse in Burlington. We hold regular Toronto Cow Save vigils, usually on Thursday mornings 9-11 am at 1 Glen Scarlett Road, and Toronto Chicken Save vigils, usually Thursday evenings 8-10 pm, at 100 Ethel Avenue.
Bearing Witness
Toronto Pig Save uses the strategy of bearing witness to animals in their final moment as they approach slaughterhouses. We use a love-based community-organizing approach and develop team leadership in order to build a grassroots animal justice movement based on the principles of animal equality and freedom. Our vision is to replace animal agriculture, fields used for feed crops and slaughterhouses with wild spaces, forests (this would address the crisis of catastrophic climate change (ClimateVegan.org) and animal sanctuaries. Our love-based approach to community organizing is informed by Leo Tolstoy (The Kingdom of God is Within You on nonviolence, love and truth), and Mahatma Gandhi campaigns.
All-Day Vigils
In the summer of 2015, we committed to holding monthly all-day or 24-hour vigils. These all-day vigils are well attended. We often stop the transport trucks, with the assistance of the police, so we can safely bear witness as a community. The vigils include special guests like vegan celebrities, free vegan food, photography and workshops to empower activists, and vegan outreach. Please consider going vegan and getting involved by joining us for our weekly and all-day vigils!
Toronto Pig Save has grown to a global The Save Movement with about 50 Save groups in Canada, the U.S., Australia, and Europe. For a list of Save groups and social media, visit our website, www.TheSaveMovement.org.
-Anita Krajnc, organizer
Please visit us on:
Facebook:
Toronto Pig Save Facebook group and Facebook page
Toronto Cow Save Facebook group and Facebook page, and
Toronto Chicken Save Facebook group and Facebook page
Twitter: @TorontoPigSave @ClimateVegan
Tumblr: TorontoCowSave on Tumblr , TorontoPigSave on Tumblr, and TorontoChickenSave on Tumblr
Instagram: Toronto Pig Save, Toronto Cow Save, Toronto Chicken Save and The Save Movement
Video platforms: YouTube, Vimeo
Vigil coordination: Anita Krajnc | Assistance with all-day vigil coordination: Veganoso and Kelly Kerr | Vegan food: Radhika Subramanyan and Kelly Kerr
Our social media is run by a host of campaigners: Veganoso (IG and Twitter), Anita Krajnc (various), Mary Fantaske (Tumblr), Joanne O’Keefe, Kelly Kerr, Ray Kowalchuk, Agnes Cseke, Louise Jorgensen, Anna Pippus, Ashley Capps, Patricia Massari, among others on Facebook.
Graphics design: Louise Jorgensen and Joanne O’Keefe
Technical support: Bogar Felix, Lori Croonen, and Susan Banks
Fundraising: Anita Krajnc, Ian Purdy and Veganoso
Shopify (http://torontopigsave.myshopify.com/): Kelly Kerr and Jennifer O’Toole
-Anita Krajnc, co-founder and co-organizer | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 33,089 |
Nobukazu Kuriki, who lost all his fingertips to frostbite three years ago, was trying to be the first person to summit Everest since its worst disaster
A Japanese climber who lost all his fingertips to frostbite and was trying to become the first person to conquer Mount Everest since its worst disaster has abandoned his attempt to reach the summit because of poor weather.
Nobukazu Kuriki, 33, gave up his attempt about 700 metres (2,300ft) below the the 8,850-metre summit.
'We have nothing': survivors of Nepal's second quake left beyond hopeless Read more
“I tried my best, but I judged that I would not be able to come back alive if I went any further given the strong winds and deep snow,” Kuriki wrote on his Twitter account after descending some way on Thursday.
Climbers usually scale Everest and other Himalayan peaks in May, just before the rainy season sweeps in from the south, bringing snow at high altitude.
But there is also a short climbing season in the autumn, after the summer rains ease.
Members of the climbing community in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, said Kuriki’s summit attempt so late in the year was too dangerous, with the increased risk of avalanches and high winds capable of blowing people off the mountain.
Nepal quake: Everest base camp 'looked like it had been flattened by bomb' Read more
It was his first attempt to climb Everest since losing all of his fingertips on the mountain three years ago after spending two days in a snow hole at 8,230 metres in temperatures below -20C.
Even without fingertips, he can grip an ice axe with one hand and pin it with the other.
“I am grateful to everyone’s support from the bottom of my heart,” he said.
Kuriki had became an unlikely face of Nepal’s efforts to revive its climbing industry after at least 18 mountaineers were killed in the Everest region in avalanches triggered by a big earthquake in April.
The earthquake in April, and a second big one in May, killed nearly 9,000 people across the poor Himalayan nation. ||||| Over 9, 000 people died in April 2015 from a 7.8 magnitude earthquake near Kathmandu. And no one summited Everest – from either side, from any camp. Summits don’t matter.
As has been my custom since 2002, I will summarize the season but this time from my first hand experience as I was climbing Lhotse which shares 80% of the route with Everest. I was between Camps 1 and 2 when the 7.8 magnitude earthquake reached the Western Cwm.
This summary, while about the Everest season, is also about a human tragedy where thousands lost their lives, multiples of that are now homeless and many no longer have a way to make a living. Earthquakes are mean beasts, natural disasters, that strike with no warning, destroy at random.
I spent one evening this week speaking with helicopter pilots and people who have just returned from the earthquake epicenter regions. They say there are villages flattened, with landslides and down trees seemingly erasing entire villages off the trail systems – these are areas trekkers seldom touch, nor apparently relief agencies at the moment.
There are many, many small, individual efforts to reach these villages in addition to the large scale multi national efforts – the progress is not for lack of trying but it all seems to be moving too slowly. The largest organizations with resources to hire helicopters, deliver food and medicine are making a real difference.
If you want to make a donation where your money makes an immediate difference in Nepal, these are a few suggestions
Cholera is a growing concern with dead animals, and humans not being cremated or buried. Once this takes hold, the fear is the death toll will sky rocket. For an excellent overview of impact on Nepal as of 3 May 2015, please see this article on the Economist.
High/Low Expectations
The Everest 2015 season began with much trepidation, and attention. The number of permits issued surprised even the most jaded Everest observer: 358 individuals for Everest 114 for Lhotse and 56 for Nuptse – these were record numbers.
With 16 mountain workers killed after an ice serac fell onto the Khumbu Icefall and over 40 trekkers killed in a snowstorm in the Annapurna region last autumn, many in Nepal feared the industry would take a hit with lower numbers. Some thought Everest climbers would prefer to climb from Tibet or trek in Bhutan.
However, history shows us once again that it is a fine predictor of the future. After record deaths in 1996, 2006 and 2012, the following year delivered record climbers on Everest; 2015 was no different. Even on Everest from Tibet for 2015, records permits were issued, over 200 foreigners .
The Everest Machine continued to be strong. Including the foreign permits, local Sherpa, Tibetans, cooks, cook boys, porters, over 1200 people were gathered on both sides of the world’s tallest peak, awaiting their turn for the summit. The human psyche is an interesting phenomenon.
Migrating towards EBC
Thus in early April people streamed into Kathmandu, flying to Lukla or driving to Chinese Base Camp on the north. The weather was, interesting. A few weeks earlier, Sherpas from the largest teams had already visited Everest Base Camp (EBC) at the foot of the Khumbu Icefall to mark spots for their teams and reported deep, wet snow everywhere – 3 feet of the white stuff.
The trails were filled, as were the teahouses; trekkers and climbers alike jammed into the stone and wooden structures, staff short tempered trying to meet the need. The promise of Wifi, fell short with schemes and technical problems thwarting the promise of Facebook selfies or emails back home. Yes, a first world problem in a third world country.
Capturing the Moment
Video cameras were as common as Dzos and yaks. It was reported that eight major film crews were on the south side this year, all waiting for some kind of Everest disaster so they could capture the human drama, package for television and make a name for themselves, until the next reality show. The only question was, if they could be at the right place at the right time.
Writers and reporters from newspapers to magazines to websites, called contacts to get their background stories pre-written as early as February. Many published a soon to be annual article on April 18, the anniversary of the Sherpa deaths in the Icefall. A week later it would be worse.
Arriving at EBC, it was stark, rolling glacial hills covered in white powder, and it was cold, extremely cold. Mid April is supposed to be somewhat warm. The traditional weather patterns for the past decade: clear, cool mornings changing to afternoon light snow showers changing to crisp clear nights – 2015 was full of harsh cold and heavy snow.
The “New” Everest Route
The team of specialized Sherpas, aka the Icefall Doctors, had arrived in mid March, aerial photographs in hand with expert consulting from some of the Everest climbers around, their remit was to find a “new, safe route” through the Khumbu Icefall.
Last year’s route hugged the West Shoulder of Everest, putting each person in the direct fall line of the hanging serac. The consequences were deadly when it released. For 2015, they wanted to return it more towards the center, or near Nuptse, climber’s right, to reduce this exposure.
As teams got settled at EBC, everyone wanted to know about the route. Where was it, was it safer, how many ladders? The early reports said shorter and safer. But when the first westerners entered the Icefall, there was a huge surprise.
The lower section was in fact almost direct, no ladders until half way, or higher; it was fast. But the top section had an obstacle, some call it an aid, that would stop both foreigners and Sherpas alike: two vertical snow walls near the top had ladders, six to be exact, lashed together with nylon ropes, that would provide access to the Western Cwm.
The Docs had put one ladder on each of these sections but it was taking the world’s Sherpas five to ten minutes to overcome each. With hundreds of individuals each day, this was a bottleneck waiting to happen. More to the point this section would prove pivotal two weeks later in the 2015 Everest story.
With the feedback, the Docs promised to add more ladders plus a rope to used to rappel or abseil, down. This should reduce the congestion. However, the weather hit again, hard. A week of cold and snow stopped all activity. Everest 2015 was falling behind schedule.
Since 2005, the route to the summit from the Southeast Ridge was either finished or had all the needed ropes and anchors positioned at the South Col by May 1. It was now April 25 and the thin nylon safety line was only set to Camp 1 at the base of the Lhotse Face, over 7,000 feet short. All the needed rope and anchors were still at EBC. It would take 80 Sherpas loads just to move this mass of gear to Camp 2, much less get the line set to the summit.
The Expedition Operators Association had implored the Nepal Ministry of Tourism to let them use helicopters to move this safety equipment higher thus keeping the Sherpas safe from what was viewed as unnecessary work. But their request had been denied. This was not new, the same ask and deny cycle had been going on for many years, led by Russell Brice and Guy Cotter. But after the deaths in 2014, they thought they had a good case – it appeared not to be true.
On April 19, the weather took a turn – for the better, it was like mid April should be. Teams took advantage of this break to make their first climbs into the Icefall, hone skills near base camp or just pack and repack for their first acclimatization rotations to the Cwm. It finally felt like the Everest climbing season had started on the south side.
Our team left at 2:00AM on April 23 – presumably to get ahead of the rumored crowds heading up that same day. While additional ladders had been installed by the Docs, the chance of waiting was too high not to loose a few hours of sleep in order to miss it. We started higher by headlamp, a clear sky overhead, Sherpa trains going up and down. It felt good
Kami and I reached the upper ladders just after sunrise. I looked around to take it all in. I saw the horseshoe ice serac hanging from Everest’s West Shoulder, similar ice cliffs off Nuptse and Pumori, the 21,000 foot snow cone, was just behind base camp. This was part of why I climb, the feeling of freedom, rarefied air, teammates along with a shared purpose. Yes, this was it.
Satisfaction at Camp 1
We reached Camp 1 where we would spend two nights. It was business as usual as the site situated at the top of the Khumbu Icefall filled up with expedition tents. The quiet was replaced by hissing stoves, chatter and the occasional small avalanche that always welcomed humans to this place.
On Saturday, April 25, we left for Camp 2. The prior day we had taken an hour walk up the Cwm to further our acclimatization as we knew the route. As we walked this day, the clouds moved in and it was lightly snowing – no worry as it should only take a few hours to make the traverse. Our teams began to spread out like normal. Then it happened.
Avalanche!
Near the front, I stopped in my tracks as a huge avalanche announced it’s arrival to my right, off Nuptse. It was a crushing sound. I looked right. A few seconds later, an equally loud rush of snow, ice and air was delivered off the West Ridge of Everest. It was almost impossible to see what was unfolding as the low clouds and snowfall obscured any clear view – but we knew they were avalanches, and they were close.
Garrett screamed out “pull up your buffs!” This was to keep the snow out of our mouths, in other words to keep us breathing and alive. We stood helpless in the Valley of Silence as the Western Cwm is oft called but it was nothing but silent this Saturday, 4 minutes before noon.
I caught a glimpse of avalanching snow and pointed it out just as I heard over our radios, “Earthquake.” It was Billie, few hundred yards behind us, moving alone in the middle of the pack. Just then, my world dropped out from underneath my feet, and simultaneously throughout this part of Nepal.
Earthquake!
Everyone has a slightly direct recall of that moment, but I felt the snow floor drop two inches underneath my feet. I stumbled to maintain my balance, then it happened again. That was the moment I knew I was in a huge earthquake while in the Western Cwm staring at Lhotse ahead and Everest to my left. I felt helpless, totally vulnerable; at the full mercy of planet earth, with no options.
As my head cleared, a new thought entered: what of the fragile Khumbu Icefall, base camp, how far did this earthquake reach – the north side, Kathmandu? I had questions and no answers. Soon the reality set in, delivered in short sound bites over what radio transmitters still worked, the news was devastating.
We moved faster towards Camp 2 where part of our Sherpa team was waiting. Faces were bleak, no smiles, little emotion. The news was dire – first reports said Everest Base Camp was decimated – moved west by hundreds of meters on liquefied snow and ice – everything was gone – there were casualties. We sat quietly as the news sank in. We had no way of vetting the stories and no reason to doubt them.
Then, the crushing blow, our base camp doctor, Eve, was in critical condition from a head injury. We sat quietly, heads lowered, staring at our 8000 meter boots.
Two hours later, around 3:00pm, the earth moved again. A day later, a second earthquake delivered another blow. We knew the icefall was ruined, how could it not be? The ladders across the crevasses were tenuous at , the vertical ladders attached to snow with screws and aluminum pickets – they were never constructed to handle a major earthquake.
The crevasses has become spokes on a huge gear, spinning slowly, without concern for what was in its teeth, crushing anyone or anything that dared to test its strength.
Reality
I never considered taking a helicopter back to EBC, not once, but soon the harsh reality set in – the Khumbu Icefall is a fragile set of house sized ice blocks leaning against one another – all moving in slow motion but moving nonetheless. If one moves, something else has to move – it was real life dominoes. They had moved, everything had moved. To enter it now would be risky, fool hardy, even suicidal – more than the normal risk everyone accepted when climbing it.
We were safe at Camp 2, food, and fuel to survive many days – but not forever. The route from Camp 1 to Camp 2 had changed, crevasses had closed, new ones had opened; the ladders we had used were swallowed up, disappeared – perhaps one day to be spit back up 2,500 feet lower at base camp. The power of the glacier, the earth was on full display. I had felt tiny on the summit of Everest in 2011 but now felt minute, insignificant – in the wrong place.
The radios chattered. Guides from several commercial teams were making their effort to fix the route – a few from base camp and a few from camp 1 – the hopes of 170 people now in the Western Cwm lay on their shoulders to repair the ladders, find a new route or pull a rabbit out of the glacier hat that would allow us to down climb to base camp.
The crevasses were large this year near the top of the Icefall. Perhaps as a result of the new route of just a function of 2015 – but they were too wide to cross without aid, too deep to climb out of without unique skills, ice axes, ropes and specialized gear – the Khumbu Icefall had been transformed into a series of death traps that few expert climbers would enter, much less the 170 people in the Western Cwm.
“We are coming back – too warm, no route.” Was all that was said on the radio from the expert climbing guides. And with that we knew the remaining option was to consider the helicopters. They had tried their to no avail, the warming temperatures of mid day plus another aftershock had taken them as far as anyone would expect, and more. Now re was the better part of valor. This was not time for ego, pride or vanity – this was serious.
Down climbing was not an option – for anyone -guides, foreigners, Sherpa or Nepali cook boys.
No one would reenter the Khumbu Icefall in 2015, even the vaunted Icefall Doctors.
Helicopters
The helicopter business had been good this spring. Flight sight seeing was in full motion, teams flying gear in and out of base camp, some of those who did the technique of acclimatizing at home in altitude tents, took the chopper almost to base camp to save time. At times I felt like I was camping at an airport and the flights began promptly at 7:00am and stopped only when the clouds moved in late afternoon. I cussed them but now knew that were our path back to base camp – or what was left of it.
On Monday, April 27 we left Camp 2 for Camp 1 and the makeshift helicopter pad. The Western Cwm route we had ascended was unrecognizable. It was a new terrain. I kept looking up at the steep walls surrounding the Valley of Silence. Camp 1 was in a more precarious location that Camp 2, closer to the walls, exposed to direct hits from avalanches. Some people had their brush with them a few days earlier, others had died from them a few years earlier. With the instability, this was not a place to linger, everyone waiting anxiously for the “womph, woomph, woomph” of helicopter rotors beating against the thin air.
There were two makeshift landing pads scooped out of the snow. 50 people stood at one, about 25 at the other – more were to come. There was order to the chaos. Again, commercial guides did traffic control, most everyone followed their instructions. Some teams choose to skip the first wave of flights, wanting to see if the route could be repaired, they surrendered to the inevitable the next day.
The pilots showed their skills as they approached the pad, hovered momentarily as the passengers positioned to jump on board as soon as the skids touched down – it was a high altitude ballet that was unthinkable a few years earlier. In a few hours, 150 people were moved freeing up the choppers to help others in need. Two by two, foreigners, Sherpas, Nepalis were saved that day.
Base Camp Horrors
I stepped off the helicopter to familiar faces from other climbs, they shook my hand, suggested I get something to eat and drink before heading higher to my base camp. Expectations had already been set – there was nothing left and Eve had died. I went in search of my Colorado climbing mate, Jim but failed to find him. I knew he had taken a previous flight down from Camp 1 so I knew he was safe, but I wanted to see him.
I slowly walked from the lower end of EBC towards the center, ground zero if you will. The earthquake had shook loose decades, perhaps centuries old ice cliffs off Pumori and the steep ridge that led to Lintgren. These cliffs had released before but only gently sprayed base camp with a soft puff of cold snow – there was nothing gentle or soft about what had just happened.
As the mountains moved, and in fact the ground near the epicenter rose by three feet, the cliffs were pulled down by a deadly combination of gravity and plate tectonics. It sped down, gaining terminal velocity until it hit a small dip in the landscape that usually protected base camp from such release. But the volume was too great, it gained speed when compressed in the dip, picking up speed it also picked up loose rocks, boulders – they became projectiles hitting anything, and anyone in their way.
It was a F5 tornado combined with IEDs all in an environment of nylon tents. The only place to hide was behind a larger rock, even then there was no certainty.
The carnage was large, measurable and deadly. Doctors from expeditions and the medical volunteers at EverestER created a MASH unit at one untouched camp. Soon, the injured were carried on the shoulders of others across snow, ice and rock. Blood dripped from the plastic tarps, on the arms, and heads of the living.
For many of the doctors this was the second year in a row they served such duty, but this time instead of dealing with suffocation, they dealt with blunt force trauma. I’m not sure their training prepared them for such triage but they performed well, they were once again heroes in an unannounced war.
Home?
As the aftershocks relented, the hundreds at base camp began to breathe again. Thoughts drifted to home, loved ones. The Sherpas tired to call using the cell phone system ubiquitous throughout Nepal and the Khumbu, the connection didn’t go through. They used the satellite phones of expeditions and individuals with the same result. Some left for the walk back home, no one ever complained and sent them off with hugs. Most stayed to be with their charges, no questioned asked, the loyalty was extraordinary and unexpected given the circumstances – and appreciated.
I moved slowly towards our camp, expecting to find nothing – my tent platform scrapped out of the glacier a few weeks earlier. I spotted a huge rock builder, twice as tall as myself – I called it Cell Phone Rock as it was the only place near our camp I could get a signal. I climbed towards it.
Our puja alter was still standing – the 3 inch thick puja pole – a tree trunk really, was broken like a twig two feet above the top of the alter, the prayer flags that strung across our camp were gone. All the large tents we used for cooking, eating, communications, storage – tents that stood 10 feet high, 15 feet wide, 30 feet long were gone – no trace.
I walked in with a few of my teammates. I passed a shoe, a playing card – the two of hearts – a crushed laptop computer; a picture.
Extreme Loss
I saw my tent, slightly above our camp proper. A few weeks earlier, I commented to Kami that my tent, being next to the dining tent, was very noisy. He took it upon himself to move me to a quieter spot. By chance it was behind a 15 foot bump on the glacier – that proved to protect half my tent from the directly blow. I lost nothing, my computer nestled in my sleeping bag where I left it, my other gear wet but safe in duffel bags. Kami’s gear had the same good fortune as did most of our team. Sadly, there was looting just after the avalanche, many people found their climbing gear but not money, passports credit cards.
But we had lost a dear teammate, Marisa Eve Girawong. She brought smiles, compassion and skills to our camp as our doctor and base camp manager. It was her face I could only see as I sat crossed leg in my pile of “stuff” envisioning the moment she must have experienced; and that of 18 others that Saturday – and the tens of thousands through central Nepal – and the millions who are now homeless.
Yes, I was lucky, I know that. I am grateful.
We collected our gear and left for the closest village. I was determined not to leave a scrap behind. I picked up the odd piece of trash as I walked. The Indian Army was staying behind to help – they are an incredible asset to Nepal – a good friend.
I walked slowly to Gorak Shep, alone in deep thoughts.
The Housewives of the Khumbu
A few days later I approached Pangboche where Kami (Ang Chhiring Sherpa) lived with his wife. He invited me to visit his home – an honor. We had been through a lot together with summiting Everest in 2011 and K2 last summer, now this. I call him my guardian angel in the mountains. He calls me his father due to lack of hair and gray beard but I’m only eight years older than him!
Alone, the rest of the group had gone on to Dubuche for the night, I walked slowly as the sun set and the clouds moved in. How could this happen to such gentle people, such a poor country as measured in money, such a giving culture?
I knew where his home was, he had showed me after we had our blessing from Lama Geshi. I entered the trees that decorated his village – it was like moving into a different reality – a refreshing sense of life, peace and hope. A young girl passed me with a basket of potatoes on her back supported by a tumpline around her forehead. “Namaste” she said with a smile on her face. I smiled back, chocking back the emotion from this simple greeting.
“Alan”, by now I was familiar with this call as Kami often called to me on the big Hills when he thought I needed help – which was often. Once gain, without knowing it, he was watching out for me. He was standing outside his stone walled home, adorned with a green metal roof. I waved. He waved back. I climbed over a rock wall, designed to keep the pesky yaks out of the vegetable garden and walked the dirt path towards him.
We shook hands, then embraced. “Come in, come in.” He took my pack, ice axe still affixed. I walked into a very dark room, serving as the lower part of his home. A soft “Mooo” greeted me, a baby cow sat on fresh grass chewing her cud. The lower part of a Sherpa’s home is for the animals, the upper part of people – nothing goes to waste in the Khumbu.
I climbed the steep wooden stairs to the next level. His wife, Lhapka Dicki Sherpa met me. Her huge grin, her smile, her presence set me both at ease and filled me with joy. She hugged my stomach as her head reached my chest. “Lucky, lucky, lucky” she repeated in her Khumbu accent. She held on tight and she looked up at me. Kami stood by with an equally big grin.
I moved from the small room that served as a kitchen to the main room, perhaps 20 feet by 40 feet, that served as guest room, living room, bedroom and monastery. On the far wall, wooden bookcases with glass doors, held Tibetan prayer books. Once a year, Kami had a Lama come to his home and spend days praying and blessing his home and family. Before each expedition, he did the same. I was grateful.
Lhapka brought us black tea and chang – an obnoxious Khumbu moonshine. I sipped mine but she kept filling the mug to the rim. Kami just smiled.
Kami wanted me to meet his mother, she lived next door in a similar arrangement. Once again, I navigated the black space of the lower level only to find her along with Kami’s sister and two neighbors, chatting away in the “kitchen” sitting next to the fire. Their smiles were large, laughs relaxed as Kami introduced me. What they were saying will be a secret forever – I had no idea.
Each one hugged my belly as I held their hands tightly – they were tough, strong yet smooth after a life of hard work, love and prayer. The prayer beads, close to their sides, were well worn.
Kami’s mother began to talk. He told me (as translated by Kami) how happy she was when her sons were home, away from the mountains – you could see the worry in her eyes, and the joy at having Kami back home. Her friends smiled and nodded in agreement.
As I left, Kami talked to me about the next climb ….
Kathmandu
The flight from Lukla left as much on time as anything does in Nepal. I landed just as the sun was warming up the capital. It was quiet on this Saturday morning, a week after the quake. I noticed a few rock walls strewn across the streets but nothing like I expected, similar to the suggested damage in the Khumbu, but thankfully very different. To be sure there was damage throughout Nepal just not where I had been.
The airport was crowded – with rescue helicopters from India, UN planes, cargo full of food, tents, tarps — emergency supplies crying out to get delivered to the remote villages near the epicenter. But the bureaucracy of Nepal had everything at a life threatening halt. The demanded each time had to be inspected, they had waived taxes on the imports, but the logjam was costing lives every second.
I walked the streets as the city awoke. People milled about as heavy helicopters flew above. I hope their missions were successful.
Everest
Almost immediately after the earthquake, climbing teams made plans to return to Kathmandu, but a few individuals, no organized teams ever seriously considered attempting the summit, stayed on hoping the Icefall Doctors would return, they had some injured members but no deaths as had been widely reported.
On May 3, the Nepal Ministry of Tourism said “Everest is closed” (source) due to the Icefall being impassable, then on the following day (source) they said it was officially open and anyone with a permit may attempt the mountain. As of this writing no one remained at EBC with the intention to climb. For the first time since 1974, Everest would have no summits by any route, from any camp, by any means.
The China Tibet Mountaineering Association (CTMA) had already declared climbing closed from Tibet and all permits would be honored for three additional years. Nepal took 364 days to confirm the 2014 permits would be honored through 2019 in a stunning display of indecision. There are requests for Nepal to honor this years permits, thus the waiting games begins anew.
Sadly, the government seems to be incapable of having a clear vision of how to manage their mountains, leaving climbers and trekkers continuously questioning policies. All their promises of improvements from weather forecasts, GPS systems, rescue teams, actual liaison officers – none materialized.
With the earthquake, the situation will only get worse as the government struggles with the larger national issues. Perhaps it is time for the world’s climbers to focus on other countries.
Aftermath
It will take years for Nepal to recover, just like Haiti or another third world country. Money will flow in from well meaning people, some of it will reach those in need. NGOs will do their as will the UN and other global agencies charged with helping countries when a natural disaster overwhelms them.
As for climbing, well frankly who cares?
Climbing really only matters to those who make a living from it, guides, Sherpas, porters, teahouse house owners – governments. For the rest of us, it is a sport, sometimes a deadly one. If no one ever summited Everest again, it would certainly destroy a lot of dreams but more importantly, would impact the livelihood of many; that said, summits don’t matter.
My passion is climbing mountains, it keeps me alive and feeds my soul, but it is not worth lives. The deaths at base camp were part of a larger disaster, actual a tiny part in the overall tragedy; but the loss was real, shattering families. I know death happens daily around the globe in uncountable ways; these deaths were close to home, close to me and many who will never forget the experience.
Yes hundreds will probably return next spring to attempt Everest. Some operators will shift to the north, quietly, or in some case loudly, saying it is safer. People with nothing more than a Kilimanjaro summit will claim to have the proper experience – until something goes wrong. Guides will continue to save lives, doing what they do; and the Everest machine will continue even though it is clear it is time to let Nepal recover.
I don’t know when Kami will climb Everest again, his mother hopes never, I kind of agree.
Memories are Everything
Alan
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Like this: Like Loading... ||||| Not one person managed to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 2015, for the first time since 1974.
Last year also saw the highest death toll ever on earth’s highest mountain (8,848m), with as many as 24 people killed in a single day in April when a 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal causing a huge avalanche. It is the deadliest day in Everest history, surpassing the day in April 2014 when 16 were killed by an avalanche.
Estimates vary for the death toll on the mountain last April, with the number of dead ranging from 18 to 24.
The Nepal earthquake killed more than 8,000 people across the country and injured more than 21,000.
The failure of any climbers to reach the Himalayan summit in 2015, the first time this has happened in 41 years, is in part down to the fact that the mountain was all-but shut after the earthquake.
"Earthquakes are mean beasts, natural disasters, that strike with no warning, destroy at random" Climber Alan Arnette
The Nepalese government was initially keen for mountaineers not to cancel their expeditions after the avalanche, but broken ladders on the mountain and a second quake in early May meant these plans were abandoned.
Everest’s death toll now stands at 289, though estimates on this figure vary too.
• Sixty fascinating Everest facts
There have been several years when the annual death toll has exceeded 10: 1982 (11 dead), 1996 (15); 2006 (11) and 2014 (16).
Photo: Getty
Writing on his annual summary blog, professional climber Alan Arnette said of 2015: “This summary, while about the Everest season, is also about a human tragedy where thousands lost their lives, multiples of that are now homeless and many no longer have a way to make a living. Earthquakes are mean beasts, natural disasters, that strike with no warning, destroy at random.”
He entitled his post, Summits Don’t Matter.
Prior to 1974, the summit was reached seven of the 22 years since 1953.
• Mount Everest: the trip of a lifetime
In 1974 six people were killed by an avalanche.
The mountain reopened to tourism in August, with just one climber permit awarded to Japanese mountaineer Nobukazu Kuriki, who had tried four times to reach the summit, losing all his fingers to frostbite in the process. He failed on his fifth attempt in October, giving up 700 metres from the summit. | – For the first time in 41 years, not a single person stood on the summit of Mount Everest, the world's highest peak at 29,029 feet, during an entire calendar year. But that's not even close to the worst of what 2015 brought, as famed climber Alan Arnette reports in his year-end blog summary titled "Summits Don't Matter." After a record 358 permits were issued to individual climbers at the start of the year, a magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck Nepal in April, claiming 8,000-plus lives across the country and a record 18 (or 24, the numbers vary) on the mountain, reports the Telegraph. The deadliest day in the mountain's history came almost exactly one year after the previous record, when an avalanche claimed 16 lives in April 2014. Everest "inspires humility," the Takeaway reports, but every year the ante is raised as more climbers try to reach the summit and more Sherpas and their families come to rely on mountaineering and trekking tourism. As such the government of Nepal at first hesitated to shut down the mountain following the disaster in April 2015, but another earthquake in May, as well as broken ladders, forced them to issue no more permits until the end of the summer, when famed Japanese climber Nobukazu Kuriki, who'd lost all his fingers during one of his previous four bids on the mountain, gave it another go. He abandoned his campaign just 2,300 feet from the summit in late September, the Guardian reported at the time, and the mountain let no one else through. (A Google exec was among the dead in 2015.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Nobukazu Kuriki, who lost all his fingertips to frostbite three years ago, was trying to be the first person to summit Everest since its worst disaster
A Japanese climber who lost all his fingertips to frostbite and was trying to become the first person to conquer Mount Everest since its worst disaster has abandoned his attempt to reach the summit because of poor weather.
Nobukazu Kuriki, 33, gave up his attempt about 700 metres (2,300ft) below the the 8,850-metre summit.
'We have nothing': survivors of Nepal's second quake left beyond hopeless Read more
“I tried my best, but I judged that I would not be able to come back alive if I went any further given the strong winds and deep snow,” Kuriki wrote on his Twitter account after descending some way on Thursday.
Climbers usually scale Everest and other Himalayan peaks in May, just before the rainy season sweeps in from the south, bringing snow at high altitude.
But there is also a short climbing season in the autumn, after the summer rains ease.
Members of the climbing community in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, said Kuriki’s summit attempt so late in the year was too dangerous, with the increased risk of avalanches and high winds capable of blowing people off the mountain.
Nepal quake: Everest base camp 'looked like it had been flattened by bomb' Read more
It was his first attempt to climb Everest since losing all of his fingertips on the mountain three years ago after spending two days in a snow hole at 8,230 metres in temperatures below -20C.
Even without fingertips, he can grip an ice axe with one hand and pin it with the other.
“I am grateful to everyone’s support from the bottom of my heart,” he said.
Kuriki had became an unlikely face of Nepal’s efforts to revive its climbing industry after at least 18 mountaineers were killed in the Everest region in avalanches triggered by a big earthquake in April.
The earthquake in April, and a second big one in May, killed nearly 9,000 people across the poor Himalayan nation. ||||| Over 9, 000 people died in April 2015 from a 7.8 magnitude earthquake near Kathmandu. And no one summited Everest – from either side, from any camp. Summits don’t matter.
As has been my custom since 2002, I will summarize the season but this time from my first hand experience as I was climbing Lhotse which shares 80% of the route with Everest. I was between Camps 1 and 2 when the 7.8 magnitude earthquake reached the Western Cwm.
This summary, while about the Everest season, is also about a human tragedy where thousands lost their lives, multiples of that are now homeless and many no longer have a way to make a living. Earthquakes are mean beasts, natural disasters, that strike with no warning, destroy at random.
I spent one evening this week speaking with helicopter pilots and people who have just returned from the earthquake epicenter regions. They say there are villages flattened, with landslides and down trees seemingly erasing entire villages off the trail systems – these are areas trekkers seldom touch, nor apparently relief agencies at the moment.
There are many, many small, individual efforts to reach these villages in addition to the large scale multi national efforts – the progress is not for lack of trying but it all seems to be moving too slowly. The largest organizations with resources to hire helicopters, deliver food and medicine are making a real difference.
If you want to make a donation where your money makes an immediate difference in Nepal, these are a few suggestions
Cholera is a growing concern with dead animals, and humans not being cremated or buried. Once this takes hold, the fear is the death toll will sky rocket. For an excellent overview of impact on Nepal as of 3 May 2015, please see this article on the Economist.
High/Low Expectations
The Everest 2015 season began with much trepidation, and attention. The number of permits issued surprised even the most jaded Everest observer: 358 individuals for Everest 114 for Lhotse and 56 for Nuptse – these were record numbers.
With 16 mountain workers killed after an ice serac fell onto the Khumbu Icefall and over 40 trekkers killed in a snowstorm in the Annapurna region last autumn, many in Nepal feared the industry would take a hit with lower numbers. Some thought Everest climbers would prefer to climb from Tibet or trek in Bhutan.
However, history shows us once again that it is a fine predictor of the future. After record deaths in 1996, 2006 and 2012, the following year delivered record climbers on Everest; 2015 was no different. Even on Everest from Tibet for 2015, records permits were issued, over 200 foreigners .
The Everest Machine continued to be strong. Including the foreign permits, local Sherpa, Tibetans, cooks, cook boys, porters, over 1200 people were gathered on both sides of the world’s tallest peak, awaiting their turn for the summit. The human psyche is an interesting phenomenon.
Migrating towards EBC
Thus in early April people streamed into Kathmandu, flying to Lukla or driving to Chinese Base Camp on the north. The weather was, interesting. A few weeks earlier, Sherpas from the largest teams had already visited Everest Base Camp (EBC) at the foot of the Khumbu Icefall to mark spots for their teams and reported deep, wet snow everywhere – 3 feet of the white stuff.
The trails were filled, as were the teahouses; trekkers and climbers alike jammed into the stone and wooden structures, staff short tempered trying to meet the need. The promise of Wifi, fell short with schemes and technical problems thwarting the promise of Facebook selfies or emails back home. Yes, a first world problem in a third world country.
Capturing the Moment
Video cameras were as common as Dzos and yaks. It was reported that eight major film crews were on the south side this year, all waiting for some kind of Everest disaster so they could capture the human drama, package for television and make a name for themselves, until the next reality show. The only question was, if they could be at the right place at the right time.
Writers and reporters from newspapers to magazines to websites, called contacts to get their background stories pre-written as early as February. Many published a soon to be annual article on April 18, the anniversary of the Sherpa deaths in the Icefall. A week later it would be worse.
Arriving at EBC, it was stark, rolling glacial hills covered in white powder, and it was cold, extremely cold. Mid April is supposed to be somewhat warm. The traditional weather patterns for the past decade: clear, cool mornings changing to afternoon light snow showers changing to crisp clear nights – 2015 was full of harsh cold and heavy snow.
The “New” Everest Route
The team of specialized Sherpas, aka the Icefall Doctors, had arrived in mid March, aerial photographs in hand with expert consulting from some of the Everest climbers around, their remit was to find a “new, safe route” through the Khumbu Icefall.
Last year’s route hugged the West Shoulder of Everest, putting each person in the direct fall line of the hanging serac. The consequences were deadly when it released. For 2015, they wanted to return it more towards the center, or near Nuptse, climber’s right, to reduce this exposure.
As teams got settled at EBC, everyone wanted to know about the route. Where was it, was it safer, how many ladders? The early reports said shorter and safer. But when the first westerners entered the Icefall, there was a huge surprise.
The lower section was in fact almost direct, no ladders until half way, or higher; it was fast. But the top section had an obstacle, some call it an aid, that would stop both foreigners and Sherpas alike: two vertical snow walls near the top had ladders, six to be exact, lashed together with nylon ropes, that would provide access to the Western Cwm.
The Docs had put one ladder on each of these sections but it was taking the world’s Sherpas five to ten minutes to overcome each. With hundreds of individuals each day, this was a bottleneck waiting to happen. More to the point this section would prove pivotal two weeks later in the 2015 Everest story.
With the feedback, the Docs promised to add more ladders plus a rope to used to rappel or abseil, down. This should reduce the congestion. However, the weather hit again, hard. A week of cold and snow stopped all activity. Everest 2015 was falling behind schedule.
Since 2005, the route to the summit from the Southeast Ridge was either finished or had all the needed ropes and anchors positioned at the South Col by May 1. It was now April 25 and the thin nylon safety line was only set to Camp 1 at the base of the Lhotse Face, over 7,000 feet short. All the needed rope and anchors were still at EBC. It would take 80 Sherpas loads just to move this mass of gear to Camp 2, much less get the line set to the summit.
The Expedition Operators Association had implored the Nepal Ministry of Tourism to let them use helicopters to move this safety equipment higher thus keeping the Sherpas safe from what was viewed as unnecessary work. But their request had been denied. This was not new, the same ask and deny cycle had been going on for many years, led by Russell Brice and Guy Cotter. But after the deaths in 2014, they thought they had a good case – it appeared not to be true.
On April 19, the weather took a turn – for the better, it was like mid April should be. Teams took advantage of this break to make their first climbs into the Icefall, hone skills near base camp or just pack and repack for their first acclimatization rotations to the Cwm. It finally felt like the Everest climbing season had started on the south side.
Our team left at 2:00AM on April 23 – presumably to get ahead of the rumored crowds heading up that same day. While additional ladders had been installed by the Docs, the chance of waiting was too high not to loose a few hours of sleep in order to miss it. We started higher by headlamp, a clear sky overhead, Sherpa trains going up and down. It felt good
Kami and I reached the upper ladders just after sunrise. I looked around to take it all in. I saw the horseshoe ice serac hanging from Everest’s West Shoulder, similar ice cliffs off Nuptse and Pumori, the 21,000 foot snow cone, was just behind base camp. This was part of why I climb, the feeling of freedom, rarefied air, teammates along with a shared purpose. Yes, this was it.
Satisfaction at Camp 1
We reached Camp 1 where we would spend two nights. It was business as usual as the site situated at the top of the Khumbu Icefall filled up with expedition tents. The quiet was replaced by hissing stoves, chatter and the occasional small avalanche that always welcomed humans to this place.
On Saturday, April 25, we left for Camp 2. The prior day we had taken an hour walk up the Cwm to further our acclimatization as we knew the route. As we walked this day, the clouds moved in and it was lightly snowing – no worry as it should only take a few hours to make the traverse. Our teams began to spread out like normal. Then it happened.
Avalanche!
Near the front, I stopped in my tracks as a huge avalanche announced it’s arrival to my right, off Nuptse. It was a crushing sound. I looked right. A few seconds later, an equally loud rush of snow, ice and air was delivered off the West Ridge of Everest. It was almost impossible to see what was unfolding as the low clouds and snowfall obscured any clear view – but we knew they were avalanches, and they were close.
Garrett screamed out “pull up your buffs!” This was to keep the snow out of our mouths, in other words to keep us breathing and alive. We stood helpless in the Valley of Silence as the Western Cwm is oft called but it was nothing but silent this Saturday, 4 minutes before noon.
I caught a glimpse of avalanching snow and pointed it out just as I heard over our radios, “Earthquake.” It was Billie, few hundred yards behind us, moving alone in the middle of the pack. Just then, my world dropped out from underneath my feet, and simultaneously throughout this part of Nepal.
Earthquake!
Everyone has a slightly direct recall of that moment, but I felt the snow floor drop two inches underneath my feet. I stumbled to maintain my balance, then it happened again. That was the moment I knew I was in a huge earthquake while in the Western Cwm staring at Lhotse ahead and Everest to my left. I felt helpless, totally vulnerable; at the full mercy of planet earth, with no options.
As my head cleared, a new thought entered: what of the fragile Khumbu Icefall, base camp, how far did this earthquake reach – the north side, Kathmandu? I had questions and no answers. Soon the reality set in, delivered in short sound bites over what radio transmitters still worked, the news was devastating.
We moved faster towards Camp 2 where part of our Sherpa team was waiting. Faces were bleak, no smiles, little emotion. The news was dire – first reports said Everest Base Camp was decimated – moved west by hundreds of meters on liquefied snow and ice – everything was gone – there were casualties. We sat quietly as the news sank in. We had no way of vetting the stories and no reason to doubt them.
Then, the crushing blow, our base camp doctor, Eve, was in critical condition from a head injury. We sat quietly, heads lowered, staring at our 8000 meter boots.
Two hours later, around 3:00pm, the earth moved again. A day later, a second earthquake delivered another blow. We knew the icefall was ruined, how could it not be? The ladders across the crevasses were tenuous at , the vertical ladders attached to snow with screws and aluminum pickets – they were never constructed to handle a major earthquake.
The crevasses has become spokes on a huge gear, spinning slowly, without concern for what was in its teeth, crushing anyone or anything that dared to test its strength.
Reality
I never considered taking a helicopter back to EBC, not once, but soon the harsh reality set in – the Khumbu Icefall is a fragile set of house sized ice blocks leaning against one another – all moving in slow motion but moving nonetheless. If one moves, something else has to move – it was real life dominoes. They had moved, everything had moved. To enter it now would be risky, fool hardy, even suicidal – more than the normal risk everyone accepted when climbing it.
We were safe at Camp 2, food, and fuel to survive many days – but not forever. The route from Camp 1 to Camp 2 had changed, crevasses had closed, new ones had opened; the ladders we had used were swallowed up, disappeared – perhaps one day to be spit back up 2,500 feet lower at base camp. The power of the glacier, the earth was on full display. I had felt tiny on the summit of Everest in 2011 but now felt minute, insignificant – in the wrong place.
The radios chattered. Guides from several commercial teams were making their effort to fix the route – a few from base camp and a few from camp 1 – the hopes of 170 people now in the Western Cwm lay on their shoulders to repair the ladders, find a new route or pull a rabbit out of the glacier hat that would allow us to down climb to base camp.
The crevasses were large this year near the top of the Icefall. Perhaps as a result of the new route of just a function of 2015 – but they were too wide to cross without aid, too deep to climb out of without unique skills, ice axes, ropes and specialized gear – the Khumbu Icefall had been transformed into a series of death traps that few expert climbers would enter, much less the 170 people in the Western Cwm.
“We are coming back – too warm, no route.” Was all that was said on the radio from the expert climbing guides. And with that we knew the remaining option was to consider the helicopters. They had tried their to no avail, the warming temperatures of mid day plus another aftershock had taken them as far as anyone would expect, and more. Now re was the better part of valor. This was not time for ego, pride or vanity – this was serious.
Down climbing was not an option – for anyone -guides, foreigners, Sherpa or Nepali cook boys.
No one would reenter the Khumbu Icefall in 2015, even the vaunted Icefall Doctors.
Helicopters
The helicopter business had been good this spring. Flight sight seeing was in full motion, teams flying gear in and out of base camp, some of those who did the technique of acclimatizing at home in altitude tents, took the chopper almost to base camp to save time. At times I felt like I was camping at an airport and the flights began promptly at 7:00am and stopped only when the clouds moved in late afternoon. I cussed them but now knew that were our path back to base camp – or what was left of it.
On Monday, April 27 we left Camp 2 for Camp 1 and the makeshift helicopter pad. The Western Cwm route we had ascended was unrecognizable. It was a new terrain. I kept looking up at the steep walls surrounding the Valley of Silence. Camp 1 was in a more precarious location that Camp 2, closer to the walls, exposed to direct hits from avalanches. Some people had their brush with them a few days earlier, others had died from them a few years earlier. With the instability, this was not a place to linger, everyone waiting anxiously for the “womph, woomph, woomph” of helicopter rotors beating against the thin air.
There were two makeshift landing pads scooped out of the snow. 50 people stood at one, about 25 at the other – more were to come. There was order to the chaos. Again, commercial guides did traffic control, most everyone followed their instructions. Some teams choose to skip the first wave of flights, wanting to see if the route could be repaired, they surrendered to the inevitable the next day.
The pilots showed their skills as they approached the pad, hovered momentarily as the passengers positioned to jump on board as soon as the skids touched down – it was a high altitude ballet that was unthinkable a few years earlier. In a few hours, 150 people were moved freeing up the choppers to help others in need. Two by two, foreigners, Sherpas, Nepalis were saved that day.
Base Camp Horrors
I stepped off the helicopter to familiar faces from other climbs, they shook my hand, suggested I get something to eat and drink before heading higher to my base camp. Expectations had already been set – there was nothing left and Eve had died. I went in search of my Colorado climbing mate, Jim but failed to find him. I knew he had taken a previous flight down from Camp 1 so I knew he was safe, but I wanted to see him.
I slowly walked from the lower end of EBC towards the center, ground zero if you will. The earthquake had shook loose decades, perhaps centuries old ice cliffs off Pumori and the steep ridge that led to Lintgren. These cliffs had released before but only gently sprayed base camp with a soft puff of cold snow – there was nothing gentle or soft about what had just happened.
As the mountains moved, and in fact the ground near the epicenter rose by three feet, the cliffs were pulled down by a deadly combination of gravity and plate tectonics. It sped down, gaining terminal velocity until it hit a small dip in the landscape that usually protected base camp from such release. But the volume was too great, it gained speed when compressed in the dip, picking up speed it also picked up loose rocks, boulders – they became projectiles hitting anything, and anyone in their way.
It was a F5 tornado combined with IEDs all in an environment of nylon tents. The only place to hide was behind a larger rock, even then there was no certainty.
The carnage was large, measurable and deadly. Doctors from expeditions and the medical volunteers at EverestER created a MASH unit at one untouched camp. Soon, the injured were carried on the shoulders of others across snow, ice and rock. Blood dripped from the plastic tarps, on the arms, and heads of the living.
For many of the doctors this was the second year in a row they served such duty, but this time instead of dealing with suffocation, they dealt with blunt force trauma. I’m not sure their training prepared them for such triage but they performed well, they were once again heroes in an unannounced war.
Home?
As the aftershocks relented, the hundreds at base camp began to breathe again. Thoughts drifted to home, loved ones. The Sherpas tired to call using the cell phone system ubiquitous throughout Nepal and the Khumbu, the connection didn’t go through. They used the satellite phones of expeditions and individuals with the same result. Some left for the walk back home, no one ever complained and sent them off with hugs. Most stayed to be with their charges, no questioned asked, the loyalty was extraordinary and unexpected given the circumstances – and appreciated.
I moved slowly towards our camp, expecting to find nothing – my tent platform scrapped out of the glacier a few weeks earlier. I spotted a huge rock builder, twice as tall as myself – I called it Cell Phone Rock as it was the only place near our camp I could get a signal. I climbed towards it.
Our puja alter was still standing – the 3 inch thick puja pole – a tree trunk really, was broken like a twig two feet above the top of the alter, the prayer flags that strung across our camp were gone. All the large tents we used for cooking, eating, communications, storage – tents that stood 10 feet high, 15 feet wide, 30 feet long were gone – no trace.
I walked in with a few of my teammates. I passed a shoe, a playing card – the two of hearts – a crushed laptop computer; a picture.
Extreme Loss
I saw my tent, slightly above our camp proper. A few weeks earlier, I commented to Kami that my tent, being next to the dining tent, was very noisy. He took it upon himself to move me to a quieter spot. By chance it was behind a 15 foot bump on the glacier – that proved to protect half my tent from the directly blow. I lost nothing, my computer nestled in my sleeping bag where I left it, my other gear wet but safe in duffel bags. Kami’s gear had the same good fortune as did most of our team. Sadly, there was looting just after the avalanche, many people found their climbing gear but not money, passports credit cards.
But we had lost a dear teammate, Marisa Eve Girawong. She brought smiles, compassion and skills to our camp as our doctor and base camp manager. It was her face I could only see as I sat crossed leg in my pile of “stuff” envisioning the moment she must have experienced; and that of 18 others that Saturday – and the tens of thousands through central Nepal – and the millions who are now homeless.
Yes, I was lucky, I know that. I am grateful.
We collected our gear and left for the closest village. I was determined not to leave a scrap behind. I picked up the odd piece of trash as I walked. The Indian Army was staying behind to help – they are an incredible asset to Nepal – a good friend.
I walked slowly to Gorak Shep, alone in deep thoughts.
The Housewives of the Khumbu
A few days later I approached Pangboche where Kami (Ang Chhiring Sherpa) lived with his wife. He invited me to visit his home – an honor. We had been through a lot together with summiting Everest in 2011 and K2 last summer, now this. I call him my guardian angel in the mountains. He calls me his father due to lack of hair and gray beard but I’m only eight years older than him!
Alone, the rest of the group had gone on to Dubuche for the night, I walked slowly as the sun set and the clouds moved in. How could this happen to such gentle people, such a poor country as measured in money, such a giving culture?
I knew where his home was, he had showed me after we had our blessing from Lama Geshi. I entered the trees that decorated his village – it was like moving into a different reality – a refreshing sense of life, peace and hope. A young girl passed me with a basket of potatoes on her back supported by a tumpline around her forehead. “Namaste” she said with a smile on her face. I smiled back, chocking back the emotion from this simple greeting.
“Alan”, by now I was familiar with this call as Kami often called to me on the big Hills when he thought I needed help – which was often. Once gain, without knowing it, he was watching out for me. He was standing outside his stone walled home, adorned with a green metal roof. I waved. He waved back. I climbed over a rock wall, designed to keep the pesky yaks out of the vegetable garden and walked the dirt path towards him.
We shook hands, then embraced. “Come in, come in.” He took my pack, ice axe still affixed. I walked into a very dark room, serving as the lower part of his home. A soft “Mooo” greeted me, a baby cow sat on fresh grass chewing her cud. The lower part of a Sherpa’s home is for the animals, the upper part of people – nothing goes to waste in the Khumbu.
I climbed the steep wooden stairs to the next level. His wife, Lhapka Dicki Sherpa met me. Her huge grin, her smile, her presence set me both at ease and filled me with joy. She hugged my stomach as her head reached my chest. “Lucky, lucky, lucky” she repeated in her Khumbu accent. She held on tight and she looked up at me. Kami stood by with an equally big grin.
I moved from the small room that served as a kitchen to the main room, perhaps 20 feet by 40 feet, that served as guest room, living room, bedroom and monastery. On the far wall, wooden bookcases with glass doors, held Tibetan prayer books. Once a year, Kami had a Lama come to his home and spend days praying and blessing his home and family. Before each expedition, he did the same. I was grateful.
Lhapka brought us black tea and chang – an obnoxious Khumbu moonshine. I sipped mine but she kept filling the mug to the rim. Kami just smiled.
Kami wanted me to meet his mother, she lived next door in a similar arrangement. Once again, I navigated the black space of the lower level only to find her along with Kami’s sister and two neighbors, chatting away in the “kitchen” sitting next to the fire. Their smiles were large, laughs relaxed as Kami introduced me. What they were saying will be a secret forever – I had no idea.
Each one hugged my belly as I held their hands tightly – they were tough, strong yet smooth after a life of hard work, love and prayer. The prayer beads, close to their sides, were well worn.
Kami’s mother began to talk. He told me (as translated by Kami) how happy she was when her sons were home, away from the mountains – you could see the worry in her eyes, and the joy at having Kami back home. Her friends smiled and nodded in agreement.
As I left, Kami talked to me about the next climb ….
Kathmandu
The flight from Lukla left as much on time as anything does in Nepal. I landed just as the sun was warming up the capital. It was quiet on this Saturday morning, a week after the quake. I noticed a few rock walls strewn across the streets but nothing like I expected, similar to the suggested damage in the Khumbu, but thankfully very different. To be sure there was damage throughout Nepal just not where I had been.
The airport was crowded – with rescue helicopters from India, UN planes, cargo full of food, tents, tarps — emergency supplies crying out to get delivered to the remote villages near the epicenter. But the bureaucracy of Nepal had everything at a life threatening halt. The demanded each time had to be inspected, they had waived taxes on the imports, but the logjam was costing lives every second.
I walked the streets as the city awoke. People milled about as heavy helicopters flew above. I hope their missions were successful.
Everest
Almost immediately after the earthquake, climbing teams made plans to return to Kathmandu, but a few individuals, no organized teams ever seriously considered attempting the summit, stayed on hoping the Icefall Doctors would return, they had some injured members but no deaths as had been widely reported.
On May 3, the Nepal Ministry of Tourism said “Everest is closed” (source) due to the Icefall being impassable, then on the following day (source) they said it was officially open and anyone with a permit may attempt the mountain. As of this writing no one remained at EBC with the intention to climb. For the first time since 1974, Everest would have no summits by any route, from any camp, by any means.
The China Tibet Mountaineering Association (CTMA) had already declared climbing closed from Tibet and all permits would be honored for three additional years. Nepal took 364 days to confirm the 2014 permits would be honored through 2019 in a stunning display of indecision. There are requests for Nepal to honor this years permits, thus the waiting games begins anew.
Sadly, the government seems to be incapable of having a clear vision of how to manage their mountains, leaving climbers and trekkers continuously questioning policies. All their promises of improvements from weather forecasts, GPS systems, rescue teams, actual liaison officers – none materialized.
With the earthquake, the situation will only get worse as the government struggles with the larger national issues. Perhaps it is time for the world’s climbers to focus on other countries.
Aftermath
It will take years for Nepal to recover, just like Haiti or another third world country. Money will flow in from well meaning people, some of it will reach those in need. NGOs will do their as will the UN and other global agencies charged with helping countries when a natural disaster overwhelms them.
As for climbing, well frankly who cares?
Climbing really only matters to those who make a living from it, guides, Sherpas, porters, teahouse house owners – governments. For the rest of us, it is a sport, sometimes a deadly one. If no one ever summited Everest again, it would certainly destroy a lot of dreams but more importantly, would impact the livelihood of many; that said, summits don’t matter.
My passion is climbing mountains, it keeps me alive and feeds my soul, but it is not worth lives. The deaths at base camp were part of a larger disaster, actual a tiny part in the overall tragedy; but the loss was real, shattering families. I know death happens daily around the globe in uncountable ways; these deaths were close to home, close to me and many who will never forget the experience.
Yes hundreds will probably return next spring to attempt Everest. Some operators will shift to the north, quietly, or in some case loudly, saying it is safer. People with nothing more than a Kilimanjaro summit will claim to have the proper experience – until something goes wrong. Guides will continue to save lives, doing what they do; and the Everest machine will continue even though it is clear it is time to let Nepal recover.
I don’t know when Kami will climb Everest again, his mother hopes never, I kind of agree.
Memories are Everything
Alan
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Like this: Like Loading... ||||| Not one person managed to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 2015, for the first time since 1974.
Last year also saw the highest death toll ever on earth’s highest mountain (8,848m), with as many as 24 people killed in a single day in April when a 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal causing a huge avalanche. It is the deadliest day in Everest history, surpassing the day in April 2014 when 16 were killed by an avalanche.
Estimates vary for the death toll on the mountain last April, with the number of dead ranging from 18 to 24.
The Nepal earthquake killed more than 8,000 people across the country and injured more than 21,000.
The failure of any climbers to reach the Himalayan summit in 2015, the first time this has happened in 41 years, is in part down to the fact that the mountain was all-but shut after the earthquake.
"Earthquakes are mean beasts, natural disasters, that strike with no warning, destroy at random" Climber Alan Arnette
The Nepalese government was initially keen for mountaineers not to cancel their expeditions after the avalanche, but broken ladders on the mountain and a second quake in early May meant these plans were abandoned.
Everest’s death toll now stands at 289, though estimates on this figure vary too.
• Sixty fascinating Everest facts
There have been several years when the annual death toll has exceeded 10: 1982 (11 dead), 1996 (15); 2006 (11) and 2014 (16).
Photo: Getty
Writing on his annual summary blog, professional climber Alan Arnette said of 2015: “This summary, while about the Everest season, is also about a human tragedy where thousands lost their lives, multiples of that are now homeless and many no longer have a way to make a living. Earthquakes are mean beasts, natural disasters, that strike with no warning, destroy at random.”
He entitled his post, Summits Don’t Matter.
Prior to 1974, the summit was reached seven of the 22 years since 1953.
• Mount Everest: the trip of a lifetime
In 1974 six people were killed by an avalanche.
The mountain reopened to tourism in August, with just one climber permit awarded to Japanese mountaineer Nobukazu Kuriki, who had tried four times to reach the summit, losing all his fingers to frostbite in the process. He failed on his fifth attempt in October, giving up 700 metres from the summit. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 44,479 |
"We have to have a little back-and-forth once in a while,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, when a Democratic colleague complained that he was interrupting Elena Kagan’s responses, “or this place gets as boring as hell."
Indeed it does. Within a couple of hours after Supreme Court nominee Kagan began her long-awaited question-and-answer session with the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday morning, most of the 19 committee members had left the chamber for much of the time. The spectator gallery was far from full—especially after Sen. Herb Kohl, a Wisconsin Democrat, dispatched people to the exits by announcing: “Let’s talk about antitrust.”
The rather unilluminating hearings this week call to mind proposals by confirmation experts that the Senate altogether abandon testimony by judicial nominees. Congress could return to the practice that it followed until the middle of the last century, when it voted based on judicial nominees’ records without calling them to testify at all.
“For most of American history, the Senate considered Supreme Court nominees without soliciting [the nominees’] input,” wrote Benjamin Wittes, of the Brookings Institution, in his 2006 book, Confirmation Wars, “Politicians considered it an intolerable affront to judicial independence to ask a nominee how he would vote on a matter; to answer any such question was unthinkable.”
It was not until the high court’s epochal decision desegregating public schools, in 1954, that senators began to be emboldened to press nominees by asking directly or indirectly about what they would do if confirmed. It was an effort to exert some influence on a judiciary that--since Brown v. Board of Education--has assumed a far more commanding role in setting national policies via interpretation of the Constitution. This progressed over the decades to the point that confirmation hearings have become “grand mobilizations of the political bases of both parties, along with their affiliated interest groups and sympathetic academics,” Wittes wrote.
The best counterargument is that confirmation hearings are the only chance that the American public will ever have to assess a Supreme Court nominee who will serve for life. True enough. But how much assessing is really going on? Polls suggest that fewer than 20 percent of the public can even name Kagan as the current nominee.
While Hatch was chastised by Democrats on Tuesday, his interruptions of Kagan were really quite gentle. And most other Republicans appeared to have given up on the idea of challenging the nominee with hostile questions, not to mention on any hope of preventing her confirmation.
Instead, Hatch spent much of his 30 allotted minutes not seeking real responses from Kagan but rather defending against Democratic attacks on the big decision by the five more conservative justices in January to strike down legal limits on campaign spending by big business. Democrats, including Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, countered by returning again and again to what a terrible, activist, pro-business, antipeople decision it had been.
And Kagan easily avoided any indication whether she thought it had been a good decision or a bad one, even though the justices had rejected the arguments that she had made as Solicitor General in the case on behalf of the Obama administration. Instead of disclosing her own views, Kagan settled--with poise, self-assurance, and occasional flashes of humor--into the familiar pattern followed by all recent nominees: patiently summarizing what the Supreme Court had said about the specific questions posed to her while commenting only in the most noncommittal, general, soporific terms.
Meanwhile, the senators settled into their own familiar pattern of making little speeches about their pet issues, thinly disguised as questions for the nominee, while staffers passed out propaganda full of carefully selected, often-out-of-context quotes supporting and opposing the nominee to reporters.
As the hearings drag on, a rhetorical question posed Monday by Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma seems especially relevant: "Why should we have this dance if we're not going to find out real answers about real issues about what you really believe?"
||||| A cast of graybeards, rising stars and a lame duck once in charge convenes Monday as the Senate Judiciary Committee to consider giving President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan, a lifetime appointment as a justice.
FILE - In this April 16, 2010, file photo Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, listens on Capitol Hill in Washington. On Monday, June 28, the committee convenes to consider giving... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this Feb. 2, 2010, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee is seen during a Capitol Hill news conference in Washington. Monday, June 28, the committee... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this April 16, 2010 file photo,Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa. listens on Capitol Hill in Washington. Monday, June 28, the committee convenes to consider giving President... (Associated Press)
This collection of 12 Democrats and seven Republicans can ask Kagan questions on virtually any topic _ or pontificate or crack wise _ during what amounts to a nationally televised job interview.
But it's not entirely about the nominee. The lawmakers themselves are some of the nation's best political performers, and five are campaigning for re-election.
What's new is the experience level of committee members. Three have chaired confirmation hearings before. There are no rookies; even the junior senators toward the end of the dais participated in the questioning last year of Obama's first nominee for the high court, Sonia Sotomayor.
One of the Senate freshmen, Delaware Democrat Ted Kaufman, has been involved in hearings for a dozen nominees to the high court, counting Kagan; that's from his long service to Joe Biden, now the vice president but before that a Delaware senator who once led the Judiciary Committee.
The atmospherics, too, are different.
Unlike Sotomayor's hearings, Kagan's are taking place in an election year in which 36 seats in the Senate are up for grabs. Six are held by committee members.
For Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, a former chairman, Kagan's hearings could be the last. Specter lost this year in a primary.
The other five seeking new terms are not in particularly tough races, but could spend their question time on subjects important to their party bases.
Expect Democrats to promote Kagan's pragmatic streak and her legal acumen. She's an Ivy League scholar, former Harvard Law School dean, presidential counselor in the Clinton White House and current solicitor general, the government's top lawyer before the high court.
Republicans are examining her experience from other angles.
She's never been a judge. As an adviser to President Bill Clinton, she showed a political shrewdness that GOP lawmakers say isn't appropriate for an impartial justice. Most of all, they've taken aim at Kagan's brief refusal to give military recruiters access to the law school's career services office, over the "don't ask don't tell" policy against openly gay soldiers.
A look at some of the players expected to take up screen time during this week's hearings.
GRAYBEARDS
The senators arranged by seniority around the horseshoe-shaped dais include several with decades of experience in confirmation hearings to the high court.
_Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., 70.
He's third-most senior of 100 senators, a former state prosecutor who might otherwise have made a living as a photographer. He tends to run the committee with a strict gavel and a wry sense of humor. Leahy led Sotomayor's hearings last summer and has participated in every such proceeding since President Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O'Connor in 1981.
In the past, Leahy has shown impatience with colleagues who talk past their allotted time. But he's also ignored the clock to offer comment, cut off his colleagues, rebut them and otherwise expound. As chairman, he can.
Up for re-election, Leahy is less likely than ever to hold back, though he is not facing any serious competition for his seat. Outside the Senate, Leahy can be spotted on a playground in suburban Virginia with some of his five grandchildren and relishes time at his 300-acre farm in Vermont.
_Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, 76.
The lanky, silver-haired Hatch has twice served as committee chairman and participated in hearings for 13 high court nominees, beginning with O'Connor. He voted to confirm Sotomayor to the federal bench in 1998, then against her last year. She was the first Supreme Court nominee he declined to endorse. He said he had doubts that she would rule according to the Constitution.
A great-grandfather and songwriter adept at the piano, organ and violin, Hatch is known for his conservative judicial philosophy and his staunch defense of the troubled nominations of Robert Bork, who was not confirmed and Justice Clarence Thomas, who was.
He has said he generally believes presidents should be given deference to their nominees.
_Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., 80.
Specter is both a graybeard and a lame duck. The grandfather of four has chaired as many confirmation hearings as Leahy and has a half-century legal and senatorial career behind him. But that's the key: It's behind him now.
After switching parties last year, Specter lost last month in his bid for a sixth term.
Given that, he's considerably less accountable than his colleagues. But Specter's never been predictable or shy in his dealings with nominees, colleagues, presidents or reporters.
In speeches and statements, and in letters to Kagan, Specter has complained that the high court has curtailed Congress' power in a series of recent decisions. He's tired, he said on the Senate floor, of hearing "lip service" from nominees on this point.
"Let's sharpen our lines of questioning, colleagues, as we move forward to the hearings on Solicitor General Kagan," Specter said.
___
OPPOSING COUNSEL
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., 63.
The former federal prosecutor cut his teeth in this role in the Sotomayor hearings. Then, there was some whispering as to whether the soft-spoken Southern partisan was up to the job of succeeding the sharp-edged Specter in the lead GOP role, and going nose to nose with Leahy.
Leading the minority means that even if every Republican votes against Kagan, her nomination still would advance to the full Senate. But this is an election year, which means Sessions must perfect his role reassuring the Republican base that their interests are being represented in such a high profile forum.
He'll lay out the Republicans' doubts about Kagan and dole out specific lines of questioning to the other six Republicans on the committee _ from whether she harbors disdain for the military to whether she allows politics to bear on her decisions.
___
THE PURIST
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., 62.
Socially conservative viewers looking for reassurance this election year might tune in toward the end of each round of questions, when this cowboy boot-wearing obstetrician takes the microphone. Coburn, a grandfather of five who is up for re-election, scored a 100 percent approval rating last year from the American Conservative Union. He tends to focus on subjects like abortion and gun rights.
But Coburn has served notice this year that he is concerned with Kagan's focus on international law during her career, from Harvard to the solicitor general's office.
"I believe significant questions have been raised as to whether Kagan, like Sotomayor, will use foreign law if confirmed," Coburn wrote on his web site.
____
THE RISING
The four most junior committee members are freshman Democrats for whom Sotomayor was their first Supreme Court nominee as senators. They sit at the end of the dais and often have their questions swiped by more senior colleagues.
But they are a year more experienced at the business of confirmation and their array of experience in law, engineering and entertainment make them worth watching.
Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota are lawyers and former prosecutors. Whitehouse, 54, is considered one of the Democrats' most articulate senators. Klobuchar, 50, has been teased about being nominated to the high court herself.
Kaufman, 71, is an engineer by education who joined Biden's Senate staff in 1973 and served as his top aide for nearly two decades. As such, he was involved in Biden's deliberations over 10 nominees to the high court.
Everybody knows entertainer-turned-senator Al Franken of Minn., who was sworn in last year just before the Sotomayor hearings. In a speech this month to the American Constitution Society, Franken, 59, said that it's conservatives, not liberals, who have become activist judges.
___
Online:
Senate Judiciary Committee: http://judiciary.senate.gov/
Supreme Court: http://www.supremecourt.gov/
Obama's nomination of Kagan: http://tinyurl.com/2aq5jc6 ||||| WASHINGTON – Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), this afternoon touched off the strangest exchange yet in the hearings of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.
Graham started by asking Kagan whether she knew Miguel Estrada (pictured), the high-powered appellate lawyer at Gibson Dunn who was nominated by President Bush for a seat on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals but never confirmed.
Kagan explained that she was a Harvard Law classmate of Estrada and that they were assigned to sit next to each their entire first year. She offered that he took excellent notes as a student.
Graham then read at length a letter of recommendation that Estrada wrote in favor of Kagan. If she’s not “easily confirmable” in light of her qualifications, Estrada wrote, then the confirmation process had gone off kilter.
“What did you think when you heard that letter,” Graham asked.
“I was deeply touched,” she said.
Graham then got to the seeming point of the exchange. He said it was a “tragedy” that Estrada had not been confirmed as a judge. “Do you think he’s qualified to sit as an appellate judge?” Graham asked.
Kagan said that he is and went a step further, saying that he is qualified to sit on the Supreme Court.
“Your stock just went up,” Graham said, suggesting that he hoped a Republican president would one day get a chance to correct the tragedy.
Graham then asked Kagan if she would return the favor and write a letter of recommendation for Estrada at some point “in the next two days.”
Kagan promised she would.
It seems pretty clear that Graham plans to keep that letter close at hand.
Graham was also involved one of the more lighthearted moments of the hearings so far.
In talking about the war on terror, he asked Kagan what she was doing on Christmas day, as a way to lead into the aborted terrorist incident this past Christmas.
Though she said she couldn’t recall, she said that like all Jews she was probably having dinner with her family at a Chinese restaurant. Chuck Schumer then explained that Chinese restaurants are the only thing open on Christmas. | – Elena Kagan had a testy exchange in the morning with Jeff Sessions over her role in military recruiting at Harvard, but day 2 of her Supreme Court nomination hearings has been "rather unilluminating," writes Newsweek. (Though a photo of Al Franken sketching Sessions during the hearings was kind of interesting. See it in the gallery.) Kagan is following the pattern of tiptoeing around her own views "while commenting only in the most noncommittal, general, soporific terms." The senators are following their familiar patterns of "making little speeches about their pet issues, thinly disguised as questions for the nominee," complains Newsweek, which wonders whether it's time to revert to voting on nominees based on their records instead of calling them to testify. At the very least, though, we got to see that Kagan has a sense of humor. Asked where she was on Christmas Day (as a lead-in to a terror question), she replied that, like all Jews, she was probably at a Chinese restaurant, notes the Wall Street Journal. For more details, see AP's coverage. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary."We have to have a little back-and-forth once in a while,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, when a Democratic colleague complained that he was interrupting Elena Kagan’s responses, “or this place gets as boring as hell."
Indeed it does. Within a couple of hours after Supreme Court nominee Kagan began her long-awaited question-and-answer session with the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday morning, most of the 19 committee members had left the chamber for much of the time. The spectator gallery was far from full—especially after Sen. Herb Kohl, a Wisconsin Democrat, dispatched people to the exits by announcing: “Let’s talk about antitrust.”
The rather unilluminating hearings this week call to mind proposals by confirmation experts that the Senate altogether abandon testimony by judicial nominees. Congress could return to the practice that it followed until the middle of the last century, when it voted based on judicial nominees’ records without calling them to testify at all.
“For most of American history, the Senate considered Supreme Court nominees without soliciting [the nominees’] input,” wrote Benjamin Wittes, of the Brookings Institution, in his 2006 book, Confirmation Wars, “Politicians considered it an intolerable affront to judicial independence to ask a nominee how he would vote on a matter; to answer any such question was unthinkable.”
It was not until the high court’s epochal decision desegregating public schools, in 1954, that senators began to be emboldened to press nominees by asking directly or indirectly about what they would do if confirmed. It was an effort to exert some influence on a judiciary that--since Brown v. Board of Education--has assumed a far more commanding role in setting national policies via interpretation of the Constitution. This progressed over the decades to the point that confirmation hearings have become “grand mobilizations of the political bases of both parties, along with their affiliated interest groups and sympathetic academics,” Wittes wrote.
The best counterargument is that confirmation hearings are the only chance that the American public will ever have to assess a Supreme Court nominee who will serve for life. True enough. But how much assessing is really going on? Polls suggest that fewer than 20 percent of the public can even name Kagan as the current nominee.
While Hatch was chastised by Democrats on Tuesday, his interruptions of Kagan were really quite gentle. And most other Republicans appeared to have given up on the idea of challenging the nominee with hostile questions, not to mention on any hope of preventing her confirmation.
Instead, Hatch spent much of his 30 allotted minutes not seeking real responses from Kagan but rather defending against Democratic attacks on the big decision by the five more conservative justices in January to strike down legal limits on campaign spending by big business. Democrats, including Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, countered by returning again and again to what a terrible, activist, pro-business, antipeople decision it had been.
And Kagan easily avoided any indication whether she thought it had been a good decision or a bad one, even though the justices had rejected the arguments that she had made as Solicitor General in the case on behalf of the Obama administration. Instead of disclosing her own views, Kagan settled--with poise, self-assurance, and occasional flashes of humor--into the familiar pattern followed by all recent nominees: patiently summarizing what the Supreme Court had said about the specific questions posed to her while commenting only in the most noncommittal, general, soporific terms.
Meanwhile, the senators settled into their own familiar pattern of making little speeches about their pet issues, thinly disguised as questions for the nominee, while staffers passed out propaganda full of carefully selected, often-out-of-context quotes supporting and opposing the nominee to reporters.
As the hearings drag on, a rhetorical question posed Monday by Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma seems especially relevant: "Why should we have this dance if we're not going to find out real answers about real issues about what you really believe?"
||||| A cast of graybeards, rising stars and a lame duck once in charge convenes Monday as the Senate Judiciary Committee to consider giving President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan, a lifetime appointment as a justice.
FILE - In this April 16, 2010, file photo Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, listens on Capitol Hill in Washington. On Monday, June 28, the committee convenes to consider giving... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this Feb. 2, 2010, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee is seen during a Capitol Hill news conference in Washington. Monday, June 28, the committee... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this April 16, 2010 file photo,Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa. listens on Capitol Hill in Washington. Monday, June 28, the committee convenes to consider giving President... (Associated Press)
This collection of 12 Democrats and seven Republicans can ask Kagan questions on virtually any topic _ or pontificate or crack wise _ during what amounts to a nationally televised job interview.
But it's not entirely about the nominee. The lawmakers themselves are some of the nation's best political performers, and five are campaigning for re-election.
What's new is the experience level of committee members. Three have chaired confirmation hearings before. There are no rookies; even the junior senators toward the end of the dais participated in the questioning last year of Obama's first nominee for the high court, Sonia Sotomayor.
One of the Senate freshmen, Delaware Democrat Ted Kaufman, has been involved in hearings for a dozen nominees to the high court, counting Kagan; that's from his long service to Joe Biden, now the vice president but before that a Delaware senator who once led the Judiciary Committee.
The atmospherics, too, are different.
Unlike Sotomayor's hearings, Kagan's are taking place in an election year in which 36 seats in the Senate are up for grabs. Six are held by committee members.
For Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, a former chairman, Kagan's hearings could be the last. Specter lost this year in a primary.
The other five seeking new terms are not in particularly tough races, but could spend their question time on subjects important to their party bases.
Expect Democrats to promote Kagan's pragmatic streak and her legal acumen. She's an Ivy League scholar, former Harvard Law School dean, presidential counselor in the Clinton White House and current solicitor general, the government's top lawyer before the high court.
Republicans are examining her experience from other angles.
She's never been a judge. As an adviser to President Bill Clinton, she showed a political shrewdness that GOP lawmakers say isn't appropriate for an impartial justice. Most of all, they've taken aim at Kagan's brief refusal to give military recruiters access to the law school's career services office, over the "don't ask don't tell" policy against openly gay soldiers.
A look at some of the players expected to take up screen time during this week's hearings.
GRAYBEARDS
The senators arranged by seniority around the horseshoe-shaped dais include several with decades of experience in confirmation hearings to the high court.
_Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., 70.
He's third-most senior of 100 senators, a former state prosecutor who might otherwise have made a living as a photographer. He tends to run the committee with a strict gavel and a wry sense of humor. Leahy led Sotomayor's hearings last summer and has participated in every such proceeding since President Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O'Connor in 1981.
In the past, Leahy has shown impatience with colleagues who talk past their allotted time. But he's also ignored the clock to offer comment, cut off his colleagues, rebut them and otherwise expound. As chairman, he can.
Up for re-election, Leahy is less likely than ever to hold back, though he is not facing any serious competition for his seat. Outside the Senate, Leahy can be spotted on a playground in suburban Virginia with some of his five grandchildren and relishes time at his 300-acre farm in Vermont.
_Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, 76.
The lanky, silver-haired Hatch has twice served as committee chairman and participated in hearings for 13 high court nominees, beginning with O'Connor. He voted to confirm Sotomayor to the federal bench in 1998, then against her last year. She was the first Supreme Court nominee he declined to endorse. He said he had doubts that she would rule according to the Constitution.
A great-grandfather and songwriter adept at the piano, organ and violin, Hatch is known for his conservative judicial philosophy and his staunch defense of the troubled nominations of Robert Bork, who was not confirmed and Justice Clarence Thomas, who was.
He has said he generally believes presidents should be given deference to their nominees.
_Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., 80.
Specter is both a graybeard and a lame duck. The grandfather of four has chaired as many confirmation hearings as Leahy and has a half-century legal and senatorial career behind him. But that's the key: It's behind him now.
After switching parties last year, Specter lost last month in his bid for a sixth term.
Given that, he's considerably less accountable than his colleagues. But Specter's never been predictable or shy in his dealings with nominees, colleagues, presidents or reporters.
In speeches and statements, and in letters to Kagan, Specter has complained that the high court has curtailed Congress' power in a series of recent decisions. He's tired, he said on the Senate floor, of hearing "lip service" from nominees on this point.
"Let's sharpen our lines of questioning, colleagues, as we move forward to the hearings on Solicitor General Kagan," Specter said.
___
OPPOSING COUNSEL
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., 63.
The former federal prosecutor cut his teeth in this role in the Sotomayor hearings. Then, there was some whispering as to whether the soft-spoken Southern partisan was up to the job of succeeding the sharp-edged Specter in the lead GOP role, and going nose to nose with Leahy.
Leading the minority means that even if every Republican votes against Kagan, her nomination still would advance to the full Senate. But this is an election year, which means Sessions must perfect his role reassuring the Republican base that their interests are being represented in such a high profile forum.
He'll lay out the Republicans' doubts about Kagan and dole out specific lines of questioning to the other six Republicans on the committee _ from whether she harbors disdain for the military to whether she allows politics to bear on her decisions.
___
THE PURIST
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., 62.
Socially conservative viewers looking for reassurance this election year might tune in toward the end of each round of questions, when this cowboy boot-wearing obstetrician takes the microphone. Coburn, a grandfather of five who is up for re-election, scored a 100 percent approval rating last year from the American Conservative Union. He tends to focus on subjects like abortion and gun rights.
But Coburn has served notice this year that he is concerned with Kagan's focus on international law during her career, from Harvard to the solicitor general's office.
"I believe significant questions have been raised as to whether Kagan, like Sotomayor, will use foreign law if confirmed," Coburn wrote on his web site.
____
THE RISING
The four most junior committee members are freshman Democrats for whom Sotomayor was their first Supreme Court nominee as senators. They sit at the end of the dais and often have their questions swiped by more senior colleagues.
But they are a year more experienced at the business of confirmation and their array of experience in law, engineering and entertainment make them worth watching.
Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota are lawyers and former prosecutors. Whitehouse, 54, is considered one of the Democrats' most articulate senators. Klobuchar, 50, has been teased about being nominated to the high court herself.
Kaufman, 71, is an engineer by education who joined Biden's Senate staff in 1973 and served as his top aide for nearly two decades. As such, he was involved in Biden's deliberations over 10 nominees to the high court.
Everybody knows entertainer-turned-senator Al Franken of Minn., who was sworn in last year just before the Sotomayor hearings. In a speech this month to the American Constitution Society, Franken, 59, said that it's conservatives, not liberals, who have become activist judges.
___
Online:
Senate Judiciary Committee: http://judiciary.senate.gov/
Supreme Court: http://www.supremecourt.gov/
Obama's nomination of Kagan: http://tinyurl.com/2aq5jc6 ||||| WASHINGTON – Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), this afternoon touched off the strangest exchange yet in the hearings of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.
Graham started by asking Kagan whether she knew Miguel Estrada (pictured), the high-powered appellate lawyer at Gibson Dunn who was nominated by President Bush for a seat on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals but never confirmed.
Kagan explained that she was a Harvard Law classmate of Estrada and that they were assigned to sit next to each their entire first year. She offered that he took excellent notes as a student.
Graham then read at length a letter of recommendation that Estrada wrote in favor of Kagan. If she’s not “easily confirmable” in light of her qualifications, Estrada wrote, then the confirmation process had gone off kilter.
“What did you think when you heard that letter,” Graham asked.
“I was deeply touched,” she said.
Graham then got to the seeming point of the exchange. He said it was a “tragedy” that Estrada had not been confirmed as a judge. “Do you think he’s qualified to sit as an appellate judge?” Graham asked.
Kagan said that he is and went a step further, saying that he is qualified to sit on the Supreme Court.
“Your stock just went up,” Graham said, suggesting that he hoped a Republican president would one day get a chance to correct the tragedy.
Graham then asked Kagan if she would return the favor and write a letter of recommendation for Estrada at some point “in the next two days.”
Kagan promised she would.
It seems pretty clear that Graham plans to keep that letter close at hand.
Graham was also involved one of the more lighthearted moments of the hearings so far.
In talking about the war on terror, he asked Kagan what she was doing on Christmas day, as a way to lead into the aborted terrorist incident this past Christmas.
Though she said she couldn’t recall, she said that like all Jews she was probably having dinner with her family at a Chinese restaurant. Chuck Schumer then explained that Chinese restaurants are the only thing open on Christmas. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 8,292 |
After 1,100 days in military captivity, Bradley Manning finally goes to trial on Monday, for leaking a trove of state secrets to WikiLeaks.
What is Manning charged with?
The US soldier faces 21 counts flowing from the leaking of hundreds of thousands of classified digital files to WikiLeaks. The most serious charge is "aiding the enemy" – in effect, helping al-Qaida by making intelligence accessible on the internet – which carries a life sentence. In addition he is accused of "wrongfully and wantonly" causing US intelligence to be published on the internet and faces 14 counts relating to various elements of the WikiLeaks disclosures, as well as five counts of violating military computer rules – all of which add up to a possible maximum sentence of more than 150 years in military jail.
Hasn't Manning admitted to being the WikiLeaks source?
Yes. He has pleaded guilty to having transmitted digital information to WikiLeaks between 1 November 2009 and 27 May 2010 – a period in which he was working as an intelligence analyst at Forward Operating Base Hammer outside Baghdad, with access to secure US government databases storing classified information. The leaks included a video, dubbed by WikiLeaks "Collateral Murder", which depicts a July 2007 US Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad in which civilians, including two Reuters journalists, were killed; war logs from Afghanistan and Iraq; and 250,000 diplomatic cables from US embassies around the world. The lesser offences to which Manning has pleaded guilty carry a maximum sentence of 20 years.
Where is the trial being held?
It will open at 9am this morning in a court room within Fort Meade, in Maryland. Manning will be accompanied by his team of three defence lawyers, led by David Coombs, while the prosecution team, also three strong, will be led by Major Ashden Fein. There will be no jury, at Manning's request, which puts Colonel Denise Lind, the presiding authority, in the role of both judge and jury. Some 80 reporters have been granted media places, with a further 270 turned away for lack of space.
How long will the trial last?
The US government has set aside almost three months, with the court sitting from Monday to Friday, with occasional breaks forced by a furlough on civilian defence employees as a result of federal budget cuts. The exceptional length of the trial is explained by the fact that the prosecution has indicated it intends to call more than 140 witnesses in an attempt to secure a watertight conviction. The prosecution will unveil its witness list in batches of 25 as the trial proceeds.
What will the prosecution have to prove to secure a guilty verdict
Lind has issued very clear guidelines as to what the prosecution will have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. On "aiding the enemy", it must prove that Manning "knowingly gave intelligence information to al-Qaida, al-Qaida in the Arabian peninsula" and a further terrorist group which remains unidentified. For the other counts, it must prove that the soldier leaked information that related to national defense and that he had reason to believe that once communicated it could be used "to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation".
Will the trial be held entirely in public?
No. That has been one of the bones of contention during prolonged pre-trial hearings between Manning's attorneys and the prosecution. A trial that is all about state secrets has been conducted so far amid an unprecedented degree of secrecy – with key public documents such as prosecution motions and transcripts of court proceedings kept hidden from the public.
The trial is likely to be no exception to this trend. The judge has ruled that 24 prosecution witnesses, including US ambassadors, senior military figures and intelligence chiefs, can give testimony partially in secret. Manning will be present at the closed portions of the testimony, but no reporters or members of the public present.
A further irony is that much of the testimony covered in the closed sessions is likely to relate to classified documents that are already freely available to the public through WikiLeaks. Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said:
The bottom line is that they are hearing a lot of witness testimony in secret so that they can discuss WikiLeaks documents that are already in the public domain. That's a completely absurd reason for closing parts of a trial.
In addition, up to four prosecution witnesses will be allowed to give evidence wholly behind closed doors. The court will be moved for the duration to an undisclosed location where the witnesses will present evidence dressed "in light disguise".
What will the defence do during the course of the trial?
As with a civilian criminal trial, the defence will be allowed to cross-examine prosecution witnesses, and will then be calling its own. It is not clear how many defence witnesses will be listed, but we do know some names. They include Colonel Morris Davis, former chief prosecutor at Guantánamo Bay, Harvard law professor Yochai Benkler and former US ambassador Peter Galbraith.
What will happen at the end of the trial?
Given that Manning has already pleaded guilty to lesser offences, it is likely that the trial will end with a guilty verdict of some degree – though how serious it will be will depend on Lind when she comes to deliver her verdict and then sentencing. During the sentencing phase, the defence will be able to present a slew of evidence that it has been forbidden from discussing before the verdict – notably Manning's motive for leaking and his state of mind at the time he did it.
One defence witness likely to be called at sentencing, Lauren McNamara, had an AOL instant messenger chat with Manning that lasted intermittently from February and August 2009, before the soldier contacted WikiLeaks. She told the Guardian that her cyber conversations with the soldier had shown him to be without malice or anti-American feelings or any desire to harm anyone:
He seemed a well-adjusted guy who was confident in the military even though he had had some bad experiences, and was pretty positive in attitude.
In pre-trial hearings, the defence discussed Manning's emotional problems in FOB Hammer, including his conflict over his sexual orientation. Defence attorneys suggested that the soldier was not given sufficient duty of care from his superiors – an argument that might resurface in mitigation. There have also been questions raised about whether Manning should have been sent to a tour of duty in Iraq in the first place.
In a statement that Manning read out to court, he gave an insight into his motives for leaking that is also likely to be pivotal during sentencing, in seeking to show that his intentions were not to harm the US but to enhance its moral standing. He said that at the time he leaked the documents he had wanted to "spark a debate on the military and our foreign policy in general" and that the American public had a right to know "the true costs of war".
Will Manning have the right to appeal at the end of the trial?
One of the major differences between military and civilian trials is that in the military context the right to appeal is far more limited. In a civilian criminal case, a convicted prisoner can appeal right up to the US supreme court, the highest judicial panel in the land. No such right exists in military cases. Here, the convicted party can ask for a review by the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF), but if it declines the case there is no equivalent route to the US supreme court.
Eugene Fidell, an expert in military justice at Yale law school, pointed out that even Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected architect of the 9/11 attacks, has greater rights of appeal than Bradley Manning. "If he's convicted by a military commission in Guantánamo, KSM will get a straight shot at the US supreme court," he said. "By contrast, if CAAF denies Manning a review as it does in most cases, he will be out in the cold." ||||| 1 of 4. Private First Class Bradley Manning, 25, (in beret obscured behind security) leaves the first day of his trial at Fort Meade in Maryland, June 3, 2013.
FORT MEADE, Maryland (Reuters) - Military prosecutors said arrogance drove the U.S. soldier who went on trial on Monday accused of the biggest leak of classified information in U.S. history through the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy website three years ago.
But at the opening of the court-martial of Private First Class Bradley Manning, 25, his defense lawyer portrayed him as a naive young soldier who had leaked the documents, combat videos and other data because he wanted to reveal the human cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Manning case has pitted civil liberties groups who want more transparency in military and diplomatic affairs against the government, which accuses Manning of endangering lives and damaging diplomacy by leaking classified information.
Manning, a former intelligence analyst, faces a possible life sentence without parole if convicted at his court-martial in Fort Meade, Maryland, for leaking more than 700,000 secret documents in 2010.
"This is a case of what happens when arrogance meets access to classified networks," lead prosecutor U.S. Army Captain Joe Morrow said in his opening statement. "This had great interest to our adversaries and to our enemies."
The slightly built Manning, wearing dress uniform, sat between his lawyers at the defense table. He faces 21 counts, including the most serious one of aiding the enemy, and prosecution under the Espionage Act of 1917. Manning pleaded guilty in February to 10 lesser charges, but prosecutors rejected the pleas and are pursuing their original charges.
"NAIVE, BUT GOOD INTENTIONED"
Manning's lawyer David Coombs described his client as a humanist, "placing people first, placing value on human lives." He called the soldier "young, naive, but good-intentioned."
Coombs said Manning, who is gay, was struggling with his sexual identity when he arrived in Iraq in November 2009 and was conflicted by his exposure to war and a trove of military data.
A Christmas Eve 2009 bomb attack on a U.S. convoy that left U.S. personnel unhurt but wounded four members of an Iraqi family and killed one was a catalyst for Manning, Coombs said.
He felt the material he had access to should be made public, "showing the true nature of 21st-century asymmetric warfare," Coombs said.
Manning believed the material he released would not harm U.S. interests as it lacked operational value. He thought that a U.S. military video showing an 2007 Apache gunship attack that killed 12 people in Baghdad, including two Reuters staffers, had already been made available to journalists, Coombs said.
Morrow told the court Manning downloaded 251,287 State Department cables at the rate of more than 1,000 per hour.
Manning, who has been jailed since his arrest three years ago, is charged forwarding the classified documents to WikiLeaks, which began exposing the secrets.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has taken refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning about allegations of rape and sexual assault, which he denies.
The first witness in the case was Sergeant First Class Thomas Smith, a military investigator. He seized Manning's computers, disks and other equipment at the Iraq base east of Baghdad, which he described as being "in the middle of nowhere."
Under defense questioning, Specialist Eric Baker, Manning's roommate in Iraq, described him as loner who spent most of his time on a computer.
JUDGE TO CLOSE PARTS OF TRIAL
The judge, Colonel Denise Lind, said last month she would close parts of the trial to the public to protect classified material.
Manning's court-martial is expected to run until at least late August.
Lind began the trial by asking Manning procedural questions, including whether he was willing to have the case decided by a judge rather than a jury and whether he was satisfied with his defense team.
"Yes, your honor," replied Manning, who was arrested in May 2010 while serving in Iraq. He sat listening to the proceedings through much of the day with his chin resting on his fist.
Under a ruling last month by the judge, Manning would have any sentence reduced by 112 days to compensate for the harsh treatment he received during his confinement at the Quantico Marine Base in Virginia.
The courtroom, which can seat about 40 people, was crowded with media and onlookers. They included Cornel West, a civil rights and political activist who has taught at Yale, Harvard, Princeton and the Union Theological Seminary in New York.
"I'm here to have solidarity with my devoted brother Bradley Manning," West said outside the courtroom. "He is a courageous young brother."
(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Scott Malone, Grant McCool and David Brunnstrom) | – Bradley Manning's trial officially begins today, after years of pretrial hearings and angry protests. If you haven't been keeping up, here are some things you'll want to know: The trial is already one of the longest in military history, a Yale military law professor tells NPR, adding, "The unanswered question is why this train has run so badly off the tracks." It's been three years since Manning's arrest, and the government has set aside three more months for the trial itself. Thanks to that delay, and what a judge ruled was illegal pretrial punishment, Manning will get 112 days lopped off any sentence. Twenty-four witnesses will testify in secret, including a member of SEAL Team Six; some will do so in "light disguise." The funny part? In many cases the classified data they'll testify about is now freely available to the public thanks to Manning, one activist tells the Guardian, calling it a "completely absurd reason for closing parts of a trial." Manning in February pleaded guilty to 10 lesser charges, a move that could have landed him up to 20 years in prison, but prosecutors rejected those pleas to pursue more serious charges, Reuters reports. Chief among them: aiding the enemy, which carries a life sentence, but which will require prosecutors to prove that Manning "knowingly gave intelligence information to al-Qaeda." There's no jury: This comes at Manning's request, reports the AP. Colonel Denise Lind will function as both judge and jury. Expect a guilty verdict "of some degree," or so recommends the Guardian, which makes such a prediction due to the fact that Manning has already pleaded guilty to those lesser charges. It notes that evidence the defense can't air during the trial ("notably Manning's motive for leaking") can be presented during the sentencing phase. Click for much more on the run-up to the trial. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.After 1,100 days in military captivity, Bradley Manning finally goes to trial on Monday, for leaking a trove of state secrets to WikiLeaks.
What is Manning charged with?
The US soldier faces 21 counts flowing from the leaking of hundreds of thousands of classified digital files to WikiLeaks. The most serious charge is "aiding the enemy" – in effect, helping al-Qaida by making intelligence accessible on the internet – which carries a life sentence. In addition he is accused of "wrongfully and wantonly" causing US intelligence to be published on the internet and faces 14 counts relating to various elements of the WikiLeaks disclosures, as well as five counts of violating military computer rules – all of which add up to a possible maximum sentence of more than 150 years in military jail.
Hasn't Manning admitted to being the WikiLeaks source?
Yes. He has pleaded guilty to having transmitted digital information to WikiLeaks between 1 November 2009 and 27 May 2010 – a period in which he was working as an intelligence analyst at Forward Operating Base Hammer outside Baghdad, with access to secure US government databases storing classified information. The leaks included a video, dubbed by WikiLeaks "Collateral Murder", which depicts a July 2007 US Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad in which civilians, including two Reuters journalists, were killed; war logs from Afghanistan and Iraq; and 250,000 diplomatic cables from US embassies around the world. The lesser offences to which Manning has pleaded guilty carry a maximum sentence of 20 years.
Where is the trial being held?
It will open at 9am this morning in a court room within Fort Meade, in Maryland. Manning will be accompanied by his team of three defence lawyers, led by David Coombs, while the prosecution team, also three strong, will be led by Major Ashden Fein. There will be no jury, at Manning's request, which puts Colonel Denise Lind, the presiding authority, in the role of both judge and jury. Some 80 reporters have been granted media places, with a further 270 turned away for lack of space.
How long will the trial last?
The US government has set aside almost three months, with the court sitting from Monday to Friday, with occasional breaks forced by a furlough on civilian defence employees as a result of federal budget cuts. The exceptional length of the trial is explained by the fact that the prosecution has indicated it intends to call more than 140 witnesses in an attempt to secure a watertight conviction. The prosecution will unveil its witness list in batches of 25 as the trial proceeds.
What will the prosecution have to prove to secure a guilty verdict
Lind has issued very clear guidelines as to what the prosecution will have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. On "aiding the enemy", it must prove that Manning "knowingly gave intelligence information to al-Qaida, al-Qaida in the Arabian peninsula" and a further terrorist group which remains unidentified. For the other counts, it must prove that the soldier leaked information that related to national defense and that he had reason to believe that once communicated it could be used "to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation".
Will the trial be held entirely in public?
No. That has been one of the bones of contention during prolonged pre-trial hearings between Manning's attorneys and the prosecution. A trial that is all about state secrets has been conducted so far amid an unprecedented degree of secrecy – with key public documents such as prosecution motions and transcripts of court proceedings kept hidden from the public.
The trial is likely to be no exception to this trend. The judge has ruled that 24 prosecution witnesses, including US ambassadors, senior military figures and intelligence chiefs, can give testimony partially in secret. Manning will be present at the closed portions of the testimony, but no reporters or members of the public present.
A further irony is that much of the testimony covered in the closed sessions is likely to relate to classified documents that are already freely available to the public through WikiLeaks. Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said:
The bottom line is that they are hearing a lot of witness testimony in secret so that they can discuss WikiLeaks documents that are already in the public domain. That's a completely absurd reason for closing parts of a trial.
In addition, up to four prosecution witnesses will be allowed to give evidence wholly behind closed doors. The court will be moved for the duration to an undisclosed location where the witnesses will present evidence dressed "in light disguise".
What will the defence do during the course of the trial?
As with a civilian criminal trial, the defence will be allowed to cross-examine prosecution witnesses, and will then be calling its own. It is not clear how many defence witnesses will be listed, but we do know some names. They include Colonel Morris Davis, former chief prosecutor at Guantánamo Bay, Harvard law professor Yochai Benkler and former US ambassador Peter Galbraith.
What will happen at the end of the trial?
Given that Manning has already pleaded guilty to lesser offences, it is likely that the trial will end with a guilty verdict of some degree – though how serious it will be will depend on Lind when she comes to deliver her verdict and then sentencing. During the sentencing phase, the defence will be able to present a slew of evidence that it has been forbidden from discussing before the verdict – notably Manning's motive for leaking and his state of mind at the time he did it.
One defence witness likely to be called at sentencing, Lauren McNamara, had an AOL instant messenger chat with Manning that lasted intermittently from February and August 2009, before the soldier contacted WikiLeaks. She told the Guardian that her cyber conversations with the soldier had shown him to be without malice or anti-American feelings or any desire to harm anyone:
He seemed a well-adjusted guy who was confident in the military even though he had had some bad experiences, and was pretty positive in attitude.
In pre-trial hearings, the defence discussed Manning's emotional problems in FOB Hammer, including his conflict over his sexual orientation. Defence attorneys suggested that the soldier was not given sufficient duty of care from his superiors – an argument that might resurface in mitigation. There have also been questions raised about whether Manning should have been sent to a tour of duty in Iraq in the first place.
In a statement that Manning read out to court, he gave an insight into his motives for leaking that is also likely to be pivotal during sentencing, in seeking to show that his intentions were not to harm the US but to enhance its moral standing. He said that at the time he leaked the documents he had wanted to "spark a debate on the military and our foreign policy in general" and that the American public had a right to know "the true costs of war".
Will Manning have the right to appeal at the end of the trial?
One of the major differences between military and civilian trials is that in the military context the right to appeal is far more limited. In a civilian criminal case, a convicted prisoner can appeal right up to the US supreme court, the highest judicial panel in the land. No such right exists in military cases. Here, the convicted party can ask for a review by the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF), but if it declines the case there is no equivalent route to the US supreme court.
Eugene Fidell, an expert in military justice at Yale law school, pointed out that even Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected architect of the 9/11 attacks, has greater rights of appeal than Bradley Manning. "If he's convicted by a military commission in Guantánamo, KSM will get a straight shot at the US supreme court," he said. "By contrast, if CAAF denies Manning a review as it does in most cases, he will be out in the cold." ||||| 1 of 4. Private First Class Bradley Manning, 25, (in beret obscured behind security) leaves the first day of his trial at Fort Meade in Maryland, June 3, 2013.
FORT MEADE, Maryland (Reuters) - Military prosecutors said arrogance drove the U.S. soldier who went on trial on Monday accused of the biggest leak of classified information in U.S. history through the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy website three years ago.
But at the opening of the court-martial of Private First Class Bradley Manning, 25, his defense lawyer portrayed him as a naive young soldier who had leaked the documents, combat videos and other data because he wanted to reveal the human cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Manning case has pitted civil liberties groups who want more transparency in military and diplomatic affairs against the government, which accuses Manning of endangering lives and damaging diplomacy by leaking classified information.
Manning, a former intelligence analyst, faces a possible life sentence without parole if convicted at his court-martial in Fort Meade, Maryland, for leaking more than 700,000 secret documents in 2010.
"This is a case of what happens when arrogance meets access to classified networks," lead prosecutor U.S. Army Captain Joe Morrow said in his opening statement. "This had great interest to our adversaries and to our enemies."
The slightly built Manning, wearing dress uniform, sat between his lawyers at the defense table. He faces 21 counts, including the most serious one of aiding the enemy, and prosecution under the Espionage Act of 1917. Manning pleaded guilty in February to 10 lesser charges, but prosecutors rejected the pleas and are pursuing their original charges.
"NAIVE, BUT GOOD INTENTIONED"
Manning's lawyer David Coombs described his client as a humanist, "placing people first, placing value on human lives." He called the soldier "young, naive, but good-intentioned."
Coombs said Manning, who is gay, was struggling with his sexual identity when he arrived in Iraq in November 2009 and was conflicted by his exposure to war and a trove of military data.
A Christmas Eve 2009 bomb attack on a U.S. convoy that left U.S. personnel unhurt but wounded four members of an Iraqi family and killed one was a catalyst for Manning, Coombs said.
He felt the material he had access to should be made public, "showing the true nature of 21st-century asymmetric warfare," Coombs said.
Manning believed the material he released would not harm U.S. interests as it lacked operational value. He thought that a U.S. military video showing an 2007 Apache gunship attack that killed 12 people in Baghdad, including two Reuters staffers, had already been made available to journalists, Coombs said.
Morrow told the court Manning downloaded 251,287 State Department cables at the rate of more than 1,000 per hour.
Manning, who has been jailed since his arrest three years ago, is charged forwarding the classified documents to WikiLeaks, which began exposing the secrets.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has taken refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning about allegations of rape and sexual assault, which he denies.
The first witness in the case was Sergeant First Class Thomas Smith, a military investigator. He seized Manning's computers, disks and other equipment at the Iraq base east of Baghdad, which he described as being "in the middle of nowhere."
Under defense questioning, Specialist Eric Baker, Manning's roommate in Iraq, described him as loner who spent most of his time on a computer.
JUDGE TO CLOSE PARTS OF TRIAL
The judge, Colonel Denise Lind, said last month she would close parts of the trial to the public to protect classified material.
Manning's court-martial is expected to run until at least late August.
Lind began the trial by asking Manning procedural questions, including whether he was willing to have the case decided by a judge rather than a jury and whether he was satisfied with his defense team.
"Yes, your honor," replied Manning, who was arrested in May 2010 while serving in Iraq. He sat listening to the proceedings through much of the day with his chin resting on his fist.
Under a ruling last month by the judge, Manning would have any sentence reduced by 112 days to compensate for the harsh treatment he received during his confinement at the Quantico Marine Base in Virginia.
The courtroom, which can seat about 40 people, was crowded with media and onlookers. They included Cornel West, a civil rights and political activist who has taught at Yale, Harvard, Princeton and the Union Theological Seminary in New York.
"I'm here to have solidarity with my devoted brother Bradley Manning," West said outside the courtroom. "He is a courageous young brother."
(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Scott Malone, Grant McCool and David Brunnstrom) | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 32,570 |
Wednesday morning, we published a piece in which David Chase told writer Martha P. Nochimson that Tony Soprano had survived the series finale of The Sopranos.
The finale, which ended with a famous cut to black that left Tony in a state of suspended animation, had been famously picked apart by theorists who insisted the character was dead and others who said he lived and still others who said, hey, maybe it didn't matter. It was, by far, the biggest open question in TV history.
Now, through his publicist, Chase has said:
A journalist for Vox misconstrued what David Chase said in their interview. To simply quote David as saying," Tony Soprano is not dead," is inaccurate. There is a much larger context for that statement and as such, it is not true. As David Chase has said numerous times on the record, "Whether Tony Soprano is alive or dead is not the point." To continue to search for this answer is fruitless. The final scene of The Sopranos raises a spiritual question that has no right or wrong answer.
This is something of a classic non-denial denial. Chase is not contesting that he said Tony isn't dead. He is contesting a broader, and unmentioned, context (and, indeed, Chase has tiptoed up to the edge of the line of providing a definitive answer as to the final scene numerous times before, before retreating as quickly as possible). It would not be the first time a source went a bit further than they meant to on the record. Nor would it be the first time Chase has answered a question about one of the central ambiguities of the series in frustration, just because he's sick of being asked about it.
But Chase is right that it is the context the quote is in that matters here. And the context Nochimson puts Chase's quote in is almost identical to what Chase's publicist says.
Says Chase's publicist:
"As David Chase has said numerous times on the record, ‘Whether Tony Soprano is alive or dead is not the point.' To continue to search for this answer is fruitless. The final scene of The Sopranos raises a spiritual question that has no right or wrong answer."
And writes Nochimson:
"Though you wouldn't know it from watching Hollywood movies, endings are by nature mysterious. There is the instability of loss in an ending as well as the satisfying sense of completion. American television before Chase, with the exception of David Lynch's Twin Peaks, one of Chase's avowed key inspirations for the art of The Sopranos, built a craft that dispenses with the destabilizing aspects of an ending. The true art of closure will not tolerate such a boring decision. Moreover, the art of closure forbids merely telling the audience in words that there is loss, since words can create the illusion of safety and control. Chase's art seeks a silent level of knowing more profound than words. He believes we already know if we open up to that deeper part of us."
The entire point of Nochimson's essay is that even though Chase answered her query about Tony's death, it doesn't matter. If the fictional character of Tony Soprano lives or dies is not the point, because The Sopranos itself is no more. Somewhere, the characters live on, even if Tony is not among their number. But we don't get to see what they're up to.
The story, of course, has been boiled down — even by us — to the one sentence where Chase finally answers Nochimson point blank, despite the presence of an entire piece discussing Chase's background, his influences, and our lack of comfort with ambiguity in storytelling. This makes sense, because we're in the news business, and what's newsworthy here is Chase appearing to confirm something many have long suspected.
But even if Chase had never issued a statement, or even if he had issued a statement saying, "I meant every word!" it would not have quelled the debate about The Sopranos' finale. Nor should it have. The thing about the endings of TV series is that many of us watch them with a sort of anticipation that they will "answer" the question of whether we were right to spend years and years watching the show. The thing is, however, they almost never do.
Viewers go into the finale of Lost expecting a series of answers to their queries about a mysterious Island and end up, instead, with a metaphysical rumination on life and death. Or they go into the finale of The Shield expecting a blazing gun battle and, instead, get a muted goodbye. Or they go into the finale of Breaking Bad and get more closure than a famously messy show usually provided. All of these finales disappointed at least some viewers, who found themselves lost in the ideal of an ending they would never get, one they perhaps couldn't even imagine the contours of but, instead, could sort of sense on their peripheral vision.
The Sopranos bucked against that trend by refusing to end. And it's driven many of us nuts over the years, whether we just wondered if our cable went out after that famous cut to black or got involved in lengthy arguments on internet forums about the meaning of Chase's camera angles. By leaving Tony in that state of suspended animation, The Sopranos forever left us with him. Is it any wonder viewers tried to construct an ending they were denied?
I would argue that's entirely not the point, and that's what Nochimson argues in her article as well. I fully believe that she's reported accurately what she and Chase discussed (and, selfishly, I loved the idea of a definitive answer, even if it only were present to allow people to discuss all of the other things the series did brilliantly). But nothing is proved by a one-word answer to a complicated question; instead, it only opens more questions.
To suggest otherwise is to wipe our hands of all of the unsettling questions that final scene suggests, just as much as the insistence by many "Tony's dead!" proponents that anyone who disagreed was willfully misreading the series does. To suggest otherwise is not just to pretend that we can understand The Sopranos on some definitive level but that there must be a tidy answer for everything in life, no matter how banal. And I like to think we all know that's not true. That's part of what David Chase taught us. ||||| Reports of Tony Soprano's non-death are apparently premature: David Chase, creator of "The Sopranos," has released a statement debunking a very long and very difficult-to-decipher piece that appeared Wednesday on Vox.com, which reported that Chase had finally confirmed that Tony — in fact — did live after the screen went blank on June 10, 2007, when 13 million (or so) viewers kicked their sets or called up their cable service to complain.
No need to go into details here — they are not interesting, trust me — but the Vox story got a blast of Internet love Wednesday because Chase had apparently sort of said that Tony did live, and not die.
While the relevance of an answer to this question has long escaped me, it still, so to speak, lives in the minds of many who for some reason just want to know.
INTERACT: New fall TV series | Greatest TV characters
MORE: Best shows to binge-watch | TV Zone blog
But like the "Friends" reunion, the answer is never gonna happen. And never should.
Here's Chase's statement:
A journalist for Vox misconstrued what David Chase said in their interview. To simply quote David as saying, “Tony Soprano is not dead,” is inaccurate. There is a much larger context for that statement and as such, it is not true. As David Chase has said numerous times on the record, “Whether Tony Soprano is alive or dead is not the point.” To continue to search for this answer is fruitless. The final scene of THE SOPRANOS raises a spiritual question that has no right or wrong answer. | – Well, Sopranos fans, it may have seemed like you learned that Tony Soprano survived the finale, given that series creator David Chase told Vox as much in an interview. But things are way more complicated than that. Here is a statement from Chase's publicist in the wake of all the coverage: "A journalist for Vox misconstrued what David Chase said in their interview. To simply quote David as saying, 'Tony Soprano is not dead,' is inaccurate. There is a much larger context for that statement and as such, it is not true. As David Chase has said numerous times on the record, 'Whether Tony Soprano is alive or dead is not the point.' To continue to search for this answer is fruitless. The final scene of The Sopranos raises a spiritual question that has no right or wrong answer." Got it? As Newsday sums up, "Tony Soprano is neither alive nor dead—so stop asking." Vox calls the Chase statement "something of a classic non-denial denial" and maintains that its original piece got the context right. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Wednesday morning, we published a piece in which David Chase told writer Martha P. Nochimson that Tony Soprano had survived the series finale of The Sopranos.
The finale, which ended with a famous cut to black that left Tony in a state of suspended animation, had been famously picked apart by theorists who insisted the character was dead and others who said he lived and still others who said, hey, maybe it didn't matter. It was, by far, the biggest open question in TV history.
Now, through his publicist, Chase has said:
A journalist for Vox misconstrued what David Chase said in their interview. To simply quote David as saying," Tony Soprano is not dead," is inaccurate. There is a much larger context for that statement and as such, it is not true. As David Chase has said numerous times on the record, "Whether Tony Soprano is alive or dead is not the point." To continue to search for this answer is fruitless. The final scene of The Sopranos raises a spiritual question that has no right or wrong answer.
This is something of a classic non-denial denial. Chase is not contesting that he said Tony isn't dead. He is contesting a broader, and unmentioned, context (and, indeed, Chase has tiptoed up to the edge of the line of providing a definitive answer as to the final scene numerous times before, before retreating as quickly as possible). It would not be the first time a source went a bit further than they meant to on the record. Nor would it be the first time Chase has answered a question about one of the central ambiguities of the series in frustration, just because he's sick of being asked about it.
But Chase is right that it is the context the quote is in that matters here. And the context Nochimson puts Chase's quote in is almost identical to what Chase's publicist says.
Says Chase's publicist:
"As David Chase has said numerous times on the record, ‘Whether Tony Soprano is alive or dead is not the point.' To continue to search for this answer is fruitless. The final scene of The Sopranos raises a spiritual question that has no right or wrong answer."
And writes Nochimson:
"Though you wouldn't know it from watching Hollywood movies, endings are by nature mysterious. There is the instability of loss in an ending as well as the satisfying sense of completion. American television before Chase, with the exception of David Lynch's Twin Peaks, one of Chase's avowed key inspirations for the art of The Sopranos, built a craft that dispenses with the destabilizing aspects of an ending. The true art of closure will not tolerate such a boring decision. Moreover, the art of closure forbids merely telling the audience in words that there is loss, since words can create the illusion of safety and control. Chase's art seeks a silent level of knowing more profound than words. He believes we already know if we open up to that deeper part of us."
The entire point of Nochimson's essay is that even though Chase answered her query about Tony's death, it doesn't matter. If the fictional character of Tony Soprano lives or dies is not the point, because The Sopranos itself is no more. Somewhere, the characters live on, even if Tony is not among their number. But we don't get to see what they're up to.
The story, of course, has been boiled down — even by us — to the one sentence where Chase finally answers Nochimson point blank, despite the presence of an entire piece discussing Chase's background, his influences, and our lack of comfort with ambiguity in storytelling. This makes sense, because we're in the news business, and what's newsworthy here is Chase appearing to confirm something many have long suspected.
But even if Chase had never issued a statement, or even if he had issued a statement saying, "I meant every word!" it would not have quelled the debate about The Sopranos' finale. Nor should it have. The thing about the endings of TV series is that many of us watch them with a sort of anticipation that they will "answer" the question of whether we were right to spend years and years watching the show. The thing is, however, they almost never do.
Viewers go into the finale of Lost expecting a series of answers to their queries about a mysterious Island and end up, instead, with a metaphysical rumination on life and death. Or they go into the finale of The Shield expecting a blazing gun battle and, instead, get a muted goodbye. Or they go into the finale of Breaking Bad and get more closure than a famously messy show usually provided. All of these finales disappointed at least some viewers, who found themselves lost in the ideal of an ending they would never get, one they perhaps couldn't even imagine the contours of but, instead, could sort of sense on their peripheral vision.
The Sopranos bucked against that trend by refusing to end. And it's driven many of us nuts over the years, whether we just wondered if our cable went out after that famous cut to black or got involved in lengthy arguments on internet forums about the meaning of Chase's camera angles. By leaving Tony in that state of suspended animation, The Sopranos forever left us with him. Is it any wonder viewers tried to construct an ending they were denied?
I would argue that's entirely not the point, and that's what Nochimson argues in her article as well. I fully believe that she's reported accurately what she and Chase discussed (and, selfishly, I loved the idea of a definitive answer, even if it only were present to allow people to discuss all of the other things the series did brilliantly). But nothing is proved by a one-word answer to a complicated question; instead, it only opens more questions.
To suggest otherwise is to wipe our hands of all of the unsettling questions that final scene suggests, just as much as the insistence by many "Tony's dead!" proponents that anyone who disagreed was willfully misreading the series does. To suggest otherwise is not just to pretend that we can understand The Sopranos on some definitive level but that there must be a tidy answer for everything in life, no matter how banal. And I like to think we all know that's not true. That's part of what David Chase taught us. ||||| Reports of Tony Soprano's non-death are apparently premature: David Chase, creator of "The Sopranos," has released a statement debunking a very long and very difficult-to-decipher piece that appeared Wednesday on Vox.com, which reported that Chase had finally confirmed that Tony — in fact — did live after the screen went blank on June 10, 2007, when 13 million (or so) viewers kicked their sets or called up their cable service to complain.
No need to go into details here — they are not interesting, trust me — but the Vox story got a blast of Internet love Wednesday because Chase had apparently sort of said that Tony did live, and not die.
While the relevance of an answer to this question has long escaped me, it still, so to speak, lives in the minds of many who for some reason just want to know.
INTERACT: New fall TV series | Greatest TV characters
MORE: Best shows to binge-watch | TV Zone blog
But like the "Friends" reunion, the answer is never gonna happen. And never should.
Here's Chase's statement:
A journalist for Vox misconstrued what David Chase said in their interview. To simply quote David as saying, “Tony Soprano is not dead,” is inaccurate. There is a much larger context for that statement and as such, it is not true. As David Chase has said numerous times on the record, “Whether Tony Soprano is alive or dead is not the point.” To continue to search for this answer is fruitless. The final scene of THE SOPRANOS raises a spiritual question that has no right or wrong answer. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 24,858 |
KATY, Texas (AP) — Authorities say a recently fired employee opened fire at a transportation company in Houston, killing one employee and injuring another before fatally shooting himself.
Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman said during a news conference Wednesday that the gunman had been fired earlier in the day, then returned with a gun to the Knight Transportation office in Katy, about 20 miles west of Houston.
Hickman says the man opened fire, killing one person and injuring another. Hickman says the man then shot himself.
The sheriff didn't release the name of the gunman or the victims.
Numerous patrol vehicles are surrounding the facility. A nearby high school is on lockdown as a precaution.
A message left with Phoenix-based Knight Transportation also wasn't immediately returned. The company provides truckload transportation services. ||||| Play Facebook
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A fired Texas trucking company worker bent on revenge returned to the office Wednesday and fatally shot a supervisor with a shotgun before he killed himself.
"You ruined my life," the worker yelled as he opened fire, Ryan Sullivan, a spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff's Department, told NBC News.
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Embed 2 Dead Texas workplace shooting 0:41 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog
That blast killed the supervisor and wounded two other workers at Knight Transportation in the Houston suburb of Katy, Sheriff Ron Hickman said earlier. Then the disgruntled worker turned the weapon on himself.
Police respond at the scene of shootings at Knight Transportation in Katy, Texas. Phil Archer / KPRC
"Other than he was terminated, we don't know anything about him," Hickman said. "He parked right outside the building and came right in."
Hickman said the man had been fired several weeks earlier and called the shooting a "retaliatory act."
"The weapons involved was a shotgun and a pistol, but only the shotgun was used," the sheriff said.
Hickman did not release the names of the dead men or the wounded workers, who were struck by debris.
Also, a deputy responding to the shooting suffered a knee injury and was taken to the hospital, the sheriff said.
A Knight Transportation official said this was the act "of a lone former employee" and that the Katy facility will be closed "pending completion of the investigation." The official also did not identify any of the workers involved in the deadly confrontation.
Meanwhile, the lockdown that had been put in place after the gunfire erupted around 8:30 a.m. was lifted at the nearby Franz Elementary School and the Morton Ranch High School.
Knight Transportation is an Arizona-based trucking company with locations around the country.
On its website, the company says it has a "fleet of over 4,000 tractors and more than 8,800 trailers" and employs nearly 5,000 "associates."
This is a developing story. Please refresh for updates. | – Authorities say a recently fired employee opened fire at a transportation company on the outskirts of Houston, killing one employee and injuring another before fatally shooting himself, the AP reports. Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman said Wednesday that the gunman had been fired earlier in the day, then returned with a gun to the Knight Transportation office in Katy, about 20 miles west of Houston. Hickman says the man opened fire, killing one person and injuring another. Hickman says the man then shot himself. The sheriff didn't release the name of the gunman or the victims. Numerous patrol vehicles surrounded the facility as police continued to search the office, while nearby schools that had been put on lockdown were eventually reopened, NBC News reports. Hickman says the weapons involved in the "retaliatory act" were a shotgun and a pistol, though the gunman apparently used only the shotgun in the shootings. Cops say the victim who survived was a Knight worker who got shot in the face with a bean bag. "Other than [the shooter] was terminated, we don't know anything about him," Hickman says. "He parked right outside the building and came right in." A message left with Phoenix-based Knight Transportation wasn't immediately returned. The company provides truckload transportation services. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.KATY, Texas (AP) — Authorities say a recently fired employee opened fire at a transportation company in Houston, killing one employee and injuring another before fatally shooting himself.
Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman said during a news conference Wednesday that the gunman had been fired earlier in the day, then returned with a gun to the Knight Transportation office in Katy, about 20 miles west of Houston.
Hickman says the man opened fire, killing one person and injuring another. Hickman says the man then shot himself.
The sheriff didn't release the name of the gunman or the victims.
Numerous patrol vehicles are surrounding the facility. A nearby high school is on lockdown as a precaution.
A message left with Phoenix-based Knight Transportation also wasn't immediately returned. The company provides truckload transportation services. ||||| Play Facebook
Twitter
Embed Two Dead, One Injured After Gunman Opens Fire at Texas Business 0:19 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog
A fired Texas trucking company worker bent on revenge returned to the office Wednesday and fatally shot a supervisor with a shotgun before he killed himself.
"You ruined my life," the worker yelled as he opened fire, Ryan Sullivan, a spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff's Department, told NBC News.
Play Facebook
Twitter
Embed 2 Dead Texas workplace shooting 0:41 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog
That blast killed the supervisor and wounded two other workers at Knight Transportation in the Houston suburb of Katy, Sheriff Ron Hickman said earlier. Then the disgruntled worker turned the weapon on himself.
Police respond at the scene of shootings at Knight Transportation in Katy, Texas. Phil Archer / KPRC
"Other than he was terminated, we don't know anything about him," Hickman said. "He parked right outside the building and came right in."
Hickman said the man had been fired several weeks earlier and called the shooting a "retaliatory act."
"The weapons involved was a shotgun and a pistol, but only the shotgun was used," the sheriff said.
Hickman did not release the names of the dead men or the wounded workers, who were struck by debris.
Also, a deputy responding to the shooting suffered a knee injury and was taken to the hospital, the sheriff said.
A Knight Transportation official said this was the act "of a lone former employee" and that the Katy facility will be closed "pending completion of the investigation." The official also did not identify any of the workers involved in the deadly confrontation.
Meanwhile, the lockdown that had been put in place after the gunfire erupted around 8:30 a.m. was lifted at the nearby Franz Elementary School and the Morton Ranch High School.
Knight Transportation is an Arizona-based trucking company with locations around the country.
On its website, the company says it has a "fleet of over 4,000 tractors and more than 8,800 trailers" and employs nearly 5,000 "associates."
This is a developing story. Please refresh for updates. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 9,607 |
PARIS (AP) — The remains of Jewish gas chamber victims subjected to Nazi anatomy experiments have been traced to a medical research facility in the western French city of Strasbourg.
A researcher discovered a World War II-era letter from the then-director of the Strasbourg Medical Institute about the experiments directed by Nazi anatomist August Hirt. The letter detailed the storage of tissue samples taken from Jews killed in gas chambers built specifically for Hirt's experiments. On July 9, the researcher, Raphael Toledano, identified the samples in test tubes and a jar in the institute's closed collection.
The Strasbourg mayor's office said Monday it hopes to return the remains to Strasbourg's Jewish community for eventual burial in the city, which sits on the border of France and Germany. ||||| AFP / Ilan Garzone
A plaque carrying names of 86 Jews, victims of Nazi professeur August Hirt, is unveiled on December 11, 2005 at the Israeli cemetery in Strasbourg-Cronenbourg
Remains belonging to victims of Nazi anatomy professor August Hirt have been found at a forensic medicine institute in eastern France, local authorities said in a statement Saturday.
Eighty-six Jews had been sent to the gas chambers in 1943 and their bodies brought to the eastern French city of Strasbourg, then under Nazi occupation and where Hirt was assembling a macabre collection of corpses.
The bodies, some intact, others dismembered or burned, were found in November 1944 after the liberation of Strasbourg, in bins filled with distilled alcohol. They were then buried in a common grave in 1946 following autopsies.
But on July 9, historian Raphael Toledano found that some remains were still lying undiscovered at the forensic medicine institute more than 70 years on.
Along with the current director of the institute Jean-Sebastien Raul, the historian managed to identify several of the body parts, including "a jar containing skin fragments of a gas chamber victim".
Test-tubes containing the intestine and stomach of a victim was also found.
The remains found at the institute had actually been preserved by a forensic professor from Strasbourg's medicine faculty, Camille Simonin, as part of an investigation into Hirt's crimes.
Simonin had been tasked by the military authorities with carrying out judicial autopsies in order to "establish the conditions that had led to the death" of the victims.
Toledano was given a clue as to the location of the remains in a letter written by Simonin in 1952, which "mentioned the jars containing the samples taken in the course of judicial autopsies carried out on the Jewish victims of the Struthof gas chamber".
"The labels identify each piece with precision and mention the register 107969, which matches the number tattooed at the Auschwitz camp on the forearm of Menachem Taffel, one of the 86 victims," said the statement announcing the bodies' discovery.
Local authorities plan to return the newly-discovered remains to the Jewish community of Strasbourg.
They will be interred along with the rest of the victims at the cemetery of Cronenbourg to the west of the Alsatian region.
Hirt committed suicide in July 1945, before the Nuremberg trials. ||||| The Germans established the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp near the town of Natzweiler, about 31 miles southwest of Strasbourg, the capital of the province of Alsace (in eastern France). It was one of the smaller concentration camps built by the Germans. Until construction was completed in May 1941, prisoners slept in the nearby former Hotel Struthof, hence the name Natzweiler-Struthof. The camp held about 1,500 prisoners. Prisoners worked in nearby granite quarries, in construction projects, and in the maintenance of the camp.
Beginning in the summer of 1943, the Germans detained many "Night and Fog" prisoners in Natzweiler-Struthof. The "Night and Fog" (Nacht und Nebel) operation represented a German attempt to subdue growing anti-German resistance in western Europe. Suspected resistance fighters were arrested and their families were not notified; the prisoners simply disappeared into the "Night and Fog." Many prisoners in the Natzweiler-Struthof camp were members of the French resistance.
In August 1943, a gas chamber was constructed in Natzweiler-Struthof in one of the buildings that had formed part of the hotel compound. The bodies of more than 80 Jewish prisoners gassed at Natzweiler-Struthof were sent to the Strasbourg University Institute of Anatomy. There, anatomist Dr. August Hirt amassed a large collection of Jewish skeletons in order to establish Jewish "racial inferiority" by means of anthropological study. The gas chamber was also used in pseudoscientific medical experiments involving poison gas. The victims of these experiments were primarily Roma (Gypsies) who had been transferred from Auschwitz. Prisoners were also subjected to experiments involving treatment for typhus and yellow fever.
In 1944, concentration camp prisoners became increasingly important in German armaments production. The Germans used prisoners throughout the Natzweiler-Struthof camp system as forced laborers to produce arms and to construct underground manufacturing facilities. (Allied air raids on industrial complexes necessitated the construction of such facilities.)
NATZWEILER-STRUTHOF SUBCAMPS
There were about 50 subcamps in the Natzweiler-Struthof camp system, located in Alsace and Lorraine as well as in the adjacent German provinces of Baden and Wuerttemberg. By the fall of 1944, there were about 7,000 prisoners in the main camp and more than 20,000 in subcamps.
THE LIBERATION OF NATZWEILER-STRUTHOF
With the approach of Allied forces in September 1944, the SS authorities evacuated the main camp at Natzweiler-Struthof and distributed the prisoners among its subcamps. In March 1945, the Germans disbanded the subcamps and sent most of the prisoners on forced evacuation marches over long distances and under brutal conditions toward the Dachau concentration camp in southern Germany.
From May 1941 to March 1945, between 19,000 and 20,000 people died in the Natzweiler-Struthof camp system. ||||| A grizzly collection of experimented-on cadavers belonging to Jewish victims of the Holocaust were discovered in Stasbourg, France, AFP quoted local officials Saturday, 70-years after their untimely deaths at the hands of the Third Reich.
Eighty-six bodies in all were acquired by Nazi anatomy professor August Hirt in 1943 after their gas chamber executions and stored in a Strasbourg medical institute for over seven decades, leading to questions of why the disturbing collection was never divulged to local authorities until now.
The bodies, some burned and dismembered, others fully intact, were originally discovered in November 1944 after Strasbourg was liberated from Nazi occupation. It was thought the bodies had been buried in a common grave following their autopsies in 1946, according to AFP.However, less than two weeks ago, historian Raphael Toledano rediscovered the remains of some of the victims, managing to identify several of the body parts, including “a jar containing skin fragments of a gas chamber victim.” Other macabre items such as test-tubes containing intestines were also found.According to Toledano's research, in light of the atrocities the Nazi regime perpetrated against European Jewry, military authorities had tasked forensic professor Camille Simonin to preserve the bodies in order to "establish the conditions that had led to [their] deaths” as part of an investigation into Hirt's crimes.Toledano was given a clue as to the location of the remains in a letter written by Simonin in 1952, which “mentioned the jars containing the samples taken in the course of judicial autopsies carried out on the Jewish victims of the Struthof gas chamber,” AFP reports.Local authorities aim to return the newly-discovered remains back to the Jewish community in Strasbourg.Hirt committed suicide in July 1945, before the Nuremberg trials. ||||| The remains of 86 Jews used for Nazi experiments by SS captain August Hirt (pictured) have been found at a laboratory in eastern France, it emerged today
The remains of 86 Jews used for Nazi experiments have been found at a laboratory in eastern France, it emerged today.
They had been killed in German gas chambers in 1943 during the Second World War Holocaust before their corpses and body parts were taken to the legal medical institute in Strasbourg.
It was thought they had been buried in a common grave in 1946, following the liberation of the city by the Allies two years earlier.
But the Strasbourg authorities confirmed many of the remains were, more than 70 years on, still being stored.
The discovery has raised serious concerns, with one organisation, which represents the UK Jewish community, stating that 'serious questions' needed to be asked.
A Board of Deputies of British Jews spokesman said: 'This discovery raises serious questions about who knew about these remains and why they did not reveal this sooner.
'We would expect a prompt and full investigation in to these matters, and the remains of these victims to be accorded a respectful burial in accordance with Jewish law as soon as possible.'
August Hirt, an SS captain and chairman of the Reich University in the city, originally built up the macabre collection.
It included ‘a jar containing skin fragments of a gas chamber victim,’ historian Raphael Toledano revealed.
Some of the bodies were cut into pieces, or burned, while all were destined to be used in experiments by scientists working for the so-called 'Master Race'.
Test-tubes containing the intestine and stomach of a victim was also found.
Most were originally found in containers full of alcohol when Strasbourg was liberated by the Allies in November 1944.
But Mr Toledano said many of the remains were then preserved by Camille Simonin, a forensics professor who was investigating Hirt.
All had been killed in German gas chambers in 1943 during the Second World War Holocaust before their corpses and body parts were taken to the legal medical institute (pictured now) in Strasbourg
All of the remains will now be released to the Jewish community in Strasbourg, so that they can be buried at the Cronenbourg Cemetery (pictured)
Simonin had been told to carry out judicial autopsies in order to ‘establish the conditions that had led to the death’ of the victims.
A letter written by Simonin in 1952 ‘mentioned the jars containing the samples taken in the course of judicial autopsies carried out on the Jewish victims of the Struthof gas chamber,’ a statement released by the institute claimed.
It added: ‘The labels identify each piece with precision and mention the register 107969, which matches the number tattooed at the Auschwitz camp on the forearm of Menachem Taffel, one of the 86 victims.'
All of the remains will now be released to the Jewish community in Strasbourg, so that they can be buried at the Cronenbourg Cemetery.
Hirt committed suicide in July 1945 before he could be tried for crimes against humanity in Nuremburg. | – A researcher who stumbled across a World War II-era letter from the director of a French medical facility made a grisly discovery based on that letter: the remains of Jewish gas-chamber victims who had been experimented on by Nazi anatomist August Hirt, the AP reports. Historian Raphael Toledano rediscovered the remains—believed to be from some of the 86 Holocaust victims acquired by Hirt in 1943 after their executions at the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp, the Jerusalem Post notes—in the Strasbourg Medical Institute's closed collection. The gruesome discoveries included "a jar containing skin fragments of a gas chamber victim," as well as test tubes with intestines and a stomach, per the AFP. The bodies had originally been found in 1944 after Strasbourg was freed from the Nazis. Some of the bodies were intact, some burned and dismembered—but it had been believed they were buried in a common grave in 1946, AFP reports. Not all the remains, apparently; AFP suggests it wasn't Hirt who had preserved the newly found remains, but a Strasbourg employee who had been told to carry out "judicial autopsies" of the victims after their 1944 discovery. The letter "mentioned the jars containing the samples taken in the course" of those autopsies. "This discovery raises serious questions about who knew about these remains and why they did not reveal this sooner," a spokesman for the Board of Deputies of British Jews says, per the Daily Mail, adding that a full investigation is warranted. Hirt killed himself in 1945 before he could be brought to Nuremberg for trial. Authorities say they'll return the victims' remains to Strasbourg's Jewish community. (In other WWII-related news, a German man has uncovered Nazi-era treasure.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.PARIS (AP) — The remains of Jewish gas chamber victims subjected to Nazi anatomy experiments have been traced to a medical research facility in the western French city of Strasbourg.
A researcher discovered a World War II-era letter from the then-director of the Strasbourg Medical Institute about the experiments directed by Nazi anatomist August Hirt. The letter detailed the storage of tissue samples taken from Jews killed in gas chambers built specifically for Hirt's experiments. On July 9, the researcher, Raphael Toledano, identified the samples in test tubes and a jar in the institute's closed collection.
The Strasbourg mayor's office said Monday it hopes to return the remains to Strasbourg's Jewish community for eventual burial in the city, which sits on the border of France and Germany. ||||| AFP / Ilan Garzone
A plaque carrying names of 86 Jews, victims of Nazi professeur August Hirt, is unveiled on December 11, 2005 at the Israeli cemetery in Strasbourg-Cronenbourg
Remains belonging to victims of Nazi anatomy professor August Hirt have been found at a forensic medicine institute in eastern France, local authorities said in a statement Saturday.
Eighty-six Jews had been sent to the gas chambers in 1943 and their bodies brought to the eastern French city of Strasbourg, then under Nazi occupation and where Hirt was assembling a macabre collection of corpses.
The bodies, some intact, others dismembered or burned, were found in November 1944 after the liberation of Strasbourg, in bins filled with distilled alcohol. They were then buried in a common grave in 1946 following autopsies.
But on July 9, historian Raphael Toledano found that some remains were still lying undiscovered at the forensic medicine institute more than 70 years on.
Along with the current director of the institute Jean-Sebastien Raul, the historian managed to identify several of the body parts, including "a jar containing skin fragments of a gas chamber victim".
Test-tubes containing the intestine and stomach of a victim was also found.
The remains found at the institute had actually been preserved by a forensic professor from Strasbourg's medicine faculty, Camille Simonin, as part of an investigation into Hirt's crimes.
Simonin had been tasked by the military authorities with carrying out judicial autopsies in order to "establish the conditions that had led to the death" of the victims.
Toledano was given a clue as to the location of the remains in a letter written by Simonin in 1952, which "mentioned the jars containing the samples taken in the course of judicial autopsies carried out on the Jewish victims of the Struthof gas chamber".
"The labels identify each piece with precision and mention the register 107969, which matches the number tattooed at the Auschwitz camp on the forearm of Menachem Taffel, one of the 86 victims," said the statement announcing the bodies' discovery.
Local authorities plan to return the newly-discovered remains to the Jewish community of Strasbourg.
They will be interred along with the rest of the victims at the cemetery of Cronenbourg to the west of the Alsatian region.
Hirt committed suicide in July 1945, before the Nuremberg trials. ||||| The Germans established the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp near the town of Natzweiler, about 31 miles southwest of Strasbourg, the capital of the province of Alsace (in eastern France). It was one of the smaller concentration camps built by the Germans. Until construction was completed in May 1941, prisoners slept in the nearby former Hotel Struthof, hence the name Natzweiler-Struthof. The camp held about 1,500 prisoners. Prisoners worked in nearby granite quarries, in construction projects, and in the maintenance of the camp.
Beginning in the summer of 1943, the Germans detained many "Night and Fog" prisoners in Natzweiler-Struthof. The "Night and Fog" (Nacht und Nebel) operation represented a German attempt to subdue growing anti-German resistance in western Europe. Suspected resistance fighters were arrested and their families were not notified; the prisoners simply disappeared into the "Night and Fog." Many prisoners in the Natzweiler-Struthof camp were members of the French resistance.
In August 1943, a gas chamber was constructed in Natzweiler-Struthof in one of the buildings that had formed part of the hotel compound. The bodies of more than 80 Jewish prisoners gassed at Natzweiler-Struthof were sent to the Strasbourg University Institute of Anatomy. There, anatomist Dr. August Hirt amassed a large collection of Jewish skeletons in order to establish Jewish "racial inferiority" by means of anthropological study. The gas chamber was also used in pseudoscientific medical experiments involving poison gas. The victims of these experiments were primarily Roma (Gypsies) who had been transferred from Auschwitz. Prisoners were also subjected to experiments involving treatment for typhus and yellow fever.
In 1944, concentration camp prisoners became increasingly important in German armaments production. The Germans used prisoners throughout the Natzweiler-Struthof camp system as forced laborers to produce arms and to construct underground manufacturing facilities. (Allied air raids on industrial complexes necessitated the construction of such facilities.)
NATZWEILER-STRUTHOF SUBCAMPS
There were about 50 subcamps in the Natzweiler-Struthof camp system, located in Alsace and Lorraine as well as in the adjacent German provinces of Baden and Wuerttemberg. By the fall of 1944, there were about 7,000 prisoners in the main camp and more than 20,000 in subcamps.
THE LIBERATION OF NATZWEILER-STRUTHOF
With the approach of Allied forces in September 1944, the SS authorities evacuated the main camp at Natzweiler-Struthof and distributed the prisoners among its subcamps. In March 1945, the Germans disbanded the subcamps and sent most of the prisoners on forced evacuation marches over long distances and under brutal conditions toward the Dachau concentration camp in southern Germany.
From May 1941 to March 1945, between 19,000 and 20,000 people died in the Natzweiler-Struthof camp system. ||||| A grizzly collection of experimented-on cadavers belonging to Jewish victims of the Holocaust were discovered in Stasbourg, France, AFP quoted local officials Saturday, 70-years after their untimely deaths at the hands of the Third Reich.
Eighty-six bodies in all were acquired by Nazi anatomy professor August Hirt in 1943 after their gas chamber executions and stored in a Strasbourg medical institute for over seven decades, leading to questions of why the disturbing collection was never divulged to local authorities until now.
The bodies, some burned and dismembered, others fully intact, were originally discovered in November 1944 after Strasbourg was liberated from Nazi occupation. It was thought the bodies had been buried in a common grave following their autopsies in 1946, according to AFP.However, less than two weeks ago, historian Raphael Toledano rediscovered the remains of some of the victims, managing to identify several of the body parts, including “a jar containing skin fragments of a gas chamber victim.” Other macabre items such as test-tubes containing intestines were also found.According to Toledano's research, in light of the atrocities the Nazi regime perpetrated against European Jewry, military authorities had tasked forensic professor Camille Simonin to preserve the bodies in order to "establish the conditions that had led to [their] deaths” as part of an investigation into Hirt's crimes.Toledano was given a clue as to the location of the remains in a letter written by Simonin in 1952, which “mentioned the jars containing the samples taken in the course of judicial autopsies carried out on the Jewish victims of the Struthof gas chamber,” AFP reports.Local authorities aim to return the newly-discovered remains back to the Jewish community in Strasbourg.Hirt committed suicide in July 1945, before the Nuremberg trials. ||||| The remains of 86 Jews used for Nazi experiments by SS captain August Hirt (pictured) have been found at a laboratory in eastern France, it emerged today
The remains of 86 Jews used for Nazi experiments have been found at a laboratory in eastern France, it emerged today.
They had been killed in German gas chambers in 1943 during the Second World War Holocaust before their corpses and body parts were taken to the legal medical institute in Strasbourg.
It was thought they had been buried in a common grave in 1946, following the liberation of the city by the Allies two years earlier.
But the Strasbourg authorities confirmed many of the remains were, more than 70 years on, still being stored.
The discovery has raised serious concerns, with one organisation, which represents the UK Jewish community, stating that 'serious questions' needed to be asked.
A Board of Deputies of British Jews spokesman said: 'This discovery raises serious questions about who knew about these remains and why they did not reveal this sooner.
'We would expect a prompt and full investigation in to these matters, and the remains of these victims to be accorded a respectful burial in accordance with Jewish law as soon as possible.'
August Hirt, an SS captain and chairman of the Reich University in the city, originally built up the macabre collection.
It included ‘a jar containing skin fragments of a gas chamber victim,’ historian Raphael Toledano revealed.
Some of the bodies were cut into pieces, or burned, while all were destined to be used in experiments by scientists working for the so-called 'Master Race'.
Test-tubes containing the intestine and stomach of a victim was also found.
Most were originally found in containers full of alcohol when Strasbourg was liberated by the Allies in November 1944.
But Mr Toledano said many of the remains were then preserved by Camille Simonin, a forensics professor who was investigating Hirt.
All had been killed in German gas chambers in 1943 during the Second World War Holocaust before their corpses and body parts were taken to the legal medical institute (pictured now) in Strasbourg
All of the remains will now be released to the Jewish community in Strasbourg, so that they can be buried at the Cronenbourg Cemetery (pictured)
Simonin had been told to carry out judicial autopsies in order to ‘establish the conditions that had led to the death’ of the victims.
A letter written by Simonin in 1952 ‘mentioned the jars containing the samples taken in the course of judicial autopsies carried out on the Jewish victims of the Struthof gas chamber,’ a statement released by the institute claimed.
It added: ‘The labels identify each piece with precision and mention the register 107969, which matches the number tattooed at the Auschwitz camp on the forearm of Menachem Taffel, one of the 86 victims.'
All of the remains will now be released to the Jewish community in Strasbourg, so that they can be buried at the Cronenbourg Cemetery.
Hirt committed suicide in July 1945 before he could be tried for crimes against humanity in Nuremburg. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 30,695 |
Cable and telephone companies are urging the Federal Communications Commission to ease off its proposal to help municipalities offer Internet service, arguing the agency lacks the authority to override state rules.
Lobbyists for the industry made their case after FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler earlier this year suggested the federal government could override laws passed by some states that prevent local governments from setting up broadband... ||||| The US telecoms industry called on the Federal Communications Commission on Friday to block two cities’ plans to expand high-speed internet services to their residents.
USTelecom, which represents telecoms giants Verizon, AT&T and others, wants the FCC to block expansion of two popular municipally owned high-speed internet networks, one in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the other in Wilson, North Carolina.
“The success of public broadband is a mixed record, with numerous examples of failures,” USTelecom said in a blogpost. “With state taxpayers on the financial hook when a municipal broadband network goes under, it is entirely reasonable for state legislatures to be cautious in limiting or even prohibiting that activity.”
Chattanooga has the largest high-speed internet service in the US, offering customers access to speeds of 1 gigabit per second – about 50 times faster than the US average. The service, provided by municipally owned EPB, has sparked a tech boom in the city and attracted international attention. EPB is now petitioning the FCC to expand its territory. Comcast and other companies have previously sued unsuccessfully to stop EPB’s fibre optic roll out.
Wilson, a town of a little more than 49,000 people, launched Greenlight, its own service offering high-speed internet, after complaints about the cost and quality of Time Warner cable’s service. Time Warner lobbied the North Carolina senate to outlaw the service and similar municipal efforts.
USTelecom claims the FCC has no legal standing over the proposed expansions and does not have the power to preempt the North Carolina and Tennessee statutes that would prevent them.
“States have adopted a wide range of legislative approaches on how much authority they give local governments to build, own and operate broadband networks. Some states require an election or public hearings before a public project can move forward. Others ask for competitive bids, and still others put restrictions on the terms of service so the public entities bear the same regulatory burdens as private service providers,” said USTelecom.
“States are well within their rights to impose these restrictions, given the potential impact on taxpayers if public projects are not carefully planned and weighed against existing private investment.”
In January this year, the FCC issued the “Gigabit City Challenge”, calling on providers to offer gigabit service in at least one community in each state by 2015. The challenge has come amid intense lobbying from cable and telecoms firms to stop municipal rivals and new competitors including Google from building and expanding high speed networks.
In a statement EPB said: “Communities should have the right – at the local level – to determine their broadband futures.
“The private sector didn’t want to serve everyone, but public power companies like EPB were established to make sure that everyone had access to this critical infrastructure. ”
• This article was amended on 30 August 2014. Comcast is not a member of USTelecom, as was stated, and has not filed comments in the FCC proceeding to which the article refers.
||||| A group representing giants in the cable industry is trying to shut down two municipalities' proposals to expand their public broadband networks, arguing that public broadband has a "mixed record" and can be harmful to taxpayers, despite these two networks already being successful where they're already operational. Laws in 20 states prevent municipalities from creating their own broadband networks — much to the pleasure of private cable companies, which have shown an impressive dedication to avoiding any competition and any suggestion that their service is merely a utility. Municipalities have on occasion created their own public networks to make up for shortcomings from local internet providers, and it's easy to see why private providers wouldn't want that around.
Chattanooga offers gigabit internet. Yes, gigabit.
The two municipalities, those of Chattanooga, TN, and Wilson, NC, have petitioned the FCC to allow them to work around state laws that block their broadband service's expansion. The FCC has previously said that it plans to use its powers to invalidate these laws, but there's some contention over whether it can do that. In a filing and blog post today, USTelecom — which the Guardian says represents Comcast and Time Warner Cable, among other industry giants — argues that the FCC doesn't have the power to do this. That's hardly the only reason that USTelecom provides for why these municipalities should remain blocked, however, generally arguing that it should be up to the state to decide. For what it's worth, state governors are in agreement. The National Governors Association also submitted a comment on Friday asking that the FCC "honor the longstanding partnership between states and the federal government" and reject these two municipalities' petitions.
While USTelecom is right that some public broadband networks have turned into blunders, many have been incredibly successful and have actually proven to be legitimate competitors to private networks. In fact, Chattanooga offers gigabit internet to every home and business in its community — a speed that's still incredibly rare to see from private providers in the US. Community Broadband Networks says that 40 communities in 13 states are currently offering gigabit service.
With the FCC having said that it will allow municipal broadband networks to work around these laws, it seems that the cable companies may have an uphill battle. Still, it's not clear when the FCC will find time to rule on this — and, if the cable industry loses, it wouldn't be surprising to see it continue the fight from there. ||||| The success of public broadband is a mixed record, with numerous examples of failures — from St. Cloud, Fla. and Groton City, Conn., to Philadelphia and the Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Agency (“UTOPIA”). With state taxpayers on the financial hook when a municipal broadband network goes under, it is entirely reasonable for state legislatures to be cautious in limiting or even prohibiting that activity.
For this and other reasons, USTelecom opposes the petitions filed by the city of Wilson, N.C., and the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga, Tenn., asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to preempt state laws restricting public entities from offering broadband service. The FCC should not interfere with state decisions on how best to extend broadband service.
States have adopted a wide range of legislative approaches on how much authority they give local governments to build, own and operate broadband networks. Some states require an election or public hearings before a public project can move forward. Others ask for competitive bids, and still others put restrictions on the terms of service so the public entities bear the same regulatory burdens as private service providers.
States are well within their rights to impose these restrictions, given the potential impact on taxpayers if public projects are not carefully planned and weighed against existing private investment.
Municipal broadband is often hailed as the solution to providing service in difficult to build areas where it’s been hard to attract private investment. But municipal broadband is not the only or the most efficient way to do this. The FCC’s Connect America Fund (CAF), which is just getting off the ground, is dedicated to serving rural America. The CAF program is focused on stimulating investment by providing public funds for broadband in areas where there is no business case. In contrast to municipal broadband networks, which can undermine competition and saddle local communities with significant debt if such networks fail, the CAF offers an efficient, rational means of helping to expand broadband access to all Americans.
The commission has the power to preempt state laws under appropriate circumstances. However, Supreme Court precedent requires a clear and unambiguous statement of congressional intent in order to interfere with the relationship between states and their political subdivisions. Because the commission lacks this clear intent under Section 706 of the Communications Act, the FCC does not have the power to preempt the North Carolina and Tennessee statutes.
The FCC could make positive use of its preemption authority to facilitate broadband deployment at the local level by removing barriers to entry, specifically around local rights of way. These barriers, which can include the expense of obtaining permits and leasing pole attachments, can amount to 20 percent of the cost of fiber optic deployment, according to the National Broadband Plan.
Read the comments here. | – Municipalities, take note: A group representing cable giants like Time Warner and Comcast is pressing US officials to stop two cities from expanding high-speed Internet services, the Guardian reports. Those cities—Chattanooga, TN, and Wilson, NC—are already providing unusually fast 1GB-per-second service to residents. Chattanooga's broadband helped trigger a tech boom, and Wilson's reached people who were complaining about the quality and cost of Time Warner service. Now each city wants to expand service into a wider area, the Wall Street Journal reports. US Telecom's lobbyists are urging the FCC not to let cities work around laws designed to protect private broadband companies (20 states have such laws, the Verge notes). US Telecom is also arguing in a blog that public broadband has "a mixed record, with numerous examples of failures"—and it's true that a group of Utah towns had to sell its service to Google for $1 after failing to make enough money. So, is municipal broadband anti-competitive? Cable companies say subsidies give cities an unfair leg up, while cities argue that they are improving competition in their areas. (On the lighter side, read about the Comcast "call from hell.") | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Cable and telephone companies are urging the Federal Communications Commission to ease off its proposal to help municipalities offer Internet service, arguing the agency lacks the authority to override state rules.
Lobbyists for the industry made their case after FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler earlier this year suggested the federal government could override laws passed by some states that prevent local governments from setting up broadband... ||||| The US telecoms industry called on the Federal Communications Commission on Friday to block two cities’ plans to expand high-speed internet services to their residents.
USTelecom, which represents telecoms giants Verizon, AT&T and others, wants the FCC to block expansion of two popular municipally owned high-speed internet networks, one in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the other in Wilson, North Carolina.
“The success of public broadband is a mixed record, with numerous examples of failures,” USTelecom said in a blogpost. “With state taxpayers on the financial hook when a municipal broadband network goes under, it is entirely reasonable for state legislatures to be cautious in limiting or even prohibiting that activity.”
Chattanooga has the largest high-speed internet service in the US, offering customers access to speeds of 1 gigabit per second – about 50 times faster than the US average. The service, provided by municipally owned EPB, has sparked a tech boom in the city and attracted international attention. EPB is now petitioning the FCC to expand its territory. Comcast and other companies have previously sued unsuccessfully to stop EPB’s fibre optic roll out.
Wilson, a town of a little more than 49,000 people, launched Greenlight, its own service offering high-speed internet, after complaints about the cost and quality of Time Warner cable’s service. Time Warner lobbied the North Carolina senate to outlaw the service and similar municipal efforts.
USTelecom claims the FCC has no legal standing over the proposed expansions and does not have the power to preempt the North Carolina and Tennessee statutes that would prevent them.
“States have adopted a wide range of legislative approaches on how much authority they give local governments to build, own and operate broadband networks. Some states require an election or public hearings before a public project can move forward. Others ask for competitive bids, and still others put restrictions on the terms of service so the public entities bear the same regulatory burdens as private service providers,” said USTelecom.
“States are well within their rights to impose these restrictions, given the potential impact on taxpayers if public projects are not carefully planned and weighed against existing private investment.”
In January this year, the FCC issued the “Gigabit City Challenge”, calling on providers to offer gigabit service in at least one community in each state by 2015. The challenge has come amid intense lobbying from cable and telecoms firms to stop municipal rivals and new competitors including Google from building and expanding high speed networks.
In a statement EPB said: “Communities should have the right – at the local level – to determine their broadband futures.
“The private sector didn’t want to serve everyone, but public power companies like EPB were established to make sure that everyone had access to this critical infrastructure. ”
• This article was amended on 30 August 2014. Comcast is not a member of USTelecom, as was stated, and has not filed comments in the FCC proceeding to which the article refers.
||||| A group representing giants in the cable industry is trying to shut down two municipalities' proposals to expand their public broadband networks, arguing that public broadband has a "mixed record" and can be harmful to taxpayers, despite these two networks already being successful where they're already operational. Laws in 20 states prevent municipalities from creating their own broadband networks — much to the pleasure of private cable companies, which have shown an impressive dedication to avoiding any competition and any suggestion that their service is merely a utility. Municipalities have on occasion created their own public networks to make up for shortcomings from local internet providers, and it's easy to see why private providers wouldn't want that around.
Chattanooga offers gigabit internet. Yes, gigabit.
The two municipalities, those of Chattanooga, TN, and Wilson, NC, have petitioned the FCC to allow them to work around state laws that block their broadband service's expansion. The FCC has previously said that it plans to use its powers to invalidate these laws, but there's some contention over whether it can do that. In a filing and blog post today, USTelecom — which the Guardian says represents Comcast and Time Warner Cable, among other industry giants — argues that the FCC doesn't have the power to do this. That's hardly the only reason that USTelecom provides for why these municipalities should remain blocked, however, generally arguing that it should be up to the state to decide. For what it's worth, state governors are in agreement. The National Governors Association also submitted a comment on Friday asking that the FCC "honor the longstanding partnership between states and the federal government" and reject these two municipalities' petitions.
While USTelecom is right that some public broadband networks have turned into blunders, many have been incredibly successful and have actually proven to be legitimate competitors to private networks. In fact, Chattanooga offers gigabit internet to every home and business in its community — a speed that's still incredibly rare to see from private providers in the US. Community Broadband Networks says that 40 communities in 13 states are currently offering gigabit service.
With the FCC having said that it will allow municipal broadband networks to work around these laws, it seems that the cable companies may have an uphill battle. Still, it's not clear when the FCC will find time to rule on this — and, if the cable industry loses, it wouldn't be surprising to see it continue the fight from there. ||||| The success of public broadband is a mixed record, with numerous examples of failures — from St. Cloud, Fla. and Groton City, Conn., to Philadelphia and the Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Agency (“UTOPIA”). With state taxpayers on the financial hook when a municipal broadband network goes under, it is entirely reasonable for state legislatures to be cautious in limiting or even prohibiting that activity.
For this and other reasons, USTelecom opposes the petitions filed by the city of Wilson, N.C., and the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga, Tenn., asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to preempt state laws restricting public entities from offering broadband service. The FCC should not interfere with state decisions on how best to extend broadband service.
States have adopted a wide range of legislative approaches on how much authority they give local governments to build, own and operate broadband networks. Some states require an election or public hearings before a public project can move forward. Others ask for competitive bids, and still others put restrictions on the terms of service so the public entities bear the same regulatory burdens as private service providers.
States are well within their rights to impose these restrictions, given the potential impact on taxpayers if public projects are not carefully planned and weighed against existing private investment.
Municipal broadband is often hailed as the solution to providing service in difficult to build areas where it’s been hard to attract private investment. But municipal broadband is not the only or the most efficient way to do this. The FCC’s Connect America Fund (CAF), which is just getting off the ground, is dedicated to serving rural America. The CAF program is focused on stimulating investment by providing public funds for broadband in areas where there is no business case. In contrast to municipal broadband networks, which can undermine competition and saddle local communities with significant debt if such networks fail, the CAF offers an efficient, rational means of helping to expand broadband access to all Americans.
The commission has the power to preempt state laws under appropriate circumstances. However, Supreme Court precedent requires a clear and unambiguous statement of congressional intent in order to interfere with the relationship between states and their political subdivisions. Because the commission lacks this clear intent under Section 706 of the Communications Act, the FCC does not have the power to preempt the North Carolina and Tennessee statutes.
The FCC could make positive use of its preemption authority to facilitate broadband deployment at the local level by removing barriers to entry, specifically around local rights of way. These barriers, which can include the expense of obtaining permits and leasing pole attachments, can amount to 20 percent of the cost of fiber optic deployment, according to the National Broadband Plan.
Read the comments here. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 43,658 |
Its offices have been firebombed, its website hacked, its Facebook page suspended for 24 hours and its staff targeted with death threats, so you might have thought the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo would have tried – just for a while – to avoid upsetting anyone.
Mais non! After provoking all the above with last week's special edition "guest edited" by the prophet Muhammad, entitled Charia Hebdo, which took pot-shots at radical Islam, the publication is set to raise a few more hackles with this week's edition, published on Wednesday.
On the front page of the latest edition is a drawing of a male Charlie Hebdo cartoonist passionately kissing a bearded Muslim man, under the headline: L'Amour plus fort que la haine (love is stronger than hate).
In the background of the cartoon, signed Luz, are the ashes of the magazine's offices, completely destroyed in the Molotov cocktail attack last week.
Unlike the previous edition, which featured a front page carton of the prophet and a speech bubble reading "100 lashes if you don't die of laughter", there is no suggestion that the character on the magazine cover is Muhammad.
After the firebombing, French Muslim groups who had been highly critical of Charlie Hebdo, condemned the destruction of its offices. Dalil Boubakeur head of the Paris Mosque, told journalists: "I am extremely attached to the freedom of the press, even if the press is not always tender with Muslims, Islam or the Paris Mosque".
The editor of Charlie Hebdo, Stéphane Charbonnier, said at the time: "We thought the lines had moved and maybe there would be more respect for our satirical work, our right to mock. Freedom to have a good laugh is as important as freedom of speech."
Since then, the magazine's staff have been given a temporary home in the offices of France's leading leftwing daily newspaper Libération, which has also been subject to threats from the Turkish hackers who are said to have pirated Charlie Hebdo's site.
Luz, the cartoonist, refused to condemn extremists for the attack.
"Let's be cautious. There's every reason to believe it's the work of fundamentalists, but it could just as well be the work of two drunks," he wrote afterwards. ||||| Last week, the editorial offices of French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo were firebombed after the release of an issue "guest edited" by Muhammed. ("100 lashes if you don't die of laughter!" said the cartoon Muhammed on the cover.)
The magazine's website was taken over shortly after that by a Turkish hackers group, who left a threatening message reading, "You keep abusing Islam's almighty Prophet with disgusting and disgraceful cartoons using excuses of freedom of speech...Be God's Curse On You! We Will be Your Curse on Cyber World!" Politicians and the media came out in support of the magazine's right to free speech, while French Muslim groups decried racism. Amidst it all and against all odds, the newly homeless Hebdo got its next issue out on schedule. Yup! There it is, the new cover, right above us. This is not going to end well.
As you can see with your own, God-fearing eyes, it features a cartoon likeness of the magazine's editor engaged in a sloppy, drool-y, open-mouthed kiss with — well, you know. We don't really need to say his name, do we? Fine — with Muhammed.* Above the two reads the headline: "Love is stronger than hate." Which is very true! But hate typically makes for more spectacular acts of retribution. We'll just wait this one out way over here, completing a word jumble in a perfectly uncontroversial issue of Highlights magazine.
*Several of you have pointed out that the headwear/shorter beard/slight tweaks to the angle and scale of the hooknose might suggest that the figure involved in a passionate, man-on-frog liplock is in fact just a devout Muslim, and not Muhammed himself. It's a perfectly plausible theory, and we certainly didn't mean to fan the flames of controversy any further by misrepresenting it as such. Adjust your Holy War Fantasy League pools accordingly. [Business Insider, Image via Charlie Hebdo] | – Remember the boundary-busting French satirical newspaper that was firebombed for making the Prophet Mohammed a "guest editor"? Journalists toned down the controversy this time around—not. In fact, right on the cover, a Muslim is planting a big, slobbery kiss on a figure representing the publication, Charlie Hebdo. Above the embrace are the words: "Love is stronger than hate." The Guardian says the paper "isn't holding back," while Gawker—convinced the Muslim is a "gay Mohammad" (though he's not in the garb of the prophet)—calls it the "ballsiest paper in the world." Charlie Hebdo's editor said after the firebombing that "freedom to have a good laugh is as important as freedom of speech." The French, including some Muslim leaders, have strongly supported the publication, which is now operating out of the offices of the left-wing Paris newspaper Liberation. "I am extremely attached to the freedom of the press, even if the press is not always tender with Muslims, Islam, or the Paris Mosque," said the head of the Paris Mosque. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Its offices have been firebombed, its website hacked, its Facebook page suspended for 24 hours and its staff targeted with death threats, so you might have thought the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo would have tried – just for a while – to avoid upsetting anyone.
Mais non! After provoking all the above with last week's special edition "guest edited" by the prophet Muhammad, entitled Charia Hebdo, which took pot-shots at radical Islam, the publication is set to raise a few more hackles with this week's edition, published on Wednesday.
On the front page of the latest edition is a drawing of a male Charlie Hebdo cartoonist passionately kissing a bearded Muslim man, under the headline: L'Amour plus fort que la haine (love is stronger than hate).
In the background of the cartoon, signed Luz, are the ashes of the magazine's offices, completely destroyed in the Molotov cocktail attack last week.
Unlike the previous edition, which featured a front page carton of the prophet and a speech bubble reading "100 lashes if you don't die of laughter", there is no suggestion that the character on the magazine cover is Muhammad.
After the firebombing, French Muslim groups who had been highly critical of Charlie Hebdo, condemned the destruction of its offices. Dalil Boubakeur head of the Paris Mosque, told journalists: "I am extremely attached to the freedom of the press, even if the press is not always tender with Muslims, Islam or the Paris Mosque".
The editor of Charlie Hebdo, Stéphane Charbonnier, said at the time: "We thought the lines had moved and maybe there would be more respect for our satirical work, our right to mock. Freedom to have a good laugh is as important as freedom of speech."
Since then, the magazine's staff have been given a temporary home in the offices of France's leading leftwing daily newspaper Libération, which has also been subject to threats from the Turkish hackers who are said to have pirated Charlie Hebdo's site.
Luz, the cartoonist, refused to condemn extremists for the attack.
"Let's be cautious. There's every reason to believe it's the work of fundamentalists, but it could just as well be the work of two drunks," he wrote afterwards. ||||| Last week, the editorial offices of French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo were firebombed after the release of an issue "guest edited" by Muhammed. ("100 lashes if you don't die of laughter!" said the cartoon Muhammed on the cover.)
The magazine's website was taken over shortly after that by a Turkish hackers group, who left a threatening message reading, "You keep abusing Islam's almighty Prophet with disgusting and disgraceful cartoons using excuses of freedom of speech...Be God's Curse On You! We Will be Your Curse on Cyber World!" Politicians and the media came out in support of the magazine's right to free speech, while French Muslim groups decried racism. Amidst it all and against all odds, the newly homeless Hebdo got its next issue out on schedule. Yup! There it is, the new cover, right above us. This is not going to end well.
As you can see with your own, God-fearing eyes, it features a cartoon likeness of the magazine's editor engaged in a sloppy, drool-y, open-mouthed kiss with — well, you know. We don't really need to say his name, do we? Fine — with Muhammed.* Above the two reads the headline: "Love is stronger than hate." Which is very true! But hate typically makes for more spectacular acts of retribution. We'll just wait this one out way over here, completing a word jumble in a perfectly uncontroversial issue of Highlights magazine.
*Several of you have pointed out that the headwear/shorter beard/slight tweaks to the angle and scale of the hooknose might suggest that the figure involved in a passionate, man-on-frog liplock is in fact just a devout Muslim, and not Muhammed himself. It's a perfectly plausible theory, and we certainly didn't mean to fan the flames of controversy any further by misrepresenting it as such. Adjust your Holy War Fantasy League pools accordingly. [Business Insider, Image via Charlie Hebdo] | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 35 |
Matthew Howard Sr. and his family were leaving Six Flags Great Escape on Saturday night when his youngest daughter, Hayzel, stopped to dance with park staff to “Party Rock Anthem.”
A short distance away, Howard saw what he thought were long legs dangling from the Sky Ride gondola attraction, but he realized it was actually a young girl, hanging from the ride.
Howard and his daughter, Leeann Winchell, made their way underneath the gondola car and called out to the girl, trying to calm her down and reassure her they’d catch her. Moments later, the girl dropped 25 feet, into their arms. She sustained no serious injuries.
“God dropped an angel, and I caught her,” said Howard, a 47-year-old Schenectady resident.
Emergency responders arrived at the Queensbury theme park about 8:05 p.m. Saturday after receiving a call that a 14-year-old girl fell from the Sky Ride. She was taken to Glens Falls Hospital, and later Albany Medical Center, where she remained Sunday.
Recalling the incident Sunday afternoon, Winchell, 21, said it still breaks her heart to watch the videos, which surfaced online Saturday evening and have since received millions of views.
An initial investigation determined everything on the ride was in proper working order, and the state Department of Labor cleared the Sky Ride for operation Sunday morning. However, it remained closed Sunday while the park conducts an internal review, spokeswoman Rebecca Wood said.
Howard and his family took a trip to the Great Escape on Saturday, a common occurrence for the group, which often buys season passes. On their way toward the exits, his daughter Hayzel, 4, stopped to dance with Six Flags staff.
“If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have been there,” Howard said.
He saw the girl — a resident of Greenwood, Delaware, who has not been identified — clinging to the ride and to a younger relative also in the car. Video shows the gondola continued moving for a short time before a park attendant signaled to an operator to stop the ride.
A crowd began to form, with dozens of people capturing the moment on video.
Even Howard took out his phone at first, he admitted, but quickly handed it to one of his three daughters.
“I just couldn’t stand there,” he said. “I thought if I got in there, at least we could do something.”
Howard and Winchell were two of only a few people who positioned themselves to catch the girl. Another man climbed into a nearby tree to see if he could reach the girl. When it became clear that wasn’t an option, he began talking to the girl to try to calm her, and to clear branches out of her path should she fall.
Howard called out, trying to assure the girl he’d catch her if she dropped, unsure if she would trust him, he said.
On video, the girl can be seen trying to wriggle free, her neck apparently stuck in the lap bar. She dropped into the crowd seconds later, with Howard and Winchell breaking her fall.
“I didn’t care if I got hurt, this young girl has a whole life to live ahead of her,” said Winchell, who lives in Colonie. “I just wanted to make sure she was safe.”
The young girl appeared to be unconscious as she was taken away by medical personnel, first to be treated at the park, and later at the hospital.
Howard, who can be seen in the video wearing a white T-shirt, was knocked to the ground by the impact. He got up a bit dizzy, and was taken to Glens Falls Hospital for testing, but was released after about an hour, he said.
In hindsight, Howard suggested the ride should not have been stopped. The girl was hanging on well enough he felt they could have left it running for her to make it to a nearby platform, about a football field away, he said.
However, he and Winchell acknowledged it was likely difficult for park staff to communicate quickly in the heat of the moment.
“There’s a lot of negativity going on about this, that it’s the girl’s fault, it’s Six Flags’ fault, it’s security’s fault,” Howard said. “Everybody did what they could. I don’t want to see security get blamed. Who gets trained to have someone jump into their arms?”
All rides have a standard evacuation plan, said Wood, the park spokeswoman. Each spring, in partnership with local emergency personnel, the park conducts an evacuation drill on the Sky Ride, she said.
“Every situation is unique and requires the appropriate time and tools for the evacuation,” Wood said in a statement. “We are reviewing our internal procedures to ensure the safety and security of our guests and team members."
The Sky Ride is described as “a mellow-paced ride with an awesome view,” reaching heights of more than 20 feet, according to the Great Escape website.
Howard and Winchell stopped by Albany Medical Center on Sunday morning to check on the girl, they said. They didn’t stay long, but said she was in some pain, but good spirits overall.
They’re hopeful the public will leave the young girl and her family alone to heal, they said.
“At the end of the day, whatever happened, we saved this girl’s life, and now she’s got a second chance,” Winchell said. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. | – After a 14-year-old fell some 25 feet from a gondola ride and onto the crowd below at Six Flags Great Escape in New York on Saturday, park officials said they hadn't uncovered any malfunction that would have precipitated her fall. Now police are saying much the same. Though the Post-Star reports police as of Monday morning hadn't interviewed the Delaware girl or her brother, who accompanied her on the ride, they believe "human error" is to blame. While it remains unclear precisely what happened, the paper provides two scenarios: "It appeared that she was either not paying proper attention or was fooling around to slide underneath the bar." With her neck apparently stuck initially, she freed herself and let go.The crowd broke her fall, and it could have been a higher one: The paper reports that toward the end of the ride, the seats get a good deal higher off the ground. The Daily Gazette talks to Matthew Howard, who apparently bore the brunt of the teen's weight and fell to the ground as he did so. "God dropped an angel, and I caught her," he says. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Matthew Howard Sr. and his family were leaving Six Flags Great Escape on Saturday night when his youngest daughter, Hayzel, stopped to dance with park staff to “Party Rock Anthem.”
A short distance away, Howard saw what he thought were long legs dangling from the Sky Ride gondola attraction, but he realized it was actually a young girl, hanging from the ride.
Howard and his daughter, Leeann Winchell, made their way underneath the gondola car and called out to the girl, trying to calm her down and reassure her they’d catch her. Moments later, the girl dropped 25 feet, into their arms. She sustained no serious injuries.
“God dropped an angel, and I caught her,” said Howard, a 47-year-old Schenectady resident.
Emergency responders arrived at the Queensbury theme park about 8:05 p.m. Saturday after receiving a call that a 14-year-old girl fell from the Sky Ride. She was taken to Glens Falls Hospital, and later Albany Medical Center, where she remained Sunday.
Recalling the incident Sunday afternoon, Winchell, 21, said it still breaks her heart to watch the videos, which surfaced online Saturday evening and have since received millions of views.
An initial investigation determined everything on the ride was in proper working order, and the state Department of Labor cleared the Sky Ride for operation Sunday morning. However, it remained closed Sunday while the park conducts an internal review, spokeswoman Rebecca Wood said.
Howard and his family took a trip to the Great Escape on Saturday, a common occurrence for the group, which often buys season passes. On their way toward the exits, his daughter Hayzel, 4, stopped to dance with Six Flags staff.
“If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have been there,” Howard said.
He saw the girl — a resident of Greenwood, Delaware, who has not been identified — clinging to the ride and to a younger relative also in the car. Video shows the gondola continued moving for a short time before a park attendant signaled to an operator to stop the ride.
A crowd began to form, with dozens of people capturing the moment on video.
Even Howard took out his phone at first, he admitted, but quickly handed it to one of his three daughters.
“I just couldn’t stand there,” he said. “I thought if I got in there, at least we could do something.”
Howard and Winchell were two of only a few people who positioned themselves to catch the girl. Another man climbed into a nearby tree to see if he could reach the girl. When it became clear that wasn’t an option, he began talking to the girl to try to calm her, and to clear branches out of her path should she fall.
Howard called out, trying to assure the girl he’d catch her if she dropped, unsure if she would trust him, he said.
On video, the girl can be seen trying to wriggle free, her neck apparently stuck in the lap bar. She dropped into the crowd seconds later, with Howard and Winchell breaking her fall.
“I didn’t care if I got hurt, this young girl has a whole life to live ahead of her,” said Winchell, who lives in Colonie. “I just wanted to make sure she was safe.”
The young girl appeared to be unconscious as she was taken away by medical personnel, first to be treated at the park, and later at the hospital.
Howard, who can be seen in the video wearing a white T-shirt, was knocked to the ground by the impact. He got up a bit dizzy, and was taken to Glens Falls Hospital for testing, but was released after about an hour, he said.
In hindsight, Howard suggested the ride should not have been stopped. The girl was hanging on well enough he felt they could have left it running for her to make it to a nearby platform, about a football field away, he said.
However, he and Winchell acknowledged it was likely difficult for park staff to communicate quickly in the heat of the moment.
“There’s a lot of negativity going on about this, that it’s the girl’s fault, it’s Six Flags’ fault, it’s security’s fault,” Howard said. “Everybody did what they could. I don’t want to see security get blamed. Who gets trained to have someone jump into their arms?”
All rides have a standard evacuation plan, said Wood, the park spokeswoman. Each spring, in partnership with local emergency personnel, the park conducts an evacuation drill on the Sky Ride, she said.
“Every situation is unique and requires the appropriate time and tools for the evacuation,” Wood said in a statement. “We are reviewing our internal procedures to ensure the safety and security of our guests and team members."
The Sky Ride is described as “a mellow-paced ride with an awesome view,” reaching heights of more than 20 feet, according to the Great Escape website.
Howard and Winchell stopped by Albany Medical Center on Sunday morning to check on the girl, they said. They didn’t stay long, but said she was in some pain, but good spirits overall.
They’re hopeful the public will leave the young girl and her family alone to heal, they said.
“At the end of the day, whatever happened, we saved this girl’s life, and now she’s got a second chance,” Winchell said. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 17,491 |
(CNN) Despite a positive public front, congressional Republicans are quietly voicing frustration that President Donald Trump's big tax announcement Wednesday emanated from a disjointed process -- and lacked crucial components necessary in the push to secure the first major tax reform in more than 30 years.
Administration officials say the White House wanted to take the lead on this -- rather than wait for the Hill -- to garner headlines ahead of Trump's 100th day in office.
It will be "the biggest tax cut and largest tax reform in history of this country," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said earlier Wednesday, describing the proposal to The Hill.
House Speaker Paul Ryan put a positive spin on things during his own news conference Wednesday, noting that he saw the administration's announcement as a clear example that "progress is being made and we're moving and getting on the same page."
Indeed, House and Senate lawmakers all touted the administration's announcement and professed genuine enthusiasm for a big White House push on what will inevitably be a thorny and difficult process.
"The principles outlined by the Trump Administration today will serve as critical guideposts for Congress and the administration as we work together to overhaul the American tax system and ensure middle-class families and job creators are better positioned for the 21st century economy," Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said in a joint statement.
But the lead-up to the release was far from a smooth process behind the scenes. The Trump administration has ruffled GOP feathers on Capitol Hill by getting in the way of legislators' efforts to fix the tax system.
"It's not tax reform," said one senior GOP aide. "Not even close."
While GOP lawmakers and aides directly involved in the process acknowledge both publicly and privately they are happy the White House is kicking into gear, none of the key players were given a heads-up before Trump announced he would be releasing his principles last week, according to multiple House and Senate GOP aides.
"We get that they want make a big show of leading the way on this, but that's not how this is supposed to work," one aide told CNN, adding that discussions between House and Senate tax writers and their administrating counterparts had been ongoing, if still far from any concrete agreement or pathway forward.
The White House defended the plan, which was presented in a single-page sheet during a briefing Wednesday afternoon.
"This isn't going to be easy. Doing big things never is," said Gary Cohn, director of the White House National Economic Council. "We will be attacked from the left and we'll be attacked from the right, but one thing is certain: I would never, ever bet against this President. He will get this done for the American people."
The topline principles Trump is releasing leave out the important signs of actual reform, not the least of which include: how to pay for it, what's the pathway through the House and Senate, where the key players off the Hill that have enormous lobbying clout stand on things, and more.
For some aides and lawmakers involved in the process, Trump's approach is being taken as a direct affront to Ryan and Brady, who spent more than a year on their tax proposal with the repeatedly stated goal of "once in a generation reform."
"It's really easy to talk about big cuts," a senior GOP aide told CNN. "We're about solutions. They aren't to that point yet, either on the policy or on the personnel level, and it's both obvious and disruptive to the process."
As the tax debate intensifies, one question above all is sure to emerge: How would the President's plan affect his own taxes?
For that, there is no answer, given his refusal to release his tax returns. Mnuchin said the President had "no intention" of releasing them now.
"The President has released plenty of information and I think has given more financial disclosure than anybody else," Mnuchin said. "I think the American population has plenty of information on it." ||||| Looking for news you can trust?
Subscribe to our free newsletters.
President Donald Trump revealed an outline of his big tax reform plan on Wednesday. It’s light on specifics and even lighter on details about how the administration might pay for what it describes as the “biggest tax cut” in US history. But one thing is perfectly clear: Trump and his family could save billions of dollars. Here are four ways Trump’s tax proposals would help people named Trump.
1. Eliminating the Estate Tax
The estate tax, which applies to wealth that deceased people pass on to their heirs, only affects the richest of the richest—roughly 0.2 percent of Americans. Individuals worth at least $5.45 million (or married couples worth at least $10.9 million) will owe estate taxes after their deaths. Currently, assets in excess of this $5.45 million exemption are taxed at 40 percent. President Donald Trump claims to be worth $10 billion, so his heirs could save billions if the estate tax disappears.
2. Eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax
The alternative minimum tax requires certain taxpayers to calculate how much tax they owe twice—once using the regular income tax rules and again under AMT rules. Originally, the AMT was structured to prevent wealthy people from abusing the system by avoiding paying their fair share of taxes. We don’t know much about Trump’s taxes, but his 2005 returns, which were obtained by MSNBC, indicate the he earned $153 million that year. Without the AMT, Trump apparently would have paid just $7 million in taxes, according to the New York Times—a tax rate less than 5 percent. But the AMT forced him to pony up an additional $31 million that year, raising his tax rate to about 25 percent. Asked at a Wednesday press briefing how eliminating the AMT would impact Trump’s tax liability, Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin dodged the question and abruptly ended the briefing.
3. Slashing Tax Rates for Pass-Through Corporations
Many businesses are structured as pass-through companies, meaning that rather than filing taxes as corporations, they “pay taxes through the personal income tax code,” as the Times explains. Trump wants to cut the rate for pass-throughs (as well as for corporations) to just 15 percent, which will certainly enrich anyone named Trump. Since the Trump Organization is a collection of pass-throughs, the organization itself isn’t subject to income tax. Instead, the owners are taxed individually. So Trump and his children would only have to pay 15 percent on their earnings from the family organization in taxes, much lower than the current top rate of 39.6 percent.
4. Lowering the Individual Income Tax Rate
Trump wants to eliminate several tax brackets and lower the top individual tax rate from 39.6 percent to 35 percent. Under the new plan, there will be three tax brackets: 10 percent, 25 percent, and 35 percent. That could be a huge giveaway to the Trumps and other wealthy Americans who make millions of dollars each year. ||||| Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the actual rate has yet to be determined and that the White House is "working with the House and Senate" on a repatriation rate, saying it would be "very competitive."
"The market had big expectations. They were expecting a lot of specifics and a specific rate on repatriation and they're not getting it," said Lawrence McDonald, author of "The Bear Traps Report" newsletter.
The repatriation tax "is definitely coming, they just don't want to show their whole hand to the Democrats," he said.
Apple shares intraday performance (beginning from around noon ET)
Source: FactSet
Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Cisco and Oracle are the five companies with the largest overseas cash holdings, according to an April 17 note by S&P Global Ratings' Andrew Chang.
The iPhone maker's stock erased gains to trade about a third of a percent lower Wednesday afternoon. Shares are up nearly 30 percent since the U.S. presidential election.
Microsoft shares also turned negative, trading about 0.1 percent lower. The stock has gained more than 12 percent since the election.
Shares of Google parent Alphabet also traded into the red. Shares have climbed more than 9 percent since the election.
Technology is the top performer in the S&P 500 for the year so far and the second best performer since the election — financial stocks are still the first.
Many on Wall Street have expected that much of any repatriated cash would go towards share buybacks.
Back in November, after Trump's election win, Goldman Sachs' chief U.S. equity strategist David Kostin forecast that S&P 500 buybacks would surge by 30 percent this year if there is repatriation, but by just 5 percent without tax reform. Kostin estimated that lower tax rates on repatriated profits should add $150 billion to a total expected $780 billion in buybacks, only the second time in 20 years for which buybacks will account for the largest share of total cash use by S&P 500 companies.
Apple has also topped the list of S&P 500 companies with the largest quarterly buybacks and share count reduction in history, according to Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
— CNBC's John Melloy and Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.
Watch: Challenges to Trump's tax plan ||||| poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201704/3091/1155968404_5412446699001_5412406063001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true Trump tax plan heavy on promises, light on details The administration's heralded pledge on a historic tax overhaul is crammed into one-page bullet points.
President Donald Trump's eagerly awaited tax reform plan arrived Wednesday as a one-page sheet of mostly general principles, largely repackaging ideas from his presidential campaign with a promise to deliver the nation's biggest tax cut ever.
The rollout was hastily arranged after Trump took Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and other White House officials by surprise last week when he promised a "big announcement" on tax reform would be coming this Wednesday. But what Mnuchin and top economic adviser Gary Cohn presented at a White House briefing will do little, if anything, to move the ball forward on tax reform.
Story Continued Below
The announcement included a big tax cut for businesses, to 15 percent; a more modest cut and fewer tax brackets for individuals; doubling the standard deduction; and providing tax relief to help pay for child and dependent care expenses.
At the same time, the plan would get rid of some taxes that mostly hit the wealthy, and likely Trump himself, including the estate tax and the alternative minimum tax, while promising to "Eliminate targeted tax breaks that mainly benefit the wealthiest taxpayers."
The plan would retain deductions for mortgage interest and charitable donations but get rid of all others, including for the state and local taxes Americans pay and for health insurance they get from employers — both controversial ideas.
"What this is about is creating jobs and creating economic growth," Mnuchin said at the White House. "And that's why massive tax cuts and massive tax reform and simplifying the system is what we're going to do."
Throughout the week, officials put out conflicting statements about what would be in the tax package, and one official told POLITICO that the plan hadn’t been written by late Tuesday afternoon. The unveiling seemed intended to give Trump another thing he could point to as the traditional 100-day mark for measuring presidential achievements looms and some of his top priorities — including repealing and replacing Obamacare — remain undone.
As reporters peppered Mnuchin and Cohn with questions about the finer points, Cohn said, "We’ll get back to you with definitive answers on all these details.”
The rollout is likely to underwhelm, or frustrate, House Republicans who have been working on their own tax reform for months and waiting for clarity on where Trump stands on crucial details. That includes a controversial "border adjustment" tax on imports that lawmakers are counting on to generate more than $1 trillion to offset the cost of tax cuts.
Cohn and Mnuchin said they’d be in constant dialogue with lawmakers to remake U.S. tax laws based on four principles: reduced rates, simplification, middle-class tax cuts and getting American businesses with foreign earnings to bring home that money.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch released a statement that said Trump's outline “will serve as critical guideposts for Congress and the administration as we work together to overhaul the American tax system.”
Democrats were scornful.
“This is an unprincipled tax plan that will result in cuts for the one percent, conflicts for the President, crippling debt for America and crumbs for the working people,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Finance Committee.
Mnuchin has tried to sell the plan as largely aimed at providing tax relief to the middle class. Doubling the standard deduction, for instance, would raise it to $12,600 for single filers and $25,200 for married couples filing jointly, based on the deduction for 2016.
A reporter looks at a handout about tax cuts and reform during a briefing at the White House on Wednesday. | AFP/Getty
Though mortgage and charitable deductions would remain in place, those higher thresholds for the standard deduction have caused worries in the real estate and charitable communities, which count on the two targeted deductions to boost home sales and incentivize giving. They fear a larger standard deduction would take some of the luster off the mortgage and charitable deductions.
For high-income individuals, the plan would get rid of the 3.8 percent tax on investment income that helps pay for Obamacare.
It proposes three individual tax brackets of 10 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent, the latter being slightly higher than 33 percent called for in the House Republican plan.
Trump’s plan has also broken with House Republicans on other areas, in large measure over how and whether to offset the cost of the tax cuts.
“This will pay for itself with growth and with ... reduction of different deductions and closing loopholes,” Mnuchin said.
But the 15 percent tax rate for all businesses seems mathematically impossible without deeply slashing other tax benefits or cutting spending, both politically difficult.
Trump’s low proposed rate for non-corporate companies, down from Ryan’s 25 percent proposal, has also been criticized as potentially ripe for fraud and abuse.
View White House rolls out tax reform framework Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and White House Economic Advisor Gary Cohn hold a press conference to introduce the provisions of the proposed tax reform plan from the Trump administration.
On taxing U.S. companies' income earned abroad, Trump is pushing to harmonize the U.S. with most of the world, where income is only taxed where it’s earned, not when it's also brought into the U.S. That marks a shift from Trump’s campaign ideas on the issue.
Also on international income, the Trump plan would require a one-time tax on the estimated $2.6 trillion in earnings that corporations have kept abroad under the current system, but doesn’t include a rate. That kind of detail will require continued conversation with Congress, Mnuchin said, promising a competitive rate.
“We are moving as quickly as we can,” he said.
But what’s not mentioned — Ryan’s import tax idea known as border adjustments – is notable. Ryan signaled he wants to salvage the idea in some form.
“We all agree that in its present form it needs to be modified,” he said.
One thing sure to draw the attention of Democrats and other critics of the plan in coming days is how the plan would affect Trump and the numerous wealthy members of his administration.
Trump, his family and his wealthiest advisers are all in position to personally profit from the new tax plan — through the elimination of the alternative minimum and estate taxes, the lower tax rate for businesses that aren't incorporated and the elimination of Obamacare taxes.
Deciphering their exact savings is a challenge considering limits on publicly available tax and other financial information. Trump has broken with decades of presidential tradition by refusing to release his tax returns.
Morning Tax Sign up for our tax policy newsletter and stay informed — weekday mornings, in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time.
“Clearly, getting rid of the AMT is a hands-down winner for all of them,” said Joann Weiner, a former Treasury Department economist and current George Washington University professor.
Trump officials sidestepped questions about the potential personal benefit from their tax plans.
“I can’t comment on the president’s tax situation since I don’t have access to that,” Mnuchin told reporters.
But at the same time, he said Americans have “plenty of information” on Trump’s taxes and should not expect to see the president's tax returns made public.
Darren Samuelsohn contributed to this report. |||||
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at a briefing at the White House on Wednesday. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday that President Trump “has no intention” of releasing his tax returns, which would show the public how much he would benefit personally from the administration's plan to overhaul the tax code.
At a White House news conference to roll out the administration's tax cut proposal, journalists peppered Mnuchin with questions about Trump's refusal to release his tax returns, which has been standard practice for every president and major presidential candidate for at least the past four decades.
[White House unveils dramatic plan to overhaul tax code in major test for Trump]
“The president has no intention,” Mnuchin said. “The president has released plenty of information, and I think has given more financial disclosure than anybody else. I think the American population has plenty of information.”
Trump and his spokespeople have often cited his taxes being under audit as an excuse for him keeping them private, although there is no IRS restriction on people making their tax returns public while they are under audit.
Mnuchin, however, did not mention the audit as an excuse. Rather, he issued a blanket denial that the president plans to ever release his tax returns.
[Trump’s tax proposal: What it means for the rich, for the world and for you]
Senate Democrats have threatened to withhold support for Trump's tax plan until he releases the returns, saying the documents are essential for the public to determine whether the president would benefit from his own proposal and by how much.
When a reporter asked Wednesday whether Trump would pay more or less taxes under the administration's proposal, Mnuchin demurred.
“I can't comment on the president's tax situation since I don't have access to that,” he said. ||||| On Wednesday, President Trump's top budget aides introduced the biggest tax cut in American history.
That's music to congressional Republicans' ears, who also want to revise the tax code. And, lucky for them, Republicans have a plan to get a tax overhaul through Congress without needing any Democratic votes.
But despite all that, we're still skeptical that Trump's tax cut is going to make it through Congress. For one, it's Congress, and a bet against them getting something done (see: health care) is usually a safer bet than the flip side. Two, conservative Republicans may be wary of a major increase in the deficit. And three, Trump is coming at this negotiation from a position of weakness rather than strength.
Here are eight sentences from players in and coverage of Trump's tax cut plan that underscore why it's not a given to pass Congress.
1. “I’m open to good ideas. The question is: Is that a good idea?”
That's Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which would consider Trump's bill, as quoted in The Washington Post. Hatch was questioning the centerpiece of Trump's plan: to let certain small businesses (and some big ones, like parts of Trump's real estate business) have their tax rate lowered to 15 percent, just like other large businesses.
2. It's “pretty aggressive.”
That's Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), the Senate's No. 2, expressing skepticism to the New York Times about Trump's tax cut, which could expound the deficit. (Less taxes the government collects = less money for the government = a bigger gap at the end of the year between what the government owes vs. what it made in revenue.)
3. “Many budget experts believe tax cuts of the size Trump will propose would lead the government to lose trillions of dollars in revenue over 10 years, ballooning the government debt.”
To our point above, that's The Post's Damian Paletta explaining how much Trump's plan could cost the government.
4. “What I don’t want to see is that this tax reform is going to be paid for by magic.”
That's Maya MacGuineas, president of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, as quoted by The Post.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says Trump doesn't plan to offset trillions of dollars of tax cuts by tax increases elsewhere. Rather, they plan to make up for it with “economic growth” that naturally comes from giving businesses more money.
MacGuineas appears skeptical that banking on economic growth is a viable fiscal plan. The question is: What will deficit-hawk Republicans in Congress think? (It's possible they might not object. At least one influential conservative group, the Club for Growth, has no problem with this plan. And Hatch, the top Senate tax writer, said the deficit is not his primary concern.)
5. “Even a temporary tax cut in the corporate tax rate … [can] run afoul of those reconciliation rules.”
That's the Wall Street Journal explaining that cutting the corporate tax rate temporarily (as Trump's plan would do) could increase deficits beyond the decade Trump's plan would be in effect.
That is an important technicality. If something substantially affects the budget beyond a decade, it's possible Senate Republicans won't be able to pass tax reform under a special budget rule called reconciliation that allows them to avoid a Democratic filibuster.
6. “They don't need a tax break while working class Americans need help staying afloat.”
.@POTUS Very wealthy are doing pretty well. God bless 'em. But they dont need a tax break while working class Americans need help staying afloat. — Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) April 26, 2017
That's Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday, outlining Democrats' philosophy to tax cuts. They haven't outright expressed opposition to Trump's plan, but you can see them building the framework to eventually oppose it.
Like we said, there's a chance Republicans in Congress can pass Trump's tax plan without any Democratic votes. But if they do need Democrats — well, they could have trouble getting enough.
7. “We’ve learned that the House Republican Party, to its credit, is enormously diverse in its opinions, but that also sometimes creates larger challenges in bringing them together on a big legislative issue.”
That's Marc Short, the White House director for legislative affairs, reflecting to The Post's White House team about their struggles getting any major legislation through Congress. And while Short was speaking in broad terms, it is worth pointing out that nothing is a given in Congress these days, especially in the ideologically split House Republican Party. (Again: See health care.)
8. “Trump, the least-popular new president in modern times, has an average approval rating currently hovering in the low 40s.”
That's the very last sentence of the Post story, above. It's an important one: It underscores that Trump may still be popular among his base, but he's not with a majority of the American people. And that means he has less leverage with the people's representatives in Congress, should all the concerns above manifest. | – President Trump's tax reform plan unveiled Wednesday heralds the return of the Laffer curve, or as it's more commonly known—thanks to the first President Bush—"voodoo economics." The New York Times reports the Laffer curve was first sketched on a napkin by Arthur Laffer in 1974. The curve says that if you cut taxes enough, you can make up for the financial shortfall through economic growth. And that's exactly what Trump's team is pitching—though it'll mean adding billions upon billions of dollars to the national deficit while waiting on that promised growth. Here's what else you need to know about Trump's tax reform plan: While Republican lawmakers were supportive in public, they're grumbling in private, CNN reports. Congressional Republicans are upset Trump's promised tax-reform plan is more of a tax-cut plan. One senior GOP aide says it's "not even close" to tax reform. CNBC reports the plan is missing one thing that Wall Street really wanted: a steep reduction—all the way to 10%—for companies that bring earnings back to the US from overseas. There are eight reasons Trump's tax reform plan likely won't get through Congress, according to the Washington Post. They include that Republicans may not tolerate a huge deficit increase and that the GOP head of the Senate Finance Committee is openly wondering if it's a "good idea." Politico argues the plan released Wednesday was less a step toward actual tax reform and more something for Trump to use to bolster his 100-day presidential resume. It was a single page of "mostly general principles" largely carried over from campaign promises. Mother Jones reports Trump's tax reform plan will make the Trump family richer in four different ways, including by cutting the tax rate for "pass-through corporations." The Trump Organization is made up of pass-through corporations, and the plan would cut the tax rate of Trump and his children from 39.6% to 15%. But we may never know exactly to what extent Trump stands to benefit from his tax reform plan, according to the Washington Post, as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says the president still "has no intention" of releasing his tax returns. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.(CNN) Despite a positive public front, congressional Republicans are quietly voicing frustration that President Donald Trump's big tax announcement Wednesday emanated from a disjointed process -- and lacked crucial components necessary in the push to secure the first major tax reform in more than 30 years.
Administration officials say the White House wanted to take the lead on this -- rather than wait for the Hill -- to garner headlines ahead of Trump's 100th day in office.
It will be "the biggest tax cut and largest tax reform in history of this country," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said earlier Wednesday, describing the proposal to The Hill.
House Speaker Paul Ryan put a positive spin on things during his own news conference Wednesday, noting that he saw the administration's announcement as a clear example that "progress is being made and we're moving and getting on the same page."
Indeed, House and Senate lawmakers all touted the administration's announcement and professed genuine enthusiasm for a big White House push on what will inevitably be a thorny and difficult process.
"The principles outlined by the Trump Administration today will serve as critical guideposts for Congress and the administration as we work together to overhaul the American tax system and ensure middle-class families and job creators are better positioned for the 21st century economy," Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said in a joint statement.
But the lead-up to the release was far from a smooth process behind the scenes. The Trump administration has ruffled GOP feathers on Capitol Hill by getting in the way of legislators' efforts to fix the tax system.
"It's not tax reform," said one senior GOP aide. "Not even close."
While GOP lawmakers and aides directly involved in the process acknowledge both publicly and privately they are happy the White House is kicking into gear, none of the key players were given a heads-up before Trump announced he would be releasing his principles last week, according to multiple House and Senate GOP aides.
"We get that they want make a big show of leading the way on this, but that's not how this is supposed to work," one aide told CNN, adding that discussions between House and Senate tax writers and their administrating counterparts had been ongoing, if still far from any concrete agreement or pathway forward.
The White House defended the plan, which was presented in a single-page sheet during a briefing Wednesday afternoon.
"This isn't going to be easy. Doing big things never is," said Gary Cohn, director of the White House National Economic Council. "We will be attacked from the left and we'll be attacked from the right, but one thing is certain: I would never, ever bet against this President. He will get this done for the American people."
The topline principles Trump is releasing leave out the important signs of actual reform, not the least of which include: how to pay for it, what's the pathway through the House and Senate, where the key players off the Hill that have enormous lobbying clout stand on things, and more.
For some aides and lawmakers involved in the process, Trump's approach is being taken as a direct affront to Ryan and Brady, who spent more than a year on their tax proposal with the repeatedly stated goal of "once in a generation reform."
"It's really easy to talk about big cuts," a senior GOP aide told CNN. "We're about solutions. They aren't to that point yet, either on the policy or on the personnel level, and it's both obvious and disruptive to the process."
As the tax debate intensifies, one question above all is sure to emerge: How would the President's plan affect his own taxes?
For that, there is no answer, given his refusal to release his tax returns. Mnuchin said the President had "no intention" of releasing them now.
"The President has released plenty of information and I think has given more financial disclosure than anybody else," Mnuchin said. "I think the American population has plenty of information on it." ||||| Looking for news you can trust?
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President Donald Trump revealed an outline of his big tax reform plan on Wednesday. It’s light on specifics and even lighter on details about how the administration might pay for what it describes as the “biggest tax cut” in US history. But one thing is perfectly clear: Trump and his family could save billions of dollars. Here are four ways Trump’s tax proposals would help people named Trump.
1. Eliminating the Estate Tax
The estate tax, which applies to wealth that deceased people pass on to their heirs, only affects the richest of the richest—roughly 0.2 percent of Americans. Individuals worth at least $5.45 million (or married couples worth at least $10.9 million) will owe estate taxes after their deaths. Currently, assets in excess of this $5.45 million exemption are taxed at 40 percent. President Donald Trump claims to be worth $10 billion, so his heirs could save billions if the estate tax disappears.
2. Eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax
The alternative minimum tax requires certain taxpayers to calculate how much tax they owe twice—once using the regular income tax rules and again under AMT rules. Originally, the AMT was structured to prevent wealthy people from abusing the system by avoiding paying their fair share of taxes. We don’t know much about Trump’s taxes, but his 2005 returns, which were obtained by MSNBC, indicate the he earned $153 million that year. Without the AMT, Trump apparently would have paid just $7 million in taxes, according to the New York Times—a tax rate less than 5 percent. But the AMT forced him to pony up an additional $31 million that year, raising his tax rate to about 25 percent. Asked at a Wednesday press briefing how eliminating the AMT would impact Trump’s tax liability, Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin dodged the question and abruptly ended the briefing.
3. Slashing Tax Rates for Pass-Through Corporations
Many businesses are structured as pass-through companies, meaning that rather than filing taxes as corporations, they “pay taxes through the personal income tax code,” as the Times explains. Trump wants to cut the rate for pass-throughs (as well as for corporations) to just 15 percent, which will certainly enrich anyone named Trump. Since the Trump Organization is a collection of pass-throughs, the organization itself isn’t subject to income tax. Instead, the owners are taxed individually. So Trump and his children would only have to pay 15 percent on their earnings from the family organization in taxes, much lower than the current top rate of 39.6 percent.
4. Lowering the Individual Income Tax Rate
Trump wants to eliminate several tax brackets and lower the top individual tax rate from 39.6 percent to 35 percent. Under the new plan, there will be three tax brackets: 10 percent, 25 percent, and 35 percent. That could be a huge giveaway to the Trumps and other wealthy Americans who make millions of dollars each year. ||||| Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the actual rate has yet to be determined and that the White House is "working with the House and Senate" on a repatriation rate, saying it would be "very competitive."
"The market had big expectations. They were expecting a lot of specifics and a specific rate on repatriation and they're not getting it," said Lawrence McDonald, author of "The Bear Traps Report" newsletter.
The repatriation tax "is definitely coming, they just don't want to show their whole hand to the Democrats," he said.
Apple shares intraday performance (beginning from around noon ET)
Source: FactSet
Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Cisco and Oracle are the five companies with the largest overseas cash holdings, according to an April 17 note by S&P Global Ratings' Andrew Chang.
The iPhone maker's stock erased gains to trade about a third of a percent lower Wednesday afternoon. Shares are up nearly 30 percent since the U.S. presidential election.
Microsoft shares also turned negative, trading about 0.1 percent lower. The stock has gained more than 12 percent since the election.
Shares of Google parent Alphabet also traded into the red. Shares have climbed more than 9 percent since the election.
Technology is the top performer in the S&P 500 for the year so far and the second best performer since the election — financial stocks are still the first.
Many on Wall Street have expected that much of any repatriated cash would go towards share buybacks.
Back in November, after Trump's election win, Goldman Sachs' chief U.S. equity strategist David Kostin forecast that S&P 500 buybacks would surge by 30 percent this year if there is repatriation, but by just 5 percent without tax reform. Kostin estimated that lower tax rates on repatriated profits should add $150 billion to a total expected $780 billion in buybacks, only the second time in 20 years for which buybacks will account for the largest share of total cash use by S&P 500 companies.
Apple has also topped the list of S&P 500 companies with the largest quarterly buybacks and share count reduction in history, according to Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
— CNBC's John Melloy and Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.
Watch: Challenges to Trump's tax plan ||||| poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201704/3091/1155968404_5412446699001_5412406063001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true Trump tax plan heavy on promises, light on details The administration's heralded pledge on a historic tax overhaul is crammed into one-page bullet points.
President Donald Trump's eagerly awaited tax reform plan arrived Wednesday as a one-page sheet of mostly general principles, largely repackaging ideas from his presidential campaign with a promise to deliver the nation's biggest tax cut ever.
The rollout was hastily arranged after Trump took Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and other White House officials by surprise last week when he promised a "big announcement" on tax reform would be coming this Wednesday. But what Mnuchin and top economic adviser Gary Cohn presented at a White House briefing will do little, if anything, to move the ball forward on tax reform.
Story Continued Below
The announcement included a big tax cut for businesses, to 15 percent; a more modest cut and fewer tax brackets for individuals; doubling the standard deduction; and providing tax relief to help pay for child and dependent care expenses.
At the same time, the plan would get rid of some taxes that mostly hit the wealthy, and likely Trump himself, including the estate tax and the alternative minimum tax, while promising to "Eliminate targeted tax breaks that mainly benefit the wealthiest taxpayers."
The plan would retain deductions for mortgage interest and charitable donations but get rid of all others, including for the state and local taxes Americans pay and for health insurance they get from employers — both controversial ideas.
"What this is about is creating jobs and creating economic growth," Mnuchin said at the White House. "And that's why massive tax cuts and massive tax reform and simplifying the system is what we're going to do."
Throughout the week, officials put out conflicting statements about what would be in the tax package, and one official told POLITICO that the plan hadn’t been written by late Tuesday afternoon. The unveiling seemed intended to give Trump another thing he could point to as the traditional 100-day mark for measuring presidential achievements looms and some of his top priorities — including repealing and replacing Obamacare — remain undone.
As reporters peppered Mnuchin and Cohn with questions about the finer points, Cohn said, "We’ll get back to you with definitive answers on all these details.”
The rollout is likely to underwhelm, or frustrate, House Republicans who have been working on their own tax reform for months and waiting for clarity on where Trump stands on crucial details. That includes a controversial "border adjustment" tax on imports that lawmakers are counting on to generate more than $1 trillion to offset the cost of tax cuts.
Cohn and Mnuchin said they’d be in constant dialogue with lawmakers to remake U.S. tax laws based on four principles: reduced rates, simplification, middle-class tax cuts and getting American businesses with foreign earnings to bring home that money.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch released a statement that said Trump's outline “will serve as critical guideposts for Congress and the administration as we work together to overhaul the American tax system.”
Democrats were scornful.
“This is an unprincipled tax plan that will result in cuts for the one percent, conflicts for the President, crippling debt for America and crumbs for the working people,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Finance Committee.
Mnuchin has tried to sell the plan as largely aimed at providing tax relief to the middle class. Doubling the standard deduction, for instance, would raise it to $12,600 for single filers and $25,200 for married couples filing jointly, based on the deduction for 2016.
A reporter looks at a handout about tax cuts and reform during a briefing at the White House on Wednesday. | AFP/Getty
Though mortgage and charitable deductions would remain in place, those higher thresholds for the standard deduction have caused worries in the real estate and charitable communities, which count on the two targeted deductions to boost home sales and incentivize giving. They fear a larger standard deduction would take some of the luster off the mortgage and charitable deductions.
For high-income individuals, the plan would get rid of the 3.8 percent tax on investment income that helps pay for Obamacare.
It proposes three individual tax brackets of 10 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent, the latter being slightly higher than 33 percent called for in the House Republican plan.
Trump’s plan has also broken with House Republicans on other areas, in large measure over how and whether to offset the cost of the tax cuts.
“This will pay for itself with growth and with ... reduction of different deductions and closing loopholes,” Mnuchin said.
But the 15 percent tax rate for all businesses seems mathematically impossible without deeply slashing other tax benefits or cutting spending, both politically difficult.
Trump’s low proposed rate for non-corporate companies, down from Ryan’s 25 percent proposal, has also been criticized as potentially ripe for fraud and abuse.
View White House rolls out tax reform framework Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and White House Economic Advisor Gary Cohn hold a press conference to introduce the provisions of the proposed tax reform plan from the Trump administration.
On taxing U.S. companies' income earned abroad, Trump is pushing to harmonize the U.S. with most of the world, where income is only taxed where it’s earned, not when it's also brought into the U.S. That marks a shift from Trump’s campaign ideas on the issue.
Also on international income, the Trump plan would require a one-time tax on the estimated $2.6 trillion in earnings that corporations have kept abroad under the current system, but doesn’t include a rate. That kind of detail will require continued conversation with Congress, Mnuchin said, promising a competitive rate.
“We are moving as quickly as we can,” he said.
But what’s not mentioned — Ryan’s import tax idea known as border adjustments – is notable. Ryan signaled he wants to salvage the idea in some form.
“We all agree that in its present form it needs to be modified,” he said.
One thing sure to draw the attention of Democrats and other critics of the plan in coming days is how the plan would affect Trump and the numerous wealthy members of his administration.
Trump, his family and his wealthiest advisers are all in position to personally profit from the new tax plan — through the elimination of the alternative minimum and estate taxes, the lower tax rate for businesses that aren't incorporated and the elimination of Obamacare taxes.
Deciphering their exact savings is a challenge considering limits on publicly available tax and other financial information. Trump has broken with decades of presidential tradition by refusing to release his tax returns.
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“Clearly, getting rid of the AMT is a hands-down winner for all of them,” said Joann Weiner, a former Treasury Department economist and current George Washington University professor.
Trump officials sidestepped questions about the potential personal benefit from their tax plans.
“I can’t comment on the president’s tax situation since I don’t have access to that,” Mnuchin told reporters.
But at the same time, he said Americans have “plenty of information” on Trump’s taxes and should not expect to see the president's tax returns made public.
Darren Samuelsohn contributed to this report. |||||
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at a briefing at the White House on Wednesday. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday that President Trump “has no intention” of releasing his tax returns, which would show the public how much he would benefit personally from the administration's plan to overhaul the tax code.
At a White House news conference to roll out the administration's tax cut proposal, journalists peppered Mnuchin with questions about Trump's refusal to release his tax returns, which has been standard practice for every president and major presidential candidate for at least the past four decades.
[White House unveils dramatic plan to overhaul tax code in major test for Trump]
“The president has no intention,” Mnuchin said. “The president has released plenty of information, and I think has given more financial disclosure than anybody else. I think the American population has plenty of information.”
Trump and his spokespeople have often cited his taxes being under audit as an excuse for him keeping them private, although there is no IRS restriction on people making their tax returns public while they are under audit.
Mnuchin, however, did not mention the audit as an excuse. Rather, he issued a blanket denial that the president plans to ever release his tax returns.
[Trump’s tax proposal: What it means for the rich, for the world and for you]
Senate Democrats have threatened to withhold support for Trump's tax plan until he releases the returns, saying the documents are essential for the public to determine whether the president would benefit from his own proposal and by how much.
When a reporter asked Wednesday whether Trump would pay more or less taxes under the administration's proposal, Mnuchin demurred.
“I can't comment on the president's tax situation since I don't have access to that,” he said. ||||| On Wednesday, President Trump's top budget aides introduced the biggest tax cut in American history.
That's music to congressional Republicans' ears, who also want to revise the tax code. And, lucky for them, Republicans have a plan to get a tax overhaul through Congress without needing any Democratic votes.
But despite all that, we're still skeptical that Trump's tax cut is going to make it through Congress. For one, it's Congress, and a bet against them getting something done (see: health care) is usually a safer bet than the flip side. Two, conservative Republicans may be wary of a major increase in the deficit. And three, Trump is coming at this negotiation from a position of weakness rather than strength.
Here are eight sentences from players in and coverage of Trump's tax cut plan that underscore why it's not a given to pass Congress.
1. “I’m open to good ideas. The question is: Is that a good idea?”
That's Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which would consider Trump's bill, as quoted in The Washington Post. Hatch was questioning the centerpiece of Trump's plan: to let certain small businesses (and some big ones, like parts of Trump's real estate business) have their tax rate lowered to 15 percent, just like other large businesses.
2. It's “pretty aggressive.”
That's Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), the Senate's No. 2, expressing skepticism to the New York Times about Trump's tax cut, which could expound the deficit. (Less taxes the government collects = less money for the government = a bigger gap at the end of the year between what the government owes vs. what it made in revenue.)
3. “Many budget experts believe tax cuts of the size Trump will propose would lead the government to lose trillions of dollars in revenue over 10 years, ballooning the government debt.”
To our point above, that's The Post's Damian Paletta explaining how much Trump's plan could cost the government.
4. “What I don’t want to see is that this tax reform is going to be paid for by magic.”
That's Maya MacGuineas, president of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, as quoted by The Post.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says Trump doesn't plan to offset trillions of dollars of tax cuts by tax increases elsewhere. Rather, they plan to make up for it with “economic growth” that naturally comes from giving businesses more money.
MacGuineas appears skeptical that banking on economic growth is a viable fiscal plan. The question is: What will deficit-hawk Republicans in Congress think? (It's possible they might not object. At least one influential conservative group, the Club for Growth, has no problem with this plan. And Hatch, the top Senate tax writer, said the deficit is not his primary concern.)
5. “Even a temporary tax cut in the corporate tax rate … [can] run afoul of those reconciliation rules.”
That's the Wall Street Journal explaining that cutting the corporate tax rate temporarily (as Trump's plan would do) could increase deficits beyond the decade Trump's plan would be in effect.
That is an important technicality. If something substantially affects the budget beyond a decade, it's possible Senate Republicans won't be able to pass tax reform under a special budget rule called reconciliation that allows them to avoid a Democratic filibuster.
6. “They don't need a tax break while working class Americans need help staying afloat.”
.@POTUS Very wealthy are doing pretty well. God bless 'em. But they dont need a tax break while working class Americans need help staying afloat. — Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) April 26, 2017
That's Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday, outlining Democrats' philosophy to tax cuts. They haven't outright expressed opposition to Trump's plan, but you can see them building the framework to eventually oppose it.
Like we said, there's a chance Republicans in Congress can pass Trump's tax plan without any Democratic votes. But if they do need Democrats — well, they could have trouble getting enough.
7. “We’ve learned that the House Republican Party, to its credit, is enormously diverse in its opinions, but that also sometimes creates larger challenges in bringing them together on a big legislative issue.”
That's Marc Short, the White House director for legislative affairs, reflecting to The Post's White House team about their struggles getting any major legislation through Congress. And while Short was speaking in broad terms, it is worth pointing out that nothing is a given in Congress these days, especially in the ideologically split House Republican Party. (Again: See health care.)
8. “Trump, the least-popular new president in modern times, has an average approval rating currently hovering in the low 40s.”
That's the very last sentence of the Post story, above. It's an important one: It underscores that Trump may still be popular among his base, but he's not with a majority of the American people. And that means he has less leverage with the people's representatives in Congress, should all the concerns above manifest. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 14,347 |
Your shapewear may be giving you the squeeze
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Spanx and other types of popular shapewear make our figures look tight and curves feel smooth, but some doctors say they can be so constricting they may be harmful to our bodies.
Guys know tighty whities can affect sperm count. But women who want their booties to be jiggle-free may not know their gut-sucking lingerie can squeeze their organs if not worn properly, causing acid reflux, heartburn, abdominal pain, bloating, gas and shallow breath , doctors told the Huffington Post. Leg numbness and possible yeast and bacterial infections can also be caused by moisture trapped in the synthetic underwear, the article warned.
American Journal of Public Healt A physician's illustration from the 1700s shows how corsets damaged women's ribs. This hurts just looking at it.
“I thought you were supposed to buy them tight, to sort of suck everything in?” TODAY anchor Savannah Guthrie said Tuesday. “Buying them in extra large is kind of counterproductive.”
Dr. Natalie Evans, a specialist in vascular medicine with Cleveland Clinic thinks a Spanx health worry is "in all likelihood overblown."
Obviously, someone shouldn't be wearing something so compressing it's painful or uncomfortable, Evans told TODAY. But in terms of avoiding health risks, "people would be better served quitting smoking or wearing seat belts."
And even if Spanx or other shapewear does cause some gas or bloating, they’re nothing like corsets or highly restrictive girdles women used to endure.
"It was worse then, back in the day," Guthrie said on TODAY.
No joke. A 2002 article in the American Journal of Public Health featured an illustration from a physician's book in the 1700s, showing how corsets compressed ribs and changed a woman's figure.
If you can't give up shapewear, at least don't wear it too often, experts say. Or, as Al Roker advises, "don't wear them so tight, it bursts your appendix." ||||| "I hate Spanx because even though they look so good under your clothes, sometimes mid-wedding I'll be like, 'I feel so nauseous,'" actress Jennifer Coolidge once said. "They're so tight, who knows what you're cutting off?"
Turns out, that star was on to something. While we can all relate to the aforementioned pain and suffering, most of us have no idea about the health ramifications of shapewear. Are we hurting our bodies in the name of smooth garment lines? We spoke to gastroenterologist Dr. John Kuemmerle, dermatologist Dr. Maryann Mikhail and chiropractor Dr. Karen Erickson to find out.
When you wear shapewear, you're compressing your organs.
Shapewear couldn't do its job if it wasn't tight. Unfortunately, this leaves your stomach, intestine and colon compressed, which Dr. Kuemmerle says can worsen acid reflux and heartburn. Restrictive clothing can also provoke erosive esophagitis.
Your digestive tract is also affected, explains Dr. Erickson. The intestines are supposed to contract and move food along, but when they're compressed over a long period of time, the flow of digestion is stifled. "It's like when people eat a huge meal and then unbuckle their jeans," Dr. Kuemmerle says. This damage, though not permanent, can lead to unpleasant symptoms like abdominal discomfort, bloating and gas.
Another hallmark of shapewear? Shallow breath. When you inhale, your diaphragm expands and your abdomen flares out, Dr. Erickson says, but shapewear restricts this movement and decreases the excursion in respiration.
That includes compressing your bowels.
Those with functional bowel disorders and irritable bowel syndrome should wear shapewear with caution. "In someone who has weakness down below and a tendency towards incontinence," Dr. Kuemmerle explains, "increasing intra-abdominal pressure can certainly provoke episodes of incontinence."
Dr. Erickson also notes that there can be a tendency for those wearing shapewear to not to want to go to the bathroom. "You've got all of this pressure on your bladder from the shapewear pressing down," she says. "If you postpone urinating, it can cause stress incontinence, where you leak, or it can exaggerate stress incontinence with people who already have it."
You can develop tingling, numbness and pain in your legs.
Sitting in shapewear can lead to a reversible condition called meralgia paresthetica, which is when the peripheral nerve in your thigh is compressed. This leads to tingling, numbness and pain in your legs, all of which can come and go or become constant. "It's like putting these giant rubber bands around your upper thighs and tightening them when you sit," Dr. Erickson says. (She's also seen this condition in those who wear too-tight pantyhose and pants.)
This rubber band effect can also decrease your circulation and lead to blood clots. When you sit in shapewear, Dr. Erickson explains that those genetically prone to varicosities can develop varicose veins and lymph congestion, which manifests as swollen ankles.
Your muscles will suffer if you rely on shapewear for good posture.
"Shapewear is not a substitute for having strong muscles," Dr. Erickson says. It's important to develop muscle tone, because it's those muscles that hold your posture in perfect alignment. Many people use shapewear as a crutch to avoid using those muscles, Dr. Erickson says.
And don't be fooled into thinking that shapewear works like a medical back brace. "Shapewear's a little different in that it's not therapeutically designed -- it's cosmetically designed," she explains.
Plus, shapewear can create an environment prone to infections.
Shapewear is occlusive, meaning it traps moisture and anything else under it, which predisposes shapewear wearers to both yeast and bacterial infections. Dr. Mikhail says that the most common infection she sees is folliculitis, since bacteria often gets trapped among hair follicles and causes red puss-filled bumps. "Usually folliculitis can be easily treated with topical antibiotics," she says. "But recurrent infections may develop antibiotic resistance, meaning they get harder and harder to treat."
Dr. Mikhail notes that the risks are higher in overweight individuals, diabetics and those who sweat excessively.
Like everything in life, it's important to exercise moderation: Don't wear them too often.
"Everyone I know owns shapewear -- it's kind of a miracle," Dr. Erickson admits. "But I think we want to be mindful to not wear it on a day-in and day-out basis." It's not a problem if you wear it for an evening or a special occasion, she says, but it's not a good idea to wear it daily and sit in it for hours on end.
If you're exhibiting any of the aforementioned symptoms, all three doctors recommend avoiding shapewear until the issues are completely resolved.
Lastly, choosing the right fit is key.
There are so many different types of shapewear out there. You should pick the right style, but you also need to pick the right size, Dr. Erickson says. "You really want to pick shapewear that actually fits you," she explains. "You want it to do its job, but you don't want to get something so small that it's damaging you." For example, shapewear that goes up to your bra line isn't a good idea for those with acid reflux or heartburn, as that area is particularly sensitive for people predisposed to those conditions.
A good way to tell if your shapewear fits correctly? "It's not cutting in anywhere," says Dr. Erickson, who recommends trying out different brands and materials. "All it really does is smooth out the rough edges and you can easily get in and out of it without a struggle."
People really love their Spanx...
PHOTO GALLERY Celebrities Who Love Spanx
Want more? Be sure to check out HuffPost Style on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram at @HuffPostStyle.
This story appears in Issue 86 of our weekly iPad magazine, Huffington, available Friday, Jan. 31 in the iTunes App store. | – Yet another thing women do for appearance's sake: squeeze their organs. Well, not intentionally, perhaps, but as a side effect of donning the all-popular Spanx and other shapewear. The Huffington Post decided to dig into just how much harm the helpful undergarments might be inflicting, and turned to a gastroenterologist, dermatologist, and chiropractor for answers. The upshot: By its nature shapewear is a tight squeeze, and in doing its job it compresses your stomach, intestine, and colon, with potentially unpleasant and even damaging results. The doctors explain that compression can exacerbate acid reflux and heartburn, can make an already-existing incontinence problem worse, and can lead to erosive esophagitis. Less perilously, the tightness can cause temporary gas and bloating. And in putting what function as "giant rubber bands around your upper thighs" then sitting, circulation suffers, and blood clots can form. Shapewear also traps moisture, which can result in yeast or bacterial infections. The experts' advice? Moderation; don't wear it daily. And if you can't get it off "without a struggle," you may need a bigger size. But a vascular medicine specialist tells Today there's probably not much to worry about. As far as health goes, "People would be better served quitting smoking or wearing seat belts." | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Your shapewear may be giving you the squeeze
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Spanx and other types of popular shapewear make our figures look tight and curves feel smooth, but some doctors say they can be so constricting they may be harmful to our bodies.
Guys know tighty whities can affect sperm count. But women who want their booties to be jiggle-free may not know their gut-sucking lingerie can squeeze their organs if not worn properly, causing acid reflux, heartburn, abdominal pain, bloating, gas and shallow breath , doctors told the Huffington Post. Leg numbness and possible yeast and bacterial infections can also be caused by moisture trapped in the synthetic underwear, the article warned.
American Journal of Public Healt A physician's illustration from the 1700s shows how corsets damaged women's ribs. This hurts just looking at it.
“I thought you were supposed to buy them tight, to sort of suck everything in?” TODAY anchor Savannah Guthrie said Tuesday. “Buying them in extra large is kind of counterproductive.”
Dr. Natalie Evans, a specialist in vascular medicine with Cleveland Clinic thinks a Spanx health worry is "in all likelihood overblown."
Obviously, someone shouldn't be wearing something so compressing it's painful or uncomfortable, Evans told TODAY. But in terms of avoiding health risks, "people would be better served quitting smoking or wearing seat belts."
And even if Spanx or other shapewear does cause some gas or bloating, they’re nothing like corsets or highly restrictive girdles women used to endure.
"It was worse then, back in the day," Guthrie said on TODAY.
No joke. A 2002 article in the American Journal of Public Health featured an illustration from a physician's book in the 1700s, showing how corsets compressed ribs and changed a woman's figure.
If you can't give up shapewear, at least don't wear it too often, experts say. Or, as Al Roker advises, "don't wear them so tight, it bursts your appendix." ||||| "I hate Spanx because even though they look so good under your clothes, sometimes mid-wedding I'll be like, 'I feel so nauseous,'" actress Jennifer Coolidge once said. "They're so tight, who knows what you're cutting off?"
Turns out, that star was on to something. While we can all relate to the aforementioned pain and suffering, most of us have no idea about the health ramifications of shapewear. Are we hurting our bodies in the name of smooth garment lines? We spoke to gastroenterologist Dr. John Kuemmerle, dermatologist Dr. Maryann Mikhail and chiropractor Dr. Karen Erickson to find out.
When you wear shapewear, you're compressing your organs.
Shapewear couldn't do its job if it wasn't tight. Unfortunately, this leaves your stomach, intestine and colon compressed, which Dr. Kuemmerle says can worsen acid reflux and heartburn. Restrictive clothing can also provoke erosive esophagitis.
Your digestive tract is also affected, explains Dr. Erickson. The intestines are supposed to contract and move food along, but when they're compressed over a long period of time, the flow of digestion is stifled. "It's like when people eat a huge meal and then unbuckle their jeans," Dr. Kuemmerle says. This damage, though not permanent, can lead to unpleasant symptoms like abdominal discomfort, bloating and gas.
Another hallmark of shapewear? Shallow breath. When you inhale, your diaphragm expands and your abdomen flares out, Dr. Erickson says, but shapewear restricts this movement and decreases the excursion in respiration.
That includes compressing your bowels.
Those with functional bowel disorders and irritable bowel syndrome should wear shapewear with caution. "In someone who has weakness down below and a tendency towards incontinence," Dr. Kuemmerle explains, "increasing intra-abdominal pressure can certainly provoke episodes of incontinence."
Dr. Erickson also notes that there can be a tendency for those wearing shapewear to not to want to go to the bathroom. "You've got all of this pressure on your bladder from the shapewear pressing down," she says. "If you postpone urinating, it can cause stress incontinence, where you leak, or it can exaggerate stress incontinence with people who already have it."
You can develop tingling, numbness and pain in your legs.
Sitting in shapewear can lead to a reversible condition called meralgia paresthetica, which is when the peripheral nerve in your thigh is compressed. This leads to tingling, numbness and pain in your legs, all of which can come and go or become constant. "It's like putting these giant rubber bands around your upper thighs and tightening them when you sit," Dr. Erickson says. (She's also seen this condition in those who wear too-tight pantyhose and pants.)
This rubber band effect can also decrease your circulation and lead to blood clots. When you sit in shapewear, Dr. Erickson explains that those genetically prone to varicosities can develop varicose veins and lymph congestion, which manifests as swollen ankles.
Your muscles will suffer if you rely on shapewear for good posture.
"Shapewear is not a substitute for having strong muscles," Dr. Erickson says. It's important to develop muscle tone, because it's those muscles that hold your posture in perfect alignment. Many people use shapewear as a crutch to avoid using those muscles, Dr. Erickson says.
And don't be fooled into thinking that shapewear works like a medical back brace. "Shapewear's a little different in that it's not therapeutically designed -- it's cosmetically designed," she explains.
Plus, shapewear can create an environment prone to infections.
Shapewear is occlusive, meaning it traps moisture and anything else under it, which predisposes shapewear wearers to both yeast and bacterial infections. Dr. Mikhail says that the most common infection she sees is folliculitis, since bacteria often gets trapped among hair follicles and causes red puss-filled bumps. "Usually folliculitis can be easily treated with topical antibiotics," she says. "But recurrent infections may develop antibiotic resistance, meaning they get harder and harder to treat."
Dr. Mikhail notes that the risks are higher in overweight individuals, diabetics and those who sweat excessively.
Like everything in life, it's important to exercise moderation: Don't wear them too often.
"Everyone I know owns shapewear -- it's kind of a miracle," Dr. Erickson admits. "But I think we want to be mindful to not wear it on a day-in and day-out basis." It's not a problem if you wear it for an evening or a special occasion, she says, but it's not a good idea to wear it daily and sit in it for hours on end.
If you're exhibiting any of the aforementioned symptoms, all three doctors recommend avoiding shapewear until the issues are completely resolved.
Lastly, choosing the right fit is key.
There are so many different types of shapewear out there. You should pick the right style, but you also need to pick the right size, Dr. Erickson says. "You really want to pick shapewear that actually fits you," she explains. "You want it to do its job, but you don't want to get something so small that it's damaging you." For example, shapewear that goes up to your bra line isn't a good idea for those with acid reflux or heartburn, as that area is particularly sensitive for people predisposed to those conditions.
A good way to tell if your shapewear fits correctly? "It's not cutting in anywhere," says Dr. Erickson, who recommends trying out different brands and materials. "All it really does is smooth out the rough edges and you can easily get in and out of it without a struggle."
People really love their Spanx...
PHOTO GALLERY Celebrities Who Love Spanx
Want more? Be sure to check out HuffPost Style on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram at @HuffPostStyle.
This story appears in Issue 86 of our weekly iPad magazine, Huffington, available Friday, Jan. 31 in the iTunes App store. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 5,211 |
Result of tight contest between Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga could be known by Wednesday morning
Kenyan politicians and officials have called on voters to respect the results in the country’s general election, amid fears that angry losers could take the bitter power struggle to the streets.
Millions queued through the day and late into the evening on Tuesday, waiting patiently to cast their votes in an election seen as a key test of the stability of one of Africa’s most important states.
Long queues had formed in Nairobi, the capital, even before polling stations opened at 6am and the fiercely contested elections got under way.
Kenya goes to the polls in closely contested election – in pictures Read more
The election pits the incumbent, Uhuru Kenyatta, in power since 2013, against the veteran opposition politician Raila Odinga. No clear leader emerged during campaigning.
It is unclear exactly when final results would be available, with counting due to begin only after the last polling stations had closed. Some, where voting had been delayed by rain on technical hitches, remained open well into the evening.
Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has said the winner may be known as early as Wednesday morning.
Kenyatta, 55, called on his rivals to “accept the will of the people … in the event that they lose.”
“I am willing, myself, to accept the will of the people. Let us pull this country together and let us move forward as one nation,” he said.
Odinga told reporters he had only prepared a victory speech but observers in Nairobi described the absence of any serious criticism of the conduct of the polls on Tuesday from the opposition as “encouraging”.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga and the country’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, cast their vote during the presidential election. Photograph: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters
An estimated 180,000 police officers and members of other security forces have been deployed around Kenya to ensure order. Violence after elections in 2007 killed more than a thousand people.
Most voters who spoke to the Guardian at a dozen polling stations in wealthy and poorer areas in Nairobi during the day said they were hopeful the current calm would continue, whatever the result.
“Kenyans have become more mature in the way they vote. Many would prefer peace to violence. Especially young people are against all kinds of electoral violence,” said Boniface Odhiambo, 26, as he cast his vote in Kibera, Nairobi’s largest slum and an opposition stronghold.
About half of eligible voters are under 35 and levels of registration of younger voters has been reported as high.
Pheisa Omonga, 20, had cast her ballot in Kilamani, a wealthy central neighbourhood. “It’s really exciting. Kenya is definitely changing for the better. I am optimistic about the future. I am not worried about violence,” she said.
First-time voters could have a major impact on the result. “Younger votes tend to be more willing to go for change. Overall, ethnicity is the best predictor of vote choice, but there are important variations in other social categories. For example younger, urban and male voters are more likely to back the opposition while older, rural and female voters are more likely to support the government,” said Nic Cheeseman, an expert in African politics at the University of Birmingham.
The campaign was marred by hundreds of violent incidents, including the murder of a high-profile election official.
In recent days, bus stations have been busy as many Kenyans have left major cities for provincial areas which are seen as safe. Others have stockpiled groceries, phone cards and other essentials.
Election officials have broadcast videos calling on voters to accept that in a “healthy democracy” there are “winners and losers” while former US president Barack Obama, whose father was born in Kenya, led a chorus of international calls on the eve of the vote for a violence-free election.
In Kibera, queues of thousands of people snaked across wasteland and through narrow lanes lined by tin-roofed shacks.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Maasai women wait in line to cast their votes at a polling station in Iloodokilani in Kajiado county, 100km south of Nairobi. Photograph: Dai Kurokawa/EPA
“Since morning I was here, waiting for the queue to move so I can vote for someone to make our country better,” said Alex Makau, 26 and unemployed.
Many observers had predicted young people would not turn out to vote in large numbers. This did not appear to be the case. Few appeared bothered by the lengthy wait, which some officials said was due to new electronic counting systems introduced to try to cut down voter fraud.
Most voters said they were confident the precautions taken by Kenyan electoral officials would prevent rigging.
Odinga, who is making his fourth attempt to gain power, has claimed elections in 2007 and 2013 were stolen from him. It was his challenge to the results of the polls 10 years ago that prompted rioting and retaliation by security forces, which tipped the country into its worst crisis for decades. Much of the violence was between young men from different ethnic communities.
The two candidates in the poll belong to two of the country’s main ethnic groups, Kenyatta from the Kikuyu, the largest, and Odinga from the Luo. Both have built coalitions with other influential communities in a country where voting still takes place largely along ethnic lines.
However, there are signs this is changing, with younger, more urban and better-educated voters playing down such identities.
“It is different now. Some years back people normally voted just for tribe. Now it is more about if the candidate would bring some change to their lives,” said Chabkaya, a 26-year-old in Kibera who was made redundant from her cleaning job this year.
Kenyatta’s first term prompted a massive infrastructure drive and steady economic growth, making Kenya one of the best-performing economies in Africa.
However, his record has been undermined by soaring food prices, enduring high unemployment and massive corruption scandals.
Quick guide What are the issues in the Kenyan election? Show Hide Economy The Kenyan economy is one of the best performing in Africa, with consistently high growth rates in recent years and massive infrastructural development. Yet inequality has endured, unemployment is high and the poor hit particularly hard in recent months by a sharp rise in the price of basic foodstuffs. Tribe and ethnicity All voters face these economic issues but tribe or ethnic loyalty could be a greater factor in their eventual choice of leader. There are more than 40 such communities in Kenya and, though slowly weakening with urbanisation and education, identities remain very powerful. Politics is often seen as a brutal competition for resources and when violence broke out after the 2007 poll it was along ethnic lines. Personalities In a campaign that has been typically thin on ideology, personal appeal counts. Both presidential candidates can count on the loyalty of members of their ethnic communities and have run massive, energetic and hugely expensive campaigns. But both have weaknesses: Raila Odinga is seen as old, and has already failed repeatedly to gain power, while Uhuru Kenyatta has been tarnished in recent years by corruption allegations and has disappointed many who voted for him in 2013.
Dolphin Masese, a lawyer who voted in upmarket Kilmani, said young voters had different expectations from their parents. “We want more from our leaders. We are more aware of our power. We now understand our power to change things,” Masese, 24, said.
Masese’s 56-year-old mother, Rose, said she had always “just accepted that politicians will be politicians” but her children did not.
Observers see the election as the last showdown of a dynastic rivalry between the families of Kenyatta, 55, and Odinga, 72, that has lasted more than half a century.
The presidential candidates’ fathers, Jomo Kenyatta and Jaramogi Odinga, went from allies in the struggle for independence from Britain to bitter rivals.
Some voters were more combative in their attitudes, however. “If we lose, then we will wait for our leader Raila [Odinga] to speak. If he says it is OK, then it is OK. If he says fight, we will fight,” said Abraham Ashidiva, 24, as he joined the long file of neighbours outside a Kibera polling station as drizzle turned to hazy sunshine around noon.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A boy stands with his parents, all wearing suits in the colours of the Kenyan flag, as they wait to vote in Gatundu, north of Nairobi. Photograph: Ben Curtis/AP
||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Inside a Nairobi polling station with the BBC's Anne Soy
Kenya's incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta has taken a strong lead as votes are counted after Tuesday's election.
With 80% of results in he has 55% of the vote against 44% for his rival, Raila Odinga, figures show.
However, the opposition coalition has rejected the partial results, saying election officials have not produced documents to prove their validity.
"They are fictitious, they are fake," said Mr Odinga.
"We have our projections from our agents which show we are ahead by far," he added.
The electoral commission is urging people to wait calmly for full results.
Many fear a repeat of the violence that followed the disputed 2007 election when more than 1,100 Kenyans died and 600,000 were displaced.
"During this critical phase, we urge all Kenyans to exercise restraint as we await official results from the polling stations and indeed as they start trickling in," the commission said.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption People began queuing early in the morning and even overnight to cast their votes
Voting passed off largely peacefully and some polling stations remained open after the scheduled 17:00 (14:00 GMT) closing time.
Mr Kenyatta is hoping for a second term in office.
To win outright, a candidate needs more than 50% of the vote, and at least 25% in 24 of Kenya's 47 counties. If that threshold is not met, a run-off vote between the top two candidates will be triggered.
Voting for the national and local assemblies has also been taking place.
Scenes from the polling station
People started queuing early to ensure they could cast their vote. Long queues could be seen, and video footage at one polling station showed people injured after an apparent stampede.
There was also the failure of some voter-identification equipment and one in four polling stations were apparently without mobile phone coverage meaning that officials would have to drive to the nearest town to send results.
There were reports that one man had been killed in clashes in the Kilifi area.
But there was one heartening moment when a woman gave birth to a baby girl as she queued in West Pokot to cast her ballot. New mother Pauline Chemanang called the circumstances of the birth a "blessing" and called her baby Kura, Swahili for "ballot", according to local radio.
Image copyright EPA Image caption Election officials will be busy through the night counting the votes
Image copyright AFP Image caption Mr Kenyatta called on Kenyans to pull the country together
Image copyright EPA Image caption Mr Odinga has raised fears of vote-rigging
Casting his vote in his hometown of Gatundu, north of Nairobi, Mr Kenyatta said he would accept the outcome of the election.
"To my competitors, as I have always said, in the event that they lose, let us accept the will of the people. I am willing, myself, to accept the will of the people," he said.
Opposition leader Mr Odinga cast his ballot in the Nairobi slum of Kibera.
Speaking outside the voting centre, he told his supporters: "Let's turn out in large numbers and vote."
Testing time ahead
By Alastair Leithead, BBC News, Mathare
The queues were long and the voters impatient. Many arrived in the middle of the night to cast their ballots early and the electronic system is taking quite a while to verify voters.
If fingerprints don't register, ID card numbers have to be typed in to the electronic tablets and then there's a manual backup.
The responsibility lies with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to deliver a free and fair election.
The test will come when the polls close, the votes are counted and the results have to be transmitted to the tallying centres.
The presidential race is expected to be close.
Mr Odinga, 72, has run for president three times and lost each time. President Kenyatta, the 55-year-old son of Kenya's founding president, beat him in the last election in 2013, but their rivalry is generations old - their fathers were political opponents in the 1960s.
Mr Kenyatta and his running-mate William Ruto were indicted by the International Criminal Court for their alleged roles in the bloodshed a decade ago. The case ultimately collapsed due to lack of evidence, and after key witnesses died or disappeared.
Kenya's election in numbers:
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Kenya elections 2017: "Six-piece" vote explained
Six separate ballot papers : For president, national assembly, female representatives, governors, senate and county assemblies
: For president, national assembly, female representatives, governors, senate and county assemblies 47 parliamentary seats and 16 senate seats reserved for women
and 16 senate seats reserved for women Eight presidential candidates : President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga are favourites
: President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga are favourites Kenyatta beat Odinga in 2013 - their fathers were also political rivals in the 1960s
A candidate needs 50% plus one vote for first-round victory
vote for first-round victory More than 14,000 candidates running across the six elections
running across the six elections More than 45% of registered voters under 35
Some 180,000 security officers on duty nationwide in case of trouble
Decoding the poll
Vote strains mixed ethnicity marriages
What first-time voters make of it all
View of those behind 2007 poll violence
Chief EU observer Marietje Schaake said much would depend on the faith people hold in the new electronic voting system.
Before election day, a top election official was murdered, there were claims of vote-rigging and hate speech flyers and rhetorical text messages began circulating.
Some nervous Kenyans stockpiled food and water, while police prepared emergency first aid kits in the event of violence. | – Barack Obama has mostly steered clear of politics—at least publicly—since leaving office. There was an alteration Monday, however, on the eve of an election in Kenya. The former president, whose father was born in the country, urged Kenyans to "work for an election—and aftermath—that is peaceful and credible, reinforcing confidence in your new Constitution and the future of your country," per the New York Times. The Guardian explains why such words are needed, citing "hundreds of violent incidents"—including the torture and murder of a senior polling official—during a campaign that has pitted President Uhuru Kenyatta against former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Odinga lost in two previous runs in 2013 and 2007. Violence following Odinga's challenge of the result a decade ago resulted in at least 1,300 deaths and 600,000 people displaced from their homes, per the Times. Polls showed Odinga, 72, neck and neck with Kenyatta, 55, before Kenyans waited for hours to vote on Tuesday, with lines between tribal groups clearly drawn. Some 180,000 police and security officers have been deployed across Kenya in case of violence. But "I urge Kenyan leaders to reject violence and incitement; respect the will of the people; urge security forces to act professionally and neutrally; and work together no matter the outcome," says Obama. Kenyatta has said he will accept the result either way, reports the BBC, which notes it could be days before a winner is declared. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Result of tight contest between Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga could be known by Wednesday morning
Kenyan politicians and officials have called on voters to respect the results in the country’s general election, amid fears that angry losers could take the bitter power struggle to the streets.
Millions queued through the day and late into the evening on Tuesday, waiting patiently to cast their votes in an election seen as a key test of the stability of one of Africa’s most important states.
Long queues had formed in Nairobi, the capital, even before polling stations opened at 6am and the fiercely contested elections got under way.
Kenya goes to the polls in closely contested election – in pictures Read more
The election pits the incumbent, Uhuru Kenyatta, in power since 2013, against the veteran opposition politician Raila Odinga. No clear leader emerged during campaigning.
It is unclear exactly when final results would be available, with counting due to begin only after the last polling stations had closed. Some, where voting had been delayed by rain on technical hitches, remained open well into the evening.
Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has said the winner may be known as early as Wednesday morning.
Kenyatta, 55, called on his rivals to “accept the will of the people … in the event that they lose.”
“I am willing, myself, to accept the will of the people. Let us pull this country together and let us move forward as one nation,” he said.
Odinga told reporters he had only prepared a victory speech but observers in Nairobi described the absence of any serious criticism of the conduct of the polls on Tuesday from the opposition as “encouraging”.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga and the country’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, cast their vote during the presidential election. Photograph: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters
An estimated 180,000 police officers and members of other security forces have been deployed around Kenya to ensure order. Violence after elections in 2007 killed more than a thousand people.
Most voters who spoke to the Guardian at a dozen polling stations in wealthy and poorer areas in Nairobi during the day said they were hopeful the current calm would continue, whatever the result.
“Kenyans have become more mature in the way they vote. Many would prefer peace to violence. Especially young people are against all kinds of electoral violence,” said Boniface Odhiambo, 26, as he cast his vote in Kibera, Nairobi’s largest slum and an opposition stronghold.
About half of eligible voters are under 35 and levels of registration of younger voters has been reported as high.
Pheisa Omonga, 20, had cast her ballot in Kilamani, a wealthy central neighbourhood. “It’s really exciting. Kenya is definitely changing for the better. I am optimistic about the future. I am not worried about violence,” she said.
First-time voters could have a major impact on the result. “Younger votes tend to be more willing to go for change. Overall, ethnicity is the best predictor of vote choice, but there are important variations in other social categories. For example younger, urban and male voters are more likely to back the opposition while older, rural and female voters are more likely to support the government,” said Nic Cheeseman, an expert in African politics at the University of Birmingham.
The campaign was marred by hundreds of violent incidents, including the murder of a high-profile election official.
In recent days, bus stations have been busy as many Kenyans have left major cities for provincial areas which are seen as safe. Others have stockpiled groceries, phone cards and other essentials.
Election officials have broadcast videos calling on voters to accept that in a “healthy democracy” there are “winners and losers” while former US president Barack Obama, whose father was born in Kenya, led a chorus of international calls on the eve of the vote for a violence-free election.
In Kibera, queues of thousands of people snaked across wasteland and through narrow lanes lined by tin-roofed shacks.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Maasai women wait in line to cast their votes at a polling station in Iloodokilani in Kajiado county, 100km south of Nairobi. Photograph: Dai Kurokawa/EPA
“Since morning I was here, waiting for the queue to move so I can vote for someone to make our country better,” said Alex Makau, 26 and unemployed.
Many observers had predicted young people would not turn out to vote in large numbers. This did not appear to be the case. Few appeared bothered by the lengthy wait, which some officials said was due to new electronic counting systems introduced to try to cut down voter fraud.
Most voters said they were confident the precautions taken by Kenyan electoral officials would prevent rigging.
Odinga, who is making his fourth attempt to gain power, has claimed elections in 2007 and 2013 were stolen from him. It was his challenge to the results of the polls 10 years ago that prompted rioting and retaliation by security forces, which tipped the country into its worst crisis for decades. Much of the violence was between young men from different ethnic communities.
The two candidates in the poll belong to two of the country’s main ethnic groups, Kenyatta from the Kikuyu, the largest, and Odinga from the Luo. Both have built coalitions with other influential communities in a country where voting still takes place largely along ethnic lines.
However, there are signs this is changing, with younger, more urban and better-educated voters playing down such identities.
“It is different now. Some years back people normally voted just for tribe. Now it is more about if the candidate would bring some change to their lives,” said Chabkaya, a 26-year-old in Kibera who was made redundant from her cleaning job this year.
Kenyatta’s first term prompted a massive infrastructure drive and steady economic growth, making Kenya one of the best-performing economies in Africa.
However, his record has been undermined by soaring food prices, enduring high unemployment and massive corruption scandals.
Quick guide What are the issues in the Kenyan election? Show Hide Economy The Kenyan economy is one of the best performing in Africa, with consistently high growth rates in recent years and massive infrastructural development. Yet inequality has endured, unemployment is high and the poor hit particularly hard in recent months by a sharp rise in the price of basic foodstuffs. Tribe and ethnicity All voters face these economic issues but tribe or ethnic loyalty could be a greater factor in their eventual choice of leader. There are more than 40 such communities in Kenya and, though slowly weakening with urbanisation and education, identities remain very powerful. Politics is often seen as a brutal competition for resources and when violence broke out after the 2007 poll it was along ethnic lines. Personalities In a campaign that has been typically thin on ideology, personal appeal counts. Both presidential candidates can count on the loyalty of members of their ethnic communities and have run massive, energetic and hugely expensive campaigns. But both have weaknesses: Raila Odinga is seen as old, and has already failed repeatedly to gain power, while Uhuru Kenyatta has been tarnished in recent years by corruption allegations and has disappointed many who voted for him in 2013.
Dolphin Masese, a lawyer who voted in upmarket Kilmani, said young voters had different expectations from their parents. “We want more from our leaders. We are more aware of our power. We now understand our power to change things,” Masese, 24, said.
Masese’s 56-year-old mother, Rose, said she had always “just accepted that politicians will be politicians” but her children did not.
Observers see the election as the last showdown of a dynastic rivalry between the families of Kenyatta, 55, and Odinga, 72, that has lasted more than half a century.
The presidential candidates’ fathers, Jomo Kenyatta and Jaramogi Odinga, went from allies in the struggle for independence from Britain to bitter rivals.
Some voters were more combative in their attitudes, however. “If we lose, then we will wait for our leader Raila [Odinga] to speak. If he says it is OK, then it is OK. If he says fight, we will fight,” said Abraham Ashidiva, 24, as he joined the long file of neighbours outside a Kibera polling station as drizzle turned to hazy sunshine around noon.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A boy stands with his parents, all wearing suits in the colours of the Kenyan flag, as they wait to vote in Gatundu, north of Nairobi. Photograph: Ben Curtis/AP
||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Inside a Nairobi polling station with the BBC's Anne Soy
Kenya's incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta has taken a strong lead as votes are counted after Tuesday's election.
With 80% of results in he has 55% of the vote against 44% for his rival, Raila Odinga, figures show.
However, the opposition coalition has rejected the partial results, saying election officials have not produced documents to prove their validity.
"They are fictitious, they are fake," said Mr Odinga.
"We have our projections from our agents which show we are ahead by far," he added.
The electoral commission is urging people to wait calmly for full results.
Many fear a repeat of the violence that followed the disputed 2007 election when more than 1,100 Kenyans died and 600,000 were displaced.
"During this critical phase, we urge all Kenyans to exercise restraint as we await official results from the polling stations and indeed as they start trickling in," the commission said.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption People began queuing early in the morning and even overnight to cast their votes
Voting passed off largely peacefully and some polling stations remained open after the scheduled 17:00 (14:00 GMT) closing time.
Mr Kenyatta is hoping for a second term in office.
To win outright, a candidate needs more than 50% of the vote, and at least 25% in 24 of Kenya's 47 counties. If that threshold is not met, a run-off vote between the top two candidates will be triggered.
Voting for the national and local assemblies has also been taking place.
Scenes from the polling station
People started queuing early to ensure they could cast their vote. Long queues could be seen, and video footage at one polling station showed people injured after an apparent stampede.
There was also the failure of some voter-identification equipment and one in four polling stations were apparently without mobile phone coverage meaning that officials would have to drive to the nearest town to send results.
There were reports that one man had been killed in clashes in the Kilifi area.
But there was one heartening moment when a woman gave birth to a baby girl as she queued in West Pokot to cast her ballot. New mother Pauline Chemanang called the circumstances of the birth a "blessing" and called her baby Kura, Swahili for "ballot", according to local radio.
Image copyright EPA Image caption Election officials will be busy through the night counting the votes
Image copyright AFP Image caption Mr Kenyatta called on Kenyans to pull the country together
Image copyright EPA Image caption Mr Odinga has raised fears of vote-rigging
Casting his vote in his hometown of Gatundu, north of Nairobi, Mr Kenyatta said he would accept the outcome of the election.
"To my competitors, as I have always said, in the event that they lose, let us accept the will of the people. I am willing, myself, to accept the will of the people," he said.
Opposition leader Mr Odinga cast his ballot in the Nairobi slum of Kibera.
Speaking outside the voting centre, he told his supporters: "Let's turn out in large numbers and vote."
Testing time ahead
By Alastair Leithead, BBC News, Mathare
The queues were long and the voters impatient. Many arrived in the middle of the night to cast their ballots early and the electronic system is taking quite a while to verify voters.
If fingerprints don't register, ID card numbers have to be typed in to the electronic tablets and then there's a manual backup.
The responsibility lies with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to deliver a free and fair election.
The test will come when the polls close, the votes are counted and the results have to be transmitted to the tallying centres.
The presidential race is expected to be close.
Mr Odinga, 72, has run for president three times and lost each time. President Kenyatta, the 55-year-old son of Kenya's founding president, beat him in the last election in 2013, but their rivalry is generations old - their fathers were political opponents in the 1960s.
Mr Kenyatta and his running-mate William Ruto were indicted by the International Criminal Court for their alleged roles in the bloodshed a decade ago. The case ultimately collapsed due to lack of evidence, and after key witnesses died or disappeared.
Kenya's election in numbers:
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Kenya elections 2017: "Six-piece" vote explained
Six separate ballot papers : For president, national assembly, female representatives, governors, senate and county assemblies
: For president, national assembly, female representatives, governors, senate and county assemblies 47 parliamentary seats and 16 senate seats reserved for women
and 16 senate seats reserved for women Eight presidential candidates : President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga are favourites
: President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga are favourites Kenyatta beat Odinga in 2013 - their fathers were also political rivals in the 1960s
A candidate needs 50% plus one vote for first-round victory
vote for first-round victory More than 14,000 candidates running across the six elections
running across the six elections More than 45% of registered voters under 35
Some 180,000 security officers on duty nationwide in case of trouble
Decoding the poll
Vote strains mixed ethnicity marriages
What first-time voters make of it all
View of those behind 2007 poll violence
Chief EU observer Marietje Schaake said much would depend on the faith people hold in the new electronic voting system.
Before election day, a top election official was murdered, there were claims of vote-rigging and hate speech flyers and rhetorical text messages began circulating.
Some nervous Kenyans stockpiled food and water, while police prepared emergency first aid kits in the event of violence. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 21,486 |
Scandal creator Shonda Rhimes initially thought Washington was “too pretty to be smart” for the role of Olivia Pope in the ABC drama. Clearly, she was proven wrong. Washington’s mix of toughness and beauty has attracted a dedicated following for the ABC political series, and made its 36-year-old star the first African-American female to helm her own primetime show in nearly four decades. And while her character is usually unflappable, Washington finds beauty in how her own life isn’t so. “I don’t have to be perfect. All I have to do is show up and enjoy the messy, imperfect journey of my life,” she told Oprah. ||||| Gwyneth Paltrow: My Family Makes Me Feel Beautiful
She may be PEOPLE's 2013 Most Beautiful Woman but Gwyneth Paltrow insists her kids , Apple, 8, and Moses, 7, don't see her as anything but mom."Around the house, I'm in jeans and a T-shirt. I don't really wear makeup. That's what they're used to," she says. As for her husband , Chris Martin, "He'll make a joke about it. If I've gotten fully dressed up, he'll be like, 'Oh, wow! You're Gwyneth Paltrow!' Because he's used to seeing me in like baggy shorts and frizzy hair."And Paltrow wouldn't have it any other way. With her second cookbook, It's All Good, debuting at No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list and her next film, Iron Man 3, hitting theaters on May 3, Paltrow credits her workout routine for keeping her looking youthful and less tired."It makes me look younger and feel strong," says the actress, who does the Tracy Anderson Method five days a week. "When I first started, I thought, 'I'll never be good at this. This is a nightmare!' But now it's like brushing my teeth, I just do it."More importantly, she hopes to instill a good body image in both her kids, especially now that her daughter is starting to become interested in things like makeup. "When we're home sometimes, she'll put on mascara. And sometimes I'll let her wear something out to dinner – but just a little dab," she says."Also having a father who adores you the way that he adores her is very good for your body image. The more we can love her and let her be who she is, the more confident she'll feel."For more of Paltrow's exclusive interview – in which she opens up about her marriage and family, shares beauty tips and sets the record straight on all the rumors – pick up this week's special issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday ||||| Gwyneth Paltrow is under fire again!
The Academy Award winning actress, who has been blasted for everything lately from the strict diet she has her kids on to her fancy new cookbook with ridiculously expensive ingredients, is in hot water again after collaborating on a string bikini line for children that she is selling on her GOOP website, which one expert exclusively tells RadarOnline.com sexualizes little girls and inevitably promotes eating disorders.
The Melissa Odabash for GOOP “exclusive kids new york bikini set,” retails for $45 and the skimpy string bikini is modeled by a little girl, striking a mature pose, on the GOOP website.
PHOTOS: Gwyneth Paltrow Is Featured In Self Magazine
“This kind of sexualized children’s bikini line is not in girls’ best interest,” Eating Disorder Specialist and Cognitive Behavioral Therapist Dr. Carol Fishbein, Ph.D. tells RadarOnline.com exclusively about the sexy swimsuits.
“We are sexualizing young, innocent children, before they will know how to protect themselves or be fully aware of what could be happening to them. With verbal comments, lewd looks or even worse.”
PHOTOS: Gywneth Paltrow Looks Flawless At Forty At The Golden Heart Gala
Fishbein specifies that the fact the bikinis are held together by strings is extremely disturbing in itself, because they not only promote eating disorders, but they keep children from getting to engage in normal beach activities and enjoying the innocence of their youth.
“These kinds of bathing suits promote low self-esteem, negative body image and eating disorders, because of the focus on the appearance of a young girl and keeping her restricted from being able to run around and enjoy the health and power of her own body through running and splashing in the water, jumping, doing somersaults and headstands,” she says.
PHOTOS: Gwyneth Paltrow Shares Family Vacation Snaps from St Lucia
“These bikinis are tied together with flimsy strings that easily open, contributing to a girl having to check and recheck her skimpy sexualized clothing rather than enjoying her power and her body,” the therapist adds.
As girls will inevitably be sexualized later on in their youth, she firmly believes that it is a parent’s duty to protect them when they are still very young.
“Parents should make clothing choices that protect the innocence of their children. These bathing suits call attention to sexuality and this will get in the way of children enjoying the joy of their bodies as innocent, protected children, which they are more entitled to. Sexy chic will be upon them soon enough, but at age 4 if we can’t protect, then what is wrong with us?”
WATCH: Gwyneth Paltrow & Robert Downey, Jr. In Iron Man 3 Trailer
Instead of focusing on how a little girl looks, parents should focus more on who she is as a person, Dr. Fishbein suggests.
“What we want is for young girls to have fun in their life and develop their athletic abilities, recognize the ability to develop friendships and close relationships within their family; to have school and personality achievements and not to have their values centered on their appearance or sexuality, especially at such a young age.”
PHOTOS: 10 Stars Who Have Defended Their Super Skinny Bodies
Do you think Gwyneth Paltrow — who is the mother of an eight-year-old daughter, Apple — went too far with collaborating on string bikinis for young girls? Sound off below. | – People has selected the celebrity everyone loves to hate as this year's "World's Most Beautiful Woman!": Gwyneth Paltrow. As is standard for Most Beautiful winners, Paltrow adopts a self-deprecating tone: "Around the house, I'm in jeans and a T-shirt. I don't really wear makeup," she says, and hubby Chris Martin even teases her about it: "If I've gotten fully dressed up, he'll be like, 'Oh, wow! You're Gwyneth Paltrow!' Because he's used to seeing me in like baggy shorts and frizzy hair." In a behind-the-scenes video, she adds that she "honestly thought someone was playing a joke" on her and "had to re-read the email three times" before she believed she'd be on the cover. (See who else made the list here.) Also this week in Gwyneth's world: She's selling a kids' bikini on her website, GOOP. Cue backlash. "We are sexualizing young, innocent children, before they will know how to protect themselves or be fully aware of what could be happening to them," an expert tells Radar. Click to see a picture. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Scandal creator Shonda Rhimes initially thought Washington was “too pretty to be smart” for the role of Olivia Pope in the ABC drama. Clearly, she was proven wrong. Washington’s mix of toughness and beauty has attracted a dedicated following for the ABC political series, and made its 36-year-old star the first African-American female to helm her own primetime show in nearly four decades. And while her character is usually unflappable, Washington finds beauty in how her own life isn’t so. “I don’t have to be perfect. All I have to do is show up and enjoy the messy, imperfect journey of my life,” she told Oprah. ||||| Gwyneth Paltrow: My Family Makes Me Feel Beautiful
She may be PEOPLE's 2013 Most Beautiful Woman but Gwyneth Paltrow insists her kids , Apple, 8, and Moses, 7, don't see her as anything but mom."Around the house, I'm in jeans and a T-shirt. I don't really wear makeup. That's what they're used to," she says. As for her husband , Chris Martin, "He'll make a joke about it. If I've gotten fully dressed up, he'll be like, 'Oh, wow! You're Gwyneth Paltrow!' Because he's used to seeing me in like baggy shorts and frizzy hair."And Paltrow wouldn't have it any other way. With her second cookbook, It's All Good, debuting at No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list and her next film, Iron Man 3, hitting theaters on May 3, Paltrow credits her workout routine for keeping her looking youthful and less tired."It makes me look younger and feel strong," says the actress, who does the Tracy Anderson Method five days a week. "When I first started, I thought, 'I'll never be good at this. This is a nightmare!' But now it's like brushing my teeth, I just do it."More importantly, she hopes to instill a good body image in both her kids, especially now that her daughter is starting to become interested in things like makeup. "When we're home sometimes, she'll put on mascara. And sometimes I'll let her wear something out to dinner – but just a little dab," she says."Also having a father who adores you the way that he adores her is very good for your body image. The more we can love her and let her be who she is, the more confident she'll feel."For more of Paltrow's exclusive interview – in which she opens up about her marriage and family, shares beauty tips and sets the record straight on all the rumors – pick up this week's special issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday ||||| Gwyneth Paltrow is under fire again!
The Academy Award winning actress, who has been blasted for everything lately from the strict diet she has her kids on to her fancy new cookbook with ridiculously expensive ingredients, is in hot water again after collaborating on a string bikini line for children that she is selling on her GOOP website, which one expert exclusively tells RadarOnline.com sexualizes little girls and inevitably promotes eating disorders.
The Melissa Odabash for GOOP “exclusive kids new york bikini set,” retails for $45 and the skimpy string bikini is modeled by a little girl, striking a mature pose, on the GOOP website.
PHOTOS: Gwyneth Paltrow Is Featured In Self Magazine
“This kind of sexualized children’s bikini line is not in girls’ best interest,” Eating Disorder Specialist and Cognitive Behavioral Therapist Dr. Carol Fishbein, Ph.D. tells RadarOnline.com exclusively about the sexy swimsuits.
“We are sexualizing young, innocent children, before they will know how to protect themselves or be fully aware of what could be happening to them. With verbal comments, lewd looks or even worse.”
PHOTOS: Gywneth Paltrow Looks Flawless At Forty At The Golden Heart Gala
Fishbein specifies that the fact the bikinis are held together by strings is extremely disturbing in itself, because they not only promote eating disorders, but they keep children from getting to engage in normal beach activities and enjoying the innocence of their youth.
“These kinds of bathing suits promote low self-esteem, negative body image and eating disorders, because of the focus on the appearance of a young girl and keeping her restricted from being able to run around and enjoy the health and power of her own body through running and splashing in the water, jumping, doing somersaults and headstands,” she says.
PHOTOS: Gwyneth Paltrow Shares Family Vacation Snaps from St Lucia
“These bikinis are tied together with flimsy strings that easily open, contributing to a girl having to check and recheck her skimpy sexualized clothing rather than enjoying her power and her body,” the therapist adds.
As girls will inevitably be sexualized later on in their youth, she firmly believes that it is a parent’s duty to protect them when they are still very young.
“Parents should make clothing choices that protect the innocence of their children. These bathing suits call attention to sexuality and this will get in the way of children enjoying the joy of their bodies as innocent, protected children, which they are more entitled to. Sexy chic will be upon them soon enough, but at age 4 if we can’t protect, then what is wrong with us?”
WATCH: Gwyneth Paltrow & Robert Downey, Jr. In Iron Man 3 Trailer
Instead of focusing on how a little girl looks, parents should focus more on who she is as a person, Dr. Fishbein suggests.
“What we want is for young girls to have fun in their life and develop their athletic abilities, recognize the ability to develop friendships and close relationships within their family; to have school and personality achievements and not to have their values centered on their appearance or sexuality, especially at such a young age.”
PHOTOS: 10 Stars Who Have Defended Their Super Skinny Bodies
Do you think Gwyneth Paltrow — who is the mother of an eight-year-old daughter, Apple — went too far with collaborating on string bikinis for young girls? Sound off below. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 9,943 |
Perhaps you heard that reality TV star Kim Kardashian is getting married this weekend? No doubt you also heard that Kim has been hitting the gym hard to look perfect on her fairytale wedding day.
Kim's been kicking her famous butt into high gear and has been tweeting up a storm about her sessions with personal trainer Gunnar Peterson.
All weekend Kim's been tweeting:
"Had a great @Gunnar workout early this morning! I don't know what I would do without him!"
"Such a great workout w @Gunnar! Gunnar has me on the grind!!!!"
"I really put in extra work today at bootcamp! Feels so good to push yourself a little more than usual!"
But what exactly has Kim been doing to get her booty as tight as possible for the big day?
Kim's trainer Gunnar Peterson, who been working with the bride-to-be for the last three years, told Shape, that he's been working out with Kim three to five days per week, depending on her hectic schedule.
Kim is in the gym all year long and not just for special occasions. But since she wants to look amazing when her wedding airs on TV for the entire world to see in October they've reved up her routines, making them just a little quicker paced.
To learn Kim's entire wedding workout click over to Shape.
WATCH: ||||| Kat Von D may no longer have her show, but she’s back with her man.
Even as TLC announced the cancellation of LA Ink, Von D and Jesse James – who had called off their engagement last month – posted on Twitter separate photos of themselves locked in embraces.
James went a step further and added the caption, “para siempre” – Spanish for “forever.”
In an interview with PEOPLE, James made it official. The engagement is back on, and Von D is once again wearing her ring.
RELATED: Kat Von D’s Show, LA Ink, Is Cancelled
“Sometimes you are only given one chance in life,” he says. “It was up to me to open my eyes and see it. That girl is my chance. I will never stop fighting and striving to hold on to her. Showing her how special she is, and how much I love her.” | – Oh, those crazy kids: After breaking their engagement less than a month ago, Jesse James and Kat Von D are back on. James broke the news by tweeting a romantic photo of himself and Von D with the caption "para siempre," or "forever." He later confirmed to People the engagement ring is back on Kat's finger. "Sometimes you are only given one chance in life," he says. "It was up to me to open my eyes and see it. That girl is my chance. I will never stop fighting and striving to hold on to her. Showing her how special she is, and how much I love her." (And in other wedding news...) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Perhaps you heard that reality TV star Kim Kardashian is getting married this weekend? No doubt you also heard that Kim has been hitting the gym hard to look perfect on her fairytale wedding day.
Kim's been kicking her famous butt into high gear and has been tweeting up a storm about her sessions with personal trainer Gunnar Peterson.
All weekend Kim's been tweeting:
"Had a great @Gunnar workout early this morning! I don't know what I would do without him!"
"Such a great workout w @Gunnar! Gunnar has me on the grind!!!!"
"I really put in extra work today at bootcamp! Feels so good to push yourself a little more than usual!"
But what exactly has Kim been doing to get her booty as tight as possible for the big day?
Kim's trainer Gunnar Peterson, who been working with the bride-to-be for the last three years, told Shape, that he's been working out with Kim three to five days per week, depending on her hectic schedule.
Kim is in the gym all year long and not just for special occasions. But since she wants to look amazing when her wedding airs on TV for the entire world to see in October they've reved up her routines, making them just a little quicker paced.
To learn Kim's entire wedding workout click over to Shape.
WATCH: ||||| Kat Von D may no longer have her show, but she’s back with her man.
Even as TLC announced the cancellation of LA Ink, Von D and Jesse James – who had called off their engagement last month – posted on Twitter separate photos of themselves locked in embraces.
James went a step further and added the caption, “para siempre” – Spanish for “forever.”
In an interview with PEOPLE, James made it official. The engagement is back on, and Von D is once again wearing her ring.
RELATED: Kat Von D’s Show, LA Ink, Is Cancelled
“Sometimes you are only given one chance in life,” he says. “It was up to me to open my eyes and see it. That girl is my chance. I will never stop fighting and striving to hold on to her. Showing her how special she is, and how much I love her.” | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 6,904 |
Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| In light of the Florida massacre, the company expresses ‘regret’ over its decision to bring the game to CPAC
Facebook is facing backlash for bringing a virtual reality shooting game to a rightwing conference where the National Rifle Association (NRA) has promoted gun rights in the wake of a Florida school shooting.
The social media company, which has since removed the demonstration game and expressed “regret”, was already facing scrutiny for attending the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a high-profile event that featured speeches attacking gun control advocates and a renewed call from Donald Trump to arm school teachers.
NRA head breaks silence to attack gun control advocates: 'They hate individual freedom' Read more
Hugo Barra, Facebook’s vice president of VR, said the company has a “standard set” of demos for events, including “action games” with “violence”.
“In light of the recent events in Florida and out of respect for the victims and their families, we have removed them from this demo. We regret that we failed to do so in the first place,” he said in a statement to the Guardian.
Hugo Barra (@hbarra) We removed the demo & regret failing to do so at the start. We got this wrong. Our demos come w a standard set of content, some are action games w violence. These shouldn't have been present, especially in light of recent events & out of respect for the victims & their families.
The conference in Maryland – which featured multiple NRA representatives and far-right French politician Marion Maréchal-Le Pen – came one week after a shooter with an AR-15 rifle killed 17 people in Florida, sparking a wave of student activism and renewed scrutiny of Republican politicians funded by the NRA.
Facebook, which has been criticized by some for giving money to CPAC, faced backlash Friday when video emerged of its Oculus demo game that appeared to involve rapid-fire shooting.
Sean Morrow (@snmrrw) Facebook is at CPAC and they have a VR shooting game pic.twitter.com/wmV23jezpN
Some criticizing Facebook also pointed out that its platform has played a role in spreading false conspiracy theories about survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school shooting.
At CPAC, where Trump repeated his anti-immigrant rhetoric and attacks on Hillary Clinton, Facebook also set up a help desk and held a training for Facebook Groups. The groups feature has faced scrutiny over the last year for its role in helping neo-Nazis and rightwing extremists connect and organize.
“Facebook routinely participates in events hosted by organizations across the political spectrum,” a Facebook spokesperson said in an email. “Our presence allows us to share information about our products as well as facilitate a dialogue ... Our involvement is not an endorsement of any particular position or platform.” ||||| Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| CLOSE After the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Gov. Rick Scott unveiled a $500 million plan to address safety in schools. USA TODAY
Gaming fans wearing VR goggles play "Echo Arena" from Oculus at the E3 conference in Los Angeles. (Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN, AFP/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook pulled violent virtual reality games, including one in which players pretend to shoot people in a train station, from its booth at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference after public criticism.
Facebook's vice president of virtual reality, Hugo Barra, apologized for the demos of violent virtual reality games including "Bullet Train" during CPAC.
Criticism of the shooter game demo coming so soon after the shootings at a high school in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 people dead mushroomed on social media after a video of CPAC attendees playing the game using Facebook's Oculus virtual reality headset was posted on Twitter by NowThisNews reporter Sean Morrow.
"There is a standard set of experiences included in the Oculus demos we feature at public events. A few of the action games can include violence," Barra said in an emailed statement to USA TODAY. "In light of the recent events in Florida and out of respect for the victims and their families, we have removed them from this demo. We regret that we failed to do so in the first place."
CPAC — the annual conference for conservatives in Maryland where Wayne LaPierre, head of the nation's largest gun rights group, the NRA, spoke Thursday and President Trump spoke Friday — came one week after a shooter with an AR-15 rifle shot up Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, sparking a wave of student activism. Facebook and Google have a presence at CPAC.
This is not the first time Facebook has been accused of being tone deaf in demonstrating the capabilities of its virtual reality. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized last year after live streaming a virtual reality tour of hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico to promote Facebook's Spaces app.
At last year's annual Oculus Connect developers’ conference, Zuckerberg set an ambitious goal of getting 1 billion people to use virtual reality and said he wants to ensure the technology is "a force for good."
Facebook is at CPAC and they have a VR shooting game pic.twitter.com/wmV23jezpN — Sean Morrow (@snmrrw) February 23, 2018
Seriously, @facebook? You're at #CPAC demonstrating a VR shooting game? A shooting game? You should be ashamed. — Brent Andrew (@SanFranciscoBA) February 23, 2018
"Can you give me an example of what does tone deaf means?" -- Well yes I can. Please see @facebook at CPAC. No facebook....just no. https://t.co/ULeo9ZshDy — Mitch Daugherty (@pdxmitch) February 23, 2018
Unless Facebook is charging CPAC attendees $5 to play & donating that money to gun safety organizations, this might be one demo to pull given circumstances... https://t.co/SLcIUINwzX — 👨🏻💻☕️🗽 (@hunterwalk) February 23, 2018
remember when mark said vr is a powerful tool to cultivate empathy https://t.co/Gz9S1b8PSM — Melanie Ehrenkranz (@MelanieHannah) February 23, 2018
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2ouxEjA | – Facebook has apologized for featuring a virtual-reality game called Bullet Train—in which players shoot people at a train station—in its booth at the Conservative Political Action Conference, USA Today reports. Bullet Train was just one of a number of violent games featured at the Facebook booth. "In light of the recent events in Florida and out of respect for the victims and their families, we have removed them from this demo," says Huga Barra, Facebook vice president of virtual reality. "We regret that we failed to do so in the first place." According to the Guardian, Facebook faced public backlash after video of the Bullet Train demo was posted to social media Friday. "Seriously, Facebook?" reads one tweet. "You're at CPAC demonstrating a VR shooting game? A shooting game? You should be ashamed." But it wasn't just violent virtual-reality games. Facebook is facing criticism for participating in CPAC—to which it has given money—at all. Multiple NRA representatives, including CEO Wayne LaPierre, spoke at the event, which also featured a far-right French politician. Some critics pointed out that Facebook has played a role in spreading conspiracy theories about the survivors of the Parkland shooting. Kira Lerner, a reporter at ThinkProgress, tweets that two CPAC attendees told her they saw proof on Facebook that Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students were crisis actors. “Facebook routinely participates in events hosted by organizations across the political spectrum,” a Facebook spokesperson says. “Our involvement is not an endorsement of any particular position or platform.” | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| In light of the Florida massacre, the company expresses ‘regret’ over its decision to bring the game to CPAC
Facebook is facing backlash for bringing a virtual reality shooting game to a rightwing conference where the National Rifle Association (NRA) has promoted gun rights in the wake of a Florida school shooting.
The social media company, which has since removed the demonstration game and expressed “regret”, was already facing scrutiny for attending the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a high-profile event that featured speeches attacking gun control advocates and a renewed call from Donald Trump to arm school teachers.
NRA head breaks silence to attack gun control advocates: 'They hate individual freedom' Read more
Hugo Barra, Facebook’s vice president of VR, said the company has a “standard set” of demos for events, including “action games” with “violence”.
“In light of the recent events in Florida and out of respect for the victims and their families, we have removed them from this demo. We regret that we failed to do so in the first place,” he said in a statement to the Guardian.
Hugo Barra (@hbarra) We removed the demo & regret failing to do so at the start. We got this wrong. Our demos come w a standard set of content, some are action games w violence. These shouldn't have been present, especially in light of recent events & out of respect for the victims & their families.
The conference in Maryland – which featured multiple NRA representatives and far-right French politician Marion Maréchal-Le Pen – came one week after a shooter with an AR-15 rifle killed 17 people in Florida, sparking a wave of student activism and renewed scrutiny of Republican politicians funded by the NRA.
Facebook, which has been criticized by some for giving money to CPAC, faced backlash Friday when video emerged of its Oculus demo game that appeared to involve rapid-fire shooting.
Sean Morrow (@snmrrw) Facebook is at CPAC and they have a VR shooting game pic.twitter.com/wmV23jezpN
Some criticizing Facebook also pointed out that its platform has played a role in spreading false conspiracy theories about survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school shooting.
At CPAC, where Trump repeated his anti-immigrant rhetoric and attacks on Hillary Clinton, Facebook also set up a help desk and held a training for Facebook Groups. The groups feature has faced scrutiny over the last year for its role in helping neo-Nazis and rightwing extremists connect and organize.
“Facebook routinely participates in events hosted by organizations across the political spectrum,” a Facebook spokesperson said in an email. “Our presence allows us to share information about our products as well as facilitate a dialogue ... Our involvement is not an endorsement of any particular position or platform.” ||||| Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| CLOSE After the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Gov. Rick Scott unveiled a $500 million plan to address safety in schools. USA TODAY
Gaming fans wearing VR goggles play "Echo Arena" from Oculus at the E3 conference in Los Angeles. (Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN, AFP/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook pulled violent virtual reality games, including one in which players pretend to shoot people in a train station, from its booth at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference after public criticism.
Facebook's vice president of virtual reality, Hugo Barra, apologized for the demos of violent virtual reality games including "Bullet Train" during CPAC.
Criticism of the shooter game demo coming so soon after the shootings at a high school in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 people dead mushroomed on social media after a video of CPAC attendees playing the game using Facebook's Oculus virtual reality headset was posted on Twitter by NowThisNews reporter Sean Morrow.
"There is a standard set of experiences included in the Oculus demos we feature at public events. A few of the action games can include violence," Barra said in an emailed statement to USA TODAY. "In light of the recent events in Florida and out of respect for the victims and their families, we have removed them from this demo. We regret that we failed to do so in the first place."
CPAC — the annual conference for conservatives in Maryland where Wayne LaPierre, head of the nation's largest gun rights group, the NRA, spoke Thursday and President Trump spoke Friday — came one week after a shooter with an AR-15 rifle shot up Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, sparking a wave of student activism. Facebook and Google have a presence at CPAC.
This is not the first time Facebook has been accused of being tone deaf in demonstrating the capabilities of its virtual reality. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized last year after live streaming a virtual reality tour of hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico to promote Facebook's Spaces app.
At last year's annual Oculus Connect developers’ conference, Zuckerberg set an ambitious goal of getting 1 billion people to use virtual reality and said he wants to ensure the technology is "a force for good."
Facebook is at CPAC and they have a VR shooting game pic.twitter.com/wmV23jezpN — Sean Morrow (@snmrrw) February 23, 2018
Seriously, @facebook? You're at #CPAC demonstrating a VR shooting game? A shooting game? You should be ashamed. — Brent Andrew (@SanFranciscoBA) February 23, 2018
"Can you give me an example of what does tone deaf means?" -- Well yes I can. Please see @facebook at CPAC. No facebook....just no. https://t.co/ULeo9ZshDy — Mitch Daugherty (@pdxmitch) February 23, 2018
Unless Facebook is charging CPAC attendees $5 to play & donating that money to gun safety organizations, this might be one demo to pull given circumstances... https://t.co/SLcIUINwzX — 👨🏻💻☕️🗽 (@hunterwalk) February 23, 2018
remember when mark said vr is a powerful tool to cultivate empathy https://t.co/Gz9S1b8PSM — Melanie Ehrenkranz (@MelanieHannah) February 23, 2018
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2ouxEjA | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 39,356 |
Hundreds of thousands of people in Britain could be carrying a newly-identified sexually transmitted infection (STI) that can cause urinary inflammation and vaginal bleeding.
Many people never know they are carrying Mycoplasma genitalium (MG), which was discovered in 1981, but there is growing evidence it is passed on through unprotected sex.
Researchers analysed data from the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles to reveal that people who have more sexual partners, do not use condoms, live in deprived areas and are aged 25-44 are most likely to test positive.
Findings published in the International Journal of Epidemiology showed that 1 per cent of 16-44-year-olds in Britain who have had sex have MG.
The top 11 places where you're most likely to catch an STI
+ show all The top 11 places where you're most likely to catch an STI
1/11 At a friend's house 15 per cent of people who caught an STI said they got it after having sex at a friend's house REX/c.Columbia/Everett
2/11 On university campus 13 per cent of Britons who caugh STIs said they contracted them after getting frisky on campus Rex
3/11 At a strip club 11 per cent caught an STI at a strip club AFP/Getty
4/11 At home 10 per cent of people caught an STI after having sex at home Rex
5/11 At a nightclub 8 per cent of people who had sex in nightclubs caught an STI Getty Images
6/11 On the beach 8 per cent of people got diagnosed with an STI after sex on the beach Rex Features
7/11 At the office 7 per cent said 'screw you' to office politics and had sex in their/someone else's workplace... then caught an STI YouTube
8/11 In a swimming pool 6 per cent caught an STI after having sex in a swimming pool Getty/EyesWideOpen / Contributor
9/11 In the park 6 per cent of Britons probably regret getting their freak on out of doors after they found out they'd caught an STI Ulrich Baumgarten via Getty Images
10/11 In a cinema The back row at the cinema is clearly still a popular hook up spot: 5 per cent of people caught an STI here Getty Images
11/11 On public transport 4 per cent got an STI after getting frisky on public transport YouTube
It is more common in those who had more than four sexual partners in the past year, bringing the figure up to 5.2 per cent of men and 3.1 per cent of women.
The theory that it is sexually transmitted was further supported by the fact that none of the 200 16 and 17-year-olds who told the survey they had never had sex carried the infection.
Condom museum opens
Most of the people who tested positive for MG did not think they had any symptoms but a high proportion of women said they bled after sex.
It can cause urethritis, cervicitis, pelvic inflammatory disease and possibly female infertility, although research has been inconclusive.
Dr Pam Sonnenberg, an STI expert at University College London and the lead author of the paper, said if doctors only test people showing symptoms the majority of MG cases will be missed.
“Further research is needed to understand the clinical implications of infection and possible longer-term complication,” she added.
“This information, together with information on resistance patterns to guide antibiotic choice, will inform recommendations on how to test for and manage MG infection.“ ||||| A sexually transmitted infection could have infected hundreds of thousands of people in the UK, research suggests.
Mycoplasma genitalium, known as MG, has very few symptoms but is now known to be passed on through sex. It is estimated to affect 1% of 16- to 44-year-olds who report having had at least one sexual partner.
MG has previously been identified as causing discharge; testicular pain, pelvic pain and bleeding after sex in women, although most people have no symptoms at all.
Scientists believe MG plays a role in pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility and ectopic pregnancy. The existence of the bacterium was first reported in the early 1980s.
Nigel Field, consultant clinical epidemiologist at Public Health England (PHE), which worked on the study, said it had found further evidence that MG is an STI.
“MG is a bacterium that was present in around 1% of the general population aged 16 to 44 years, who had reported at least one sexual partner,” he said. “The study adds to the accumulating evidence base that MG causes infection in some men and women, and the study found that women with MG were more likely to report bleeding after sexual activity. “However, over 90% of men and more than half of women with MG had no symptoms. It may be that MG does not cause illness in all individuals in whom the infection is detected. Laboratory testing for MG is not yet widely available in the UK.”
He said further research into the clinical consequences of MG infection were needed before work could begin on possible screening or steps to prevent it.
Field added: “PHE has recently established national surveillance to monitor diagnoses of MG from any clinics undertaking testing and will continue to gather public health data on MG to inform policy on infection control.
“As for all STIs, prevention measures promoting increased condom use and a reduction in sexual risk behaviours are likely to play an important role in efforts to control MG.”
The study, which was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, found the rate of infection was much higher in those who reported more than four sexual partners in the past year.
The majority of participants who tested positive for MG did not report any symptoms in the last month.
More than half of women did not report any symptoms, but among those who did, bleeding after sex was found to be the most common.
Pam Sonnenberg, lead author of the paper, said: “These findings suggest that only testing those who are currently symptomatic would miss the majority of infections. However, further research is needed to understand the clinical implications of infection and possible longer term complications.” ||||| Here's a fun little kernel of news to brighten up (and/or slightly dampen) your Thursday afternoon: There's a new sexually transmitted infection in town! And it could be more common than we realize.
The infection is called Mycoplasma genitalium (or MG for short), and its symptoms may include genital discharge, pain while urinating, pelvic pain and for women, bleeding after sex. Although it was first identified back in the 1980s, according to a new report in the International Journal of Epidemiology, it hasn't really been epidemiologically studied at length, which means that its transmission, risk factors and prevalence have always been shrouded in a certain degree of mystery .
That is, until now. According to the International Journal of Epidemiology report, MG is, in all likelihood, a sexually transmitted infection.
The study: Lead author Pam Sonnenberg and her research team pulled their data from the urine samples of a group of 4,507 British participants who ranged in age from 16 to 44 and had varying levels of sexual activity. The team found that MG was most prevalent in participants who had engaged with more than four partners in the previous year, with 5.2% of those men and 3.1% of those women testing positive for the infection.
Meanwhile, the infection was nowhere to be found in more than 200 participants who were aged 16 and 17 and had never had vaginal, anal or oral sex.
The authors wrote that all of this "strengthens evidence that MG is an STI: There were strong associations with risky sexual behaviors, with behavioral risk factors similar to those in other known STIs, and no infections were detected in those reporting no previous sexual experience."
They also found that while the aforementioned symptoms are all possible, a lot of people with the infection were asymptomatic. "In men there were no associations between reported STI symptoms and MG positivity," the study says. But they did add that "although asymptomatic infection was common, we found a strong association with post-coital bleeding in women."
So basically, MG likes to take the low-key route and just chill in our bodies without causing too much of a scene, except for when it randomly decides to make your V bleed after sex. Cute.
So should we all be freaking out right now, or what? As is the case with most any STI, the answer is no.
"I think we don't need to panic about it," Zhana Vrangalova, a sex researcher who teaches at New York University, told Mic. "As a bacterial infection, [MG] is prevented in the same ways that gonorrhea and chlamydia are: by using condoms properly and consistently."
Vrangalova added that the results of this study aren't exactly shocking. She noted that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have already acknowledged the possibility that MG is a sexually transmitted infection, "and this study's results are consistent with that conclusion."
Still, it's not something you should be super cavalier about, either — especially if you're experiencing symptoms consistent with urethritis or cervicitis (inflammations of the urethra or cervix, which are signified by discharges or burning sensations or pain while peeing).
"This should be something to consider when people present with current or persistent urethritis or cervicitis but don't test positive for either gonorrhea or chlamydia," she said. "MG is relatively uncommon, but it is not as uncommon as it is unknown among laypeople and forgotten about by medical professionals."
In short, MG might very well be a thing — but that doesn't mean it's worth freaking out about. As Vrangalova noted, "This is just one more reason for people to have safer sex." | – Take heed, folks: There appears to be a newish STD in town. It's "newish" because doctors have known about mycoplasma genitalium, or MG, since 1981, but researchers have now found the strongest evidence to date that it can be transmitted through sexual contact. They analyzed urine samples from 4,507 Brits aged 16 to 44 and found that 1% of those who had at least one sexual partner had MG, reports the Independent. The figure rose to 5.2% of men and 3.1% of women who had more than four sexual partners in the previous year, per Mic. Tellingly, no sign of the infection was found in the 200 or so participants who had never had sex. "There were strong associations with risky sexual behaviors, with behavioral risk factors similar to those in other known STIs, and no infections were detected in those reporting no previous sexual experience," the authors say. While sufferers may report genital discharge, pelvic pain, pain while urinating, and bleeding after sex in the case of women, "over 90% of men and more than half of women with MG had no symptoms," a researcher tells the Guardian. The lead author notes the infection could also lead to inflammations of the urethra or cervix (urethritis or cervicitis), pelvic inflammatory disease, and female infertility, but further research is needed to understand the long-term effects. A sex researcher adds there's no need to freak out. MG "is prevented in the same ways that gonorrhea and chlamydia are: by using condoms properly and consistently," she says. Doctors, she adds, should keep the results in mind when patients have ailments such as urethritis or cervicitis but test negative for gonorrhea or chlamydia. (This condom changes color near STDs.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Hundreds of thousands of people in Britain could be carrying a newly-identified sexually transmitted infection (STI) that can cause urinary inflammation and vaginal bleeding.
Many people never know they are carrying Mycoplasma genitalium (MG), which was discovered in 1981, but there is growing evidence it is passed on through unprotected sex.
Researchers analysed data from the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles to reveal that people who have more sexual partners, do not use condoms, live in deprived areas and are aged 25-44 are most likely to test positive.
Findings published in the International Journal of Epidemiology showed that 1 per cent of 16-44-year-olds in Britain who have had sex have MG.
The top 11 places where you're most likely to catch an STI
+ show all The top 11 places where you're most likely to catch an STI
1/11 At a friend's house 15 per cent of people who caught an STI said they got it after having sex at a friend's house REX/c.Columbia/Everett
2/11 On university campus 13 per cent of Britons who caugh STIs said they contracted them after getting frisky on campus Rex
3/11 At a strip club 11 per cent caught an STI at a strip club AFP/Getty
4/11 At home 10 per cent of people caught an STI after having sex at home Rex
5/11 At a nightclub 8 per cent of people who had sex in nightclubs caught an STI Getty Images
6/11 On the beach 8 per cent of people got diagnosed with an STI after sex on the beach Rex Features
7/11 At the office 7 per cent said 'screw you' to office politics and had sex in their/someone else's workplace... then caught an STI YouTube
8/11 In a swimming pool 6 per cent caught an STI after having sex in a swimming pool Getty/EyesWideOpen / Contributor
9/11 In the park 6 per cent of Britons probably regret getting their freak on out of doors after they found out they'd caught an STI Ulrich Baumgarten via Getty Images
10/11 In a cinema The back row at the cinema is clearly still a popular hook up spot: 5 per cent of people caught an STI here Getty Images
11/11 On public transport 4 per cent got an STI after getting frisky on public transport YouTube
It is more common in those who had more than four sexual partners in the past year, bringing the figure up to 5.2 per cent of men and 3.1 per cent of women.
The theory that it is sexually transmitted was further supported by the fact that none of the 200 16 and 17-year-olds who told the survey they had never had sex carried the infection.
Condom museum opens
Most of the people who tested positive for MG did not think they had any symptoms but a high proportion of women said they bled after sex.
It can cause urethritis, cervicitis, pelvic inflammatory disease and possibly female infertility, although research has been inconclusive.
Dr Pam Sonnenberg, an STI expert at University College London and the lead author of the paper, said if doctors only test people showing symptoms the majority of MG cases will be missed.
“Further research is needed to understand the clinical implications of infection and possible longer-term complication,” she added.
“This information, together with information on resistance patterns to guide antibiotic choice, will inform recommendations on how to test for and manage MG infection.“ ||||| A sexually transmitted infection could have infected hundreds of thousands of people in the UK, research suggests.
Mycoplasma genitalium, known as MG, has very few symptoms but is now known to be passed on through sex. It is estimated to affect 1% of 16- to 44-year-olds who report having had at least one sexual partner.
MG has previously been identified as causing discharge; testicular pain, pelvic pain and bleeding after sex in women, although most people have no symptoms at all.
Scientists believe MG plays a role in pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility and ectopic pregnancy. The existence of the bacterium was first reported in the early 1980s.
Nigel Field, consultant clinical epidemiologist at Public Health England (PHE), which worked on the study, said it had found further evidence that MG is an STI.
“MG is a bacterium that was present in around 1% of the general population aged 16 to 44 years, who had reported at least one sexual partner,” he said. “The study adds to the accumulating evidence base that MG causes infection in some men and women, and the study found that women with MG were more likely to report bleeding after sexual activity. “However, over 90% of men and more than half of women with MG had no symptoms. It may be that MG does not cause illness in all individuals in whom the infection is detected. Laboratory testing for MG is not yet widely available in the UK.”
He said further research into the clinical consequences of MG infection were needed before work could begin on possible screening or steps to prevent it.
Field added: “PHE has recently established national surveillance to monitor diagnoses of MG from any clinics undertaking testing and will continue to gather public health data on MG to inform policy on infection control.
“As for all STIs, prevention measures promoting increased condom use and a reduction in sexual risk behaviours are likely to play an important role in efforts to control MG.”
The study, which was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, found the rate of infection was much higher in those who reported more than four sexual partners in the past year.
The majority of participants who tested positive for MG did not report any symptoms in the last month.
More than half of women did not report any symptoms, but among those who did, bleeding after sex was found to be the most common.
Pam Sonnenberg, lead author of the paper, said: “These findings suggest that only testing those who are currently symptomatic would miss the majority of infections. However, further research is needed to understand the clinical implications of infection and possible longer term complications.” ||||| Here's a fun little kernel of news to brighten up (and/or slightly dampen) your Thursday afternoon: There's a new sexually transmitted infection in town! And it could be more common than we realize.
The infection is called Mycoplasma genitalium (or MG for short), and its symptoms may include genital discharge, pain while urinating, pelvic pain and for women, bleeding after sex. Although it was first identified back in the 1980s, according to a new report in the International Journal of Epidemiology, it hasn't really been epidemiologically studied at length, which means that its transmission, risk factors and prevalence have always been shrouded in a certain degree of mystery .
That is, until now. According to the International Journal of Epidemiology report, MG is, in all likelihood, a sexually transmitted infection.
The study: Lead author Pam Sonnenberg and her research team pulled their data from the urine samples of a group of 4,507 British participants who ranged in age from 16 to 44 and had varying levels of sexual activity. The team found that MG was most prevalent in participants who had engaged with more than four partners in the previous year, with 5.2% of those men and 3.1% of those women testing positive for the infection.
Meanwhile, the infection was nowhere to be found in more than 200 participants who were aged 16 and 17 and had never had vaginal, anal or oral sex.
The authors wrote that all of this "strengthens evidence that MG is an STI: There were strong associations with risky sexual behaviors, with behavioral risk factors similar to those in other known STIs, and no infections were detected in those reporting no previous sexual experience."
They also found that while the aforementioned symptoms are all possible, a lot of people with the infection were asymptomatic. "In men there were no associations between reported STI symptoms and MG positivity," the study says. But they did add that "although asymptomatic infection was common, we found a strong association with post-coital bleeding in women."
So basically, MG likes to take the low-key route and just chill in our bodies without causing too much of a scene, except for when it randomly decides to make your V bleed after sex. Cute.
So should we all be freaking out right now, or what? As is the case with most any STI, the answer is no.
"I think we don't need to panic about it," Zhana Vrangalova, a sex researcher who teaches at New York University, told Mic. "As a bacterial infection, [MG] is prevented in the same ways that gonorrhea and chlamydia are: by using condoms properly and consistently."
Vrangalova added that the results of this study aren't exactly shocking. She noted that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have already acknowledged the possibility that MG is a sexually transmitted infection, "and this study's results are consistent with that conclusion."
Still, it's not something you should be super cavalier about, either — especially if you're experiencing symptoms consistent with urethritis or cervicitis (inflammations of the urethra or cervix, which are signified by discharges or burning sensations or pain while peeing).
"This should be something to consider when people present with current or persistent urethritis or cervicitis but don't test positive for either gonorrhea or chlamydia," she said. "MG is relatively uncommon, but it is not as uncommon as it is unknown among laypeople and forgotten about by medical professionals."
In short, MG might very well be a thing — but that doesn't mean it's worth freaking out about. As Vrangalova noted, "This is just one more reason for people to have safer sex." | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 21,515 |
Just as anticipation for his impending TBS talk show is beginning to ramp up, Conan O’Brien will release two records on independent label Third Man. And They Call Me Mad? will be released digitally and as a 7-inch vinyl record, the A side featuring O’Brien’s spoken word take on the story of Frankenstein, and the B side an interview with Third Man Records’ founder, Jack White. It’s available for pre-order at Third Man’s website, and will ship Aug. 24.
O’Brien recorded the album, Conan O’Brien Live at Third Man, with The Legally Prohibited Band on June 10, 2010, at Third Man Records in Nashville. Featuring rock and rockabilly, with White and 7 Nation Army playing on the song “20 Flight Rock,” the 12-inch vinyl is already available at the Third Man website.
Both recordings will reportedly be available on iTunes “early next week.” ||||| Los Angeles — In the run-up to launching his new talk show on US cable network TBS, Conan O'Brien will release two new albums.
The first is "And They Call Me Mad?" which includes O'Brien's improvised spoken word inspired by the legend of Frankenstein and an interview with Conan conducted by White Stripes frontman Jack White.
The second, "Conan O'Brien Live at Third Man," has rockabilly tunes performed by O'Brien and his band -- including a duet with White.
The efforts were recorded in June. "And They Call Me Mad?" ships to retail stores Aug. 24, with ordering info available on White's Third Man Records site. Both are expected to be available on iTunes next week. | – Little known fact: Conan O'Brien is in a rockabilly band. Yes, that's right. And, as Entertainment Weekly reports, the multi-talented talk show host/comedian/musician plans to showcase his multi-talents on not one, but two new records released through Jack White's Third Man Records—on vinyl, no less. Conan O'Brien Live at Third Man, will feature rockabilly tunes, while And They Call Me Mad? will showcase O'Brien's improvised, spoken word re-telling of the legend of Frankenstein, notes MSNBC. Of course. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Just as anticipation for his impending TBS talk show is beginning to ramp up, Conan O’Brien will release two records on independent label Third Man. And They Call Me Mad? will be released digitally and as a 7-inch vinyl record, the A side featuring O’Brien’s spoken word take on the story of Frankenstein, and the B side an interview with Third Man Records’ founder, Jack White. It’s available for pre-order at Third Man’s website, and will ship Aug. 24.
O’Brien recorded the album, Conan O’Brien Live at Third Man, with The Legally Prohibited Band on June 10, 2010, at Third Man Records in Nashville. Featuring rock and rockabilly, with White and 7 Nation Army playing on the song “20 Flight Rock,” the 12-inch vinyl is already available at the Third Man website.
Both recordings will reportedly be available on iTunes “early next week.” ||||| Los Angeles — In the run-up to launching his new talk show on US cable network TBS, Conan O'Brien will release two new albums.
The first is "And They Call Me Mad?" which includes O'Brien's improvised spoken word inspired by the legend of Frankenstein and an interview with Conan conducted by White Stripes frontman Jack White.
The second, "Conan O'Brien Live at Third Man," has rockabilly tunes performed by O'Brien and his band -- including a duet with White.
The efforts were recorded in June. "And They Call Me Mad?" ships to retail stores Aug. 24, with ordering info available on White's Third Man Records site. Both are expected to be available on iTunes next week. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 42,618 |
The much-hyped revamp of The New Celebrity Apprentice seems to have fired some of its viewers.
With Arnold Schwarzenegger taking over for President-elect Donald Trump in the boardroom, NBC’s two-hour premiere delivered 4.9 million viewers and a 1.3 rating among adults 18-49 on Monday night. That’s down a steep 44 percent in the ratings compared to the reality show’s previous opener back in 2015 (which was on a Sunday night vs. this season’s Monday debut). NBC points out, the show faced heavy competition for male viewers from ESPN’s Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl coverage.
Alternately, ratings could have fallen because of Trump — some Trump critics have sworn off watching the show given the president-elect’s ongoing attachment to the series (certainly the reactions to this story in my Twitter feed suggest this is the case). Online boycott proclamations over various issues don’t often seem to impact viewership numbers, however, and the idea of half a show’s rating vanishing because of a producing credit seems far-fetched to me. People watch a show because of what’s on the show. And Trump — regardless of how you feel about him — tends to boost the ratings of everything he’s on.
So: Was the two-year hiatus to blame for the decline? The sports competition on ESPN? The schedule change from Sunday to Monday? Trump’s producing credit? This cycle’s cast of competitors? Or Schwarzenegger taking over from Trump? To me, the most visible and impactful change is the host gig switching. But it could be one of the others or, most likely of all, some combination of all of the above. Ultimately it’s very tough to pinpoint an exact reason why millions choose to watch a show or not.
Regardless of the cause, The New Celebrity Apprentice was crushed by ABC’s The Bachelor premiere (6.6 million viewers, 2.1 rating), which was basically held steady with last year’s debut.
Trump retains a producing credit on the new Apprentice — as is contractually standard for founding executive producers, even if they leave the series — yet he isn’t creatively involved in the show. NBC parted ways with Trump shortly after he announced his presidential campaign two years ago.
NBC introduced some changes to the format, such as moving the show from New York to Los Angeles and replacing Trump’s limo with Arnold’s “choppa.”
Schwarzenegger unveiled his new contestant-dismissing catchphrase, which is basically “you’re terminated” followed by a line from one of his other iconic films. Our writer Dalton Ross called Schwarzenegger “a little stiff at first… what I didn’t like was the way he kept letting people off the hook when he would ask them pointed questions about who messed up or who should be fired… He was better in the second hour, however, which finally culminated with him basically doing an impersonation of Hanz and Franz impersonating a ‘girly man’ impersonating Snooki crumbling about stepping outside of her comfort zone. I rewatched that on a loop about 50 times and I still honestly couldn’t tell you what the hell he was saying or doing here. But I still loved it. More of that, please. Nonsensical rambling is a hallmark of every great Celebrity Apprentice.” For full details, see Ross’ recap of the premiere here. ||||| We know by now that Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t exactly terminate his “Celebrity Apprentice” competition last night in Nielsen’s primetime TV ratings, but why did the refurbished franchise fare as poorly as it did?
After all, the previous winter cycle premiere starring Donald Trump in January 2015 earned a solid 2.4 rating in the key 18-49 demographic and 6.8 million total viewers. Those were far more respectable than Monday’s 1.3 and 4.9 million viewers. So, what happened?
Well, for starters, two years have passed. In case you’ve been asleep this whole time, somehow Trump has gone from reality competition host to the frigging PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. That means those who regularly tuned in for the “You’re Fired” guy maybe weren’t as interested as the “Get to the chopper!” dude.
Plus, Trump’s still an executive producer on the show, which could have also turned off some viewers less enthused about Trump since his full-time shift into politics.
Also Read: Ratings: Arnold Schwarzenegger's 'Celebrity Apprentice' Debut Crushed by 'The Bachelor'
It’s also worth pointing out that the 2015 version actually premiered on a Sunday evening, when there was a greater potential audience and less competition. The next night’s regular Monday time slot premiere dipped to a 2.0 and had 6.5 million viewers overall.
So what was the big competition last night? Well, Fox aired a modestly rated “MasterChef Celebrity Showdown” special, which could have fragmented the reality audience a bit. Meanwhile, ABC’s 2017 season premiere of “The Bachelor” was broadcast’s biggest demo bully last night, pulling in a 2.1 and 6.6 million viewers.
Another challenge came from ESPN’s coverage of the Rose Bowl, which turned out to be an instant classic. USC’s tight college football victory over Penn State put up the most points scored in the bowl game’s storied history.
Also Read: 'Celebrity Apprentice': Just How 'Yuge' Were Those TV Ratings Anyway?
But wait, there’s more! That 2015 start to “The Bachelor” took place on January 4 and Jan. 5. Last night’s Jan. 2 kickoff to the new era suffered a bit by being closer to the New Year’s holiday.
Finally, the recent dropping of Hearst stations from DirecTV meant some NBC affiliates were not available to DirecTV subscribers.
OK, we’re fresh out of excuses for NBC. Maybe it just wasn’t very good. We’ll see how many viewers “Celebrity Apprentice” retains next Monday at 8 p.m. on NBC. ||||| So he was a ghostly presence. Executive producers nearly always get their names onscreen at the top of a show, but on Monday the only opening credit was “Created by Mark Burnett,” giving pride of place to the reality-TV pioneer who made the inspired choice of Mr. Trump as host back in 2004.
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And that pointed up the truth that “The Apprentice” never really was Mr. Trump’s show. He was the face of the franchise and participated in the profits, but he was Mr. Burnett’s hired gun. The series may have taken on, or shaped itself around, Mr. Trump’s persona, but it was Mr. Burnett who did the shaping. Mr. Trump’s performance was part of the raw material — an essential part, but a part nonetheless — that Mr. Burnett and his team of editors turned into television.
At a 2010 panel for “The Apprentice” in New York, an audience member asked, “Who is the boss?” Mr. Burnett, a consummate, professional businessman — which is to say, not someone you’d want as the host of your reality show — asked, “Do you think Donald’s going to listen to me?” and carefully explained that “everything during the shooting and decision making is Donald.” (“Decision making” referring to the firings in the boardroom scenes.)
He didn’t bother going on to say that everything before and after the shooting was Mark. But he did say, with an odd touch of defensiveness, “Donald’s executive producer and the star of the show, and we all try and be supportive of that.”
At that point, Mr. Trump, otherwise expansive and genial, sat with narrowed eyes and pursed lips, like a schoolboy who’d just been lectured. It showed a kind of emotional honesty that was crucial to Mr. Trump’s onscreen success. His boardroom-bully act — the scolding, the put-downs, the interruptions — wouldn’t have been as palatable if he hadn’t been so obviously enjoying it. The sheer pleasure he took in saying “you’re fired,” in playing the part of the demonic boss, gave the show a comic dimension that distinguished it from other, more earnest reality competitions.
With Mr. Schwarzenegger, there’s no joy, just a — you’ll pardon the word — robotic professionalism. His rebukes don’t have enough bite, his stares don’t have enough menace. His one noticeable zinger, “You guys are ducking more questions than Congress,” sounded scripted.
The show around him, with its cast of backbiting reality retreads and its blatant logrolling — the first challenge involved a beauty line put out by Tyra Banks, one of Mr. Schwarzenegger’s “advisers” — was pretty much the same as always. There was even a surprisingly direct nod to the Trump years (which featured his older children as advisers) with the presence of Mr. Schwarzenegger’s nephew Patrick Schwarzenegger as the other adviser.
But it was hollow at the center — the onus was on the contestants to make up, in their reaction shots, for Mr. Schwarzenegger’s tepid delivery. (Jon Lovitz and Carson Kressley were best at it, and it won’t be a surprise if they both survive deep into the season.)
Mr. Schwarzenegger, the former governor of California, makes sense in the abstract as a replacement host, bridging the celebrity-turned-politician gap from Ronald Reagan to Mr. Trump. But he’s too obviously a performer (and a limited one) trying to fill out an action-hero persona that’s now bigger than he is.
Mr. Trump, by contrast, seems to exist as pure personality — so far it has proved difficult to judge the distance between him and his persona. As he entered the larger and more heavily scrutinized arena of a presidential campaign — with actual stakes, rather than the “Apprentice” prizes of a charitable contribution or a job on a Trump Organization project — that persona became more one-dimensional. The bullying remained, but the joy faded, and the comedy was often reduced to nasty zingers and schoolyard-quality taunts.
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Watching “The New Celebrity Apprentice,” it was clear that Mr. Trump’s imperiousness and (seeming) impetuousness had made him an ideal reality-TV boss, while Mr. Schwarzenegger’s cautiousness and rigidity make him a poor fit. (Though perhaps they came in handy in the governor’s office.) The “Apprentice” franchise has never been great television, but Mr. Trump gave it a reason for being. After Monday’s numbingly boring opener, someone needs to take “The New Celebrity Apprentice” into the boardroom, quick.
| – Maybe Donald Trump can fit The Celebrity Apprentice into his presidential schedule? Entertainment Weekly reports the first episode of The New Celebrity Apprentice—with Arnold Schwarzenegger replacing the president-elect—got 4.9 million viewers when it premiered Monday night. That's a 44% drop from the previous season in 2015. It's possible the NBC reality show lost nearly half its viewership because of its connection to Trump—who still has a producer's credit—though EW says that seems "far-fetched." It's more likely a combination of people boycotting Trump, a hosting change, airing on Monday instead of Sunday, and the current lineup of celebrity contestants. But, wait there's more. The Wrap reports the massive slide in the ratings could also be due to the two-year break between seasons, competition from the Rose Bowl, airing too close to the New Year's holiday, DirecTV dropping some NBC affiliates, or "maybe it just wasn't very good." It might not be a stretch to say many people would welcome Trump foregoing the presidency and returning to his reality TV roots. The New York Times calls the Trump-less New Celebrity Apprentice "dreary" and "numbingly boring," with a host that is all "robotic professionalism." "The sheer pleasure [Trump] took in saying 'you're fired'...gave the show a comic dimension that distinguished it," the Times states. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.The much-hyped revamp of The New Celebrity Apprentice seems to have fired some of its viewers.
With Arnold Schwarzenegger taking over for President-elect Donald Trump in the boardroom, NBC’s two-hour premiere delivered 4.9 million viewers and a 1.3 rating among adults 18-49 on Monday night. That’s down a steep 44 percent in the ratings compared to the reality show’s previous opener back in 2015 (which was on a Sunday night vs. this season’s Monday debut). NBC points out, the show faced heavy competition for male viewers from ESPN’s Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl coverage.
Alternately, ratings could have fallen because of Trump — some Trump critics have sworn off watching the show given the president-elect’s ongoing attachment to the series (certainly the reactions to this story in my Twitter feed suggest this is the case). Online boycott proclamations over various issues don’t often seem to impact viewership numbers, however, and the idea of half a show’s rating vanishing because of a producing credit seems far-fetched to me. People watch a show because of what’s on the show. And Trump — regardless of how you feel about him — tends to boost the ratings of everything he’s on.
So: Was the two-year hiatus to blame for the decline? The sports competition on ESPN? The schedule change from Sunday to Monday? Trump’s producing credit? This cycle’s cast of competitors? Or Schwarzenegger taking over from Trump? To me, the most visible and impactful change is the host gig switching. But it could be one of the others or, most likely of all, some combination of all of the above. Ultimately it’s very tough to pinpoint an exact reason why millions choose to watch a show or not.
Regardless of the cause, The New Celebrity Apprentice was crushed by ABC’s The Bachelor premiere (6.6 million viewers, 2.1 rating), which was basically held steady with last year’s debut.
Trump retains a producing credit on the new Apprentice — as is contractually standard for founding executive producers, even if they leave the series — yet he isn’t creatively involved in the show. NBC parted ways with Trump shortly after he announced his presidential campaign two years ago.
NBC introduced some changes to the format, such as moving the show from New York to Los Angeles and replacing Trump’s limo with Arnold’s “choppa.”
Schwarzenegger unveiled his new contestant-dismissing catchphrase, which is basically “you’re terminated” followed by a line from one of his other iconic films. Our writer Dalton Ross called Schwarzenegger “a little stiff at first… what I didn’t like was the way he kept letting people off the hook when he would ask them pointed questions about who messed up or who should be fired… He was better in the second hour, however, which finally culminated with him basically doing an impersonation of Hanz and Franz impersonating a ‘girly man’ impersonating Snooki crumbling about stepping outside of her comfort zone. I rewatched that on a loop about 50 times and I still honestly couldn’t tell you what the hell he was saying or doing here. But I still loved it. More of that, please. Nonsensical rambling is a hallmark of every great Celebrity Apprentice.” For full details, see Ross’ recap of the premiere here. ||||| We know by now that Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t exactly terminate his “Celebrity Apprentice” competition last night in Nielsen’s primetime TV ratings, but why did the refurbished franchise fare as poorly as it did?
After all, the previous winter cycle premiere starring Donald Trump in January 2015 earned a solid 2.4 rating in the key 18-49 demographic and 6.8 million total viewers. Those were far more respectable than Monday’s 1.3 and 4.9 million viewers. So, what happened?
Well, for starters, two years have passed. In case you’ve been asleep this whole time, somehow Trump has gone from reality competition host to the frigging PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. That means those who regularly tuned in for the “You’re Fired” guy maybe weren’t as interested as the “Get to the chopper!” dude.
Plus, Trump’s still an executive producer on the show, which could have also turned off some viewers less enthused about Trump since his full-time shift into politics.
Also Read: Ratings: Arnold Schwarzenegger's 'Celebrity Apprentice' Debut Crushed by 'The Bachelor'
It’s also worth pointing out that the 2015 version actually premiered on a Sunday evening, when there was a greater potential audience and less competition. The next night’s regular Monday time slot premiere dipped to a 2.0 and had 6.5 million viewers overall.
So what was the big competition last night? Well, Fox aired a modestly rated “MasterChef Celebrity Showdown” special, which could have fragmented the reality audience a bit. Meanwhile, ABC’s 2017 season premiere of “The Bachelor” was broadcast’s biggest demo bully last night, pulling in a 2.1 and 6.6 million viewers.
Another challenge came from ESPN’s coverage of the Rose Bowl, which turned out to be an instant classic. USC’s tight college football victory over Penn State put up the most points scored in the bowl game’s storied history.
Also Read: 'Celebrity Apprentice': Just How 'Yuge' Were Those TV Ratings Anyway?
But wait, there’s more! That 2015 start to “The Bachelor” took place on January 4 and Jan. 5. Last night’s Jan. 2 kickoff to the new era suffered a bit by being closer to the New Year’s holiday.
Finally, the recent dropping of Hearst stations from DirecTV meant some NBC affiliates were not available to DirecTV subscribers.
OK, we’re fresh out of excuses for NBC. Maybe it just wasn’t very good. We’ll see how many viewers “Celebrity Apprentice” retains next Monday at 8 p.m. on NBC. ||||| So he was a ghostly presence. Executive producers nearly always get their names onscreen at the top of a show, but on Monday the only opening credit was “Created by Mark Burnett,” giving pride of place to the reality-TV pioneer who made the inspired choice of Mr. Trump as host back in 2004.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
And that pointed up the truth that “The Apprentice” never really was Mr. Trump’s show. He was the face of the franchise and participated in the profits, but he was Mr. Burnett’s hired gun. The series may have taken on, or shaped itself around, Mr. Trump’s persona, but it was Mr. Burnett who did the shaping. Mr. Trump’s performance was part of the raw material — an essential part, but a part nonetheless — that Mr. Burnett and his team of editors turned into television.
At a 2010 panel for “The Apprentice” in New York, an audience member asked, “Who is the boss?” Mr. Burnett, a consummate, professional businessman — which is to say, not someone you’d want as the host of your reality show — asked, “Do you think Donald’s going to listen to me?” and carefully explained that “everything during the shooting and decision making is Donald.” (“Decision making” referring to the firings in the boardroom scenes.)
He didn’t bother going on to say that everything before and after the shooting was Mark. But he did say, with an odd touch of defensiveness, “Donald’s executive producer and the star of the show, and we all try and be supportive of that.”
At that point, Mr. Trump, otherwise expansive and genial, sat with narrowed eyes and pursed lips, like a schoolboy who’d just been lectured. It showed a kind of emotional honesty that was crucial to Mr. Trump’s onscreen success. His boardroom-bully act — the scolding, the put-downs, the interruptions — wouldn’t have been as palatable if he hadn’t been so obviously enjoying it. The sheer pleasure he took in saying “you’re fired,” in playing the part of the demonic boss, gave the show a comic dimension that distinguished it from other, more earnest reality competitions.
With Mr. Schwarzenegger, there’s no joy, just a — you’ll pardon the word — robotic professionalism. His rebukes don’t have enough bite, his stares don’t have enough menace. His one noticeable zinger, “You guys are ducking more questions than Congress,” sounded scripted.
The show around him, with its cast of backbiting reality retreads and its blatant logrolling — the first challenge involved a beauty line put out by Tyra Banks, one of Mr. Schwarzenegger’s “advisers” — was pretty much the same as always. There was even a surprisingly direct nod to the Trump years (which featured his older children as advisers) with the presence of Mr. Schwarzenegger’s nephew Patrick Schwarzenegger as the other adviser.
But it was hollow at the center — the onus was on the contestants to make up, in their reaction shots, for Mr. Schwarzenegger’s tepid delivery. (Jon Lovitz and Carson Kressley were best at it, and it won’t be a surprise if they both survive deep into the season.)
Mr. Schwarzenegger, the former governor of California, makes sense in the abstract as a replacement host, bridging the celebrity-turned-politician gap from Ronald Reagan to Mr. Trump. But he’s too obviously a performer (and a limited one) trying to fill out an action-hero persona that’s now bigger than he is.
Mr. Trump, by contrast, seems to exist as pure personality — so far it has proved difficult to judge the distance between him and his persona. As he entered the larger and more heavily scrutinized arena of a presidential campaign — with actual stakes, rather than the “Apprentice” prizes of a charitable contribution or a job on a Trump Organization project — that persona became more one-dimensional. The bullying remained, but the joy faded, and the comedy was often reduced to nasty zingers and schoolyard-quality taunts.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
Watching “The New Celebrity Apprentice,” it was clear that Mr. Trump’s imperiousness and (seeming) impetuousness had made him an ideal reality-TV boss, while Mr. Schwarzenegger’s cautiousness and rigidity make him a poor fit. (Though perhaps they came in handy in the governor’s office.) The “Apprentice” franchise has never been great television, but Mr. Trump gave it a reason for being. After Monday’s numbingly boring opener, someone needs to take “The New Celebrity Apprentice” into the boardroom, quick.
| According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 15,086 |
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The Polish military on Monday deployed chemical, radiation and explosives experts to a site in southwestern Poland where a Nazi train allegedly missing since World War II could be located.
Polish military experts arrive at a spot in in southwestern Poland where a Nazi train missing since World War II could be located in Walbrzych, Poland, on Monday Sept. 28, 2015. Chemical, radiation and... (Associated Press)
Polish military experts arrive at a spot in in southwestern Poland where a Nazi train missing since World War II could be located in Walbrzych, Poland, on Monday Sept. 28, 2015. Chemical, radiation and... (Associated Press)
Tomasz Smolarz, the governor of Lower Silesia, said the aim of the work in the town of Walbrzych is to exclude any danger for residents. He said the experts will continue their technical checks through Saturday.
The military's efforts come after two explorers claimed to have found a Nazi train trapped in a tunnel that they say could contain both armaments and precious minerals. The explorers' claim awaits confirmation, but it has sparked hopes it could be a Nazi train laden with treasure that local legend says went missing at the end of World War II. The train was reportedly booby-trapped with weapons.
During the war, Walbrzych was still part of Germany. Called Waldenburg, it was in an area where Adolf Hitler was building a system of secret underground tunnels. The legend says the so-called "gold train" entered one of the tunnels while fleeing the advancing Soviet army in 1945 and was never seen again.
Though there's no evidence the train even existed, news of the possible discovery has sparked global fascination in the case and a local gold rush.
The two explorers, a German and a Pole, say they used ground-penetrating radar to locate the train. The men want a reward of 10 percent of the value of the train's contents.
But it's not clear how things will turn out, even if a train is found. Last week prosecutors said they were investigating whether the men committed a crime by conducting a search with radar equipment without official permission. ||||| The mystery surrounding the Nazi gold train said to have been hidden in a hillside 70 years ago is finally set to be solved as soldiers have cleared the site to start digging.
But already the dig has been dismissed as a 'waste of time' by the treasure hunters who allegedly found it because they will only excavate a metre down when whatever is buried there is said to be at least eight metres underneath the surface.
Dozens of troops arrived at the site Monday after police erected metal barriers and posts to keep curious passers-by away.
The troops from the 1st Regiment of Engineers, descended on the spot in Walbrzych, south-west Poland, where two men, Piotr Koper and Andreas Richter, said they had located the train using ground penetrating radar.
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Digging: The Polish army arrived on Monday to begin digging down to find the mysterious 'Nazi gold train'
Secretive: The area has been sealed off to prevent people getting too close during the six day dig
Speaking at a press conference Monday afternoon, military spokesman Artur Talika said the soldiers would begin searching the area for possible mines and radiation leaks from suspected chemical weapons.
He added that the soldiers would dig one metre below the surface and the entire operation would last six days.
The army will then present its findings to the local authorities who will then make a decision about what to do next.
But one of the men who claims to have found the train has dismissed the operation because, he said, they won't dig far enough down.
Pole Koper told reporters: 'The military examination just one metre down is pointless. The train is about eight metres down. They will not find anything.'
He added that he and Richter had found the train three years ago and had also worked out how to extract it from the ground.
He said: 'We have spent much time examining the logistical problems and worked out a solution for getting the train out.
'We should be allowed to do this.'
Danger: A military spokesman said they were checking the area for mines and radiation leaks
Investigating: He said they would dig to a depth of a metre and then report back to local authorities
Pinpointed: Nazi gold train is said to be hidden along 4km stretch of rail track between Wroclaw and Walbrzych in Poland. It was apparently concealed by SS forces as the Soviet Red Army advanced in 1945
Since August the reports about the gold train have lured prospectors from far and wide in Europe to the small town 300 miles from Berlin in an area of Poland that was German before and during the Second World War.
The men said they used ground-penetrating radar to find the train allegedly buried by retreating German forces in the dying days of the war. The myth of vast treasure being aboard has circulated in the towns and villages of the region ever since.
Last week the two treasure hunters were told they could face prosecution in Poland because they did not have the necessary permits to go looking for it.
The legal action has been brought to deter fresh waves of Klondike hunters swarming to the area.
Authorities fear that someone could be killed if they wander too close to the modern-day railway line which links Walbrzych to the city of Wroclaw.
Barbara Nowak-Obelinda, the head of the regional conservation authority for Walbrzych, who filed the complaint, said: ‘We want no new waves of treasure seekers who ignore the rules.'
The two finders of the alleged train last week presented new radar images which experts remained sceptical of.
'Finders': But treasure hunter Piotr Koper (left) (with fellow 'finder' Andreas Richter, right), says the exercise is pointless as the train (which they claim can be seen in this image) is more than two metres below the surface
Discovery: Legend has it that the Nazis hid the mystery train packed with gold, cash and loot in their underground network of tunnels to help SS war criminals to fund new lives abroad at the end of WWII
Missing treasure: Since the end of WWII, hunters have risked their lives to uncover the £20billion-worth of Nazi treasure left behind. The Amber Room of the Czars (pictured) is the most sought-after of them all
Koper and Richter also hinted that the fabled Amber Room of the Czars might be aboard the train. The room composed of panels of amber was looted by Nazi troops in 1941 from a palace outside Leningrad and has never been seen since.
It would be worth around £200million today.
But the train - if it indeed exists - might only be laden with war materiel destined for any one of a number of arms industries built in a honeycomb of tunnels in the area designed to withstand Allied air attacks.
The site where the train is supposed to be hidden lies on a railway track between Wroclaw and Walbrzych.
In January 1945, the Red Army began its rampage across Eastern Europe heading for Berlin.
As Germans fled the advancing Soviet forces, looted valuables were shifted from across Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe.
The loot was destined for a number of purposes: getaway money for high-ranking war criminals, the basis for a German resistance movement called 'Werewolf' intended to fight the occupiers, and to become the pension funds for generals whose vast estates bequeathed to them by a grateful Fuhrer in the east which fell into the hands of new, unforgiving owners.
There could also be more than just the one 100-metre long train hidden in the complex network of tunnels built under the Nazi's local headquarters at the castle of Ksiaz and deep into the surrounding hills.
On Thursday, a Polish official confirmed new ground-penetrating radar photographs detail the existence of a massive 500 acre tunnel system near to the spot where the fabled train may lie.
'The studies confirm the existence of a large tunnel complex', said Krzysztof Kwiatkowski, of the municipality Walim to a radio station in nearby Wroclaw.
Credence to the tales: On Thursday, a Polish official confirmed new ground-penetrating radar photographs detail the existence of a massive 500 acre tunnel system near to the spot where the fabled train may lie
Trail: Treasure seekers are hoping the gold train is at the end of this railway track to put an end to the mystery
He said the municipality had examined the site. The claims of the two men have been ridiculed in recent weeks by experts who said they could have easily manipulated the alleged computer images of the buried freight train.
But the confirmation by Kwiatkowski that the tunnel system itself exists is certain to reignite gold fever in the region.
Believers in the tall tale of a train loaded with gold worth in the billions are giving more weight to it having having originated in Breslau - now the Polish city of Wroclaw - back in 1945.
The world will never know just how much treasure the Nazis plundered - but it was an awful lot. And a lot of it was stuffed on to trains headed for the Fatherland as the Reich began to crumble.
Just two thirds of the gold stolen by the Nazis from European central banks during the war has ever been found.
The favourite theory emerging now among the townspeople of Walbrzych is that the treasure departed from Breslau, 50 miles away, in May 1945 on its way back to Berlin.
Chief cashier of the dreaded SS, Bruno Melmer, was in charge of dozens of shipments aboard trains trundling back to the heart of the Reich. This included the grisly shipments of gold teeth ripped from death camp victims after they were gassed.
Missing from Poland, however, remains hundreds of tons of gold from various Jewish ghettoes which never made it back to Berlin.
Nazis enriched themselves massively in the war and, if the theories are correct, were probably moving the train back to Germany as the tide of the conflict turned against them - to finance getaways, new identities and as the bedrock for their pensions when the shooting stopped.
'Found': If it is the missing Nazi gold train which has been found, historians say that when Polish forces begin digging they will find an armoured locomotive similar to the one pictured used by the Nazis during WWII
Discovery: The alleged uncovering of the Nazi gold train has sparked feverish global excitement with the eyes of the world focused on the town of Walbrzych in Poland (pictured)
Die Welt newspaper in Germany gave credence to the Breslau claim in a report in which it stated; 'Here the former Goebbels confidante Karl Hanke as Gauleiter since 1941. He was so greedy he was known among other Nazi officials as a 'golden pheasant.''
With Hanke plugged directly into the dark heart of Nazism via the office of propaganda chieftan Goebbels, it would be easy to commandeer much-needed rolling stock to form a 'special train' with an exceedingly special cargo in those days of confusion, terror and death.
The tunnel complex which Kwiatkowski says the local council has found was called 'Riese' - Giant - by the Nazis who constructed it using slave labourers from concentration camps to house arms industries to keep them safe from air raids. Stretching from the Gothic castle of Ksiaz they built the labyrinth deep into the surrounding mountains.
Nazi treasure has always caught the imagination of people. The prospect of finding the Amber Room of the Czars, or the lost Rembrandts pilfered by regime magpie Hermann Goering, fuels a weekend treasure hunting obsession deep in the soul of many Germans. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
WALBRZYCH, Poland – A former coal mining city is enjoying an unlikely tourism boom as authorities hunt a suspected buried Nazi-era train believed to be carrying guns and looted gold.
Restaurant owners and cab drivers have reported a surge in visitors to Walbrzych, Poland, since two amateur treasure-hunters said they had located the train. According to folklore, it was stored in a tunnel by retreating German forces in the final months of World War II.
Some believe it is loaded with gold, jewels and bank deposits stolen by Nazi commanders from nearby Wroclaw. Others believe it could contain weapons or a secret bomb.
Even while firm evidence of the train’s existence remains in short supply, the area’s fortunes appear to have improved.
“Loch Ness is famous for a monster never found. This is like our Loch Ness monster,” local historian Mateusz Mykytyszyn, 36, told NBC News. "We have been hoping to become a tourist town since the mines closed in the 1990s and it happened over one month because of the train story."
He added: "I've spoken with restaurant owners, taxi drivers, tour operators and they have l seen a huge rise in interest. Definitely it is a different town.”
Soldiers and explosives experts began a six-day operation Monday to check for mines at the site where the treasure-hunters say the train is located.
They were searching up to three feet below the surface for booby traps or unexploded ordnance that could endanger municipal workers who are due to begin excavations in search of the train.
Souvenir sellers have already moved to cash in on the city’s sudden fame, producing fake gold bars and T-shirts or mugs featuring a picture of a golden train.
Among the tourists drawn to the area Tuesday by the possible treasure were British visitor Paul Winslet, 50, and his Polish partner, Emilia. They came to see the city’s Książ Castle, which has its own underground tunnels that were made during the Nazi occupation. ||||| Warsaw (AFP) - Poland's army said Monday it has begun inspecting the southwestern area where two men claim to have discovered an armoured Nazi gold train buried at the end of World War II.
The treasure hunters -- a German and a Pole -- left the world spellbound last month with their alleged find near the city of Walbrzych of a railway car potentially full of jewels and gold stolen by the Nazis.
"Our goal is to check whether there's any hazardous material at the site," said Colonel Artur Talik, who is leading the search using mine detectors and ground-penetrating radar.
The governor of the region of Lower Silesia, Tomasz Smolarz, added that "other decisions" regarding the search for the train would be made "once safety is assured at the site".
Piotr Koper, a Pole, and German national Andreas Richter announced last month they had discovered a 98-metre-long (320-foot-long) train carriage buried eight to nine metres underground.
They believe the contents are mostly weapon prototypes, though according to local legend they could also include artwork and Nazi documents.
Deputy Culture Minister Piotr Zuchowski said last month he was "more than 99 percent sure" the train exists because of ground-penetrating radar images he had seen.
But officials have since cast doubt on its existence, saying there was no credible evidence of it. They have not however given up on verifying the claim.
Rumours of two Nazi trains that disappeared in the spring of 1945 have been circulating for years, capturing the imagination of countless treasure-hunters.
The lore is fuelled by a massive network of secret underground tunnels near Walbrzych -- including around the massive Ksiaz Castle -- that Nazi Germany built and where legend has it the Third Reich stashed looted valuables. | – The world has been hearing about the Nazi gold train for weeks, and we may finally be getting closer to a confirmation or denial. The Polish army has converged upon the southwestern Poland site where the train could be located, with explosives, chemical, and radiation experts making sure there's no danger, especially since the train was rumored to have been booby-trapped, the AP reports. "Our goal is to check whether there's any hazardous material," a Polish colonel leading the search tells AFP. The military personnel are using ground-penetrating radar and mine detectors in their probe near Walbrzych, and the governor of the region notes that "other decisions" about the search for the train will be made after the site passes its safety check. The colonel says the search will last six days or so, with soldiers digging a little over 3 feet below the surface, per the Daily Mail—not nearly deep enough, say the men who claim to have found the train. "[That's] pointless," Piotr Koper told reporters, per the Mail. "The train is about [26 feet] down. They will not find anything." He adds that he and partner Andreas Richter—who want 10% of whatever's on the train if it's found—have figured out a way to get the train out. "We have spent much time examining the logistical problems. … We should be allowed to do this." They may be miffed at being left out of the loop, but the city of Walbrzych is reaping the benefits of what NBC News calls a "tourism gold rush," with restaurants, cab drivers, and tour operators reporting a boom. "Loch Ness is famous for a monster never found. This is like our Loch Ness monster," a local historian tells NBC. (Local authorities are nervous treasure-hunters may get run down by actual working trains.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The Polish military on Monday deployed chemical, radiation and explosives experts to a site in southwestern Poland where a Nazi train allegedly missing since World War II could be located.
Polish military experts arrive at a spot in in southwestern Poland where a Nazi train missing since World War II could be located in Walbrzych, Poland, on Monday Sept. 28, 2015. Chemical, radiation and... (Associated Press)
Polish military experts arrive at a spot in in southwestern Poland where a Nazi train missing since World War II could be located in Walbrzych, Poland, on Monday Sept. 28, 2015. Chemical, radiation and... (Associated Press)
Tomasz Smolarz, the governor of Lower Silesia, said the aim of the work in the town of Walbrzych is to exclude any danger for residents. He said the experts will continue their technical checks through Saturday.
The military's efforts come after two explorers claimed to have found a Nazi train trapped in a tunnel that they say could contain both armaments and precious minerals. The explorers' claim awaits confirmation, but it has sparked hopes it could be a Nazi train laden with treasure that local legend says went missing at the end of World War II. The train was reportedly booby-trapped with weapons.
During the war, Walbrzych was still part of Germany. Called Waldenburg, it was in an area where Adolf Hitler was building a system of secret underground tunnels. The legend says the so-called "gold train" entered one of the tunnels while fleeing the advancing Soviet army in 1945 and was never seen again.
Though there's no evidence the train even existed, news of the possible discovery has sparked global fascination in the case and a local gold rush.
The two explorers, a German and a Pole, say they used ground-penetrating radar to locate the train. The men want a reward of 10 percent of the value of the train's contents.
But it's not clear how things will turn out, even if a train is found. Last week prosecutors said they were investigating whether the men committed a crime by conducting a search with radar equipment without official permission. ||||| The mystery surrounding the Nazi gold train said to have been hidden in a hillside 70 years ago is finally set to be solved as soldiers have cleared the site to start digging.
But already the dig has been dismissed as a 'waste of time' by the treasure hunters who allegedly found it because they will only excavate a metre down when whatever is buried there is said to be at least eight metres underneath the surface.
Dozens of troops arrived at the site Monday after police erected metal barriers and posts to keep curious passers-by away.
The troops from the 1st Regiment of Engineers, descended on the spot in Walbrzych, south-west Poland, where two men, Piotr Koper and Andreas Richter, said they had located the train using ground penetrating radar.
Scroll down for video
Digging: The Polish army arrived on Monday to begin digging down to find the mysterious 'Nazi gold train'
Secretive: The area has been sealed off to prevent people getting too close during the six day dig
Speaking at a press conference Monday afternoon, military spokesman Artur Talika said the soldiers would begin searching the area for possible mines and radiation leaks from suspected chemical weapons.
He added that the soldiers would dig one metre below the surface and the entire operation would last six days.
The army will then present its findings to the local authorities who will then make a decision about what to do next.
But one of the men who claims to have found the train has dismissed the operation because, he said, they won't dig far enough down.
Pole Koper told reporters: 'The military examination just one metre down is pointless. The train is about eight metres down. They will not find anything.'
He added that he and Richter had found the train three years ago and had also worked out how to extract it from the ground.
He said: 'We have spent much time examining the logistical problems and worked out a solution for getting the train out.
'We should be allowed to do this.'
Danger: A military spokesman said they were checking the area for mines and radiation leaks
Investigating: He said they would dig to a depth of a metre and then report back to local authorities
Pinpointed: Nazi gold train is said to be hidden along 4km stretch of rail track between Wroclaw and Walbrzych in Poland. It was apparently concealed by SS forces as the Soviet Red Army advanced in 1945
Since August the reports about the gold train have lured prospectors from far and wide in Europe to the small town 300 miles from Berlin in an area of Poland that was German before and during the Second World War.
The men said they used ground-penetrating radar to find the train allegedly buried by retreating German forces in the dying days of the war. The myth of vast treasure being aboard has circulated in the towns and villages of the region ever since.
Last week the two treasure hunters were told they could face prosecution in Poland because they did not have the necessary permits to go looking for it.
The legal action has been brought to deter fresh waves of Klondike hunters swarming to the area.
Authorities fear that someone could be killed if they wander too close to the modern-day railway line which links Walbrzych to the city of Wroclaw.
Barbara Nowak-Obelinda, the head of the regional conservation authority for Walbrzych, who filed the complaint, said: ‘We want no new waves of treasure seekers who ignore the rules.'
The two finders of the alleged train last week presented new radar images which experts remained sceptical of.
'Finders': But treasure hunter Piotr Koper (left) (with fellow 'finder' Andreas Richter, right), says the exercise is pointless as the train (which they claim can be seen in this image) is more than two metres below the surface
Discovery: Legend has it that the Nazis hid the mystery train packed with gold, cash and loot in their underground network of tunnels to help SS war criminals to fund new lives abroad at the end of WWII
Missing treasure: Since the end of WWII, hunters have risked their lives to uncover the £20billion-worth of Nazi treasure left behind. The Amber Room of the Czars (pictured) is the most sought-after of them all
Koper and Richter also hinted that the fabled Amber Room of the Czars might be aboard the train. The room composed of panels of amber was looted by Nazi troops in 1941 from a palace outside Leningrad and has never been seen since.
It would be worth around £200million today.
But the train - if it indeed exists - might only be laden with war materiel destined for any one of a number of arms industries built in a honeycomb of tunnels in the area designed to withstand Allied air attacks.
The site where the train is supposed to be hidden lies on a railway track between Wroclaw and Walbrzych.
In January 1945, the Red Army began its rampage across Eastern Europe heading for Berlin.
As Germans fled the advancing Soviet forces, looted valuables were shifted from across Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe.
The loot was destined for a number of purposes: getaway money for high-ranking war criminals, the basis for a German resistance movement called 'Werewolf' intended to fight the occupiers, and to become the pension funds for generals whose vast estates bequeathed to them by a grateful Fuhrer in the east which fell into the hands of new, unforgiving owners.
There could also be more than just the one 100-metre long train hidden in the complex network of tunnels built under the Nazi's local headquarters at the castle of Ksiaz and deep into the surrounding hills.
On Thursday, a Polish official confirmed new ground-penetrating radar photographs detail the existence of a massive 500 acre tunnel system near to the spot where the fabled train may lie.
'The studies confirm the existence of a large tunnel complex', said Krzysztof Kwiatkowski, of the municipality Walim to a radio station in nearby Wroclaw.
Credence to the tales: On Thursday, a Polish official confirmed new ground-penetrating radar photographs detail the existence of a massive 500 acre tunnel system near to the spot where the fabled train may lie
Trail: Treasure seekers are hoping the gold train is at the end of this railway track to put an end to the mystery
He said the municipality had examined the site. The claims of the two men have been ridiculed in recent weeks by experts who said they could have easily manipulated the alleged computer images of the buried freight train.
But the confirmation by Kwiatkowski that the tunnel system itself exists is certain to reignite gold fever in the region.
Believers in the tall tale of a train loaded with gold worth in the billions are giving more weight to it having having originated in Breslau - now the Polish city of Wroclaw - back in 1945.
The world will never know just how much treasure the Nazis plundered - but it was an awful lot. And a lot of it was stuffed on to trains headed for the Fatherland as the Reich began to crumble.
Just two thirds of the gold stolen by the Nazis from European central banks during the war has ever been found.
The favourite theory emerging now among the townspeople of Walbrzych is that the treasure departed from Breslau, 50 miles away, in May 1945 on its way back to Berlin.
Chief cashier of the dreaded SS, Bruno Melmer, was in charge of dozens of shipments aboard trains trundling back to the heart of the Reich. This included the grisly shipments of gold teeth ripped from death camp victims after they were gassed.
Missing from Poland, however, remains hundreds of tons of gold from various Jewish ghettoes which never made it back to Berlin.
Nazis enriched themselves massively in the war and, if the theories are correct, were probably moving the train back to Germany as the tide of the conflict turned against them - to finance getaways, new identities and as the bedrock for their pensions when the shooting stopped.
'Found': If it is the missing Nazi gold train which has been found, historians say that when Polish forces begin digging they will find an armoured locomotive similar to the one pictured used by the Nazis during WWII
Discovery: The alleged uncovering of the Nazi gold train has sparked feverish global excitement with the eyes of the world focused on the town of Walbrzych in Poland (pictured)
Die Welt newspaper in Germany gave credence to the Breslau claim in a report in which it stated; 'Here the former Goebbels confidante Karl Hanke as Gauleiter since 1941. He was so greedy he was known among other Nazi officials as a 'golden pheasant.''
With Hanke plugged directly into the dark heart of Nazism via the office of propaganda chieftan Goebbels, it would be easy to commandeer much-needed rolling stock to form a 'special train' with an exceedingly special cargo in those days of confusion, terror and death.
The tunnel complex which Kwiatkowski says the local council has found was called 'Riese' - Giant - by the Nazis who constructed it using slave labourers from concentration camps to house arms industries to keep them safe from air raids. Stretching from the Gothic castle of Ksiaz they built the labyrinth deep into the surrounding mountains.
Nazi treasure has always caught the imagination of people. The prospect of finding the Amber Room of the Czars, or the lost Rembrandts pilfered by regime magpie Hermann Goering, fuels a weekend treasure hunting obsession deep in the soul of many Germans. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
WALBRZYCH, Poland – A former coal mining city is enjoying an unlikely tourism boom as authorities hunt a suspected buried Nazi-era train believed to be carrying guns and looted gold.
Restaurant owners and cab drivers have reported a surge in visitors to Walbrzych, Poland, since two amateur treasure-hunters said they had located the train. According to folklore, it was stored in a tunnel by retreating German forces in the final months of World War II.
Some believe it is loaded with gold, jewels and bank deposits stolen by Nazi commanders from nearby Wroclaw. Others believe it could contain weapons or a secret bomb.
Even while firm evidence of the train’s existence remains in short supply, the area’s fortunes appear to have improved.
“Loch Ness is famous for a monster never found. This is like our Loch Ness monster,” local historian Mateusz Mykytyszyn, 36, told NBC News. "We have been hoping to become a tourist town since the mines closed in the 1990s and it happened over one month because of the train story."
He added: "I've spoken with restaurant owners, taxi drivers, tour operators and they have l seen a huge rise in interest. Definitely it is a different town.”
Soldiers and explosives experts began a six-day operation Monday to check for mines at the site where the treasure-hunters say the train is located.
They were searching up to three feet below the surface for booby traps or unexploded ordnance that could endanger municipal workers who are due to begin excavations in search of the train.
Souvenir sellers have already moved to cash in on the city’s sudden fame, producing fake gold bars and T-shirts or mugs featuring a picture of a golden train.
Among the tourists drawn to the area Tuesday by the possible treasure were British visitor Paul Winslet, 50, and his Polish partner, Emilia. They came to see the city’s Książ Castle, which has its own underground tunnels that were made during the Nazi occupation. ||||| Warsaw (AFP) - Poland's army said Monday it has begun inspecting the southwestern area where two men claim to have discovered an armoured Nazi gold train buried at the end of World War II.
The treasure hunters -- a German and a Pole -- left the world spellbound last month with their alleged find near the city of Walbrzych of a railway car potentially full of jewels and gold stolen by the Nazis.
"Our goal is to check whether there's any hazardous material at the site," said Colonel Artur Talik, who is leading the search using mine detectors and ground-penetrating radar.
The governor of the region of Lower Silesia, Tomasz Smolarz, added that "other decisions" regarding the search for the train would be made "once safety is assured at the site".
Piotr Koper, a Pole, and German national Andreas Richter announced last month they had discovered a 98-metre-long (320-foot-long) train carriage buried eight to nine metres underground.
They believe the contents are mostly weapon prototypes, though according to local legend they could also include artwork and Nazi documents.
Deputy Culture Minister Piotr Zuchowski said last month he was "more than 99 percent sure" the train exists because of ground-penetrating radar images he had seen.
But officials have since cast doubt on its existence, saying there was no credible evidence of it. They have not however given up on verifying the claim.
Rumours of two Nazi trains that disappeared in the spring of 1945 have been circulating for years, capturing the imagination of countless treasure-hunters.
The lore is fuelled by a massive network of secret underground tunnels near Walbrzych -- including around the massive Ksiaz Castle -- that Nazi Germany built and where legend has it the Third Reich stashed looted valuables. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 19,941 |
According to Syrian opposition sources, the Free Syrian Army has taken over a nuclear facility in Al-Kibar, the Al-Jazeera network reported.
According to foreign media reports, the Al-Kibar facility was reportedly struck by Israel in 2007.
Related stories:
The rebels released a video, in which they are seen in a base storing missiles, most likely scud missiles.
The rebels in a scud-missile base
In 2007, Syria's news agency reported that President Bashar Assad regime’s was close to completing a nuclear reactor at Al-Kibar, in the east of the country, when it was reportedly destroyed by Israeli jets in September 2007.
Israel has never admitted to attacking the reactor.
Meanwhile, a source with Syria's National Coalition said on Friday that the coalition will meet in Istanbul on March 2 to choose a prime minister to head a provisional government to operate in rebel-held areas of the country.
The date was set after a compromise was reached between a bloc in the coalition that includes the powerful Muslim Brotherhood and other members who favor speedy formation of a government, the source told Reuters at the end of a two-day meeting of the coalition in Cairo.
Reuters contributed to this report
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
||||| By BLOOMBERG
Free Syria Army fighters in Saraqeb [file photo] Photo: REUTERS / Handout
Syria’s main opposition group agreed to set up a transitional government seeking recognition as the legitimate alternative to President Bashar Assad’s rule, as rebels said they seized control of a nuclear research center.
The Syrian National Coalition will name a premier for the new administration within 10 days, Haitham El-Maleh, a leading member of the group, said in a phone interview. He didn’t give further details.
Syrian rebel fighters seized control of a nuclear research center at Al Kibar, in the eastern province of Deir Ezzour, which was reportedly bombed by Israelis in 2007, the opposition Local Coordination Committees said in an e-mail.
At least 85 people were killed today by Assad’s forces, the opposition Local Coordination Committees said, according to Al Arabiya television.
The coalition was set up in November at a meeting in Qatar to unify the forces, including Islamist groups, that have been fighting for two years to oust Assad. While it has won backing from the US, European allies and Arab League nations, it’s not clear how much control the group has over rebel forces engaged on the ground in a conflict that has killed almost 70,000 people, according to United Nations estimates.
Syria’s government and the National Coalition have both signaled in the past month that they are ready to hold talks, though there has been no agreement over terms and conditions.
Bomb attack in Damascus kills 53
The opposition group won’t accept any political solution that doesn’t involve Assad’s departure, and will insist that the president and his military and security leaders be tried for crimes against Syrians, Egypt’s state-run Middle East News Agency reported today, citing a document drafted by the coalition after a two-day meeting in Cairo.
The government said a bomb attack in Damascus yesterday that left 53 people dead was carried out by groups linked to al- Qaida. The bombing in the densely populated area also injured 235 people, the government said in a letter to the United Nations that was published by the state-run SANA news agency. The casualties included children and students, it said.
The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on its Facebook page that 61 people were killed in the bombing, including 17 members of the military. The attack took place in the vicinity of the Russian Embassy and the ruling Baath Party headquarters. No Russian diplomats or their families were hurt in the attack, which damaged the embassy’s windows and doors, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.
The opposition coalition blamed Assad’s government for the attack, saying it “never hesitates” to bomb residential areas.
“The Assad regime has opened the doors for anarchy in Syria in order to justify committing heinous and unprecedented crimes against the innocent Syrian population,” the group said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. | – Syria's leading opposition group agreed today to establish a transitional government at the same time rebels said they had taken over the nuclear facility that Israel bombed in 2007, the Jerusalem Post reports. A top member of the Syrian National Coalition said the group will choose a leader within 10 days, but gave no further details. The coalition will name its leader in a meeting scheduled to begin in Istanbul on March 2, reports YNet News. They set the date after a compromise was reached between two powerful groups in the party—one representing the Muslim Brotherhood, the other urging the quick formation of a government. Meanwhile, the rebels say they've seized the remains of the nuclear center at Al Kibar. They also released a video that apparently shows them storing missiles—probably scuds—at the former nuclear site. (Read about the huge blast that hit Damascus yesterday.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.According to Syrian opposition sources, the Free Syrian Army has taken over a nuclear facility in Al-Kibar, the Al-Jazeera network reported.
According to foreign media reports, the Al-Kibar facility was reportedly struck by Israel in 2007.
Related stories:
The rebels released a video, in which they are seen in a base storing missiles, most likely scud missiles.
The rebels in a scud-missile base
In 2007, Syria's news agency reported that President Bashar Assad regime’s was close to completing a nuclear reactor at Al-Kibar, in the east of the country, when it was reportedly destroyed by Israeli jets in September 2007.
Israel has never admitted to attacking the reactor.
Meanwhile, a source with Syria's National Coalition said on Friday that the coalition will meet in Istanbul on March 2 to choose a prime minister to head a provisional government to operate in rebel-held areas of the country.
The date was set after a compromise was reached between a bloc in the coalition that includes the powerful Muslim Brotherhood and other members who favor speedy formation of a government, the source told Reuters at the end of a two-day meeting of the coalition in Cairo.
Reuters contributed to this report
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
||||| By BLOOMBERG
Free Syria Army fighters in Saraqeb [file photo] Photo: REUTERS / Handout
Syria’s main opposition group agreed to set up a transitional government seeking recognition as the legitimate alternative to President Bashar Assad’s rule, as rebels said they seized control of a nuclear research center.
The Syrian National Coalition will name a premier for the new administration within 10 days, Haitham El-Maleh, a leading member of the group, said in a phone interview. He didn’t give further details.
Syrian rebel fighters seized control of a nuclear research center at Al Kibar, in the eastern province of Deir Ezzour, which was reportedly bombed by Israelis in 2007, the opposition Local Coordination Committees said in an e-mail.
At least 85 people were killed today by Assad’s forces, the opposition Local Coordination Committees said, according to Al Arabiya television.
The coalition was set up in November at a meeting in Qatar to unify the forces, including Islamist groups, that have been fighting for two years to oust Assad. While it has won backing from the US, European allies and Arab League nations, it’s not clear how much control the group has over rebel forces engaged on the ground in a conflict that has killed almost 70,000 people, according to United Nations estimates.
Syria’s government and the National Coalition have both signaled in the past month that they are ready to hold talks, though there has been no agreement over terms and conditions.
Bomb attack in Damascus kills 53
The opposition group won’t accept any political solution that doesn’t involve Assad’s departure, and will insist that the president and his military and security leaders be tried for crimes against Syrians, Egypt’s state-run Middle East News Agency reported today, citing a document drafted by the coalition after a two-day meeting in Cairo.
The government said a bomb attack in Damascus yesterday that left 53 people dead was carried out by groups linked to al- Qaida. The bombing in the densely populated area also injured 235 people, the government said in a letter to the United Nations that was published by the state-run SANA news agency. The casualties included children and students, it said.
The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on its Facebook page that 61 people were killed in the bombing, including 17 members of the military. The attack took place in the vicinity of the Russian Embassy and the ruling Baath Party headquarters. No Russian diplomats or their families were hurt in the attack, which damaged the embassy’s windows and doors, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.
The opposition coalition blamed Assad’s government for the attack, saying it “never hesitates” to bomb residential areas.
“The Assad regime has opened the doors for anarchy in Syria in order to justify committing heinous and unprecedented crimes against the innocent Syrian population,” the group said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 1,777 |
These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| FILE- In this May 5, 2014, file photo, a U.S. Marine Corps Color Guard stands under a Marine Corps emblem in Jupiter, Fla. The Defense Department is investigating reports that some Marines shared naked... (Associated Press)
FILE- In this May 5, 2014, file photo, a U.S. Marine Corps Color Guard stands under a Marine Corps emblem in Jupiter, Fla. The Defense Department is investigating reports that some Marines shared naked photographs of female Marines, veterans and other women on a secret Facebook page, some of which were... (Associated Press)
FILE- In this May 5, 2014, file photo, a U.S. Marine Corps Color Guard stands under a Marine Corps emblem in Jupiter, Fla. The Defense Department is investigating reports that some Marines shared naked photographs of female Marines, veterans and other women on a secret Facebook page, some of which were... (Associated Press) FILE- In this May 5, 2014, file photo, a U.S. Marine Corps Color Guard stands under a Marine Corps emblem in Jupiter, Fla. The Defense Department is investigating reports that some Marines shared naked... (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Defense Department is investigating reports that some Marines shared naked photographs of female Marines, veterans and other women on a secret Facebook page, some of which were taken without their knowledge.
The photographs were shared on the Facebook page "Marines United," which had a membership of active-duty and retired male Marines, Navy Corpsman and British Royal Marines. Along with identified female military members were photographs of unidentifiable women in various stages of undress, and included obscene comments about some of the women, officials said.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is now investigating. The photographs have been taken down, officials said.
Marine Corps commandant Gen. Robert B. Neller on Sunday refused to comment directly about the ongoing investigation. "For anyone to target one of our Marines, online or otherwise, in an inappropriate manner, is distasteful and shows an absence of respect," Neller said in a statement.
It was not immediately known how many active-duty Marines and other service members were involved or are under investigation. A Marine Corps official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss personnel matters by name, said at least one government contractor had been removed from his job after he posted a link to the photographs.
In response to the report, Sgt. Maj. Ronald L. Green, the top enlisted man in the Marine Corps, said: "These negative behaviors are absolutely contrary to what we represent."
The investigation was first reported by the Center for Investigative Reporting. The activity was revealed by The War Horse, a nonprofit news organization run by Marine veteran Thomas Brennan.
"We are thankful that Thomas Brennan, a Marine veteran, notified the Marine Corps and NCIS about what he witnessed on the 'Marines United' page," Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Ryan E. Alvis said. "It allowed us to take immediate action to have the explicit photos taken down and to prepare to support potential victims."
The CIR report said that more than two dozen active-duty women, officers and enlisted, were identified by their rank, full name and location in the photographs on the Facebook page. Other photographs of active duty and veteran women were also posted and linked through a Google Drive link.
The social media accounts behind the sharing have been deleted by Facebook and Google at the Marine Corps' request.
An internal Marine Corps document obtained by The Associated Press says a former Marine maintained the Google Drive and that it had a following of 30,000. The NCIS investigation is "in support of two individuals affected by postings," according to the document.
A Marine proven to have posted an explicit photo of another person could potentially be charged with violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the internal document asserted. A Marine who directly participates in, encourages or condones such actions could also be subjected to criminal proceedings or adverse administrative actions, according to the document.
"The Marine Corps is deeply concerned about allegations regarding the derogatory online comments and sharing of salacious photographs in a closed website," Alvis said. "This behavior destroys morale, erodes trust, and degrades the individual."
Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said such revelations are troubling and that he expects a full investigation by the Marine Corps.
"Degrading behavior of this kind is entirely unacceptable. They and the nation deserve better," Thornberry said.
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the ranking Democrat on the committee, called the online behavior "degrading, dangerous and completely unacceptable."
"The military men and women who proudly volunteer to serve their country should not have to deal with this kind of reprehensible conduct," Smith said. ||||| The U.S. Department of Defense is investigating hundreds of Marines who used social media to solicit and share hundreds — possibly thousands — of naked photographs of female service members and veterans.
Since Jan. 30, more than two dozen women – many on active duty, including officers and enlisted service members – have been identified by their full name, rank and military duty station in photographs posted and linked to from a private Facebook page.
In one instance, a female corporal in uniform was followed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, by a fellow Marine, who surreptitiously photographed her as she picked up her gear. Those photographs were posted on the Facebook group Marines United, which has nearly 30,000 followers, drawing dozens of obscene comments.
Don't miss the next big story. Brave investigations that change minds, laws and lives. Emailed directly to you.
One member of the Facebook group suggested that the service member sneaking the photos should “take her out back and pound her out.” Others suggested more than vaginal sex:
“And butthole. And throat. And ears. Both of them. Video it though … for science.”
Senior officials with Headquarters Marine Corps have verified that incident, as well as the distribution of photographs of other active-duty and veteran women through the page and links to a Google Drive.
Read More
The photo sharing began less than a month after the first Marine infantry unit was assigned women Jan. 5. It underscores ongoing problems of sexual harassment within military ranks and could hurt recruitment of women. Officials within the Defense Department confirmed it also puts service members at risk for blackmail and jeopardizes national security.
The activity on the Marines United page was uncovered by The War Horse, a nonprofit news organization run by Marine veteran Thomas Brennan. Within a day of Brennan contacting Marine Corps headquarters Jan. 30, social media accounts behind the sharing had been deleted by Facebook and Google at the Corps’ request, and a formal investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service has been launched.
However, it is clear that the actions taken so far have not stopped the activity: Photos of the woman followed at Camp Lejeune were posted on Marines United on Feb. 16, more than two weeks after the linking accounts had been shut down. The Marine who shot those photos has been discharged from active duty, Marine Corps officials confirmed.
“We need to be brutally honest with ourselves and each other: This behavior hurts fellow Marines, family members, and civilians. It is a direct attack on our ethos and legacy,” Sgt. Maj. Ronald L. Green, the most senior enlisted Marine on active duty, wrote in an email response. “It is inconsistent with our Core Values, and it impedes our ability to perform our mission.”
The service is deeply concerned about the damage the incident could do to the Marines, according to a document provided to generals Friday warning them of the upcoming story.
The 10-page “Office of Marine Corps Communications Public Affairs Guidance” lists resources for victims, including a website to report crimes, and provides talking points for other media and members of Congress – who, it suggested, will want answers. It also outlines another possible blow to come: inappropriate responses from Marines.
“The story will likely spark shares and discussions across social media, offering venues for Marines and former Marines who may victim blame, i.e., ‘they shouldn’t have taken the photos in the first place,’ or bemoan that they believe the Corps is becoming soft or politically correct,” it said.
Facebook messages seeking comment sent today to Marines United’s current administrators were not returned. At least three of those listed on the page were aware of the activity: Two participated in comment strings about the photos and another “liked” one of them.
More than 2,500 comments about the photos were left by group members, many of whom used their personal Facebook accounts that include their names, ranks and duty stations. Some invited others to collect, identify and share photos of naked or scantily clad servicewomen. Based on their profiles, service members who participated in the photo sharing are stationed around the world — from Japan to North Carolina — and across military branches, from air wing to infantry.
Dozens of now-deleted Google Drive folders linked from the Facebook page included dossiers of women containing their names, military branches, nude photographs, screenshots of their social media accounts and images of sexual acts. Dozens of other subfolders included unidentifiable women in various stages of undress. Many images appear to have originated from the consensual, but private, exchange of racy images, some clearly taken by the women themselves.
After the accounts were deleted, the Marine Corps contacted the employer of the Marine veteran who initially posted the Google Drive link on Marines United. He was fired from his position as a government subcontractor in the United States, according to Maj. Clark Carpenter, a Marine Corps spokesman.
The War Horse has spoken with five of the women in the photographs. Two said they believe former partners might have leaked images. Some said they worry their own accounts might have been hacked or poached. One said a co-worker, a male Marine, alerted her to the fact that the photographs had been posted.
The corporal photographed at Camp Lejeune learned she had been stalked only after The War Horse sought comment from military officials. But she said she thinks she remembers the man. She spoke on condition of anonymity, nervous about reprisal and becoming more of a target.
“He was standing close enough to smell my perfume,” she said. “This is going to follow me – just like he did.”
The Marines United Facebook page has been around since 2015 and limits membership to male Marines, Navy corpsmen and British Royal Marines. The group has a code of conduct pinned to the top of its page: no discussing Marines United; no threats, harm or harassment; and no racist and illegal posts.
The thousands of images gathered by some group members reveal information about hundreds of female veterans and service members, including social media handles and where they are stationed. These acts violate not only the group’s stated code of conduct, but also Facebook’s terms of use.
The initial link on the page to the image collection read:
“Here you go, you thirsty fucks … this is just the tip of the iceberg. There is more coming.”
Within one minute, commenters began posting:
“Holy fuck, there is a god.”
The federal employee – the one who has since been fired – posted a response:
“Anyone can contribute. They just have to (private message) me for their own personal upload link.”
Some Marines promised free beer to contributors. Many tagged friends. One seemed to be tracking the number of photos submitted, writing, “Over 400 more pictures added,” to which he received the response, “Well Done Marine!”
“I know one of these chicks, her name is …” read another of the hundreds of comments. “Check her out boys.”
This distribution of photographs without the women’s consent can threaten their mental health, according to Dr. Frank Ochberg, a psychiatrist, founding board member of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and former associate director of the National Institute of Mental Health.
“It impairs the ideal of a brotherhood and sisterhood, being able to count on somebody,” said Ochberg, who pioneered the post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis in 1980. “Within the military, this is a violation of family. … There are few organizations held to such esteem as the Marine Corps. They stand for honor, courage and commitment.
“This destroys honor. … This is sadistic. … This is disloyalty.”
In recent years, the armed forces have implemented programs and protocols to respond to reports of sexual harassment, assault and equal opportunity violations. But Marine Corps officials confirmed that none include procedures for dealing with sexual exploitation of this nature.
In 2013, U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., brought a similar problem to the Marines’ attention, an incident noted in the public affairs document sent to generals Friday. In that case, comments denigrating women were posted on a Facebook page. Gen. James Amos, then-commandant of the Marine Corps, responded by citing the difficulties in monitoring and tracking social media to investigate offensive content, as well as inadequate funding.
Speier would have none of it, saying his response was “frankly unacceptable.”
Subsequently, the Marines posted an article defining Marine social media misconduct and mined Facebook, identifying “12 additional Marines allegedly linked to racist, sexist, and/or otherwise inappropriate social media misconduct,” the public affairs document says. “Information about these incidents were provided to unit commanders for appropriate action.”
The Marine Corps and Department of Defense aren’t the only federal agencies battling sexual exploitation.
In 2013, Julia Pierson was the first woman to be appointed as director of the U.S. Secret Service. During her tenure, Pierson faced congressional criticism for a security breach at the White House in 2014, and she worked to improve the agency’s image following a prostitution scandal involving 11 agents.
Pierson told The War Horse that her experiences with civilian law enforcement and the Secret Service have proven that “there’s always a double standard.” These images, she said, “aren’t going away and (next time) they’re going to have an entry fee.
“This is way beyond stupidity and boys being boys,” she said.
The Marines needs to take steps to restore the credibility of their organization, Pierson said.
“They need to realize that this is an entirely new threat,” she said. “This is a coordinated attack on the organization. … This is a hunting club.”
The War Horse submitted multiple requests for additional comment to the defense secretary and commandant of the Marine Corps. Both declined to comment on specifics of the situation, citing the ongoing investigation.
However, in his email, Green added additional perspective, repeatedly denouncing the “demeaning or degrading behavior” of Marines United members and encouraging Marines — and all service members — to be “a voice of change” for the better.
“As Marines, as human beings, you should be angry for the actions of a few,” Green wrote. “Ultimately we must take a look in the mirror and decide whether we are part of the problem or the solution.”
“We need to realize that silence is consent — do not be silent.”
Don't miss the next big story. Brave investigations that change minds, laws and lives. Emailed directly to you. | – The Marine Corps has been shaken by a scandal involving photos of naked and scantily clad servicewomen, at least some of which were apparently shared without consent. The photos, along with obscene comments, were found on a private Facebook page called Marines United, which included many active-duty and retired Marines in its 30,000 members, the Center for Investigative Reporting reports. The Marine Corps thanked report author Thomas Brennan, a Marine vet and founder of the War Horse news organization, for alerting them and NCIS to the activity, allowing them to "take immediate action to have the explicit photos taken down and to prepare to support potential victims," the AP reports. Some of the women in the photos are identified by their names and stations, which authorities warn could leave them open to blackmail. Some of the women Brennan spoke to believed the photos were shared by vengeful ex-partners, while one says the photos appeared online after she was stalked at Camp LeJeune. The Marine Corps says the behavior is "deeply concerning" and it is investigating how many Marines were involved. Brennan says he is now receiving threats. "It has been suggested that my wife should be raped as a result of this, and people are openly suggesting I should be killed," he tells the Marine Corps Times. "Can you imagine being one of the victims?" | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| FILE- In this May 5, 2014, file photo, a U.S. Marine Corps Color Guard stands under a Marine Corps emblem in Jupiter, Fla. The Defense Department is investigating reports that some Marines shared naked... (Associated Press)
FILE- In this May 5, 2014, file photo, a U.S. Marine Corps Color Guard stands under a Marine Corps emblem in Jupiter, Fla. The Defense Department is investigating reports that some Marines shared naked photographs of female Marines, veterans and other women on a secret Facebook page, some of which were... (Associated Press)
FILE- In this May 5, 2014, file photo, a U.S. Marine Corps Color Guard stands under a Marine Corps emblem in Jupiter, Fla. The Defense Department is investigating reports that some Marines shared naked photographs of female Marines, veterans and other women on a secret Facebook page, some of which were... (Associated Press) FILE- In this May 5, 2014, file photo, a U.S. Marine Corps Color Guard stands under a Marine Corps emblem in Jupiter, Fla. The Defense Department is investigating reports that some Marines shared naked... (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Defense Department is investigating reports that some Marines shared naked photographs of female Marines, veterans and other women on a secret Facebook page, some of which were taken without their knowledge.
The photographs were shared on the Facebook page "Marines United," which had a membership of active-duty and retired male Marines, Navy Corpsman and British Royal Marines. Along with identified female military members were photographs of unidentifiable women in various stages of undress, and included obscene comments about some of the women, officials said.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is now investigating. The photographs have been taken down, officials said.
Marine Corps commandant Gen. Robert B. Neller on Sunday refused to comment directly about the ongoing investigation. "For anyone to target one of our Marines, online or otherwise, in an inappropriate manner, is distasteful and shows an absence of respect," Neller said in a statement.
It was not immediately known how many active-duty Marines and other service members were involved or are under investigation. A Marine Corps official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss personnel matters by name, said at least one government contractor had been removed from his job after he posted a link to the photographs.
In response to the report, Sgt. Maj. Ronald L. Green, the top enlisted man in the Marine Corps, said: "These negative behaviors are absolutely contrary to what we represent."
The investigation was first reported by the Center for Investigative Reporting. The activity was revealed by The War Horse, a nonprofit news organization run by Marine veteran Thomas Brennan.
"We are thankful that Thomas Brennan, a Marine veteran, notified the Marine Corps and NCIS about what he witnessed on the 'Marines United' page," Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Ryan E. Alvis said. "It allowed us to take immediate action to have the explicit photos taken down and to prepare to support potential victims."
The CIR report said that more than two dozen active-duty women, officers and enlisted, were identified by their rank, full name and location in the photographs on the Facebook page. Other photographs of active duty and veteran women were also posted and linked through a Google Drive link.
The social media accounts behind the sharing have been deleted by Facebook and Google at the Marine Corps' request.
An internal Marine Corps document obtained by The Associated Press says a former Marine maintained the Google Drive and that it had a following of 30,000. The NCIS investigation is "in support of two individuals affected by postings," according to the document.
A Marine proven to have posted an explicit photo of another person could potentially be charged with violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the internal document asserted. A Marine who directly participates in, encourages or condones such actions could also be subjected to criminal proceedings or adverse administrative actions, according to the document.
"The Marine Corps is deeply concerned about allegations regarding the derogatory online comments and sharing of salacious photographs in a closed website," Alvis said. "This behavior destroys morale, erodes trust, and degrades the individual."
Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said such revelations are troubling and that he expects a full investigation by the Marine Corps.
"Degrading behavior of this kind is entirely unacceptable. They and the nation deserve better," Thornberry said.
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the ranking Democrat on the committee, called the online behavior "degrading, dangerous and completely unacceptable."
"The military men and women who proudly volunteer to serve their country should not have to deal with this kind of reprehensible conduct," Smith said. ||||| The U.S. Department of Defense is investigating hundreds of Marines who used social media to solicit and share hundreds — possibly thousands — of naked photographs of female service members and veterans.
Since Jan. 30, more than two dozen women – many on active duty, including officers and enlisted service members – have been identified by their full name, rank and military duty station in photographs posted and linked to from a private Facebook page.
In one instance, a female corporal in uniform was followed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, by a fellow Marine, who surreptitiously photographed her as she picked up her gear. Those photographs were posted on the Facebook group Marines United, which has nearly 30,000 followers, drawing dozens of obscene comments.
Don't miss the next big story. Brave investigations that change minds, laws and lives. Emailed directly to you.
One member of the Facebook group suggested that the service member sneaking the photos should “take her out back and pound her out.” Others suggested more than vaginal sex:
“And butthole. And throat. And ears. Both of them. Video it though … for science.”
Senior officials with Headquarters Marine Corps have verified that incident, as well as the distribution of photographs of other active-duty and veteran women through the page and links to a Google Drive.
Read More
The photo sharing began less than a month after the first Marine infantry unit was assigned women Jan. 5. It underscores ongoing problems of sexual harassment within military ranks and could hurt recruitment of women. Officials within the Defense Department confirmed it also puts service members at risk for blackmail and jeopardizes national security.
The activity on the Marines United page was uncovered by The War Horse, a nonprofit news organization run by Marine veteran Thomas Brennan. Within a day of Brennan contacting Marine Corps headquarters Jan. 30, social media accounts behind the sharing had been deleted by Facebook and Google at the Corps’ request, and a formal investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service has been launched.
However, it is clear that the actions taken so far have not stopped the activity: Photos of the woman followed at Camp Lejeune were posted on Marines United on Feb. 16, more than two weeks after the linking accounts had been shut down. The Marine who shot those photos has been discharged from active duty, Marine Corps officials confirmed.
“We need to be brutally honest with ourselves and each other: This behavior hurts fellow Marines, family members, and civilians. It is a direct attack on our ethos and legacy,” Sgt. Maj. Ronald L. Green, the most senior enlisted Marine on active duty, wrote in an email response. “It is inconsistent with our Core Values, and it impedes our ability to perform our mission.”
The service is deeply concerned about the damage the incident could do to the Marines, according to a document provided to generals Friday warning them of the upcoming story.
The 10-page “Office of Marine Corps Communications Public Affairs Guidance” lists resources for victims, including a website to report crimes, and provides talking points for other media and members of Congress – who, it suggested, will want answers. It also outlines another possible blow to come: inappropriate responses from Marines.
“The story will likely spark shares and discussions across social media, offering venues for Marines and former Marines who may victim blame, i.e., ‘they shouldn’t have taken the photos in the first place,’ or bemoan that they believe the Corps is becoming soft or politically correct,” it said.
Facebook messages seeking comment sent today to Marines United’s current administrators were not returned. At least three of those listed on the page were aware of the activity: Two participated in comment strings about the photos and another “liked” one of them.
More than 2,500 comments about the photos were left by group members, many of whom used their personal Facebook accounts that include their names, ranks and duty stations. Some invited others to collect, identify and share photos of naked or scantily clad servicewomen. Based on their profiles, service members who participated in the photo sharing are stationed around the world — from Japan to North Carolina — and across military branches, from air wing to infantry.
Dozens of now-deleted Google Drive folders linked from the Facebook page included dossiers of women containing their names, military branches, nude photographs, screenshots of their social media accounts and images of sexual acts. Dozens of other subfolders included unidentifiable women in various stages of undress. Many images appear to have originated from the consensual, but private, exchange of racy images, some clearly taken by the women themselves.
After the accounts were deleted, the Marine Corps contacted the employer of the Marine veteran who initially posted the Google Drive link on Marines United. He was fired from his position as a government subcontractor in the United States, according to Maj. Clark Carpenter, a Marine Corps spokesman.
The War Horse has spoken with five of the women in the photographs. Two said they believe former partners might have leaked images. Some said they worry their own accounts might have been hacked or poached. One said a co-worker, a male Marine, alerted her to the fact that the photographs had been posted.
The corporal photographed at Camp Lejeune learned she had been stalked only after The War Horse sought comment from military officials. But she said she thinks she remembers the man. She spoke on condition of anonymity, nervous about reprisal and becoming more of a target.
“He was standing close enough to smell my perfume,” she said. “This is going to follow me – just like he did.”
The Marines United Facebook page has been around since 2015 and limits membership to male Marines, Navy corpsmen and British Royal Marines. The group has a code of conduct pinned to the top of its page: no discussing Marines United; no threats, harm or harassment; and no racist and illegal posts.
The thousands of images gathered by some group members reveal information about hundreds of female veterans and service members, including social media handles and where they are stationed. These acts violate not only the group’s stated code of conduct, but also Facebook’s terms of use.
The initial link on the page to the image collection read:
“Here you go, you thirsty fucks … this is just the tip of the iceberg. There is more coming.”
Within one minute, commenters began posting:
“Holy fuck, there is a god.”
The federal employee – the one who has since been fired – posted a response:
“Anyone can contribute. They just have to (private message) me for their own personal upload link.”
Some Marines promised free beer to contributors. Many tagged friends. One seemed to be tracking the number of photos submitted, writing, “Over 400 more pictures added,” to which he received the response, “Well Done Marine!”
“I know one of these chicks, her name is …” read another of the hundreds of comments. “Check her out boys.”
This distribution of photographs without the women’s consent can threaten their mental health, according to Dr. Frank Ochberg, a psychiatrist, founding board member of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and former associate director of the National Institute of Mental Health.
“It impairs the ideal of a brotherhood and sisterhood, being able to count on somebody,” said Ochberg, who pioneered the post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis in 1980. “Within the military, this is a violation of family. … There are few organizations held to such esteem as the Marine Corps. They stand for honor, courage and commitment.
“This destroys honor. … This is sadistic. … This is disloyalty.”
In recent years, the armed forces have implemented programs and protocols to respond to reports of sexual harassment, assault and equal opportunity violations. But Marine Corps officials confirmed that none include procedures for dealing with sexual exploitation of this nature.
In 2013, U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., brought a similar problem to the Marines’ attention, an incident noted in the public affairs document sent to generals Friday. In that case, comments denigrating women were posted on a Facebook page. Gen. James Amos, then-commandant of the Marine Corps, responded by citing the difficulties in monitoring and tracking social media to investigate offensive content, as well as inadequate funding.
Speier would have none of it, saying his response was “frankly unacceptable.”
Subsequently, the Marines posted an article defining Marine social media misconduct and mined Facebook, identifying “12 additional Marines allegedly linked to racist, sexist, and/or otherwise inappropriate social media misconduct,” the public affairs document says. “Information about these incidents were provided to unit commanders for appropriate action.”
The Marine Corps and Department of Defense aren’t the only federal agencies battling sexual exploitation.
In 2013, Julia Pierson was the first woman to be appointed as director of the U.S. Secret Service. During her tenure, Pierson faced congressional criticism for a security breach at the White House in 2014, and she worked to improve the agency’s image following a prostitution scandal involving 11 agents.
Pierson told The War Horse that her experiences with civilian law enforcement and the Secret Service have proven that “there’s always a double standard.” These images, she said, “aren’t going away and (next time) they’re going to have an entry fee.
“This is way beyond stupidity and boys being boys,” she said.
The Marines needs to take steps to restore the credibility of their organization, Pierson said.
“They need to realize that this is an entirely new threat,” she said. “This is a coordinated attack on the organization. … This is a hunting club.”
The War Horse submitted multiple requests for additional comment to the defense secretary and commandant of the Marine Corps. Both declined to comment on specifics of the situation, citing the ongoing investigation.
However, in his email, Green added additional perspective, repeatedly denouncing the “demeaning or degrading behavior” of Marines United members and encouraging Marines — and all service members — to be “a voice of change” for the better.
“As Marines, as human beings, you should be angry for the actions of a few,” Green wrote. “Ultimately we must take a look in the mirror and decide whether we are part of the problem or the solution.”
“We need to realize that silence is consent — do not be silent.”
Don't miss the next big story. Brave investigations that change minds, laws and lives. Emailed directly to you. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 19,835 |
For Chris Christie, there was no way around it. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm slightly overweight," he said during a debate in his successful campaign for governor.
Two years later, Christie is the man of the moment in presidential politics, with many powerful Republicans clamoring for him to run. But it has been 100 years since Americans sent a true heavyweight to the White House, when William Howard Taft tipped the scales at well over 300 pounds.
Nor is Christie just "slightly overweight." So there is no delicate way to ask this: Is Chris Christie too fat to win?
Politics, after all, is a business of image and first-impressions -- and study after study shows that people judge the hefty more harshly than they judge those who are thin.
"Overweight people have much less of a chance of getting a job, they have much less of a chance of keeping a job ... they are paid less than those who are thin," said David Birdsell, dean of the School of Public Affairs at Baruch College in New York.
"In this era of exercise, we impute moral failings to people who don't rein in their weight," he said. "Those prejudices are just intensified for people who seek elected office."
Indeed, John McLaughlin, a New York-based Republican political consultant, said he routinely advises his clients to watch what they eat.
"You don't want them to gain weight, to look poorly on television," he said.
The political stage is filled with candidates who have heard that message loud and clear.
Mike Huckabee, the Republican former governor of Arkansas, famously shed 110 pounds and penned a self-help book, "Quit Digging Your Grave With a Knife and Fork," before plunging into the 2008 presidential race. He went on to tout his weight loss endlessly during the campaign.
In New York, more than a dozen overweight state legislators went on a very public battle of the bulge last year as they prepped for re-election.
"Voters would rather see someone whose belly isn't, you know, huge -- someone who is fit and trim," Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, an upstate Democrat, said at the time.
If a candidate is not "fit and trim," he might even face ridicule, as Christie recently did from late night talk show host David Letterman.
"You know who the Republicans want as their candidate is the tubby guy across the river, Chris Christie," Letterman said on "The Late Show," taped across the Hudson River from New Jersey in New York City. "You talk about tons of fun, here we go.
"I want Chris Christie in this race because just I want to be able to meaningfully say, 'Hey, bring it, fat boy!'" Letterman said later. "He's got to be close to 400 pounds. ... Take a look. ... Go to Google Earth."
Political scientists and strategists said they could not recall a truly heavy American politician finding great national success in the television age.
"Our candidates tend to be tall, they tend to have great hair," said Russell Riley, a presidential scholar at the University of Virginia's Center of Public Affairs. "This doesn't seem to be a business that, at the presidential level, willingly accepts people who are demonstrably overweight.
"Most people would look at Ronald Reagan say, 'This is a guy who looks like he could be president,'" he added.
Christie is an old hand in the political weight wars. In the 2009 race for New Jersey governor, incumbent Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine not-so-subtly made Christie's plus size an issue.
Corzine broadcast a television ad showing unflattering images of Christie as the narrator intoned that Christie "threw his weight around" to avoid getting traffic tickets. To drive home the comparison, Corzine, a fitness buff, ran in 5K and 10K races during the campaign.
"I have struggled with my weight for the last 30 years on and off, and that's the way it is, and so I think there are a lot of people out in New Jersey who have the same kind of struggles," Christie told one interviewer.
Earlier this year, Christie talked openly with ABC News' Diane Sawyer about his weight and his effort to exercise more.
"What do you say to yourself to psych yourself into it?" Sawyer asked.
"Just look in the mirror, Diane," Christie replied. "OK, I have to get healthier and this job has really forced me, because it's such a draining job from the energy perspective."
Chris Christie's Weight: Disadvantage or Advantage?
Ironically, many strategists say Christie's weight could work to his advantage if he enters the presidential race.
At a time when many Americans are angry with Washington and fed up with politicians, Christie's weight allows him to stand apart from the political crowd, they said. It is an image Christie played to when he warned New Jerseyans to "get the hell off the beach" as Hurricane Irene approached in late August.
"People want something different, something out of the ordinary ... someone who is willing to stand up and confront problems," McLaughlin said "Being a picture-perfect candidate I don't think is as important anymore."
Doug Muzzio, a political scientist at Baruch College, said Christie's weight could help him subliminally with voters, too.
"Maybe this is a time when you need someone to be a bull in a china shop," Muzzio said. "Well, bulls are big."
If there is a danger for Christie, it is that his weight might leave voters wondering about his health. In July, he went to the hospital with breathing problems and lightheadedness, forcing doctors to run an EKG test, take blood and x-ray his chest. The diagnosis: a bout of asthma.
Asked if rivals might use such episodes against him, Christie said at the time, "My political enemies are never at rest ... and if this is what they want to use, I think I'm having a pretty good week.
"Despite the well-chronicled issues with my weight, I've been relatively healthy by all objective indicators," he said.
McLaughlin, the Republican strategist, said he relishes the idea of Christie challenging President Obama.
"It would be a real visual contrast, where you have Barack Obama, who is in good shape, perceived as being buff and athletic, going against Chris Christie, who has problems with asthma, who is overweight," McLaughlin said.
"I'd argue it's a vision of government that is big, fat and out of control -- in contrast Christie, who is putting the government of New Jersey on a diet," he said, "The paradox is very interesting." ||||| Whether or not he lets himself be persuaded to run for president, Chris Christie needs to find some way to lose weight. Like everyone else, elected officials perform best when they are in optimal health. Christie obviously is not.
You could argue that this is none of my business, but I disagree. Christie’s problem with weight ceased being a private matter when he stepped into the public arena — and it’s not something you can fail to notice. Obesity is a national epidemic whose costs are measured not just in dollars and cents but also in lives. Christie’s weight is as legitimate an issue as the smoking habit that President Obama says he has finally kicked.
On rare occasions, Christie speaks candidly about his weight. “I’m really struggling, been struggling for a long time with it,” he told CNN’s Piers Morgan in June. “And I know that it would be better for my kids if I got it more under control, and so I do feel a sense of guilt at times about that.”
Six weeks later, the New Jersey governor was briefly hospitalized for asthma — a condition that he has had for most of his life. Researchers say that many respiratory problems, including asthma, are worsened by obesity.
As he left the hospital, Christie acknowledged the connection. He described himself as “relatively healthy by all objective indicators,” but added that “if I weighed less, I’d be healthier.”
“The weight exacerbates everything,” he said.
And it does. According to the National Institutes of Health, obesity puts people at greater risk for Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and stroke, certain types of cancer, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, and gallbladder and liver disease.
The NIH estimates that nearly 34 percent of U.S. adults can be classified as “obese,” meaning they have a body mass index of more than 30. By this standard, a man who stands 5-foot-11 — Christie’s reported height — would be obese if his weight reached 215 pounds. While Christie does not disclose his weight, it appears to exceed the 286 pounds that would place him among the 5.7 percent of American adults whom NIH classifies as “extremely obese.”
I refer to obesity as an epidemic because the percentage of obese adults has doubled in the past 40 years — and childhood obesity is increasing even more rapidly. Again according to the NIH, “obesity is associated with over 112,000 excess deaths due to cardiovascular disease, over 15,000 excess deaths due to cancer, and over 35,000 excess deaths due to non-cancer, non-cardiovascular disease causes per year.”
On average, health-care costs for obese persons are 42 percent higher than costs for individuals whose weight falls into the “normal” range. It costs Medicare $1,723 more a year for an obese beneficiary than a non-obese one. For Medicaid the differential is $1,021, and for private insurers it’s $1,140. In other words, obesity is helping propel the rise in health-care costs, which are fueling the long-term rise in the national debt.
My intention is not to blame Christie for the federal government’s deficit spending — or, in fact, to blame him for his own obesity. Blame is not the point. Christie is just 49 and has four young children; politics aside, I’m sure he wants to be around to share the milestones in their lives. He prides himself on bullheaded determination and speaks often about the need for officials to display leadership. Well, Gov. Christie, lead thyself.
“I weigh too much because I eat too much,” he said after his hospitalization this summer, “and I eat some bad things, too.”
If only it were that simple. Yes, the basic arithmetic of calories ingested vs. calories expended is inescapable. But the science of weight control now takes into account the role that genetics might play, along with psychological factors that lie outside our conscious control. There are new options, including gastric surgery, beyond the dieting roller coaster — lose 40 pounds, gain it all back — that Christie says he has been riding for years.
Those who have lost weight and kept it off for extended periods, including former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, say they have succeeded by making proper diet and exercise part of their lives — not just unpleasant chores that have to be endured.
Politically, I disagree with Christie on almost everything. I’ll have plenty of opportunities to tell him why. Today, I’d just like to offer him a bit of unsolicited, nonpartisan, sincere advice: Eat a salad and take a walk.
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Sargent: The other jobs fight to watch
Stromberg: Rick Perry backs down, but on what? | – Is Chris Christie too fat for the White House? His extra girth could serve him well in an election—to a point. It makes him look like one of the gang, if the gang is the growing number of obese Americans. And his pounds prove he's a guy not listening to the diet nags of the "nanny state," a plus for Tea Party fans. It's also ... different. "People want something different, something out of the ordinary, someone who is willing to stand up and confront problems," political consultant John McLaughlin tells ABC News. "Being a picture-perfect candidate I don't think is as important anymore." But it's been 100 years since our last hefty prez, William Howard Taft, tipped the scales at more than 300 pounds. We have a monster prejudice against fat people. "Overweight people have much less of a chance of getting a job, they have much less of a chance of keeping a job, they are paid less than those who are thin," says David Birdsell of the School of Public Affairs at New York's Baruch College. "In this era of exercise, we impute moral failings to people who don't rein in their weight. Those prejudices are just intensified for people who seek elected office." Then, there's the potentially deadly impact of his extra weight—not good for him, or the nation. "I’d like to offer him a bit of unsolicited, nonpartisan, sincere advice," writes Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post. "Eat a salad and take a walk." | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.For Chris Christie, there was no way around it. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm slightly overweight," he said during a debate in his successful campaign for governor.
Two years later, Christie is the man of the moment in presidential politics, with many powerful Republicans clamoring for him to run. But it has been 100 years since Americans sent a true heavyweight to the White House, when William Howard Taft tipped the scales at well over 300 pounds.
Nor is Christie just "slightly overweight." So there is no delicate way to ask this: Is Chris Christie too fat to win?
Politics, after all, is a business of image and first-impressions -- and study after study shows that people judge the hefty more harshly than they judge those who are thin.
"Overweight people have much less of a chance of getting a job, they have much less of a chance of keeping a job ... they are paid less than those who are thin," said David Birdsell, dean of the School of Public Affairs at Baruch College in New York.
"In this era of exercise, we impute moral failings to people who don't rein in their weight," he said. "Those prejudices are just intensified for people who seek elected office."
Indeed, John McLaughlin, a New York-based Republican political consultant, said he routinely advises his clients to watch what they eat.
"You don't want them to gain weight, to look poorly on television," he said.
The political stage is filled with candidates who have heard that message loud and clear.
Mike Huckabee, the Republican former governor of Arkansas, famously shed 110 pounds and penned a self-help book, "Quit Digging Your Grave With a Knife and Fork," before plunging into the 2008 presidential race. He went on to tout his weight loss endlessly during the campaign.
In New York, more than a dozen overweight state legislators went on a very public battle of the bulge last year as they prepped for re-election.
"Voters would rather see someone whose belly isn't, you know, huge -- someone who is fit and trim," Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, an upstate Democrat, said at the time.
If a candidate is not "fit and trim," he might even face ridicule, as Christie recently did from late night talk show host David Letterman.
"You know who the Republicans want as their candidate is the tubby guy across the river, Chris Christie," Letterman said on "The Late Show," taped across the Hudson River from New Jersey in New York City. "You talk about tons of fun, here we go.
"I want Chris Christie in this race because just I want to be able to meaningfully say, 'Hey, bring it, fat boy!'" Letterman said later. "He's got to be close to 400 pounds. ... Take a look. ... Go to Google Earth."
Political scientists and strategists said they could not recall a truly heavy American politician finding great national success in the television age.
"Our candidates tend to be tall, they tend to have great hair," said Russell Riley, a presidential scholar at the University of Virginia's Center of Public Affairs. "This doesn't seem to be a business that, at the presidential level, willingly accepts people who are demonstrably overweight.
"Most people would look at Ronald Reagan say, 'This is a guy who looks like he could be president,'" he added.
Christie is an old hand in the political weight wars. In the 2009 race for New Jersey governor, incumbent Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine not-so-subtly made Christie's plus size an issue.
Corzine broadcast a television ad showing unflattering images of Christie as the narrator intoned that Christie "threw his weight around" to avoid getting traffic tickets. To drive home the comparison, Corzine, a fitness buff, ran in 5K and 10K races during the campaign.
"I have struggled with my weight for the last 30 years on and off, and that's the way it is, and so I think there are a lot of people out in New Jersey who have the same kind of struggles," Christie told one interviewer.
Earlier this year, Christie talked openly with ABC News' Diane Sawyer about his weight and his effort to exercise more.
"What do you say to yourself to psych yourself into it?" Sawyer asked.
"Just look in the mirror, Diane," Christie replied. "OK, I have to get healthier and this job has really forced me, because it's such a draining job from the energy perspective."
Chris Christie's Weight: Disadvantage or Advantage?
Ironically, many strategists say Christie's weight could work to his advantage if he enters the presidential race.
At a time when many Americans are angry with Washington and fed up with politicians, Christie's weight allows him to stand apart from the political crowd, they said. It is an image Christie played to when he warned New Jerseyans to "get the hell off the beach" as Hurricane Irene approached in late August.
"People want something different, something out of the ordinary ... someone who is willing to stand up and confront problems," McLaughlin said "Being a picture-perfect candidate I don't think is as important anymore."
Doug Muzzio, a political scientist at Baruch College, said Christie's weight could help him subliminally with voters, too.
"Maybe this is a time when you need someone to be a bull in a china shop," Muzzio said. "Well, bulls are big."
If there is a danger for Christie, it is that his weight might leave voters wondering about his health. In July, he went to the hospital with breathing problems and lightheadedness, forcing doctors to run an EKG test, take blood and x-ray his chest. The diagnosis: a bout of asthma.
Asked if rivals might use such episodes against him, Christie said at the time, "My political enemies are never at rest ... and if this is what they want to use, I think I'm having a pretty good week.
"Despite the well-chronicled issues with my weight, I've been relatively healthy by all objective indicators," he said.
McLaughlin, the Republican strategist, said he relishes the idea of Christie challenging President Obama.
"It would be a real visual contrast, where you have Barack Obama, who is in good shape, perceived as being buff and athletic, going against Chris Christie, who has problems with asthma, who is overweight," McLaughlin said.
"I'd argue it's a vision of government that is big, fat and out of control -- in contrast Christie, who is putting the government of New Jersey on a diet," he said, "The paradox is very interesting." ||||| Whether or not he lets himself be persuaded to run for president, Chris Christie needs to find some way to lose weight. Like everyone else, elected officials perform best when they are in optimal health. Christie obviously is not.
You could argue that this is none of my business, but I disagree. Christie’s problem with weight ceased being a private matter when he stepped into the public arena — and it’s not something you can fail to notice. Obesity is a national epidemic whose costs are measured not just in dollars and cents but also in lives. Christie’s weight is as legitimate an issue as the smoking habit that President Obama says he has finally kicked.
On rare occasions, Christie speaks candidly about his weight. “I’m really struggling, been struggling for a long time with it,” he told CNN’s Piers Morgan in June. “And I know that it would be better for my kids if I got it more under control, and so I do feel a sense of guilt at times about that.”
Six weeks later, the New Jersey governor was briefly hospitalized for asthma — a condition that he has had for most of his life. Researchers say that many respiratory problems, including asthma, are worsened by obesity.
As he left the hospital, Christie acknowledged the connection. He described himself as “relatively healthy by all objective indicators,” but added that “if I weighed less, I’d be healthier.”
“The weight exacerbates everything,” he said.
And it does. According to the National Institutes of Health, obesity puts people at greater risk for Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and stroke, certain types of cancer, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, and gallbladder and liver disease.
The NIH estimates that nearly 34 percent of U.S. adults can be classified as “obese,” meaning they have a body mass index of more than 30. By this standard, a man who stands 5-foot-11 — Christie’s reported height — would be obese if his weight reached 215 pounds. While Christie does not disclose his weight, it appears to exceed the 286 pounds that would place him among the 5.7 percent of American adults whom NIH classifies as “extremely obese.”
I refer to obesity as an epidemic because the percentage of obese adults has doubled in the past 40 years — and childhood obesity is increasing even more rapidly. Again according to the NIH, “obesity is associated with over 112,000 excess deaths due to cardiovascular disease, over 15,000 excess deaths due to cancer, and over 35,000 excess deaths due to non-cancer, non-cardiovascular disease causes per year.”
On average, health-care costs for obese persons are 42 percent higher than costs for individuals whose weight falls into the “normal” range. It costs Medicare $1,723 more a year for an obese beneficiary than a non-obese one. For Medicaid the differential is $1,021, and for private insurers it’s $1,140. In other words, obesity is helping propel the rise in health-care costs, which are fueling the long-term rise in the national debt.
My intention is not to blame Christie for the federal government’s deficit spending — or, in fact, to blame him for his own obesity. Blame is not the point. Christie is just 49 and has four young children; politics aside, I’m sure he wants to be around to share the milestones in their lives. He prides himself on bullheaded determination and speaks often about the need for officials to display leadership. Well, Gov. Christie, lead thyself.
“I weigh too much because I eat too much,” he said after his hospitalization this summer, “and I eat some bad things, too.”
If only it were that simple. Yes, the basic arithmetic of calories ingested vs. calories expended is inescapable. But the science of weight control now takes into account the role that genetics might play, along with psychological factors that lie outside our conscious control. There are new options, including gastric surgery, beyond the dieting roller coaster — lose 40 pounds, gain it all back — that Christie says he has been riding for years.
Those who have lost weight and kept it off for extended periods, including former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, say they have succeeded by making proper diet and exercise part of their lives — not just unpleasant chores that have to be endured.
Politically, I disagree with Christie on almost everything. I’ll have plenty of opportunities to tell him why. Today, I’d just like to offer him a bit of unsolicited, nonpartisan, sincere advice: Eat a salad and take a walk.
[email protected]
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Amanda Bynes Parents to the Rescue
EXCLUSIVE
' parents abruptly uprooted from their Texas home and moved to California to take care of their troubled daughter ... TMZ has learned.Sources connected to the family tell us ... what triggered their decision was Amanda's DUI last April.We're told the parents put their home in Cedar Park, TX up for sale ... hoping to make a quick deal and get to Cali ASAP, but they couldn't find a buyer.As Amanda's situation got worse -- hit-and-runs, what looked like pot-smoking photos, and lots of strange behavior -- Bynes' folks decided they couldn't wait any longer and just leased their place out.One source told us the parents are NOT gunning for a conservatorship (a la) but merely want to be near their daughter as a support system. In the past our sources say the parents were adamant -- Amanda did not have mental issues or a substance abuse problem.The parents are no strangers to SoCal -- Amanda was born and raised in Thousand Oaks. ||||| Amanda Bynes Barricades Self For 2 Hours In Dressing Room
Amanda Bynes Barricades Herself In Dressing Room for 2-Hours
EXCLUSIVE
went shopping today in West Hollywood ... and locked herself in a dressing room for nearly 2 hours.Amanda was shopping at Kin (above) -- a hip boutique. Amanda took some clothes inside the fitting room and stayed for 1 hr. 45 min.The clerks heard a banging sound coming from inside the dressing room every 10 minutes or so. One clerk made a distress call to another employee, saying he was concerned about Bynes being hold up for so long. The employee drove to the store to help, to no avail. Amanda wouldn't come out, telling them, "I need more time."Amanda finally came out at around 5:30 PM, went to the register and bought a pair of stilettos, a pair of sunglasses and a few other things.Now get this ... as Amanda walked out she noticed she had tried on a bathing suit top that was underneath her dress and told the clerk she forgot it was on. Amanda then paid for the suit.Amanda saw a few photogs before leaving and then asked the clerk to call her a cab. It's unclear how she arrived at the store.
Afterwards one of the clerks told someone, "I was so worried about her. I didn't know what she was doing in [the dressing room]. I didn't know if she was overdosing, or doing drugs or what." ||||| By Radar Staff
Amanda Bynes has been living as a virtual recluse and has had absolutely no contact with her parents for months, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.
Media reports on Wednesday stated that Amanda’s parents had moved from Texas, to California to be closer to their troubled daughter, after her bizarre behavior following her DUI and hit and run criminal charges, multiple sources close to the actress tell Radar that is categorically false though.
PHOTOS: After Hours Inside, Amanda Bynes Leaves Boutique
“Amanda’s parents had moved back to California long before she got arrested for her DUI,” a source close to the situation tells Radar. “Her parents have been living in California for a significant amount of time before her legal problems began. Amanda hasn’t spoken to her parents in several months and she has been living like a recluse, which does have her parents extremely concerned. Amanda just cut them out of her life entirely, and she doesn’t return their phone calls or e-mails. There wasn’t a fight or any ongoing unresolved issues between Amanda and her parents, she just axed them out of her life for no reason.”
PHOTOS: Celebrity Mugshots
As WE previously reported, Bynes wasn’t required to post bail in her DUI case, because Judge Elden Fox didn’t think it was necessary at this point. Bynes was ordered not to drive unless she had a valid driver’s license, and Judge Fox warned that if she violates that order he would set bail for a “very high amount.”
The Hairspray star was also charged by the Los Angeles City Attorney with two hit and run charges and was arrested on April 6 for a DUI after allegedly sideswiping a police car.
PHOTOS: Celebs Who Have Done Jail Time
Bynes, 26, was pulled over and cited once again for driving on a suspended license in Burbank on Sunday morning, which resulted in her car being impounded.
Days before her car was taken away from her, Bynes was photographed driving illegally last Tuesday on that suspended license and allegedly smoking drugs from a pipe in her car.
“The only way that Amanda’s parents find out what is going on with her is from the media. They love their daughter very, very much though and are just heartbroken and very concerned for her,” the insider says.
RELATED STORIES:
Amanda Bynes Refusing Rehab: ‘She’s A Lost Little Girl,’ Says Pal
Amanda Bynes Caught Driving AGAIN On A Suspended License: With Scarf Covering Her Face!
Amanda Bynes Vows To Fight DUI Charges
Cops Clear Amanda Bynes In New Hit And Run Incident ||||| EXCLUSIVE
Lindsay Lohan’s NYC arrest was simply karma kicking her in the ass for tweeting bad things about Amanda Bynes ... at least that’s what Amanda is telling her friends.
We KNOW Amanda is still pissed over Lohan's tweet Monday which read, “Why did I get put in jail and a nickelodeon star has had NO punishment(s) so far?"
Bynes is griping ... Lindsay has been convicted of multiple crimes (a rap sheet as long as her IMDB page), while Amanda has been convicted of nada.
Still, Bynes is telling friends Lohan’s new legal troubles are “what she gets” for talking smack on Twitter … adding Lindsay simply is “not cool.” ||||| Amanda Bynes BOOTED from Gym Class For Weird Behavior
Amanda Bynes -- BOOTED from Gym Class for Weird Behavior
EXCLUSIVE
acted so bizarre during a workout class in Hollywood Tuesday night ... her instructor stopped the session halfway through and kicked her out -- TMZ has learned.Gym sources tell us, Amanda was attending a 50-minute spin class at Equinox when she suddenly stopped participating in the class and aimlessly walked around looking to switch bikes.Once Amanda found a replacement -- closer to the room's giant mirror -- we're told Amanda started cycling again, but removed her top, revealing a "tiny black strapless push up bra ... not a sports bra."Roughly 25 minutes into the class, we're told Amanda stopped cycling again -- this time to pick up her Louis Vuitton purse ... and reapply her makeup.According to sources, the actress was doing her makeup -- lipstick, eyeliner, the whole shebang -- for ten full minutes before the instructor grew furious and told her to get out, claiming he couldn't BELIEVE someone was doing makeup in the middle of his spin class.Amanda then left the room and the class continued. For the record, the actress has not been permanently banned from the gym. ||||| Guys, I think I have this Amanda Bynes thing figured out. Although her behavior has seemed mystifyingly strange lately, what with racking up those endless driving violations and all (I mean, when Lindsay Lohan bags on someone for being a public menace you know the situation's officially gotten out of control), Bynes actually started flying her freak flag more than two years ago.
I'd totally forgotten about this, but Bynes made headlines in June of 2010 when she jumped on Twitter at 3 a.m. to announce that she was done with acting. "I know 24 is a young age to retire," she wrote, "but you heard it here first I've retired."
She "unretired" a whopping 35 days later, and according to some sources, the retirement was all a cover-up for the real reason she wasn't being seen on the big screen: Hollywood was sick of her increasingly bizarre behavior.
According to the Daily Beast, in the spring of 2010, Bynes was kicked out of the Farrelly brothers’ film, Hall Pass. Although Bynes tweeted that she left because of "scheduling conflicts," word on the street says otherwise:
One source said Bynes had acted strangely during the filming—paranoid and fearful. Star Owen Wilson and the Farrellys wanted Bynes to continue in the film if she could get a hold of herself, but nothing changed—the co-directors, the source said, kept the cameras running in between takes to show Bynes' odd behavior in case anyone from her camp decided to sue.
Bynes was named one of People's "25 Hottest Stars Under 25" in 2006, but before her "retirement," she had a number of professional missteps: a failed clothing line, a canned TV pilot, and a movie that went straight to video. And despite the fact that she retired from retiring, she hasn't worked since 2010's Easy A.
More from The Stir: Amanda Bynes May Have More Serious Problems Than Her Driving Skills (VIDEO)
So basically she went from being a hugely popular child star to a young woman who can't find success in Hollywood. Is it any wonder she's been headed straight for a giant meltdown? I'm not saying it's a valid excuse, I'm just saying that based on historical evidence, the odds on her transitioning to adulthood as a healthy, well-adjusted person weren't good.
Who knows what's going to happen next with Amanda Bynes, but based on the reports of her mental instability -- including yesterday's disturbing behavior in a clothing store dressing room -- it sounds like she's headed for a pretty big fall. Here's hoping someone can convince her to get some help before it's too late.
Do you think Amanda Bynes' early fame contributed to her current problems?
Image via Maxim | – Amanda Bynes will have you know that she is "doing amazing," thank you very much. The apparently-troubled 26-year-old insists, in a new interview with People, that she doesn't drink and drive. "It is all false," says Bynes, who has had numerous vehicular scrapes lately and is reportedly declining mentally. According to Bynes, however, she's retired from acting and is perfectly happy launching a fashion line and moving to New York. (She also thinks it's perfect karma that Lindsay Lohan got arrested right after snarkily tweeting about her.) But her words say one thing, and her actions say quite another, according to the chatter: She looked like "a mess" at a Hollywood gym this week, taking her shirt off during a spin class to reveal not a sports bra but "a tiny, black, strapless push-up bra," a source tells People. She then spent 10 minutes doing her make-up, adjusting her bra, and fixing her hair before putting her shirt back on and leaving. In TMZ's version of the story, Bynes actually got kicked out of the class by the irate instructor. Also this week, Bynes went shopping in Hollywood and locked herself in a dressing room at a boutique for almost two hours, TMZ reports. When asked by concerned clerks to come out, she said, "I need more time," and banging sounds were heard coming from the room every 10 minutes. When Bynes finally emerged, she bought a few things, and almost left the store without paying for a bathing suit top she was still wearing under her dress. Radar reports that Bynes' parents haven't heard from her in months, and are worried. But sources say they haven't moved from Texas to California to help their daughter, as has been reported. Bynes was in court yesterday, and the judge warned that if she breaks any more road laws, she'll impose bail. Click to read about why we all should have seen this meltdown coming two years ago. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Amanda Bynes Parents to the Rescue
EXCLUSIVE
' parents abruptly uprooted from their Texas home and moved to California to take care of their troubled daughter ... TMZ has learned.Sources connected to the family tell us ... what triggered their decision was Amanda's DUI last April.We're told the parents put their home in Cedar Park, TX up for sale ... hoping to make a quick deal and get to Cali ASAP, but they couldn't find a buyer.As Amanda's situation got worse -- hit-and-runs, what looked like pot-smoking photos, and lots of strange behavior -- Bynes' folks decided they couldn't wait any longer and just leased their place out.One source told us the parents are NOT gunning for a conservatorship (a la) but merely want to be near their daughter as a support system. In the past our sources say the parents were adamant -- Amanda did not have mental issues or a substance abuse problem.The parents are no strangers to SoCal -- Amanda was born and raised in Thousand Oaks. ||||| Amanda Bynes Barricades Self For 2 Hours In Dressing Room
Amanda Bynes Barricades Herself In Dressing Room for 2-Hours
EXCLUSIVE
went shopping today in West Hollywood ... and locked herself in a dressing room for nearly 2 hours.Amanda was shopping at Kin (above) -- a hip boutique. Amanda took some clothes inside the fitting room and stayed for 1 hr. 45 min.The clerks heard a banging sound coming from inside the dressing room every 10 minutes or so. One clerk made a distress call to another employee, saying he was concerned about Bynes being hold up for so long. The employee drove to the store to help, to no avail. Amanda wouldn't come out, telling them, "I need more time."Amanda finally came out at around 5:30 PM, went to the register and bought a pair of stilettos, a pair of sunglasses and a few other things.Now get this ... as Amanda walked out she noticed she had tried on a bathing suit top that was underneath her dress and told the clerk she forgot it was on. Amanda then paid for the suit.Amanda saw a few photogs before leaving and then asked the clerk to call her a cab. It's unclear how she arrived at the store.
Afterwards one of the clerks told someone, "I was so worried about her. I didn't know what she was doing in [the dressing room]. I didn't know if she was overdosing, or doing drugs or what." ||||| By Radar Staff
Amanda Bynes has been living as a virtual recluse and has had absolutely no contact with her parents for months, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.
Media reports on Wednesday stated that Amanda’s parents had moved from Texas, to California to be closer to their troubled daughter, after her bizarre behavior following her DUI and hit and run criminal charges, multiple sources close to the actress tell Radar that is categorically false though.
PHOTOS: After Hours Inside, Amanda Bynes Leaves Boutique
“Amanda’s parents had moved back to California long before she got arrested for her DUI,” a source close to the situation tells Radar. “Her parents have been living in California for a significant amount of time before her legal problems began. Amanda hasn’t spoken to her parents in several months and she has been living like a recluse, which does have her parents extremely concerned. Amanda just cut them out of her life entirely, and she doesn’t return their phone calls or e-mails. There wasn’t a fight or any ongoing unresolved issues between Amanda and her parents, she just axed them out of her life for no reason.”
PHOTOS: Celebrity Mugshots
As WE previously reported, Bynes wasn’t required to post bail in her DUI case, because Judge Elden Fox didn’t think it was necessary at this point. Bynes was ordered not to drive unless she had a valid driver’s license, and Judge Fox warned that if she violates that order he would set bail for a “very high amount.”
The Hairspray star was also charged by the Los Angeles City Attorney with two hit and run charges and was arrested on April 6 for a DUI after allegedly sideswiping a police car.
PHOTOS: Celebs Who Have Done Jail Time
Bynes, 26, was pulled over and cited once again for driving on a suspended license in Burbank on Sunday morning, which resulted in her car being impounded.
Days before her car was taken away from her, Bynes was photographed driving illegally last Tuesday on that suspended license and allegedly smoking drugs from a pipe in her car.
“The only way that Amanda’s parents find out what is going on with her is from the media. They love their daughter very, very much though and are just heartbroken and very concerned for her,” the insider says.
RELATED STORIES:
Amanda Bynes Refusing Rehab: ‘She’s A Lost Little Girl,’ Says Pal
Amanda Bynes Caught Driving AGAIN On A Suspended License: With Scarf Covering Her Face!
Amanda Bynes Vows To Fight DUI Charges
Cops Clear Amanda Bynes In New Hit And Run Incident ||||| EXCLUSIVE
Lindsay Lohan’s NYC arrest was simply karma kicking her in the ass for tweeting bad things about Amanda Bynes ... at least that’s what Amanda is telling her friends.
We KNOW Amanda is still pissed over Lohan's tweet Monday which read, “Why did I get put in jail and a nickelodeon star has had NO punishment(s) so far?"
Bynes is griping ... Lindsay has been convicted of multiple crimes (a rap sheet as long as her IMDB page), while Amanda has been convicted of nada.
Still, Bynes is telling friends Lohan’s new legal troubles are “what she gets” for talking smack on Twitter … adding Lindsay simply is “not cool.” ||||| Amanda Bynes BOOTED from Gym Class For Weird Behavior
Amanda Bynes -- BOOTED from Gym Class for Weird Behavior
EXCLUSIVE
acted so bizarre during a workout class in Hollywood Tuesday night ... her instructor stopped the session halfway through and kicked her out -- TMZ has learned.Gym sources tell us, Amanda was attending a 50-minute spin class at Equinox when she suddenly stopped participating in the class and aimlessly walked around looking to switch bikes.Once Amanda found a replacement -- closer to the room's giant mirror -- we're told Amanda started cycling again, but removed her top, revealing a "tiny black strapless push up bra ... not a sports bra."Roughly 25 minutes into the class, we're told Amanda stopped cycling again -- this time to pick up her Louis Vuitton purse ... and reapply her makeup.According to sources, the actress was doing her makeup -- lipstick, eyeliner, the whole shebang -- for ten full minutes before the instructor grew furious and told her to get out, claiming he couldn't BELIEVE someone was doing makeup in the middle of his spin class.Amanda then left the room and the class continued. For the record, the actress has not been permanently banned from the gym. ||||| Guys, I think I have this Amanda Bynes thing figured out. Although her behavior has seemed mystifyingly strange lately, what with racking up those endless driving violations and all (I mean, when Lindsay Lohan bags on someone for being a public menace you know the situation's officially gotten out of control), Bynes actually started flying her freak flag more than two years ago.
I'd totally forgotten about this, but Bynes made headlines in June of 2010 when she jumped on Twitter at 3 a.m. to announce that she was done with acting. "I know 24 is a young age to retire," she wrote, "but you heard it here first I've retired."
She "unretired" a whopping 35 days later, and according to some sources, the retirement was all a cover-up for the real reason she wasn't being seen on the big screen: Hollywood was sick of her increasingly bizarre behavior.
According to the Daily Beast, in the spring of 2010, Bynes was kicked out of the Farrelly brothers’ film, Hall Pass. Although Bynes tweeted that she left because of "scheduling conflicts," word on the street says otherwise:
One source said Bynes had acted strangely during the filming—paranoid and fearful. Star Owen Wilson and the Farrellys wanted Bynes to continue in the film if she could get a hold of herself, but nothing changed—the co-directors, the source said, kept the cameras running in between takes to show Bynes' odd behavior in case anyone from her camp decided to sue.
Bynes was named one of People's "25 Hottest Stars Under 25" in 2006, but before her "retirement," she had a number of professional missteps: a failed clothing line, a canned TV pilot, and a movie that went straight to video. And despite the fact that she retired from retiring, she hasn't worked since 2010's Easy A.
More from The Stir: Amanda Bynes May Have More Serious Problems Than Her Driving Skills (VIDEO)
So basically she went from being a hugely popular child star to a young woman who can't find success in Hollywood. Is it any wonder she's been headed straight for a giant meltdown? I'm not saying it's a valid excuse, I'm just saying that based on historical evidence, the odds on her transitioning to adulthood as a healthy, well-adjusted person weren't good.
Who knows what's going to happen next with Amanda Bynes, but based on the reports of her mental instability -- including yesterday's disturbing behavior in a clothing store dressing room -- it sounds like she's headed for a pretty big fall. Here's hoping someone can convince her to get some help before it's too late.
Do you think Amanda Bynes' early fame contributed to her current problems?
Image via Maxim | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 41,058 |
Lindsay Lohan to Spend the Holidays in Rehab
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"There's nothing better than a train wreck for a celebrity and I'm not going to have one in this case," Fox told Lohan and her attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, who argued that "relapse is a part of recovery" and that Lohan "would like to remain [at Betty Ford] and continue her treatment." Lindsay Lohan won't be going back to jail, but she will be spending the holidays in rehab. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elden Fox spared the 'Mean Girls' actress from more jail time on Friday, but instead ordered the troubled star back to the Betty Ford Center until Jan. 3. Fox was determining whether Lohan violated her probation in September when she tested positive for cocaine and Adderall in a pair of random drug screenings."There's nothing better than a train wreck for a celebrity and I'm not going to have one in this case," Fox told Lohan and her attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, who argued that "relapse is a part of recovery" and that Lohan "would like to remain [at Betty Ford] and continue her treatment."
On The Street: Lindsay and Second (or Third, Fourth) Chances
Fox said that if Lohan doesn't shape up, she's going to destroy a promising career. He said he is trying to provide Lohan with a real chance at sobriety and that remaining at Betty Ford through the holidays is crucial. "You're staying past the New Year's -- there's a reason for that," Fox said.A prosecutor had wanted a six-month jail sentence for the star, but Fox opted for rehab after reviewing filings from rehab officials and a letter by Lohan herself. She cried after hearing the sentence and was escorted out by eight deputies to a waiting van. Before she could leave, an onlooker threw gold confetti on the star.Upon leaving rehab on Jan. 3, Lohan will have to submit to periodic drug and alcohol testing until her next scheduled court date on Feb. 25.Lohan arrived at the Beverly Hills courthouse Friday morning at about 8AM with her attorney and mother by her side. A few hours earlier, she left a live-in rehab facility in Southern California, where she has been since late September On Sept. 24, Lohan was denied bail and taken into custody after failing a pair of drug tests following her release from an inpatient rehab stay at UCLA Medical Center. Judge Fox reportedly issued the order without hearing arguments from Lohan's lawyers, and within hours another judge overturned the ruling and the starlet was released on bail.Lohan was behind bars during those hours due to an admitted relapse: She failed two crucial drug tests, for cocaine and illegal Adderall use.She was released from court-ordered rehab at UCLA Medical Center on Aug. 24 after only 22 days. Judge Marsha Revel sentenced Lohan to 90 days in jail and a 90-day inpatient rehabilitation program on July 6 for violating her probation in a 2007 DUI case. She ended up serving only 14 days due to good behavior and overcrowding at the jail.Friday's hearing was Lohan's fifth court appearance since May. Her legal woes began in May 2007 when she was arrested following a minor car accident and charged with DUI. Just two months later, she was taken into custody for suspicion of drunk driving and cocaine possession.Following her first DUI, Lohan spent 84 minutes in jail after pleading guilty to two misdemeanor counts of being under the influence of cocaine and no contest to two counts of driving with a blood-alcohol level above 0.08 percent and one count of reckless driving.Lohan's recent court troubles have put her career on hold. She missed opportunities to promote her role in the film 'Machete' because she was in jail and rehab. Her next starring role is supposed to be in a biopic about porn actress Linda Lovelace, though filming has yet to begin on the project and will have to be further delayed in light of Lohan's rehab sentence. ||||| Lindsay Can't Afford Rehab; Looking for a Sponsor
Email This
You would think that
"Lindsay can't afford to pay for treatment," a friend told me after Superior Court Judge Elden Fox ordered her to remain there until Jan. 3. "Three months at the facility will cost her almost $50,000, which she doesn't have." You would think that Lindsay Lohan would be jumping for joy since a judge decided to order her back to rehab rather than to jail, however, sources tell me neither option made the troubled actress very happy. Why? Because the strapped 'Mean Girls' star will now need to find a sponsor to help cover her bill at the Betty Ford Center."Lindsay can't afford to pay for treatment," a friend told me after Superior Court Judge Elden Fox ordered her to remain there until Jan. 3. "Three months at the facility will cost her almost $50,000, which she doesn't have."
Lohan's probation report confirms that the star's "clothing line is falling apart because she is not available to monitor the product," and any money she hoped to earn from filming 'Inferno' will have to wait until she leaves rehab."There is simply no money left," an insider tells me. "Lindsay manages to live high off the generosity of others; however, asking for free clothes and dinners at fancy restaurants is one thing, asking for $50,000 cash is something totally different. Her people tried and failed to sell her first post rehab interview for big bucks, so her only option now is to find some sort of sponsor."Or maybe find a cheaper rehab, Lindsay! | – The good news: Lindsay Lohan managed to avoid a second jail stint, with a judge recently ordering her back to rehab instead. The bad news: LiLo can’t actually afford rehab. "Three months at the facility will cost her almost $50,000, which she doesn't have,” a source tells PopEater, adding that the starlet now needs to find a sponsor: “Lindsay manages to live high off the generosity of others. However, asking for free clothes and dinners at fancy restaurants is one thing, asking for $50,000 cash is something totally different.” Click here for more, or here for details of her sentencing. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Lindsay Lohan to Spend the Holidays in Rehab
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"There's nothing better than a train wreck for a celebrity and I'm not going to have one in this case," Fox told Lohan and her attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, who argued that "relapse is a part of recovery" and that Lohan "would like to remain [at Betty Ford] and continue her treatment." Lindsay Lohan won't be going back to jail, but she will be spending the holidays in rehab. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elden Fox spared the 'Mean Girls' actress from more jail time on Friday, but instead ordered the troubled star back to the Betty Ford Center until Jan. 3. Fox was determining whether Lohan violated her probation in September when she tested positive for cocaine and Adderall in a pair of random drug screenings."There's nothing better than a train wreck for a celebrity and I'm not going to have one in this case," Fox told Lohan and her attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, who argued that "relapse is a part of recovery" and that Lohan "would like to remain [at Betty Ford] and continue her treatment."
On The Street: Lindsay and Second (or Third, Fourth) Chances
Fox said that if Lohan doesn't shape up, she's going to destroy a promising career. He said he is trying to provide Lohan with a real chance at sobriety and that remaining at Betty Ford through the holidays is crucial. "You're staying past the New Year's -- there's a reason for that," Fox said.A prosecutor had wanted a six-month jail sentence for the star, but Fox opted for rehab after reviewing filings from rehab officials and a letter by Lohan herself. She cried after hearing the sentence and was escorted out by eight deputies to a waiting van. Before she could leave, an onlooker threw gold confetti on the star.Upon leaving rehab on Jan. 3, Lohan will have to submit to periodic drug and alcohol testing until her next scheduled court date on Feb. 25.Lohan arrived at the Beverly Hills courthouse Friday morning at about 8AM with her attorney and mother by her side. A few hours earlier, she left a live-in rehab facility in Southern California, where she has been since late September On Sept. 24, Lohan was denied bail and taken into custody after failing a pair of drug tests following her release from an inpatient rehab stay at UCLA Medical Center. Judge Fox reportedly issued the order without hearing arguments from Lohan's lawyers, and within hours another judge overturned the ruling and the starlet was released on bail.Lohan was behind bars during those hours due to an admitted relapse: She failed two crucial drug tests, for cocaine and illegal Adderall use.She was released from court-ordered rehab at UCLA Medical Center on Aug. 24 after only 22 days. Judge Marsha Revel sentenced Lohan to 90 days in jail and a 90-day inpatient rehabilitation program on July 6 for violating her probation in a 2007 DUI case. She ended up serving only 14 days due to good behavior and overcrowding at the jail.Friday's hearing was Lohan's fifth court appearance since May. Her legal woes began in May 2007 when she was arrested following a minor car accident and charged with DUI. Just two months later, she was taken into custody for suspicion of drunk driving and cocaine possession.Following her first DUI, Lohan spent 84 minutes in jail after pleading guilty to two misdemeanor counts of being under the influence of cocaine and no contest to two counts of driving with a blood-alcohol level above 0.08 percent and one count of reckless driving.Lohan's recent court troubles have put her career on hold. She missed opportunities to promote her role in the film 'Machete' because she was in jail and rehab. Her next starring role is supposed to be in a biopic about porn actress Linda Lovelace, though filming has yet to begin on the project and will have to be further delayed in light of Lohan's rehab sentence. ||||| Lindsay Can't Afford Rehab; Looking for a Sponsor
Email This
You would think that
"Lindsay can't afford to pay for treatment," a friend told me after Superior Court Judge Elden Fox ordered her to remain there until Jan. 3. "Three months at the facility will cost her almost $50,000, which she doesn't have." You would think that Lindsay Lohan would be jumping for joy since a judge decided to order her back to rehab rather than to jail, however, sources tell me neither option made the troubled actress very happy. Why? Because the strapped 'Mean Girls' star will now need to find a sponsor to help cover her bill at the Betty Ford Center."Lindsay can't afford to pay for treatment," a friend told me after Superior Court Judge Elden Fox ordered her to remain there until Jan. 3. "Three months at the facility will cost her almost $50,000, which she doesn't have."
Lohan's probation report confirms that the star's "clothing line is falling apart because she is not available to monitor the product," and any money she hoped to earn from filming 'Inferno' will have to wait until she leaves rehab."There is simply no money left," an insider tells me. "Lindsay manages to live high off the generosity of others; however, asking for free clothes and dinners at fancy restaurants is one thing, asking for $50,000 cash is something totally different. Her people tried and failed to sell her first post rehab interview for big bucks, so her only option now is to find some sort of sponsor."Or maybe find a cheaper rehab, Lindsay! | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 18,085 |
DUBAI (Reuters) - Gunmen abducted an American teacher on Tuesday from an English language school in Sanaa, capital of wartorn Yemen, witnesses said, in the latest of a series of kidnappings of foreigners.
Armed men in civilian clothes entered the school and forced the teacher into their car as bewildered colleagues and students looked on.
“We were shocked when the armed group entered the building. They got to his office and took him to an unknown location,” a Yemeni teacher at the school said.
Local security officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“We are aware of reports of U.S. citizens being held in Yemen. Privacy considerations prevent us from commenting further on this case,” a U.S. State Department spokeswoman told Reuters.
Dozens of foreigners were abducted in the years before a civil war erupted in March 2015 when the armed Houthi movement, drawn from Yemen’s Zaydi Shi’ite sect, seized Sanaa.
Most were released when their tribal abductors won concessions from central authorities in local disputes, but some have been executed by militants.
A Tunisian employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross was kidnapped in December and appeared in a video pleading for her life last month as a masked gunman stood over her.
The Houthi takeover prompted many countries to close their embassies and aid agencies to sharply reduce their staff, reducing the number of foreigners - and kidnappings - in Yemen.
But over the course of the 18-month-old war several Americans have been detained on espionage charges by the Iranian-allied Houthis, who accuse the United States of arming and supporting a Saudi-led coalition which has intervened in the conflict on the side of the exiled government.
Neighboring Oman has mediated the release of two Americans held in Houthi custody. ||||| SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni officials say an American who worked as an English teacher in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, has been detained on suspicions of espionage.
The officials told the Associated Press on Wednesday that he was arrested at his house in Sanaa on Tuesday and taken to the national security headquarters. Shiite rebels known as Houthis captured Sanaa in 2014, and are allied with security forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. It was not immediately clear if the American was being held by the Houthis or their allies.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
U.S. officials have declined to comment on the matter. | – Yemeni officials say an American who worked as an English teacher in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, has been detained on suspicions of espionage. The officials told the AP on Wednesday that he was arrested at his house in Sanaa on Tuesday and taken to the national security headquarters. Witnesses told a different story, saying armed men in civilian clothes seized the man from a language school and forced him into a car. "We were shocked when the armed group entered the building. They got to his office and took him to an unknown location," a Yemeni teacher at the school tells Reuters. Iran-allied Shiite rebels known as Houthis captured Sanaa in 2014 and are allied with security forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. It wasn't immediately clear if the American was being held by the Houthis or their allies. The Houthis—who accuse the US of supporting the Saudi Arabia-led coalition they're fighting—have detained several other Americans during the conflict, which has been going on for 18 months and has caused widespread malnutrition in parts of the country. (Last month, a coalition airstrike hit a hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.DUBAI (Reuters) - Gunmen abducted an American teacher on Tuesday from an English language school in Sanaa, capital of wartorn Yemen, witnesses said, in the latest of a series of kidnappings of foreigners.
Armed men in civilian clothes entered the school and forced the teacher into their car as bewildered colleagues and students looked on.
“We were shocked when the armed group entered the building. They got to his office and took him to an unknown location,” a Yemeni teacher at the school said.
Local security officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“We are aware of reports of U.S. citizens being held in Yemen. Privacy considerations prevent us from commenting further on this case,” a U.S. State Department spokeswoman told Reuters.
Dozens of foreigners were abducted in the years before a civil war erupted in March 2015 when the armed Houthi movement, drawn from Yemen’s Zaydi Shi’ite sect, seized Sanaa.
Most were released when their tribal abductors won concessions from central authorities in local disputes, but some have been executed by militants.
A Tunisian employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross was kidnapped in December and appeared in a video pleading for her life last month as a masked gunman stood over her.
The Houthi takeover prompted many countries to close their embassies and aid agencies to sharply reduce their staff, reducing the number of foreigners - and kidnappings - in Yemen.
But over the course of the 18-month-old war several Americans have been detained on espionage charges by the Iranian-allied Houthis, who accuse the United States of arming and supporting a Saudi-led coalition which has intervened in the conflict on the side of the exiled government.
Neighboring Oman has mediated the release of two Americans held in Houthi custody. ||||| SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni officials say an American who worked as an English teacher in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, has been detained on suspicions of espionage.
The officials told the Associated Press on Wednesday that he was arrested at his house in Sanaa on Tuesday and taken to the national security headquarters. Shiite rebels known as Houthis captured Sanaa in 2014, and are allied with security forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. It was not immediately clear if the American was being held by the Houthis or their allies.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
U.S. officials have declined to comment on the matter. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 36,526 |
Paris authorities have begun draining the Canal St-Martin , a waterway that has become the French capital’s hipster epicentre but which critics say has become an urban rubbish dump for uncouth revellers.
Napoleon Bonaparte commissioned the picturesque canal in 1804 to provide the capital with both goods and fresh water.
Today Parisian “bobos”, its cultured and moneyed trendsetters, are prepared to pay €10,000 (£7,300) per square metre for a place overlooking the canal’s famed iron footbridges, tree-lined cobbled towpaths and trendy bars and restaurants.
The drainage operation requires emptying a two kilometre-long stretch of 90,000 cubic metres of water to collect piles of rubbish and renovate its four double locks. It will cost the city €9.5 million and turn the waterway into a dry ditch for three months.
Workers began by allowing most of the water to escape via sluice filters while leaving 50cm to fish out an estimated 4.5 tons of trout, carp and bream hiding in its greenish depths. These are being transferred to another part not under renovation.
Photo: Reuters
Once all the water is drained on Thursday, workers will begin dredging the canal and removing myriad objects thrown in over the past 14 years.
The last time the waterway was drained in 2001, some 40 tons of rubbish was recovered. Among the objects were bicycles, motorbikes, two empty safes, gold coins, a pallet truck, two wheelchairs, a toilet bowl and two 75mm shells from the First World War.
A pistol has already been fished out in the first few hours of this year’s clean-up operation and has been handed to police.
Workers also expect to find quite a few of the city's popular Velib’ hire bikes as well as mountains of beer cans and bottles.
Cutting through northeast Paris, the Canal Saint Martin starts by the Place de la Bastille but its most frequented stretch is just east of the Place de la République.
Its grittier pre-war past was immortalised in Hôtel du Nord, Marcel Carné's 1938 iconic film where artists, gangsters and prostitutes cross paths at the hotel, now a waterfront restaurant. More recently, its quaint footbridges were captured in the feel good Parisian film Amelie.
In the summer months, picnickers with baguettes, beer bottles and wine turn up in their thousands in search of a shady spot to while away a balmy evening without having to pay a fortune for the privilege of sitting in an upmarket Parisian terrace.
But its popularity has led to complaints that it has become a grimy open-air toilet.
Some appalled residents even launched a social media campaign to raise awareness over uncouth behaviour, posting a series of Instagram images depicting vomit-stained quays and smashed or empty beer bottles. In others, the canal’s ducks are hard-pushed to find a way past cigarette butts, crisp packets, beer cans and plastic bags.
Calls for people to take responsibility for the trash they leave behind have largely been ignored.
A few of the residents even tried pinning up notices on their doors beseeching people not to urinate on them. One notice read: "This door is the entrance to our building. Be nice and go and urinate elsewhere."
Célia Blauel, deputy mayor in charge of the environment and canals, called on Parisians to respect the canal once its makeover is complete.
“If everyone mucks in and avoids throwing anything in the water, we might be able to swim in the canal in a few years, as in numerous other European cities,” she told Le Parisien. ||||| The French capital’s Canal Saint-Martin is being dredged for the first time in 15 years – and the mysterious objects emerging from the sludge unmask the area’s secret life
Curious crowds had gathered on the arched footbridges that criss-cross Paris’s favourite hipster hang-out, the Canal Saint-Martin, craning to get a look at the oddities poking out of the mysterious brown sludge below.
“Bloody hell, it’s a giant dustbin,” said Marie, a local office-worker, taking photos of the mountains of old wine-bottles, scores of office chairs, bikes, rolled-up carpets, wheelie suitcases and street signs stranded in the muddy pit.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Scores of the city’s Vélib hire bikes are among the items littering the bottom of the canal. Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA
Paris’s picturesque Canal Saint-Martin, completed in 1825 but commenced on the orders of Napoleon, who wanted to reinforce the city’s drinking water supply, has in recent years become known as the favoured spot of Paris’s “Bobos” – bourgeois bohemians – wealthy, urban, young leftwingers who love to gather for summer evening aperitifs on the pavements along its banks. The canal is drained and cleaned once every 10–15 years, but when it happens, the bizarre items found at the bottom are one of the most curious and intriguing sights in the city, throwing up the mud-caked mysteries of Paris life.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest An old ghetto blaster awaits its rescue. Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA
On Monday, when workers began to slowly empty 90,000 cubic metres of water into the river Seine in a multimillion-euro cleaning operation that will last three months, they found one gun and police are poised for more. The last time the canal was drained, in 2001, the haul included two 75mm shells from the first world war, safes, gold coins, washing machines, at least one car and 40 tonnes of rubbish. In one earlier cleaning, 56 cars were fished out.
The full inventory is yet to be done – the fish have been evacuated and tractors will be brought in to drag away the vast number of items at the bottom. But the view from the bridges already reveals an extraordinary amount of debris that has been tipped into the canal in the past decade. There are scores of Paris’s Vélib hire bikes, lots of other bikes, myriad chairs of all descriptions, at least one motorbike, supermarket trolleys, shopping caddies, public dustbins, a fire-extinguisher, a children’s doll’s pushchair marooned in the middle of the canal, street signs, umbrellas and wheelie suitcases.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest One of the many scooters found in the canal. Photograph: Charles Platiau/Reuters
“It’s like some kind of weird submarine treasure,” said Marc, 45, a self-employed local resident. “I just can’t believe the quantity of Vélibs in there. I guess they were stolen and thrown in afterwards. It’s bizarre,” he shrugged.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A vintage camera sits on the bottom, amid hundreds of discarded mussel shells. Photograph: SIPA/Rex/Shutterstock
Paris city hall, apart from warning people to resist trying to climb in to look for lost possessions that might have dropped in in recent years, are using the exercise to warn against littering the canal.
Bernard, 54, a public-sector worker, who had also been on the bridge to witness the last dredging in 2001, was aghast at the mountains of mud-caked wine-bottles and cans. “That’s Paris for you, it’s filthy,” he sighed. “The last time, I don’t remember seeing so much rubbish in it. I despair. The Bobos are using it as a dustbin.” ||||| A woman inspecting the goods in the emptying canal. Photo: AFP
Bikes, scooters, shopping trolleys... and a gun? The mammoth cleaning job on the Canal Saint-Martin is turning up some interesting finds. See them here.
As you may have already noticed, the famed Canal Saint-Martin has almost been emptied.
It's part of a huge cleaning project, the like of which hasn't been seen for 14 years.
Engineers erected a small and unspectacular dam at the top of the canal by Place de la Bataille de Stalingrad on Monday, and around 90,000 cubic metres of water have since been emptied gradually into the River Seine.
If you want to know more about why and how they're doing it, click here.
The draining has already revealed several pieces of intrigue, including a handgun spotted by The Local on Monday afternoon (see pictures below). Police arrived soon after to take the weapon.
Further along the canal, curious Parisians are flocking to the bridges to see for themselves what the canal-bed is hiding.
Here's a closer look at what's turned up so far, including many a Velib' bicycle, several scooters, and thousands of empty wine bottles.
Story continues below… ||||| For the first time in fourteen years, Paris authorities on Monday began draining the Canal Saint-Martin, a popular waterway that attracts tourists and revellers in the French capital’s trendy northeastern 10th arrondissement.
The complex operation involves emptying the three-mile-long canal of 90,000 cubic metres of water – and moving more than four tonnes of fish to their new home in the River Seine – before workers can repair the locks and collect the inevitable piles of rubbish.
It will cost the city €9.5 million and turn the waterway into a dry ditch for three months.
“We do this, on average, every 12 to 14 years,” said Célia Blauel, who is in charge of the city’s waterways and environmental policies.
“It’s necessary to dredge the canal, repair its walls and renovate the locks,” she told FRANCE 24.
Napoleonic origins
The picturesque waterway was commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1804 to provide the capital with both goods and fresh water.
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It survived the decline in boat traffic after the two world wars and has since found a new raison d’être as a magnet for tourists, youths and families.
Most of the canal’s nine locks were modernised in 2008 and are now controlled remotely.
Joseph Tomasi, who has worked the locks for 25 years, said he missed the “good old days” when he was solely in charge.
“We knew all the people in the neighbourhood, some would even bring us croissants,” he told FRANCE 24. “We were at the heart of Parisian life.”
Tomasi still had plenty to do on Monday as he opened the first lock upstream, marking the start of the great canal clean-up.
“By the end of the day the canal will be all but empty, leaving a shallow pool of water to collect the fish,” said Julien Gaidot, who is in charge of draining operations.
A team of around a dozen fishermen will have three days to complete their catch, before the canal is fully emptied on Thursday.
Junked bikes, tubs and WWI shells
In all likelihood the workers will be catching a lot more than just fish. The downside of the canal’s increasing popularity is the surge in rubbish thrown into its murky waters.
The last clean-up in 2001 revealed some 40 tonnes of detritus, including bicycles, motorbikes, bathtubs and two 75mm shells dating from World War I.
This year the workers are expecting to find several of the city's popular Velib’ hire bikes as well as a mountain of beer cans and bottles.
“And I’m not even talking about the dead animals!” joked Tomasi, pointing at a huge rat the size of a cat racing across the lock.
Blauel, the environmental official, said the city ultimately planned to make the Villette basin upstream of the canal fit for swimming.
The basin, which connects the Canal Saint-Martin with the larger Canal de l’Ourcq, is currently banned to swimmers – although Parisians regularly brave the ban in the hot summer months.
But Tomasi has no plans to go for a dip. “Down there you can barely see 10 inches in front of you,” he said.
| – It has been 15 years since Paris last cleaned the Canal Saint-Martin—long enough for the bottom of the waterway to accumulate thousands of wine and beer bottles, dozens of bikes, and at least one gun. The scenic area along the canal has become what the Telegraph calls the French capital's "hipster epicenter," though residents complain that partyers have turned the canal commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte more than 200 years ago into a garbage dump. Ahead of this week's cleanup, authorities had to drain a major portion of the canal and evacuate what turned out to be tons of fish, reports the Local, which notes that Parisians have been amassing on bridges to see what kind of mud-covered treasures the canal yields. The last cleanup, in 2001, yielded unexploded shells from WWI, gold coins, and safes amid around 40 tons of trash, the Guardian reports. The current cleanup is still underway, but authorities have already found tons more trash, including signs, suitcases, carpets, and, for some reason, a huge number of chairs. Residents say there seems to be more trash than ever this time around, and they blame the increase on the hip young newcomers they have nicknamed "Bobos." "That's Paris for you, it's filthy," a 54-year-old man who was there for the last cleaning tells the Guardian. "The last time, I don't remember seeing so much rubbish in it. I despair. The Bobos are using it as a dustbin." (Speaking of Napoleon ... here's how a neurosurgeon contributed to his undoing.) | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Paris authorities have begun draining the Canal St-Martin , a waterway that has become the French capital’s hipster epicentre but which critics say has become an urban rubbish dump for uncouth revellers.
Napoleon Bonaparte commissioned the picturesque canal in 1804 to provide the capital with both goods and fresh water.
Today Parisian “bobos”, its cultured and moneyed trendsetters, are prepared to pay €10,000 (£7,300) per square metre for a place overlooking the canal’s famed iron footbridges, tree-lined cobbled towpaths and trendy bars and restaurants.
The drainage operation requires emptying a two kilometre-long stretch of 90,000 cubic metres of water to collect piles of rubbish and renovate its four double locks. It will cost the city €9.5 million and turn the waterway into a dry ditch for three months.
Workers began by allowing most of the water to escape via sluice filters while leaving 50cm to fish out an estimated 4.5 tons of trout, carp and bream hiding in its greenish depths. These are being transferred to another part not under renovation.
Photo: Reuters
Once all the water is drained on Thursday, workers will begin dredging the canal and removing myriad objects thrown in over the past 14 years.
The last time the waterway was drained in 2001, some 40 tons of rubbish was recovered. Among the objects were bicycles, motorbikes, two empty safes, gold coins, a pallet truck, two wheelchairs, a toilet bowl and two 75mm shells from the First World War.
A pistol has already been fished out in the first few hours of this year’s clean-up operation and has been handed to police.
Workers also expect to find quite a few of the city's popular Velib’ hire bikes as well as mountains of beer cans and bottles.
Cutting through northeast Paris, the Canal Saint Martin starts by the Place de la Bastille but its most frequented stretch is just east of the Place de la République.
Its grittier pre-war past was immortalised in Hôtel du Nord, Marcel Carné's 1938 iconic film where artists, gangsters and prostitutes cross paths at the hotel, now a waterfront restaurant. More recently, its quaint footbridges were captured in the feel good Parisian film Amelie.
In the summer months, picnickers with baguettes, beer bottles and wine turn up in their thousands in search of a shady spot to while away a balmy evening without having to pay a fortune for the privilege of sitting in an upmarket Parisian terrace.
But its popularity has led to complaints that it has become a grimy open-air toilet.
Some appalled residents even launched a social media campaign to raise awareness over uncouth behaviour, posting a series of Instagram images depicting vomit-stained quays and smashed or empty beer bottles. In others, the canal’s ducks are hard-pushed to find a way past cigarette butts, crisp packets, beer cans and plastic bags.
Calls for people to take responsibility for the trash they leave behind have largely been ignored.
A few of the residents even tried pinning up notices on their doors beseeching people not to urinate on them. One notice read: "This door is the entrance to our building. Be nice and go and urinate elsewhere."
Célia Blauel, deputy mayor in charge of the environment and canals, called on Parisians to respect the canal once its makeover is complete.
“If everyone mucks in and avoids throwing anything in the water, we might be able to swim in the canal in a few years, as in numerous other European cities,” she told Le Parisien. ||||| The French capital’s Canal Saint-Martin is being dredged for the first time in 15 years – and the mysterious objects emerging from the sludge unmask the area’s secret life
Curious crowds had gathered on the arched footbridges that criss-cross Paris’s favourite hipster hang-out, the Canal Saint-Martin, craning to get a look at the oddities poking out of the mysterious brown sludge below.
“Bloody hell, it’s a giant dustbin,” said Marie, a local office-worker, taking photos of the mountains of old wine-bottles, scores of office chairs, bikes, rolled-up carpets, wheelie suitcases and street signs stranded in the muddy pit.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Scores of the city’s Vélib hire bikes are among the items littering the bottom of the canal. Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA
Paris’s picturesque Canal Saint-Martin, completed in 1825 but commenced on the orders of Napoleon, who wanted to reinforce the city’s drinking water supply, has in recent years become known as the favoured spot of Paris’s “Bobos” – bourgeois bohemians – wealthy, urban, young leftwingers who love to gather for summer evening aperitifs on the pavements along its banks. The canal is drained and cleaned once every 10–15 years, but when it happens, the bizarre items found at the bottom are one of the most curious and intriguing sights in the city, throwing up the mud-caked mysteries of Paris life.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest An old ghetto blaster awaits its rescue. Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA
On Monday, when workers began to slowly empty 90,000 cubic metres of water into the river Seine in a multimillion-euro cleaning operation that will last three months, they found one gun and police are poised for more. The last time the canal was drained, in 2001, the haul included two 75mm shells from the first world war, safes, gold coins, washing machines, at least one car and 40 tonnes of rubbish. In one earlier cleaning, 56 cars were fished out.
The full inventory is yet to be done – the fish have been evacuated and tractors will be brought in to drag away the vast number of items at the bottom. But the view from the bridges already reveals an extraordinary amount of debris that has been tipped into the canal in the past decade. There are scores of Paris’s Vélib hire bikes, lots of other bikes, myriad chairs of all descriptions, at least one motorbike, supermarket trolleys, shopping caddies, public dustbins, a fire-extinguisher, a children’s doll’s pushchair marooned in the middle of the canal, street signs, umbrellas and wheelie suitcases.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest One of the many scooters found in the canal. Photograph: Charles Platiau/Reuters
“It’s like some kind of weird submarine treasure,” said Marc, 45, a self-employed local resident. “I just can’t believe the quantity of Vélibs in there. I guess they were stolen and thrown in afterwards. It’s bizarre,” he shrugged.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A vintage camera sits on the bottom, amid hundreds of discarded mussel shells. Photograph: SIPA/Rex/Shutterstock
Paris city hall, apart from warning people to resist trying to climb in to look for lost possessions that might have dropped in in recent years, are using the exercise to warn against littering the canal.
Bernard, 54, a public-sector worker, who had also been on the bridge to witness the last dredging in 2001, was aghast at the mountains of mud-caked wine-bottles and cans. “That’s Paris for you, it’s filthy,” he sighed. “The last time, I don’t remember seeing so much rubbish in it. I despair. The Bobos are using it as a dustbin.” ||||| A woman inspecting the goods in the emptying canal. Photo: AFP
Bikes, scooters, shopping trolleys... and a gun? The mammoth cleaning job on the Canal Saint-Martin is turning up some interesting finds. See them here.
As you may have already noticed, the famed Canal Saint-Martin has almost been emptied.
It's part of a huge cleaning project, the like of which hasn't been seen for 14 years.
Engineers erected a small and unspectacular dam at the top of the canal by Place de la Bataille de Stalingrad on Monday, and around 90,000 cubic metres of water have since been emptied gradually into the River Seine.
If you want to know more about why and how they're doing it, click here.
The draining has already revealed several pieces of intrigue, including a handgun spotted by The Local on Monday afternoon (see pictures below). Police arrived soon after to take the weapon.
Further along the canal, curious Parisians are flocking to the bridges to see for themselves what the canal-bed is hiding.
Here's a closer look at what's turned up so far, including many a Velib' bicycle, several scooters, and thousands of empty wine bottles.
Story continues below… ||||| For the first time in fourteen years, Paris authorities on Monday began draining the Canal Saint-Martin, a popular waterway that attracts tourists and revellers in the French capital’s trendy northeastern 10th arrondissement.
The complex operation involves emptying the three-mile-long canal of 90,000 cubic metres of water – and moving more than four tonnes of fish to their new home in the River Seine – before workers can repair the locks and collect the inevitable piles of rubbish.
It will cost the city €9.5 million and turn the waterway into a dry ditch for three months.
“We do this, on average, every 12 to 14 years,” said Célia Blauel, who is in charge of the city’s waterways and environmental policies.
“It’s necessary to dredge the canal, repair its walls and renovate the locks,” she told FRANCE 24.
Napoleonic origins
The picturesque waterway was commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1804 to provide the capital with both goods and fresh water.
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It survived the decline in boat traffic after the two world wars and has since found a new raison d’être as a magnet for tourists, youths and families.
Most of the canal’s nine locks were modernised in 2008 and are now controlled remotely.
Joseph Tomasi, who has worked the locks for 25 years, said he missed the “good old days” when he was solely in charge.
“We knew all the people in the neighbourhood, some would even bring us croissants,” he told FRANCE 24. “We were at the heart of Parisian life.”
Tomasi still had plenty to do on Monday as he opened the first lock upstream, marking the start of the great canal clean-up.
“By the end of the day the canal will be all but empty, leaving a shallow pool of water to collect the fish,” said Julien Gaidot, who is in charge of draining operations.
A team of around a dozen fishermen will have three days to complete their catch, before the canal is fully emptied on Thursday.
Junked bikes, tubs and WWI shells
In all likelihood the workers will be catching a lot more than just fish. The downside of the canal’s increasing popularity is the surge in rubbish thrown into its murky waters.
The last clean-up in 2001 revealed some 40 tonnes of detritus, including bicycles, motorbikes, bathtubs and two 75mm shells dating from World War I.
This year the workers are expecting to find several of the city's popular Velib’ hire bikes as well as a mountain of beer cans and bottles.
“And I’m not even talking about the dead animals!” joked Tomasi, pointing at a huge rat the size of a cat racing across the lock.
Blauel, the environmental official, said the city ultimately planned to make the Villette basin upstream of the canal fit for swimming.
The basin, which connects the Canal Saint-Martin with the larger Canal de l’Ourcq, is currently banned to swimmers – although Parisians regularly brave the ban in the hot summer months.
But Tomasi has no plans to go for a dip. “Down there you can barely see 10 inches in front of you,” he said.
| According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 44,441 |
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reaped a gain of nearly $2.3 billion last year when he exercised 60 million stock options just before the online social networking leader's initial public offering.
The windfall detailed in regulatory documents filed Friday saddled Zuckerberg, 28, with a massive tax bill. He raised the money to pay it by selling 30.2 million Facebook Inc. shares for $38 apiece, or $1.1 billion, in the IPO.
Facebook's stock hasn't closed above $38 since the IPO was completed last May. The shares gained 71 cents Friday to close at $26.85.
The 29 percent decline from Facebook's IPO price has cost Zuckerberg nearly $7 billion on paper, based on the 609.5 million shares of company stock that he owned as of March 31, according to the regulatory filing. His current stake is still worth $16.4 billion.
Zuckerberg, who started Facebook in his Harvard University dorm room in 2004, has indicated he has no immediate plans to sell more stock.
The exercise of Zuckerberg's stock options and his subsequent sale of shares in the IPO had been previously disclosed. The proxy statement filed to announce Facebook's June 11 shareholder meeting is the first time that the magnitude of Zuckerberg's stock option gain had been quantified.
The proxy also revealed that Zuckerberg's pay package last year rose 16 percent because of increased personal usage of jets chartered by the company as part of his security program.
Zuckerberg's compensation last year totaled nearly $2 million, up from $1.7 million last year. Of those amounts, $1.2 million covered the costs of Zuckerberg's personal air travel last year, up from $692,679 in 2011.
If not for the spike in travel costs, Zuckerberg's pay would have declined by 17 percent. His salary and bonus totaled $769,306 last year versus $928,833 in 2011.
Zuckerberg will take a big pay cut this year. His annual salary has been reduced to $1 and he will no longer receive a bonus, according to Facebook's filing. That puts Zuckerberg's current cash compensation on the same level as Google CEO and co-founder Larry Page, whose stake in his company is worth about $20 billion.
The Associated Press formula for determining an executive's total compensation calculates salary, bonuses, perquisites, above-market interest that the company pays on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock and stock options awarded during the year. The AP formula does not count changes in the present value of pension benefits or stock option gains such as those recognized by Zuckerberg did last year. ||||| It was 2005. Mark Zuckerberg had started what eventually became Facebook while attending Harvard, and a year later took up 60 million share options at 6 cents each.
Last year the 28-year-old Facebook CEO, exercised his options - for a gain of nearly $2.3 billion, the company said in a late Friday proxy filing with the US Securities & Exchange Commission.
Facebook 's Initial Public Offering last May was at $38 a share. It went to $45 but fell to $17.55 within weeks. Friday's close: $26.85.
Zuckerberg also received $503,000 in salary last year, a $266,000 bonus, plus perks valued at $1.2 million, mostly for personal use of company aircraft.
Zuckerberg's scooped up another 60 million shares when he took the social network public last year . According to CNN, the tax bill for that will be more than $1 billion. Zuckerberg should have "no trouble clearing his tax bill," says USA Today. According to Forbes' billionaires list, he's worth $13.3 billion. | – Mark Zuckerberg has joined another exclusive club: that of tech CEOs so fabulously wealthy they can afford to take a $1 salary. A Facebook filing yesterday said Zuckerberg will make that amount this year and forgo any bonuses, reports Quartz. The real pay, of course, comes in the form of stock options, and yesterday's filing quantified for the first time how much Zuckerberg made by exercising some of his before last year's IPO: $2.3 billion, reports AP. Zuckerberg exercised 60 million options at the time, but then sold half of that stock to cover the resulting $1 billion tax bill. Zuckerberg made a base salary of about $500,000 last year and got another $266,000 in bonuses. His zipping around on company planes cost another $1.2 million or so. Facebook shares, incidentally, have yet to close above the $38 IPO price, finishing yesterday at $26.85. But that's still a lot better than the price of 6 cents that Zuckerberg paid less than a decade ago, notes the Drum. | null | You are a helpful assistant named xDAN-Agent,excellent in reading and summary. Heres the context you need to read and summary.Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reaped a gain of nearly $2.3 billion last year when he exercised 60 million stock options just before the online social networking leader's initial public offering.
The windfall detailed in regulatory documents filed Friday saddled Zuckerberg, 28, with a massive tax bill. He raised the money to pay it by selling 30.2 million Facebook Inc. shares for $38 apiece, or $1.1 billion, in the IPO.
Facebook's stock hasn't closed above $38 since the IPO was completed last May. The shares gained 71 cents Friday to close at $26.85.
The 29 percent decline from Facebook's IPO price has cost Zuckerberg nearly $7 billion on paper, based on the 609.5 million shares of company stock that he owned as of March 31, according to the regulatory filing. His current stake is still worth $16.4 billion.
Zuckerberg, who started Facebook in his Harvard University dorm room in 2004, has indicated he has no immediate plans to sell more stock.
The exercise of Zuckerberg's stock options and his subsequent sale of shares in the IPO had been previously disclosed. The proxy statement filed to announce Facebook's June 11 shareholder meeting is the first time that the magnitude of Zuckerberg's stock option gain had been quantified.
The proxy also revealed that Zuckerberg's pay package last year rose 16 percent because of increased personal usage of jets chartered by the company as part of his security program.
Zuckerberg's compensation last year totaled nearly $2 million, up from $1.7 million last year. Of those amounts, $1.2 million covered the costs of Zuckerberg's personal air travel last year, up from $692,679 in 2011.
If not for the spike in travel costs, Zuckerberg's pay would have declined by 17 percent. His salary and bonus totaled $769,306 last year versus $928,833 in 2011.
Zuckerberg will take a big pay cut this year. His annual salary has been reduced to $1 and he will no longer receive a bonus, according to Facebook's filing. That puts Zuckerberg's current cash compensation on the same level as Google CEO and co-founder Larry Page, whose stake in his company is worth about $20 billion.
The Associated Press formula for determining an executive's total compensation calculates salary, bonuses, perquisites, above-market interest that the company pays on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock and stock options awarded during the year. The AP formula does not count changes in the present value of pension benefits or stock option gains such as those recognized by Zuckerberg did last year. ||||| It was 2005. Mark Zuckerberg had started what eventually became Facebook while attending Harvard, and a year later took up 60 million share options at 6 cents each.
Last year the 28-year-old Facebook CEO, exercised his options - for a gain of nearly $2.3 billion, the company said in a late Friday proxy filing with the US Securities & Exchange Commission.
Facebook 's Initial Public Offering last May was at $38 a share. It went to $45 but fell to $17.55 within weeks. Friday's close: $26.85.
Zuckerberg also received $503,000 in salary last year, a $266,000 bonus, plus perks valued at $1.2 million, mostly for personal use of company aircraft.
Zuckerberg's scooped up another 60 million shares when he took the social network public last year . According to CNN, the tax bill for that will be more than $1 billion. Zuckerberg should have "no trouble clearing his tax bill," says USA Today. According to Forbes' billionaires list, he's worth $13.3 billion. | According to the context, please answer with the summary and highlights. | 33,744 |
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