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James Charles, a 17-year-old New York-based makeup artist, might want to rethink the word “aspiring” in his Instagram bio.
He’s the first ever male CoverGirl, an honor revealed Tuesday on Katy Perry’s Instagram.
Just wrapped another great @COVERGIRL shoot. Honored to have the pleasure to announce the very first COVERBOY, James Charles! Follow him @JCharlesBeauty! #COVERGIRLJames #glam❗️ A photo posted by KATY PERRY (@katyperry) on Oct 10, 2016 at 10:52pm PDT
“Just wrapped another great @CoverGirl shoot. Honored to have the pleasure to announce the very first COVERBOY, James Charles! Follow him @JCharlesBeauty!” she captioned a photo of the two of them.
James Charles, who only started trying makeup a year ago, will appear in campaigns for CoverGirl’s newest mascara, “So Lashy.” The brand explained in a press release that its newest launch is designed to work on all lash types, and shared why he’s the perfect person to front the campaign.
CoverGirl Those brows, though?
“All of our CoverGirls are role models and boundary-breakers, fearlessly expressing themselves, standing up for what they believe, and redefining what it means to be beautiful,” read the statement. “James Charles is no exception. One year ago, he boldly chose to launch his Instagram to the world, using transformative, dynamic makeup looks to showcase the many facets of his personality, serving as an inspiration to anyone who might have been afraid to do the same.”
James Charles has racked up over 400,000 followers in just one year of posting, thanks to masterful skills and an extensive array of looks, ranging from wild...
... to just plain stunning.
Oh, and did we mention this kid’s got personality? Take these epic senior photos as proof.
I mean are we really that surprised? 😂😂 Shoutout to Carlyn Studios for dealing with my extra ass 💀😂 A photo posted by JAMES CHARLES (@jcharlesbeauty) on Sep 5, 2016 at 3:08pm PDT ||||| The "aspiring makeup artist", according to his Instagram account bio, should really change it to "inspiring". At only 17 years old, James Charles has risen in popularity thanks to his Instagram account, which already has more than 431,000 followers after only one year. His account showcases makeup styles including pixellated lips and his signature bold galaxy look.
No wonder that his unique and daring style got him Katy Perry's full support. The face of CoverGirl and outspoken pop star announced on her Instagram page that the beauty brand has named its first ever male CoverGirl. "Just wrapped another great @CoverGirl shoot. Honored to have the pleasure to announce the very first COVERBOY, James Charles! Follow him @JCharlesBeauty!" she captioned the picture of the both of them.
CoverGirl published its own statement and explained why James Charles is the perfect fit for their campaign. ||||| Katy Perry is all about breaking conventional beauty rules, from her love of everything technicolor and coated in glitter, to her no-brows, black lipstick Met Gala look. So, of course, the pop star — and face of CoverGirl — was the perfect person to help announce that the beauty brand has named its first-ever male CoverGirl, social media star James Charles.
According to a press release from the brand, all CoverGirls “are role models and boundary-breakers, fearlessly expressing themselves, standing up for what they believe, and redefining what it means to be beautiful,” and who better to embody that ethos than Instagram sensation James Charles. After launching his beauty account a year ago, the teen has since quickly attracted hundreds of thousands of followers (427,000 to be exact) thanks to his unique, transformative approach to makeup artistry.
RELATED PHOTOS: Katy Perry’s Most Outrageous Twitpics
While Charles’ partnership with the brand kicks off today, we’ll have to wait until later this month to see him debut the brand’s new mascara designed to work on all lash types, CoverGirl So Lashy! by blastPRO Mascara. His first launch will include TV, print and digital components and he will continue to promote the brand and generally slay for the rest of 2017.
What do you think of the first male CoverGirl? Sound off below! ||||| If you happen to land on James Charles's Instagram feed, you'll immediately note that the talented teen has perfected the art of the dramatic lash, otherworldly highlight, artistic eye, and more. In fact, you may remember that his strobing skills are so good, they even got a shout-out from Zendaya one time. And it looks like a certain brand has just taken note of James's major beauty moves, and decided to bring them to an even broader audience in the coolest way. Today, we found out that Covergirl Cosmetics is naming the Instagram superstar their first male spokesperson, and we are so here for it.
As the beauty community has grown over time, we've noted boy beauty gurus like Manny Gutierrez and Patrick Starr taking to social media to share their skills and breaking down gender boundaries at the same time. We're firm believers that anyone on the gender spectrum should be able to share their passion for makeup without facing outdated stereotypes and negative judgement, and we couldn't be happier to see Covergirl and James take an amazing step forward. As the brand noted, they've always chosen to partner with "role models and boundary-breakers, fearlessly expressing themselves, standing up for what they believe, and redefining what it means to be beautiful." We think the glam guru totally embodies that description, and it sounds like Covergirl agrees, citing him as "as an inspiration to anyone who might have been afraid to do the same." We're feeling inspired by this announcement for sure, and we can't wait to see what this cool collab brings. We'll be watching!
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8 Makeup Tutorials By Boys That Will Blow Your Mind
The Brave Reason Manny Gutierrez Gave Up Medical School for a Beauty Career
Here's Why Patrick Starr Uses TWO Mirrors to Get Glam ||||| Jessica Alba’s parking spot at the Honest Company, the four-year-old consumer-products start-up in Santa Monica, California, that wowed the tech community with a $1.7 billion valuation this summer, has a bright-green sign bearing her name. Before founding Honest, Alba was best known as the actress in roles such as a hip-hop choreographer with a heart of gold in 2003’s Honey and a strong-willed stripper in Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City franchise. I arrive for a tour at 3:32 P.M., and what transpires in the next 26 minutes is either a peek into Alba’s career as one of the tech world’s savviest businesswomen or the greatest performance of her acting career. Alba’s cobalt-steel desk is part of an open-plan office that houses some of Honest’s almost 500 employees, all of whom have smiles on their faces and most of whom look to be in their 20s. “We hire a lot of people right out of college,” says Alba, whose current age, 34, makes her older than the office average. Next to Alba’s computer are towers of diapers featuring adorable cartoons. “It’s ‘the Paris collection,’ so we’re looking at French flags, the Eiffel Tower, a French bulldog that says ‘Le Woof.’ ” Alba approves the diapers but flags the tower’s salmon-colored packaging because the hue may skew too feminine for parents of boys. Behind her are new logo samples, each one a different shade of peach, but she’ll go through those later. She shows me a cozy, dimly lit room with scented candles where new mothers can pump their breast milk in private. And, in the hall, she overhears a conversation about a gifting suite the company may host at New York Fashion Week. She had hoped to create an editors’ lounge for makeup touch-ups and 15-minute massages but wonders if the $25,000 expense justifies the reach. (A single post viewed by her more than six million Instagram followers makes more of an impact.) “Where’s the music up in here? Where’s RiRi and ‘Yonce?,” Alba shouts when we’re in the on-site photography studio. A mixed-race model with millions of adorable freckles is being photographed for a skin-care package and blushes when Alba gushes about her “modern beauty.” Alba suddenly checks the time and rushes the end of our tour, which includes the showroom, where new products are merchandised; the art department, where packaging is developed; the customer-service department, where employees answer up to 3,500 calls and e-mails per day. And then, at exactly 3:58 P.M., Alba spins and says, “I’m sorry, but my four P.M. appointment is here.”
Director James Cameron, self-described god of the movie industry, gave Alba her big break in 1998 when he cast her as the lead in the short-lived TV series Dark Angel. He isn’t shocked by Honest’s success: “If you went back to the day I met Jessica and told me, ‘This girl is going to build a billion-dollar company,’ I would’ve said, ‘I believe it.’ ” Cameron’s production company auditioned more than 1,000 actresses for the part before he discovered her. Something about her glamorous sour puss made him press Pause. “She was slumped over with her hair in her face and a look of defiance. But when the camera hit her—wham!—there was such punk attitude.” (Alba admits she was a broody teenager—she has no Jell-O commercials in her credits.) Dark Angel was set in the future (at the time, 2009 was the future), and her character, Max Guevera—a government-created, genetically enhanced super-soldier who escapes from a secret lab—presented Alba with more than a threat of stardom. “This was a $125 million production, and we were resting it on the shoulders of a teenager,” Cameron remembers. “She totally stepped up to the plate and didn’t fall or falter.” Alba worked 86-hour weeks in Vancouver, did many of her own stunts, and, Cameron adds, “never backed down from a fight. Early on, she had real integrity.” Alba’s father, Mark, was in the U.S. Air Force and moved the family to Biloxi, Mississippi, and Del Rio, Texas, before settling in Southern California’s Inland Empire, where he started a real-estate company. Of her mother, Cathy, Alba says with pride, “There was nothing [she] didn’t do. She was the manager of a movie theater; she went to cosmetology school; she was a bartender, waitress, and then my manager.” Cathy began working at Honest last year and trains retail partners as a senior brand educator. When Alba turned 11, most of her family—brother, four cousins, aunt, aunt’s sister, aunt’s sister’s boyfriend, and her mother—attended an open casting call at the Beverly Hills Studio. Thousands applied, but it was Jessica who received a year’s worth of acting classes, which she condensed into a summer so she wouldn’t miss school. Alba’s childhood was marked by two things: illnesses—many of which she can now identify as asthma and allergy-related—that landed her in the hospital often, and a burning desire to leave a mark on the world, which at the age of 12 meant becoming a devout born-again Christian. “I was seeking a purpose,” Alba says of her years as a member of a conservative Christian youth group. “I wanted to exist for a reason.” This lasted until she was 17, when, she says, she was turned off by the boundaries and labels set by fellow churchgoers. That year, she attended an acting workshop in Vermont and “fell crazy in love with a cross-dressing ballet dancer who had a baby and was bisexual. I was like, ‘There’s just no way he’s going to hell!’ ” Acting opened her to a new world of creative people and a community where she belonged. “I felt like, at the end of the day, God is love and everyone is human.” Photograph by Carter Smith. Returning to California, Alba made a pact with herself: “If I wasn’t going to get a big job by the time I was 18, I was going back to school.” According to plan, she was cast in Dark Angel in 1998, and she set out to approach her career “like my own Hollywood business.” She sought tentpole franchises, such as the Sin City films, 2004’s superhero thriller Fantastic Four, and her role as a crazy/flirty pharmaceutical rep in 2010’s Little Fockers. She gave her publicist a dictum that for every placement in a men’s magazine (such as one of *Maxim’*s hottest women) she wanted coverage in three women’s magazines. “People doubted me as an actress, and that’s something that drove me. I was not going to be pegged as an action-comic-book fangirl.” Hollywood wouldn’t be the only industry that underestimated Alba. The Honest Company’s origins are now tech-world legend. When Alba was pregnant with her first daughter, Honor, now seven—husband and father is Cash Warren, a Yale graduate and a producer and tech investor—her friends threw a baby shower and she received a closetful of new baby clothes. When she washed her unborn baby’s onesies with a detergent her mother had recommended and broke out in hives, she was hysterical. “I was thinking, what if my baby has a reaction and I don’t know? What if her throat is closing? I had all this fear and anxiety because I was always so sick as a child.” That night she Googled every ingredient and discovered that some toxins can be labeled as “fragrance.” Her mission was clear: “I wanted safe and effective consumer products that were beautifully designed, accessibly priced, and easy to get.” Great idea, but how to implement it? Alba hired author Christopher Gavigan (husband of actress Jessica Capshaw)—whose book, Healthy Child Healthy World, addresses the numerous toxins that children are exposed to in typical household products on a daily basis—to consult on Love & Honor, the original name of her company. At the same time, she began her research: she discovered that in the U.S. the F.D.A. has banned fewer than a dozen harmful chemicals, whereas in Europe more than 1,300 chemicals are deemed unsafe for household products. In 2011 she appeared on Capitol Hill to ask members of Congress to co-sponsor the Safe Chemicals Act.
By the time Alba had a second daughter, Haven, in 2011, her company was still not off the ground. Her husband introduced her to his childhood pal Brian Lee, a start-up entrepreneur who co-founded LegalZoom.com (which was sold to Permira, an investment firm, for $200 million in 2014). He passed on her idea. Two other potential investor deals fell through as well, but Alba was undeterred. “Actresses are used to rejection,” she explains. Eighteen months later Lee had a baby of his own, and when his wife started manically researching their household cleaners he saw a need in the marketplace. By then Alba had refined her concept and changed the company name to Honest. “In the time between the first and second meeting, my wife had changed our whole life. Jessica’s goal to make safer products for the family resonated with me.” Finally convinced, Lee brought on Sean Kane from PriceGrabber.com to be the president and co-founder, and, with Alba and Gavigan, Honest’s own Fantastic Four was formed. “We are a mission business,” Lee says. “Our mission is to make safer homes for everyone.” In 2012, the company’s first year, sales reached $10 million. It launched with only 17 products, in the diapers-and-wipes category, all of which were delivered to subscribers’ homes on a monthly basis, or à la carte. “Running out of diapers? That’s a parent’s nightmare,” Alba says. This year, with more than 135 products (toothpaste, nipple balm, vitamins, detergent, etc.) sold both online and in 4,400 retail stores, plus the fall launch of HonestBeauty.com, sales passed $150 million. The company weathered its first crisis, in September. It was accused in a class-action suit of selling an ineffective new product, a sunblock. “We learned we need to get in front of our product with education,” says Alba, and adds that Honest will organize a safe-sun tutorial next year. Last year’s Series D financing round raised $100 million, certifying Honest as a “start-up unicorn,” the term the tech industry applies to companies that reach a $1 billion valuation in less than five years. (Honest did it with two years to spare.) The company launched in Korea in 2015 and is planning to move into a number of international markets. Honest’s success has given Alba a platform that her work in movies didn’t. Of her first trip down the Academy Awards red carpet, in 2006, she remembers thinking, “If I talk to anyone for too long they’re going to know I don’t belong here.” Now she’s not so worried. “I stopped caring about people liking me so much.” When I ask how she splits her time between being a successful businesswoman and a good parent, she shoots back, “Let me ask you something: how many men get asked that question?” | – If a woman can be president, who's to say a man can't be a CoverGirl. On Tuesday, the makeup company's current spokesperson, Katy Perry, announced James Charles as the first ever "CoverBoy" on her Instagram page. Charles, a 17-year-old "aspiring makeup artist," started using makeup only a year ago but has already amassed more than 430,000 followers on Instagram, the Huffington Post reports. According to People, Charles will appear in TV, print, and digital ads for "So Lashy" mascara later this month and will work with CoverGirl through 2017. "I am so thankful and excited," Charles posted on Instagram. "And yes I know I have lipstick on my teeth. It was a looonnnnggg day." CoverGirl says it wants to work with "role models and boundary-breakers, fearlessly expressing themselves, standing up for what they believe, and redefining what it means to be beautiful," Teen Vogue reports. The company calls Charles an inspiration. Teen Vogue is definitely on board, stating: "We're firm believers that anyone on the gender spectrum should be able to share their passion for makeup without facing outdated stereotypes and negative judgement." E! Online puts it more succinctly: "Work, boy, work!" (This woman did her makeup to distract herself from a 10-hour labor.) |
PONTIAC, MI -- The mystery of what happened to Pia Farrenkopf may never be entirely solved, but one piece of the puzzle fell into place this week.
The Oakland County Medical Examiner's Office says it's received confirmation that the remains are the woman, who, estranged from family and friends, appears to have died in the back seat of her Jeep inside the garage of the Pontiac home she owned in early-2009.
Due to the body's state of decomposition, which authorities described as "mummified," a cause and manner of death has not been established.
She was discovered on March 5 when a contractor for the bank holding the mortgage on her foreclosed home visited to patch a hole in the roof after neighbors complained squirrels were gaining access.
Farrenkopf would have been 49 on the day her body was discovered.
Oakland County sheriff's officials said the house seemed undisturbed and was covered floor to ceiling in black mold.
Farrenkopf had many of her bills set to be paid automatically from her bank account. Police say a balance of nearly $54,000 slowly dwindled to nothing by March of 2013.
Relatives of the woman, who had nine sisters and was raised in South Boston, said they tried to reach her over the years by phone but were unable.
Farrenkopf lived alone, but at some point had a white toy poodle named "Baby" and a cat named "Bungee." Oakland County sheriff's officials said there was no sign of the animals when the body was discovered.
Until September of 2008 she worked in IT for Alltel, a financial software company that contracted with now-defunct Chrysler financial, according to friend and co-worker Brian Hicks, 38, of Utah.
She also operated a fitness center called Slender Lady of Waterford, which closed in 2005 after Farrenkopf was sued and her income garnished for not making rent payments that accrued to $101,441.
The Oakland County Medical Examiner's Office says the remains have been released to Farrenkopf's relatives.
"We have spent the day making arrangements and getting all paperwork filled out so that we may finally bring Pia home," Farrenkopf's niece wrote in a Facebook post Tuesday. "This has brought some closure for our family, knowing we may finally lay Pia to rest.
"We may never know what happened to Pia and of course that is something no family ever wants to hear or accept but, we will never stop fighting to find answers and get justice for my aunt." ||||| PONTIAC, MI -- A Facebook page named "Mummified in Michigan" was created by a user claiming to be the niece and godchild of Pia Farrenkopf, a 49-year-old woman who vanished around 2008 and investigators believe may have died in the back seat of her Jeep SUV where she remained until last week.
The Facebook page, if authentic, reveals more detail about Farrenkopf's life.
It appears no has entered Farrenkopf's home for a very long time until last Wednesday when a contractor for the bank foreclosing on her home visited the address to fix a hole in the roof through which squirrels were entering.
Due to the body's decomposition, The Oakland County Medical examiner is relying on DNA samples from the body and Farrenkopf's sister to attempt and verify the identity.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard says detectives are also attempting to find dental records so they might ID the body.
The mystery remains: Why did it take years for someone to realize Farrenkopf had vanished.
Neighbors remember seeing Farrenkopf in the neighborhood walking her small, white toy dog, but said she kept to herself. According to multiple neighbors, it was believed she'd gone to Germany several years ago. Farrenkopf's neighbor mowed her lawn when it got too long and Farrenkopf's cable, mortgage, electric, phone and gas bills were automatically paid throughher bank account. Bouchard said the funds dried up in March of 2013.
She worked for a financial company contracted to now-defunct Chrysler Financial, which she left in September of 2008. The last known contact with Farrenkopf was in October of 2008 when Bocuhard said she was pulled over for driving with expired license plates.
There was no suicide note. The key to Farrenkopf's Jeep was only halfway in the ignition and it was not engaged. She had so signs of trauma to her body, the medical examiner said.
"We believe this was murder and we want answers," the Facebook page says.
Investigators are treating the death as a homicide.
The Facebook page says Farrenkopf, who is of Belgian-Irish decent, moved to Michigan from south Boston.
"She was well loved by all of her family and though we lost contact that was due to the amount of traveling she had to do for work and the fact that she liked her privacy," the page says. "When her mother and sister passed we tried desperately to contact her and let her know but the phone would just ring and ring.
"Little did we know she was lying dead in her jeep in her own garage, with multiple people entering and exiting the vehicle and property due to foreclosure process."
Farrenkopf had nine siblings and more than 30 nephews and nieces, according to the page, and is the daughter of Marie Farrenkopf Carroll, who is now dead.
"How does someone enter the vehicle of a dead woman and not know it?," questions the 'Mummified in Michigan' creator. "She was a happy, healthy, energetic, intelligent woman with plenty to live for.
"One of the saddest facts of this story is the fact that the newspaper contacted us before the authorities, and even then we were the ones to contact the authorities." ||||| Sometime before she is believed to have died, Pia Farrenkopf asked her mail carrier in Pontiac not to drop mail off at the home, saying she often traveled for work and did most of her correspondence online.
“There was a long-standing agreement with her carrier that her mail should be returned,” said Ed Moore, spokesman for the Detroit district of the U.S. Postal Service.
With no mail stacking up at Farrenkopf’s home on Savanna Drive where she lived alone, a neighbor mowing the lawn, bills automatically being paid from a bank account and neighbors thinking she moved or was traveling, there was nothing to raise suspicions that the garage of the ranch house for years held a secret — mummified remains, believed to be Farrenkopf.
“All these things kind of led to the perfect storm of no one saying, ‘What’s going on there?’ ” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.
And Monday, a new mystery emerged about the woman thought to have died in 2008.
■ Related: Mummified body discovered in garage of foreclosed Pontiac house
■ Related: New details on woman found dead in Pontiac garage
Voting records in Oakland County show Farrenkopf, who has not been positively identified by the Medical Examiner’s Office, is shown as voting in the November 2010 gubernatorial election.
Pontiac city records indicate Farrenkopf registered to vote in 2006 and had not voted until 2010, but officials point out that could have been an administrative error and she may not have actually cast a vote.
The city clerk, who was not in that job in 2010, said infrequent voters tend to vote in presidential elections, like 2008, over gubernatorial elections like the one in 2010.
“Everything to date points toward late 2008,” Bouchard said of the woman’s death. “This information, obviously, has to be run to its logical conclusion.”
The Sheriff’s Office has not released the name of the person who lived in the home. But records show the house was owned by Farrenkopf.
Investigators are trying to find dental records that can be used to identify the body discovered Wednesday in the backseat of a Jeep parked in the attached garage.
The body was found by a contractor sent by the bank after her home went into foreclosure when $54,000 in her bank account ran out.
There was no trauma to her body, according to an autopsy, and no note left behind, but it’s still too early to say how she died, officials said.
Investigators are continuing to try to piece together what happened and when.
They know Farrenkopf, who would be 49, last worked at a contracted job in September 2008 and got a traffic ticket for no proof of insurance Oct. 15, 2008, in Pontiac.
They also have talked to engineers to see whether any clues or data can be obtained from the Jeep, which still had gas in the tank.
“The key was in the ignition. The ignition was not on,” Bouchard said. “The key was partially out.”
Farrenkopf has family on the East Coast, but she and the sister investigators have been communicating with weren’t close.
State records show that Farrenkopf had lived at the home since 1999. Her Michigan driver’s license was issued in July of that year. | – Pia Farrenkopf had a poodle named Baby and a cat named Bungee, had traveled the world, and—though estranged from family and friends—was described as kind and private. And now, DNA has positively identified Farrenkopf as the mummified body found in the backseat of her Jeep in March. “This has brought some closure for our family, knowing we may finally lay Pia to rest,” says a message posted to Facebook on July 15. However, officials still don’t know how Farrenkopf died, MLive.com reports—her badly decomposed body was missing the heart, liver, and lungs, which are usually used to determine cause of death, and mummified muscle didn’t yield any results in a toxicology test, the Oakland County Deputy Medical Examiner explains to the Detroit Free Press. “The possibility of hypothermia or any drug or chemical intoxication cannot be ruled out,” he says. Though the death was treated initially as a homicide, investigators have found no evidence that the Pontiac, Michigan, woman—who would have turned 50 this year—was murdered, the Times Herald adds. Her assumed time of death has been pinned down, however, by subpoenaing bank, health, and phone records, which indicate she died in early 2009. Reuters reports that investigators also found out Farrenkopf was seen alive in early 2009. She’d stopped working in 2008 and, following her death, her bills were paid automatically; the money ran out last year, eventually leading to her discovery. |
NECCO-Mania: Fans Stock Up On Chalky Wafers In Case Candy Company Folds
Enlarge this image toggle caption Dina Rudick/Boston Globe via Getty Images Dina Rudick/Boston Globe via Getty Images
NECCO wafers are a polarizing candy. Some online haters have compared the brittle sugar disks to chalk, or antacid tablets. But now, the company that makes them could soon close shop — and that's brought out some of the candies' very loyal fans.
At Sugar Heaven in Somerville, Mass., David Sapers points out that there is a lot more NECCO on his shelves than just those controversial wafers. NECCO buttons and NECCO Sky Bars share shelf space with the classic wafers at his store.
"Also NECCO makes things like Squirrel Nut Zippers, Mary Janes, Slap Stix. And obviously during Valentine's they're big with their ... conversation hearts," he says.
NECCO is an acronym for the New England Confectionery Co., which is in financial trouble. If its leaders can't find a buyer by early May, the company says it will have to shut down, laying off hundreds of workers at its factory in Revere, Mass. The company didn't respond to requests for an interview. But at Sugar Heaven, Sapers is getting ready.
"I just ordered 10 cases of [NECCO's products] yesterday, which were delivered on Thursday. So I did that because first of all, they don't go bad. They're going to last for a while, and just in case something happens, we have it."
Customers Inge Nakel and Michelle Scannell buy some candy, including a roll of NECCO wafers. The classic roll has an incongruous mix of flavors, including orange, licorice and clove.
"I love the chocolate ones," says Nakel.
"You can buy a whole roll of chocolate. That's the best thing in the entire world," Scannell says.
"You know what's best, is their conversation hearts," says Nakel. Scannell agrees.
Those candy hearts with little amorous messages on them are a Valentine's Day staple, and Sapers says Sugar Heaven will buy up as many as it can if it looks like NECCO won't survive. And he is not the only one stocking up.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Craig LeMoult Craig LeMoult
"Today alone we probably sold 30 cases. We're selling a lot," says Jon Prince, who runs the online retailer Candyfavorites.com. He says sales of NECCO wafers have spiked. One caller wanted to buy his whole inventory, but he is limiting the size of each sale. "And the person actually started to cry and they said they couldn't imagine a world without their NECCO wafers," he says.
NECCO traces its roots back to 1847, when the Chase brothers started making candy. It wasn't until a merger in 1901 that the firm officially became the New England Confectionary Co.
The famous wafers are memorialized by a small sculpture in a park in Cambridge, Mass., near where the company's factory once stood. The metal sculpture depicts a paper bag, with NECCO wafers spilling out of it.
Kelly Haugh, who works in the building next to the sculpture, is a huge fan of the candy.
"My mother-in-law, like, probably three years ago, found out that I was obsessed with NECCO wafers and started just buying them for me," Haugh says.
Every Christmas, her stocking is full of them. "So I think I liked them a whole lot more when I didn't have a cabinet full of them. But now I'm glad I have my stash," Haugh says.
She realizes not everyone is a fan. Its flavor and texture can be pretty controversial. "They're definitely not a normal thing for people to love. It's like people say they're chalky or whatever," Haugh says.
But standing near the statue, Joey Barbosa tried them for the first time and had a more positive reaction.
"Mmmm. They're very good. Crunchy, tasty. Pretty much it," he says.
Another NECCO fan, Spencer Ordway, is hoarding wafers, but not because of their tasty crunch. He runs a sleepaway camp in Maine, and for more than 70 years, at an end-of-summer carnival, campers have used NECCO wafers as a currency to play games and buy prizes.
"I had so many alumni and current staff contacting me today saying, 'What are we going to do? How can we save enough NECCO wafers to, uh, cover us for years to come?' " Ordway says.
So he went online and bought enough to keep the carnival funded for the next few years. And he says the camp's stash is safe, since he is not likely to be raiding it anytime soon. "I mean, it is really like chewing on chalk."
Even so, he is still hoping the company can pull through somehow, so NECCO wafers — and the company's other candies — will be available for generations to come. ||||| FILE - In this Oct. 14, 2009 file photo, Necco Wafers are displayed in Boston. The owner of a company that makes candies such as Necco wafers and Sweethearts has unexpectedly shut down operations at its... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this Oct. 14, 2009 file photo, Necco Wafers are displayed in Boston. The owner of a company that makes candies such as Necco wafers and Sweethearts has unexpectedly shut down operations at its Massachusetts plant. The Boston Globe reported Round Hill Investments LLC announced Tuesday, July... (Associated Press)
REVERE, Mass. (AP) — The owner of the company behind chalky, colorful confections such as Necco Wafers and Sweethearts has unexpectedly shut down operations at its Massachusetts plant and hasn't said if candy production will resume.
The Boston Globe reports Round Hill Investments LLC announced Tuesday it is selling Necco brands to another manufacturer and closing down its Revere plant.
The company had recently purchased Necco for $17.3 million at a bankruptcy auction in May.
Round Hill did not identify Necco's new owner. The closure came as a shock to the close to 230 workers at the plant who say they were told to pick up their final paychecks Friday.
Necco, or New England Confectionery Co., is the country's oldest continuously operating candy company.
The also make Mary Jane and Squirrel Nut Zippers candy.
___
Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.bostonglobe.com ||||| March 28, 2018 – By Clair Robins
Your favorite candy will always be around, right? When you think of panic-buying, you wouldn’t think of candy. But that is exactly what’s happening right now. People are panic-buying Necco wafers candy in bulk.
The panic began on March 12. That day the Boston Globe covered an announcement from Necco CEO, Michael McGee, that they could be shutting down within 60 days.
The Globe’s piece coincides with a marked spike in sales. Necco sales have spiked more than 50% more than 82%. Necco Wafers are up 63% 150%! A clear signal of panic-buying.
EDIT: Due to increased media attention in the past days, we have had to adjust these figures. Way up!
Embed this Source: Bulk candy sales from CandyStore.com
Short for New England Confectionary Company (“Co”), Necco is the maker of Necco Wafers, Mary Janes, Clark Bars, Candy Buttons, Squirrel Nut Zippers and more beloved old-fashioned candy. Maybe you’ve heard of Sweethearts candy conversation hearts – aka the most popular Valentine’s Day candy? Yeah, they make those too.
After months of trying to find a buyer, they haven’t been able to reach a deal. If no deal comes soon, hundreds of workers will be laid off and millions of candy lovers disappointed.
This is a big deal. Necco has been around since the mid 1800s. Almost all of their candies are legends in their own right. All of them are in jeopardy now.
The graph above illustrates daily sales for Necco Wafers in March this year on CandyStore.com. You can see where things change on the 12th and stay high above that until the time of this article on March 28. As a private company, we don’t share specific sales numbers. But you can see the relative change in sales. It’s not subtle.
Online bulk candy stores like CandyStore.com are stockpiling Necco candies, but orders are coming in fast. We contacted industry partners and distributors and they are reporting the same phenomenon. The big question is, when will the shipments stop coming?
No one can say, which only contributes to the panic.
Ok. Maybe you’re not a numbers or graphs type of person. I’m not. Sometimes I need a little more to really feel the situation. For all the touchy-feely emotional people like me, here are some non-financial-y data / anecdata for you:
Necco March 2018 Stats from CandyStore.com 253 emails received by CandyStore.com starting on March 12 inquiring about Necco branded candies. 167 panicked phone calls asking about Necco branded candies, many trying to secure large bulk quantities. 77 Social media messages expressing fear and sadness for their coming loss. 29 Customers offering to pay double or more for bulk quantities of Necco candy. 3 People offering to work in return for Necco candy buying priority. Is that indentured servitude? 1 Used car trade-in offer.
That’s right. Katie Samuels, a 23-year-old woman from Florida, contacted us offering to trade her used Honda Accord for all our Necco Wafers. This is the picture she sent us via email.
She told us over the phone that she was in fact “dead serious.” She went on to say she doesn’t have much else to offer right now, and that her boyfriend drives her around in his truck mostly anyway. “Plus, there’s a bus station not too far if I need it.”
Katie estimated in her desperate pitch to us that the car could be worth up to $4,000. That would buy a lot of Necco wafers. “Pleeeease say yes!” she pleaded.
Unfortunately, we’re not a used car dealership, and we had to graciously turn down her offer. She ended up buying a couple boxes on her credit card anyway. So now she has 48 rolls of Necco wafers to ration over a lifetime with many years to go! When you run the math, Katie can have 2 Necco wafers a month until her 94th birthday.
Not enough? Maybe Honda or Carmax would be willing to entertain the trade-in offer, Katie!
A nice older woman called and wanted to buy 100 pounds of the junior roll-sized Necco Wafers. When she mentioned they are better for vacuum-sealing, our team pressed for details. Long story short, this woman plans to vacuum seal Necco wafers so that her supply will remain as fresh as possible…for years.
Another fine gentleman named Larry saw this very article and sent us his story about Necco candy:
When I got my DAISY RED RYDER BB GUN in 1960 it was recommended by I think Boy’s Life Magazine to use Necco wafers as targets. We would suspend them on strings. The back stop was a heavy carpet hung in a “J” shape. It would catch the BB’s for reuse & we also ate the broken pieces of Necco wafers. In those days we wasted nothing, money was tight & we had to earn it. I still have a fine collection of Red Ryders & I watch the movie “A Christmas Story” every Christmas & still eat the occasional wafer.
But it’s not all love. Necco Wafers, in particular, are a divisive candy. Sales figures don’t (and can’t) illustrate the dark side of sentiment. …Though there are people who would probably negative-buy Necco Wafers if that were a possible thing. We have seen both sides of the passion.
We did a piece on the Best and Worst Halloween candy where Necco wafers ranked the #4 worst. We asked customers to give feedback to support their opinions either way. And Necco Wafers got by far the most written feedback. After digging through the results, we found the following comments:
Necco Wafers Haters Chime In I’d say they are like Tums, but Tums are f__ing better than Necco wafers! If you’re making chalkboard art, then by all means. Otherwise, Necco wafers suck all moisture out of my mouth and all joy out of my soul. We used to save them from Halloween and use them in Gingerbread houses at Christmas time. All that time, never tempted to eat em. Ick. Necco Wafers have to be #1 worst. The Worst worst worst. Chalky, creepy, child-molestor candy.
You can see there are two-sides to this coin. Both are equally passionate.
If you are one of those who loves Necco, what can you do?
You might think, oh well, someone will buy the rights to make the popular ones and the Necco Wafers will live on. For sure. But will it be the same? If they use new cooks, new machines, different water, maybe in a different climate. Maybe the new owner will use cheaper ingredients or more expensive ingredients. Odds are it won’t be exactly the same. And it could be very different.
We can’t risk it. There’s got to be a better option.
The best thing we can do is get the word out there. Potential buyers of Necco need to hear loud and clear how popular these products are. They need to hear from us how important it is to keep Necco right where it is in Revere, Massachusetts. Keep those factory workers employed and making that candy that we all love (or love to hate).
If you think this article is interesting, share it and use the tag #SaveNecco. Let’s show everyone that Necco is still in high demand.
Let’s #SaveNecco.
UPDATE: Former Necco CEO Needs Your Help to Save Necco
Email me if you have any questions or comments: [email protected] | – CandyStore.com is calling it "the Great NECCO Wafer Panic," and that's no exaggeration. Terrified by reports that the New England Confectionery Co. may soon be out of business, fans of the candy company's sugar wafers are stocking up, with one woman offering to exchange her 2003 Honda Accord for CandyStore.com's hefty stash. The offer was refused, so she bought 48 rolls instead, reports the Boston Globe. Jon Prince of CandyFavorites.com tells NPR that another fan tried to buy his entire stock of NECCO Wafers and cried after learning sales were being limited. "They said they couldn't imagine a world without their NECCO wafers," says Prince. Of course, not everyone loves the wafers, which come in flavors like chocolate, clove, and licorice. "I mean, it is really like chewing on chalk," one man tells NPR. More likely to be missed are NECCO's conversation hearts, always a hit around Valentine's Day. A few weeks after this year's holiday, NECCO said it would be forced to close—meaning 395 lost jobs at its factory in Revere, Mass.—unless it found a buyer by May. NECCO sales on CandyStore.com have jumped 82% in the aftermath, while wafer sales have spiked 150%. The turnaround might not be enough to save NECCO, but "who knows, NECCO wafers might make a comeback the way Twinkies did," Revere's mayor tells the Wall Street Journal. |
From declaring "the beast is alive" to being "free at last," a recap of the actor's response to getting the axe from "Two and a Half Men."
Charlie Sheen reacted to getting fired from Two and a Half Men by Warner Bros. with a number of bizarre statements, including:
- An interview with TMZ.com after he climbed on the roof of Live Nation and waved around a machete and drank from a bottle labeled "Tiger Blood." When asked if he was excited about being released from his Two and a Half Men contract, he said, "Let me just say, free at last, free at last." His next plan: "I ain't gonna go to f---ing Disneyland, I'll tell you that much."
- A statement to NBC's Jeff Rossen: "I didn’t like that show anyway or those dumb bowling shirts they made me wear. Now I’m free.”
- Another 'Sheen's Korner' episode, in which he smoked a cigarette from his nose and drank: "We are in the middle of a movement here, an odyssey of epic proportions… My goal is the best one in the room, and people are starting to realize that. My plan is gold, theirs is s--t. And with my plan you're going to win, win, win."
- An interview with Access Hollywood's Billy Bush in which he claimed he was notified of being fired via text message: "I got a text or something. Here’s another thing -- these guys are such yellow cockroaches that they didn’t even have the decency to call me. I put 5 bill[ion] in their cheap suit pockets and another half a bil’ in what’s-his-cheese’s pockets and this is the f***ing respect I get?It’s just deplorable and they should be ashamed of themselves!”
- A statement to TMZ: "This is very good news. They continue to be in breach, like so many whales. It is a big day of gladness at the Sober Valley Lodge because now I can take all of the bazillions, never have to look at whatshiscock again and I never have to put on those silly shirts for as long as this warlock exists in the terrestrial dimension."
- A text to People.com: "Put yourself in my shoes for one warlock nanosecond. At some point there is nothing to say. Only war to wage … The winds are howling tonight. The gods are hungry. The beast is alive. And awake. And deadly." ||||| Just hours ago, Warner Bros. Television officially fired Charlie Sheen from Two and a Half Men, and TMZ has obtained the barnburner of a letter that WB sent to Sheen’s lawyer Marty Singer to justify his termination. “At the outset, let us state the obvious: Your client has been engaged in dangerously self-destructive conduct and appears to be very ill,” the eleven-page letter begins before recounting Sheen’s outlandish public behavior from the past two weeks (there’s even a ten-page addendum filled with links to the negative online coverage the actor has received). Still, it isn’t all rehashed information; here are four new details we learned from a close read of the letter.
There were disastrous sitcom tapings
Though Sheen claims he was ready for work even when he missed rehearsals, the letter cites his “inability to deliver lines” as a reason for the Two and a Half Men shutdown, and takes issue with how Singer portrayed the period leading up to it: “You claim that Mr. Sheen was turning in ‘brilliant’ performances during this time. Not true. As outtakes of the filming show, Mr. Sheen had difficulty remembering his lines and hitting his marks. His conduct and condition created substantial tensions on the set. Mr. Sheen conceded in one or more of his numerous recent interviews that he sometimes showed up to work after not having slept and needed to move his mark to accommodate his need to ‘lean’ on something, for balance.”
Sheen may have had vanity-card approval
Maybe Sheen was okay with Lorre’s vanity cards after all? Despite the fact that he’s since sniped at Lorre for tweaking him with statements like “If Charlie Sheen outlives me, I’m gonna be really pissed,” the WB letter says that “Mr. Sheen himself approved” several of the vanity cards cited by Singer.
WB chartered a plane for rehab
On January 28, Sheen told CBS president Les Moonves that he would go to rehab the next day, so WB “had an airplane waiting to take him to such a facility.” Instead, Sheen refused to leave his home, which he then christened the “Sober Valley Lodge.”
Sheen violated a morals clause
Both Sheen and Singer have argued that there was no morals clause in the actor’s contract, but WB says that one section of the document allows the studio to refuse payment “if Producer in its reasonable but good faith opinion believes Performer has committed an act which constitutes a felony offense involving moral turpitude under federal, state or local laws, or is indicted or convicted of any such offense.” The example of moral turpitude cited here is “furnishing of cocaine to others,” but one imagines the WB wouldn’t have to think very long to come up with at least a few more.
Related: Charlie Sheen Fired From Two and a Half Men
Sheen’s Korner Is Not a Winner
The Argument You’re Having With Yourself About Charlie Sheen
The 15 Funniest Charlie Sheen Clickables: Laugh While You Still Can!
The Media Betting on Charlie Sheen Dying Soon
The Charlie Sheen Glossary: ‘Winning,’ Warlocks, and More ||||| Charlie Sheen has accepted a challenge from RadarOnline.com and has agreed to undergo a drug test on Monday to prove he is clean and sober.
Moments before CBS released its statement announcing it would immediately stop production of Two and a Half Men because of Sheen’s “conduct and condition”, the troubled 45-year-old told RadarOnline.com’s Senior Executive Editor Dylan Howard that he was so confident of passing urine and blood tests that he would allow us to film it.
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“These assholes claim they know this and we are going to prove them wrong,” the star, who earns $2 million an episode, told Howard.
“That’s how confident I am.”
PHOTOS: Charlie Sheen Through The Years
Sheen agreed that the test will take place on Monday at his Mulholland Estate mansion, RadarOnline.com’s Executive Vice President David Perel confirmed.
The hard partying star spoke exclusively to RadarOnline.com from a tropical island in the Bahamas after he was confronted with allegations, from top-level production sources, that he had fallen off the wagon and was again using drugs.
PHOTOS: Charlie Sheen’s Troubled 2010
The son of screen legend Martin has just finished a month of at-home rehab after he was hospitalized on January 27 for what his rep said characterized as “severe abdominal pains.”
Sheen had been on a 36-hour bender of cocaine and booze with adult film actresses, it was reported.
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Now facing the ultimate challenge to clear his name, Sheen told RadarOnline.com: “Out of respect, Dylan Howard called me to see if this was true. I said it was not. Dylan challenged me to a urine test, I told him that if I passed it he would have to drink it!
“We both laughed and now we are going to meet on Monday… blood, urine, whatever, we’re testing it.
PHOTOS: Celebrities Who Admit To Smoking Pot
“I’m so confident where I am at and that these faceless names can’t touch me… I know that I will pass the test and prove my detractors wrong.”
The hell-raiser added: “If they do discover my blood to be tiger blood, I hope that nobody will be shocked!”
PHOTOS: Bikini Models On Vacation
Earlier Thursday, Sheen went on another rant from the paradise location where he is holidaying with a porn star and model, the actor said he “violently hated” Chuck Lorre, the Two and a Half Men creator who made the decision to suspend the show, calling him a “stupid, stupid little man and a p**sy punk that I’d never want to be like”.
“That’s me being polite,” said Sheen, adding: “You can tell him [Lorre] one thing. I own him.”
PHOTOS: The Biggest Celebrity Transformations Of 2010
Following the controversial comments, CBS and Warner Bros. announced they had canceled the remaining season of the billion dollar television program.
“Based on the totality of Charlie Sheen’s statements, conduct and condition, CBS and Warner Bros. Television have decided to discontinue production of Two and a Half Men for the remainder of the season,” a statement read.
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EXCLUSIVE: Two And A Half Men + One (Supporting) Woman: Charlie’s Co-Star Holland Taylor Stands By Troubled Star ||||| New Charlie Sheen Texts: 'The Beast Is Alive'
Now officially fired from Two and a Half Men as of Monday, Charlie Sheen is gearing up for his confrontation with Warner Bros.In a text to PEOPLE, Sheen writes: "Put yourself in my shoes for one warlock nanosecond. At some point there is nothing to say. Only war to wage … The winds are howling tonight. The gods are hungry. The beast is alive. And awake. And deadly."He's also reaching for a new weapon – a machete.After encountering paparazzi after a business meeting to discuss merchandising with Live Nation in Beverly Hills Monday, Sheen – accompanied by one of his so-called "Goddesses," Natalie Kenley – made his way to the roof of the building, reached into his suit jacket, whipped out his large, shiny blade and frantically waved it in the air. (See video clip below.)In a message, Sheen, 45, added that his machete would be used to destroy anyone who messed with his family.While Sheen has threatened to sue Warner Bros., which produces Two and a Half Men, the studio stated it intends to make Sheen pay for all of the show's lost revenue since it's been placed on hiatus . Sheen manager Mark Burg tells PEOPLE exclusively: "It's sad for the fans that enjoyed the show for the last eight years. I'm sorry it's come to this. I guess a judge and jury will decide the final outcome ... The show might not be coming back, but the final chapter has yet to be written."Please note: Comments have been suspended temporarily as we explore better ways to serve you. Your opinion is important to us; you can find current discussions at facebook.com/peoplemag. | – If you were hoping that Charlie Sheen’s long overdue firing might get the tiger-blood-drinking star off your television set and computer screen for a while … no such luck. Sheen reacted to his ouster in plenty of predictably bizarre ways, which the Hollywood Reporter helpfully rounds up: He drank out of a bottle labeled “Tiger Blood” while waving around a machete on the roof of Live Nation. He released another episode of Sheen’s Korner, which involved him smoking a cigarette out of his nose. He texted People the following: There is “war to wage … The winds are howling tonight. The gods are hungry. The beast is alive. And awake. And deadly.” Meanwhile, TMZ snagged a copy of the letter Warner Brothers sent to Sheen’s lawyer justifying his firing, and New York actually read all 11 pages. Buried amidst the obvious (“Your client … appears to be very ill”), the magazine found some new details. Though Sheen claims he was always ready for work, the letter says he frequently “had difficulty remembering his lines and hitting his marks.” Perhaps even more damning, the letter claims there actually was—despite what Sheen has said—a morals clause in his contract, which he violated by “furnishing cocaine to others.” Click for photos of Sheen waving his machete. |
Fidel Castro once claimed that he lived a life of exemplary revolutionary frugality on a salary of merely $36 per month.
“Lies,” said Juan Reinaldo Sanchez, 65, who served as a bodyguard for the former Cuban leader for 17 years and has published a book of memoirs portraying Castro as a sort of feudal lord who ran the island like it was a personal fiefdom.
Castro controlled about 20 luxury homes, a Caribbean island getaway with a pool and dolphins, the 88-foot yacht Aquarama II, and several fishing vessels whose catch was sold for dollars deposited in his accounts, according to Sanchez.
“He always claims he lives frugally. Lies. He lives in a luxury that most Cubans can’t even imagine,” Sanchez told el Nuevo Herald in his first interview after writing his book, The Secret Life of Fidel Castro, published Wednesday in France.
Sanchez said he lost Castro’s trust after his brother escaped from Cuba in 1994. Forced out of the personal security details, he refused transfers and asked for retirement but was instead sent to prison for two years for insubordination. He spent the first three months in a scorching-hot, mosquito-riddled tiny isolation cell and dropped from 187 to 114 pounds.
After escaping aboard a go-fast boat to Mexico in 2008, he crossed the U.S. border and settled in Miami. A regular guest on South Florida’s Spanish-language television programs, Sanchez has previously alleged that Castro approved a drug-smuggling operation that led to the execution of Cuban army Gen. Arnaldo Ochoa in 1989, and commented on other Cuban secrets. Other defectors have confirmed Sanchez, a graduate of the Interior Ministry’s Higher School for Counter Intelligence Eliseo Reyes Rodriguez, spent many years on Castro’s Praetorian Guard — the last five in his innermost ring of bodyguards.
Sanchez has an inch-thick stack of photos of himself, in and out of the uniform of an Interior Ministry lieutenant colonel, and certificates of appreciation signed by Castro. However, his anecdotes cannot be independently confirmed because of their very nature.
His 325-page book says Castro, now 87, controlled several numbered bank accounts abroad as well as the finances of several state enterprises — including a small gold mine in the Isle of Youth — that reported to him as president of the ruling Council of State. When Castro received a Cohiba cigar box full of Angolan diamonds, he told an aide to sell the gems on the international market “and you know what to do,” Sanchez said.
Two large elephant tusks that once stood in his home also came from Angola. None of the bank accounts or enterprises were in Castro’s name, but they didn’t have to be, the bodyguard said. “He didn’t have to report to anyone. He had sole control” over economic activity he estimated at “hundreds of millions of dollars” over 10 years.
But after Forbes magazine included the Cuban ruler in its 2006 list of 10 richest “Kings, Queens and Dictators,” he declared that his salary was about 900 pesos per month, or $36. The former bodyguard said part of the book focuses on Castro’s luxurious life because so little is known about it even within the communist-ruled nation. The leader has said his personal life is a “state secret” because of the multiple attempts to assassinate him.
“Contrary to what he has always said, Fidel has never renounced capitalist comforts or chosen to live in austerity. Au contraire, his mode de vie is that of a capitalist,” says the book, written with Axel Gyldén, a senior journalist at L'Express magazine in France. “This is the first time someone from Castro's intimate circle, someone who was part of the system and a first-hand witness to these events, has spoken,” Gyldén told journalists.
Visitors to Castro’s home west of Havana, known as Punto Cero, have described it as relatively modest, perhaps on the level of an upper-middle-class home in the United States yet far better than what most Cubans can even imagine. But Sanchez said that away from the public eye, Castro enjoyed a life of luxury, spending a month each year in the paradisiacal Cayo Piedra south of the Bay of Pigs and often spending weekends on a duck hunting preserve in Pinar del Rio called La Deseada.
Cayo Piedra, which includes a dolphin and turtle lagoon, was serviced from a Castro-controlled marina with several hundred workers who manned three large yachts, including the Aquarama II, Sanchez said. Finished with precious woods from Angola, it was powered by four torpedo boat motors sent by former Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev.
Castro also controlled two other large yachts, including one equipped as a floating hospital, and two commercial fishing vessels that supplied Cayo Piedra and sold the surplus in Havana for dollars that went into his bank accounts, the bodyguard recalled.
Only special friends were allowed on the island, according to Sanchez. Welcomed in were the late Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez, CNN owner Ted Turner and Erich Honecker, head of then communist-run East Germany.
Castro also controlled a complex of Havana buildings and grounds, including a basketball court, a fully equipped medical center and rooftop bowling alley, first established for him by one of his lovers and closest aides, the late Celia Sanchez.
Castro later married the mother of five of his dozen or so children, Dalia Soto del Valle, but still had affairs later on with a flight attendant, a translator and another woman, he said. Soto del Valle had her own affair with a chauffeur, but Castro forgave both his wife and the chauffeur.
Everything the Cuban leader received, including clothes, food and even official documents, was first checked for germs and radiation, Sanchez said. And each morning an aide delivered to him a bundle of reports on Cuban intelligence activities around the world plus international news reports.
Castro moved about with at least 10 bodyguards, including two with matching blood types who could give him a direct transfusion in case of an emergency because he did not trust stored blood, according to the bodyguard.
The Cuban ruler had serious health crises in 1983 and 1992 and underwent radiation for what doctors described as anal bleeding because of intestinal cancer, Sanchez said. His refusal to have surgery contributed to another intestinal crisis in 2006, when he finally surrendered power.
“In 1992 I saw him [looking] dead, on a stretcher. The nurses were crying and everything,” Sanchez said. But Castro recovered and went to rule for another 14 years. ||||| Fidel Castro lived like a king with his own private yacht, a luxury Caribbean island getaway complete with dolphins and a turtle farm, and travelled with two personal blood donors, a new book claims.
In La Vie Cachée de Fidel Castro (Fidel Castro's Hidden Life), former bodyguard Juan Reinaldo Sánchez, a member of Castro's elite inner circle, says the Cuban leader ran the country as his personal fiefdom like a cross between a medieval overlord and Louis XV.
Sánchez, who was part of Castro's praetorian guard for 17 years, describes a charismatic and intelligent but manipulative, cold-blooded, egocentric Castro prone to foot-stamping temper tantrums. He claims the vast majority of Cubans were unaware their leader enjoyed a lifestyle beyond the dreams of many Cubans and at odds with the sacrifices he demanded of them.
"Contrary to what he has always said, Fidel has never renounced capitalist comforts or chosen to live in austerity. Au contraire, his mode de vie is that of a capitalist without any kind of limit," he writes. "He has never considered that he is obliged by his speech to follow the austere lifestyle of a good revolutionary."
Sánchez claims he suffered Castro's ruthlessness first hand when he fell out of favour, was branded a traitor, "thrown in jail like a dog", tortured and left in a cockroach infested cell, after asking to retire. Released from prison, Sánchez followed the well-worn route of Cuban exiles to America in 2008. "Until the turn in the 1990s I'd never asked too many questions about the workings of the system … that's the problem with military people … as a good soldier, I did my job and my best and that was enough to make me happy," he writes.
The book, published on Wednesday, has been written with French journalist Axel Gyldén, a senior reporter at L'Express magazine. Gyldén admits Sánchez has a large axe to grind with Castro, but insists he has checked the Cuban's story.
"This is the first time someone from Castro's intimate circle, someone who was part of the system and a first-hand witness to these events, has spoken. It changes the image we have of Fidel Castro and not just how his lifestyle contradicts his words, but of Castro's psychology and motivations," Gyldén told the Guardian.
This is not the first time it has been claimed that Castro enjoys great wealth. In 2006 Forbes magazine listed the Cuban leader in its top 10 richest "Kings, Queens and Dictators", citing unnamed officials who claimed Castro had amassed a fortune by skimming profits from a network of state-owned companies. The Cuban leader vehemently denied the report.
Castro's long reign ended in 2006 when he was stricken with what was believed to be diverticulitis, an intestinal ailment, and handed power to his younger brother Raúl, who had served as defence minister. He officially ceded power to Raúl in 2008.
Fidel continued penning columns for the Communist party newspaper Granma but gradually vanished from public view, fuelling rumours he had died, only to surface for occasional, fleeting appearances. Raul has made cautious economic reforms but kept tight control.
Visitors such as Ignacio Ramonet, the French journalist who has interviewed Castro at length, have depicted an austere lifestyle of reading, exercise, simple meals and modest home comforts.
But Sánchez, now 65 and living in America, claims Castro enjoyed a private island – Cayo Piedra, south of the Bay of Pigs, scene of the failed CIA-sponsored invasion of 1961 – describing it as a "garden of Eden" where he entertained selected guests including the writer Gabríel Garcia Márquez, and enjoyed spear-fishing.
The former bodyguard says Castro sailed to the island on his luxury yacht, the Aquarama II, fitted out with rare Angolan wood and powered by four motors sent by the Soviet president Leonid Brezhnev.
"Castro would sit in his large black leather director's armchair ... a glass of Chivas Regal on the rocks (his favourite drink) in his hand," writes Sánchez.
Other presidential properties, he writes, included an "immense" estate in Havana complete with rooftop bowling alley, basketball court and fully equipped medical centre, and a luxury bungalow with private marina on the coast.
"Fidel Castro also let it be known and suggested that the revolution gave him no rest, no time for pleasure and that he ignored, indeed despised, the bourgeois concept of holidays. He lies," he adds.
Ann Louise Bardach, a veteran Cuba chronicler who has interviewed Castro, said that as a lifelong hypochondriac he enjoyed the best food and medical care but did not have a lavish lifestyle. He was born into money and went into politics for power, she said. "He didn't do it for the money. He's not swinging from the chandeliers."
His current home, just outside Havana, had four bedrooms and would in the west be considered middle or upper-middle class, she said. Focusing on any material advantage he may enjoy missed a larger point, said Bardach, author of Without Fidel: a death foretold in Miami, Havana and Washington. "He owns the island of Cuba. It's his personal fiefdom."
Sánchez says Castro's dolce vita was a "crazy privilege" while Cubans suffered serious hardship in the 1990s as the economy "collapsed like a house of cards" after the disintegration of the Soviet Union and eastern bloc with which Havana had done almost 80% of its foreign business.
His compatriots, he says, were also unaware of their leader's complicated love life, his womanising and subsequent tribe of at least nine children, not least because Cuban media was forbidden to mention them.
The Cuban leader kept a gun at his feet when travelling in his Mercedes and never went anywhere without at least 10 bodyguards, including two "blood donors". At home he would get up late, and start work around midday "after a frugal breakast".
"His favourite film that he saw I don't know how many times was the interminable and soporific Soviet version of Tolstoy's War and Peace … which lasted at least five hours."
He recalls how Castro bugged everyone, including Hugo Chávez, and insisted his bodyguard jot down everything he did in a notebook "for history".
Sánchez says for nearly two decades he saw more of Castro than his own family. "He was a god. I drank all his words, believed all he said, followed him everywhere and would have died for him," he writes.
He claims he finally realised that Castro considered Cuba "belonged" to him.
"He was its master in the manner of a 19th century landowner. For him wealth was above all an instrument of power, of political survival, of personal protection."
Recalling how Castro kept Angolan diamonds in a Cohiba cigar box, he writes: "Sometimes, Fidel had a little of the mentality of a pirate of the Caribbean."
La Vie Cachée de Fidel Castro is published by Michel Lafon on Wednesday. | – Fidel Castro, ragtag communist revolutionary? Not according to a new book that chronicles his alleged luxurious lifestyle and drug-smuggling into the United States. A former bodyguard to Castro, Juan Reinaldo Sanchez—who fled Cuba in 2008 and has made similar allegations before—describes them fully in The Double Life of Fidel Castro: My 17 Years as Personal Bodyguard to El Lider Maximo. In a juicy New York Post excerpt, Sanchez claims that he overheard Castro meeting with a loyal general, José Abrantes, about drug trafficking: "What business!" Sanchez writes, with co-writer Axel Gylden. "Very simply, a huge drug-trafficking transaction was being carried out at the highest echelons of the state." According to the book, Castro and Gen. Abrantes discussed smuggling cocaine into the US. Castro's reasoning: "If the Yanks were stupid enough to use drugs that came from Colombia, not only was that not his problem ... it served his revolutionary objectives in the sense that it corrupted and destabilized American society," the book reads. Sanchez also accuses Castro of covering up his involvement by engineering sham trials that led to the deaths of two devoted officers, including Abrantes; this fueled the alcoholism of brother Raul, who feared he would be next. Imprisoned in Cuba for two years before fleeing, Sanchez has already accused Castro of secretly living a luxurious life that includes an 88-foot yacht and a Caribbean getaway island, the Miami Herald reported last year. |
A network rep claims that the decision to not move forward with the animated comedy came before an anonymous woman alleged that the former 'Silicon Valley' star sexually assaulted her in 2001.
Comedy Central has canceled T.J. Miller's animated series The Gorburger Show after one season.
News of the cancellation came Tuesday, the same day the former Silicon Valley star was accused of sexual assault and violence by an anonymous woman in a Daily Beast story, though a rep for the network claims that the decision to not move forward with a second season of the show predated the allegations, with one source noting it happened in July. The woman alleges that while she and Miller were seeing each other in college at George Washington University in 2001, the actor strangled her and punched her in the mouth during sex. She also said he penetrated her anally without her consent, and later did the same with a beer bottle.
Miller has denied the claims, writing in a statement with his wife, Kate, that the woman is "using the current climate to bandwagon and launch these false accusations." The married couple added that they think it is "unfortunate that she is choosing this route as it undermines the important movement to make women feel safe coming forward about legitimate claims against real known predators. We stand together and will not allow this person to take advantage of a serious movement toward gender equality by allowing her to use this moment to muddy the water with an unrelated personal agenda."
Miller executive produced and starred on the eight-episode comedy, which aired from April 9-June 4 on Comedy Central. The actor-comedian voiced the host of the show, a giant blue space monster who has invaded a Japanese morning talk show and held its staff hostage as he attempts to understand what it means to be human by interviewing celebrities and musical artists. Guests included Rob Corddry, Larry King, Tig Notaro, Drew Pinsky and Reggie Watts.
The alien puppet talk show was created by Ryan K. McNeal and Josh Martin, with the pair writing, directing and executive producing the comedy alongside Sean Boyle for Funny or Die. The Gorburger Show previously ran for two seasons and 19 episodes on Funny or Die before moving to HBO as a pilot in 2015 and eventually landing at the Viacom-owned network earlier this year.
Elsewhere, Miller has a number of films coming up. Among them: Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One, DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon 3, Kristen Stewart starrer Underwater and Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool 2. Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox declined to comment on the allegations. Meanwhile, DreamWorks and Underwater producer Chernin Entertainment did not respond to requests for comment.
Miller made headlines when he abruptly left Silicon Valley, the breakout HBO comedy on which he played fan-favorite Erlich Bachman for four seasons. In a wide-ranging exit interview with The Hollywood Reporter at the time, Miller took shots at executive producer Alec Berg ("I don't know how smart [Alec] is. He went to Harvard, and we all know those kids are fucking idiots. That Crimson trash") and star Thomas Middleditch ("I'm not sitting here saying, 'I need more lines. I'm not funny enough.' I'm not Thomas Middleditch"), and explained that he was leaving the hit series because he'd rather "parasail into the Cannes Film Festival for The Emoji Movie because that's the next new funny thing that will make people laugh." ||||| Warning: This story includes graphic content.
An alleged victim of former Silicon Valley star T.J. Miller is coming forward with accusations that Miller hit and sexually assaulted her while in college.
The accusations were eventually addressed by a student court at George Washington University and have been buzzed about in Hollywood and stand-up circles for years.
“He just tried a lot of things without asking me, and at no point asked me if I was all right,” the woman told The Daily Beast. “He choke[d] me, and I kept staring at his face hoping he would see that I was afraid and [that he] would stop… I couldn’t say anything.”
Miller’s alleged victim, who asked to remain anonymous, said she is coming forward now in part because of the societal awakening to issues of sexual assault and harassment that has come in the aftermath of misconduct allegations that have rocked the entertainment industry. The Daily Beast is withholding her identity because of her fears of retribution. But for the purposes of this piece, we will call her Sarah.
Miller has told friends over the years that he was wrongfully accused. And in a statement to The Daily Beast, Miller and his wife, Kate, denied any wrongdoing. Instead, they cast themselves as the victims.
Sarah “began again to circulate rumors online once [my and Kate’s] relationship became public. Sadly she is now using the current climate to bandwagon and launch these false accusations again,” the Millers wrote. “It is unfortunate that she is choosing this route as it undermines the important movement to make women feel safe coming forward about legitimate claims against real known predators.”
“ Miller began ‘shaking [her] violently’ and punched her in the mouth during sex. ”
But it’s not just Sarah who has come forward. The Daily Beast has corroborated details of her story—which includes two separate incidents—with five GW contemporaries and spoke to numerous associates of both her and Miller.
Two of the GW contemporaries say they were in the off-campus house where the incidents allegedly occurred. The contemporaries later testified in student court about hearing the sound of violent thuds or seeing bruises on Sarah.
Three other contemporaries said they comforted and counseled Sarah in the aftermath of the incidents. Matt Lord was one of them. An ex-boyfriend of Sarah’s, he told The Daily Beast that he continues to believe her story more than a decade after the fact.
“I attended George Washington University for undergraduate studies from 2000 until December 2003... I had a romantic relationship with [this] woman, who spoke with me about T.J. Miller sexually assaulting her,” Lord, who currently works as an attorney in Montague, Massachusetts, wrote in a statement to The Daily Beast. “At the time I believed the statements she made regarding the assault by Mr. Miller, and I continue to believe the statements she made are true. She was engaged in student conduct proceedings regarding the sexual assault, and I remember the emotional toll that the assault and the subsequent conduct hearings placed on her.”
In the years since, Miller has attempted to address the lingering allegations by occasionally making light of them. He’s privately joked about committing violence against a woman in his past, according to three sources in the comedy world. Perhaps that is why some female performers and comedy professionals tell The Daily Beast that they have declined to work with Miller, citing a perceived history of abusive behavior.
The incidents took place at GW where Miller was a student and Sarah was taking classes but not matriculating. They fell in with the same GW comedy troupe, receSs, during which time they struck up a relationship. “I felt relatively safe with T.J. at the time,” Sarah explained.
But months into their relationship, which started in the fall of 2001, Sarah said the first troubling encounter took place. She recalled having “a lot to drink” and admitted that there are “parts of [the incident] I don’t remember.” She stressed that “it is important to me to cop to that… [and] I’m not interested in forcing a pretend memory on anyone… 15 years later, I remain terrified of accusing someone of something they didn’t do, but I have a visual and physical memory of that.”
However, Sarah said she has a distinct memory that as they were “fooling around” at her place, Miller began “shaking me violently” and punched her in the mouth during sex.
Sarah said that she woke up the following morning with a fractured tooth and a bloodied lip. When she asked Miller about it that morning, he claimed, according to Sarah, that she had simply fallen down drunkenly the past evening.
She was unsettled by the incident, but said that she did not know many people in D.C. and continued to see Miller. She had lost her virginity to him and, at least for a brief window, he was someone she trusted.
“ I couldn’t bring myself [at the time] to believe this had happened... It was me not wanting it to be true. ”
“I couldn’t bring myself [at the time] to believe this had happened,” Sarah said. “It was me not wanting it to be true.”
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A few days after the first incident, Sarah got word that she would no longer be participating in receSs. She was upset and disappointed and said that she called Miller to confide in him. She had not fully processed the first encounter, she said, and Miller was still someone she believed she could turn to in a time of stress and vulnerability.
They soon met at a college party, and left in a cab to head back to the apartment she had been renting with her roommates. When they arrived back at her home, they began to engage in consensual sex—but then Miller became violent again, Sarah said. She emphasized that she had not had more than two drinks that evening, and that her memory of the following “five-hour” ordeal was and is “crystal-clear.”
“We started to fool around, and very early in that, he put his hands around my throat and closed them, and I couldn’t breathe,” she recalled. “I was genuinely terrified and completely surprised. I understand now that this is for some people a kink, and I continue to believe it is [something] that should be entered into by consenting parties. But, as someone who had only begun having sexual encounters, like, about three months earlier, I had no awareness this was a kink, and I had certainly not entered into any agreement that I would be choked.
“I was fully paralyzed,” Sarah continued.
Sarah claimed that she was “choking audibly”—to the point that her roommates could hear what was happening and rushed over to knock on her bedroom door. Sarah said she then got up and walked to her door in a robe, and one of her roommates asked if everything was OK.
“I don’t know,” she responded, before shutting the door, “I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
“He pulled me back to bed and more things happened,” Sarah said. “He anally penetrated me without my consent, which I actually believe at that point I cried out, like, ‘No,’ and he didn’t continue to do that—but he also had a [beer] bottle with him the entire time. He used the bottle at one point to penetrate me without my consent.”
During the incident, Sarah said she “froze.” She says she “wasn’t prepared” for what had happened and that she “didn’t want to believe it was happening.”
Miller finally left her apartment around 5 a.m. The next morning, Sarah said she confided in her roommates about what had happened. One of those housemates, who is currently a Maryland resident and stay-at-home mom who asked not to be named in this story, confirmed as much to The Daily Beast.
“I knew T.J. was in her bedroom and I was in my bedroom, which was a wall away,” the source said. “My [other] roommate was in my bedroom with me and we heard a loud smacking noise, and we were concerned… The very next day when we talked to [Sarah] she was very upset, and… had said he had hit her in a very violent way.”
Katie Duffy, a former GW student and another of Sarah’s ex-housemates, said she had not realized that the “T.J.” from that night was the famed actor and comedian until informed by The Daily Beast. (She conceded she “had to Google him.”) But she recalled the incident much as Sarah had described it.
“One night, she had [Miller] back, and late at night… [a housemate and I] heard quite a lot of fighting [sounds] and banging, and loud, violent sounds [in the room next to us],” Duffy said. “So we knocked on the door of our housemate [Sarah], and asked if she was OK. She did indicate she was OK. Whatever response she gave, we felt we didn’t have to intervene further, at least at the time… Looking back, I wish we had done more to intervene, but we didn’t know what was going on… This is a girl I didn’t know very well, but it didn’t mean I didn’t have the power to go into that room, and remove her from that situation, and protect her. We did what we thought was the right thing at the time. It wasn’t enough.”
The next morning, Duffy recalled, Sarah came down to the small kitchen where other housemates were having coffee and breakfast. Her physical appearance raised alarm.
“She looked like she had been through a rough night—I recall seeing bruises [on Sarah],” Duffy said. “One roommate asked if she wanted to go to the police. Others offered to take her to the hospital, given how she looked.”
Sarah ultimately declined. Duffy moved out shortly thereafter, and said she hasn’t spoken to Sarah since, simply because “we didn’t know each other well.”
In the days and weeks that directly followed the alleged sexual assaults, Sarah’s friendship with Miller disintegrated completely. She said they met once more, days after that second night, to talk about what had happened; “T.J. said it was a ‘trust thing’… and that he thought I was into it,” Sarah recalled.
As they drifted apart, she asked mutual friends of Miller’s about the incident. According to Sarah and those close to her, the responses were fairly uniform, to the effect of, “Yeah, that’s just T.J.” The only other time she would see him over the next year was at a female comedy group show that she attended. “T.J. showed up to heckle, and I remember being so angry,” she said, “and had to leave.”
“ She looked like she had been through a rough night—I recall seeing bruises... One roommate asked if she wanted to go to the police. Others offered to take her to the hospital. ”
It would be almost a year—following much deliberations, counsel, and support from friends—before Sarah went to GW’s campus police to tell them what had happened. By then, Miller was in his last year at the university.
“I was not ready to process what was happening [the prior year], and I have spent a lot of time in my life apologizing for not having shouted ‘no,’ and for not having told my roommates to get him out of here,” Sarah said, explaining why she didn’t go to campus police a year earlier. “I was not ready to reconcile the events taking place with the person I had known. It was so disorienting and so physically traumatic.”
Like other female college students in similar circumstances, Sarah did not want to take the case to the cops since nearly a year had passed, and there was no remaining physical evidence. Instead, her allegations were handled by the “student court” at the university.
At this point, Sarah asked her housemate—the current Maryland mom who heard the “loud smacking noise”—if she would testify in the student court process, and she agreed.
“I testified in student court about the noise I had heard and how upset she was after the incident,” Sarah’s former housemate recalled to The Daily Beast. “T.J. was there with a lawyer during the student court proceeding.”
That housemate subsequently asked Duffy if she’d testified. “I was happy to,” Duffy said, recalling that she did not see Sarah at the student court during her testimony, but said that Miller, his father, and his attorney were there.
“I was asked why I hadn’t done anything [more] if I was so worried… and I said, well, the noises were loud enough that it did prompt us to ask what was wrong, so we did do something,” Duffy said. “I felt very uncomfortable, the way they were challenging me on it.”
Sarah said that the student court grilled her about “all my habits,” including what she had to drink, and how much, on both nights. She was asked if she had ever heard of erotic asphyxiation, and was asked if they had ever discussed the sexual practice, which she had not.
After a trial period that lasted a couple of weeks, Sarah said that the university told her that the issue had been resolved.
A GW spokesperson would only tell The Daily Beast that “because of federal privacy law, we are not able to provide information about current or former students’ education records,” in response to inquiries regarding a campus PD report or the student court proceedings. The federal law GW is referencing is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
GW did confirm, however, that Miller graduated in 2003, but did not comment on whether he “graduated early” due to any unique circumstance. Other knowledgeable sources told The Daily Beast that Miller was “expelled after he graduated”—an outcome that appeared to be an attempt by the university to satisfy both parties.
Sarah said she had lost acquaintances over her allegations, several of whom were her former comedy-troupe cohorts, most of whom ended up supporting Miller.
Four of these friends spoke to The Daily Beast, though none agreed to do so on the record. Each of these friends was in the college comedy troupe or matriculating at GW at the time. And all of them presented the same general portrait of Miller as a gregarious and generous person who “couldn’t have done this,” as several said.
“I’ve known T.J. since college, always known him to be a very caring person, and respectful, particularly toward women,” one friend said. “And he loves his wife very, very much.”
Another source, who testified in student court (via phone, post-graduation) on Miller’s behalf, said it was unimaginable that T.J. could do “anything like that.”
“I have never heard of another woman [who dated him in college] make any kind of allegation or insinuation that he was anything but a good guy,” the friend continued. Another friend insisted that Miller “was the type of person if you took him to a strip club, he would want to talk to the strippers, not hit on them.”
No one has accused Miller of hitting on strippers.
A source also produced a set of email exchanges between Miller and someone who dated Sarah later in life. The emails, one of which was presented without the conversation that preceded it, didn’t directly address the incident itself but instead showed both parties trying to come to a more amicable understanding. Sarah told The Daily Beast that she was simply under “some social pressure to be cool about this at the time, and didn't necessarily see myself as having any other option to resolution.”
One of Miller’s friends said he “believed [Sarah] knew she was making this up” to “intentionally and maliciously fabricate” a sexual-assault allegation. This friend could not offer any evidence to support such a claim, nor could another person, who wasn’t a friend of Miller’s but shared a similar view and testified on his behalf.
Kate and T.J. Miller made similar accusations in a statement provided weeks after first learning that The Daily Beast was reporting on these incidents.
“We met this woman over a decade ago while studying together in college, she attempted to break us up back then by plotting for over a year before making contradictory claims and accusations,” the Millers wrote.
“She was asked to leave our university comedy group because of worrisome and disturbing behavior, which angered her immensely, she then became fixated on our relationship, and began telling people around campus ‘I’m going to destroy them’ and ‘I’m going to ruin him,’” the statement continued.
When asked about these claims, Sarah’s responded, “Of course not.”
“He was a friend to me before [the incidents], and he had been there for me before that,” she said. “I didn’t want him in jail. I didn’t hate him. He was someone I cared about… I don’t want to mess up his life. But he behaved in a way towards me that I have to live with… [and] I don’t think it’s appropriate that I carry this by myself.”
If Sarah was eager to settle scores with Miller, she certainly didn’t show it. When The Daily Beast first started looking into this story, those close to her said for months that she had expressed no desire to come forward and was actively avoiding media inquiries. Only weeks after the advent of the #MeToo movement did that seem to change.
Miller soon left his alma mater and became a star in stand-up comedy. He then began appearing in major Hollywood productions, and landed a starring role on the critically lauded HBO show Silicon Valley. But despite the lack of public accusations since his time at George Washington, whispers about what happened in his college years followed him.
Four female comedians and bookers who spoke to The Daily Beast said that they had heard of the alleged sexual misconduct at GW. Some of these comics had heard about the accusations from Sarah directly, and have since warned women in stand-up comedy about Miller.
But some know about the sexual-assault allegations because Miller talked about them himself when confiding in friends and associates.
Four sources in the L.A. and Chicago comedy scenes—including JC Coccoli, a Los Angeles-based producer who briefly dated Miller in 2009—said they each first heard of the allegations because Miller had told them about them or referenced them in private conversation, or at small gatherings before or after shows. Miller did so in the context of vehemently denying “rumors” circulating in various comedy communities. Other times, he would crack jokes about punching a woman he knew in college, two other comics independently told The Daily Beast.
Maura Brown, a comedy festival organizer and publicist who used to work in L.A. and has since uprooted to Portland, Oregon, said she has also heard about the Miller allegation for years.
“Very commonly, women have warned each other [in entertainment] about him… and about what happened in college,” Brown told The Daily Beast.
Brown noted that starting in 2013, when she first heard about the allegations, she “never wanted to work with him [ever], and never wanted to work on the same projects as him,” and that “this convinced me to not try to book him or promote him in any way.”
“ I didn’t want him in jail. I didn’t hate him. But he behaved in a way towards me that I have to live with… I don’t think it’s appropriate that I carry this by myself. ”
Still, Miller, whose star is increasingly rising in Hollywood these days, continues to have friends in high places in the entertainment world.
Miller is set to appear in several major film projects, including an upcoming movie co-starring Kristen Stewart and another starring Ryan Reynolds. This year, HBO aired his stand-up special, and Comedy Central started airing The Gorburger Show, what Miller has previously told The Daily Beast is his “passion project” about a murderous alien talk-show host.
Sarah, his alleged victim, no longer lives in L.A., where she resettled not long after auditing at GW. She says she had a “wonderful experience doing improv and comedy” in the local comedy scene, and tried to put what happened with Miller behind her.
“ I had to see him at my improv school [in L.A.], which I, shortly after, stopped going to, and see him at stand-up shows, and I stopped doing stand-up [eventually in L.A.],” Sarah said. “It doesn’t help that when I was living in L.A. I had to keep seeing his name on billboards, and on bus stops, and it just didn’t… stop.”
She added, “It is unfathomable to me that he doesn’t understand that he actually put me through something I have to live with, that I never would’ve chosen, that completely, completely set the tone for my sexual adult life, that I actively had to spend years and years… un-programming.” | – Comic and Silicon Valley star TJ Miller is the latest celeb accused of sexual assault, but he and his wife have issued a joint statement strongly denying the allegations. The Daily Beast first reported the accusations, made by an anonymous woman who knew Miller from their days at George Washington University more than a decade ago. She claims Miller assaulted her in two separate incidents: In the first, she says he punched her in the mouth during consensual sex, fracturing a tooth. In the second, she says he forcefully choked her during sex and "anally penetrated me without my consent." On Instagram, Miller denies the claims, which were addressed by a student court at the time, though the school will not divulge the outcome. “We met this woman over a decade ago while studying together in college, she attempted to break us up back then by plotting for over a year before making contradictory claims and accusations," writes Miller with his wife, Kate. He adds that he's sure an investigation would clear him. Miller also accuses the woman of "using the current climate to bandwagon and launch these false accusations." Meanwhile, the Hollywood Reporter notes that Comedy Central announced Tuesday it was canceling Miller's animated series, The Gorburger Show, after one season. However, a network rep says the move is not related to the new controversy. |
We're halfway through one of the least-deadly years in recent Chicago homicide history, but here's a reminder that summer is just getting started: at least 41 were shot and 7 killed in Chicago this weekend. And while city gun violence typically doesn't get as much attention as other mass shootings, especially in more affluent neighborhoods, the Chicago story fits into the bigger national conversation on gun control, just slightly more than six months after the Newtown shootings shook the issue into the spotlight.
This weekend was the most violent so far in the city, but not the most deadly: eight died in Chicago during the last weekend in January. The Chicago Tribune has a sweeping feature report on the weekend's toll on the city. Victims this weekend include Kevin Rivera, a 16-year-old who tried to flee gunmen on his bike; Ricardo Herrera, 21; Todd Wood, 40, who was killed in a mass shooting at a club (two others were wounded); Cortez Wilberton, 31; Jamal Jones, 19; and Antwon Johnson, 24, who was shot by police:
"[Johnson was shot] after he raised a 9-millimeter handgun in their direction after bailing from a moving car and falling, police said. His mother disputed that account. “It’s not true,” said Stacy Liberty. “How could someone have a gun and point it to you if they’re already on the ground?” Liberty said the car had been lurching down the block because the people in the car were trying to identify an address. The presence of a police car behind them must have made Johnson nervous, his mother said."
Liberty told the Tribune that Johnson had a record, but "hasn’t been in trouble in a while." His job search was struggling because of his criminal record, she added.
What's perhaps most striking about the Tribune report is the amount of residue from the violence still left on the streets, which they describe as "literally stained:"
"In the city’s Little Village neighborhood, 15 lit memorial candles stood in blood...About five miles away, a long trail of blood remained splattered in a Northwest Side alley — and on the bumper of a nearby car — where 16-year-old Kevin Rivera tried to run from a gunman on a bicycle, authorities told the Tribune."
And when Jamal Jones's family went to the scene where the 19-year-old was shot, they found his bike still there, along with needles left behind from the paramedics.
As of last week, Chicago's murder rate was down 34 percent, the Chicago Sun-Times noted. When the Tribune asked authorities about this weekend's numbers, they cited the overall lower crime rates as evidence that their strategy is working.
Update: Adding to the grisly total, late Sunday the police killed a 15-year-old.
Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at aohlheiser at gmail dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Abby Ohlheiser ||||| Chicago Tribune reporter Adam Sege recaps the night's crime, including a police involved shooting that left a 15-year-old boy dead. (Posted Monday, June 17, 2013)
As she headed out the door Sunday morning, Adrianne Wilberton put on a brave face. It was time to tell her son the news, and she didn't want him hearing it from anyone else.
But her composure unraveled as she walked toward the car, a barrage of neighbors hugging her on the way out of her apartment. By the time she reached the front lawn, the mother of six was in tears.
"Our son is dead! Oh Jesus!" the 57-year-old screamed, referring to Cortez, one of her three sons, who was killed earlier that morning on Chicago's West Side. "Oh my God! Oh my God! We were just talking."
At least 34 people were shot — nine of them fatally — Saturday afternoon through Father's Day Sunday, stretching from 94th Street and Loomis Avenue on the South Side up to about North Avenue and North Pulaski Road on the Northwest Side, according to authorities. The youngest person killed during one of the bloodiest weekends in Chicago this year, 15-year-old Michael Westley, was fatally shot by a police officer Sunday night.
Shootings from Friday afternoon into Saturday left another 13 people shot, 1 fatally. The combined tally resulted in 47 people shot, and eight killed this weekend. Last year at about the same time, there were 53 people shot, nine fatally in one weekend.
The rash of violent crime came as Chicago has seen a large dip in overall homicide and shooting numbers so far this year.
When asked whether this weekend's shooting numbers cast doubt on the department's crime-fighting strategies, Chicago police spokesman Adam Collins insisted they are working, noting the city has so far in 2013 posted its lowest homicide totals in years.
Collins also reiterated a position that police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has expressed publicly throughout the year when discussing the department's crime-fighting efforts. "There's going to be good days, and there's going to be bad days, which is why we've been calling this progress, not victory," said Collins, who pointed out drops in overall crime.
Across the city, reminders of the bloody weekend literally stained some of Chicago's streets. In the city's Little Village neighborhood, 15 lit memorial candles stood in blood where Ricardo Herrera, 21, was fatally wounded and two others shot on the 2500 block of South Ridgeway Avenue.
About five miles away, a long trail of blood remained splattered in a Northwest Side alley — and on the bumper of a nearby car — where 16-year-old Kevin Rivera tried to run from a gunman on a bicycle, authorities told the Tribune.
Rivera's family was planning to move in two weeks from their sometimes violent section of the West Humboldt Park neighborhood and a social worker was enrolling the teenager in the city's summer jobs program.
But late Saturday night, someone shot Rivera in the 4100 block of West North Avenue, police said. He attempted to run but collapsed a few feet away. The boy, who lived a few blocks away from the scene, was pronounced dead about 1:35 a.m. Sunday at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, authorities said.
Grief-stricken and exhausted, Kevin Rivera's family said little about Rivera or his death. "I can't believe it," said Rivera's mother, Maria Figueroa.
One of six siblings, Rivera could be polite and soft-spoken at home, even as he became increasingly embroiled in neighborhood gang conflicts and faced juvenile court charges. Last year, he was shot in the leg, and he was briefly detained in the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center and placed on juvenile court probation for carrying an unloaded gun in the neighborhood, according to interviews with relatives.
His younger sister Yajaira Rivera last year was profiled in a Tribune investigation about elementary students who missed months of school each year. Rivera also missed weeks of school each year at Nobel Elementary School, where he earned an A in 7th grade art class but failed basic courses and had run-ins with teachers and staff, school records and interviews show.
In a brief Tribune interview last year, Rivera said he had tried to register at Orr Academy High School, but left after a couple of days because he didn't feel safe there. "There is a lot of tension," he said.
Social worker Emily Runyan, who lived in the neighborhood and befriended Rivera's family, was recently working to enroll Rivera in the city's One Summer Chicago teen jobs program.
"I don't want to memorialize him because he made some bad choices, but Kevin was a kind, quiet and sensitive kid," Runyan said. "I truly believe he wanted more for his life, but was a victim of many things."
One of the men killed — 24-year-old Antwon Johnson — was shot by police early Sunday in the Lawndale neighborhood after he raised a 9-millimeter handgun in their direction after bailing from a moving car and falling, police said.
His mother disputed that account. "It's not true," said Stacy Liberty. "How could someone have a gun and point it to you if they're already on the ground?"
Liberty said the car had been lurching down the block because the people in the car were trying to identify an address. The presence of a police car behind them must have made Johnson nervous, his mother said.
Johnson had been convicted three times for drug related charges stemming back to 2006, according to court records. He suffered three gunshot wounds almost two years ago, she said.
But the father of two five-year-old sons was trying to get his life back on track, she said.
"He hasn’t been in trouble in a while," said Liberty, who rushed to the scene and recalled seeing her son's lifeless body in the alley. "He was trying to get his stuff together. Black men on the street today, it's tough for them to get a job because the first thing (employers) look at is their record."
Another victim included 40-year-old Todd Wood, who authorities said was killed after a gunman opened fire at a club in the city's Grand Crossing neighborhood. Three others were wounded in that attack, police said.
Several hours after the club shooting, Cortez Wilberton, 31, was added to the homicide list. Wilberton had seen plenty of his friends shot over the year, but hit a turning point a few years back when his best friend was killed, his sister said. A former gang member, Wilberton had a lengthy criminal record that included at least 30 arrests, according to court records.
"That's when he said, 'That's enough of this here … I don't want to be bothered by all this nonsense,' " said his sister, Tanya Wilberton, 37.
So he left the gang and started focusing all of his energy on his three children, one of whom was born earlier this month, she said. He liked to take his children — two girls and a boy — to the park and watch the older ones ride their bikes, his mother and sister said.
Sometime early last year, Wilberton was shot in the stomach during a robbery and had to leave his a job as a security guard at a local store, his sister said.
Still recovering from reconstructive surgery, he mostly stayed indoors at night but was gunned down at 1:35 a.m. on the 200 block of South Keeler Avenue in the Austin neighborhood. A 31-year-old woman also suffered a graze wound to the face in that incident, police said.
Around the time Wilberton's family gathered Sunday morning to mourn, Karen Sumner received a call at work telling her to hurry home because police officers wanted to talk about her 19-year-old son.
"I hope my son's not dead," Sumner remembers saying. "Please, I hope my son's not dead."
But when she arrived at the family's West Chatham home, officers delivered the news she feared most.
Her son, Jamal Jones, was shot at about 1:15 a.m. Sunday while riding his bike home from a family member's house through the 7400 block of South Parnell Avenue in the Englewood neighborhood, police and relatives said. He died about an hour later.
Jones was a friendly, motivated young man who steered away from trouble and was always eager to work, according to relatives. He'd sometimes peddle bottled water to passing cars on 79th Street when he couldn't find construction work, his mother said.
Jones' uncle, Travis Sumner, said his nephew was a reliable member of his roofing crew. Jones worked as the ground man, picking up trash and making sure supplies got up to the laborers on the roof.
"He worked hard," the uncle said. "He stayed busy all the time."
On Sunday afternoon, family members returned to the shooting scene. They found the bike Jones had been riding and needles left over from the paramedics.
As she recalled getting ready for her job at Jewel-Osco on Sunday morning, Karen Sumner said it was odd that her son wasn't there to say goodbye when she left the house at 3:30 a.m. At that time, she still hadn't heard the news.
"He would always greet me at the door and kiss me and say 'I love you,' " Karen Sumner said on Sunday. "This morning, he didn’t greet me."
By Monday morning the toll had grown by another fatality when Alexander Lagunas, 18, was pronounced dead at 10:08 a.m. at Mount Sinai, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
Lagunas, of the 8100 block of South Scottsdale was shot on the 4000 block of West 31st Street at 12:31 a.m. Sunday morning, according to police.
Tribune reporters Jeremy Gorner, Carlos Sadovi, Kim Geiger, Deanese Williams-Harris and Adam Sege contributed.
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[email protected] ||||| Two hours into 2016, DeAndre Holiday, a 24-year-old father of three, became another sad statistic of Chicago's runaway violence, fatally shot in the chest as he left a New Year's Eve party in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side.
In the weeks since, the tally of those killed has hit 50, making January the deadliest start to a year in Chicago in at least 16 years.
As many people died in January as in many summer months, the usual peak season for violence.
Holiday's mother, Gwendolyn, is trying to persuade her two other children — and possibly her grandchildren — to move with her to her native Atlanta.
"The violence is not gonna end. It's getting worse," said the 51-year-old, her eyes watering as she sat on her bed last week in her apartment in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood. "Every day when you turn the news on somebody's child, son, father, brother has lost their lives for no reason. It's senseless to me. It makes no sense. None."
By 8 a.m. Sunday, the final day of the month, about 280 people had been shot in January, according to a Tribune analysis of Police Department data. Shootings nearly doubled from last January and — perhaps more worrisome — jumped nearly 60 percent from the first month of 2012, the last year in which homicides rose above 500.
In all, 50 were killed as of Sunday morning — a figure that includes three beating and stabbing deaths, the analysis showed. That's the most homicides in January since at least 2000 — as far back as publicly available city statistics go. The Police Department was unable to provide numbers further back.
The timing of the upsurge in violence comes at a particularly stressful time for a department that has been roiled in the fallout over the court-ordered release two months ago of a disturbing dashboard camera video showing a Chicago police officer shoot Laquan McDonald 16 times as the 17-year-old walked away from police with a knife in his hand. That has led to murder charges against Officer Jason Van Dyke, weeks of street protests, the firing of longtime police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, calls for the resignation of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the launch of a U.S. Justice Department investigation of the Police Department.
Police activity down, violence up
In a telephone interview Saturday, John Escalante, the interim police superintendent, said while major cities across the country saw upticks in violence last year, Chicago was "literally alone" with its bloody start to 2016.
The 29-year department veteran expressed concern about morale after hearing worries from officers about being put under the microscope for merely doing their jobs. He acknowledged that the number of street stops has dropped sharply so far this year, though he couldn't provide any figures.
"I've gone to the roll calls and I've heard their concerns about not wanting to be the next viral video," he said. "Even when they're doing something right, it may not be perceived that way."
Escalante couldn't say if the drop in police activity has contributed to the rise in violence, but he implied that the numbers might suggest that.
"We do know that the violent crimes are increasing and the activity that we would normally see from officers seems to have decreased significantly," he said.
It's important to keep in mind that the violence is far reduced from decades ago when homicides sometimes exceeded 900 in a year. But what continues to be troubling is the fact that Chicago's level of violence far outpaces New York and Los Angeles, both more populous. The two had comparable numbers through about Jan. 23 — some 60 shot or injured, 20 of them fatally, according to the most recent numbers provided. By comparison, at that point, some 210 people had been shot or injured in Chicago, at least 33 of them fatally.
Andrew Holmes, a familiar face at shooting scenes in his work for Chicago Survivors, which assists grieving families who have lost loved ones through violence, is concerned the city will have a disaster on its hands "if we don't get a handle on this right now."
It's "very dangerous looking ahead into the spring because it's in the red zone already," he said.
Crime experts caution about making month-by-month or even year-by-year comparisons of homicides, arguing that long-term trends give a better understanding of how the level of violence in a city has changed over time.
"There's certain volatility in crime statistics, particularly homicides, where numbers can go up and down to some extent randomly and not because of any particular cause," said James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston. "So when you have a narrow time frame ... the numbers can be somewhat unreliable ... in terms of indicating a trend."
But what makes January's numbers so troubling is that the uptick in violence follows two successive years in which shootings rose by double-digits. Homicides also rose by about 12.5 percent last year over 2014.
What is driving the violence is unclear other than Chicago's unrelenting gang woes in impoverished, segregated pockets of the city's South and West sides.
Escalante acknowledged his frustration over the year's violent start. He blamed gang disputes, the easy availability of guns and the use of social media to spark slights and animosities, but he admitted the department is uncertain over the exact causes for the uptick.
"We can't put our finger on any one or two things that are driving this really big spike in violence, especially with the murders," he said. "We look at it every day, talk about it every day, trying to find where we can deploy resources better or what we can look for to try to predict the next potential shooting location."
To increase police visibility in the city's most dangerous neighborhoods, 380 officers and sergeants assigned to foot patrols on the South and West sides have been moved into police cars. That would seem to run counter to department efforts to bridge its gap with minority communities, but Escalante stressed in the interview that the change was temporary.
In recent weeks, Cook County sheriff's officers have joined with Chicago police to go after gangs and guns on the West Side.
In addition, Escalante has ordered the department's 22 district commanders to increase their home visits to known gang members as part of a project to offer them social services if they give up the gang life.
'It's gonna be a war'
Even with a few days left in the month, January had already recorded more homicides than any since at least 2000. And a forecast of an unseasonably warm final weekend of the month raised fears that the numbers could grow. | – The news out of Chicago just five days ago was encouraging: after a murder-riddled 2012, this year's murder rate had plummeted to a level not seen in 50 years. Today, the news is of a darker nature. Between Friday afternoon and Sunday, a total of 46 people were shot in the city, seven fatally, per the Tribune. (Other sources put the tally slightly lower.) The stat does represent a sort of improvement: The Tribune reports that around this time last year, those numbers were 53 and nine, respectively. And the Atlantic Wire notes that a deadlier weekend has already occurred in 2013: January closed with eight deaths. The youngest victim, 16-year-old Kevin Rivera, apparently tried to flee from a gunman on a bicycle late Saturday. The dead teen's family was just two weeks away from a move from their sometimes dangerous Hermosa neighborhood. |
LIMA (Reuters) - Prosecutors in Peru suspect that a Canadian man murdered a revered indigenous medicine woman in an Amazonian village last week before being lynched in retribution, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office said on Tuesday.
Funeral of Olivia Arevalo, an 81-year-old indigenous shaman of the Shipibo-Conibo tribe who was shot dead near her home in Ucayali, in Pucallpa, Peru April 21, 2018. REUTERS/ Hugo Enrique Alejos
Olivia Arevalo, an 81-year-old shaman of the Shipibo-Conibo tribe, was shot to death near her home in the region of Ucayali on Thursday, prompting outrage from villagers who blamed Sebastian Woodroffe, a native of Vancouver Island.
Prosecutors had initially been pursuing several potential leads into who killed Arevalo.
But their main hypotheses now is that Woodroffe murdered Arevalo because he was upset that her son had not repaid him 14,000 soles ($4,335), said Ricardo Jimenez, the head of a regional group of prosecutors.
Authorities found a document showing that Woodroffe bought a gun on April 3 from a police officer, Jimenez said, adding that the police officer is now being sought for questioning.
A witness also testified that a silver-colored pistol fell from a backpack that Woodroffe was carrying as villagers grabbed him before the lynching, Jimenez said.
“We want to see if that weapon actually existed. We haven’t found it yet but we’re looking,” Jimenez said. “With the new evidence that has appeared, he is the main suspect.”
Neither Woodroffe’s nor Arevalo’s family could be reached for comment.
Police officers carry the body of Sebastian Woodroffe, a 41-year-old Canadian citizen, who was beaten and strangled with a rope in the jungle region of Ucayali on Friday after members of an indigenous community accused him of killing a revered medicine woman, in Pucallpa, Peru April 21, 2018. REUTERS/ Hugo Enrique Alejos
Arevalo was considered a wealth of knowledge about Amazonian plants and native traditions.
Yarrow Willard, a friend of Woodroffe’s in Canada, said Woodroffe was not violent and had never used a gun. “He was a loving father and kind man who was not capable of the crimes he was accused of,” Willard said in an email.
Willard said Woodroffe had gone to Peru “seeking healing as he was feeling troubled and slightly lost.”
The case has spotlighted surging tourism in Peru’s Amazon related to the hallucinogenic plant brew ayahuasca, which has long been used by tribes in spiritual and healing rituals and is now popular among foreigners seeking vivid spiritual experiences or help with addiction.
Woodroffe traveled to Peru to learn about ayahuasca and plant medicine so he could become an addictions counselor, according to his post on the crowdfunding website Indiegogo.com.
Tests of Woodroffe’s remains are expected to determine if he fired a weapon or was intoxicated before dying. Authorities have expedited the laboratory work and results are now expected this week, instead of in more than two weeks as initially estimated, Jimenez said.
Two men sought by police for allegedly lynching Woodroffe appear to have fled, Jimenez said.
In 2015, a Canadian killed a friend in self-defense during an ayahuasca session. In 2012, an 18-year-old U.S. citizen died after taking the drug and workers at an ayahuasca retreat tried to hide his body. ||||| Image copyright AFP Image caption The body of Sebastian Woodroffe was found buried in a shallow grave
A judge in Peru has ordered the arrest of two suspects in the lynching of a 41-year-old Canadian man in the remote Amazon region last week.
A video uploaded to social media showed Sebastian Woodroffe lying in a puddle while two men put a rope around his neck and then dragged him along.
Police later found his body buried in a shallow grave.
A local prosecutor says Mr Woodroffe may have been killed because locals suspected him of murdering a healer.
Shaman's murder
The spiritual healer, 81-year-old Olivia Arévalo from the Shipibo-Conibo indigenous group, was shot dead outside her home on Thursday.
While no-one witnessed the killing and the murder weapon has not been found, her family blamed Mr Woodroffe for her murder, prosecutor Ricardo Jiménez said.
Mr Jiménez says that the family alleges that Mr Woodroffe was angry at Ms Arévalo for refusing to conduct a spiritual ceremony in which the hallucinogenic drug ayahuasca is used.
Read more about ayahuasca:
According to his own fundraising site, Mr Woodroffe wanted to change careers and become an addiction counsellor using hallucinogenic medicine.
He had travelled to Peru to do an apprenticeship with Shipibo healers, who have been using ayahuasca in their spiritual ceremonies for centuries.
Locals said he turned to Ms Arévalo for help and instruction.
Image copyright Tom Askew Image caption Olivia Arévalo was a spiritual healer as well as a rights activist
Mr Jiménez said police were also investigating a number of other possible leads in Ms Arévalo's murder, including the theory that she may have been killed by another foreigner over an unpaid debt.
Police are also still investigating who else may have been involved in Mr Woodroffe's lynching.
The video showed a number of people standing by watching the crime unfold.
Remote areas of the Amazon have a very thin police presence and crimes often go unpunished. Communities sometimes bypass the police altogether, choosing to punish those they suspect of committing crimes themselves. | – The Canadian man lynched in the Amazon last Thursday is the No. 1 suspect in the death of an octogenarian shaman, prosecutors say. Reuters reports on the new evidence that brought them to that conclusion: a silver-colored pistol prosecutor Ricardo Jimenez says Sebastian Woodroffe purchased in early April. They were told by a witness that the pistol tumbled out of the 41-year-old's backpack when locals, angry over Olivia Arevalo's death, grabbed him; he was subsequently lynched. Jimenez says no weapon has been found, but "he is the main suspect." As for a motive, Jimenez says Arevalo's son owed Woodroffe nearly $4,500, though Jimenez told the BBC Arevalo's family claims Woodroffe became enraged when Arevalo wouldn't conduct an ayahuasca ceremony for him. Meanwhile, the AP reports Peru's attorney general has ordered two suspects be arrested in connection with Woodroffe's death. It adds forensic experts are examining the Canadian's remains to see if there is any evidence of his shooting Arevalo. (This ayahuasca ceremony ended in death in 2015.) |
Planned Parenthood filed a federal court lawsuit Thursday alleging extensive criminal misconduct by the anti-abortion activists who produced undercover videos targeting the handling of fetal tissue at some Planned Parenthood clinics.
"The people behind this fraud lied and broke the law in order to spread malicious lies about Planned Parenthood," said Dawn Laguens, the organization's executive vice president. "This lawsuit exposes the elaborate, illegal conspiracy designed to block women's access to safe and legal abortion."
The anti-abortion activists, who named their group the Center for Medical Progress, began releasing a series of covertly recorded videos in July alleging that Planned Parenthood sold fetal tissue to researchers for a profit in violation of federal law.
Planned Parenthood has denied any wrongdoing, saying a handful of its clinics provided fetal tissue for research while receiving only permissible reimbursement for costs. The lawsuit says the videos were the result of numerous illegalities, including making recordings without consent, registering false identities with state agencies and violating non-disclosure agreements.
The civil lawsuit was filed on Thursday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. It seeks compensatory and punitive damages, as well as legal fees. A Planned Parenthood lawyer, Beth Parker, declined to estimate how much money would be sought, but it said the amount would include extra money spent since the videos' release on additional security for Planned Parenthood clinics.
David Daleiden, a founder of the Center for Medical Progress who oversaw the video operation, said he looked forward to confronting Planned Parenthood officials in court.
"My response is: Game on," he said in an email. "I look forward to deposing all the CEOs, medical directors, and their co-conspirators who participated in Planned Parenthood's illegal baby body parts racket."
The lawsuit alleges that Daleiden and several collaborators, including longtime anti-abortion activist Troy Newman, "engaged in a complex criminal enterprise to defraud Planned Parenthood." The suit contends that the Center for Medical Progress violated the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organization Act (known as the RICO Act), engaging in wire fraud, mail fraud, invasion of privacy, illegal secret recording and trespassing.
According to the suit, Daleiden, Newman and other defendants used aliases, obtained fake government IDs and formed a fake tissue procurement company, Biomax, in order to gain access to private medical conferences and health care centers, and to tape private professional conversations of medical providers.
The videos provoked an outcry from the anti-abortion movement, and prompted numerous investigations of Planned Parenthood by Republican-led committees in Congress and by GOP-led state governments. Thus far, none of the investigations has turned up wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood in regard to fetal tissue research, but Republicans in Congress and in several states are seeking to cut off government funding to the organization.
The videos created a "poisonous environment" in which Planned Parenthood staffers were targeted with hate mail and death threats, said Parker, the organization's lawyer. She cited the attack in November on a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado in which three people were killed; the man arrested in the shooting depicted himself in court as a "warrior for the babies."
Planned Parenthood is the leading abortion provider in the United States, and also provides a range of other health services, including cancer screenings, contraceptives and testing for sexually transmitted diseases. ||||| Planned Parenthood filed a racketeering lawsuit against anti-abortion activist David Daleiden and his Center for Medical Progress group on Thursday, calling the group "a complex criminal enterprise conceived and executed by anti-abortion extremists."
In July, the CMP began releasing edited videos of conversations with Planned Parenthood doctors, secretly recorded by anti-abortion activists posing as medical tissue firm officials. The videos claimed they exposed illegal sales of fetal tissues by Planned Parenthood to a tissue bank called Stem Express, as well as illegal abortion procedures.
Planned Parenthood denied the claims, which sparked Congressional hearings and investigations in 10 states, and released a report calling the videos deceptive. Now the women's health organization, which performs about one-third of all abortions nationwide, is filing suit in the Northern California federal district against the CMP.
"The express aim of the enterprise — which stretched over years and involved fake companies, fake identifications, and large-scale illegal taping — was a to demonize Planned Parenthood," the lawsuit says.
"Planned Parenthood provides high-quality compassionate care and has done nothing wrong," said Kathy Kneer, president of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, in a briefing on the lawsuit.
"Game on," Daleiden told BuzzFeed News by email. "I look forward to taking the depositions of all the Planned Parenthood CEOs who profited off of their business relationship with StemExpress."
Racketeering lawsuits typically ask for triple damages, and the lawsuit asks for payments for Planned Parenthood's increased security costs and penalties for violation of confidentiality agreements. Three people died in a shooting at a Colorado clinic in November, and Planned Parenthood cited death threats as a result of the videos.
In addition to Daleiden, Planned Parenthood named prominent anti-abortion activist Troy Newman of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue in the suit, as well as some CMP activists whose names were previously undisclosed by the group. | – The undercover "sting" videos targeting Planned Parenthood were part of a "complex criminal enterprise" created by "anti-abortion extremists," according to a federal lawsuit filed by the organization. The lawsuit filed Thursday against an anti-abortion group called the Center for Medical Progress accuses the group of committing fraud and breaking racketeering laws to obtain videos of Planned Parenthood employees discussing the transfer of organs from aborted fetuses, Reuters reports. The lawsuit states that the group's activities lasted years and involved the use of fake government IDs, the creation of a fake company, and "large-scale illegal taping" as part of an effort to "demonize Planned Parenthood." "The people behind this fraud lied and broke the law in order to spread malicious lies," Planned Parenthood executive vice president Dawn Laguens tells the AP. "This lawsuit exposes the elaborate, illegal conspiracy designed to block women's access to safe and legal abortion." She says no Planned Parenthood staff were involved in any wrongdoing. "My response is: Game on," Center for Medical Progress founder David Daleiden tells BuzzFeed, adding that he is looking forward to "taking the depositions of all the Planned Parenthood CEOs" that he claims profited from tissue sales. The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages, and Planned Parenthood lawyer Beth Parker tells the AP that the amount will include the cost of extra security for clinics. |
Germany—the 2014 World Cup champion—is out. Superstar rivals Lionel Messi of Argentina and Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal have been eliminated, too, as has Egypt’s forward Mohamed Salah.
Arguably, the only widely-known soccer player remaining in the 2018 World Cup is Brazil’s Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior. And he’s famous for more than just his deft skill, but also for his hairstyles and dramatic antics on the field.
His rolling on the field during a game against Serbia, after being knocked by an opponent, has become both a meme and a hashtag.
KFC of South Africa is trying to capitalize on this World Cup notoriety in a recent commercial that appears to mock Neymar’s rolling. The ad shows a soccer play hitting the ground and then dramatically rolling off the field and through town before getting up to order KFC.
#NeymarRolling is all the rage these days. Absolutely unreal advertisement from KFC South Africa 😂🤣pic.twitter.com/5MqGJkDB6L — Jack Grimse (@JackGrimse) July 5, 2018
Diving, the term for soccer players trying to trick referees into thinking that they’re injured, is a controversial tactic aimed at getting referees to call fouls, which can lead to penalty kicks, or yellow or red cards. Neymar’s acting has led to scorn, especially after Brazil’s victories against Serbia and then Mexico. (The Atlantic argues, however, that “Neymar’s trickery deserves absolution, because it is the very source of his greatness.”)
Neymar and Brazil are favored by some to win the World Cup; they’ll face off against Belgium on Friday.
Whether Neymar or the South African KFC commercial will ultimately succeed is unclear. But they’ve certainly captured our attention. ||||| The KFC ad could be making fun of a lot of soccer players but Neymar has undoubtedly drawn the most conversation for his antics on the pitch.
JOHANNESBURG – Who will win the 2018 Soccer World Cup? Is it England, Belgium or is it Brazil?
The World Cup has been on everyone’s lips lately but it’s Neymar's elaborate diving, rolling and flopping that has been dominating conversations.
Brazil’s superstar has spent plenty of time on the ground writhing in agony, some warranted and some maybe not so much.
At the start of the tournament in In June, KFC South Africa released a funny advertisement depicting a soccer player being tackled then dramatically falling to the ground and holding on to his knee.
The player then starts throwing up his hands, flopping and rolling ... until he gets to a KFC!
At the same time, Twitter has come up with the hashtag #NeymarChallenge where different gifs and memes have been shared. ||||| It's not often that a commercial can be super relevant and timely, but somehow, the team behind advertising for KFC in South Africa was ready to turn a great World Cup moment into a bit of marketing genius.
About a week ago in a match between Brazil and Serbia, Neymar provided one of the funniest and most creative flops in recent memory as he rolled on the ground multiple times after contact knocked him off his feet while he was going out of bounds.
KFC decided to put its own spin on Neymar's move and what came of it was one of the most brilliant topical commercials there has been in a while.
Check out Neymar's initial tumble and the commercial below.
#NeymarRolling is all the rage these days. Absolutely unreal advertisement from KFC South Africa 😂🤣pic.twitter.com/5MqGJkDB6L — Jack Grimse (@JackGrimse) July 5, 2018
Neymar and Brazil face Belgium in the World Cup quartfinals Friday at 2 p.m. Hopefully he will provide us with another classic viral moment, either through a flop or through his play. ||||| The ESPN FC guys have their say on Neymar after Juan Carlos Osorio hit out at the Brazil star for "clowning around" against his Mexico side. (5:44)
The postmatch words of Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio, criticising Neymar for his simulation and exaggeration, were clearly in part motivated by the bitterness of the 2-0 defeat to Brazil.
One moment of Oscar-worthy hysterics aside, the Brazilian star was relatively restrained in his antics against Mexico. Even so, while his flashes of immense talent tipped the balance Brazil's way, so much of the worldwide reaction -- in both conventional and social media -- focused on the behaviour of the man in the famous yellow No. 10 shirt.
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This is unfortunate. Brazil vs. Mexico was a fine spectacle, with both teams seeking to impose their game on the other, just as things should be in a knockout match at the World Cup. But given the extreme reactions that Neymar provokes it is also inevitable, and it is an issue that is unlikely to go away, either during this tournament or in Neymar's career. He can be modified -- it is worth speculating that coach Tite is striving to do this behind the scenes -- but he is unlikely to be fundamentally changed. Neymar is what he is, and football has an uncanny capacity to bring personality traits to the surface.
First, there is Neymar the person. He often comes across as a pleasant and engaging young man. But there is also something of the permanent adolescent about him, a boy prince with an occasional tendency to appear as a brat. He is, as his shirt makes clear, Neymar Junior, a 26-year-old man who still defines himself as a son.
Is he the spoiled centre of a business empire his father has created around him? Certainly there are Brazilian journalists -- as I can attest from doing years of TV programmes with them -- who have little time for him. As one said to me recently: "Nothing is allowed to come in the way of his happiness."
Those of this school of thought were appalled by his tears at the end of the Costa Rica match, with which Brazil's entire World Cup campaign, they argue, is reduced to a drama that is exclusively about Neymar.
On the other hand, he communicates very well and naturally with millions of younger people. It might well be fair to see him as a powerful symbol of an overprotected, over-parented generation.
He is, of course, a quite magnificent footballer too. So naturally gifted is Neymar that, at his best, everyone else on the field appears to be playing in slow motion. Superbly balanced, he is capable of endless improvisation at pace, and he strikes the ball off either foot with power, venom and precision.
Neymar ROBERT GHEMENT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
But as a footballer, too, he is a product of his environment. Over recent decades, the Brazilian game has adopted a criteria for fouls that is out of step with the rest of the world. Club sides from Brazil often have a problem when playing in international competitions. They are used to minimal physical contact being deemed a foul. One former Brazilian referee, Leonardo Gaciba, once told me that he used a different criteria for domestic games than what he applied in the Copa Libertadores, South America's Champions League. In Brazil, he would blow for everything.
Neymar has taken this to extremes. It is worth noting that he is not an old-fashioned street footballer. Growing up in such informal circumstances is an education for slightly built, skilful players. A basic survival skill is the knowledge of when to go for the dribble and when to move the ball on quickly. This is not Neymar's story. He is at the forefront of a modern, more hot-housed generation, who have come through futsal.
As Neymar grew up, there was always a referee present, and the use of the officials to gain free kicks became his self-defence strategy. This makes him very hard to referee.
Like all highly talented players in the history of the game, he is much more sinned against than sinning. Opponents are always out to stop him applying his skills to the game. The problem is that his reaction often takes him outside the codes of football, in that he can appear to believe that the game is a noncontact sport and that any contact on him is automatically a foul. Seen in this light, not all of his simulation is actually simulation. He genuinely believes that he has been fouled.
Neymar would also seem to have an extremely low pain threshold. It is fair to assume that he simply could not have stayed in the game at the highest level before the 1994 World Cup, when FIFA launched a crackdown on the tackle from behind. He would surely not have been able to withstand the constant punishment that was dished out, for example, to Diego Maradona.
Football clearly gains from the extra protection afforded to contemporary stars. It also gains from the presence of a player as extraordinarily talented as Neymar, but it would gain even more without his excesses. However, those excesses are part of who he is, and while they can be limited, it is hard to imagine their eradication. | – Neymar's histrionics on the soccer field have become legendary, but now they may also prove lucrative—at least for KFC South Africa, if its latest ad draws people into its restaurants. Fortune reports on the chain's minute-long spot, which shows a soccer player flailing and rolling after he falls during a play. He rolls right out of the stadium, through town, and right to the door of KFC, where he's suddenly able to stand to place his order. See it here. The spot doesn't reference Neymar by name, but the Brazilian superstar has been known to do some theatrical rolls of his own—see here. Sports Illustrated and USA Today think KFC is clearly mocking Neymar, though EWN suggests the ad came out at the start of the tournament, prompting it to ask, "Did KFC Predict Neymar Flopping"? |
Senators have voted to pass the federal government's bill legalizing recreational marijuana by a vote of 52-29, with two abstentions, paving the way for a fully legal cannabis market within eight to 12 weeks.
"I'm feeling just great," said Sen. Tony Dean, who sponsored the bill in the Senate. "We've just witnessed a historic vote for Canada. The end of 90 years of prohibition. Transformative social policy, I think. A brave move on the part of the government."
Dean said he thought the Senate functioned well throughout the process and he was proud of the work the Red Chamber did.
"Now we can start to tackle some of the harms of cannabis. We can start to be proactive in public education. We'll see the end of criminalization and we can start addressing Canada's $7-billion illegal market. These are good things for Canada."
It’s been too easy for our kids to get marijuana - and for criminals to reap the profits. Today, we change that. Our plan to legalize & regulate marijuana just passed the Senate. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PromiseKept?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PromiseKept</a> —@JustinTrudeau
Initially, the government had planned for the bill to be passed by both houses of Parliament in time for retail sales to begin by July 1. That timeline was pushed back after the Senate requested more time to review the bill.
Now that the bill has passed, it's up to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet to choose the actual date when the legalization of recreational marijuana becomes law of the land. Bill C-45 comes with a provisional buffer period of eight to 12 weeks to give provinces time to prepare for sales of recreational marijuana.
The Senate and the House of Commons battled over the bill for months.
The Senate had proposed 46 amendments to the Cannabis Act. The Liberal government rejected 13 of those proposed changes last week — including one provision that would have affirmed the provinces' right to ban home cultivation of marijuana.
Quebec and Manitoba both wanted to forbid their citizens from growing recreational marijuana at home, even after cannabis is legalized federally. Nunavut was looking to ban home cultivation as well but reversed course on the issue last week, when it removed the ban from its territorial Cannabis Act.
The Senate suggested the federal government affirm the provinces' right to do so in the Cannabis Act.
"We have a bill that has an overarching goal to reduce the marijuana use among young people in this country and what it does right off the get go is normalizes it," said Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos, former Speaker of the Senate.
"There's nothing in this bill that indicates to me that we're tackling the problem, which is increased marijuana use among young people."
News of the bill's passage drew immediate response from some of the government's critics on social media.
Sen. Peter Harder, the government representative in the Senate, laughs in response to a reporter's question about his outfit, after the vote on Tuesday. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)
"One of the strong recommendations by experts was that we ensure personal cultivation of four plants at home," Trudeau told reporters last week.
"We understand there are questions and concerns about this, and we understand also that it will be important to study the impacts of what we're doing and whether there can be changes made in three years, but we need to move forward on better protecting our communities."
A motion was moved today that would have seen the amendment returned to the bill, but senators defeated it by a vote of 45-35.
Some amendments stripped away
Another significant Senate amendment that was stripped from the bill would have created a public registry of investors in cannabis companies. That amendment was crafted by Conservative Sen. Claude Carignan to keep criminal gangs from using offshore tax havens to invest in Canada's cannabis industry.
Sad day for Canada’s kids. <a href="https://t.co/y9CKJo7054">https://t.co/y9CKJo7054</a> —@LindaFrum
Another significant Senate amendment quashed by the government would have banned the distribution of branded "swag" by pot companies, such as T-shirts, hats and phone cases that display a company logo.
Independent Sen. André Pratte, who disagrees with the government's decision to force provinces to accept home cultivation, said he was angry the bill passed without the major amendments posed by the Senate.
"Of course I am disappointed, and also a little bit angry that they didn't take more time and of course did not accept the amendment. We believe that it was a reasonable and flexible solution to the problem," he said.
"[The Liberals] have to decide at one point; what kind of Senate do they really want," Pratte said. "Do they want a really independent, modern Senate? If so, well, they have to take our amendments into consideration seriously."
Sen. Tony Dean, who sponsored Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act, speaks to reporters after the vote. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)
On Monday of this week, 205 MPs voted to send the bill, minus 13 of the 46 Senate amendments, back to the Red Chamber.
NDP MPs supported the bill, while those on the Conservative benches voted against it. ||||| OTTAWA -- The Senate has voted to pass Bill C-45, the government’s legislation to legalize cannabis, meaning that recreational marijuana will soon be legal across Canada.
Some parliamentarians are calling it an "historic" moment in this country, while others are warning of the work left to be done: raising public awareness about the implications of this incoming major social policy change.
After more than a year of intensive study in both the House and Senate, the bill cleared the final legislative hurdle Tuesday evening, passing by a vote of 52 to 29 with two abstentions from the Independent Senators from Quebec: Sen. Marie-Françoise Mégie and Sen. Rosa Galvez.
The vote was on a motion from Sen. Peter Harder, the Government Representative in the Senate, to accept the government’s position on the Senate's amendments and pass the bill as is. It was all that was left in a short round of legislative ping-pong spurred by the upper chamber amending the government legislation.
The House of Commons will be notified of the Senate's decision. After that, all that is left will be Royal Assent to officially pass the bill and for the government to determine when the new law will come into force.
Leader of the Independent Senators Group Sen. Yuen Pau Woo told reporters after the vote that the mammoth study of Bill C-45 was “a bit of a stress test” for the increasingly Independent Senate.
He said now, the work will have to begin on implementing the legislation, and making sure Canadians understand what this new regime means.
"We are now moving where in the legalized industry we have the chance to push out the illicit elements, we have the chance to do research on cannabis, we have the chance to properly educate our young people on the harms of cannabis use, and all of this should be the focus of the whole country now," Sen. Woo said.
The legislation -- an electoral promise of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party --allows adults in Canada to legally possess and use small amounts of recreational cannabis. It sets out parameters around the production, possession, safety standards, distribution, and sale of the drug. It also creates new Criminal Code offences for selling marijuana to minors. The proposed federal law spells out that it will be illegal for anyone younger than 18 to buy pot, but allows for provinces and territories to set a higher minimum age.
In a tweet, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, who was the bill's sponsor, and first introduced the legislation in April 2017, said it was "an historic milestone for progressive policy in Canada."
The federal government is expected to formally respond to the bill's passage Wednesday morning in the House of Commons foyer.
Last week, the government announced it would be accepting most but not all of the Senate's more than 40 proposed amendments to Bill C-45. Among the 13 amendments that the federal Liberals rejected were the proposal to allow the provinces and territories to ban home-grown marijuana, and a proposed change to prohibit pot producers from distributing branded merchandise.
Earlier in the evening, an attempt by Conservative Sen. Claude Carignan to insist on an amendment to let provinces ban marijuana home cultivation, failed.
Reacting to his effort to push back on the government’s rejection of the change, Carignan said his attempt was to give the provinces a right he believes they should have, in an effort to circumvent what is now likely: the matter winding up in court.
Senators spent much of Tuesday offering their final thoughts on the legislation, with some expressing disappointment and frustration over MPs not accepting the Senate's changes, and raising remaining concerns with the legislation as it stands.
Others argued that the upper chamber had done its due diligence and that it was time to concede to the will of the elected House of Commons, and pass the legislation.
In calling the vote, Senate Speaker George Furey had a slip of the tongue and called “all those in flavour” instead of “all those in favour,” sending snickers through the chamber. "It's getting late," Sen. Furey said.
Speaking with reporters following the vote, Sen. Harder said he was finally pausing after the manoeuvrings and the procedural wrangling to acknowledge that after a very lengthy debate, Canada is on the cusp of legalization after nearly a century of prohibition.
"It is a step in the right direction and what we now need to do is to insure as we move forward in implementation, that everybody plays their role, that everybody understands the obligations that they have and uses the opportunity of the next number of weeks to inform themselves of what a legal cannabis market means for them, their family, their communities, and the opportunities and risks that it poses," said Sen. Harder.
So is marijuana legal? No.
The bill still needs to receive Royal Assent, which is expected as soon as tomorrow. That is the final step -- essentially the Crown approving the bill. It's overseen by Canada's representative, the Governor General.
Once it passes, the government is expected to declare the date that legalization will come into force and be applicable.
On CTV's Question Period, parliamentary secretary and the federal government’s point-person on pot, Bill Blair said he expects the date to be some time this September.
That window of time between when the bill passes and when it becomes federal law is to allow for the provinces, territories, municipalities, police forces, and other stakeholders to make sure their piece of the pot pie is operating in accordance with the new rules.
Blair said the date they decide on will be informed by discussions with their provincial and territorial counterparts, which have been given the ability to set regulations in their jurisdictions as to how a legalized marijuana regime will operate.
What you need to know:
Many of the decisions around how legalized marijuana is sold and used will be up to the provinces and territories. Here is what you need to know about what will be allowed:
The federally mandated public possession limit of 30 grams of dried cannabis has been maintained across the country, with most jurisdictions opting to keep their legal marijuana-smoking ages in line with those for drinking alcohol.
Bill C-45 allows individuals to grow up to four marijuana plants per residence, though some provinces, like Manitoba and Quebec, plan to ban home cultivation.
Provincial and territorial plans vary widely on whether you’ll be able to smoke in public.
Provinces and territories also differ on whether pot shops will be publicly or privately owned. For those opting for publicly owned stores, these will be operated by provincial Crown corporations that sell liquor. In some cases, provinces have even created subsidiaries of these companies with names. Unless otherwise noted, these will be standalone stores wholly separate from those that sell alcohol.
While dried cannabis and cannabis oil -- both of which will be sold in 2018 -- can be used to make edible products at home, the federal government has said that packaged edible products won’t be commercially available.
For a comprehensive rundown of how each province is approaching legalized marijuana, click here.
Outcome of drug-impaired driving bill pending
Bill C-45 was introduced alongside Bill C-46 which specifically deals with impaired driving. The government has hoped throughout the process that the two bills would pass in close succession.
This legislation proposes changes to the impaired driving laws to give police new powers to conduct roadside intoxication tests, including oral fluid drug tests, and would make it illegal to drive within two hours of being over the legal limit.
However, the Senate amended Bill C-46 to remove the provision that allowed police to conduct random roadside alcohol tests. The Senate also sought to legally downgrade impaired driving offences so that they are not classified as “serious criminality” in order to protect foreign nationals and permanent residents from losing their statuses or becoming inadmissible to Canada after such a conviction.
On Monday, the government gave notice of its position on the Senate changes, stating that it “respectfully disagrees” with these two changes. However, in the motion the government indicates it is willing to accept a handful of other Senate amendments to the legislation.
The House has yet to send this message back to the Senate but once that occurs, Bill C-46 is in for a similar final debate and vote, as seen with Bill C-45, where senators will have to decide whether they insist, or accept and pass the bill.
The House of Commons is scheduled to adjourn for the summer on Friday, June 22, but the Senate is set to sit for a week longer. There is always the potential of an early adjournment, or the opportunity to sit longer in exceptional circumstances.
Here's a recap of the final moments of debate in the Senate. Using our app? Touch here to see the recap below. ||||| OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says recreational marijuana will become legal in Canada on Oct. 17.
Trudeau made the proclamation during question period Wednesday, saying the provinces wanted more time to implement the new regime than originally anticipated.
"We heard from provinces and territories who told us they needed more time to transition to this new framework, so our government will continue to work in full partnership with them, to ensure the smooth and orderly implementation of this new law across Canada," Trudeau told reporters during an end-of-session news conference.
Trudeau said that though legalization will be a process and not "a single-day event," he expects that as of the date the new regime comes into force, all stakeholders will be ready to roll.
This announcement comes after a historic vote in the Senate Tuesday night to pass Bill C-45, the government’s legislation to legalize cannabis.
After more than a year of intensive study in both the House and Senate, the bill cleared the final legislative hurdle Tuesday evening, passing by a vote of 52 to 29 with two abstentions.
For a full accounting of how things unfolded ahead of the vote, including a final failed push to insist on allowing provinces to ban home cultivation, click here.
The bill still needs to receive Royal Assent, which is scheduled for Thursday morning.
Oct. 17 will be the day that the major social policy change will come into force.
On CTV’s Power Play, Bill Blair, the government’s point person on pot, said the date was extended after discussions with the provinces and territories. Blair said because they have been given the ability to set regulations in their jurisdictions as to how a legalized marijuana regime will operate, this extra time will allow for the final set up of retail establishments and get online systems up and running.
"We're very appreciative of the effort everybody's making, but I think Canadians expect us to do this in a responsible way and that’s what we’re aiming to do," Blair said.
Mark Zekulin, president of Canopy Growth, told CTV’s Power Play host Don Martin that while they would have been ready for a July implementation, "we'll take the breathing room."
One of the biggest outlying concerns is public education about what the new law allows for and what it doesn’t.
Speaking about Bill C-45 passing, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould cautioned Canadians that the current prohibition and laws about cannabis will remain in place until the date of implementation, and urged people to follow the law until then.
For a comprehensive rundown of how each province is approaching legalized marijuana, click here.
The legislation -- an electoral promise Trudeau and the Liberal Party --allows adults in Canada to legally possess and use small amounts of recreational cannabis. It sets out parameters around the production, possession, safety standards, distribution, and sale of the drug. It also creates new Criminal Code offences for selling marijuana to minors. The proposed federal law spells out that it will be illegal for anyone younger than 18 to buy pot, but allows for provinces and territories to set a higher minimum age.
As for the rejected Senate amendment to allow provinces to ban growing marijuana at home Wilson-Raybould said the federal government does not intend to challenge the provinces that plan to move ahead with an outright prohibition on pot plants at home, saying it’ll be up to individuals to challenge the provincial laws if they want to be able to do as the federal law says, and grow up to four plants.
Senate passes companion drug-driving bill
On Wednesday afternoon Bill C-46, the impaired driving bill that was introduced alongside Bill C-45, also passed.
The Senate agreed to pass the bill as-is and not insist on its amendments.
This legislation proposes changes to the impaired driving laws to give police new powers to conduct roadside intoxication tests, including oral fluid drug tests, and would make it illegal to drive within two hours of being over the legal limit.
The Senate had wanted to remove the provision that allowed police to conduct random roadside alcohol tests, but the House of Commons sent a message to the Upper Chamber saying it would be rejecting that change, despite accepting others.
The government had hoped throughout the process that the two bills would pass in close succession. ||||| Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today that Canadians will be able to consume marijuana recreationally without criminal penalties starting on Oct. 17, 2018 — many months later than the government's initial target date.
"One of the things that we heard very clearly from the provinces is that they need a certain amount of time to get their bricks and mortar stores — their online sales — ready. Producers need time to be able to actually prepare for a regimented and successful implementation of the regime ... This is something that we want to get right," Trudeau told reporters at a press conference held today before the House of Commons rises for its summer recess.
"By giving the provinces more time to ensure that they are fully ready for the day of coming into force of this legislation, it will be a smooth success in all the ways that we can hope for."
The Prime Minister spoke to reporters in the National Press Theatre on Wednesday 0:45
While the federal government was responsible for the bill that will ultimately legalize recreational marijuana possession, home growing and sales to adults — by dismantling key aspects of the Criminal Code that ensured prohibition for 95 years — the practical details of implementing legalization have been left largely to the provinces and territories.
As is common in the Canadian system of federalism, each province has taken a different approach — and some are more prepared than others. New Brunswick, for example, has already built its first retail storefront, while Nunavut only passed its legal framework on Tuesday.
The government has long said there would be a buffer of eight to 12 weeks between the bill's passage and full legalization to allow provinces to get their systems up and running to sell recreational marijuana from storefronts.
The Oct. 17 date is 17 weeks away.
Trudeau said three "big" provinces, including Quebec, asked for more time to put their sales regimes in place, making a longer runway for legalization necessary.
The Senate last night passed a contentious bill to legalize pot — but Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould warned Canadians today that they won't be allowed to legally light up until the aforementioned date.
Senators passed C-45, the federal government's bill to legalize recreational marijuana, by a 52-29 vote with two abstentions.
"Cannabis for non-medical use is not legal yet. The law still remains the law," Wilson-Raybould said during a news conference held on Parliament Hill before Trudeau announced the effective date when legal recreational cannabis will be available.
"The date that cannabis will become legal will be announced soon. Until then, I urge all Canadians to continue to follow the existing law until the Cannabis Act comes into force."
Calling it a "wholesale shift" in how the country deals with marijuana, the minister said the legalization approach replaces a failed model that made organized criminals rich and put vulnerable children at risk.
Upon coming into force, adults in Canada will be legally allowed to:
purchase fresh or dried cannabis, cannabis oil, plants and seeds for cultivation from either a provincially or territorially regulated retailer, or — where this option is not available — directly from a federally licensed producer;
possess up to 30 grams of dried legal cannabis or its equivalent in public;
share up to 30 grams (or its equivalent) of legal cannabis and legal cannabis products with other adults;
cultivate up to four plants at home (four plants total per household); and
prepare varying types of cannabis products (e.g., edibles) at home for personal use provided that no dangerous organic solvents are used in the process.
Source: The Government of Canada
Wilson-Raybould called the legislative journey that ended with the bill's passage last night "historic." Canada has become only the second nation in the world — after the small South American country of Uruguay — to fully legalize the drug for recreational purposes nationwide.
Timeframe coming soon
The government initially floated July 1 as the date for retail sales to begin but the timeline was pushed back as senators debated the bill at length.
Until the bill receives royal assent — the last procedural step of the legislative process — it will be illegal to transport cannabis. So the federal government believes it will take weeks to formally establish a distribution system that will allow producers to transport their product to provincially-run stores or, depending on the province, to private retailers.
Employees will have to be hired, screened and trained on the sale of the drug, too, meaning retail operations cannot materialize overnight.
Minister of Justice Jody Wilson-Raybould joins Power & Politics to discuss the passing of the government’s legal cannabis bill and the decision to set Oct. 17 as the official day of legalization. 8:42
In anticipation of legalization, Wilson-Raybould said the government strengthened the laws on alcohol- and drug-impaired driving through Bill C-46 — which passed the Senate Wednesday after much debate.
The law will allow for mandatory roadside impaired driving checks on the country's roads — something the government believes will deter driving while high. (The government is still working on approving devices to conduct such roadside drug tests.) Still, the justice minister reminded Canadians that driving under the influence is already a criminal offence.
When asked Wednesday if the government was considering pardons for Canadians convicted of marijuana-related offences, Wilson-Raybould said such a question was "premature."
"I think, as has already been stated, the law remains in effect until it's repealed and replaced through Bill [C-45] and quite frankly any discussion of those records can't take place until that process is complete," she said.
"We're working hard to do the important work of repealing the existing legislation, replacing it with a comprehensive system of regulatory control ... It will then be possible for the government to turn its mind to the issue of the existing records or any disparity that exists."
The NDP has signalled it will be pushing the government for some sort of "pot amnesty" with pardons for those convicted of cannabis possession offences.
No plan to challenge provinces
The Senate had proposed 46 amendments to the Cannabis Act. The Liberal government rejected 13 of those proposed changes last week (arguably the most consequential amendments, since those the government accepted were generally technical in nature), including one provision that would have affirmed the provinces' and territories' right to ban home cultivation of marijuana.
Quebec, Manitoba and Nunavut want to ban home cultivation. Today, Wilson-Raybould said the bill provides a "framework" and that it's not the federal government's intention to challenge provincial laws.
She noted that a resident could challenge any province that moves to ban home-growing, though. In March, while appearing before a Senate committee, Wilson-Raybould said the federal government wouldn't stop provinces from banning homegrown pot — but if a citizen decided to take the province or territory to court over the issue, the feds wouldn't be silent.
"This is federal legislation and we fundamentally support our legislation and it would be incumbent upon us to defend it," she told the committee.
Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard told reporters Wednesday that his government may launch a court challenge to assert its control over home cultivation.
"What the federal government has done covers the Criminal Code — there is no dispute around that. But we are convinced that we have full jurisdiction to regulate other matters, such as distribution and home growing of cannabis," he said.
He said it was a shame the government did not heed the advice of the Senate on home cultivation.
"This is what [senators] are there for, to improve bills before they are adopted. I regret that this was not taken up by the federal government." | – Canadian lawmakers have taken the final step toward legalizing recreational marijuana—and it will become official as soon as Queen Elizabeth II's representative signs off on it. A bill ending the country's 95-year prohibition on cannabis passed Canada's Senate by a vote of 52 to 29, CTV reports. After royal assent is granted—which could happen as soon as Wednesday—the government will set a date for the new law, Bill C-45, to come into force. The bill grants provinces a "buffer period" of eight to 12 weeks to prepare for legal marijuana sales, meaning Canadians over 18 could be able to buy legal pot as soon as September, the CBC reports. Canadians will also be allowed to grow small amounts of pot for recreational use. Independent Sen. Tony Dean, the bill's Senate sponsor, said he was feeling "great," Global News reports. "We've just witnessed a historic vote for Canada. The end of 90 years of prohibition," he said. He added that it is now time to start addressing the harms of cannabis and the $7 billion illegal market, an approach echoed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. "It’s been too easy for our kids to get marijuana - and for criminals to reap the profits," he tweeted. "Today, we change that." The bill makes Canada only the second country, after Uruguay, to legalize recreational use of cannabis nationwide, reports the BBC. (Canadian pot growers started ramping up production last year.) |
FILE - This Wednesday, May 23, 2018 satellite file image provided by DigitalGlobe, shows the Punggye-ri test site in North Korea. North Korea has carried out what it says is the demolition of its nuclear... (Associated Press)
PUNGGYE-RI, North Korea (AP) — North Korea carried out what it said is the demolition of its nuclear test site Thursday, setting off a series of explosions over several hours in the presence of foreign journalists.
The explosions at the nuclear test site deep in the mountains of the North's sparsely populated northeast were centered on three tunnels into the underground site and a number of observation towers in the surrounding area.
The planned closing was previously announced by leader Kim Jong Un ahead of his planned summit with U.S. President Donald Trump next month.
The North's decision to close the Punggye-ri nuclear test site has generally been seen as a welcome gesture by Kim to set a positive tone ahead of the summit. Even so, it is not an irreversible move and would need to be followed by many more significant measures to meet Trump's demands for real denuclearization.
By bringing in the foreign media, mainly television networks, the North is apparently hoping to have images of the closing — including explosions to collapse tunnel entrances — broadcast around the world. The group included an Associated Press Television crew.
The North did not invite international inspectors to the ceremony, which limits its value as a serious concession. ||||| North Korea has said it wants to achieve "peace" after Sky News witnessed the apparent demolition of its Punggye-ri nuclear test site.
Asia correspondent Tom Cheshire was the only British broadcaster invited to watch a series of explosions at the facility ahead of planned talks between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
North Korea state media claimed the site had been completely dismantled in the blasts "to ensure the transparency of discontinuance of nuclear test".
Describing the explosions, Cheshire said: "We hiked up into the mountains and watched the detonation from about 500 metres away.
"They counted it down - three, two, one.
"There was a huge explosion, you could feel it. Dust came at you, the heat came at you. It was extremely loud.
"It blew an observation cabin made out of wood to complete smithereens."
Image: A satellite image of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site before the explosions
The deputy director of the North Korea Nuclear Weapons Institute told Sky News that the destruction of the facility had been "conducted with high levels of transparency" in a bid to bring "peace and stability" to the Korean peninsula and the world.
The unnamed official added: "The discontinuance of nuclear tests is an important process in moving towards global nuclear disarmament and we will continue to join hands with all peace-loving people in building a peaceful world, a new independent world where the dreams and ideals of humanity are realised."
A group of about 20 foreign journalists invited on the trip had been given a briefing by the official who shared "unprecedented detail" of North Korea's nuclear programme, Cheshire said.
:: What it's like to be a foreign journalist in North Korea
1:03 Video: What it's like to touch down in North Korea
The group had travelled 12 hours overnight in a train with blacked out windows before driving an hour in the mountains through military checkpoints to arrive at Punggye-ri.
They were shown the northern tunnel where North Korea have launched five nuclear weapons to date, including a suspected hydrogen bomb in September 2017.
Doors to the tunnel were "theatrically rigged" with plastic explosives and "wires everywhere", Cheshire said.
"It was all rather spectacular," he added."Huge explosions. Lots of dust."
Image: Kim Jong Un has pledged not to stage more nuclear tests
North Korea has insisted it will not give up nuclear weapons unilaterally ahead of a planned summit with Mr Trump, scheduled for 12 June in Singapore.
But the US president has said it is the North that has to meet the conditions for the talks to go ahead.
Pyongyang has hit out at claims that North Korea may end up like Libya if it does not move forward quickly and irreversibly with concrete measures to get rid of its nuclear weapons.
Choe Son Hui, a vice minister of foreign affairs, criticised the "ignorant" and "stupid" comments made by US Vice President Mike Pence in an interview with Fox News.
Libya gave up its programme at an early stage, only to see its longtime dictator overthrown and brutally killed years later. | – North Korea carried out what it said is the demolition of its nuclear test site Thursday, setting off a series of explosions over several hours in the presence of foreign journalists. The explosions at the nuclear test site deep in the mountains of the North's sparsely populated northeast were centered on three tunnels into the underground site and a number of observation towers in the surrounding area, reports the AP. The planned closing was previously announced by Kim Jong Un ahead of his planned summit with President Trump next month. Sky News correspondent Tom Cheshire was on hand, and described it thusly: "We hiked up into the mountains and watched the detonation from about 500 meters away. ... There was a huge explosion, you could feel it. Dust came at you, the heat came at you. It was extremely loud." The North's decision to close the Punggye-ri nuclear test site has generally been seen as a welcome gesture by Kim to set a positive tone ahead of the summit. Even so, it is not an irreversible move and would need to be followed by many more significant measures to meet Trump's demands for real denuclearization. By bringing in the foreign media, mainly television networks, the North is apparently hoping to have images of the closing—including explosions to collapse tunnel entrances—broadcast around the world. The group included an AP television crew. The North did not invite international inspectors to the ceremony, which limits its value as a serious concession. (Pyongyang is apparently all over the place on Thursday.) |
Story highlights NSC confirms Peter Kassig, American shown on video, is being held by ISIS
ISIS claims to have beheaded another Westerner
Video appears to show the killing of Alan Henning, a British aid worker
A short video released by ISIS on Friday shows the apparent beheading of British aid worker Alan Henning, with the executioner blaming the death on the United Kingdom for joining the U.S.-led bombing campaign against the group.
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Before he is killed, Henning speaks to the camera, referencing the British Parliament's decision to participate in coalition of more than 40 countries who have banded together to go after the so-called Islamic State terror group in Iraq and Syria.
At the end of the video, ISIS shows American aid worker Peter Kassig and threatens his life.
There is no reason to believe the video is not authentic, a U.S. intelligence official told CNN, adding that American officials are studying it.
"The brutal murder of Alan Henning by ISIL shows just how barbaric and repulsive these terrorists are," UK Prime Minister David Cameron said, referring to the group also known as ISIS.
"Alan had gone to Syria to help get aid to people of all faiths in their hour of need," Cameron said. "The fact that he was taken hostage when trying to help others and now murdered demonstrates that there are no limits to the depravity of these ISIL terrorists."
The news of Henning's beheading comes just days after Britain joined the coalition. UK jets began flying reconnaissance flights over Iraq a week ago, and on Tuesday dropped its first missiles on an ISIS heavy-weapon position and an armed pickup truck in Iraq, according to the UK Defense Ministry.
A taxi driver from near Manchester, England, Henning was part of a team of volunteers that traveled to Syria in December 2013 to deliver food and water to people affected by the Middle Eastern country's devastating civil war.
He was abducted the day after Christmas by masked gunmen, according to other people in the aid convoy.
5 photos: Alan Henning: Golden-hearted hostage 5 photos: Alan Henning: Golden-hearted hostage Alan Henning: Golden-hearted hostage – Dr. Shameela Islam-Zulfiqar shared images with CNN from the December 2013 aid convoy to Syria she made with Alan Henning, who was kidnapped from the group. Henning, a taxi driver from near Manchester, England, was part of a team of volunteers that traveling to Syria to deliver food and water. He was abducted from the convoy the day after Christmas by masked gunmen, according to other members of the convoy. Here, Henning stands alongside one of the ambulances he was driving as part of the convoy. The photo was taken close to the Turkish border during a break in the road trip. Hide Caption 1 of 5 5 photos: Alan Henning: Golden-hearted hostage Alan Henning: Golden-hearted hostage – Henning and Islam-Zulfiqar prepare a cup of tea during a break during Christmas 2013. Henning was nicknamed "Gadget" by convoy members for his ability to fix electronics. Hide Caption 2 of 5 5 photos: Alan Henning: Golden-hearted hostage Alan Henning: Golden-hearted hostage – Henning attaches a sticker to the side of the ambulance he was driving. He dedicated his ambulance to the memory of Dr. Abbas Khan, a British doctor apparently arrested and allegedly later murdered by the Syrian regime as he carried out aid work in Syria. Hide Caption 3 of 5 5 photos: Alan Henning: Golden-hearted hostage Alan Henning: Golden-hearted hostage – Henning, right, sits and chats with fellow convoy members en route from Britain to Syria. Hide Caption 4 of 5 5 photos: Alan Henning: Golden-hearted hostage Alan Henning: Golden-hearted hostage – Henning was the only non-Muslim on the convoy. Islam-Zulfiqar said "just think of that big smile and that beautiful, beautiful golden heart." Hide Caption 5 of 5
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The Prime Minister vowed to bring the killers to justice.
Last week, the British Foreign Office released an audio file of Henning pleading for his life. His wife made a public plea for ISIS to spare his life.
Barbara Henning's pleas were joined by voices of Muslim leaders around the world.
They included Shaykh Haitham Al Haddad, a judge on the Shariah Council in London, who has said that "whatever your grievance with American or British foreign policy, executing this man is not the answer."
But the calls for mercy appear to have been met with bloodshed.
The White House released a statement condemning Henning's murder and vowing to work alongside the UK and its allies to "degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL."
Video similar to others
If the authenticity of the video is confirmed, Henning will be the fourth Westerner to be beheaded on camera by ISIS.
This summer, ISIS beheaded American freelance journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff -- showing their gruesome killings in videos posted online. ISIS then claimed its first British victim, aid worker David Haines, according to video that appeared online on September 13.
In the video released by ISIS Friday, Henning's name is misspelled "Allen."
Who is the ISIS?
The video is similar to the previous ones, with a clearly scripted statement being delivered by the victim.
But unlike the previous ones, this one is shorter and is shot tightly, showing none of the surroundings.
And just like the previous videos, it ends with a threat to another hostage.
The National Security Council confirmed that Kassig is being held by ISIS.
"We will continue to use every tool at our disposal -- military, diplomatic, law enforcement and intelligence -- to try to bring Peter home to his family," according to agency spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden.
The American who appears at the end of the video, Kassig, is a former soldier who became an aid worker in the Middle East.
Kassig's parents, Ed and Paula, confirmed to CNN it was their son, "who was doing humanitarian work in Syria, is being held captive."
"We ask everyone around the world to pray for the Henning family, for our son, and for the release of all innocent people being held hostage in the Middle East and around the globe," the statement said.
Kassig, 26, founded the non-profit Special Emergency Response and Assistance group. At the time, the organization was providing humanitarian aid to refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war.
Kassig worked as a medic and was en route to Deir Ezzor in northern Syria for SERA when he was kidnapped on October 1, 2013, according to his family.
"I am not a doctor. I am not a nurse. But I am a guy who can clean up bandages, help clean up patients, swap out bandages, help run IVs, make people's quality of life a little bit better," he told CNN's Arwa Damon during an interview in 2012.
"This is something for me that has meaning, that has purpose."
How ISIS is run ||||| Story highlights American Peter Kassig, 26, helped treat wounded Syrians
He served in the U.S. military in Iraq but looked for a "game changer" after returning home
His parents in Indianapolis, Indiana, confirmed he'd been taken hostage
Kassig converted to Islam while being held hostage, family says
Peter Kassig first went to the Middle East as a U.S. soldier and returned as a medical worker, feeling compelled to help victims of war.
"We each get one life and that's it. We get one shot at this and we don't get any do-overs, and for me, it was time to put up or shut up," he said in a 2012 interview with CNN.
Now Kassig, 26, is being held hostage by ISIS.
His life was threatened Friday in an ISIS video that showed the apparent beheading of British aid worker Alan Henning.
In a statement Friday, Kassig's parents, Ed and Paula Kassig of Indianapolis confirmed that he was being held hostage by ISIS but provided no other details. They had maintained silence about his capture since he was taken hostage in 2013.
"The Kassig family extends our concern for the family of Alan Henning," Kassig's parents said. "We ask everyone around the world to pray for the Henning family, for our son, and for the release of all innocent people being held hostage in the Middle East and around the globe."
Joined the Army in 2006
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98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees board a boat bound for Turkey at a port in Kyrenia, Cyprus, on Sunday, November 23. Some 220 Syrian migrants crammed onto a fishing boat were rescued by a cruise ship off Cyprus' northern coast after their vessel hit rough seas in the Mediterranean Sea, authorities said. Hide Caption 1 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian Kurdish child looks through the ventilation hole of a tent at a camp in Suruc, Turkey, on Wednesday, November 19. Tens of thousands of people fled the Syrian city of Kobani, alson known as Ayn al-Arab, because of the militant group ISIS. Hide Caption 2 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A fly lands on the toe of 8-year-old Mahmut Munir, a Syrian Kurdish refugee boy from Kobani, inside a tent in Suruc on November 19. The boy was reportedly injured in a mortar attack by ISIS militants. Hide Caption 3 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Kurdish children from the Kobani area speak after receiving food rations at a camp in Suruc on Tuesday, November 18. Hide Caption 4 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian Kurdish refugee pins a picture of her son on a wall in Suruc on Tuesday, November 11. She says he died during a battle in Kobani. Hide Caption 5 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian Kurdish refugees collect clothes and shoes donated by civilians at a camp in Suruc on November 11. Hide Caption 6 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian Kurdish refugees sit outside tents at a camp in Suruc on November 11. Hide Caption 7 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian refugee wraps herself in a blanket as she stands near tents near Sanliurfa, Turkey, on Thursday, October 2. Hide Caption 8 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian Kurds wait behind border fences to cross into Suruc on Sunday, September 28. Hide Caption 9 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Kurdish woman crosses into Suruc on Tuesday, September 23. Hide Caption 10 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian Kurdish boy is vaccinated as he arrives in Suruc on September 23. The United Nations estimates that more than 2.5 million Syrians have fled their country since an uprising in March 2011 spiraled into civil war. Hide Caption 11 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A woman carries belongings across the border between Turkey and Syria on September 23. Hide Caption 12 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian refugee watches the sunrise Wednesday, April 2, after sleeping outside the Center for Temporary Stay of Immigrants in Melilla, Spain. Hide Caption 13 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Mustafa Ahmad, who lost his leg in 2011 when government warplanes bombed his neighborhood in Syria, is fitted with a prosthetic leg at a refugee camp Thursday, March 27, in Jib Janine, Lebanon. Hide Caption 14 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East delivered humanitarian aid packages to the Yarmouk refugee camps in Syria on Friday, March 21. Hide Caption 15 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A boy uses a tool to dig a hole at the Zaatari refugee camp in northern Jordan on Saturday, March 15. Hide Caption 16 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees enter Turkey via the Cilvegozu border gate in Hatay, Turkey, on Saturday, January 18. Hide Caption 17 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian children cross the border at the Cilvegozu gate on January 18. Hide Caption 18 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian children walk on the street after attending school January 18 in Hatay. Hide Caption 19 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A child looks through a window while food and aid is distributed at a refugee center in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Tuesday, December 17. Hide Caption 20 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A man feeds his child in the Arsal refugee camp in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley on Sunday, December 15. Hide Caption 21 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian children play with snow in the Arsal refugee camp on December 15. Hide Caption 22 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Snow covers the ground at a refugee camp in Arsal on Friday, December 13. Hide Caption 23 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Young Syrian refugees build a snowman following a storm in the Lebanese village of Baaloul on Thursday, December 12. Hide Caption 24 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugee widow Ikhlas Halawani feeds her daughter breakfast during a snowstorm in Amman, Jordan, on December 12. Hide Caption 25 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – After crossing into Jordan's Ruweished camp on Thursday, December 5, a Syrian boy searches for his mother while other refugees board a Jordanian military vehicle. Hide Caption 26 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Newly arrived Syrian refugees carry their belongings and children after crossing into Jordan's Ruweished camp on December 5. Hide Caption 27 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees wait in line to receive winter aid kits at the Zaatari refugee camp near Mafraq, Jordan, on Tuesday, December 3. Hide Caption 28 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Refugees watch a new trailer being placed in the Zaatari camp on December 3. Hide Caption 29 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian child looks out from his tent at a refugee camp in Arsal on Friday, November 29. Hide Caption 30 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A girl crosses a puddle during the first snowfall of the season in a refugee camp in Harmanli, Bulgaria, on Wednesday, November 27. Hide Caption 31 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Young Syrian refugees play at the recently opened Vrazhdebna shelter in Sofia on Friday, November 22. Hide Caption 32 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees warm themselves near open fires at a refugee camp in Harmanli on Thursday, November 21. Hide Caption 33 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees go about their daily lives in an Istanbul park on Sunday, November 3. Hide Caption 34 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian refugee uses a rope to climb a tree at the Vrazhdebna shelter on Tuesday, October 29. Hide Caption 35 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees are turned back after being refused entry into northern Iraq on Wednesday, October 23. Hide Caption 36 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Refugees wait to get medical attention at the Vrazhdebna shelter on Saturday, October 19. The shelter is a former school. Hide Caption 37 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian refugee begs with her children on a street in Beirut, Lebanon, on Friday, October 18. Hide Caption 38 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Kurdish women grieve during a visit to a cemetery in Derik, Syria, on Tuesday, October 15. Hide Caption 39 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Young Syrian refugees from Aleppo sit with their mother on the steps of a Beirut bank in September 2013. Hide Caption 40 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Two Syrian refugees sit on a Beirut street in September 2013. Hide Caption 41 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Young Syrian refugees sit with their father as he prepares coffee to sell on a street in Beirut in September 2013. Hide Caption 42 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian refugee boy practices taekwondo at the Zaatari refugee camp near Mafraq in September 2013. Hide Caption 43 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A young Syrian girl washes a pan at the Atme refugee camp along the Turkish border in September 2013. Hide Caption 44 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugee children watch Korean and Syrian taekwondo instructors during training at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan in September 2013. Hide Caption 45 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian woman carries her baby across the border into Turkey at the Cilvegozu border gate in September 2013. Hide Caption 46 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian girl stands with her mother in a makeshift tent as they wait to enter an official refugee camp at the Oncupinar border gate in Kilis, Turkey, in September 2013. Hide Caption 47 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian girl eats a tomato at a temporary refugee camp in the eastern Lebanese town of al-Faour in September 2013. Hide Caption 48 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian refugee girl drinks water from a hose near a temporary refugee camp in an eastern Lebanese town in September 2013. Hide Caption 49 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – In September 2013, Lower Saxony's Commissioner for Migration and Participation Doris Schroeder-Koempf, along with German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, center, greet the first of many Syrian refugees that have been granted temporary asylum in Germany. Hide Caption 50 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A refugee boy sits on the ground at a temporary refugee camp in the eastern Lebanese town of al-Faour in September 2013. Hide Caption 51 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugee children run near their tents at a temporary refugee camp near the Lebanese border in September 2013. Hide Caption 52 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Mustafa Abu Bekir, who was wounded while fighting with the Free Syrian Army, smiles as he meets relatives after crossing the Cilvegozu gate border in Turkey's Hatay province in September 2013. Hide Caption 53 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian refugee family of 26 people shares one room in the Eminonu district of Istanbul in September 2013. Hide Caption 54 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Two Syrian refugee children sit outside a house in Istanbul in September 2013. Hide Caption 55 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A refugee money-changer exchanges currency at the main market at the Zaatari refugee camp near Mafraq in September 2013. Hide Caption 56 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A woman from an Alawite neighborhood in Syria holds her son in September 2013 at the Pir Sultan Abdal foundation in Istanbul. Hide Caption 57 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian refugee displays second-hand shoes for sale at the main market at the Zaatari refugee camp near Mafraq in September 2013. Hide Caption 58 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Photos: Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees arrive at the Pir Sultan Abdal foundation in Istanbul in September 2013. Hide Caption 59 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugee workers fix cart wheels at their shop at the Zaatari refugee camp in September 2013. Hide Caption 60 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian boy sits beside his family's belongings in September 2013 as they wait for a vehicle to pick them up after entering Turkey. Hide Caption 61 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees who failed to find shelters at a refugee camp eat and rest by the side of a road a few feet away in September 2013. Hide Caption 62 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees arrive at the Turkish border gate of Cilvegozu in September 2013. Hide Caption 63 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Photos: Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees gather in the village of Salkin after crossing the Syrian-Turkish border in September 2013. Hide Caption 64 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A young Syrian refugee boy sells canned tuna and other food items in the Zaatari refugee camp in September 2013. Hide Caption 65 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Children run past tents at a Syrian refugee camp in Yayladagi, Turkey, in September 2013. Hide Caption 66 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A child pulls a suitcase as Syrian refugees arrive at the Cilvegozu crossing gate in Turkey in August 2013. Hide Caption 67 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A family arrives at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan in August 2013. Hide Caption 68 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian girl stands behind a fence at Bulgaria's shelter near Lyubimets in August 2013. Hide Caption 69 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A wounded Syrian child is treated in August 2013 at the Israeli Ziv hospital, which is in the northern town of Safed, Israel. Hide Caption 70 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian Kurdish man carries a mattress at sunset at the Quru Gusik refugee camp in Iraq in August 2013. Hide Caption 71 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees listen to safety instructions at the Quru Gusik refugee camp in August 2013. Hide Caption 72 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees walk at the Zaatari refugee camp in July 2013. Hide Caption 73 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – The expanse of the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, as seen from an aerial view in July 2013. The camp was opened on July 28, 2012. Hide Caption 74 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugee children walk in the Bab al-Salam refugee camp in Syria's northern city of Azaz in July 2013. Hide Caption 75 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A boy walks with jugs of water in a Beirut neighborhood with a high concentration of Syrian refugees. Hide Caption 76 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees stand with their belongings on June 20, World Refugee Day, at Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. Hide Caption 77 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian woman and child look out of a refugee camp window in Alman, Lebanon, in June 2013. Hide Caption 78 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A child whose family fled violence in Syria stands at the Arsal refugee camp in Lebanon in June 2013. Hide Caption 79 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A woman uses a fence to dry laundry at the Domiz refugee camp near Kohuk, Iraq, in May 2013. Hide Caption 80 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A boy carries a jug for water at the Maliber al-Salam refugee camp in April 2013. The camp, near the Turkish border, houses internally displaced Syrian families. Hide Caption 81 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A makeshift refugee camp is seen near Syria's border with Turkey in April 2013. Hide Caption 82 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Row after row of temporary shelters fill the Maiber al-Salam refugee camp in Syria in April 2013. Hide Caption 83 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria arrive at the Jordanian border in February 2013. Hide Caption 84 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian girl stands at the entrance of a makeshift home near ruins in Serjilla, Syria, in February 2013. Hide Caption 85 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – The Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, near the Syrian border. Hide Caption 86 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A refugee collects apples and some bread at the Azaz refugee camp along the Syrian-Turkish border. Hide Caption 87 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A refugee visits a clinic with his child at the Azaz refugee camp in February 2013. Hide Caption 88 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A child gets a haircut at a makeshift barbershop at the Azaz refugee camp in February 2013. Hide Caption 89 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian girl looks through the window of a bus where she has lived with her family for the past eight months in February 2013. Hide Caption 90 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Clothes dry at the Qah refugee camp near the Turkish border in January 2013. Hide Caption 91 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A man shows off his pet birds as new Syrian refugees arrive at the Zaatari refugee camp in January 2013. Hide Caption 92 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian children gather around women washing in the Zaatari refugee camp in January 2013. Hide Caption 93 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrians put up tents at the Zaatari refugee camp in January 2013. Hide Caption 94 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees supplied tents in Al-Marj, Lebanon. Hide Caption 95 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian boy attends school in the Turkish town of Kilis in December 2012. Hide Caption 96 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian jumps across the border into Turkey's Sanliurfa province in November 2012. Hide Caption 97 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – In November 2012, a Syrian refugee waits at a hairdresser's shop inside the Oncupinar camp in Kilis, Turkey. Hide Caption 98 of 98
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Kassig's journey began when he joined the U.S. Army Rangers in 2006 and deployed to Iraq in 2007. He was honorably discharged for medical reasons after a brief tour and returned to the United States to study political science and train for 1,500-meter races. But something wasn't right.
"I was going to school with kids who look the same, were the same age as me, but we weren't the same," he said. "I wanted more of a challenge, a sense of purpose."
In 2010, Kassig took time off and began his certification as an emergency medical technician.
In the two years that followed, he fell in love, got married and quickly divorced. Devastated and heartbroken, he went back to school, but he couldn't shake his depression.
"I needed a game changer," he said.
He decided he would head to Beirut, follow the situation in Syria and try to help. So, on his spring break this year he packed his medical kit and flew into the Lebanese capital.
The next two weeks were filled with eye-opening misadventures as Kassig began to scratch the surface of the complexities of the Syrian conflict and the Middle East as a whole.
Founded a humanitarian aid organization
"I had learned enough to know that I didn't know anything," he said.
After finishing the semester back in the United States, he returned to Lebanon, only this time with a plan.
"The way I saw it, I didn't have a choice. This is what I was put here to do. I guess I am just a hopeless romantic, and I am an idealist, and I believe in hopeless causes."
Kassig founded SERA (Special Emergency Response and Assistance), a nongovernmental organization. In summer 2013 he moved its base of operations to Gaziantep, Turkey.
Kassig's family said SERA was dedicated to providing first-response humanitarian aid for refugees fleeing the widening civil war in Syria. Kassig found and delivered food and medical supplies to the growing camps on both sides of the Syrian border, his family said, and provided primary trauma care and trauma care training to civilian casualties inside Syria.
"I am not a doctor. I am not a nurse," he said in the 2012 interview. "But I am a guy who can clean up bandages, help clean up patients, swap out bandages, help run IVs, make people's quality of life a little bit better. This is something for me that has meaning, that has purpose."
He was undertaking a project for SERA when he was "detained" on October 1, 2013, on his way to Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, according to his family's statement.
"For the past year, the Kassig family has maintained silence at the wish of those who have held their son," the family statement said. "His family, along with friends and colleagues inside and outside Syria, have worked tirelessly, and quietly, to secure his release."
Converted to Islam
Kassig's family said he converted to Islam while being held hostage and now goes by Abdul-Rahman.
The family said it "understands from speaking to former hostages that Kassig's faith has provided him comfort during his long captivity."
While working in hospitals, some of those Kassig helped treat were rebel fighters, all who vowed they would return to the battlefield as soon as they could.
Others were the innocent victims of a spiraling conflict.
One patient, 24-year-old Louliya, said she and her three children were run over by a military jeep as they tried to escape the Syrian military siege of their village. Her spinal cord was crushed, leaving her unable to move from the neck down. She was smuggled across the border to Lebanon for surgery.
She smiled bravely but was unable to stop the tears from rolling down her face.
"All I want is to be able to hold my children in my arms again," she said softly, trying but failing to imitate the cradling of a child.
He bonded with doctors, patients
Kassig said his direct exposure to what was something of an alien conflict and culture before transformed his perspective.
"There is this mentality from where I come from back home that I have a little bit of a problem with," he said. "I don't want to get on a political soap box, but at the same time we have to think about why as a country we choose to help certain people and not others.
"We have to think about why we just chalk up the Middle East [as] this complex enigma that we will never understand because they are so different from us. But at the end of the day, they are really not. It's just about whether or not you're willing to go out on a limb and understand something," he said.
"Peter can tell the American people who we are," said Marwan, a Syrian nurse he worked with. "We are not what the regime says we are -- terrorists and al Qaeda. Peter knows we are good people, who love joking and laughter. We just want to live."
Kassig was struck by the resilience of the Syrians he met, by their ability to smile and somehow joke even in the darkest of circumstances.
"This is real, and it's scary stuff, and it's sad what is happening to people here," he said. "People back home need to know about it, they need to know. Sometimes you gotta take a stand, you gotta draw a line somewhere." | – ISIS today released another video showing the beheading of a hostage, this time British citizen Alan Henning, reports AP. The video follows the same pattern as the previous three, in which an Islamic State fighter rants against the West. At the end of the video, the militant threatens an American aid worker who has been identified as Peter Kassig, a former US Army veteran who became a volunteer in the Mideast. "Obama, you have started your aerial bombard of Shams (Syria), which keep on striking our people, so it is only right that we strike the next of your people," says the militant. Henning, a taxi driver, was captured in Syria last year while delivering food and water as a volunteer to people affected by the civil war, reports CNN. His wife had pleaded publicly for his release. |
(CNN) A federal judge in Hawaii has agreed to hear the first legal challenge to President Donald Trump's new travel ban on March 15 -- just hours before it is slated to go into effect.
Attorneys for the state filed a new 40-page request just before midnight on Tuesday, asking a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order blocking implementation of the new executive order.
Trump signed a new executive order Monday banning foreign nationals from six Muslim-majority countries from entering the US for 90 days and banning all refugees for 120 days.
In a statement, Hawaii attorney general Douglas Chin said the filings ask the court to declare sections 2 and 6 of Trump's executive order contrary to the constitution and federal law.
"Sections 2 and 6 of the March 6, 2017 Executive Order violate the Immigration and Nationality Act by discriminating on the basis of nationality, ignoring and modifying the statutory criteria for determining terrorism-related inadmissibility, and exceeding the President's authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act," Chin said in a statement.
"The new executive order is resulting in the establishment of religion in the state of Hawaii contrary to its state constitution; it is inflicting immediate damage to Hawaii's economy, educational institutions, and tourism industry; and it is subjecting a portion of the state's citizens to second-class treatment and discrimination, while denying all Hawaii residents the benefits of an inclusive and pluralistic society," attorneys for the state argued in court filings.
"The executive order means that thousands of individuals across the United States and in Hawaii who have immediate family members living in the affected countries will now be unable to receive visits from those persons or to be reunited with them in the United States."
The Justice Department declined to comment on the filing, but will have an opportunity to respond to the state's amended complaint against the travel ban on March 13.
"The entire history and culture of Hawaii is based upon nondiscrimination either in its constitution as well as its laws," Chin told CNN affiliate KHON.
"Hawaii has 20% foreign-born residents and 100,000 people who are not citizens as well as 20% of our workforce that are not foreign born."
US District Court Judge Derrick Watson approved the expedited briefing schedule the parties proposed in order for the case to be heard before the new executive order goes into effect on March 16.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions argued Monday that the ban was necessary because "we cannot compromise our nation's security by allowing visitors entry when their own governments are unable or unwilling to provide the information we need to vet them responsibly, or when those governments actively support terrorism."
Hawaii had previously sued over Trump's original travel ban, but the case was put on hold temporarily while a different federal judge's nationwide temporary restraining order halting the original ban remained in place. Watson granted the state's request to lift that hold on Wednesday in light of the new executive order.
"To be sure, the new executive order covers fewer people than the old one," Neal Katyal, one of the lead attorneys for Hawaii and former acting US solicitor general, explained in an interview with CNN. But in his view, the new travel ban still "suffers from the same constitutional and statutory defects."
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The state's amended complaint asserts a number of different claims, but primarily emphasizes the new executive order's alleged discriminatory intent and effect, as well as the harm to Hawaii's economy.
Hawaii is also joined in the lawsuit by an American who is the imam of the Muslim Association of Hawaii and says he has lived in state for over a decade with his wife and children, but now his Syrian mother-in-law cannot visit them because she does not currently hold a visa to enter the US.
While many immigrants' rights groups and state attorneys general expressed deep reservations about the new order when it was released Monday, none had filed new lawsuits or amended their original filings until now.
The Justice Department filed a flurry of notices in federal courts Monday -- including in this Hawaii case -- alerting the judges to the new order and arguing that the new order "falls outside of" injunctions that blocked the original ban. The government cited the significant changes to the new order, including the fact that it does not apply to green card holders or those with valid visas.
This story has been updated. ||||| The state of Hawaii will ask a federal judge to block President Trump’s revised executive order barring the issuance of new visas to citizens of six Muslim-majority countries, according to a court filing.
The action — which lawyers for the state hope to file Wednesday in Hawaii — would mark the first formal legal challenge to the order, which the president signed Monday. Hawaii also sued over Trump’s first travel ban, and lawyers for the state told a judge in a court filing that they want to resume that litigation to ask for a temporary restraining order on the new directive.
Democrats and civil liberties groups had asserted soon after Trump signed a revised executive order that more litigation was all but certain because — in their view — the measure was still a thinly veiled Muslim ban. But the new order was substantially different from the first, and there were no immediate new legal challenges.
[Revised executive order bans travelers from six Muslim-majority countries from getting new visas]
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who had successfully sued to freeze the first ban, said Monday that he needed more time to study the new one before deciding what to do next.
“We’re reviewing it carefully, and still have concerns with the new order,” Ferguson said.
The new order reduces the list of affected countries from seven to six — removing Iraq while keeping Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Syria. It explicitly exempts legal permanent residents and current visa holders, blocking only the issuance of new visas for citizens of the affected countries for 90 days. It also spells out a lengthy list of people who may be eligible for exceptions, including those previously admitted to the United States for “a continuous period of work, study, or other long-term activity”; those with “significant business or professional obligations”; and those seeking to visit or live with family.
The new order keeps intact a 120-day suspension of the refugee program, and it declares the United States will not accept more than 50,000 refugees in a year, down from the 110,000 cap set by the Obama administration.
The new order is scheduled to take effect March 16, which would be March 15 in Hawaii. Justice Department lawyers have indicated that the administration intends to enforce the measure on that date, as they consider the court-ordered freeze on the previous ban no longer applicable.
Hawaii, in a motion joined by Justice Department lawyers, asked to present arguments on its legal challenge to the new order on the morning of March 15 and to file briefs before that.
The Justice Department has asserted that there is “no imminent harm” from the imposition of the new ban, as visa applicants typically have to wait months. To win a temporary restraining order, Hawaii would have to prove there was an immediate need for it.
In the long run, the state probably would try to prove that the executive order violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment in that it intentionally discriminates against Muslims.
(Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)
On the campaign trail, Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” After the election, former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani said: “So when [Trump] first announced it, he said, ‘Muslim ban.’ He called me up. He said, ‘Put a commission together. Show me the right way to do it legally.’ ” Those statements could be used as evidence against the administration.
The White House and U. S. officials have insisted that the executive order is necessary for national security reasons, and it is meant to target countries with terrorism problems — not a particular religious group. ||||| Less than two hours after a federal judge in Hawaii issued a nationwide temporary restraining order on the Trump administration's revised travel ban, the president slammed the decision as "an unprecedented judicial overreach."
A day before the executive order was to take effect, U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson blocked the limitations on travel and immigration. Watson's ruling in Hawaii Wednesday noted that "a reasonable, objective observer… would conclude" that the ban "was issued with a purpose to disfavor a particular religion."
Speaking Wednesday night at a rally at Nashville's Municipal Auditorium, President Trump said the court was motivated by "political reasons," adding that he expected to be "criticized ... for speaking harshly about our courts."
"The order... blocked was a watered-down version of the first order that was also blocked by another judge and should have never been blocked to start with," Trump said.
He added, "This ruling makes us look weak."
The decision in Hawaii was just the latest hindrance to Trump's ongoing promise to protect the country from terrorism. He has continuously argued a temporary limit on travel is necessary while an "extreme vetting" process is instituted to better gauge the potential threat of those wishing to enter.
Trump signed the revised executive order on March 6, replacing his January 27 ban which was met with widespread protests and legal challenges after travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries in the Middle East and Africa were prevented from travelling to the U.S. The original order was blocked by a federal judge's temporary restraining order in Washington state in February -- a move that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals later declined to stay.
The president noted at the rally that steps were taken to defend the order against further disputation, saying, "This new order was tailored to the dictates of the 9th Circuit's -- in my opinion -- flawed ruling."
He went on to vow that his administration would continue to pursue the matter in court, a promise similar to the one he made after the first executive order was restrained. Trump tweeted in February, "SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!"
That pledge was broken when the revised order rescinded the original.
"We are going to fight this terrible rule," Trump said at the Nashville rally. "We are going to take our case as far as it needs to go, including all the way up to the Supreme Court. We are going to win. We are going to keep our citizens safe and regardless, we are going to keep our citizens safe, believe me." | – A federal judge in Hawaii blocked President Trump's revised travel ban just hours before it was set to go into effect across the country, the Washington Post reports. Hawaii had filed a lawsuit over the new executive order, which halted visas for citizens from six Muslim-majority nations for 90 days and stopped new refugees for 120 days, claiming it hurts tourism, business, and universities and would keep people from those six countries from visiting family in Hawaii. The state alleged the order, which also cuts the number of refugees allowed in the US next year in half, was essentially a Muslim ban. US District Judge Derrick Watson froze the order Wednesday, saying Hawaii has a "strong likelihood of success on their claim," according to Politico. More than six states are currently trying to halt the new travel ban, the AP reports. Arguments against it were also scheduled to be heard in Maryland and Washington state on Wednesday. Trump issued the revised travel ban after his first attempt was blocked by a federal judge in Washington state. Justice Department lawyers defending the new executive order said the ban was well within the president's power and claimed its potential harms were only speculation. |
Is divorce seasonal? UW research shows biannual spike in divorce filings
Deborah Bach News and Information
To everything there is a season — even divorce, new research from University of Washington sociologists concludes.
Associate sociology professor Julie Brines and doctoral candidate Brian Serafini found what is believed to be the first quantitative evidence of a seasonal, biannual pattern of filings for divorce. The researchers analyzed filings in Washington state between 2001 and 2015 and found that they consistently peaked in March and August, the periods following winter and summer holidays.
Their research, presented Aug. 21 at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in Seattle, suggests that divorce filings may be driven by a “domestic ritual” calendar governing family behavior.
Winter and summer holidays are culturally sacred times for families, Brines said, when filing for divorce is considered inappropriate, even taboo. And troubled couples may see the holidays as a time to mend relationships and start anew: We’ll have a happy Christmas together as a family or take the kids for a nice camping trip, the thinking goes, and things will be better.
“People tend to face the holidays with rising expectations, despite what disappointments they might have had in years past,” Brines said. “They represent periods in the year when there’s the anticipation or the opportunity for a new beginning, a new start, something different, a transition into a new period of life. It’s like an optimism cycle, in a sense.
“They’re very symbolically charged moments in time for the culture.”
But holidays are also emotionally charged and stressful for many couples and can expose fissures in a marriage. The consistent pattern in filings, the researchers believe, reflects the disillusionment unhappy spouses feel when the holidays don’t live up to expectations.
They may decide to file for divorce in August, following the family vacation and before the kids start school. But what explains the spike in March, several months after the winter holidays?
Couples need time to get finances in order, find an attorney or simply summon the courage to file for divorce, Brines suggests. Though the same considerations apply in summer, Brines thinks the start of the school year school may hasten the timing, at least for couples with children. Suicides also tend to peak in spring, and some experts have said the longer days and increased activity elevates mood enough to motivate people to act. Brines wonders if similar forces are at play with divorce filings.
Brines and Serafini weren’t initially looking for a pattern in divorce filings when they set out to investigate the effects of the recession, such as rising unemployment rates and declining house values, on marital stability. Poring over divorce filings for counties throughout Washington, they began noticing variations from month to month and were startled to see a pattern emerge.
“It was very robust from year to year, and very robust across counties,” Brines said.
The pattern persisted even after accounting for other seasonal factors such as unemployment and the housing market. The researchers reasoned that if the pattern was tied to family holidays, other court actions involving families — such as guardianship rulings — should show a similar pattern, while claims less related to family structure wouldn’t. And they found exactly that: The timing of guardianship filings resembled that of divorce filings, but property claims, for example, did not.
The divorce filing pattern shifted somewhat during the recession, showing a peak earlier in the year and one in the fall, and more volatility overall. Given uncertainty about financial considerations like housing values and employment, Brines said, it’s not surprising the pattern was disrupted. But the shift in the pattern during the recession is not statistically significant, she said.
Their research excluded two of Washington’s 39 counties, Lincoln and Wahkiakum. The small, rural counties are among few nationwide that allow marriages to be ended by mail, without a court appearance. Since anyone in Washington can file for divorce in the two counties, the researchers thought they would skew the results — specifically, they figured filings might peak more quickly after the holidays, given the simpler process. But they examined filings in Lincoln County, the only county to accept divorce by mail since 2001, and saw the same pattern, albeit more pronounced, as elsewhere in the state.
“That leads me to think that it takes some time emotionally for people to take this step,” Brines said. “Filing for divorce, whether you do it by mail or appear in court, is a big step.”
The researchers are now looking at whether the filing pattern they identified translates to other states. They examined data for four other states — Ohio, Minnesota, Florida and Arizona — that have similar divorce laws as Washington but differ in demographics and economic conditions, particularly during the recession. Florida and Arizona were among states hit hardest by the real estate collapse, and Ohio had higher than average employment rates.
Despite those differences, Brines said, the pattern persisted.
“What I can tell you is that the seasonal pattern of divorce filings is more or less the same,” she said.
For more information, contact Brines at [email protected] or 206-685-9067. ||||| According to research, spring is the season for love. We crawl out from under our down comforters, notice that the world is full of life again, and all those new and refreshing smells, the ones we had almost forgotten about, trigger the release of dopamine, and suddenly we’re in love. But because the light can’t exist without the dark, then there must be a season for divorce, too, right? Of course there is, says science.
While many are falling over themselves in love during the spring, a new study has found that divorce filings spike seasonally, too. The study by associate sociology professor Julie Brines and doctoral candidate Brian Serafini, both of the University of Washington, examined filings for divorce in Washington State from 2001 to 2015. What they found is that there is, indeed, a season for divorce, or rather two months out of the year where people are most likely to file for it: March and August.
“People tend to face the holidays with rising expectations, despite what disappointments they might have had in years past,” Brines said in a press release. “They represent periods in the year when there’s the anticipation or the opportunity for a new beginning, a new start, something different, a transition into a new period of life. It’s like an optimism cycle, in a sense."
Here’s the breakdown about these two months in particular:
March
1. Holidays Are A "Sacred" Time
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According to the research, “domestic ritual” comes into play. Very few people are likely to run out and file for divorce right before the holidays, especially if they have kids, and throw a wrench in Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Hanukkah. These are seen as “sacred times,” according to Brines. So no matter how bad the past year has been, they’re willing to hang on to see if the holidays will inject some sort of positivity into the situation.
2. New Year’s Offers Hope Of A New Beginning
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With the New Year just around the corner after those holidays, people have high expectations for change, so they hold out. I mean, there’s a reason why so many people look at Jan. 1 as a good time to a make resolution or a new start.
3. Money Needs To Be Saved
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Divorce isn’t cheap. So for those who realize that the holidays and the New Year didn’t offer the change for which they had hoped and want a divorce, they might need to get their finances in order first. The holidays take a massive toll on everyone’s wallet, but by the time March rolls around, people start to have their finances back on track, putting them in the financial position to start divorce proceedings.
4. Spring Motivates People
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Just as the winter and those short days strip us of motivation, spring has the opposite effect. While it may be a time for falling in love for some, for those who are in a marriage that seems like a dead end, the elevated mood that comes with the new season, causes people to take action and do what they feel needs to be done to make their life happier. Whether you’re able to have a happy divorce (good luck with that) or a messy divorce, the end result is closing a chapter in ones life and moving on to the next.
August
1. It’s The End Of Summer Holidays
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Again, the sociologists turned to “domestic ritual,” as a reason August sees a spike in divorce filings. Similar to the end-of-year holidays, summer holidays also have their own level of sacredness. Since that’s the case, many people wait until the holidays are over before making their move. There’s also the hope here that maybe the summer holidays will help mend the marriage, but when it doesn’t pan out that way, people decide it’s time to file for divorce.
2. September Is Also A Month Of New Beginnings
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While September may not be thought of a new start with the same vigor as New Years, it is a new beginning in some ways: The kids go back to school, the sweltering summer is behind us, and pumpkin spice latte season is just around the corner, so the need to change with the season could play a role, too. According to Brines, the start of the new school year can “hasten the timing,” for those married couples with children who want to divorce.
3. By August People Are Even More Secure
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For those who didn’t make the move to file for divorce in March, August becomes a big month because it can take a while for someone to find the nerve to actually go through with it. Filing for divorce is such an emotional thing, so if you’ve given all you can through the winter holidays, hoped for the best during the spring, then stuck it out through the summer holidays, August just naturally becomes a prime time of year to say goodbye.
Images: Fotolia; Giphy (7) | – They didn't set out to do a study on divorce, but two University of Washington researchers poring over a range of sociological data saw such a clear pattern emerge that they've ended up with one: It turns out that that married couples divorce most often in March and August. When the researchers plotted the data from 2001 to 2015, the divorce spike in those two months was both striking and consistent, they write in a press release. And while that data comes exclusively from Washington state, it seems to apply nationwide. The researchers followed up with a look at data from Ohio, Minnesota, Florida, and Arizona, and found the same pattern. So what's going on? They think winter holidays and summer vacations are a big factor. These are both "culturally sacred times for families," says associate sociology professor Julie Brines, per the UW release. That is, couples may be reluctant to split around Christmas, or just ahead of an annual vacation, and instead view those times instead as an opportunity to mend a troubled relationship. "One last shot," as Brines puts it, per the Atlantic. If they fail, the added stress of the holidays or the tight quarters of a vacation then push the couple toward divorce. The delay from post-holidays to March in the divorce filings may be because the holidays put such a heavy dent in the wallet, notes Bustle. That's less of an issue in the summer, and the researchers speculate that, for couples with kids, the start of school may actually speed things along. (This woman was selling her wedding dress to pay for her divorce, complete with "stench of betrayal.") |
Footage of pecking, mammography-reading pigeons may seem hilarious, but it's serious business for scientists testing whether pigeons could be trainable observers of pathology and radiology breast cancer images. (Ed Wasserman and Victor Navarro/Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, The University of Iowa)
The human eye can easily recognize a familiar body part. But when it comes to interpreting the meaning of medical imagery, things aren’t that simple. In fact, radiologists take years to learn how to accomplish the task — and despite advances in technology, they sometimes get it wrong.
[Why scientists got an alligator to inhale helium]
But what happens when the radiologists are pigeons? It sounds weird, but it’s the basis of a study published Wednesday in PLOS ONE.
Armed with a touchscreen-outfitted training chamber and 16 pigeons, scientists set out to see if birds could identify malignant and benign tissue in medical images with their beady little eyes. They trained pigeons to peck at a monitor after being presented with images from mammograms. When pigeons correctly pecked a touchscreen button that corresponded with the category of the image being shown, they were given food.
[Squirrel gets ‘drunk’, causes hundreds of dollars in damage]
Footage of pecking, mammography-reading pigeons may seem hilarious, but it’s serious business for Edward A. Wasserman, an experimental psychologist who specializes in comparing human cognition with that of other animals. Reading medical images, he said, “requires a kind of perceptual sophistication beyond mere words.” That’s where the pigeon steps in. “In some sense, the pigeon and the person are starting at the same place,” said Wasserman. “They’re equally naive.”
That naiveté quickly faded as pigeons looked at benign and cancerous slides. In the first experiment, eight pigeons were presented with histology images from mammograms — four with normal images and four with images that had been color-corrected. Pigeons had a 50/50 chance of being correct — they were presented with half malignant slides, half benign ones. But within days, it became clear that they were really, really good at their task. After just nine days, the cohort was getting more than 80 percent of its classifications correct.
By day 15, the success rate had risen to 85 percent.
Wasserman began to worry that perhaps the pigeons had simply memorized the slides, so after 15 days he began to present them with rotated versions as well. Five days later, the pigeons moved on to “novel stimulus testing.” They were shown the original trial slides and additional, brand-new slides. They also viewed slides at different levels of magnification.
[Kangaroo farts not as environmentally friendly as previously thought]
And here’s where the power of pigeons as medical interpreters comes into play: The birds were really good at applying the knowledge from the familiar slides to examples of benign and cancerous tissue they’d never seen before. Their recognition of new slides was only a few percentage points below their success rate for familiar ones. The whole flock was even more effective as a group.
In another experiment, pigeons developed roughly equal abilities to spot microcalcifications — small changes in breast tissue that can sometimes be the only sign of cancer. They weren’t as good at classifying suspicious masses in a third study, but neither are experienced radiologists at the same or a similar task.
[100 years after the passenger pigeon's demise, American birds fight to survive]
So should human radiologists watch their back for oncoming pigeons? Not exactly. Since similar studies on the effectiveness of humans at reading medical imagery don't exist, it’s not possible to compare the pigeons’ skills to those of humans. Robots are much more likely to replace human radiologists than pigeons — but the experiment could eventually help inform new technologies for image interpretation.
It could also make future research cheaper, said Wasserman, who notes that pigeons “might be able to be an effective human stand-in” in additional experiments related to medical imagery. It’s not the first time pigeons have been suggested as human stand-ins for life-or-death situations — B.F. Skinner, the pioneer of behavioral psychology, trained the birds to guide rockets during World War II.
Maybe the true moral of the mammogram-reading pigeons has more to do with respect than their real-world radiological prowess. “The pigeon has kind of a bum rap,” said Wasserman, who insists that the birds are interesting and challenging enough to merit serious study. After all, he said, “humans are not the only intelligent animals walking and swimming and flying on earth.” Or, for that matter, looking at mammograms.
Erin Blakemore (@heroinebook) is a freelance journalist from Boulder, Colo. She is the author of "The Heroine’s Bookshelf" (Harper).
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Extreme adventure: 1950s film shows beavers parachuting into Idaho backcountry ||||| There’s a long, colorful history of using pigeons in research, particularly in the behavioral and psychological sciences. Scientists have trained a flock of pigeons to be feathered pathologists, able to spot telltale signs of breast cancer in medical images nearly as well as their human counterparts.
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As reported in paper published today in PLOS One, Richard Levenson and University of Iowa psychologist Edward Wasserman showed their chosen pigeons images of tissue samples that were either benign or malignant, and the birds would peck on blue or yellow rectangles on a touch-screen monitor to indicate their choice. When they chose correctly, they received a treat. John Bohannon at Science offers more details:
[R]esearchers had 16 pigeons do all their learning once per day in a box with a computer screen without humans visible. Previously diagnosed histopathology slides from biopsies of breast tissue appeared on a computer touchscreen along with a yellow and a blue button. If the birds correctly identified cancer, they were automatically rewarded by the computer with a food pellet. If they were wrong, they got nothing. The computer not only randomized the order of images from benign or malignant tissue, but also whether yellow or blue signified “cancer” for any particular bird, to make sure the color itself didn’t introduce bias. And to ensure they weren’t just memorizing the slides, the birds were challenged with images of the same tissue with different magnifications and color.
The pigeons didn’t do very well at first, making correct identifications roughly 50% of the time. But after two weeks of regular training, they were able to correctly identify benign or malignant tissue 85% of the time. That was just for individual pigeons. Next the researchers used a technique called “flock sourcing,” whereby the pigeons were grouped together and required to “vote” on their answers. The teamwork paid off: the pigeon pathologists upped their accuracy to an impressive 99%, comparable to trained humans.
Why pigeons? It seems our feathered friends share similar properties of the visual system with us, so they are useful models for, say, helping toimprove medical imaging technology. Besides, “They are workaholics,” Wasserman told Discover’s D-Brief. “They work for peanuts. Well, not really, because peanuts are too big.”
You probably won’t find pigeons replacing hospital pathologists the next time you go in for a mammogram, however. Like their human counterparts, the birds struggled to correctly identify images with differences in color and compression. And a human pathologist is able to make contextual decisions in a way even a flock of pigeons cannot. We could one day see a pigeon-based artificial neural network, however, capable of diagnosing these kinds of medical images.
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References:
Levenson, R.M. et al. (2015) “Pigons (columba livia) as trainable observers of pathology and radiology breast cancer images,” PLOS One 10(11): e0141357.
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Watanabe, S. et al. (1995) “Pigeons’ Discrimination of Paintings by Monet and Picasso,” Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, vol. 63, 1995, pp. 165-174.
[Via Improbable Research]
Advertisement ||||| Pathologists and radiologists spend years acquiring and refining their medically essential visual skills, so it is of considerable interest to understand how this process actually unfolds and what image features and properties are critical for accurate diagnostic performance. Key insights into human behavioral tasks can often be obtained by using appropriate animal models. We report here that pigeons (Columba livia)—which share many visual system properties with humans—can serve as promising surrogate observers of medical images, a capability not previously documented. The birds proved to have a remarkable ability to distinguish benign from malignant human breast histopathology after training with differential food reinforcement; even more importantly, the pigeons were able to generalize what they had learned when confronted with novel image sets. The birds’ histological accuracy, like that of humans, was modestly affected by the presence or absence of color as well as by degrees of image compression, but these impacts could be ameliorated with further training. Turning to radiology, the birds proved to be similarly capable of detecting cancer-relevant microcalcifications on mammogram images. However, when given a different (and for humans quite difficult) task—namely, classification of suspicious mammographic densities (masses)—the pigeons proved to be capable only of image memorization and were unable to successfully generalize when shown novel examples. The birds’ successes and difficulties suggest that pigeons are well-suited to help us better understand human medical image perception, and may also prove useful in performance assessment and development of medical imaging hardware, image processing, and image analysis tools.
Copyright: © 2015 Levenson et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Introduction
Pathologists and radiologists are confronted daily with perceptual challenges in the medical imaging domain. These individuals, even after years of education and training, may sometimes struggle to arrive at correct disease or risk classifications using the visual cues present on microscope slides or medical images (e.g., x-rays). There is considerable room for enhancing medical image perception and interpretation; this can occur not only via additional visual and verbal training [1–3], but also through ever-improving image acquisition technology, image processing and display. However, such innovations in medical imaging must be validated—using trained observers—in order to monitor quality and reliability. This process, while necessary, can be difficult, time-consuming and expensive. Automated computer-aided substitutes are available, but may fail to faithfully reflect human performance in many cases [4–6]. We describe here a potential alternative approach.
Research over the past 50 years has revealed that pigeons can be prodigious discriminators of complex visual stimuli, and are able to detect or discriminate: foreground from background [7]; misshapen pharmaceutical capsules [8]; letters of the alphabet [9]; basic object categories such as cats, flowers, cars, and chairs [10]; identities and emotional expressions of human faces [11]; and even paintings by Monet vs. Picasso [12], among many other impressive feats. Pigeons’ visual memory is also outstanding, as they can recall more than 1,800 images [13]. Importantly, pigeons have demonstrated an ability to generalize their discrimination performance to novel objects or scenes. We are still a long way from knowing precisely how pigeons so successfully differentiate such complex and varied visual stimuli, but color, size, shape, texture, and configural cues all seem to participate [14–16]. Importantly, however, the anatomical (neural) pathways that are involved, including basal ganglia and pallial-striatal (cortical-striatal in mammals) synapses, appear to be functionally equivalent to those in humans [11].
Given the well-documented visual skills of pigeons, it seemed to us possible that they might also be trained to accurately distinguish medical images of clinical significance. We expected that, entirely without verbal instructions, operant conditioning procedures alone could prove sufficient for teaching the birds the intricate visual discrimination skills associated with diagnosing medically relevant images. The basic similarities between vision-system properties of humans and pigeons also suggested that, if pigeons were confronted with pathology and radiology study sets of increasing difficulty, then their task accuracy would track that achievable by domain-expert human observers.
In these initial studies, we sought answers to four questions. First, could discrimination between benign and malignant pathology and radiology images be taught to pigeons—entirely without the benefit of verbal instructions generally provided to human observers? Second, could pigeons go beyond mere memorization and demonstrate generalization (i.e., perform accurately when confronted with related but novel stimuli)? Third, how would pigeons perform when given image discrimination tasks that are extremely difficult even for skilled human observers? And fourth, if the birds were successful, then could such skills have any practical utility?
We provided food reinforcement to pigeon subjects, maintained just below their free-feeding weight, for correctly discriminating—via two distinctively colored response buttons—images of benign or malignant pathology specimens. Initial experiments focused on conventionally stained and digitally scanned breast pathology slides, starting with low (4×) and extending to medium (10×) and high (20×) levels of magnification. The pigeons’ successful mastery of these tasks encouraged us to investigate their ability to detect diagnostically important microcalcifications in mammograms (a challenging, yet tractable task) [17], and also to attempt a much more difficult task, namely to classify benign and malignant breast masses. Correctly identifying these challenging target masses is difficult even for trained radiologists [18]; and, in fact, it proved to lie at the limits of pigeons’ capabilities.
Although pigeons are unlikely to be called upon to offer clinical diagnostic support, it does seem quite possible that their discriminative abilities may be turned to a useful purpose. The need for image quality assessment is a practical one that arises in both pathology and radiology domains. Even though pathologists still largely use optical microscopes for their clinical work, with the recent advent of digital pathology, diagnoses are increasingly being rendered directly from a computer screen rather than through a microscope [19–21]. Image acquisition and digital display technologies—and the accompanying software—are continuously being updated; each technical iteration must be scrutinized to determine the merits and drawbacks of new vs. existing techniques [22]. Such evaluations often require elaborate study designs and, crucially, the participation of one or more skilled observers [23]. However, finding available and affordable clinicians can be difficult at best [24].
This process is similar to what is done in evaluating medical image quality with model or mathematical (so-called “ideal”) observers. The purpose of these software-based tools is not to replicate human performance per se, but to help predict, for example, which manipulations of image quality (e.g., color fidelity or compression level) will impact human performance. However, such mathematical models address only narrow sets of questions, are hard to adapt quickly to new problems, and require their own validation vis a vis human performance [4–6]. Our research suggests that avian observers might be able to deliver relevant assessments of image diagnostic content and quality, as their performance is reproducible and can easily and quantitatively be tracked by modern conditioning techniques. ||||| Neurons in the brains of pigeons encode the direction of Earth's magnetic field, endowing the birds with an innate internal GPS system, according to a new study. Scientists have long known internal magnetic field receptors exist in many animals — from birds to foxes and possibly even people — but this is the first time someone has tried to explain the brain wiring that can actually use these receptors and provide a sense of direction. They did it by putting some pigeons in the dark and monitoring their brains.
Writing in Science, Le-Qing Wu and J. David Dickman at Baylor College of Medicine cite previous research identifying magnetic receptors in bird beaks, as well as in other areas in other vertebrates. They set out to find the neural network responsible for making sense of those signals.
Working with seven awake pigeons, the researchers used a Tesla coil to cancel out the effects of Earth's magnetic field and induce an artificial one. They put the pigeons in a completely dark room to cancel out any light-polarization effects, which have also been suggested as a mechanism for animals' magnetic navigation capabilities. They also stabilized the birds' heads so they couldn't rely on inner-ear cues to determine their directions.
Then Wu and Dickman turned up the magnetic field, adjusting its magnitude, elevation and other variables. They used a gene marker to identify when neurons were activated, focusing on neural areas that were already good candidates for this type of information processing. Ultimately, they pinpointed 53 neurons in the birds' brain stems that had greatly enhanced activity. What's more, those cells were most sensitive to the magnetic field ranges that correspond to Earth's real ones — 20 micro-Tesla (μT) at the magnetic equator to more than 60 μT at the magnetic poles.
The poles shift over time, however, so the researchers note that these neurons must be somewhat adaptable, either through evolution or brain plasticity.
As for the origin of the signals? Wu and Dickman believe the magnetic information is transmitted to the neurons via the inner ear, although it's also possible that beak and/or retinal receptors are involved.
"[The neurons] encode a geomagnetic vector that could be used by the neural population to computationally derive the bird's position and directional heading," they write. In other words: A neural global positioning system.
Exactly how these cells are used for orientation and navigation is still a mystery, however.
The research appears today at Science Express and will be published in the journal Science. | – Human radiologists, look out. Pigeons turn out to be expert mammogram readers after very little training, at least according to a study published this week in PLoS ONE. Using 16 pigeons in a chamber with a touchscreen, scientists trained them to peck at one of two colored buttons to correspond with the type of image they were being shown; if they got it right, they got food. It turns out that those beady little eyes picked up patterns showing malignant versus benign breast tissue very well and very fast. At first, as they were trained for what to spot, they were right 50% of the time. "In some sense, the pigeon and the person are starting at the same place," says one researcher, experimental psychologist Edward Wasserman. "They're equally naive." But a mere two weeks into the experiment the pigeons were identifying the images correctly 85% of the time, reports the Washington Post. What's more, the birds were able to take what they'd learned from the first, familiar set of slides and apply it to new images they'd never seen before, boasting a success rate that was just a few percentage points lower. And they performed even better as a flock than individually—with a success rate maxing out at 99% when required to "vote" as a group, reports Gizmodo. It's more likely that robots, not pigeons, will be the ones to take the place of humans someday. But Wasserman hopes pigeons will be taken more seriously and studied more closely. "The pigeon has kind of a bum rap," he says. "Humans are not the only intelligent animals walking and swimming and flying on Earth." It's also helpful, he tells Discover, that they're "workaholics." (Pigeons have a biological GPS.) |
NEW YORK (AP) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo is creating a task force to conduct investigations into nail salons around New York, following a report of widespread exploitation of workers.
The New York Times ( http://nyti.ms/1zVy99x ) reported Monday that Cuomo says he will not stand by as workers are deprived of wages.
A two-part investigative series in the Times found nail salon workers were forced to toil long hours amid toxic chemicals performing manicures and pedicures for little wages.
The Times stories also reported many workers suffered serious health problems and there was little, if any, protection for them.
Cuomo says the plans are taking shape after the reports last week.
He says salons will be required to post signs in a half-dozen languages that inform works of their rights.
___
Information from: The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com ||||| Labor investigators conducted the state's first enforcement sweep of 25 nail salons this month, temporarily shutting down 23 businesses and ordering at least $62,000 in back wages to more than 50 women.
The sweep, conducted by the state Department of Labor, was inspired by an investigation in the New York Times about exploitation of immigrant workers at nail salons in New York and its suburbs, including Connecticut.
Of 25 nail salons in the sweep from Hartford to Stamford, most chosen at random, only two businesses were following wage and hour laws, state officials said. The others were paying workers under the table, avoiding Social Security and unemployment taxes.
The workers, many of them Asian immigrants, were often paid less than minimum wage.
At one salon, women were being paid $40 for a 10-hour work day, according to Gary Pechie, director of wage and workplace standards at the department. Although tips may have raised those women's wages higher than the $9.15 minimum, only restaurants and bars are allowed to pay servers below the minimum and let tips make up the rest.
At the 25 salons, 119 employees were being paid under the table, but were paid at least minimum wage, Pechie said. He said the $62,000 figure in back wages could increase as the investigation continues.
The New York Times reported in May that New York's state labor department had not investigated wages in the nail salon industry because it usually responds to complaints, and had not received any from workers, most of whom do not speak English.
The Times interviewed more than 100 workers for its investigation, and found only one-quarter were earning at least the minimum wage.
Pechie said Connecticut had not done any enforcement in nail salons until now, but had received complaints from two workers after they heard about the New York Times stories. He said he also received five emails that had been sent to the governor's office, asking how Connecticut would respond to the Times' investigation.
Although the Times investigation quoted an immigrant from Ecuador who worked at a Connecticut salon, Pechie said the state's sweep only found Asian employees. He said they cooperated with the investigation, and the company heard no threats by management that the workers would be reported to immigration authorities for cooperating.
He said such threats are common when the Department of Labor inspects construction sites.
The state Department of Labor does not oversee whether employees have work visas. The department seeks to ensure that employers pay a fair wage that includes unemployment insurance and Social Security, when required.
"They would have to be paid as any other employee," Pechie said. "Nobody should exploit them because of their status."
Employees must supply green cards, work visas, Social Security cards or proof of citizenship to be on the books. However, since employers are not obligated to use the e-verify system, which checks out Social Security numbers, and federal immigration authorities do not inspect all documents involving new hires, the salons could continue to employ them even if the documents are faked.
There are 395 Korean-American salon owners represented by the Nail and Spa Association of Connecticut. Moo Yong Lee, who is not a salon owner, but is active in Korean American advocacy and charitable efforts, is serving as a liaison between Pechie and the salon owners, as well as Chinese and Vietnamese salon owners, as they work to comply with employment law.
Lee said Monday he was surprised that so many of the salon owners were paying their employees under the table, especially after the wide publicity from the New York Times stories — which were also published in Korean — and the enforcement actions that followed in New York and New Jersey.
Lee said he warned friends who own salons to make sure they were following the law after the New York and New Jersey salons were hit. "You guys be ready," he said he told them. "They're coming."
He said he was embarrassed by the results of the enforcement action, and he said the salon owners in the association asked him to tell government officials that they are "really deeply sorry for not following rules and regulations."
The 23 salon owners who were paying workers under the table will owe $130,000 in civil penalties, some just for avoiding payroll taxes and workers' compensation, and others for also failing to pay minimum wage or overtime.
Pechie said none of the managers at the places that were raided gave the inspectors any pushback — but that several patrons did. He said the inspectors allowed manicures or pedicures in process to be completed before shutting down the businesses that were paying employees with cash.
"Nobody walked out with just three fingernails," he said.
Lee coordinated a seminar with Pechie that will be held at the New Haven Korean Church in Hamden Aug. 26. About 150 salon owners, who are Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese, have committed to attending,
"They've got to learn how to operate business properly," Lee said. "Otherwise they shouldn't live here. Really."
He said salons may not make as much money after they begin paying payroll taxes and minimum wages. He said he will lobby the legislature to add manicurists to those eligible for the tipped minimum wage.
Pechie said that even without a change in the law, owners have a way to recoup some of the additional costs of compliance. They could ask the workers to give managers their tips at the end of the day.
Five salons in Hartford — LA Nails, American Nails, Modern Nails, Pink Nails and Touch Nails — were cited for not following labor laws and were temporarily shut down. The department also closed three salons in New Haven, five in Branford, five in Stamford, and five salons in the Westport-Darien-Fairfield area. | – A New York Times exposé by Sarah Maslin Nir about the exploitation of nail salon workers has caught the attention of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who announced he's putting emergency measures into place to go after wage theft and health hazards in the industry, the AP reports. In a statement cited by the Times, Cuomo said he's setting up a task force, effective immediately, to check salons individually, come up with mandates to protect workers from possibly dangerous chemicals wafting around their salons, and conduct a six-language educational campaign to let workers know this kind of debasement isn't OK. "We will not stand idly by as workers are deprived of their hard-earned wages and robbed of their most basic rights," Cuomo said in the statement. Several government agencies, including the Health Department, were spurred into action last week after the two-part Times article ran. Rules going into effect ASAP include publicly posted signage (in different languages) in salons listing workers' rights, a requirement that manicurists wear gloves and masks, and a mandate that all salons are bonded so employees can recoup wages if it's found they've been denied rightful earnings, per the Times. Cuomo's office says the task force agencies won't probe workers' immigration status. Creating the emergency plan allowed Cuomo to skirt red tape. "The article highlighted a significant problem in New York State," the governor's general counsel tells the Times. “We cannot wait to address the problem." (What could help protect workers: more "green" salons.) |
A San Diego man has been banned from flying on Alaska Airlines after an allegation that he harassed a flight attendant — an accusation he said is unfounded and is “reverse discrimination against men.”
Mike Timon, 53, said he is accused of touching the flight attendant’s buttocks while in first-class during an evening flight from Portland to San Diego on Dec. 26. Timon denies the claim, and said he touched the woman “politely” on her back — not her buttocks — to get her attention and order a drink.
Instead of a drink, Timon said he was accused of misbehavior and met by police at the end of the flight. Timon reached out to the San Diego Union-Tribune the following day.
“For me to be accused of this, and for me to be escorted off the plane by police? This is it. I’m blowing up... It’s unnecessary. It’s discrimination toward me,” Timon said.
The incident comes amid a national reckoning over sexual harassment, as claims of assault or misconduct have brought down powerful men in politics, media and entertainment, and sparked the #MeToo movement where women disclose their own experiences.
Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Ann Johnson declined to discuss specifics of the Dec. 26 incident, citing an open investigation. But she did say in a statement issued Thursday that Alaska “will not be providing further transport to the offending passenger,” pending the investigation outcome.
“Alaska Airlines will not tolerate any type of sexual misconduct that creates an unsafe environment for our guests and crew members and we are fully committed to do our part to address this serious issue,” she said.
Johnson said Alaska is working to develop and update policies and training “to ensure that crew members have the tools they need to prevent, identify and address sexual harassment on board, and will have more to say about what that looks like later this winter.”
Alaska has been in the news following incidents of alleged harassment. In fall 2016, a man was removed from an Alaska flight after he catcalled a flight attendant demonstrating how to put on a safety vest. As he was taken from the plane, he protested that he “didn’t do anything wrong.”
A passenger detailed the incident on her Facebook page, and wrote: “It was everything we could do to keep from applauding as he was led away.”
And last month, former Facebook executive Randi Zuckerberg made headlines after she posted on Facebook a description of sexual harassment against her by a fellow passenger on an Alaska fight, and said flight attendants offered to move her — not the harasser. She later updated it to thank Alaska executives for taking her complaints seriously.
In early December, Sara Nelsen, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents 42,000 flight attendants from 19 airlines, wrote an opinion piece for the Washington Post in which she said flight attendants, already long objectified, remain “ongoing victims of sexual harassment and sexual assault.”
“Even today, we are called pet names, patted on the rear when a passenger wants our attention, cornered in the back galley and asked about our ‘hottest’ layover, and subjected to incidents not fit for print,” she wrote.
On its website, the union applauded recent efforts from Alaska (and also United Airlines) “to help end sexual harassment.”
The Harbor Police Department confirmed that its officers took statements from Timon and others. No arrests were made and no one requested that charges be filed.
The Union-Tribune was unable to verify exactly what the flight attendant said Timon did to her, or to verify his side of the story. The paper was also unable to find social media postings from other passengers describing the incident.
Timon, who said he is a frequent first-class flier, said that after he touched the flight attendant and requested a drink, none came.
He said he later pressed his call button, and a male flight attendant came by and told him he’d had been cut off from alcohol, that he’d assaulted the flight attendant and that police would be waiting for him in San Diego.
The longtime owner of a company that bought and sold medical equipment said he’d had one drink, was not unruly and was “100 percent sober” at the time of the encounter.
“What about us guys?” Timon said. “I can’t tap a flight attendant on her back to politely ask for something, yet I get accused of something? It’s out of control and I am pissed.”
Timon — who said he was embarrassed in front of other passengers — said he has contacted an attorney to consider bringing legal action. That attorney did not respond to a request for comment this week.
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Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT ||||| FILE - In this Tuesday, March 24, 2015 file photo, an Alaska Airlines jet takes off at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in SeaTac, Wash. A San Diego man banned from Alaska Airlines for touching a... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this Tuesday, March 24, 2015 file photo, an Alaska Airlines jet takes off at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in SeaTac, Wash. A San Diego man banned from Alaska Airlines for touching a flight attendant says he's a victim of discrimination against men. Mike Timon tells the San Diego Union-Tribune... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this Tuesday, March 24, 2015 file photo, an Alaska Airlines jet takes off at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in SeaTac, Wash. A San Diego man banned from Alaska Airlines for touching a flight attendant says he's a victim of discrimination against men. Mike Timon tells the San Diego Union-Tribune... (Associated Press) FILE - In this Tuesday, March 24, 2015 file photo, an Alaska Airlines jet takes off at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in SeaTac, Wash. A San Diego man banned from Alaska Airlines for touching a... (Associated Press)
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A San Diego man banned from Alaska Airlines for touching a flight attendant says he's a victim of discrimination against men.
Mike Timon, angry over his treatment by the airline, called the San Diego Union-Tribune and told the newspaper in a story published last week that he was banned for touching the female flight attendant on the buttocks as he sat in first class on a flight from Oregon to San Diego on Dec. 26.
Timon said he touched the woman politely on her back to get her attention so he could order a drink. He said his gesture was misunderstood as sexual harassment, and he was met by police who escorted him off the plane. Police took statements from Timon and others but no further action.
"For me to be accused of this, and for me to be escorted off the plane by police? This is it. I'm blowing up," Timon said. "It's unnecessary. It's discrimination toward me."
Alaska spokeswoman Ann Johnson confirmed that Timon cannot fly on the airline pending the outcome of an investigation but said she could not provide specifics about his case.
"Alaska Airlines will not tolerate any type of sexual misconduct that creates an unsafe environment for our guests and crew members and we are fully committed to do our part to address this serious issue," Johnson said.
Timon, who owns a medical equipment company and frequently flies first class, said that when no drink came, he pressed his call button, and a male flight attendant came to say he had been cut off. Timon said he had only had a single drink and was sober.
Timon said widespread concern over sexual harassment has hurt men like him.
"What about us guys?" Timon said. "I can't tap a flight attendant on her back to politely ask for something, yet I get accused of something? It's out of control and I am pissed." | – A San Diego man banned from Alaska Airlines for touching a flight attendant says he's a victim of discrimination against men. Mike Timon, angry over his treatment by the airline, tells the San Diego Union-Tribune that he was banned for touching the female flight attendant on the buttocks as he sat in first class on a flight from Oregon to San Diego on Dec. 26. Timon says he touched the woman politely on her back to get her attention so he could order a drink. Timon, who owns a medical equipment company and frequently flies first class, said that when no drink came, he pressed his call button, and a male flight attendant came to say he had been cut off. Timon said he had only had a single drink and was sober. He says his gesture was misunderstood as sexual harassment, and he was met by police who escorted him off the plane. Police took statements from Timon and others but there was no further action. "For me to be accused of this, and for me to be escorted off the plane by police? This is it. I'm blowing up," Timon says. "It's unnecessary. It's discrimination toward me." He says widespread concern over sexual harassment has hurt men like him. "It's out of control and I am pissed," he says. Alaska spokeswoman Ann Johnson confirmed that Timon cannot fly on the airline pending the outcome of an investigation but said she could not provide specifics about his case, the AP reports. "Alaska Airlines will not tolerate any type of sexual misconduct that creates an unsafe environment for our guests and crew members and we are fully committed to do our part to address this serious issue," Johnson said. |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. children working in domestic tobacco fields regularly suffer from breathing problems, nausea and other ailments, an international rights group said in a report on Wednesday, urging the industry to develop tougher protections for its youngest workers.
Human Right Watch, which documented working conditions for children in four U.S. states, said it found many children on tobacco farms were in direct contact with the plant's leaves, leading to serious ailments consistent with nicotine poisoning.
"I didn’t feel well, but I still kept working. I started throwing up," said one 16-year-old worker, who worked pulling tops off of tobacco plants to help increase yields, according to Human Rights Watch, which interviewed 141 youths aged 7 to 17 working on tobacco farms in Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
The group notified 10 tobacco companies of its findings, including Altria Group Inc, Lorillard Inc, Philip Morris International Inc, and Reynolds American Inc, and urged them to boycott tobacco from farms that do not have policies in place to protect workers younger than 18.
It also contacted other cigarette makers as well as two tobacco leaf merchant companies, Alliance One International and Universal Corp.
"We want them to put strong child labor provisions into these contracts saying: 'We won't buy your tobacco unless you can assure us that you're not using hazardous child labor,'" Jo Becker, the group's top advocate for youth issues, told Reuters.
The group said Philip Morris was already developing specific protections. The company, which makes the popular Marlboro cigarette, said it was open to industry standards.
"Clearly there is opportunity to align,” Miguel Coleta, its director of external labor policies, told Reuters.
Other companies said they were developing child labor policies or reviewing the report. Still, no company explicitly prohibits those under age 18 from having contact with tobacco, Human Rights Watch said.
Tom Harkin, chairman of the U.S. Senate's panel on health and labor issues, said in a statement none of the companies' policies were sufficient and that he would contact them in coming days.
While there is no accurate count of youths working in U.S. tobacco fields, it is not illegal for children to hold jobs in agriculture, and many do so out of financial need. Many are Hispanic and come from low-income families, Becker said.
By law, children cannot work on U.S. farms during school hours, but they can work in the field at other times, and hours increase especially in the summer, when school is not in session and the tobacco crop season is at its peak.
Like other agricultural work, pesticide exposure and injuries are also concerns, the group said. Many youths also reported working 50 to 60 hours a week and earning less than minimum wage, which is $7.25 nationally but varies by state.
Current rules prohibit workers younger than 16 from performing hazardous farm jobs but do not specifically deem tobacco work as dangerous. The U.S. Labor Department proposed regulations in 2011 to address the issue, but they were withdrawn a year later, Human Rights Watch said.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Michele Gershberg) ||||| Summary The hardest of all the crops we’ve worked in is tobacco. You get tired. It takes the energy out of you. You get sick, but then you have to go right back to the tobacco the next day. —Dario A., 16-year-old tobacco worker in Kentucky, September 2013 I would barely eat anything because I wouldn’t get hungry. …Sometimes I felt like I needed to throw up. …I felt like I was going to faint. I would stop and just hold myself up with the tobacco plant. —Elena G., 13-year-old tobacco worker in North Carolina, May 2013 Children working on tobacco farms in the United States are exposed to nicotine, toxic pesticides, and other dangers. Child tobacco workers often labor 50 or 60 hours a week in extreme heat, use dangerous tools and machinery, lift heavy loads, and climb into the rafters of barns several stories tall, risking serious injuries and falls. The tobacco grown on US farms is purchased by the largest tobacco companies in the world. Ninety percent of tobacco grown in the US is cultivated in four states: North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Between May and October 2013, Human Rights Watch interviewed 141 child tobacco workers, ages 7 to 17, who worked in these states in 2012 or 2013. Nearly three-quarters of the children interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported the sudden onset of serious symptoms—including nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, headaches, dizziness, skin rashes, difficulty breathing, and irritation to their eyes and mouths—while working in fields of tobacco plants and in barns with dried tobacco leaves and tobacco dust. Many of these symptoms are consistent with acute nicotine poisoning. Based on our findings set out in this report, Human Rights Watch believes that no child under age 18 should be permitted to perform work in which they come into direct contact with tobacco in any form, including plants of any size or dried tobacco leaves, due to the inherent health risks posed by nicotine and the pesticides applied to the crop. The US government, US Congress, and tobacco manufacturing and tobacco leaf supply companies should all take urgent steps to progressively remove children from such tasks in tobacco farming. In the US, it is illegal for children under 18 to buy cigarettes or other tobacco products. However, US law fails to recognize the risks to children of working in tobacco farming. It also does not provide the same protections to children working in agriculture as it does to children working in all other sectors. In agriculture, children as young as 12 can legally work for hire for unlimited hours outside of school on a tobacco farm of any size with parental permission, and employers may hire children younger than 12 to work on small farms with written parental consent. Outside of agriculture, the employment of children under 14 is prohibited, and even 14 and 15-year-olds can only work in certain jobs for a limited number of hours each day. Tobacco farmed in the US enters the supply chains of at least eight major manufacturers of tobacco products who either purchase tobacco through direct contracts with tobacco growers or through tobacco leaf supply companies. These include Altria Group, British American Tobacco, China National Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco Group, Japan Tobacco Group, Lorillard, Philip Morris International, and Reynolds American. Some of these companies manufacture the most popular brands of cigarettes sold in the US, including Marlboro, Newport, Camel, and Pall Mall. All companies that purchase tobacco in the US directly or indirectly have responsibilities to ensure protection of children from hazardous labor, including on tobacco farms, in their supply chains in the US and globally. Child tobacco workers interviewed by Human Rights Watch for this report typically described beginning to work on tobacco farms at age 13, often together with their parents and older siblings. Only very few worked on family farms. The children we interviewed were mostly the sons and daughters of Hispanic immigrants, though they themselves were frequently US citizens. Regardless of employment or immigration status, the children described working in tobacco to help support their families’ basic needs or to buy essential items such as clothing, shoes, and school supplies. For example, 15-year-old Grace S. told Human Rights Watch why she decided to start working in tobacco farming in North Carolina: “I just wanted to help out my mom, help her with the money.” Most children interviewed by Human Rights Watch were seasonal workers who resided in states where tobacco was grown and worked on farms near their homes or in neighboring areas, primarily or exclusively during the summer months when tobacco is cultivated. We also spoke to several children who migrated to and within the United States by themselves or with their families to work in tobacco and other crops. There is no comprehensive estimate of the number of child farmworkers in the US. Tobacco is a labor-intensive crop, and the children interviewed described participating in a range of tasks, including: planting seedlings, weeding, “topping” tobacco to remove flowers, removing nuisance leaves (called “suckers”), applying pesticides, harvesting tobacco leaves by hand or with machines, cutting tobacco plants with “tobacco knives” and loading them onto wooden sticks with sharp metal points, lifting sticks with several tobacco plants, hanging up and taking down sticks with tobacco plants in curing barns, and stripping and sorting dried tobacco leaves. Health and Safety Risks in Tobacco Farming Children interviewed by Human Rights Watch in North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia frequently described feeling seriously, acutely sick, while working in tobacco farming. For example, Carla P., 16, works for hire on tobacco farms in Kentucky with her parents and her younger sister. She told Human Rights Watch she got sick while pulling the tops off tobacco plants: “I didn’t feel well, but I still kept working. I started throwing up. I was throwing up for like 10 minutes, just what I ate. I took a break for a few hours, and then I went back to work.” Emilio R., a 16-year-old seasonal worker in eastern North Carolina, who plans to study to be an engineer, said he had headaches that sometimes lasted up to two days while working in tobacco: “With the headaches, it was hard to do anything at all. I didn’t want to move my head.” Many of the symptoms reported by child tobacco workers are consistent with acute nicotine poisoning, known as Green Tobacco Sickness, an occupational health risk specific to tobacco farming that occurs when workers absorb nicotine through their skin while having prolonged contact with tobacco plants. Public health research has found dizziness, headaches, nausea, and vomiting are the most common symptoms of acute nicotine poisoning. Though the long-term effects of nicotine absorption through the skin are unknown, public health research on smoking indicates that nicotine exposure during adolescence may have long-term adverse consequences for brain development. Public health research indicates that non-smoking adult tobacco workers have similar levels of nicotine in their bodies as smokers in the general population. In addition, many children told Human Rights Watch that they saw tractors spraying pesticides in the fields in which they were working or in adjacent fields. They often described being able to smell or feel the chemical spray as it drifted over them, and reported burning eyes, burning noses, itchy skin, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, shortness of breath, redness and swelling of their mouths, and headache after coming into contact with pesticides. Yanamaria W., 14, who worked on tobacco farms in central Kentucky in 2013 with her parents and 13-year-old brother, told Human Rights Watch, “I was in the field when they started spraying…. I can stand the heat for a long time, but when they spray, then I start to feel woozy and tired. Sometimes it looks like everything is spinning.” While pesticide exposure is harmful for farmworkers of all ages, children are uniquely vulnerable to the adverse effects of toxic exposures as their bodies are still developing, and they consume more water and food, and breathe more air, pound for pound, than adults. Tobacco production involves application of a range of chemicals at different stages in the growth process, and several pesticides commonly used during tobacco farming are known neurotoxins. According to public health experts and research, long-term and chronic health effects of pesticide exposure include respiratory problems, cancer, neurologic deficits, and reproductive health problems. Children also said that they used sharp tools, operated heavy machinery, and climbed to significant heights in barns while working on tobacco farms. Several children reported sustaining injuries, including cuts and puncture wounds, from working with tools. For example, Andrew N., 16, described an accident he had while harvesting tobacco in Tennessee two years earlier: “My first day, I cut myself [on the leg] with the hatchet. … I probably hit a vein or something because it wouldn’t stop bleeding and I had to go to the hospital. They stitched it. … My foot was all covered in blood.” Many children described straining their backs and taxing their muscles while lifting heavy loads and performing repetitive motions, including working bent over at the waist, twisting their wrists to top tobacco plants, crawling on hands and knees, or reaching above their heads for extended periods of time. Bridget F., 15, injured her back in 2013 while lifting sticks of harvested tobacco up to other workers in a barn in northeastern Kentucky: “I’m short, so I had to reach up, and I was reaching up and the tobacco plant bent over, and I went to catch it, and I twisted my back the wrong way.” According to public health research, the impacts of repetitive strain injuries may be long-lasting and result in chronic pain and arthritis. Federal data on fatal occupational injuries indicate that agriculture is the most dangerous industry open to young workers. In 2012, two-thirds of children under the age of 18 who died from occupational injuries were agricultural workers, and there were more than 1,800 nonfatal injuries to children under 18 working on US farms. Nearly all children interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that their employers did not provide health education, safety training, or personal protective equipment to help them minimize their exposure to nicotine from tobacco leaves or pesticides sprayed in the fields and on the plants. Children typically used gloves, which they or their parents bought, and large black plastic garbage bags, which they brought from home, to wear as protection from wet tobacco leaves and rain. The experience of Fabiana H., a 14-year-old tobacco worker in North Carolina, was typical among the children interviewed by Human Rights Watch: I wore plastic bags because our clothes got wet in the morning. … They put holes in the bags so our hands could go through them. It kept some of my clothes dry, but I still got wet. …Then the sun comes out and you feel suffocated in the bags. You want to take them off. Several children reported working in bare feet or socks when the mud in the fields was deep and they lacked appropriate footwear. Some children reported that, despite long days working outside in the heat, employers did not provide them with drinking water, and most said that they had limited or no access to toilets, hand-washing facilities, and shade. Working long hours in high temperatures can place children at risk of heat stroke and dehydration, particularly if they do not drink enough water, do not have access to shade, and are wearing extra clothes to protect themselves from sunburn and exposure to nicotine and pesticides. Excessively Long Hours, Wage Problems Most children interviewed by Human Rights Watch described working long hours, typically between 10 and 12 hours per day, and sometimes up to 16 hours. Most employers allowed children two or three breaks per day, while some children told Human Rights Watch that employers did not allow workers to take regular breaks, even when children felt sick or were working in high heat. Martin S., 18, told Human Rights Watch that his employer on a Kentucky farm where he worked in 2012 did not give them regular breaks during the work day: “We start at 6 a.m. and we leave at 6 p.m. …We only get one five-minute break each day. And a half hour for lunch. Sometimes less.” Many children told Human Rights Watch that some employers pressured them to work as quickly as possible. Some said that they chose to work long hours or up to six or seven days a week in order to maximize their earnings. In other cases employers demanded excessive working hours, particularly during the peak growing and harvest periods of the season. Children described utter exhaustion after working long hours on tobacco farms. Elan T., 15, and Madeline T., 16, worked together on a tobacco farm after migrating to North Carolina from Mexico with their mother and younger brother. They explained the fatigue they felt after working for 12 or 13 hours in tobacco fields: “Just exhaustion. You feel like you have no strength, like you can’t eat. I felt that way when we worked so much. Sometimes our arms and legs would ache.” Patrick W., 9, described similar feelings after working long hours with his father, a hired tobacco worker, in Tennessee in 2013. “I feel really exhausted,” he said. “I come in [to the house], I get my [clean] clothes, I take a shower, and then it’s usually dark, so I go to sleep.” Most children reported earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for their work on tobacco farms, though some children were paid a fixed rate during certain parts of the season based on the quantity of tobacco they harvested or hung in barns. Some children reported problems with wages including earning less than minimum wage for hourly work, deductions by the contractor or grower for drinking water or for reasons that were not explained to them, or because of what they believed was inaccurate recording of hours by labor contractors. Impacts on Education Most children interviewed by Human Rights Watch attended school full time and worked in tobacco farming only during the summer months, after school, and on weekends. However, a few children who had migrated to the United States for work and had not settled in a specific community told Human Rights Watch that they did not enroll in school at all or enrolled in school but missed several months in order to perform agricultural work, including in tobacco farming. Some children stated that they occasionally missed school to work in times of financial hardship for their families. International Standards on Child Labor In recognition of the potential benefits of some forms of work, international law does not prohibit children from working. The International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention, which the US has ratified, obligates countries to prohibit certain types of work for children under age 18 as a matter of urgency, including work that is likely to jeopardize children’s physical or mental health, safety or morals (also known as hazardous labor). The ILO leaves it up to governments to determine which occupations are hazardous to children’s health. Several countries, including major tobacco producing countries such as Brazil and India, prohibit children under 18 from performing work in tobacco farming. Based on our field research, interviews with health professionals, and analysis of the public health literature, Human Rights Watch has concluded that no child under age 18 should be permitted to perform any tasks in which they will come into direct contact with tobacco plants of any size or dried tobacco leaves, due to the health risks posed by nicotine, the pesticides applied to the crop, and the particular health risks to children whose bodies and brains are still developing. The ILO Worst Forms of Child Labor Recommendation states that certain types of work in an unhealthy environment may be appropriate for children ages 16 and older “on the condition that the health, safety and morals of the children concerned are fully protected, and that the children have received adequate specific instruction or vocational training in the relevant branch of activity.” Because exposure to tobacco in any form is unsafe, Human Rights Watch has determined, based on our field investigations and other research, that as a practical matter there is no way for children under 18 to work safely on US tobacco farms when they have direct contact with tobacco plants of any size or dried tobacco leaves, even if wearing protective equipment. Though protective equipment may help mitigate exposure to nicotine and pesticide residues, rain suits and watertight gloves would not completely eliminate absorption of toxins through the skin and would greatly increase children’s risk of suffering heat-related illnesses. Such problems documented by Human Rights Watch in the US seem likely to extend to tobacco farms outside the United States. Child Labor and US Law US laws and policies fail to account for the unique hazards to children’s health and safety posed by coming into direct contact with tobacco plants of any size and dried tobacco leaves. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) prohibits children under the age of 16 from engaging in agricultural work that the US Secretary of Labor has identified as hazardous. However, the US Department of Labor’s (DOL) regulations on hazardous occupations do not include any restrictions for any children over age 12 to perform work that exposes them to contact with tobacco plants and tobacco leaves. In addition, US law regulating all child work in agriculture fails to adequately protect children in a sector determined by the ILO to be one of the most dangerous sectors open to children for work. US law permits children to work in agriculture at younger ages, for longer hours, and in more hazardous conditions than children working in all other sectors. Under US law, there is no minimum age for a child to begin working on a small farm with parental permission. At age 12, a child can work for any number of hours outside of school on a farm of any size with parental permission, and at age 14, a child can work on any farm without parental permission. In other sectors, in contrast, employment of children under age 14 is prohibited, and children ages 14 and 15 may work only in certain jobs and for limited hours outside of school. For example, a child working in a fast food restaurant may only work 18 hours a week when school is in session, while children working in agriculture may work 50 or more hours per week with no restrictions on how early or late they work, as long as it is not during school hours. At age 16, children working in agriculture can work in jobs deemed to be particularly hazardous, including operating certain heavy machinery or working at heights. However, all other working children must be 18 to perform hazardous work. For example, in agriculture, children under 16 can work at heights of up to 20 feet (over one story) without any fall protection, and 16 and 17-year-olds can work at any height without protection. By contrast, in construction, employers must ensure fall protections for any work taking place over six feet (two meters). Tobacco Product Manufacturers and Tobacco Leaf Companies Although the US government has the primary responsibility to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights under international law, private entities, including businesses, also have internationally recognized responsibilities regarding human rights, including workers’ rights and children’s rights. All businesses should have policies and procedures in place to ensure human rights are respected and not abused, to undertake adequate due diligence to identify and effectively mitigate human rights problems, and to adequately respond in cases where problems arise. In preparation of this report, Human Rights Watch sought to engage 10 companies that source tobacco from the states we visited. Eight of those companies manufacture tobacco products (Altria Group, British American Tobacco, China National Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco Group, Japan Tobacco Group, Lorillard, Philip Morris International, and Reynolds American), and two are leaf merchant companies (Alliance One International and Universal Corporation). Human Rights Watch sought to understand these companies’ policies concerning child labor and other labor rights in their supply chains, as well as mechanisms for implementing and monitoring these policies. Over the course of several months before the release of this report, Human Rights Watch sent letters to each of these companies detailing the preliminary findings of our research and recommendations and requesting meetings with company officials. Nine companies responded to Human Rights Watch and stated that they took steps to prohibit child labor in their supply chains. Only China National Tobacco did not respond to Human Rights Watch’s letter or repeated attempts to secure a meeting with company executives. All of the tobacco manufacturing companies and leaf supply merchants that replied to Human Rights Watch expressed concerns about child labor in their supply chain. Only a few of the companies have explicit child labor policies in place. The approaches to child labor in the supply chain varied from company to company, as detailed below. Human Rights Watch correspondence with these companies is included in an appendix to this report, available on the Human Rights Watch website. Of the companies approached by Human Rights Watch, Philip Morris International (PMI) has developed the most detailed and protective set of policies and procedures, including training and policy guidance on child labor and other labor issues which it is implementing in its global supply chain. PMI has also developed specific lists of hazardous tasks that children under 18 are prohibited from doing on tobacco farms, which include most tasks in which children come into prolonged contact with mature tobacco leaves, among other hazardous work. Several companies stated that in their US operations they required tobacco growers with whom they contract to comply with US law, including laws on child labor, which, as noted above, do not afford sufficient protections for children. These companies stated that their policies for tobacco purchasing in countries outside of the US were consistent with international law, including with regard to a minimum age of 15 for entry into work under the ILO Minimum Age Convention, with the exception of certain light work, and a prohibition on hazardous work for children under 18, unless national laws afford greater protections. However, most companies did not specify the tasks that they consider to constitute hazardous work. Under these standards, children working in tobacco farming can remain vulnerable to serious health hazards and risks associated with contact with tobacco plants and tobacco leaves. A number of companies stated that they had undertaken internal and third party monitoring of their supply chains to examine labor conditions, including the use of child labor, as defined within the scope of their existing policies. Recognition of Children’s Vulnerability and the Need for Decisive Action For the last decade, several members of the US Congress have repeatedly introduced draft legislation that would apply the same protections to children working in agriculture that already protect children working in all other industries. However, Congress has yet to enact legislation amending the Fair Labor Standards Act to better protect child farmworkers, and federal agencies have not made necessary regulatory changes to address the specific risks tobacco farming poses to children. In 2012, DOL withdrew proposed regulations that would have updated the decades-old list of hazardous occupations prohibited for children under age 16 working in agriculture. These regulations, had they been implemented, would have prohibited children under age 16 from working in tobacco. At this writing, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is accepting comments on long-awaited changes to the Worker Protection Standard, a set of safety regulations related to occupational pesticide exposure. It remains to be seen whether the revised regulations will include better protections for child workers. US laws and policies governing child labor in tobacco are inconsistent with or in violation of international conventions on the rights of children. The US government should acknowledge the particular health and safety risks posed to children exposed to tobacco plants and tobacco leaves, and take immediate action to end all hazardous child labor among children under age 18 on tobacco farms. It should also ensure that laws regulating child labor guarantee that the protections afforded to children working in other sectors, including those concerning working hours, work with sharp objects, machinery, heavy loads, and the like, apply to children working in agriculture as well. Companies should create child labor policies or amend existing policies to state explicitly that all work in which children come into contact with all tobacco plants and tobacco leaves is hazardous and prohibited for children under 18. Each company should establish effective internal and third-party monitoring of this policy and other relevant labor policies. Given that the international tobacco leaf purchasing markets, including that of the US, often involve third-party suppliers or multiple company contracts with individual growers, members of the industry should seek to formulate industry-wide policies prohibiting hazardous child labor on tobacco farms as well as effective monitoring mechanisms. Companies should also support efforts to provide viable alternatives to working in tobacco farming, including programs to provide children in tobacco communities with education and vocational training.
Methodology This report is based on interviews with 141 children ages 7 to 17 who said they had worked in tobacco farming in the United States in 2012 or 2013. During multiple field research trips between May and October 2013, Human Rights Watch interviewed 80 children in North Carolina, 46 in Kentucky, 12 in Tennessee, and 3 in Virginia. Eight children worked for less than a full week on tobacco farms. A few of the very youngest children—4 out of 141—worked with their parents sporadically and without pay. The median age of the children we interviewed was 15; the median age at which they began working in tobacco was 13. All personal accounts reported here, unless otherwise noted, reflect experiences children had while they were working on tobacco farms in 2012 or 2013. Children interviewed were identified with the assistance of individuals and organizations providing legal, health, educational, and social services to farmworkers, farm labor contractors, and through outreach by Human Rights Watch researchers in farmworker communities. In addition, Human Rights Watch interviewed three young people ages 18 to 21 who had worked in tobacco as children, and seven parents of child tobacco workers. Human Rights Watch researchers also conducted interviews with 36 experts, including representatives of farmworker organizations, lawyers, social services providers, healthcare providers, and academic researchers in tobacco-growing regions in the US. In total, 187 people were interviewed for this report. To supplement formal interviews, researchers spoke with more than 50 outreach workers, educators, doctors, lawyers, tobacco growers, farm labor contractors, and representatives of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) across the US in person and on the telephone. We also spoke with more than 60 adult tobacco workers in the course of our research. Two Human Rights Watch researchers, one of whom is fluent in Spanish, conducted the interviews. Interviews were conducted in English or Spanish, at the interviewee’s preference. Most interviews were conducted individually, though some children were interviewed in small groups of two to five participants. No interviews were conducted in the presence of workers’ employers, such as farm labor contractors or tobacco growers. Interviews took place in a variety of settings including homes, worksites, schools, restaurants and other public spaces, outdoors as part of outreach in farmworker communities, and at religious institutions. Whenever possible, researchers held interviews in private. In a few cases, interviewees preferred to have a family member or another person present. Interviews were semi-structured and addressed conditions for children working in US tobacco farming, including health, safety, wages, hours, training, and education. All children and parents interviewed were informed of the purpose of the interview, its voluntary nature, and the ways in which the information would be collected and used. For interviews taking place during mealtimes, Human Rights Watch provided food to interviewees. Human Rights Watch did not provide anyone with compensation in exchange for an interview. Individuals were informed that they could end the interview at any time or decline to answer any questions without any negative consequences. Participants provided oral informed consent to participate and were assured anonymity. All names of children and parents interviewed have been changed to protect their privacy, confidentiality, and safety. Some individuals approached declined to be interviewed. Human Rights Watch also analyzed relevant laws and policies and conducted a review of secondary sources. Detailed state-by-state analysis of applicable labor laws, the enforcement of such laws, litigation, and recent and pending legislative projects in North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee was undertaken with pro bono assistance from a law firm based in New York City. Human Rights Watch researchers obtained relevant US federal statistics and other information through public record requests to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) within the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the US Department of Labor (DOL), the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Between December 2013 and March 2014, Human Rights Watch sent letters to eight companies that manufacture tobacco products (Altria Group, British American Tobacco, China National Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco Group, Japan Tobacco Group, Lorillard, Philip Morris International, and Reynolds American) and two leaf merchant companies (Alliance One and Universal Corporation) detailing the preliminary findings of our research and requesting meetings with company officials. Nine companies responded in writing. The results of this correspondence are detailed in the relevant sections of this report, and copies of the correspondence can be found in the appendix, available on the Human Rights Watch website. In addition, company officials from several companies met or spoke by phone with Human Rights Watch in 2014. In this report, “child” and “children” are used to refer to anyone under the age of 18, consistent with usage under international law. The term “child labor”, consistent with International Labor Organization standards, is used to refer to work performed by children below the minimum age of employment or children under age 18 engaged in hazardous work. The term “migrant worker” can have various meanings and many farmworkers in the US were, at least at some point in their lives, international migrants. In this report the term “migrant” is used for workers who travel within the US for agricultural work, as distinguished from “seasonal” workers, defined in this report as settled workers based in one place.
I. Tobacco Farming in the United States Tobacco Production Tobacco has been cultivated in the United States for centuries, and commercial tobacco production has been a central part of the North American agricultural economy since the 1600s.[1] According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in 2012, the US was the fourth largest producer of unmanufactured tobacco, behind China, Brazil, and India.[2] The total value of tobacco leaf production in the US in 2012 was approximately US$1.5 billion.[3] Tobacco is grown in at least 10 US states, but North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee account for almost 90 percent of domestic tobacco production. Roughly 50 percent of all US-produced tobacco is grown in North Carolina, 25 percent in Kentucky, and 7 percent in each of Virginia and Tennessee.[4] In 2007, the last year for which there is relevant data, there were 8,113 tobacco farms in Kentucky, 2,622 farms in North Carolina, 1,610 farms in Tennessee, and 895 farms in Virginia.[5] Structure of the Tobacco Economy Tobacco growers contract with different types of buyers through agreements to produce specific amounts of tobacco at set prices. Contracts often include specific provisions about the type and quality of tobacco produced, and standards for production.[6] Many growers contract directly with manufacturers of cigarettes and other tobacco products.[7] Growers also enter into contracts with leaf tobacco merchant companies, which do not manufacture tobacco products, but buy, process, pack, and ship unmanufactured tobacco to commercial product manufacturers.[8] Some growers also have contracts with cooperative organizations in states that were previously involved in administering now-obsolete federal price support programs, such as the US Tobacco Cooperative. These organizations process and sell tobacco to cigarette manufacturers, and some also produce consumer tobacco products for US markets.[9] Changes in US Policy and Impacts on Farms and Labor In 2004, the Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act ended longstanding federal tobacco quota and price support programs designed to control supply and guarantee a minimum price for US tobacco.[10] The law also established the Tobacco Transition Payment Program (TTPP), known as the “tobacco buy-out,” to help tobacco quota holders and producers transition to the free market by providing annual payments for 10 years (2005-2014).[11] The TTPP contributed to contractions in US tobacco farming and production previously underway. By the late 1990s, demand for US tobacco had declined sharply in domestic and foreign markets due to strong competition from international tobacco producers and declines in US consumption of tobacco products.[12] From 1997 to 2007, the number of US farms producing tobacco decreased by 83 percent,[13] with volume down by 57 percent from 1997 to 2012.[14] Following the tobacco buyout, many small farmers left tobacco and transitioned to alternative crops, while larger farms expanded and consolidated operations.[15] According to a 2010 study by the Center for Tobacco Grower Research, a Tennessee-based organization researching tobacco production, economics, and markets, following the tobacco buyout, average acreage per tobacco farm in the US tripled.[16] The study found that as farm size increased, so did the reliance on hired farm labor relative to unpaid family labor.[17] Tobacco Types, Farming, and Curing There are several varieties of tobacco grown in the United States, distinguished and defined by both the characteristics of the leaves and the manner in which they are harvested and cured.[18] The most common types of tobacco produced in the US are flue-cured and burley tobacco. Tobacco is a labor-intensive crop, and even with the use of labor-saving technologies for some production, flue-cured tobacco requires approximately 100 hours of labor per acre, and burley tobacco requires 150 to 200 hours of labor per acre.[19] The tobacco season generally begins in February or March with cultivation of tobacco seedlings in greenhouses or plant beds. Farmers and workers plant seeds in trays and tend to them for nearly two months—watering, fertilizing, and “clipping” the plants several times, often with mowers suspended over the plants, to keep them uniform in size. In April or May, the seedlings are transplanted into fields. During planting, workers sit facing backwards on a tractor-pulled “transplanter” or “setter.” As the tractor moves through the field, workers load seedlings into slots in a rotating wheel, and the wheel inserts each seedling into a small hole in the ground. Other workers walk behind the setter to straighten and adjust the plants by hand to ensure proper planting. As the tobacco plants grow, workers dig up weeds with sharp hoes and uproot and reposition plants where two tobacco stalks have taken root. By June or July, workers begin “topping” (breaking off large flowers that sprout at the tops of tobacco plants) and removing “suckers” (nuisance leaves that reduce the yield and quality of tobacco). This process is done entirely by hand and helps to produce larger and more robust tobacco plants. Farmers and workers apply pesticides and growth regulators to tobacco plants at various points in the season (see below for detailed information on pesticides used in tobacco farming). After workers have finished topping, tobacco plants are left to mature in fields until they are ready to be harvested and dried in a process called “curing.” Flue-Cured Tobacco Flue-cured tobacco is a broad leaf type of tobacco grown in North Carolina and other parts of the southeastern US. In 2012, nearly 80 percent of US flue-cured tobacco was grown in North Carolina.[20] Flue-cured tobacco is harvested by removing the leaves in a process called “priming,” which involves a series of separate harvests beginning with the lowest leaves and moving up the stalk. The harvest is done primarily by machine, though some workers harvest leaves by hand by pulling tobacco leaves off of the stalks and gathering them under their arms before loading them into trucks to be transported to barns for curing. Workers then place harvested leaves into racks or cages and load them into heated curing barns. Leaves are left in curing barns for one to two weeks, with heat and ventilation carefully controlled, until leaves are dried and ready to be sorted and packed into bales. Workers help to sort leaves and place them in cages where they are compressed into bales with heavy machines called “balers.” The flue-cured tobacco crop is typically harvested and cured from mid-July to early October. Burley Tobacco Burley tobacco is a variety of tobacco grown in Kentucky, Tennessee, and other states in the Appalachian US. In 2012, Kentucky produced 74 percent of the US burley tobacco crop.[21] Burley tobacco is harvested by the stalk, and the harvest is done primarily by hand in a difficult, labor-intensive process. Workers cut each tobacco plant at the base of the stalk with a small axe or hatchet (often called a “tobacco knife”) and then slide them onto wooden sticks equipped with sharp spikes at the end. Workers place six tobacco plants on each stick and leave the sticks in the field to dry for one or two days. Workers then load the sticks of harvested tobacco plants onto flatbed wagons to be transported to barns for curing. Burley tobacco is dried in open-air barns, without any added heat, in a process called air-curing. To arrange the tobacco for curing, workers climb into the rafters of barns, forming several tiers or levels, and pass sticks of harvested burley tobacco upward to hang it in the barns to dry. Harvested burley tobacco plants dry in curing barns (or sometimes in makeshift field curing structures) for four to eight weeks, when workers take the sticks of tobacco down from the barns and “strip” the leaves off of the stalks by hand. Workers sort and grade tobacco manually, based on the physical qualities of the leaves (e.g. stalk position, color). The tobacco is then packaged into bales for market. The burley tobacco crop is harvested and cured later typically from mid-August to early December.
II. Child Tobacco Workers in the United States The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) estimates that hundreds of thousands of children under age 18 work in US agriculture each year, but there is no comprehensive estimate of the number of child farmworkers in the US. In 2012, farm operators reported directly hiring 130,232 children under age 18 to work on crop and livestock farms, and an additional 388,084 children worked on the farms on which they resided.[22] However, these figures significantly underrepresent the total number of children working in agriculture as they exclude children hired by farm labor contractors or employed informally.[23] The total number of children who work on tobacco farms each year is also unknown.[24] Child Tobacco Workers The children interviewed by Human Rights Watch for this report were overwhelmingly of Hispanic ethnicity. Many children we interviewed were US citizens, consistent with the findings of a 2013 pilot study of North Carolina child farmworkers in which 78 percent were US citizens. Other children we interviewed were born outside of the United States and had migrated from other countries with their families, or in some instances, by themselves. Regardless of the immigration status of children, the parents of most children interviewed for this report were living in the US without authorization. Child tobacco workers interviewed by Human Rights Watch described working in a diversity of circumstances. The vast majority worked for hire, employed by official or unofficial farm labor contractors, labor subcontractors, or tobacco growers. A small number of children that we interviewed worked on farms owned by family members. Most of the children who stated that they worked on family farms also worked for hire on farms owned by other tobacco growers. Most children interviewed by Human Rights Watch resided in states where tobacco was grown and worked on farms near their homes. These children overwhelmingly attend public school full time in their communities, often working primarily, or exclusively, during the summer months. The median age at which children we interviewed began working in tobacco was 13. Some of these children worked together with their parents and siblings; others worked without their parents, sometimes with crews composed almost entirely of children. Many seasonal child farmworkers in North Carolina told Human Rights Watch that they worked in tobacco as well as other crops including, variously, sweet potatoes, blueberries, cucumbers, and watermelons. Human Rights Watch also interviewed 16 child migrant workers who move within the United States to work in different agricultural crops, including tobacco. Some of these children said that they travel with their families and attend schools in different states, working only during the summers, after school, and on weekends. Other migrant children stated that they work year round and do not attend school, as described below. Several children interviewed who had migrated without authorization to the US with their families reported that they had applied for or received deferred action through a federal program designed to provide temporary reprieve from deportation and employment authorization to individuals under age 30 who migrated to the US as children, attended school, have continuously resided in the US for a minimum of five years, and met several other eligibility criteria.[26] Human Rights Watch has argued that “deferred action for childhood arrivals,” by considering a person’s positive attachments to the country of residence in deportation decisions, represents a rational, if incremental, shift in US immigration policy.[27] Human Rights Watch has called on the US government to enact more permanent and comprehensive immigration reforms.[28] Why Children Work Nearly all of the children interviewed by Human Rights Watch, whether seasonal or migrant, citizens or unauthorized, reported that they worked in tobacco to provide for themselves and their families. The National Agricultural Workers Survey, a random survey of crop workers in the US, indicates that farmworkers are overwhelmingly poor: in 2008-2009, the median annual income among US crop workers was $18,750. A 2008 report from the US Department of Agriculture found poverty among farmworkers is more than double that of all wage and salary employees in the United States.[30] Most children interviewed by Human Rights Watch for this report started working in tobacco farming, and in some cases in other crops as well, to earn money for their basic needs: clothes, shoes, school supplies. Parents of child workers said that their children’s minimum wage earnings helped to supplement meager family incomes. Economic Need Gabriella G., 42, is a mother of six, and five of her children have worked in tobacco fields in North Carolina. She moved to North Carolina after leaving an abusive partner and is now a single mother. When asked why her children started working in tobacco, she said, “What I earn is not sufficient for my family. My children have to work to buy school supplies, clothes, the things you have to pay for at school.”[31] Her daughter Natalie G., 18, started working in tobacco at age 12. She told Human Rights Watch why she started working: “I saw what my mom was going through, how tired she was, and we wanted to help. … There was motivation to work because my mom was working and we were alone without her. And seeing my mom come beaten down, sunburned, tired. We were raised not to leave someone behind.”[32] Natalie’s younger sister, Elena G., also started working in tobacco at age 12. She told Human Rights Watch how she used her earnings: “I would give my mom more than half of my check for the bills. And then I would help her buy food. And whatever I had left, I’d buy my little brother something. I wanted to buy clothes, but I didn’t really have the chance to.”[33] Other children described similar reasons for working in tobacco. Raul D., a 13-year-old worker in eastern North Carolina, told Human Rights Watch, “I work so that I have money to buy clothes for school and school supplies, you know, like crayons and stuff. I’ve already bought my backpack for next year.”[34] Adriana F., 14, works for hire on tobacco farms in Kentucky with her parents and her four brothers. When asked how she used her earnings, she told Human Rights Watch, “I use the money for school supplies and to go on field trips.” Jerardo S., 11, told Human Rights Watch he started working on tobacco farms in Kentucky to save for his college education, saying, “I told my mom I would save it for the college or university where I want to go.”[35] Lack of Other Opportunities In addition to economic need, children, particularly those living in the US without authorization, reported working in tobacco because they lacked other employment and summer educational opportunities in their rural communities. Blanca A., like many farmworker children, was born in Mexico and works without authorization, even though she has lived in the United States for many years. “Most of my friends have jobs in the new sports shop, at McDonald’s or Bojangles, in the mall selling stuff,” she told Human Rights Watch. “But usually for those jobs they ask for [your] social security [number].”[36] Claudio G., a 16-year-old unauthorized worker in North Carolina, told Human Rights Watch, “Tobacco is the only job we [unauthorized children] have during the summer.”[37] Other children said that they were too young to be hired to work other jobs. Alan F., a 15-year-old worker in eastern North Carolina who hopes to attend college after graduating from high school, told Human Rights Watch that he would continue working in tobacco until he was older. “There’s plenty of jobs, but I mean, I ain’t got the age,” he said. “If I was older, I’d want to be a mechanic or work in construction or something like that.”[38] Of the nine children interviewed by Human Rights Watch who worked on tobacco farms owned by family members, most had other career aspirations. For example, 15-year-old Bradley S., who started working on tobacco farms owned by his father and grandfather in eastern Kentucky at 8, told Human Rights Watch, “When I grow up, I want to be an engineer.”[39]
III. Health and Safety Nearly three-quarters of children interviewed by Human Rights Watch in North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, 97 out of 133, reported feeling sick—with nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, headaches, dizziness, skin rashes, difficulty breathing, and irritation to their eyes and mouths—while working in fields with tobacco plants and in barns with dried tobacco leaves and tobacco dust.[40] Many reported being exposed to pesticides and to extreme temperatures and unrelenting heat while working in tobacco fields. Some stated that they used sharp tools and cut themselves, or operated heavy machinery and climbed to significant heights, risking serious injury. Many children described straining their backs and taxing their muscles while lifting heavy loads and performing repetitive motions, including working bent over at the waist, twisting their wrists to top tobacco plants, crawling on hands and knees, or reaching above their heads for extended periods of time. Nearly all children interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that their employers did not provide health education, safety training, or personal protective equipment to help them minimize their exposure to nicotine from tobacco leaves or pesticides sprayed in the fields and on the plants. Some children reported that, despite long days working outside in the heat, employers did not provide them with drinking water, and most said that they had limited or no access to toilets, hand-washing facilities, and shade. Based on our field research, interviews with health professionals, and analysis of public health literature, Human Rights Watch has concluded that no child under age 18 should be permitted to perform any tasks in which they will come into direct contact with tobacco plants of any size or dried tobacco leaves, due to the health risks posed by nicotine, the pesticides applied to the crop, and the particular health risks to children whose bodies and brains are still developing. Though protective equipment may help mitigate exposure to nicotine and pesticide residues, rain suits and watertight gloves would not completely eliminate absorption of toxins through the skin and would greatly increase children’s risk of suffering heat-related illnesses. As a result, Human Rights Watch has determined that there is no practical way for children to work safely in the US when handling or coming into contact with tobacco in any form. Sickness while Working More than two out of three children interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that they had felt suddenly, acutely ill while working in fields of tobacco plants and performing such jobs as topping, pulling off suckers, weeding, straightening plants, harvesting tobacco, and while working in curing barns. Children interviewed by Human Rights Watch described working, especially in wet conditions—during or after rainfall or in the morning with a heavy dew on the tobacco leaves—and becoming severely nauseous, dizzy or lightheaded. Some children said that they also vomited while working. Other children said they suffered severe headaches, and after a day’s work with tobacco, felt a sustained loss of appetite and energy, or had difficulty sleeping. Nausea, Vomiting, and Loss of Appetite Children in all four states described nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite while working on tobacco farms. For example, Elena G., a 13-year-old seasonal worker living in eastern North Carolina, spent both the 2012 and 2013 summers working in tobacco with her mother. She told Human Rights Watch how she felt while topping tobacco: I felt very tired. … I would barely eat anything because I wouldn’t get hungry…We would get our lunch break and I would barely eat, I would just drink. …Sometimes I felt like I needed to throw up. I never did. It had come up my throat, but it went back down. …I felt like I was going to faint. I would stop and just hold myself up with the tobacco plant. [41] Elena’s mother, Gabriella G. described her daughter’s condition: “Sometimes I saw that she couldn’t bear it. She was going to faint. She had headaches, nausea. Watching her was so hard. She’s skinny now, but imagine: she was even skinnier then [when she was working]. She was losing weight.”[42] Yolanda F., a 16-year-old seasonal worker in eastern North Carolina, started working on tobacco farms in 2013 with two of her friends during their summer break from school. She described how she felt during her first days on the job: “My first day I felt dizzy. I felt like I was going to throw up, but I didn’t. I just started seeing different colors….I didn’t last through lunch that day.”[43] Child tobacco workers in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia often experienced nausea and vomiting while cutting stalks of burley tobacco during the harvest. For example, Danielle S., 16, told Human Rights Watch that she has been working for hire with her parents and brother on tobacco farms outside of Lexington, Kentucky for several years during the summers, after school, and on weekends. Danielle said that she got sick while harvesting tobacco in 2013: “It happens when you’re out in the sun. You want to throw up. And you drink water because you’re so thirsty, but the water makes you feel worse. You throw up right there when you’re cutting, but you just keep cutting.”[44] Her brother, age 15, described feeling sick while working in tobacco at a younger age: “A couple of years ago, I was throwing up in the field. I took medicine, and then I went back to work.”[45] Ten-year-old Marta W. and her brother Patrick W., 9, worked together with their father in 2013 on tobacco farms in Tennessee, about 60 miles northeast of Nashville. Several different tobacco growers hire their father to harvest tobacco plants and hang them on sticks to dry in barns. Because he is paid a fixed rate for each stick of tobacco plants he harvests and hangs in a barn, Marta and Patrick work with him to increase his earnings. Patrick told Human Rights Watch about his experience harvesting burley tobacco in 2013: “I’ve gotten sick. We started cutting [tobacco plants], and I had to go home. I kept on coughing [heaving], and I had to eat crackers and drink some Gatorade…. I threw up a little bit. It took two or three hours before I felt better.” Marta, also describing working in 2013, added, “I felt sick when I went, but I didn’t actually throw up because I stayed out of the barn. I felt kind of nauseous. My head felt bad.”[46] Jaime V., 18, said that he felt nauseated while working in the curing barns. He told Human Rights Watch, “I worked all the way at the top of the barn, too. It’s just hot up there. The air is humid and the smell [of tobacco] fills your nose and mouth, and you get sick.”[47] Headaches, Dizziness, and Lightheadedness Children told Human Rights Watch that they suffered from headaches, dizziness, and lightheadedness while working on tobacco farms. Emilio R., a 16-year-old seasonal worker who hopes to study to be an engineer, said that in addition to topping and pulling suckers off tobacco plants, he harvested flue-cured tobacco leaves by hand on farms in eastern North Carolina in 2012. He described that process: “We grab the [tobacco] leaves, put them under our arm until we have a bundle, then throw them in the truck.”[48] Emilio also said he had headaches that sometimes lasted up to two days during the 2012 season: “With the headaches, it was hard to do anything at all. I didn’t want to move my head.”[49] His 17-year-old sister, Jocelyn, also harvested tobacco leaves by hand, and she also said she had headaches while working: “I would get headaches sometimes all day. I think it was from the smell of the tobacco. I really didn’t like it.”[50] Miguel T., 12, a seasonal worker in eastern North Carolina, said that in July 2013 during his first month working in tobacco fields, he got a headache while topping tobacco: “I got a headache before. It was horrible. It felt like there was something in my head trying to eat it.”[51] Cameron M., 18, and his brother Leonardo M., 15, migrated to central Kentucky from Guatemala with their father in the winter of 2013. They worked together for several months on tobacco farms, stripping dried tobacco leaves off of sticks after they had cured in barns. Both boys reported headaches and dizziness while stripping dried tobacco leaves off of sticks. Leonardo M. told Human Rights Watch, “I felt like I was spinning in circles, and my head ached. I felt awful.”[52] Pablo E., a 17-year-old worker in Kentucky described dizziness as “a symptom of the work.”[53] Jacob S., a 14-year-old tobacco worker in Virginia, described similar symptoms: “I get a little bit queasy, and I get lightheaded and dizzy. Sometimes I feel like I might pass out. It just feels like I want to fall over.”[54] Sleeplessness Some children described recurrent sleeplessness. Jaime V., 18, started working in tobacco in Tennessee when he was 14 after migrating to the United States with his cousin. At first, he did not enroll in school, instead working full-time for a contractor doing agricultural work. Describing his first summer working in tobacco four years ago, he told Human Rights Watch, “I got sick. I couldn’t sleep at night. I felt dizzy.”[55] Luciano P., 18, worked on tobacco farms in Kentucky: “When I got sick, when I tried to go to sleep, I couldn’t go to sleep. I was feeling tired, but I couldn’t sleep. Sometimes you throw up. I had headaches.”[56] Acute Nicotine Poisoning and Exposure to Nicotine among Children Taken together, the symptoms reported to Human Rights Watch by child tobacco workers in North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia are consistent with acute nicotine poisoning, known as Green Tobacco Sickness, an occupational health risk specific to tobacco farming. Green Tobacco Sickness occurs when workers absorb nicotine through their skin while having prolonged contact with tobacco plants.[57] Researchers have documented dizziness, headaches, nausea, and vomiting as the most common symptoms of acute nicotine poisoning. In some cases, these symptoms may be linked to or exacerbated by pesticide exposure or working in conditions of high heat and high humidity without sufficient rest, shade, and hydration. Acute nicotine poisoning generally lasts between a few hours and a few days,[60] and although it is rarely life-threatening, severe cases may result in dehydration which requires emergency treatment.[61] Children are particularly vulnerable to nicotine poisoning because of their size, and because they are less likely than adults to have developed a tolerance to nicotine.[62] The long-term effects of nicotine absorption through the skin have not been studied, although the long-term effects of consuming tobacco products containing nicotine has been well documented. Working in wet, humid conditions increases the risk of poisoning as nicotine dissolves in the moisture on the leaf and is more readily absorbed through the skin. A public health study conducted in North Carolina collected dew samples from tobacco plants on four farms and found nicotine in all samples, ranging from 33 to 84 micrograms per milliliter of dew. The researchers estimated that on humid days, farmworkers could be exposed to 600 milliliters or more of dew, containing between 20 and 50 milligrams of nicotine. However, the percentage of nicotine in dew that is absorbed through the skin is not known. A 2007 review of public health studies found that non-smoking adult tobacco workers have similar levels of nicotine in their bodies as smokers in the general population, althoughindividual variation would be expected based upon the use of personal protective equipment, season and contact with tobacco, and abrasions on the skin, as well as other factors.[66] Working in excessive heat and engaging in heavy physical activity, which are typical for workers, including child workers, engaged in tobacco farming in the United States, also increase the risk of nicotine poisoning as the increase in surface blood flow to help reduce body temperature facilitates nicotine absorption.[67] Though public health research has most often looked at nicotine poisoning among adult workers handling mature tobacco leaves, nicotine is present in tobacco plants and leaves in any form. According to Dr. Thomas Arcury, director of the Center for Worker Health at Wake Forest School of Medicine, “Nicotine is part of the plant. The tobacco plant, by its nature, contains nicotine from the time it’s a seedling to the end.” As a result, added Arcury, any task that requires the handling of tobacco in any form may expose workers to nicotine. Nicotine may affect human health in distinct ways depending on how it enters the body—whether absorbed through the skin, inhaled, or ingested. Though the long-term effects of nicotine absorption through the skin are unknown, public health research on smoking indicates that nicotine exposure during childhood may have long-lasting consequences. According to the US Surgeon General’s most recent report, “The evidence is suggestive that nicotine exposure during adolescence, a critical window for brain development, may have lasting adverse consequences for brain development.” Skin Conditions, Respiratory Illness , and Eye and Mouth Irritation Children interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported skin conditions, difficulty breathing, sneezing, and eye, nose, mouth, and throat irritation while working on tobacco farms. Skin Conditions Some children reported itchy or burning skin or skin rashes while working in tobacco farming, particularly while topping and suckering. Children often noted that their skin irritations were worse when they were working in wet clothing or without gloves, particularly if working in those conditions for extended periods of time. Diego T. and Rafa B., both 16, who worked together on tobacco farms in eastern North Carolina in the summer of 2013, told Human Rights Watch that they suffered from skin problems while working in tobacco. Diego said, “Your skin gets irritated. It burns, sometimes when you get wet, you get rashes. Like when you cut the flower, and touch your skin, it stings and burns.”[72] Rafa had a similar observation: “When … you wipe your face, it burns. Or if you scratch yourself.”[73] Joshua D., 13, also worked in eastern North Carolina in 2013: “You can’t wipe your face when you’re working because it burns. It feels like fire ants on your forehead.”[74] Some children also reported skin rashes. “I’ve had red bumps all over my arm,” said Sally G., 16, who worked in North Carolina for the first time in the summer of 2013. “They are very itchy…. I used to roll up my sleeves when it got hot but then I started to get bumps on my arms.”[75] Jocelyn R., a 17-year-old worker who worked in tobacco in North Carolina in 2012, said: “I’d get a rash on my hands [while topping tobacco], it would last until the next day. It was itchy.”[76] Estevan O., 15, worked in tobacco in the 2012 season said, “I’d have itching hands and feet. It’s wet. Your socks and gloves get wet. Your skin starts itching and cracking. The cracking would really hurt.”[77] Public health research has shown a high prevalence of skin conditions among farmworkers.[78] A 2007 study of tobacco workers found that they may be particularly susceptible to skin conditions as both the tobacco leaf itself and pesticides used in tobacco cultivation have been identified as possible causes of contact dermatitis, an inflammatory skin disease.[79] Human Rights Watch could not determine the exact cause of the skin irritations or rashes reported by child tobacco workers. Respiratory Symptoms and Allergic Reactions Some children interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that they experienced respiratory and allergic symptoms while topping and harvesting tobacco in fields, or hanging tobacco to dry in curing barns. For example, Erica P., age 16, described topping tobacco in Eastern North Carolina in July 2013: “There is no air in the rows. It’s really hard to breathe.”[80] Alberto H., 16, who plays on his high school’s soccer team in southeastern Kentucky, told Human Rights Watch that he has trouble breathing while hanging tobacco in barns: “When you’re at the top of the barn, you can’t breathe up there.… It’s probably because [there is] a bunch of dust and it’s hard to breathe, and I have asthma. I always bring my inhaler.” Dario A., also a 16-year-old worker in Kentucky, said, “The hardest part of the job is climbing up high in the barn. It’s hard to breathe up there.” Some child tobacco workers also reported respiratory and allergic symptoms while working with dried tobacco. Sixteen-year-old Timothy Y. works for his parents, grandparents, and neighbors on tobacco farms in Kentucky. He told Human Rights Watch, “I don’t like to do the stripping because it messes with my allergies and makes it hard to breathe.”[83] Joaquin F., 16, started stripping tobacco in barns at age 12 in Kentucky and continued to work for hire after school and on weekends until he got a job at local restaurant at age 16. Describing the work he did in curing barns in 2012, he told Human Rights Watch, “When I was stripping, all the dust from the tobacco would get to my lungs and get stuck in my nose. You just feel sick.”[84] A 2011 study on the prevalence of respiratory and allergic symptoms among non-smoking farmworkers in eastern North Carolina found nearly one-quarter reported wheezing at times, with elevated odds of wheezing for individuals working in tobacco production.[85] Public health research among adult workers has also shown that workers exposed to tobacco dust during curing and baling showed significantly lower lung function than unexposed workers.[86] Eye and Mouth Irritation Some child tobacco workers told Human Rights Watch that liquid from wet tobacco plants would splash into their eyes or mouths while they were working in the fields, causing pain, itching, or other irritation. Children often described working in fields where tobacco plants reached above their heads, and they may have been particularly vulnerable to these effects due to their small size relative to the plants. Sally G., a 16-year-old seasonal tobacco worker described topping tobacco plants taller than her in wet fields in eastern North Carolina during the summer of 2013: “I’ve felt the spray on my face. It splashes from the plants. … It really hurts when it gets in your eyes. They tell us to try to keep our faces covered up. … Water from the flowers gets on your face, and when it’s mixed with the pesticide, it burns.”[87] Estevan O., 15, told Human Rights Watch that he started working on tobacco farms in North Carolina at age 11 because, “My family needed me to.” He described working in wet tobacco fields during the 2012 season: “The water on the leaves would splash in my eyes [when I was topping]. My eyes would get irritated. I’d have to take my contacts out and wear glasses.”[88] While describing his work harvesting tobacco in Tennessee in 2013, Patrick W., 9, said, “Sometimes if it gets to your eyes, it will sting a little bit, like burn.”[89] Several children interviewed in Kentucky said pieces of tobacco leaves would fall into their eyes or mouth while lifting sticks with tobacco plants to be hung in barns causing irritation, pain, and a sour taste in their mouths. Andrea D., 16, works for hire for a tobacco grower in central Kentucky together with her mother. She lifts sticks of harvested tobacco to other workers who hang the sticks in the rafters of curing barns. While describing her work in the barns in 2012, she said, “It gets all over you. It gets all in your mouth and in your nose. It’s just sour. The leaves and the dust get in your nose, and it itches. And it gets in your ears. You have a bitter taste in your mouth. It goes away the next day, but then you do it again, and it comes back.”[90] Henry F., a 17-year-old tobacco worker in Kentucky, told Human Rights Watch that lifting sticks of tobacco irritated his eyes while he was working in 2012: “If you’re at the bottom you have to lift it up. And when you lift it up the tobacco goes in your mouth and eyes. And when it goes in your eyes, it makes your eyes reddish and pinkish.”[91] Exposure to Pesticides Just over half of the children interviewed by Human Rights Watch—63 out of 120—reported that they saw tractors spraying pesticides in the fields in which they were working or in fields adjacent to the ones in which they were working.[92] These children often reported being able to smell or feel the chemical spray as it drifted towards them. A few children stated that they applied pesticides to tobacco plants with a handheld sprayer and backpack, or operated tractors that were spraying pesticides on tobacco fields.[93] Children also reported experiencing a range of symptoms after coming into contact with pesticides while working in tobacco farming, including burning eyes, burning nose, itchy skin, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, shortness of breath, redness and swelling of the mouth, and headaches. Exposure to pesticides can have serious short-term and long-term health effects. Exposure to Pesticides Sprayed by Tractors Many children interviewed by Human Rights Watch described being exposed to pesticides, most often through drift, when a pesticide applied in one area spreads to adjoining areas through wind.[94] Many stated that they felt drift from tractors spraying in adjacent fields; in a few cases they said that tractors sprayed pesticides in the fields in which they were working. For example, Jocelyn R., 17, started working on tobacco farms in eastern North Carolina at 14, along with her younger brother. Describing an incident that occurred during the summer of 2012, she told Human Rights Watch: Once they sprayed where we were working. We were cutting the flower and the spray was right next to us in the part of the fields we had just finished working in. I couldn’t breathe. I started sneezing a lot. The chemicals would come over to us. The farmer when he was spraying would get ahead of us and it would come back over us. No one ever told us about the chemicals. [95] Cameron M., an 18-year-old worker in Kentucky, described seeing a tractor spraying in the tobacco field in which he was working: “One time I saw a tractor spraying chemicals on the field. It made the workers upset. There was a strong smell. We all covered our mouths and noses.”[96] Children also reported being taken to work in fields that had been sprayed very recently with pesticides. “I went back into a field after they sprayed it, like right after they sprayed it,” said 16-year-old Andrew N., a 10th grade student in Tennessee who works with a crew of tobacco workers led by his stepfather. He described the incident to Human Rights Watch, I didn’t know…I did notice it because the spray was all over the plant, the yellow stuff was all over it, and my shirt was getting all the yellow liquid on it. We didn’t want to work anymore. And finally the boss guy came, and he told us he had sprayed down, so we left. The smell was pretty strong. I really wouldn’t know how to explain it, but it was a strong smell. [97] Similarly, Emilio R., 16, told Human Rights Watch that he reentered a tobacco field in North Carolina minutes after the grower had applied pesticides. “We were working in one field and finished half of the field and then the farmer decided to spray [pesticides using a tractor],” he said. “It [the drift] was about to catch up to us and so we stepped out of the field. We waited a few minutes and went back in.”[98] Immediate Health Effects of Pesticide Exposure Children interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they experienced a range of symptoms after coming into contact with pesticide spray including burning eyes, burning noses, itchy skin, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, shortness of breath, redness and swelling of their mouths, and headaches. For example, 17-year-old Lucia A., interviewed by Human Rights Watch on the day of her junior prom in a small North Carolina town, said: One time I got a lot of splotches on my leg. … I was around 15. It was bad. It got red. … It was like a rash. It started itching. I kept telling my mom. She kept telling [the contractor] maybe we shouldn’t work in this field. And he said, “No, it’s ok, it isn’t supposed to harm us.” And then I saw other workers start walking out, saying “I can’t work like this.” … I showed [the contractor the rash on] my legs, and then he said, “Let’s move to a different field.” [99] Jimena C., 15, spends her summers living with her godmother so that she can work on tobacco farms in a county about 30 miles from her hometown in North Carolina. She told Human Rights Watch that she got very ill at age 14 after working in a field sprayed with pesticides only a few hours earlier: “I got so sick one time after they sprayed. It was just a few hours after they sprayed and we went in. I got really dizzy. And I saw black. I sat down and threw up several times.”[100] Marta W., 10, felt ill after a tractor sprayed pesticides while she and her younger brother were helping their father, a hired farmworker, on a tobacco farm in northern Tennessee in the summer of 2013. “They were like spraying it to make it grow bigger the time we went,” she said. “It was in the same field as us. It was on the other side of the field. The smell was very nasty. I felt nauseous after that.”[101] Yanamaria W., 14, who started working on tobacco farms in 2012, spent two summers working for a farm labor contractor in central Kentucky together with her parents and 13-year-old brother. Yanamaria told Human Rights Watch about being exposed to pesticides sprayed from a tractor in the summer of 2013. “I was in the field when they started spraying,” she said. “I can stand the heat for a long time, but when they spray, then I start to feel woozy and tired. Sometimes it looks like everything is spinning. You can’t focus on your task.”[102] Nicholas V., an 8th grader, told Human Rights Watch that he works for hire in tobacco fields in North Carolina with his mother during his summer break. He described a pesticide drift from spraying in an adjacent field while he was working in 2012: We were working in one field and the field next to us got sprayed with a tractor. The liquid is in the air and it fell on us, too. That stuff really bothered us. I got some in my eyes. They got itchy. I got really annoyed and asked to get out. I had to sit out for two hours. My eyes were really itchy. Really bad. … It was really windy that day. [103] Yael A., a 17-year-old seasonal worker in North Carolina, said, “When they spray, the smell is very strong. And it causes a terrible smell, a really bad smell, and sometimes you feel itchy, tingly, in your mouth and your nose. It itches. Your mouth gets red and puffy.”[104] Marissa G., 14, first worked on tobacco farms in North Carolina in the 2013 season, together with her older sister. She said that working in tobacco triggered her asthma symptoms, particularly when she was exposed to pesticides: “The spray affects my asthma. When I smell it, it makes me nauseous, short of breath, even if I’m not really doing anything.”[105] Children Applying Pesticides Five children interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that they applied pesticides to tobacco plants with a handheld sprayer and backpack, or operated tractors that were spraying pesticides on tobacco fields. Christian V., age 13, explained that he uses a backpack sprayer to apply pesticides to his family’s tobacco fields in Tennessee: “We spray it with chemicals for worms and so it can help it grow. I use a backpack. There’s like a cap on the top, and you twist it open and put water in it and all the chemicals, then you throw it on your back and you walk and you get this thing and you squirt it on top of the plants.”[106] Theo D., 16, described how he felt one day in the summer of 2013 after using a backpack sprayer to apply an insecticide to tobacco fields on a Virginia farm where he worked: “I got home and felt dizzy and started puking, but I took a cold shower and got over it.[107] Hazards of Pesticides Pesticides enter the human body when they are inhaled, ingested, or absorbed through the skin. According to a review of public health studies of farmworkers, pesticide exposure is associated with acute health problems including nausea, dizziness, vomiting, headaches, abdominal pain, and skin and eye problems.[108] Exposure to large doses of pesticides can have severe health effects including spontaneous abortion and birth deformities, loss of consciousness, coma, and death.[109] Long-term and chronic health effects of pesticide exposure include respiratory problems, cancer, depression, neurologic deficits, and reproductive health problems.[110] Children are uniquely vulnerable to the adverse effects of toxic exposures as their brains and bodies are still developing, and they consume more water and food, and breathe more air, pound for pound, than adults.[111] The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 10,000 to 20,000 physician-diagnosed pesticide poisonings occur each year among US agricultural workers.[112] One public health study found that 64 percent of acute occupational pesticide-related illnesses reported by children occurred among children working in agriculture, and this number represents only a small fraction of actual pesticide poisonings as many cases are never reported.[113] The EPA has established federal regulations called the Worker Protection Standard, which require labeling of pesticides, notification of workers about pesticide application, safe application of pesticides, access to emergency medical assistance, and the provision of decontamination supplies, pesticide safety training and safety posters, and personal protective equipment.[114] The EPA’s Worker Protection Standard does not specify a minimum age for children to mix and apply pesticides, but regulations set by the US Department of Labor (DOL) under the Fair Labor Standards Act prohibit children under 16 from handling pesticides belonging to the two most toxic categories, as determined by the EPA.[115] In addition, the EPA sets restricted entry intervals (REIs) specifying the amount of time after pesticide application that workers should not enter the fields without wearing protective equipment.[116] REIs vary depending on the toxicity of the pesticide, the type of crop, and the method of application, and may last from a few hours to a few days. However, public health studies have shown that, even if workers are kept out of the area for the legally required time period, pesticides are still present in the fields at lower levels.[118] Furthermore, federal regulations make no special considerations for children, and the EPA determines restricted entry intervals using a 154-pound (70-kilogram) adult body as a model.[119] In February 2014, the EPA proposed changes to the agricultural Worker Protection Standard. Among other protections, the proposed changes would require more frequent training for workers and pesticide handlers, mandate posting of warning signs after applications of certain pesticides, and establish a minimum age of 16 for all pesticide handlers. Pesticide Use in Tobacco Production Tobacco production in the United States involves application of a range of chemicals at different stages in the growth process including chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and growth regulators (growth inhibitors and ripening agents).[121] Several pesticides commonly used during tobacco farming belong to two chemical classes, organophosphates and carbamates, both of which are neurotoxins.[122] The US Government Accountability Office explains that pesticides in these classes, “act on the nervous system to prevent the normal flow of nerve impulses to muscles that control both voluntary movement, such as walking, and involuntary movement, such as breathing and heart beat.”[123] While pesticides are applied to many crops cultivated in the United States, tobacco workers may be at especially high risk for pesticide exposure given the nature of work. Child tobacco workers interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported topping and harvesting tobacco in fields where they were surrounded by tall plants and had extensive contact with leaves that may have been treated with pesticides. Jobs where workers directly handle pesticide-treated plants can increase exposure, particularly in the absence of effective protective gear and hand-washing. Relatively few studies have examined pesticide exposure specifically in tobacco workers.[125] Following a request for data from Human Rights Watch, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) indicated that there are no comprehensive federal statistics on the incidence of pesticide poisoning among tobacco farmworkers specifically.[126] Public health research in eastern North Carolina found high levels of biomarkers for pesticides in the bodies of adult farmworkers who had “worked extensively in tobacco.”[127] Extreme Heat All children interviewed by Human Rights Watch for this report stated that they often worked in high temperatures and high humidity typical for the summer months in North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Average high temperatures in July and August in many of the counties where children reported working range from 88 to 92 degrees Fahrenheit (31 to 33 Centigrade), often with high humidity. Many children said that they felt faint or dizzy or suffered from headaches when working in very high temperatures. Many stated that they were expected to work without additional breaks in such conditions. Yael A., 17, has been working for hire on tobacco farms in North Carolina since she was 14. “You feel like you can’t breathe when it’s really hot,” she said.[129] Andrea D., a 16-year-old seasonal worker, told Human Rights Watch about her experience working on a tobacco farm in Kentucky during the summer months: “When the sun is really beating hot, really hot, I would get like dizzy. I had to stop a minute. Especially when we’re taking out the weeds because that’s in the middle of June, and it’s hot. I never passed out, but I felt dizzy.”[130] Timothy S., age 13, has worked for hire with his father on tobacco farms in Kentucky since he was 12: “It was really hard to focus on work when it’s really hot. You’re just thinking about ‘When are we going to be done?’… The plants are about my size. It’s hot when you’re in the rows. I felt like my skin was burning.”[131] Joseph T., an 18-year-old tobacco worker, described an incident in 2011 when he was working in a tobacco field in eastern North Carolina. He said: It was in the hundreds, like 102 or 103 [degrees Fahrenheit]. … I forgot my hat. It was towards the end of the day. Like 3 p.m. … I could just feel like I was about to pass out. Your legs feel wobbly. You feel like you have to push yourself, you have to breathe really hard…I was about to faint, I felt like I needed water. I was seeing all colors. [132] Working long hours in high temperatures can place children at risk of heat stroke and dehydration, particularly if there is not enough drinking water and they are wearing extra clothes to protect from sunburn and exposure to nicotine and pesticides. Children are more susceptible than adults to heat illness. Work with Dangerous Tools, Machinery, and at Heights Some children interviewed by Human Rights Watch stated that they used axes or hatchets to cut burley tobacco during the harvest, sharp spikes to spear burley tobacco plants, and hoes to remove weeds from tobacco fields. Some children said that they sustained cuts and puncture wounds from working with these sharp tools. A few said they operated or worked in close proximity to dangerous machinery, including mowers used to trim tobacco plants, tractors used to harvest tobacco leaves, and balers used to compress leaves into bales. In Kentucky, Human Rights Watch interviewed a few children who drove tractors while working on tobacco farms. Some reported injuries related to operating or being near heavy machinery. Human Rights Watch also interviewed children who said that they regularly climbed into the rafters of barns several stories tall to hang sticks of harvested burley tobacco to dry. Sharp Tools Several children reported cutting themselves with “tobacco knives,” as the axes used to chop down stalks of burley tobacco are known. Andrew N., 16, described an accident he had while harvesting tobacco in Tennessee in 2011: “My first day, I cut myself with the hatchet [on the leg]. It wasn’t bad. I probably hit a vein or something because it wouldn’t stop bleeding and I had to go to the hospital. They stitched it. I only had to get two stitches… [M]y shoe was just soaked in blood.”[134] Lucio F., 10, helps his parents and four older siblings while they work for hire on tobacco farms in Kentucky. Lucio reported cutting himself with a tobacco knife during the burley tobacco harvest in 2013: “I got hurt once when I got the axe, and I got cut somewhere on my feet. I was swinging at the plant and I missed and hit my leg.”[135] Children told Human Rights Watch that they had “spiked” or “speared” their hands or other body parts on sharp spikes while placing cut burley tobacco plants on long sticks that hold the plants for curing. Omar B., 15, works for several tobacco growers in Tennessee along with a few friends. Like many children who harvest burley tobacco, he described placing a sharp spike on the end of a wooden stick; piercing the stalks of the tobacco plants with the spike; sliding six plants onto each stick, and repeating the process down multiple rows of tobacco plants. Omar told Human Rights Watch that he punctured his lip in 2013 when removing the spike from one wooden stick to transfer it to the next stick: “That’s the most dangerous part of it….I spiked my lip pulling [the spike] off the stick once. I came back with it, and it stabbed me in the lip. It just went through.”[136] Adriana F., 14, and her brother Jeremiah F., 15, both said that they had spiked their hands while working in the burley tobacco harvest in Kentucky in 2012. Adriana spiked her hand while working in the rain: Last year, I was in the field, and I was trying to cut, and I picked up the plant and it was wet. And I slid because it was raining and it was wet, and the spike went into my hand. My Dad put a bandage on it to stop the blood and keep out the infection. [137] Her brother described a similar incident: I got a little cut once. I missed the spike when I was putting the tobacco plant on the stick, and I cut my hand. It bled a little. The tobacco was sticking to it. But when you put water it stings because the tobacco goes in there. [138] Theo D., 16, who plays football for his high school team, cut his finger in a similar manner while harvesting tobacco in Virginia in 2012: “I speared myself like once…I was holding the spear, and I missed, and it went into my finger.”[139] Children also described using hoes and machetes to remove weeds from tobacco fields. Nicholas V., a 14-year-old worker in eastern North Carolina, worked for hire in the 2012 season: “We used machetes to take down weeds. It was really tough though. We had to swing it hard. It was too hard to take out the weeds otherwise. They told me to be very cautious. I wore [my own] soccer shin guards to protect myself.”[140] Andrea D., 16, has worked for a tobacco grower in Kentucky with her parents and her siblings since she was 6. She told Human Rights Watch that she cut herself with a hoe while removing weeds from a tobacco field in 2013: “When I was using the hoe, I cut myself on my leg with the blade of the hoe. I didn’t need to go to the hospital. I just kept working. I was bleeding, but I was in the middle of the field and I couldn’t do anything.”[141] Federal regulations fail to protect children from working the sharp tools used in tobacco farming. DOL’s hazardous occupations orders lack any restrictions on the use of knives, hoes, and other sharp hand tools for children working in agriculture. The regulations prohibit children under 16 from operating power-driven circular, band, or chain saws, but in all other industries children must be at least 18 to use these saws. Heavy Machinery A few children said they operated or worked in close proximity to dangerous machinery, including mowers used to trim tobacco plants, tractors used to harvest tobacco leaves, and balers used to compress leaves into bales. In Kentucky, Human Rights Watch interviewed a few children who drove tractors while working in tobacco. Some children said that they sustained injuries while operating or working near heavy machinery. At age 17, Isaac S., who migrated to the US to work with his brother on a tobacco farm, sustained a serious injury while working with a mower used to trim tobacco seedlings before they were planted in the ground. The mower was rigged out of a typical push lawnmower suspended in the air from a metal stand. Workers were expected to push trays of seedlings on rollers under the machine while the machine was running in order to trim the plants. Isaac described the accident: “[M]y hand got stuck [in the mower], and it cut off two of my fingers…I was pushing the plant, but I don’t know how the wheel slipped. It went really fast, and I couldn’t stop it, and it took my two fingers…I wasn’t crying or anything. I just held my hand. I was pressing really hard because there was blood coming out.”[143] Isaac explained that his employer had told him to continue working during light rain, which he believed contributed to his accident: “We were trying to wait out the rain, and the boss didn’t like it that we were not working. So he told us to hurry up and get working. So we were working in the rain when I got hurt.”[144] Isaac underwent surgery immediately after the accident, but doctors were unable to reattach the severed fingers. He still struggles with pain in his hand and his fingers, and he is unable to perform many tasks required for agricultural work. He said, “I don’t work comfortably. In my hand, I don’t have strength. Only in [the lower] half of the hand I have strength.”[145] In the state where Isaac worked, employers are not required to provide seasonal or migrant farmworkers with workers’ compensation insurance. Isaac said his employer offered him $100 in compensation to cover his medical bills and account for lost wages due to his accident. Emilio R., 16, started working on tobacco farms in North Carolina at age 13 during his summer breaks from school. He told Human Rights Watch that he was injured when his leg got trapped in a baler while he was packing dried tobacco leaves into boxes in North Carolina in 2012: At the compressing machines, we’d be stepping on the leaves inside the box. One time my leg was stuck, and I couldn’t move. Someone yelled “Stop!” to stop the compressing machine to come down on me. I wasn’t all the way in the box, but my leg was stuck. The machine hit my leg and it hurt me. The supervisor was operating the machine. He had told me to clear out, but I didn’t hear him because the machine is loud. [148] Carla P., 16, works for hire with her parents and her younger sister on tobacco farms in Kentucky. She told Human Rights Watch that she fell off of a tractor-pulled, moving wagon while hauling sticks of wet tobacco plants in 2012: “I fell once. I was on a wagon, and I was taking the tobacco off so they could put it in a little room so they could strip it off. It was really wet, and I fell onto rocks. That was when I was 15. I landed on my back. I got a bruise and a migraine. I didn’t go to the doctor.”[149] Federal regulations do not adequately protect child farmworkers from dangerous machinery. Children under 16 are prohibited from operating or assisting to operate some machines, but the list of machines that are off-limits to children under 16 is not comprehensive. At age 16, children working in agriculture can legally drive tractors of over 20 horsepower take-off and operate heavy machinery such as forklifts and certain mowing and baling machines. Working at Dangerous Heights Human Rights Watch interviewed child workers who climbed into the rafters of barns to hang sticks with several stalks of harvested burley tobacco to dry, and to remove sticks of dried tobacco. They described climbing to heights in barns that were at least two stories high using ladders or by climbing the rafters. Crews of child and adult workers would form several tiers to pass sticks of tobacco upward or downward. While engaging in this work, children straddled planks that were sometimes positioned two or three feet apart and often found it difficult to balance. Pablo E., 17, migrated to Kentucky from Guatemala by himself in December 2012. He described his experience removing sticks of dried tobacco from curing barns in central Kentucky in the winter of 2013: “I had to climb up and down in the barn. It was cold. When you’re at the top, you have your legs open and you’re standing on two wooden planks. You take a stick out of the roof and pass it down.”[151] Similarly, Calvin R., 17, migrated to Kentucky from Mexico alone at age 13 to work with a crew of agricultural workers. Calvin is the youngest worker in the group, and his crew migrates between several states in the US, working in different crops. Describing his work on tobacco farms near Lexington, Kentucky in 2013, he told Human Rights Watch, “It’s hard to keep your balance when you’re up high in the barn and the tobacco is heavy.”[152] Jaime V., 18, described a similar experience working in curing barns in Tennessee in 2013: “When you’re in the middle of the barn, you have to open your feet. And there are two planks, and you have to grab the sticks from below and pass them up.”[153] Human Rights Watch did not speak with any children who had fallen while working at heights in barns. However, several children told Human Rights Watch that they had seen family members or other workers fall. Marta W., a 10-year-old worker in Tennessee, described seeing another worker fall while she herself was standing in the rafters of a barn in 2013: “It’s hard to balance. You have to stand on these stakes. And one of these guys, he fell and hurt his back the time I went. So then my dad got me down [from the rafters].”[154] Agustin F., 15, travels to Kentucky from Florida every year to work for hire on tobacco farms. He started working in tobacco together with his father at age 10. He told Human Rights Watch, “In the barn, I go way up high. … Sometimes people fall. Last year my father fell…. I’ve never fallen. I always check the barn to make sure the rails are good. Other people don’t check the rails before they go up.”[155] Human Rights Watch researchers saw a beam collapse in a barn in northern Kentucky shortly after a crew of workers had finished hanging a wagon load of tobacco. The crew had moved to the other side of the barn before the beam fell, so no one was injured, but workers had been standing on planks supported by the beam less than an hour before the collapse. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires employers in many industries to provide fall protection measures for workers such as guard rails and safety training. For example, OSHA requires employers to provide fall protection in shipyards when workers are expected to work at heights of five feet, and on construction sites when workers are at heights of six feet. Agricultural operations are excluded from OSHA’s fall protection standards. The hazardous occupations orders established by DOL prohibit child farmworkers under the age of 16 from working at heights of over 20 feet, but they can work without any fall protection at heights less than 20 feet, which nevertheless includes heights of over one story. Children over 16 are allowed to work at any height without any protections. Injuries among Child Farmworkers in the US Federal data on fatal occupational injuries indicate that agriculture is the most dangerous industry open to young workers. According to DOL, agriculture has the highest fatal occupational injury rate of any industry. In 2012, 28 children under the age of 18 died from occupational injuries; two-thirds were agricultural workers. Of 19 occupational fatalities of children under the age of 16, nearly three-quarters were in agriculture.[159] Child occupational deaths in agriculture were most often caused by driving trucks and farm vehicles or operating farm machinery.[160] In addition to the 28 fatal injuries, there were more than 1,800 nonfatal injuries to children under 18 working on US farms in 2012.[161] According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the factors putting children at high risk for work-related injuries include: “biologic and psychosocial contributors…such as inadequate fit, strength, and cognitive abilities” to perform certain tasks,[162] rapidly growing “organ and musculoskeletal systems, which may make them more likely to be harmed by exposure to hazardous substances or to develop cumulative trauma disorders,” and less experience, training, and knowledge about how to work safely, what their rights are, and what they are not legally allowed to do.[163] Repetitive Motions and Lifting Heavy Loads Repetitive Motions Children interviewed by Human Rights Watch described performing prolonged repetitive motions for extended periods of time, including working bent over at the waist, twisting their wrists to top tobacco plants, reaching above their heads, and crawling on hands and knees to remove weeds or uproot one tobacco plant where two had grown together. Children reported muscle soreness, aches, and pain in their backs, shoulders, arms, hands, and fingers after engaging in repetitive motions. Andrea D., 16, started helping her father, a hired worker, sort dried tobacco leaves and plant seedlings on a tobacco farm in Kentucky at age 6. Now in 11th grade and aspiring to be a doctor, she continues to work for the same grower after school, on weekends, and over the summer performing a range of tobacco farming tasks. She described to Human Rights Watch her work hoeing during the 2013 summer and the impact on her body. “After the plant got a foot tall we would take the weeds out with a hoe. It was backbreaking,” Andrea D. said. “All day, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., you’re hunched over trying to get all the fields in. At the end of the day, I had bruises on my thumbs and fingers. I was sore in my shoulders…when you’re hunched over all the time—when you’re planting or hoeing or cutting— it hurts the most…Plus your fingers, when you’re gripping the hoe, they stay curled in, like stuck in place. Your fingers stay like that for a while.”[164] Fabiana H., 14, reported back pain while weeding in tobacco fields in eastern North Carolina in 2012: “To me, the hardest part was going down to pull the things [weeds] around the tobacco. You have to bend over all the time. And then when you finish doing a whole row and when you stand up your back is hurting really bad.”[165] Children also described the difficulty of reaching up to top tobacco plants that had grown tall, and some children experienced soreness from extending their arms upward repeatedly. For example, 12-year-old Manuel W. worked with his parents and five siblings on tobacco farms in central Kentucky in 2013. He said, “Some [tobacco plants] are taller than six feet tall, and it’s hard to reach them. Your shoulders and your neck get really tired. It hurts every time you rest your head.”[166] Ian F., 12, and Lazaro S., 15, who worked on different farms in Kentucky, each described the soreness they experienced while cutting burley tobacco during the 2013 harvest. Ian F. works on tobacco farms about 35 miles east of Lexington, Kentucky. He said, “My ribs were hurting. And sometimes your back hurts. Your ribs hurt from when you bend down. You get really tired. You get sore. You have to reach over and hold the leaves, and then swing the knife underneath, and you get sore in your ribs and your back.”[167] According to Lazaro S., “The hardest part is cutting. You have a stick and it has a spear on the end. And you have to cut the tobacco and put it on the stick. You get tired from the sun, and you’re bent over all day. You feel sore the next day, but you still have to go back and work again.”[168] Gregory T., 9, and his sister Jackie T., 7, go to tobacco fields with their mother, a hired farmworker in Tennessee. They play in the fields, and they help their mother work, particularly during the burley tobacco harvest when she is paid a piece rate of about 22 cents for each stick of tobacco plants she harvests and hangs in a barn. Describing his work in the summer of 2013, Gregory told Human Rights Watch, “Cutting [tobacco plants] is the hardest because there’s a big, giant row and you have to go all the way down the row, and come all the way back.” Jackie added, “You have to take the axe and swing it all the way back. It hurts my arms and right here,” she said, pointing to her shoulders.[169] Lifting Heavy Loads Human Rights Watch interviewed child workers in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia who reported loading heavy sticks of harvested tobacco plants onto flatbed wagons to be transported to barns for curing. Children in these three states also told Human Rights Watch that they lifted heavy sticks of tobacco plants over their heads to other child or adult workers who would hang the sticks in the rafters of barns for curing. Many children reported fatigue and soreness as a result of lifting heavy loads. Patrick W., 9, helps his father, a hired tobacco worker, harvest burley tobacco for several growers in northern Tennessee. Patrick said that in 2013, he struggled to lift sticks of cut tobacco onto the truck for transporting: “Since I’m a kid, I have to focus on picking it up, because it’s really heavy, and I can only pick up like one at a time. I try to do it really fast. And we just have to work really hard and concentrate.”[170] Emily D., 14, had a similar experience loading burley tobacco onto wagons in Virginia in 2013: “The hardest part is when you lift it up. You put it on your shoulder, and you lift it up, and put it on the tractor. You get tired. And you get sore.”[171] Bridget F., 15, works for hire on tobacco farms with her mother, who is the crew leader, and her siblings. Bridget injured her back in 2013 while lifting sticks of harvested burley tobacco up to other workers in a barn in northeastern Kentucky: “I’m short, so I had to reach up, and I was reaching up and the tobacco plant bent over, and I went to catch it, and I twisted my back the wrong way. … I went to the doctor, and the doctor said just to ice it.”[172] Similarly, Ricardo M., 14, who works on tobacco farms in Kentucky with his mother, told Human Rights Watch about his experience working in 2012: “Lifting [the tobacco] is the hardest part because the barn is so tall, so you have to lift the tobacco really high, and the tobacco is really heavy because the plants are big. My arms were hurting….When the plants are wet, they are even heavier, and it’s harder to carry them and lift them.”[173] Musculoskeletal disorders are usually caused by “an accumulation of microtrauma” without sufficient time to recover.[174] According to DOL, musculoskeletal disorders account for nearly one in four nonfatal agricultural occupational illnesses and injuries in the United States among adult and child farmworkers.[175] A 2009 review of studies related to musculoskeletal disorders among farmworkers in the eastern United States found that farmworkers were most affected in the neck, shoulders, and upper extremities.[176] Public health research among farmworkers has found that although treating repetitive motion injuries typically requires rest, as well as anti-inflammatories, splinting, physical therapy, and rehabilitation, farmworkers are under pressure to keep working at the same rate and often lack access to medical care.[177] NIOSH has found that children are especially vulnerable to repetitive motion injuries because their bodies are still developing.[178] According to public health studies of farmers and farmworkers, the impacts of repetitive strain injuries may be long-lasting and result in long-term health consequences including chronic pain and arthritis. Lack of Personal Protective Equipment Very few of the children interviewed by Human Rights Watch for this report were given any kind of personal protective equipment by their employers to protect them from nicotine poisoning or pesticide exposure. Instead, they or their parents brought their own, often make-shift, protective supplies. Though protective equipment may help to limit exposure to nicotine and pesticide residues, rain suits and watertight gloves cannot completely eliminate exposure to nicotine from tobacco plants and also significantly increase children’s risk of suffering heat-related illnesses. Garbage Bags as Protective Equipment Without access to proper water resistant rain gear, many children interviewed by Human Rights Watch covered themselves with black plastic garbage bags while they were topping, pulling suckers, and weeding tobacco plants. Children said that the plastic garbage bags provided some protection from their clothes becoming soaked by water on the tobacco plants from heavy dew or after rain. They said that although the garbage bags offered some protection over the core of their bodies, their arms and legs remained exposed to wet tobacco leaves. Some children also stated that the plastic bags caused them to sweat and overheat and so did not wear anything to protect them from wet tobacco or pesticides. Fabiana H., 14, who works in tobacco farming during her summer break from school, told Human Rights Watch: “I wore plastic bags because our clothes got wet in the morning. I wore them on the bottom and on the top. They put holes in the bags so our hands could go through them. It kept some of my clothes dry, but I still got wet. It was wet, and then the sun comes out and you feel suffocated in the bags. You want to take them off.”[181] Nicholas V., 14, described his work on tobacco farms in North Carolina during the summer of 2012: “I would wear a big trash bag to cover my clothes. The plants are wet and it gets on your clothes. We put holes in the bag for our head and our arms. It protects the chest, but the plastic is black so it gets really hot.”[182] Some children said they chose not to wear plastic garbage bags because doing so made them overheat, and others described feeling uncomfortable working in the bags. For some of them, this meant working in wet clothing, putting them at particular risk of nicotine poisoning. Santiago H., a 16-year-old seasonal worker in eastern North Carolina, started working in tobacco at age 11. He described working in wet clothing to Human Rights Watch: “In the mornings you have to find the tobacco, and it’s all wet. Your whole body starts itching because you’re all wet….Your clothes get wet and you just have to wait for the sun to dry you.”[183] Similarly, Adriana F., a 14-year-old who hopes to be a bilingual nurse someday, said she started working after school and on the weekends with her parents and her four brothers on tobacco farms in Kentucky in 2013: “It’s pretty wet. My clothes get wet. Sometimes I feel like I already took a shower, I’m so soaked.”[184] Absence of Gloves Most children interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported wearing latex or cloth gloves some or most of the time while working in tobacco fields. In most cases, children or their parents bought the gloves. Latex gloves are water resistant, which may help to limit absorption of nicotine through the hands. However, children told Human Rights Watch that, in their experience, latex gloves ripped easily when they topped tobacco plants. They said that cloth work gloves quickly get soaked when working with wet tobacco plants. Some children told Human Rights Watch that employers told them not to wear gloves. Others stated that the gloves available were too large for their hands or it was difficult for them to perform the work at the pace required while wearing gloves, so they worked without them. The absence of gloves resulted in additional direct exposure to tobacco plants, including wet tobacco plants. Many children said that tobacco plants left a sticky residue on their hands, described in detail below. Some also stated that they suffered from blisters and other wounds when they did not wear gloves. Santiago H., a 16-year-old seasonal worker in eastern North Carolina, described his hands after topping and harvesting tobacco in the 2012 season: “I get really bad cuts and blisters on my hands. My hands just start peeling off.”[185] Yanamaria W., who speaks English, Spanish, and a Mayan language called Q’anjob’al, and is studying French and Chinese as an 8th grader, described harvesting burley tobacco in Kentucky in 2013 without gloves: “Cutting [tobacco plants] makes sores on our fingers. The handle is made out of wood and you get blisters. They don’t provide gloves or anything. We just use our hands.”[186] Lack of Appropriate Footwear Some children interviewed by Human Rights Watch also described working without shoes when the mud in tobacco fields was deep because the shoes that they owned impeded their work in difficult conditions, and employers did not provide footwear. Without appropriate protective footwear, children worked barefoot or in socks while working in fields with thick mud, sharp rocks, broken glass, exposed roots, and other hazards. Human Rights Watch observed nearly a dozen children working barefoot or in socks in tobacco fields in North Carolina in July 2013. Human Rights Watch interviewed 12-year-old Miguel T. while he topped tobacco plants in a field in North Carolina in July 2013 wearing only socks on his feet. Heavy rains had left the field wet, and he did not have boots that could withstand the thick mud. He explained that working in thick mud with his own shoes made him tired and sore because of the extra physical burden. “The hardest part is walking [in the mud],” he said. “My feet start to hurt when I walk. And when I sit down and then I get home and start to walk, my legs start killing me.”[187] Raul D., a 13-year-old worker in North Carolina, said, “I would go barefoot when it was really muddy. … It was squishy, like a Slip and Slide [waterslide].”[188] According to experts on pesticide exposure, appropriate personal protective equipment to limit pesticide exposure for farmworkers in most fieldwork situations is “work clothing that covers the head, body, arms, legs, and feet; that is a hat, a long-sleeve shirt that is closed around the neck, long pants, socks, and closed shoes.”[189] However, tobacco workers may be at risk for nicotine poisoning even when wearing this attire if water from tobacco plants saturates clothing.[190] A 2001 study on Green Tobacco Sickness among adult farmworkers found that workers who worked in wet clothing for more than 25 percent of the workday reported twice the incidence of Green Tobacco Sickness as compared to workers who spent less time working in wet clothing.[191] According to Dr. Thomas Arcury of Wake Forest School of Medicine, protective equipment such as rain suits and watertight gloves can reduce a worker’s contact with wet tobacco, but may increase the risk of heat stress and heat illness. Human Rights Watch has concluded the use of personal protective equipment is impractical and insufficient to eliminate the health risks to children of working with tobacco plants or dried tobacco leaves in the US, and may present other unacceptable health risks. This may also be the case in other countries. Lack of Health Education and Safety Training Lack of Information about Nicotine Poisoning Few children interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that they received information from their employers or anyone else about acute nicotine poisoning and how to prevent it. Most did not understand that absorption of nicotine through the skin could have been the cause of many of their symptoms. They also did not know when they were at greatest risk of nicotine poisoning or how to protect themselves while working. For example, 17-year-old Jocelyn R., who worked on tobacco farms in eastern North Carolina in 2012, told Human Rights Watch, “All I know about tobacco is that I heard that there is a sickness from it.” Based on their experiences, some children identified that their symptoms, which they referred to in Spanish as entabacarse,were linked to working in wet conditions. For example, 18-year-old Emmanuel P., who has worked in tobacco in eastern North Carolina since he was 15, told Human Rights Watch, “The hardest part is when you’re working and it starts raining. You get wet, and when you’re working and sweating and your clothes are wet, you get sick.”[195] Jaime V., an 18-year-old tobacco worker in Tennessee, also understood that wet conditions were linked to his symptoms. Describing his work on tobacco farms in 2013, he said, “We had to work in the rain. They didn’t want us to stop working. It’s like everything is wet. And because everything is wet, your clothes get soaked and you get sick. That’s what causes the nausea, the vomiting.”[196] Lack of Information about Risks of Pesticide Exposure The vast majority of children interviewed by Human Rights Watch said their employers had not provided them with any education or training on pesticide safety. Violet R., 19, started working on tobacco farms in eastern North Carolina at age 12. “They didn’t tell us anything about the chemicals,” she said. “We’d be working and the grower would spray the fields next to our field….They didn’t move us away.” Eighteen-year-old Natalie G., who also started working on tobacco farms in North Carolina at age 12, and continued working in the 2012 and 2013 summers, had a similar observation: “I never got any training or materials about pesticides.” In rare cases, children interviewed by Human Rights Watch said their employers had told them that pesticides presented health risks, but did not teach the children how to protect themselves from exposure. Eli B., 15, said that his mother was hospitalized after being exposed to pesticides while working in tobacco in North Carolina: “Last year, my mom, she got really sick one time in tobacco because they sprayed that pesticide. She got really dizzy and had to go to the hospital.” Eli said that the contractor who employed him told him about pesticides: “The contractor said, ‘You have to be careful. The job is not easy. They spray pesticides, poison, it might make you dizzy or make you want to throw up.’” However, the contractor did not specify any precautions Eli should take to minimize exposure to pesticides. Eli said, “No, [the contractor] just said, ‘Be careful.’ That’s all.”[200] Alberto H., 16, told Human Rights Watch that he drove an all-terrain vehicle with a sprayer attached to the back through tobacco fields in Kentucky while working in 2013. Even though he was given appropriate protective clothing including gloves, plastic safety glasses, and a mask, his safety training was minimal, and he appeared not to remember clearly the instructions. He said, “They just told me not to get it on me, be careful with it. Always spray… I think they said, against the wind? Like toward where the wind was blowing. Yeah, where the wind was blowing.”[201] Pesticide training for child workers is especially important because, as one public health study found, “Young people are generally less experienced and assertivethan adults, and thus they may not question assignments thatplace them at risk for pesticide exposure.”[202] Inadequate Access to Water, Sanitation, and Shade Many children interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that their employers did not provide drinking water for workers, and most children stated that employers did not provide handwashing facilities or toilets for workers. Many reported that they did not have a place to shelter in shade during the workday. Problems with Drinking Water Most children interviewed by Human Rights Watch stated that the labor contractor or tobacco grower for whom they worked provided them with water. Alicia K., 15, is a 9th grade student and a seasonal tobacco worker in eastern North Carolina. She described a situation that was common among children interviewed by Human Rights Watch: “He [the contractor] gave us lots of water breaks. The contractor had a cooler with water and soda. My mom also carried a cooler with water.”[203] However, some children told Human Rights Watch that the water provided by employers was not clean or drinkable. Nicholas V., a 14-year-old worker in North Carolina said, “The manager brought water to the fields, but it tasted strongly of chemicals. I brought my own, or we’d go to the gas station nearby.”[204] Natalie G. also described problems with the water provided by her employer in North Carolina: “They would give us water. It was in a big round orange cooler. But it didn’t really taste right, and when we opened the top we saw that there were leaves and dirt in it. We never drank that water.”[205] Some children said their employers did not provide enough water to last throughout the workday; placed water so far from where they were working that it was inaccessible to them; or didn’t allow them to take breaks to drink water. Katrina T., 15, Diego T., 16, and Rafa B., 16, worked together on a tobacco farm in eastern North Carolina in the summer of 2013. They told Human Rights Watch that typically a cooler of water was left on the back of a pick-up truck in the field, often quite far from where they worked, and when it ran out, their employer often would neglect to refill it. “They don’t bring it down the row [of tobacco plants]….Sometimes they just leave it there and the water runs out, and they leave it empty until the next day,” Rafa said.[206] Ezra B., a 15-year-old worker in eastern North Carolina, said, “There was water, but the rows [of tobacco plants] were long, so if you had to go back to get some water and go all the way back down your row, by the time you did it people were finished [topping their rows] and it was time to move on.”[207] Other children interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that their employers did not provide water at all. In these cases, children brought their own water or went without. Claudio G., 16, started working in tobacco in eastern North Carolina at age 14. He told Human Rights Watch that one of his former employers didn’t provide drinking water for workers at all. Describing what it was like to work in high heat without water available in 2012, he said, “It was 100 something [degrees] that day. I was working with grown people, and I was the only young one. I was 14. It was so hot. The man didn’t bring us water. I was dehydrated, and I didn’t want to work. I felt like I was going to pass out.”[208] Henry F., 17, worked for hire for several tobacco growers in the 2013 season near the town where he lives in Kentucky. When asked about his access to water at work, he said, “Some farmers bring it [water]. Some farmers they just leave you to work, and it depends on what you bring. It’s up to you if you want to bring water or not.”[209] Lack of Sanitary Facilities Very few children interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported having access to a bathroom or portable toilet. Most children said that they would relieve themselves in wooded areas, if there were any near the worksite, or refrain from relieving themselves at all during the day, including by declining to drink liquids. Some told Human Rights Watch that a contractor or grower would drive them to a nearby gas station, store, or other public facility, or allow them to walk to a public facility or to the grower’s home if it was located near the worksite, where they could use a bathroom. Lucia A., 17, has been working on tobacco farms in North Carolina since age 12. She told Human Rights Watch that she rarely had access to a bathroom while working in tobacco in the 2012 season: “If you have to go, there’s the woods. …First time I was out in the field, I told my mom I have to go pee. And my mom was like, ‘You have to go in the woods.’ But I was scared. I didn’t want to. My mom said, ‘You can’t go all day like that.’ I said, ‘What if a snake comes out?’”[210] Sally G., 16, who lives in North Carolina and worked for the first time in the summer of 2013, told Human Rights Watch, “There is no bathroom. Either you hold it or ask to go to a gas station or restaurant. If not we just do what the other ladies do, just go to the woods.” Her sister Marissa, 14, said, “I’d rather just hold it.” Sally agreed: “Yeah, I hold it.”[211] Margarita S., a 16-year-old worker in North Carolina, described her access to toilets when she worked on tobacco farms in 2012: “We’d stop at a gas station to let us use the bathroom. I never saw a ‘porta potty.’ You’d have to just get yourself somewhere to go to the bathroom. To the trees, or just try to get away from the others working, have someone else help cover you up.”[212] When asked if there was a bathroom at his worksite when he worked on tobacco farms in 2012 in Kentucky, 14-year-old Ricardo M. said, “No. You just have to wait it out. Or go out in the woods.”[213] Lack of Hand - washing Facilities and Tobacco Residue on Hands Most children interviewed by Human Rights Watch stated that they did not have access to hand-washing facilities. Many children reported rinsing their hands with drinking water provided by their employers, but they were rarely given soap. Without access to hand-washing, children said that they were not able to wash off dirt, pesticide residues, or residues from the tobacco leaves, including before eating lunch or snacks. Some children said that they were permitted to wash their hands at a gas station, store, or other public facility, and a few said their parents would bring their own soap and water to the tobacco fields to allow them to wash their hands before lunch. The experience of Blanca A., a 14-year-old worker in eastern North Carolina, was typical among the children interviewed by Human Rights Watch for this report. “They had a cooler full of water, and people would get cups full of water and pour it over my hands for me,” she said. “But there was no soap.” [214] Luciano P., 18, started working on tobacco farms near Lexington, Kentucky at age 15 and worked each season. “On the barn [at one farm], they have a water pump,” he said. “We use that to wash our hands. There’s no soap, just clean water.”[215] Many children told Human Rights Watch that tobacco plants left a sticky residue on their hands that they could see, feel, and taste when eating. They observed the residue on their hands whether or not they wore gloves, though they described it as more severe if they worked without gloves. Nine-year-old Gregory T., who goes to work to help his mother harvest burley tobacco on farms in Tennessee, told Human Rights Watch how his hands felt after working in the 2013 summer: “The plants are sticky. They feel like bubble gum. It’s more and more sticky. When I put my hands together, they stick.”[216] Many described eating with unclean hands during their breaks and at lunch. Katie P., an 11th grader and a member of the Future Business Leaders of America, told Human Rights Watch about her experience working on a tobacco farm in North Carolina in 2013 where she did not have access to hand-washing: “Since the tobacco is like really sour tasting, all that bad taste goes to your mouth, like when you are eating, like during break. And there’s no place to wash your hands or anything.”[217] Carla P., 16, and her younger sister, Lisandra P., 14, have worked for hire together with their parents on tobacco farms in Kentucky for several years. The sisters told Human Rights Watch that one of the tobacco growers for whom they worked in 2013 gave them water to rinse their hands, but no soap. Carla said that tobacco plants left a residue on her hands that she could taste: “It’ll be hard to eat after you’re done working because it will taste sour and yucky.”[218] Lisandra observed the same effect: “It’s dirty. Your hands are black. If you make something [prepare food] after you’ve touched tobacco, it tastes sour.”[219] Lack of Shade Many children interviewed by Human Rights Watch stated that they did not have the opportunity to shelter in shade during the workday. Some reported that the only shade available was inside vehicles used to transport the workers to the worksite, or in wooded areas when the worksite happened to be located near one. For example, Emilio R., a 16-year-old worker in North Carolina, said, “The heat is the hardest thing. It was hot. I could manage everything but the heat was just unbearable. We’d try to work hard to rush to get out of the row to have some shade…. You’re mostly in the middle of the field where there’s really no cover.”[220] Raul D., a 13-year-old worker in North Carolina said, “Some days my skin gets red and it feels like it’s burning on the inside. The worst thing? The heat from being out in the sun with no shade all day: that is really the worst thing.” Health Consequences of Inadequate Access to Water, Sanitation, and Shade The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Field Sanitation Standard requires agricultural employers with at least 10 employees to provide sufficient and accessible drinking water, hand-washing facilities, and toilets.[222] According to OSHA: Farmworkers may suffer heat stroke and heat exhaustion from an insufficient intake of potable water, urinary tract infections due to urine retention from inadequate availability of toilets, agrichemical poisoning resulting from lack of hand-washing facilities, and infectious and other communicable diseases from microbial and parasitic exposures. [223] A review of public health literature found that limited access to toilets and strict work environments where workers are not given time to take breaks contribute to chronic urine retention, increasing the risk of urinary tract infections.[224] In addition, public health studies have shown that washing with soap and water can reduce both pesticide and nicotine residues on the hands of tobacco workers by 96 percent.[225] Sun exposure is associated with several types of skin cancer, and research suggests that sunburn and sun exposure in childhood and adolescence can increase the risk of melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, later in life. Agricultural workers are particularly susceptible due to chronic, prolonged time in the sun and other occupational hazards of farm work.[226]
IV. Hours, Wages, and Education Most children interviewed by Human Rights Watch for this report described working long hours, typically between 50 and 60 hours per week. Many children said they felt pressure to work quickly. While most employers allowed children two or three breaks per day, some children were not allowed to take regular breaks, even when they felt sick or were working in high heat. Children described utter exhaustion after working long hours on tobacco farms. Most children earned the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for their work on tobacco farms, though some children working in burley tobacco were paid a fixed rate during certain parts of the season based on the quantity of tobacco they harvested or hung in barns. Some children reported problems with wages including earning less than minimum wage for hourly work, deductions by the contractor or grower for drinking water or for reasons that were not explained to them, or because of what they believed was inaccurate recording of hours by labor contractors. Most children interviewed by Human Rights Watch attended school full time and worked in tobacco farming only during the summer months, after school, and on weekends. A few children who had migrated to the United States for work and had not settled in a specific community said that they did not enroll in school at all or enrolled in school but missed several months in order to perform agricultural work, including in tobacco farming. Excessive Working Hours and Lack of Sufficient Breaks Most children interviewed by Human Rights Watch described working long hours, typically between 10 and 12 hours per day, and sometimes up to 16 hours. Most said they worked 50 to 60 hours a week. Most employers allowed them two or three breaks per day, including one 10 to 15 minute break in the morning and one in the afternoon, as well as a 30 to 60 minute lunch break in the middle of the day. However, some children told Human Rights Watch that employers did not allow children to take meaningful regular breaks during the work day or breaks even when children felt sick or in high heat. Many children said that some employers pressured them to work as quickly as possible. Most children interviewed by Human Rights Watch worked five days per week; some worked fewer, and some reported working six or seven days per week during particularly labor intensive periods of the tobacco farming season. In some cases, children’s hours exceeded 70 hours per week. Some children in each of the four states where Human Rights Watch did research stated that they sometimes worked long hours, more than 5 days per week, or without breaks in order to increase their earnings. However, most children described having little control over their hours day-to-day. Sometimes the labor contractor or grower expected them to work past dark or start work in early morning hours. If worksites were located far from children’s homes, they left home very early and came home late. Children told Human Rights Watch that sometimes they worked shorter days because the employer determined that the work had been completed or because the employer allowed workers to stop, in some cases due to heavy rain or high heat. US federal law permits children to work in agriculture for unlimited hours, outside of school hours. In non-agricultural jobs, 14 and 15-year-olds cannot work before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m., except during the summer when they can work until 9 p.m.; and may not work more than 3 hours on a school day, 18 hours in a school week, 8 hours on a non-school day, and 40 hours in non-school week.[227] Working Long Hours Most children interviewed by Human Rights Watch for this report stated that they often started work at 6 or 7 a.m. and worked through the evening. Fourteen-year-old Marissa M., who worked in tobacco farming for the first time in 2013, described a typical work schedule among the children interviewed by Human Rights Watch: “We leave [for work] at 6 a.m., start [working] at 7 a.m., get out at 6 p.m.”[228] Some children in Kentucky reported working very late in the evening, either working until dark at the height of summer when the sun sets late in the day, or working after dark in tobacco curing barns during the fall and winter months. Danielle S., 16, and Lazaro S., 15, who work for hire with their parents on tobacco farms in central Kentucky, told Human Rights Watch that they would sometimes work until 11 p.m. when they were stripping cured tobacco leaves off of sticks in barns. Danielle said, “We go early in the morning, depending on the tobacco. If it rains, we don’t go. If it’s good weather, we go early, like 7 a.m., and we’ll work until 7 at night. When we’re stripping [in barns], we come home really late at night, like 11 at night…Sometimes we finish late.”[229] Bridget F., 15, said her crew in Kentucky would return to work in the evening after a break in the middle of the afternoon: “We’d go to work at 6 a.m. and work until 3 [p.m.] and then we’d take a break, go home and stuff, and then we’d go back at 5 [p.m.] and work until 9 [p.m.]. It was really tiring.”[230] Lack of Sufficient Breaks and Pressure to Work Fast Martin S., 18, told Human Rights Watch that the labor contractor on a Kentucky farm where he worked in 2012 did not give them regular breaks during the work day. “We start at 6 a.m. and we leave at 6 p.m.,” he said. “We only get one five-minute break each day. And a half hour for lunch. Sometimes less.”[231] Blanca A., a 14-year-old farmworker in North Carolina, told Human Rights Watch that the labor contractor who employed her in 2012 pressured workers to end their breaks early: “He [the contractor] always had a machete. He was mean…. He’d yell at us to hurry up and go back in the fields when we were taking breaks. He would make us go out [back to work in the field] when we were on breaks. He’d get frustrated at us and start screaming. He was so strict.”[232] Other children told Human Rights Watch about experiences with labor contractors who did not allow the children to rest when they felt sick and threatened to cut their pay. Elena G., 13, works on tobacco farms in eastern North Carolina with her mother and her older sisters. Describing her experience during her first summer working on tobacco farms in 2012, she told Human Rights Watch, “I would tell the boss [labor contractor] that I needed to stop for a minute, and he was like, ‘Either you work, or you get out, and I’m not going to pay you for the time that you’re out of the field.’ And then I would keep going, but my mom and other workers would help me, but [the contractor] would get mad, saying we [each] need to do our own row [of tobacco plants]….The hardest part was cutting the suckers and keeping up with all the workers. All the workers were older. [We] were the youngest ones. They had more experience, so they could go faster.”[233] Elena’s older sister, 18-year-old Natalie G., told Human Rights Watch that she would hide herself in a row of tobacco plants to get a few minutes of extra rest when she felt sick. She described one instance in 2012: “I got really, really tired working. My mom would say, ‘Hide. Sit down for a few minutes to rest, but then you’ve got to get back to work.’ My knees would be hurting, but the labor contractor would keep hurrying me up. He would wait for everyone at the end of the row and then say, ‘You’re slacking, hurry up!’”[234] Jorge P., a 16-year-old worker in eastern Tennessee, said, “It was a hard job. We had to be like super fast. They [the labor contractors] didn’t want you to quit for a second. They wanted you to keep working. Even though it was raining, they didn’t want us to stop.”[235] Joseph T., told Human Rights Watch that he started working on tobacco farms in 2011, when he was 16. He described how he felt while trying to keep up with adult workers on tobacco farms in North Carolina in 2012: “It’s like you’re walking and everybody else is running. Like that.”[236] Children in Kentucky and Tennessee told Human Rights Watch that being paid based on the volume of tobacco they harvested contributed to the pressure to work quickly. For example, 18-year-old Jaime V., an 11th grade student, started working in tobacco in Tennessee at age 14. Describing his experience working in tobacco in 2012, he told Human Rights Watch, “The tobacco is the hardest, because you have to work fast. If you’re not fast, you don’t make money because it’s contract [piece rate] work. It’s 22 or maybe 27 cents per stick. You have to work very, very fast to make any money.”[237] Yanamaria W., a 14-year-old girl who works on tobacco farms with her parents and her younger brother, had a similar observation about working for a piece rate in Kentucky in 2013: “The hardest part is the cutting. It’s harder because you’re paid by a contract [a piece rate], not by the hour, so if you want to get more money, you have to work faster.”[238] Pressure to work fast may put children at additional risk of injury. As cited above, in one case documented by Human Rights Watch, pressure by a tobacco grower on 17-year-old Isaac may have contributed to his loss of two fingers in an accident involving a mower.[239] Lack of Rest Days Some children told Human Rights Watch that they worked up to six or seven days a week. Claudio G., 16, said that he worked seven days per week in tobacco in North Carolina during the most labor-intensive part of the season: “We worked every day, Monday to Sunday. The farmer was behind on his crop, so we had to work seven days. It was tough because we didn’t get any breaks, and when you’re working every day, you can’t enjoy the weekend.”[240] Andrea D., 16, started working for a tobacco grower in Kentucky together with her parents at age 6. She told Human Rights Watch that during the summer months, she and her family often worked for many days straight without taking a day off during labor-intensive parts of the growing season. “In the summer we work every day, every day until we finish [the work]. From 8 in the morning until 6 [p.m.].”[241] Traveling Long Distances for Work Children interviewed for this report in North Carolina told Human Rights Watch that they often worked on farms located far from their homes, based on where the labor contractor needed workers on any given day. On such days, children would wake very early in order to reach the work location by early morning. For example, Eliceo F., 15, said, “Me and my brother would wake up around 3 a.m. because the job was pretty far and we’d get there at 6 a.m. and start working…. We’d get there and work, take our break, like 35 minutes for lunch. Then we’d start working again until we were done. Usually I’d fall asleep [in the car] on the way back [home]. I was tired.”[242] Exhaustion after Long Work Hours Elan T., 15, and Madeline T., 16, worked together on a tobacco farm after migrating to North Carolina from Mexico with their mother and younger brother. Madeline described the fatigue they felt after working for 12 or 13 hours in tobacco fields: “Just exhaustion. You feel like you have no strength, like you can’t eat. I felt that way when we worked so much. Sometimes our arms and legs would ache.”[243] Patrick W., 9, described similar feelings after working long hours with his father, a hired tobacco worker, in Tennessee in 2013. “I feel really exhausted,” he said. “I come in [to the house], I get my [clean] clothes, I take a shower, and then it’s usually dark, so I go to sleep.”[244] Bridget F., a 15-year-old tobacco worker in Kentucky, told Human Rights Watch about her work on tobacco farms in 2013: “It’s really hard. The long hours and it’s really hot. And when you’re done, you’re really tired. You just want to go to sleep.”[245] Sixteen-year-old Dario A., who worked on tobacco farms in Kentucky in 2013, said, “The hardest of all the crops we’ve worked in is tobacco. You get tired. It takes the energy out of you. You get sick, but then you have to go right back to the tobacco the next day.”[246] Wages Nearly all of the children interviewed for this report stated that they were working on tobacco farms for hire. Of the nine children Human Rights Watch interviewed who worked on their family farms, four also worked for hire on farms owned by other tobacco growers. Only a few of the very youngest children worked with their parents sporadically and without pay. Among children working for hire, about half of the children interviewed were employed by a labor contractor or a labor subcontractor at some point in 2012 or 2013, although many of them also worked directly for tobacco growers. Most children said that employers paid them hourly wages for their work. Those paid an hourly wage stated that they typically received wages weekly, although some reported being paid every two weeks or daily. Other children, primarily those working in burley tobacco in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, stated that they received a fixed rate of payment for the quantity of tobacco they harvested or hung in barns (“piece rate wages”). When children reported earning piece rate wages, they were paid “by the stick,” meaning their wages were determined by the number of tobacco plants they cut and placed on wooden sticks, or by the number of sticks of tobacco plants they hung in curing barns. Most children stated that they received wages directly for their work; some said that employers added children’s wages to a parent’s form of payment. Some said that they were paid directly by growers, often by check. Others were paid by labor contractors who received lump sum payments from growers. When children were paid by contractors, they were most often paid in cash. A few of the youngest children told Human Rights Watch that they received a small allowance from their parents for working with them in the tobacco fields. Some recorded the hours they worked or quantity of tobacco they harvested independently and reported their work to their employers. Other children stated that employers, either the labor contractor or grower, kept a record of their work and determined their wages at the end of the week. While most children reported earning at least US federal minimum wage, some earned less. Some reported problems with wages including deductions by the contractor or grower for drinking water or for reasons that were not explained to them, or because of what they believed was inaccurate recording of hours by labor contractors. Payment of Less Than Minimum Wage Most children interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for their work on tobacco farms. For a child working approximately 50 to 55 hours per week at minimum wage, earnings amounted to between $350 and $450 per week. Children interviewed by Human Rights Watch in North Carolina reported earning higher wages in tobacco relative to other crops. For example, Blanca A., 14, works for hire on tobacco farms in eastern North Carolina with her mother and her older sister. She said, “I really don’t work in anything else [besides tobacco]. Tobacco gets paid better than cucumber.”[247] While some children earned more than minimum wage, some children received less than the minimum for hourly work. For example, Natalie G., an 18-year-old worker in North Carolina who volunteers at a local community garden, told Human Rights Watch that a labor contractor paid her significantly less than minimum wage for hourly work in 2012: “He tried to pay us less than we worked. He actually ended up paying us about $6.50 per hour. For example, I worked [for three 11-hour days] and earned $240, but didn’t get [paid] that full amount.”[248] Martin S., 18, migrated to Kentucky from Mexico by himself in 2011 to join his mother who was already living in the US, and started working for a labor contractor on tobacco farms when he arrived in Kentucky. He told Human Rights Watch that his crew was paid less than minimum wage in 2012: “All the workers in our group were paid $7 per hour, and they were all paid cash.”[249] Similarly, Isaac S., age 18, told Human Rights Watch that a tobacco grower told him and others in his work crew that they would receive the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for their work on a tobacco farm, but the grower paid them only $6 per hour in cash. “He [the grower] paid us less than we were promised,” he said.[250] Another child interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported earning just $40 for six days of work planting tobacco in Kentucky.[251] With some exceptions, agricultural workers are entitled to minimum wage. These exceptions include workers on small farms and some piece-rate workers, including certain local hand harvest laborers and non-local children ages 16 and under who are working alongside their parents.[252] Where workers are entitled to minimum wage, agricultural employers may pay either an hourly rate or a piece-rate, but those who pay on piece-rate must by law ensure that the earnings for all hours worked in a week are sufficient to bring the average hourly wage up to minimum wage, unless they fall under one of the previously mentioned exceptions. All agricultural workers are deprived of overtime pay protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Most other workers, by contrast, are required to be paid one-and-a-half times their regular rate of pay for each hour worked in excess of 40 hours per week.[254] In addition, agricultural workers are also excluded from the protections of the National Labor Relations Act and do not have the right to organize and collectively bargain with their employers, except in cases in which states (such as California) enact state laws protect their right to organize.[255] Piece Rate Wages Children working in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia told Human Rights Watch that they earned piece rate wages during the burley tobacco harvest. Workers described cutting down tobacco plants full of leaves and sliding the plants onto wooden sticks designed to be hung in barns for curing tobacco leaves. Each stick held six tobacco plants, and workers were paid a fixed rate based on the number of sticks of tobacco plants they completed in a day. Some workers were also paid piece rate wages for the number of sticks full of tobacco plants that they hung in curing barns in a day. Children in Kentucky reported earning between 12 cents and 16 cents per completed stick for harvesting tobacco plants. Children in Tennessee reported earning between 22 cents and 55 cents per stick for harvesting tobacco plants and hanging the sticks in curing barns. The daily earnings of children interviewed by Human Rights Watch varied considerably under this system depending on the child’s pace of work and the fixed rate offered by employers. Some children reported completing 250 sticks per day, and earning between $50 and $60 for a full day of work, while others reported completing more than 800 sticks per day, and earning over $100 for a full day of work. Some children interviewed by Human Rights Watch in these states reported earning piece rate wages for performing certain tasks and hourly wages for other tasks. Henry F., a 17-year-old worker in Kentucky, the oldest of six siblings, plays on his high school soccer team, and has been working in tobacco farming since he was 13. He told Human Rights Watch that he was paid a piece rate for his work cutting burley tobacco plants during the harvest and an hourly rate to hang sticks of harvested tobacco in curing barns in 2013. Explaining this system of work and payment, he said, “You put a stick in the ground, put the spear on top of it, and cut six plants of tobacco and put them on the stick. And you do that until you finish a row. And you write down how much you did in a book, to keep count of how many you got. You get paid 14 cents a stick.”[256] Some children in Tennessee told Human Rights Watch that their wage included payment for both cutting tobacco plants and hanging them in barns. Jaime V. told Human Rights Watch: “We got paid 22 cents for a stick. That was for the cutting and the hanging.”[257] Public health studies among farmworkers have found that piece rate payment adds additional pressure on workers to work as quickly as possible and avoid taking breaks, sometimes even at the expense of drinking water or cooling down when overheated.[258] Agustin F., a 15-year-old worker, migrates to Kentucky from Florida each year to work on tobacco farms. He described the pressure he put on himself to work fast, saying, “When I’m cutting, I earn $200. [It] depends on how much I work. We make about 14 cents per stick. [It] depends on how much you cut. You can earn $100 or $125, $135 in a day. If you can stand it, you keep working. I work until I can’t stand it.”[259] Unscrupulous Wage Practices Some children reported problems with wages including deductions by the contractor or grower for drinking water; for reasons that were not explained to them; or because of what they believed was inaccurate recording of hours by contractors. For example, Eli B., 15, lived alone for two months in North Carolina while his mother migrated to another state for work. Eli started working on tobacco farms at age 11, and he told Human Rights Watch that in his first season, his employer—a labor contractor—routinely paid him less than he was owed for the time he had worked. “They would steal your money, the contractors,” he said. “I wrote down my hours I worked, and summed it up, but when he would pay me that day, it didn’t come out as I had it down. It was my first year. I didn’t know how things worked out.” Eli said that he never complained to his employer about his pay: “No, I never asked him. I asked him how much I got paid an hour, that’s all.”[260] Jaime V., an 18-year-old worker in Tennessee, also reported inaccurate recording of hours by his labor contractor several years ago: “Sometimes my check would be short by 7 or 10 hours. We got paid every two weeks. But sometimes the hours didn’t turn out right. I would talk to the contractor about it, but he’d say, ‘I don’t know.’ He didn’t do anything about it.”[261] Estevan O., 15, told Human Rights Watch that an employer he worked for in North Carolina in 2012 docked his pay allegedly because he made mistakes in his work: “The contractor kept track of hours. Sometimes they would complain and take two hours off because we supposedly didn’t do the job right, but we went and fixed it anyway. They didn’t warn us about this penalty.”[262] Children also reported deductions from their pay for car rides to the work sites, water, or reasons they did not understand. Margarita S., a 16-year-old worker in North Carolina who plans to attend college and study to be a teacher’s assistant, told Human Rights Watch about deductions from her wages in 2012: “Ten dollars was taken out of every check. I’d pay $10 per day for a ride. Sometimes $15. I also had to pay for water, Gatorade, soda that they would have there [where we worked].”[263] Marissa G., 14, told Human Rights Watch that she started working on tobacco farms in North Carolina so that she could buy her own clothes and school supplies. She said that she did not receive any pay for a day she worked topping tobacco in 2013: “I got $130, but for one day I worked the labor contractor didn’t pay me. He said ‘The boss man didn’t give everyone pay for last Friday.’ I don’t know why. He promised to pay me next week.”[264] Under federal law, agricultural employers must provide workers with wage statements explaining any deductions from their wages. Workers must give employers permission to make deductions for transportation, food, and some other expenses. Education The vast majority of children interviewed by Human Rights Watch attended school full-time and worked in tobacco farming, and in some cases in other agricultural crops as well, only during the summer months, after school, and on weekends. However, some children who had migrated without authorization to the United States for work and had not settled in a specific community told Human Rights Watch that they did not enroll in school at all or enrolled in school but missed several months in order to perform agricultural work, including in tobacco farming. Some children stated that they occasionally missed school in order to work in times of financial hardship for their families. Calvin R. migrated to the United States by himself at age 13, leaving his family behind in Mexico. He never enrolled in school. Instead, he joined a migrant crew that travels between several states to work in different crops. He told Human Rights Watch he started working in tobacco in 2012 at age 16: “We come to Kentucky every year from other states. We work in Washington in the apples, and in Tennessee there’s a packing plant where we work. We came to Kentucky … at the beginning of August. We usually come here around the same time every year to work in tobacco.”[266] When asked about his plans for the future, Calvin said, “If tomorrow or the next day brings an opportunity to study, I would like that. … [I]f in the future, I could accomplish my dreams, I would feel good and proud of myself … And one of my most important dreams is to continue studying.” Jason H., 17, told Human Rights Watch that he migrated alone to the United States from Mexico in 2012. Each year he travels to North Carolina from Florida in March to work in tobacco and other crops. He works all year long, and does not attend school. “The work is like a wheel,” he said. “It’s never going to be finished.”[268] Other migrant children told Human Rights Watch that they missed several months of school to work in tobacco farming. For example, Guillermo S., 18, and Victor R., 15, are cousins working in different agricultural crops in different states, including on tobacco farms in North Carolina. Their parents live in Mexico. Guillermo told Human Rights Watch, “We just got here to North Carolina from Florida in June. We’ll stay here six months, until November. Then we’ll go to Florida again.”[269] When asked about his status in school, Victor told Human Rights Watch, “I go to school in Florida, but not here,” indicating that he missed at least three months of school in 2013.[270] Several children reported to Human Rights Watch that they had skipped a few days of school in recent years to work in tobacco farming. These children said they worked instead of going to school to help their parents in times of financial hardship or when a family member was injured and unable to work. Yanamaria W., a 14-year-old worker in Kentucky, told Human Rights Watch, “I’ve skipped school to go to work. Our house [rent payment] takes up like $600 a month, and my parents don’t get [earn] much when they’re doing [sorting] the [tobacco] leaves.”[271] Adriana F., 14, who works on tobacco farms in Kentucky with her parents and her four brothers, told Human Rights Watch that she had missed a few days of school in 2012 and 2013 to work in tobacco farming. “I missed school to go work when my Dad popped a bone in his back and he needed me to help him,” she said.[272] Her 17-year-old brother, Henry F., said that he occasionally skipped school in 2012 and 2013 to earn money to help his family: “I’ve missed school to work. I chose it myself. My parents always told me to go to school. But I always choose my family over everything else.”[273] In addition, some children reported working long hours after school that interfered with their ability to keep up with schoolwork. Luciano P., is 18 and in 10th grade at a Kentucky high school. He moved to the United States at age 11, attended school for several years, but dropped out of school at 15 to work for most of the year on tobacco farms. “I used to go to school when I was little, but I was working in tobacco,” he said. “Two years ago, when I was 15, 16, I stopped going to school. I would just work year round.” He re-enrolled in school at 17, and now he is struggling to make up for the missed years: “Now I started going to school and they put me in 10th grade, and I’m in a program at school that will help me catch up. It’s a lot of work.”[274] He said that since he re-enrolled he works only after school: “Once I started school when I was 17, I never missed school to go to work. They say in school, every day counts.”[275] The right to education is a fundamental right belonging to all children, regardless of immigration status, and is protected under both US law and international human rights law.
V. International Legal Standards In recognition of the potential benefits of some forms of work and of the realities that require many children to enter the workforce to support their own or their families’ basic needs, international law does not prohibit children from all work. However, international treaties address the particular circumstances under which children under 18 may work and define standards to protect children from exploitation and other harmful consequences of child labor. Based on the findings documented in this report and applicable international law, Human Rights Watch considers the employment of children in the United States in tobacco farming tasks which expose them to direct contact with tobacco plants to be in violation of international law prohibiting children under the age of 18 from engaging in harmful or hazardous work. US and state laws and practices concerning children’s participation in agricultural work are inconsistent with or violate international conventions protecting the rights of children. ILO Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labor ILO Convention No. 182 Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor (Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention), ratified by the United States in 1999, prohibits slavery or slave-like practices, child pornography and prostitution, illicit activities, including drug trafficking, as well as the employment of children under the age of 18 in “work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children” (also known as hazardous work).[277] As a state party to the Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention, the United States is obligated to take immediate and effective steps to ascertain what forms and conditions of child labor in agriculture violate the convention and then eliminate them.[278] The Convention obliges member states to take immediate action to prevent children from engaging in the worst forms of child labor; to provide direct assistance for the removal of children already engaged in the worst forms of child labor; and to identify and reach out to children at risk.[279] Although the ILO does not have a specific list of occupations that constitute hazardous work, agriculture is considered one of the three most dangerous sectors in which children work, along with construction and mining.[280] Far from acknowledging the dangers of agricultural work to children and taking these appropriate steps, the United States by law permits children to engage in such labor, including on tobacco farms, with fewer restrictions than children working in other industries. The ILO’s Committee of Experts has observed that section 213 of the US Fair Labor Standards Act “authorizes children aged 16 and above to undertake, in the agricultural sector, occupations declared to be hazardous or detrimental to their health or well-being by the Secretary of Labor.”[281] In its 2012 and 2014 reports,[282] the Committee noted with serious concern the withdrawal of proposed regulations (explained in detail below), “which would have increased the parity between agricultural and non-agricultural child labour prohibitions by prohibiting some tasks associated with agricultural work to children under 18 and strengthening the protection provided to children under 16 years working in agriculture,” and strongly urged the US government to take measures to protect the health and safety of children working in agriculture.[283] The Committee also recommended that the government reintroduce the proposed regulations. Hazardous Child Labor in Tobacco Farming Based on the findings documented in this report as applied to the Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention and ILO Recommendation No. 190 Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor (Worst Forms of Child Labor Recommendation),[285] Human Rights Watch considers any exposure to tobacco plants in tobacco cultivation, harvesting, and curing to be hazardous child labor because of the health risks to children associated with exposure to nicotine, pesticides, and tobacco dust. While there may be some light work on tobacco farms that is suitable for children, particularly in the early stages of tobacco production, Human Rights Watch believes most aspects of tobacco farming in the United States constitute hazardous child labor under ILO definitions. The Worst Forms of Child Labor Recommendation provides guidance to countries on determining what types of work constitute harmful or hazardous work. The recommendation states that in defining the “worst forms of child labor,” consideration should be given, as a minimum, to: (a) work which exposes children to physical, emotional or sexual abuse; (b) work underground, under water, at dangerous heights or in confined spaces; (c) work with dangerous machinery, equipment and tools, or which involves the manual handling or transport of heavy loads; (d) work in an unhealthy environment which may, for example, expose children to hazardous substances, agents or processes, or to temperatures, noise levels, or vibrations damaging to their health; (e) work under particularly difficult conditions such as work for long hours or during the night or work which does not allow for the possibility of returning home each day. [286] Each state party to the Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention is expected to use this guidance to identify specific tasks and occupations that it considers hazardous for children. Hazardous Child Labor in the US Human Rights Watch research found that children participating in the cultivation, harvesting, and curing of tobacco in the US routinely face the risks outlined in subparagraphs (c) through (e), including work at dangerous heights; work with dangerous machinery, equipment and tools; work that involves the manual handling or transport of heavy loads; work in an unhealthy environment where they are exposed to hazardous substances (including nicotine and pesticides) and extreme temperatures; and work for long hours. Most notably, Human Rights Watch believes that any exposure to tobacco plants or dried tobacco constitutes hazardous work under subparagraph (d) due to the health risks to children. The Worst Forms of Child Labor Recommendation states that certain types of work in an unhealthy environment (outlined in subparagraph (d) above) may be permitted for children ages 16 and above “on the condition that the health, safety and morals of the children concerned are fully protected, and that the children have received adequate specific instruction or vocational training in the relevant branch of activity.”[287] Human Rights Watch has determined, based on our findings, that under the conditions present in farms in the US, there is no way to make exposure to tobacco plants or dried tobacco leaves safe for children under 18. The ILO Office provides technical assistance to governments in the implementation of the Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention, but in Human Rights Watch’s view, does not provide adequate guidance regarding the hazardous nature of tobacco work for children. In a discussion with Human Rights Watch, an ILO expert stated that the ILO does not believe that personal protective equipment (PPE) is sufficient to protect children working in tobacco cultivation, harvesting and curing.[288] According to Benjamin Smith, ILO senior officer for Corporate Social Responsibility, “PPE generally does not render hazardous work safe enough for children of legal age to be employed. Evidence from ILO projects underscores the fact that, for persons under 18, PPEs give a false sense of security and are not consistently worn because they are generally too large, too expensive, and too uncomfortable.” Recognizing the risks to children of work in tobacco farming, the US Department of Labor (DOL) proposed regulations in 2011 that would have prohibited all children under 16 (the minimum age for hazardous work in agriculture in the US) from “all work in the tobacco production and curing, including, but not limited to such activities as planting, cultivating, topping, harvesting, baling, barning, and curing.” However, the regulations were withdrawn in 2012 in response to pressure from agricultural groups. As noted above, the ILO Committee of Experts strongly urged the US government to reconsider withdrawal of the proposed regulations. Hazardous Child Labor in Tobacco Farming outside the US Such problems documented by Human Rights Watch in the US seem likely to extend to tobacco farms outside the United States. A resolution from a February 2003 ILO tripartite meeting on the future of employment in the tobacco sector, has encouraged all parties engaged in implementing the Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention and the Minimum Age Convention[293] to adopt “concrete measures to eliminate child labour in the tobacco chain.” The resolution called on the ILO director general to continue to promote the conventions and to assist in their application specifically in the tobacco sector.[294] These efforts should include providing governments with effective guidance regarding the hazards of tobacco work, and encouraging countries to review and update their hazardous work lists under the Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention accordingly. A number of countries have prohibited all children from working in tobacco farming, including Brazil and India, the top two global producers of leaf tobacco after China.[295] Brazil prohibits children under the age of 18 from “planting, with the exception of clearing, levelling soil and weeding; at harvest, processing or industrialization of tobacco.”[296] India prohibits children under 18 from working with tobacco, including “handling tobacco in any form.”[297] Malawi, the sixth leading producer of tobacco worldwide, prohibits children from working in all tasks on commercial tobacco farms, and from certain tasks on all farms: “Tobacco Sector: i) topping and suckering activities or handling tobacco leaves in the harvesting process; ii) handling or grading tobacco leaves in damp conditions or conditions of poor lighting or ventilation; iii) any other work involving tobacco in commercial tobacco estates and farms.”[298]Other countries, including Russia,[299] Kazakhstan,[300] Uganda,[301] also prohibit children under 18 from performing many tasks that expose them to tobacco plants. The Eliminating Child Labour in Tobacco Growing (ECLT) Foundation, a Geneva-based “partnership of tobacco farmers and companies dedicated to protecting children from child labour wherever tobacco is grown,”[302] recommends that the following activities be prohibited for children under 18 years of age, in line with ILO conventions 138 and 182: applying fertilizers;
handling and spraying pesticides;
using tools which are sharp or too heavy for the child;
using equipment that a child cannot command safely;
topping and suckering by hand or by knife to remove early flowers;
harvesting, carrying leaf to curing sheds;
working in curing barns;
packing, grading and tying tobacco leaves into crate or bales for transport to market, storage. [303] According to ECLT Foundation Executive Director Sonia Velasquez, ECLT also believes that not all activities in tobacco growing are hazardous or prohibited for children and recommends that farmers provide decent work for youth of legally working age, whenever allowed by the national laws.[304] Seven of the ten companies approached by Human Rights Watch for this project serve on the board of the ECLT Foundation.[305] Convention on the Rights of the Child The United States has signed but not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC),[306] but as a signatory is obliged to refrain from acts that would defeat the treaty’s object and purpose.[307] The CRC sets out the minimum protections to which children—defined as persons under age 18—are entitled. Article 32 of the CRC provides specifically that children have a right “to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.” Governments must take appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures in this regard.[308] Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), ratified by the United States in 1994, defines prohibited discrimination as any race-based distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference that has “the purpose or effect” of curtailing human rights and fundamental freedoms.[309] The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which monitors state compliance with the ICERD, has interpreted the convention to prohibit laws or policies that have “an unjustifiable disparate impact” on racial and ethnic minorities.[310] The burden of weaker US labor law protections for agricultural workers, as compared to non-agricultural workers, falls overwhelming on Hispanic American citizens and immigrants. Most hired agricultural workers in the United States are Hispanic.[311] As a result, the inadequate labor protections for agricultural workers have a disparate impact on Hispanic American citizens and non-citizen immigrants, amounting to discrimination under international law.[312] In 2008, the committee noted with concern that, “workers belonging to racial, ethnic and national minorities, in particular women and undocumented migrant workers, continue…to be disproportionately represented in occupations characterised by long working hours, low wages, and unsafe or dangerous conditions of work.”[313] The committee has called upon the US government “to take all appropriate measures” to review existing laws policies to “ensure the effective protection against any form of racial discrimination and any unjustifiably disparate impact.”[314] The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health The right of children to the highest attainable standard of health is found in international instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.[315] The ICESCR, signed by the United States in 1995 but not ratified, obligates governments to take the steps necessary for the “prevention, treatment and control of… occupational and other diseases,”[316] and recognizes “the right of everyone to the enjoyment of just and favorable conditions of work” including “safe and healthy working conditions.”[317] Governments have the obligation to improve “all aspects of environmental and industrial hygiene,” for example, through preventive measures to avoid occupational accidents and diseases, and the prevention and reduction of the population’s exposure to harmful substances such as harmful chemicals “that directly or indirectly impact upon human health.”[318] Corporate Responsibility Although the United States government has the primary responsibility to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights under international law, private entities also have responsibilities regarding human rights, as recognized by international law and other norms.[319] These include, at a minimum, the responsibility to respect all human rights, but also include additional responsibilities of protection in relation to certain issues, such as children’s rights. The broad consensus that businesses have human rights responsibilities is also reflected in various standards and initiatives, as discussed below. Consistent with their responsibilities to respect human rights, all businesses should have adequate policies and procedures in place to prevent and respond to human rights abuses associated with their activities or in their supply chain. Children’s Rights With respect to business responsibilities regarding children’s rights, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has identified that “duties and responsibilities to respect the rights of children extend in practice beyond the State and State-controlled services and institutions and apply to private actors and business enterprises,” and that “all businesses must meet their responsibilities regarding children’s rights and States must ensure they do so.” [320] The Committee also notes that “voluntary actions of corporate responsibility by business enterprises, such as social investments, advocacy and public policy engagement, voluntary codes of conduct, philanthropy and other collective actions, can advance children’s rights,” but that these actions “are not a substitute for State action and regulation of businesses … or for businesses to comply with their responsibilities to respect children’s rights.”[321]The committee has paid particular attention to “contexts where the impact of business activities and operations on children’s rights is most significant,” including where “businesses operate abroad in areas where there is insufficient State protection for children’s rights.” [322] The Children’s Rights and Business Principles, developed by UNICEF, the UN Global Compact, and Save the Children and launched in March 2012, identify a comprehensive range of actions that all business should take to prevent and address adverse impacts connected with their activities and relationships, and maximize positive business impacts on children’s lives. One of the principles is to contribute to the elimination of child labor in all business activities and business relationships. To accomplish this, businesses are encouraged not only to adopt child labor policies and due diligence procedures, but also to work with governments, social partners and others to promote education and sustainable solutions to the root causes of child labor, including through programs to support youth employment, skills development, and job training opportunities for young workers. International Business and Human Rights Initiatives The basic principle that businesses of all sizes have a responsibility to respect human rights, including workers’ rights, has achieved wide international recognition. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, UN Human Rights Council resolutions on business and human rights, UN Global Compact, various multi-stakeholder initiatives in different sectors, and many companies’ own codes of behavior draw from principles of international human rights law and core labor standards in offering guidance to businesses on how to uphold their human rights responsibilities. For example, the “Protect, Respect and Remedy” framework and the “Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights,” which were developed by the then-UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights, John Ruggie, and endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2008 and 2011, respectively, reflect the expectation that businesses should respect human rights, avoid complicity in abuses, and adequately remedy them if they occur. They specify that businesses must exercise due diligence to identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for the impact of their activities on human rights.[324] More detail concerning expectations for companies within the Ruggie framework are discussed below, in Responsibilities of Companies Purchasing Tobacco in the United States. The OECD sets out norms for responsible social behavior by multinational firms, incorporating the concept of due diligence and the content of ILO core labor standards. The guidelines call on enterprises to “respect human rights, which means they should avoid infringing on the human rights of others and should address adverse human rights impacts with which they are involved,” including by carrying out “human rights due diligence” and working to remedy adverse human rights impacts they have caused or to which they have contributed. Regarding workers’ rights, these guidelines state that enterprises should contribute to the effective abolition of child labor and take adequate steps to ensure occupational health and safety in their operations. [325]
V I. Obligations of the US Government to Protect Child Farmworkers The US government and the states have an obligation to protect children from dangerous and exploitative work. However, legal loopholes in federal and state labor laws leave child farmworkers without many protections afforded to all other working children. Federal labor law allows farmworker children to work longer hours, at younger ages, and in more hazardous conditions than all other working children. State laws in North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia—the four states where Human Rights Watch did research for this report—do little to provide additional protections for child farmworkers. The double standard for child agricultural workers reflects a larger disparity in how farmworkers are treated under US law. Analysis of federal and state labor laws reveals glaring discrepancies in the treatment of agricultural workers as compared to workers in all other industries. Protection for Child Farmworkers under US Law Child Labor Laws and Wage and Hour Laws Federal Laws The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), enacted in 1938, is the federal law that sets standards for minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and the employment of children.[326] Agricultural employers are exempt from many provisions of the law, leaving adult and child farmworkers without many fundamental protections that are provided to workers in other industries. For example, all farmworkers are exempt from overtime pay provisions,[327] and farmworkers on small farms are exempt from minimum wage requirements.[328] Farmworkers are also excluded from the federal law that guarantees employees the right to engage in collective bargaining and prohibits employers from interfering with freedom of association.[329] The child labor provisions of the FLSA treat agricultural work differently from work in other industries, providing child farmworkers with less protection than all other working children. For example, outside of agriculture, the employment of children younger than 14 is prohibited;[330] 14 and 15-year-olds may not work before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m. (9 p.m. in the summer);[331] and the standard minimum age for work is 16. However, in agriculture there is no minimum age at which employers may hire children to work unlimited hours outside of school, day or night, provided the work takes place on a small farm with written parental consent.[332] In agriculture, any employer, regardless of the size of the farm, may hire children ages 12 and 13 to work unlimited hours outside of school, provided they have written parental consent or work on a farm where a parent is employed.[333] 16. In agriculture, employers may hire children ages 14 and up to work unlimited hours outside of school. There is no parental consent requirement.[334] Under the FLSA, children working in US agriculture are also permitted to engage in tasks deemed “particularly hazardous” at younger ages than other working children. In nonagricultural occupations, the minimum age for particularly hazardous work is 18, including for children working in a parent’s business. In agriculture, 16 and 17-year-olds hired to work on farms are permitted to work in particularly hazardous occupations.[335] For example, using a power-driven circular saw or band saw is allowed for children starting at age 16 in agriculture; whereas in other industries, the minimum age for using such saws is 18 years. Children who work on a farm owned or operated by their parents can do particularly hazardous work at any age, no matter how young.[336] The disparate treatment of child agricultural workers is particularly troublesome in light of federal data indicating agriculture is the most dangerous industry open to young workers.[337] State Laws States have the power to provide stronger labor protections than federal law, particularly for young workers. However, the four states where Human Rights Watch conducted research fail to provide any additional protections to child farmworkers. There is no general child labor law in North Carolina. Child labor laws in Kentucky and Tennessee specifically exempt agricultural workers,[338] and Virginia’s child labor law is no more protective than federal law.[339] Laws governing wages and hours in North Carolina, Kentucky, and Virginia do not apply to agricultural workers,[340] and Tennessee does not have state-level wage laws. Health and Safety Laws and Regulations Hazardous Occupations Orders Under the FLSA, the US Department of Labor (DOL) is charged with determining what jobs are hazardous and therefore prohibited for children under certain minimum ages, known as the hazardous occupations orders.[341] The list of occupations deemed particularly hazardous for children working in agriculture is decades-old and inadequate.[342] In particular, the list leaves off hazardous tasks associated with tobacco production and curing. The list of non-agricultural hazardous occupations was updated in 2010.[343] In 2011, DOL proposed amendments to child labor regulations to update the list of hazardous occupations in agriculture prohibited for children under age 16, based on recommendations made by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Among other restrictions,[344] the new rules would have prohibited all children under 16 from “all work in the tobacco production and curing, including, but not limited to such activities as planting, cultivating, topping, harvesting, baling, barning, and curing.” The proposed regulations would not have applied to children working on family farms. DOL withdrew the proposed amendments to the rules in 2012 in response to opposition from some groups representing agricultural interests.[346] DOL has not reintroduced the amendments. Pesticide Regulations Despite the greater vulnerability of children to the harmful effects of pesticide exposure, federal pesticide regulations fail to provide children with special consideration. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which oversees the registration, distribution, sale, and use of pesticides, issues the Worker Protection Standard, a federal regulation intended to “reduce the risks of illness or injury resulting from…occupational exposures to pesticides.”[347] The Worker Protection Standard sets no minimum age for mixing or applying pesticides, although regulations set by DOL under the FLSA prohibit children under 16 from handling the most toxic pesticides.[348] Federal regulations also establish restricted-entry intervals (REIs), the period of time after a pesticide's application during which workers should not be in the treated areas without protective equipment.[349] However, restricted-entry intervals are set using a 154-pound adult male as a model—they are not adapted for children. A 2003 study of children with acute occupational pesticide-related poisoning found that 26 percent of ill children in agriculture were exposed despite compliance with restricted-entry interval requirements, suggesting, according to the authors, “that longer intervals may be requiredto protect youths.”[350] The Worker Protection Standard and the REI regulations are formulated with adults—and only adults—in mind. A process to revise the Worker Protection Standard has been ongoing for more than a decade, and in 2013, the EPA announced that it would propose revisions to the rule in 2014. The new regulations will likely set a minimum age for workers to mix and apply pesticides.[351] Occupational Safety and Health Laws and Regulations Few federal occupational safety and health regulations protect child farmworkers. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) within DOL is charged with establishing and enforcing standards to promote safe and healthy working conditions for all workers. Federal safety and health regulations include “general industry standards,”[352] most of which are exempt for agricultural workers,[353] and “agriculture standards.”[354] Standards for agriculture include the Field Sanitation Standard, which requires agricultural employers to provide adequate drinking water, hand-washing facilities, and toilets[355]; tractor regulations; and rules for safety with agricultural equipment. Even these limited protections do not apply to workers on small farms; the US Congress annually limits the application of the Occupational Safety and Health Act by exempting from all enforcement activity any farm that employs 10 or fewer employees and has not had an active temporary labor camp within the last 12 months.[356] OSHA can rely on its so-called “general duty clause” where standards for agriculture are insufficient.[357] The general duty clause is a requirement in the Occupational Safety and Health Act that each employer must provide each employee a job and a place to work “free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees.” State Laws and Regulations Individual states may develop and operate their own occupational safety and health programs, known as State Occupational Safety and Health Plans, which must be approved by federal OSHA. Once in place, they supplant (with limited exceptions) direct federal OSHA enforcement in that state. Under federal law, states must adopt standards that are “at least as effective” as federal standards,[359] and according to OSHA, most states adopt standards identical to those in place at the federal level.[360] All four states covered in this report operate State Plans, but none have laws or regulations on occupational health and safety that provide greater protections for agricultural or child workers than federal standards. Enforcement of Existing Laws Enforcement of Child Labor Laws and Wage and Hour Laws Federal Enforcement The Wage and Hour Division of DOL is charged with enforcing the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act. Wage and Hour investigators are stationed across the US and are authorized to conduct investigations and determine compliance with child labor and the other provisions of the FLSA. As noted above, the weak protections for child farmworkers in federal labor laws enable most employers to hire child workers legally. In 2010, Human Rights Watch documented poor enforcement of child labor laws in agriculture by the Wage and Hour Division.[361] Since 2010, the division has hired additional investigators and added multilingual investigators and at the end of 2013, had 1,040 investigators (compared to 894 in April 2010).[362] In 2013, DOL conducted 201 investigations of agricultural employers under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and 1,227 cases under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, spending a total of 94,059 hours on agricultural investigations. In 2013, DOL found a total of 36 cases of child labor violations involving 62 children in agriculture, 5 percent of all child labor cases that year.[363] The “hot goods” provision is another enforcement tool. The provision prohibits the shipment in interstate commerce of any goods produced in violation of minimum wage, overtime, or child labor requirements.[364] It can be extremely effective, particularly in agriculture, in that it allows the Wage and Hour Division to seek temporary restraining orders preventing the movement of tainted goods, incentivizing companies, growers, and other affected businesses to cooperate with the division. Such cooperation has included future compliance agreements and arrangements for ongoing monitoring. Though use of the “hot goods” provision increased in 2013, it remains an exceptional law enforcement tool: the division invoked the provision only once in 2012 and five times in 2013. [365] Enforcement of Health and Safety Laws and Regulations The enforcement of health and safety laws and regulations concerning farmworkers is piecemeal. DOL’s Wage and Hour Division is responsible for enforcing violations of the hazardous occupations orders across all industries. The Wage and Hour Division also enforces OSHA’s Field Sanitation Standard, but only in states where OSHA has jurisdiction; state agencies are responsible for enforcement of the Field Sanitation Standard when states have adopted State Occupational Safety and Health Plans. In all four states where Human Rights Watch conducted research, state agencies are responsible for enforcement of the standard. The EPA delegates enforcement of the Worker Protection Standard to state agencies. The EPA reported conducting 3,552 agricultural inspections in 2012 to investigate compliance with the Worker Protection Standard,[367] and found 1,218 violations of the rule, most often related to posting and training requirements.[368]
VI I . Responsibilities of Businesses Purchasing Tobacco in the United States The US is one of the top producers of unmanufactured tobacco in the world, behind China, Brazil, and India.[369] Approximately 5.8 trillion cigarettes are consumed around the world annually. China is by far the largest market, accounting for nearly one-third of global consumption, but it is almost exclusively operated by a state monopoly, China National Tobacco. Excluding China, two-thirds of world industry volume in cigarettes and other tobacco products is produced by four major global tobacco companies: Philip Morris International (PMI), British American Tobacco (BAT), Japan Tobacco Group (JT), and Imperial Tobacco Group.[371] In the United States, the largest manufacturing companies are Philip Morris USA (PM USA, a subsidiary of Altria Group), Reynolds American, and Lorillard. All of these companies publicly report that they do not own tobacco farms but purchase tobacco directly from tobacco growers or from leaf suppliers from many countries around the world, including the United States. In addition, the world’s largest leaf merchant companies, Alliance One and Universal Corporation, which, among other business operations, supply leaf tobacco to these and other tobacco manufacturers around the world, also purchase tobacco leaf from growers in the US. Some of these companies have a stated policy concerning child labor. All of the companies formally acknowledge certain standards found in International Labour Organization conventions. However, several companies appeared to apply standards, including a standardized industry program known as the US Tobacco Good Agricultural Practices Program, in their US operations that only require compliance with US law, while requiring adherence to ILO standards, including concerning child labor, in operations outside the US. As noted above, US child labor law falls well below international standards and fails to adequately protect children. From the information supplied to Human Rights Watch, Philip Morris International has developed the most detailed and protective set of policies and procedures, including training and policy guidance on child labor and other labor issues which it is implementing in its global supply chain. PMI has also developed specific and expansive lists of hazardous tasks that children under 18 are prohibited from doing on tobacco farms, which include most tasks in which children come into prolonged contact with mature tobacco leaves, among other hazardous work. Japan Tobacco Group stated that it is actively developing its child labor policies, including through cooperation with ILO experts on child labor, although it allows children older than 15 to perform a range of tasks in tobacco farming, including hazardous tasks, if children receive proper training and safety equipment, and its Agricultural Labor Policy defers to national law in the event of differences in the policy and national laws. Alliance One also developed a child labor policy and measurable standards for its implementation based on ILO principles, but in the information provided to Human Rights Watch, did not specify whether it considers certain tasks hazardous beyond those established in national laws. The information shared by Imperial Tobacco Group with Human Rights Watch also did not specify how the company interprets or implements international child labor standards in practice in the US or their global supply chains. BAT provided to Human Rights Watch more detail on how it interprets international child labor standards, but only specified a small range of tasks that it considers hazardous. From the information made available to Human Rights Watch, Altria Group does not have a separate child labor policy but requires entities in its supply chain to maintain compliance with international minimum age standards, and expects growers and suppliers in the US to refrain from employing children under 18 in hazardous occupations as defined under US law. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, responsible for leaf purchasing for all Reynolds American manufacturing subsidiaries, also does not have a specific child labor policy. Reynolds American states that it requires that growers with whom the company directly contracts respect national laws, but according to information shared with Human Rights Watch, apparently does not have similar expectations for other suppliers in the supply chain. Lorillard does not contract directly with any farms in the US and relies on its suppliers, Alliance One and Universal, to have policies and procedures in place concerning child labor. Lorillard does not directly monitor the treatment of workers in its supply chain. Universal does not have a stated child labor policy, but told Human Rights Watch that it “agreed with” ILO standards on minimum age and the worst forms of child labor and commits itself to the relevant policies established by companies that purchase tobacco from it. It is important to note that company policies generally prohibiting “child labor” do not prohibit all work by children under age 18. As noted above, under international standards, the term child labor refers to work done by children below the minimum age of employment or under hazardous conditions. An effective child labor policy should specify in detail what types of work are considered hazardous and therefore prohibited. None of the companies identified in this report have policies that explicitly prohibit children under 18 from all work in which they have direct contact with tobacco in any form, as Human Rights Watch recommends, based on our research findings and international standards. As noted above, the UN Guiding Principles on Responsible Business details basic steps companies should take to respect human rights including to avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts through their own activities and to seek to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to their operations, products, or services by their business relationships, and mitigating abuses if they occur. “Business relationships” are understood to include relationships with business partners, entities in its value chain, and any entity directly linked to its business operations, products, or services. To achieve effective due diligence in the supply chain, companies should have a policy commitment to meet their responsibility to respect human rights; effective processes to identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for how they address their impacts on human rights; and processes to remediate any adverse human rights impacts a company causes or to which it contributes. The Guiding Principles also state that for businesses to gauge actual or potential human rights risks in their own activities or through their business relationships, businesses should draw on internal and independent external human rights expertise and involve meaningful consultation with potentially affected groups and other relevant stakeholders. Response to Human Rights Watch When preparing this report, Human Rights Watch sent letters to the 10 companies listed above, asking questions about their child labor policies, worker protection policies, as well as procedures for monitoring for child labor and human rights abuses in the company’s supply chain, including both on farms with which they directly contract as well as in other parts of their supply chain, for example when purchasing through leaf merchant companies. Human Rights Watch also requested meetings with each of the companies. Subsequently, Human Rights Watch sent additional letters in March and April 2014. All of the letters sent by Human Rights Watch can be found as an appendix to this report available on the Human Rights Watch website.[377] Nine companies responded to Human Rights Watch’s initial letters. Copies of those responses can be found in the appendix. Relevant information from each company’s response to Human Rights Watch and from the company’s website is also included below. The company responses varied widely, with some providing extensive detail on their policies and practices and others focusing exclusively on training and contractual expectations to ensure compliance with US law. China National Tobacco did not respond to the letter and did not return calls or emails from Human Rights Watch. In addition, Human Rights Watch met with or spoke by phone with executives from each of the companies except China National Tobacco, who did not respond to Human Rights Watch’s requests for a meeting, and Lorillard and Imperial Tobacco Group, who declined to meet with Human Rights Watch. Companies’ Child Labor Policies Most, although not all, of the tobacco manufacturing and leaf merchant companies whom Human Rights Watch contacted for this report had child labor policies in place, as detailed below. Altria Group Altria Group, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, is the parent company of three US tobacco companies, including Philip Morris USA, the largest cigarette company in the US, which “has approximately half of the U.S. cigarette market share,” and manufactures brands such as Marlboro, Basic, L&M, Parliament, and Virginia Slims.[379] Altria Client Services (ACLS), writing on behalf of PM USA and other Altria Group tobacco companies, told Human Rights Watch that it contracts directly with US tobacco growers and buys tobacco from tobacco suppliers who source both domestically and internationally, and that “a significant majority” of ACLS tobacco is sourced in the US. Concerning child labor, ACLS told Human Rights Watch that its grower and supplier contracts require US tobacco growers to refrain from employing anyone under 18 in hazardous occupations as defined by the US Secretary of Labor’s list of hazardous occupations, which legally apply to all children under 16, and include driving a vehicle transporting passengers, riding on a tractor as a passenger, and handling or applying category I (the most toxic) agricultural chemicals. Outside of the US, Altria Group requires growers and suppliers to “comply with the minimum age requirements prescribed by applicable laws or the International Labour Conventions, whichever is higher.” In letters and a meeting with Human Rights Watch, ACLS also shared information on other relevant policies and procedures, including its Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) program in the US as well as its participation in the US Tobacco GAP program, described below. ACLS also provided information to Human Rights Watch on its monitoring of its child labor and other policies in the US and internationally, noting that it had conducted assessments of all direct-contracted growers in the US in 2011 to 2013.[383] In response to the recommendations concerning child labor outlined in this report, Altria Group stated that it believed the recommendation is “counter to current farming practices in the US” and “at odds with certain communities where family farming is a way of life.” Altria Group committed to work through the Farm Labor Practices Group multi-stakeholder initiative in North Carolina regarding child labor as well as education and training for growers, farm labor contractors, and workers, and to enhance its monitoring of farms “to better quantify child labor and relevant circumstances on our contracted farms.” British American Tobacco BAT is a leading global tobacco company with products sold in around 180 markets.[385] BAT products account for 13 percent of the global cigarette market, and an even greater percentage of the global market outside of China.[386] BAT has more than 200 cigarette brands in its portfolio, including Pall Mall, the third largest cigarette brand in the world.[387] BAT owns a 42 percent stake in the US tobacco manufacturing company Reynolds American.[388] BAT stated that about 2.5 percent of its global leaf purchases are sourced from the US through third-party leaf suppliers, including Reynolds American.[389] In a January 2014 letter to Human Rights Watch, BAT stated that it does not employ children in any of its direct operations and that it “aims to apply its commitment” to protecting children from labor exploitation in its global supply chain, drawing on guidance from the ILO’s Minimum Age Convention and Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention. BAT’s Child Labor Policy states that the company will “comply with all relevant and applicable local and international labour regulations, treaties, conventions and principles relating to the protection, welfare and health & safety of children.”[391] BAT also states that “the welfare and health & safety of children are paramount at all times,” that farm work should not conflict with or impede children’s proper educational development including school attendance, and that “[no] farm activity that could be considered to put children at risk is undertaken by children.” Work activities BAT considers unacceptable for children include long hours and “activity that could put children at risk,” including driving tractors and lifting heavy loads, and BAT requires “all pesticides and other dangerous material need to be out of reach of children.”[392] In its letter to Human Rights Watch BAT did not specify other tasks or work that BAT considers hazardous for children in the United States or other countries. Concerning all workers, including child workers, and exposure to nicotine, BAT’s website states: There are a number of steps we recommend tobacco workers take to reduce the risk of contracting GTS. These include: Avoiding handling wet tobacco by waiting for the rain (or dew) to dry from the leaf. Quickly changing out of wet clothes saturated with moisture originating from green tobacco leaves. Wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to avoid direct skin contact with tobacco during harvesting. We recommend clothing such as gloves, trousers and shirts/aprons made from impermeable cloth, although in hot weather this can increase the risk of heat stress. The success of this measure largely depends on the farmers’ willingness to use PPE. Regarding expectations for and monitoring of its suppliers, BAT relies on a program called the Social Responsibility in Tobacco Production (SRTP) program, adopted by a number of tobacco manufacturers (see Imperial Tobacco Group, below), which sets minimum performance levels for contracted leaf growers on agricultural practices as well as labor, child labor, occupational health, and other issues.[395] Concerning child labor, since 2012 the SRTP program has included the statement: “formal reference is given to the treatment of child labour in the context of ILO conventions 138 and 182.” BAT requires all of its suppliers, including in the US, to act in accordance with the SRTP program and educate farmers and workers on the program and monitor progress.[397] Under the program, suppliers carry out self-assessments and a monitoring group conducts assessments of suppliers’ reports.[398] BAT states that the 2013 SRTP child labor score for the company’s US suppliers was 98 percent.[399] Imperial Tobacco Group According to its website, the UK-based Imperial Tobacco Group operates in more than 160 countries worldwide and manufactures cigarette brands that “are among the most popular in the world,” including Davidoff and Gauloises.[400] The company also states it is “the global leader in fine cut tobacco and papers” and has exclusive rights to sell all luxury Cuban cigars.[401] Imperial Tobacco Group’s 2013 annual report recorded a 5.8 percent global market share.[402] Imperial Tobacco Group does not have a separate child labor policy but stated in a January 2014 letter to Human Rights Watch that the company and its subsidiaries do not employ children and that it works with suppliers to encourage their “compliance with international standards on child labor.” This includes: freedom for children from any work that subjects a child to economic exploitation, is hazardous, interferes with the child’s education, or is harmful to a child’s health or physical, mental or social development. It is not clear from the information available to Human Rights Watch how Imperial Tobacco Group applies these definitions to actual working conditions in its supply chain, including which types of work Imperial Tobacco Group considers harmful or hazardous. Imperial Tobacco Group stated that it had not received reports of child labor concerning its suppliers, but that “given the global incidence of child labour in agricultural supply chains, we understand that it is an issue that we must address.”[404] Imperial Tobacco Group participates in the Social Responsibility in Tobacco Production (SRTP or SRiTP) program, described above, which applies to all of its global suppliers, and also gives guidance to and measures suppliers on adherence to ILO Minimum Age and Worst Forms of Child Labor Conventions. Imperial Tobacco Group monitors suppliers’ self-assessments and adherence to the SRiTP program’s standards.[405] Imperial Tobacco Group reported that less than 5 percent of the tobacco used in its products is purchased in the United States through international leaf merchants. Imperial Tobacco Group representatives declined to meet with Human Rights Watch.[406] Japan Tobacco Group Japan Tobacco Group (JT) described itself as “a leading global tobacco company, with operations in over 70 countries, and an estimated 15 percent global market share, outside of China.”[407] Its leading brands include Winston, Camel, Mevius (formerly Mild Seven), and Benson & Hedges.JT’s businesses include a Japanese domestic tobacco business and Japan Tobacco International (JTI), headquartered in Geneva.[408] JTI’s Agricultural Labor Policy (ALP), which applies to all of its direct-contracted growers, includes “child labor elimination,” and states that children “shall not carry out activities such as crop harvesting or other activities related to physically handling green leaf tobacco, carrying heavy loads, or those involving handling or application of crop protection agents.” The policy allows children ages 16 and above to carry out such tasks, where national law permits it, but requires the “health, safety, and moral of the children to be fully protected, including [by] comprehensive specific training.” Concerning nicotine poisoning, JTI requires growers to make workers aware of the risks of GTS and apply reasonable measures to limit its risk, in line with JTI guidance supplied to growers. The ALP specifies that in case of a conflict between the ALP and local legislation, local legislation will prevail. In a February 2014 letter to Human Rights Watch, JT stated that JTI’s contracts with US tobacco growers specify that the “Producer undertakes not to use, at any time and for any purpose, any kind of child labor and/or forced labor [as defined by the applicable legislation and ILO conventions] for the growing, harvesting, curing, classifying, and baling of […] tobacco.”[412] JTI will monitor the implementation of the ALP through a Know Your Grower (KYG) program, which it has begun rolling out in different countries, with a plan for implementation throughout its supply chain, including the US, by 2018. JTI told Human Rights Watch the company has not implemented the ALP with leaf supply companies and other intermediaries in its supply chain, but will do so after the implementation of KYG. JTI also participates in the US Tobacco Good Agricultural Practices program, and engages in the North Carolina Farm Labor Practices Group (both described below) in the US. JTI stated that it partners with the ILO and other international organizations “to address the fundamental causes of child labor.”[415] In response to Human Rights Watch’s recommendations outlined in this report, JTI indicated that it believes “many activities can be safely carried out on a [tobacco] farm by young people between 16 and 18,” and stated that JTI would seek to determine themselves the risks associated with different tobacco farming activities. JTI also committed to “continue the community support” in the areas where they purchase tobacco in the US. Lorillard The Lorillard Tobacco Company, a subsidiary of Lorillard, is the oldest continuously manufacturing tobacco company in the United States and the third-largest tobacco manufacturer in the country. The Greensboro, North Carolina-based company manufactures several well-known brands, including Newport, the top selling menthol and second largest selling cigarette in the US.[417] Based on the information available to Human Rights Watch, Lorillard does not appear to have a separate child labor policy, but has policies concerning compliance with national child labor laws.[418] In a January 2014 letter to Human Rights Watch, Lorillard stated that it relies “on the implementation of policies and procedures and monitoring by our tobacco suppliers to ensure that there are no child labor law violations.” Lorillard contracts with Alliance One and Universal for the purchase of tobacco leaf in the US. Lorillard stated that, in response to the December 2013 letter from Human Rights Watch, it approached Alliance One and Universal and requested those companies to abide by their own stated child labor and social responsibility policies and to “support efforts to improve workplace conditions for farm workers.”[420] Lorillard also stated that because it does not contract directly with tobacco growers, it does “not directly monitor the treatment of laborers on tobacco farms” but that it reviews its “supplier policies on child labor and other compliance on a regular basis and inquire as to any issues identified.”[421] The January 2014 letter to Human Rights Watch also stated that Lorillard “had not received any reports of child labor or other labor violations.”[422] Lorillard declined to provide information about the volume of tobacco purchases in the United States. Lorillard also declined to meet with Human Rights Watch, citing the company’s “indirect relationship with the tobacco farms.”[423] Philip Morris International Philip Morris International (PMI), a United States-based tobacco company with operations based in Lausanne, Switzerland,[424] describes itself as “the leading international tobacco company” with an estimated 16 percent share of the total cigarette market outside of the United States.[425] PMI owns seven of the world’s top 15 cigarette brands, including Marlboro, the world’s leading brand and sells its products in over 180 markets.[426] According to PMI, the company contracts with more than 3,000 tobacco growers in the United States, supplying approximately 10 percent of PMI’s global leaf purchases.[427] Of the companies contacted by Human Rights Watch for this report, Philip Morris International has the most detailed child labor policy and articulated meaningful progress to develop and implement policies and procedures to address child labor in its supply chain. PMI’s detailed and specific child labor policy, a component of its Agricultural Labor Policy (ALP), prohibits work for children under 15, or the minimum age set by a country’s laws, whichever is higher, with the exception of light work on family farms. PMI also prohibits children under 18 from engagement in hazardous work.[429] PMI listed the hazardous activities that children of any age should not perform, including: driving vehicles, using sharp tools in movement, …, handling and applying pesticides and fertilizers, carrying heavy loads, working at heights, working long hours that interfere with health and well-being, working in extreme temperatures, working at night, harvesting, topping and pulling suckers off of tobacco plants.[430]In a February 2014 meeting with Human Rights Watch, PMI officials gave several examples of tasks that the company did not consider hazardous for children, including weeding, handling seedlings, watering seedbeds, and selecting tobacco leaf after plants have dried. PMI has developed detailed guidance materials, training materials and programs, and internal and external monitoring procedures specific to each market in which it works to facilitate implementation of the ALP, including the child labor policy in its global supply chain. PMI also engaged Verite, a non-profit organization, to provide PMI with “experience, advice and hands-on support in the creation, implementation and monitoring of the ALP Program.”[433] In early 2012, PMI incorporated its ALP Code standards in contractual arrangements with all growers in the United States and conducted training sessions to cover all of its contracted farms. PMI reported to Human Rights Watch that it severed ties with 20 growers who stated that they could not comply with the ALP standards on child labor.[434] PMI noted that its ALP code “maintains generally stricter standards than defined in US federal law, both in terms of the types of activities deemed hazardous and the age limits for performing such activities.”[435] With regard to training and implementation of the ALP worldwide, since 2001, “over 3,700 PMI employees (and our suppliers) and nearly 500,000 tobacco growers in more than 30 countries have been trained on ALP principles and standards” for the farms where PMI sources tobacco.[436] PMI also undertook to identify priority issues on farms and to “systematically address issues and measure [the] progress on a long-term basis.”[437] Children involved in hazardous work falls under the company’s “prompt action” category.[438] In a February 2014 written response to Human Rights Watch, PMI provided extensive detail about implementation of other aspects of the ALP in the US and globally.[439] PMI also shared with Human Rights Watch details about its monitoring of growers’ adherence to the ALP in the US and globally, including plans to systematically monitor 100 percent of its farms in the US by 2015. PMI participates in the multi-stakeholder Farm Labor Practices Group and stated that it has assumed leadership roles in subgroups created to address specific issues. In response to Human Rights Watch’s findings and recommendations, PMI stated that it would broaden its internal monitoring effort to visit all contracted farms in the US, in addition to the third-party assessment during the 2014 peak season. PMI also stated that it did not agree with Human Rights Watch’s recommendation to extend restrictions on children working to all stages of the tobacco crop. PMI stated that it would welcome “a strengthening of the US regulatory framework to align it with [PMI] and ILO’s international standards, and would support a sector-wide approach” to child labor in tobacco farming. PMI also described initiatives underway in the US, including a higher education scholarship program for children of farmworkers in 2015, and a summer school for migrant farm children. Reynolds American Reynolds American (RAI) is the parent company of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (R.J. Reynolds), the second-largest US tobacco company, and Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, producer of Natural American Spirit cigarettes, among other companies.[443] Reynolds’ products include two of the best-selling cigarettes in the US: Camel and Pall Mall.[444] As noted above, BAT holds a 42 percent stake in Reynolds American. R.J. Reynolds, which purchases tobacco leaf on behalf of all Reynolds American tobacco product manufacturing subsidiaries, does not have a specific child labor policy that it implements throughout the supply chain, but stated to Human Rights Watch that it addresses child labor through its expectations that the growers with whom it contracts directly comply with national law. It articulates these expectations through the contracts with growers and provides training and educational resources to growers and workers on health, safety, and other issues to help them operate in “a safe and legally compliant manner.” R.J. Reynolds did not articulate to Human Rights Watch any policies concerning child labor or worker protections expectations for non-contract farms supplying tobacco to the company through intermediaries, namely leaf merchant companies. Both the R.J. Reynolds letter to Human Rights Watch and the Reynolds American website indicate that the businesses distance themselves from the labor practices in their tobacco supply chain, stating: “Because farm workers are not our employees, we have no control over their recruitment, their hiring, or the terms and conditions of their employment,” and “Because farm workers are not our employees, we have no direct control over their sourcing, their training, their pay rates, or their housing and access to human services.” Instead, the company said it focuses on ensuring that its suppliers “have the training and resources they need to do the right thing” for workers in the supply chain.[448] The company’s website also states that it seeks to “Support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights.” According to its letter to Human Rights Watch and its website, R.J. Reynolds hired a third party group to audit the growers contracting with the company in North Carolina in 2011 and 2012. According to the auditor’s report, auditors assessed 408 growers and interviewed 922 workers (about 22 percent of the workforce).[450] R.J. Reynolds summarized the audit as “encouraging in the areas of worker treatment and safety, but revealed that further work is needed in the area of record-keeping.”[451] Concerning child labor the audit found three instances of children under 18 working for hire.[452] Farm Labor Organizing Committee and Reynolds American In 2007, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), a farmworker union based in North Carolina, began calling on Reynolds American and R.J. Reynolds to meet with farmworker representatives concerning occupational health and safety hazards, unsafe housing, wage problems, and other human rights concerns for tobacco workers in the state. FLOC has also urged the companies to guarantee freedom of association and collective bargaining for tobacco workers in their supply chain. For many years, the company declined FLOC’s requests to meet, arguing in an open letter published on their website that they were not “the appropriate party to negotiate any collective bargaining agreement with FLOC.”[453] At a 2011 shareholder meeting, following publication of a joint report by FLOC and Oxfam America on human rights abuses on tobacco farms in North Carolina,[454] R.J. Reynolds announced it would monitor working conditions on tobacco farms from which it sourced tobacco, and participate in the multi-stakeholder Farm Labor Practices Group. In 2012, after another year of public campaigning, Reynolds management agreed to meet directly with FLOC. Negotiations between Reynolds and FLOC are ongoing.[455] Tobacco Leaf Merchant Companies Alliance One International Alliance One International describes itself as “a leading independent leaf tobacco merchant serving the world's largest cigarette manufacturers.” According to its website, Alliance One selects, purchases, processes, packs, stores, and ships leaf tobacco, buying tobacco in more than 45 countries. [456] Alliance One reported that in 2013 it contracted with 1,074 growers in the United States, including 446 in Tennessee, 397 in North Carolina, 226 in Kentucky, and 5 in Virginia. For the 2013 fiscal year, PMI, JTI, Imperial Tobacco Group, and China National Tobacco each accounted for more than 10 percent of Alliance One revenues. In 2013, Alliance One delivered approximately 19 percent of its tobacco sales to customers in the United States. [457] In a March 2014 letter to Human Rights Watch, Alliance One stated that its child labor policy, a component of its agricultural labor policy, is based on ILO principles. The policy states that there shall be “no employment or recruitment of child labor,” that no child under 18 is involved in hazardous work, and that 15 is the minimum age for work, unless national law sets a higher standard. Children 13 to 15 may be involved in light work on a family farm. The company did not specify whether it defines specific tasks hazardous beyond those established in national laws. In its contracts with growers in the US, however, Alliance One requires that growers do not use child labor and that the grower and subcontractors “will at all times be in strict compliance with all Federal and State laws, statutes, regulations and standard[s] regarding child labor.” Globally, Alliance One states that its child labor principles and expectations are communicated directly to its contracted farmers, generally by the company’s Field Technicians and Agronomy Area Managers, based on country-specific communication plans. Alliance One also relies on farm visits, farmer meetings, media, brochures, collaboration with NGOS, industry organizations, and governments to communicate its child labor expectations. In addition, Alliance One states that “globally Field Technicians are trained to look for evidence of child labor use during each farm visit and to remind farmers of the importance of not allowing this practice.” Alliance One reported that its personnel visit approximately 10-12 farms in the United States per week during the growing season.” In its detailed written response to Human Rights Watch, Alliance One did not describe any third party independent monitoring of its child labor policy or other policies. Alliance One’s letter to Human Rights Watch provided details on other aspects of its Agricultural Labor Policy and its implementation. Universal Corporation According to Universal Corporation’s website, the company is the world’s leading leaf tobacco merchant and processor, based on volume, conducting business in more than 30 countries. Universal's business includes selecting, buying, shipping, processing, packing, storing, and financing of leaf tobacco for sale to, or for the account of, manufacturers of tobacco products. [464] Universal states that the company handled between 25 and 35 percent of the flue-cured and burley tobacco produced in North America, mainly from the US, in the 2013 fiscal year. [465] Universal Corporation reports that globally its five largest customers are PMI, Imperial Tobacco Group, China National Tobacco, BAT, and JTI. In the aggregate, these customers accounted for more than 60 percent of Universal’s consolidated revenues for each of the past three fiscal years. [466] Universal does not have a child labor policy, but told Human Rights Watch that it commits itself to the relevant policies established by companies that purchase tobacco from it. In a March 2014 letter to Human Rights Watch, Universal stated that it has “agreed with the fundamental positions contained in the International Labor Organization’s Convention 138 on minimum age and Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor.” Universal acknowledged that its approach presents challenges as many regions around the world “have conflicting laws about minimum age or the definitions of ‘child labor’ and ‘hazardous work’ (or there are no laws at all).” Universal states that in its contracts with tobacco growers in the US it “expressly forbids our growers to employ workers under the applicable minimum legal age for the specific work performed.” Universal also noted, as have some other tobacco manufacturing companies whom Human Rights Watch contacted in conjunction with this report, that it has limited agronomy personnel for support, training, and monitoring of its contracted growers in the US and that universities’ agricultural extension services fulfill these functions. Universal reported that outside of the US, its agronomy services include programs on “elimination of child labor.” [472] Universal also told Human Rights Watch that it helped develop the US Tobacco GAP Program, described below, which requires tobacco growers’ compliance with US federal and state laws and that it participates in the Farm Labor Practices Group. Industry-Wide Multilateral Initiatives US Tobacco Good Agricultural Practices Program Tobacco product manufacturers, leaf merchants, growers, government agencies, universities, and agricultural organizations have together developed an industry-wide set of standards for tobacco production in the United States, called the US Tobacco Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) Program. The US Tobacco GAP is defined as “agricultural practices which produce a quality crop while protecting, sustaining or enhancing the environment with regard to soil, water, air, animal and plant life as well as protecting and ensuring the rights of farm laborers.”[473] One of the goals of the US Tobacco GAP was to reduce the burden on growers, who typically contract with multiple buyers, to meet different companies’ agricultural practice and record keeping requirements. A handbook published in 2012 contains guidelines to growers for crop management, environmental management, and labor management, and has been endorsed by many of the companies approached by Human Rights Watch.[474] The US Tobacco GAP approach to labor emphasizes growers’ obligations under US law, and requires growers to provide “a safe work environment,” recognize workers’ rights to freedom of association, meet minimum standards for housing, and train workers on health and safety hazards, including nicotine poisoning.[475] Regarding child labor, the GAP Program handbook requires growers to: “Follow all relevant contractual and legal requirements concerning the regulations on child labor,” and advises growers to review federal and state laws governing the employment of children under 18 in agriculture.[476]A number of companies noted to Human Rights Watch that starting in 2013, third party auditors will be used to evaluate grower compliance with US GAP on an annual basis. Multi-Stakeholder Initiative Since April 2012, three large tobacco product manufacturers began participating in a North Carolina-based multi-stakeholder initiative, called the Farm Labor Practices Group (FLPG). The group now includes several leading tobacco manufacturers and leaf merchants—Altria Group, Philip Morris International, Reynolds American, Japan Tobacco International, Alliance One, and Universal—along with tobacco grower representatives, FLOC, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), and US Department of Labor representatives. Many of the companies specifically mentioned their participation in the FLPG in their written responses to and in meetings with Human Rights Watch. The aim of the group, which has met several times since its inception, is, according to Altria Group, “to help both farmers and farmworkers better understand and comply with applicable labor laws and regulations, and to foster improved farm labor practices, where needed.”[479] According to Universal, “Significant issues identified by the FLPG to date include the use of disreputable labor contractors, the protection of undocumented migrant labor, and housing conditions for farm laborers” and that the FLPG “had not identified child labor as a significant problem in U.S. tobacco farming relative to other issues being discussed.” There are sub-groups assigned to specific topics such as public policy, training and education, and grievance procedures.[481] At the invitation of some members of the group, Human Rights Watch staff gave a presentation to the group on April 10, 2014 concerning the findings and recommendations of this report. Following the presentation, FLPG members agreed to form a working group on child labor. Eliminating Child Labour in Tobacco Growing Foundation Seven of the ten companies contacted for our report are members of the Eliminating Child Labour in Tobacco Growing Foundation (ECLT Foundation), a Geneva-based organization devoted to preventing child labor in tobacco agriculture. The organization’s US$6.4 million budget is funded through contributions primarily from tobacco and tobacco leaf companies that sit on the foundation’s board. The foundation carries out projects in tobacco-growing countries, including Kyrgyzstan, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, and Uganda, (and had projects in Zambia and the Philippines in the recent past), to withdraw children from tobacco farmwork, improve access to education, and strengthen economic livelihoods in tobacco-producing communities. ECLT Foundation initiatives to provide children with alternatives to tobacco work include model farm schools in Tanzania, after-school education programs income-generation projects, and occupational safety and health advocacy in Malawi, holiday camps for children of tobacco workers in Kyrgyzstan, and scholarship programs in Uganda. The Foundation does not carry out any projects in the United States.
VIII. Recommendations To the U S Congress Regarding Child Labor Enact legislation prohibiting children under age 18 from engaging in hazardous work on tobacco farms in the United States, including any work in which children come into contact with tobacco plants of any size or with dried tobacco leaves.
Amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to: apply the same age and hour requirements to children working in agriculture as already apply to all other working children: prohibit the employment of children under age 13; limit the number of hours that children ages 14 and 15 can legally work to three hours per day on a school day and 18 hours per week during a school week; eight hours per day on a non-school day and 40 hours per week when school is not in session; and prohibit before-school work by children ages 15 and younger; raise the minimum age for particularly hazardous work in agriculture from 16 to 18, in line with existing standards in all other industries; incorporate the Environmental Protection Agency’s Worker Protection Standard, 40 C.F.R. Part 170, into the child labor regulations, thereby protecting children working in agriculture not only from pesticides with acute effects (such as nausea, skin rashes, and dizziness), but also from those with chronic or long-term effects (such as cancer and interference with sexual reproduction); require agricultural employers to report work-related deaths, serious injuries, and serious illnesses to the US Department of Labor in order to collect and publish better statistics than are currently available about such incidents; and require the US Department of Labor to submit to Congress an annual report on work-related deaths, injuries, and illnesses of children working in agriculture, including an evaluation of the data that highlights, among other things, safety and health hazards and the extent and nature of child labor violations.
Provide sufficient support to programs, such as those administered by the Department of Education’s Office of Migrant Education, to remove barriers to the school enrollment, attendance, and achievement of child farmworkers and ensure that child farmworkers have access to and benefit from the same appropriate public education, including public preschool education, provided to other children. Regarding Labor Rights Repeal the sections of the Fair Labor Standards Act that exempt all agricultural workers from overtime pay provisions.
Repeal the sections of the Fair Labor Standards Act that exempt certain agricultural employers from paying workers the federal minimum wage.
Eliminate the exclusion of farmworkers from the National Labor Relations Act and acknowledge that, like all other workers, they have the right to collective bargaining.
Halt the yearly approval of a special provision in the US Department of Labor appropriations act that exempts almost all farms with 10 or fewer employees from the jurisdiction of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). To the President of the United States Issue an executive order or take other regulatory action to prohibit hazardous child labor on tobacco farms in the US, including any tasks where children have contact with tobacco plants of any size or with dried tobacco leaves.
Urge the US Department of Labor to revise the list of agricultural jobs deemed to be “particularly hazardous” for children to include the handling and application of pesticides; work at dangerous heights; work with dangerous machinery, equipment, and tools; work which involves the manual handling or transport of heavy loads; work in extreme temperatures; and other dangerous tasks; as well as any tasks where children have contact with tobacco plants of any size or with dried tobacco leaves.
Submit to the US Senate for ratification the Convention on the Rights of the Child and ILO Convention No. 138 on the Minimum Age of Employment. To the US Senate Upon submission by the president, ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child and ILO Convention No. 138 on the Minimum Age of Employment. To the U S Department of Labor Regarding Child Labor Revise the list of agricultural jobs deemed to be “particularly hazardous” for children to include the handling and application of pesticides; work at dangerous heights; work with dangerous machinery, equipment, and tools; work which involves the manual handling or transport of heavy loads; work in extreme temperatures; and other dangerous tasks; as well as any tasks where children have contact with tobacco plants of any size or with dried tobacco leaves.
Vigorously investigate child labor and minimum wage violations in agriculture, the most dangerous industry in the US in which children are allowed to work. Investigations should include planned and unannounced inspections, including at the time of year, time of day, and locations where children are most likely to be working.
Appropriately use the Fair Labor Standards Act's “hot goods” provision, which prohibits the interstate movement of goods produced in violation of child labor or minimum wage laws, where the traditional course of citations and relatively insignificant civil monetary penalties would have little deterrent effect.
Request the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) to expand its surveys to collect information about child workers under, as well as over, age 14. Explore methods of counting working children that do not rely on reports from growers and adult farmworkers, who may underreport the numbers of working children. Strive to develop statistics disaggregated by crop as well as other factors. Regarding Labor Rights Vigorously enforce OSHA’s Field Sanitation Standard, which requires employers to provide workers with drinking water, toilets, and handwashing facilities.
Continue and accelerate monitoring of “State Plans” and require that all US states enforcing OSHA-approved plans do so effectively, including by frequent unannounced inspections. To the US Environmental Protection Agency Regarding Child Labor Amend the Worker Protection Standard to impose a minimum age of 18 for all pesticide handlers.
Revise the restricted-entry intervals (REIs), which prohibit entry into an area treated by pesticides for a specified period of time following the application of the chemicals. Distinguish between adults and children, and impose more stringent REIs for children. Incorporate an additional safety margin on top of what is determined necessary to ensure short and long-term safety, and take into account the combined effect of both occupational and non-occupational exposures. Regarding Labor Rights Closely monitor states’ enforcement of the Worker Protection Standard and related pesticide regulations to ensure that such enforcement is vigorous and meaningful.
Further expand the program to educate workers regarding the Worker Protection Standard, and ensure that materials used are culturally, age, and language appropriate.
Ensure that state agencies responsible for enforcement of EPA regulations are staffed by a sufficient number of trained, multilingual compliance officers. To All Tobacco-Producing US States Enact legislation prohibiting children under age 18 from engaging in hazardous work on tobacco farms, including any work in which children come into contact with tobacco plants of any size or with dried tobacco leaves.
Vigorously enforce OSHA’s Field Sanitation Standard, which requires employers to provide workers with drinking water, toilets, and handwashing facilities.
Amend workers’ compensation laws to ensure coverage for farmworkers equal to that of other workers. To Tobacco Product Manufacturers and Tobacco Leaf Merchant Companies Regarding Child Labor Adopt and implement policies globally prohibiting the use of child labor anywhere in the supply chain. The policy should specify that hazardous work for children under 18 is prohibited, including any work in which children come into direct contact with tobacco plants of any size and dried tobacco leaves. Consistent with ILO conventions, the policy should also prohibit work by children under the age of 15, except for light work by children ages 13 to 15, or the minimum age provided by the country’s laws, whichever affords greater protection. The policy should specify that it is in effect throughout the supply chain in all countries irrespective of local laws that afford lesser protections.
Strive to phase out the use of child labor in the supply chain by establishing clear timeframes.
Ensure that all contracts with growers and suppliers include specific language prohibiting the use of children in hazardous work under 18, including any work in which children come into contact with tobacco leaves of any size and dried tobacco leaves. Establish and carry out penalties for those in the supply chain who violate the no-child labor policy. The penalties should be sufficiently severe and consistently implemented so as to have a dissuasive effect. Discontinue contracts with farms that repeatedly violate the policy prohibiting child labor.
Provide training to agronomists, suppliers, growers, workers, and others on the hazards to children of working in tobacco. Utilize outside experts on child labor to conduct these trainings where appropriate.
Establish a regular and rigorous internal monitoring process in all countries in the supply chain.
Ensure that monitoring is not limited to “self-reporting” by suppliers or subsidiaries, but includes regular announced and unannounced inspections by monitors who are qualified, experienced, and trained specifically in child labor and labor rights.
Ensure an adequate number of monitors to conduct regular monitoring of all suppliers in all countries. Monitors should be sufficiently independent from the leaf production component of business operations and from local suppliers.
Ensure that monitoring is carried out in periods in the tobacco season when children are most likely to work.
Dedicate sufficient financial and staff resources to carry out effective monitoring.
Engage qualified third-party monitoring for child labor in supply chains in all countries.
Ensure an adequate number of monitors to conduct regular monitoring of all suppliers in all countries.
Ensure that monitoring is carried out in periods in the tobacco season when children are most likely to work.
Make the results of third-party monitoring public.
Engage a third-party organization to develop a no-child labor policy as outlined above, including the structures for its effective implementation.
Develop or enhance collaboration with local stakeholders, including organized labor, to eliminate child labor on tobacco farms, including by: Working with federal and local government officials, including the Office of Migrant Education, to ensure access to education for farmworker children. Implementing, with meaningful input and participation from farmworker children, their families, and local stakeholders, free summer programs each year for both migrant and local children, as an alternative to working in tobacco farming. Programs should provide age-appropriate educational, recreational, and leadership development opportunities to children under 18. Collaborating with local stakeholders to identify other summer employment opportunities for children as alternatives to working on tobacco farms. Where possible, cooperating with the ILO’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), UNICEF, nongovernmental organizations, and others undertaking efforts to prevent child labor, including through the provision of alternatives to working in tobacco farming. Establishing a scholarship fund to provide young farmworkers with economic support to pursue higher education. The scholarship application should account for the unique circumstances of farmworker children’s educational paths. Investing in rural health infrastructure to ensure tobacco workers and their children have access to health services. Collaborating with land-grant universities and extension services to enhance agricultural education in tobacco-growing communities, and to provide farmworker families with access to land for small-scale agricultural enterprise.
Regarding Labor Rights Adopt or revise comprehensive agricultural labor policies to protect the health, safety, and human rights of workers employed on tobacco farms, regardless of the size of the farm and ensure rigorous monitoring of the implementation of those policies. Policies should include, at a minimum, the following provisions: Signed, enforceable employment contracts with all workers in a language that the worker understands. A guarantee of no less than the federal minimum hourly wage for all workers. A prohibition on tobacco suppliers procuring labor from unregistered farm labor contractors or subcontractors. A requirement that tobacco suppliers closely monitor farm labor contractors to ensure that they do not violate workers’ rights. A prohibition on tobacco suppliers providing lump sum payments to farm labor contractors or subcontractors for workers’ wage, and a requirement that growers provide wages directly to workers. Limits on working hours for workers; a guarantee of at least one day off per week. Provision of potable water in sufficient quantities for all workers every day. Provision of adequate sanitary facilities, including toilets and handwashing facilities, to all workers. Provision of appropriate personal protective equipment including gloves and rain suits to limit exposure to nicotine and pesticides. Strict enforcement of safety procedures for use and handling of all toxic substances, such as pesticides, including the provision of protective clothing and strict observance of restricted entry intervals determined by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Strict prohibition on spraying of pesticides from tractors in fields where workers are present or in fields adjacent to where workers are located and at risk of exposure to pesticides via drift. Education for workers on health and safety hazards in tobacco farming, including nicotine poisoning, in a language that workers understand. Such education should be mandatory for every worker and not carried out at the discretion of the grower. Guarantees of the rights to freedom of association and to collectively bargain for all workers employed by tobacco leaf suppliers. Establishment of a meaningful and effective complaint mechanism whereby workers are able to submit complaints about any concerns about labor or other violations without fear of repercussions for doing so. Every worker should be informed about the availability of the complaint mechanism and the means for submitting complaints. Establishment of a complaint mechanism should not be seen as a replacement to guaranteeing the right of workers to collectively bargain.
Provide training to agronomists, suppliers, growers, workers, and others on policies to protect the health, safety, and human rights of workers. Utilize outside experts to conduct these trainings where appropriate.
Ensure qualified, experienced, internal and independent third-party monitoring of implementation of all of the above-stated agricultural labor policies. Make the results of third-party monitoring public.
Ensure that workers are able to submit complaints and speak with monitors, including third party monitors, without fear of repercussions from the manufacturing company, its subsidiaries or suppliers.
Immediately investigate in a fair and transparent manner all reports of abuse reported by monitors, agronomists, third parties, workers, or others. Regarding Industry-Wide Multilateral Initiatives Develop an international industry-wide standard to prohibit hazardous work for children under 18 on tobacco farms, including any work in which children come into contact with tobacco plants of any size and dried tobacco leaves; establish minimum age requirements consistent with ILO conventions.
Amend the US Tobacco Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) labor management guidelines to specify that hazardous work for children under 18 is prohibited, including any work in which children come into contact with tobacco plants of any size and dried tobacco leaves. Consistent with ILO conventions, the standard should also prohibit work by children under the age of 15, except for light work by children ages 13 to 15. This standard should be a contractual requirement for all US tobacco growers.
Engage meaningfully in multi-stakeholder initiatives, including with a view to support tobacco industry efforts to promote the elimination of child labor in the tobacco supply chain, effective monitoring of these policies, and initiatives to support alternative employment, education, and recreational opportunities for children in tobacco-growing communities.
Increase financial support to nongovernmental organizations working to eliminate hazardous child labor in tobacco farming.
Establish a pooled fund to support programs that provide alternatives to child labor in US tobacco farming. To Agricultural Employers Do not hire children under age 18 to engage in hazardous work on tobacco farms, including any work whereby children have contact with tobacco plants of any size or dried tobacco leaves.
Do not hire any children under age 15 to perform any work on tobacco farms that is not light work, posing no health hazards. Do not hire children under age 13 for any tasks on tobacco farms, and ensure that children ages 13 to 15 engage only in light work does not threaten their health and safety, or hinder their education.
Ensure that farm labor contractors do not hire children under age 18 to engage in hazardous work on tobacco farms and abide by minimum age restrictions specified above. Carefully supervise farm labor contractors and regularly visit fields to verify that no children are working in hazardous labor.
Respect agricultural labor policies designed to protect the health, safety, freedom of association, and other human rights of workers, as detailed above. To the International Labour Organization Office Conduct research and collect new data on child labor in tobacco farming.
Hold technical workshops and provide educational resources for ILO members regarding the health and safety risks to children working in tobacco, and ways to eliminate child labor in tobacco.
Provide updated and effective guidance regarding the hazards of tobacco work to states determining the types of work that constitutes the worst forms of child labor under ILO Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor.
Encourage governments to review and update their hazardous work lists under Convention No. 182, taking into account evidence concerning the hazards of tobacco work. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Aleem Maqbool spoke to two North Carolina families who farm tobacco, including two boys under 15
Children have been farming US tobacco fields for generations. But a new report from Human Rights Watch says the practice is dangerous and in need of reform.
It may be later than usual because of the harsh winter, but just as they have done for generations, people are planting tobacco across the vast coastal plains of North Carolina.
The crop put this state on the economic map, but methods used to farm tobacco here have now drawn the gaze of an international human rights group.
"Usually we would wake up around four or five in the morning and get to the farm around six," says Fernando Rodriguez.
"I would spend the whole day going up and down the rows of tobacco, topping the plants, cutting the flowers, collecting the leaf and all."
Fernando is 13 years old.
Image copyright Science Photo Library Image caption Ten major companies use US tobacco to make cigarettes
"Most people kept trash bags on them, with holes for their arms and head, to keep chemicals off their clothing," he says.
"On the first day when I was working [the chemicals] got on my face a lot and I didn't know until I got home later that day my face was burning."
For three months last summer, Fernando and his older brother Brandon Jayubo, each worked up to 72 hours a week harvesting tobacco. Then 12 and 14 years old, they earned $500-$600 (£297-356) per week.
Surprising as it may be, that does not currently violate American labour laws.
I attained a lot of my values through the work I did alongside my parents and grandparents by being in the fields Joey Scott, Farmer
After failing to push through a change in US legislation two years ago, rights groups are now hoping cigarette companies, and even smokers themselves, will decide to take an ethical stand when it comes to children and tobacco farming.
"I saw kids walking into fields of tobacco plants over their heads, where the tobacco leaves were wet with dew," says Margaret Wurth, a researcher at Human Rights Watch. The group has prepared a new report documenting the problems for children in this industry.
"The kids were absorbing nicotine through their skin and many of the children we interviewed reported symptoms consistent with acute nicotine poisoning: nausea, vomiting, headaches, dizziness, light-headedness," she says.
Human Rights Watch also reports children working near heavy machinery, using dangerous tools, and climbing into the rafters of barns several storeys high without protection.
The group says in many ways, America is flouting International Labour Organisation conventions.
Image caption Joey Scott says children working on farms is a part of US tradition
Washington rules do say that the work children do on farms must happen outside of school hours, but don't place a limit on how many hours they can work.
Campaigners say that falls far short of what is needed. They want to outlaw children from working the fields at all.
"Countries like Brazil and India prohibit children under 18 from doing many tasks involved in tobacco farming," says Wurth.
"They have laws and regulations to do more to protect kids in tobacco farming than we have in the US."
Joey Scott is a farmer whose family has grown tobacco on the same North Carolina land for eight generations.
Highlights from the report Human Rights Watch interviewed 141 children. Some children reported: "working in bare feet or socks"
"that they did not have access to handwashing facilities"
"itchy or burning skin or skin rashes "
"that they had 'spiked' or 'speared' their hands or other body parts on sharp spikes while placing cut burley tobacco plants
"I was raised as a child on a tobacco farm. My parents felt it was safe enough for me to be here," he says. "I felt it was safe enough for my children."
Scott, who does not employ anyone under the age of 18, accepts the possibility that other farmers may be exploiting young workers. Still, he says that having children work the fields is part of the region's heritage.
"I attained a lot of my values through the work I did alongside my parents and grandparents, by being in the fields, understanding the everyday struggles," says Scott.
"What they get from working here on the farm is to understand the importance of a dollar, how hard it is to make a dollar, and how to spend that dollar they make wisely."
It was a point echoed by Jessica Rodriguez, mother of Brandon and Fernando, the boys who worked on the farm during their summer break. She says when the boys are not at school, she would rather they work than hanging around in the streets or with other boys, getting into trouble.
Like child labour stories all over the world though, Rodriguez acknowledged that the main reason her sons worked was the harsh economic climate.
Image caption Jessica Rodriguez is glad her sons can work the farms
"We had to do what we had to do to keep the roof over our heads and food in our stomachs and the lights on, water on, the important stuff," she says.
Rodriguez admits that it upset her when her youngest son complained of harm from chemical pesticides. She insists the children wanted to help out.
Human Rights Watch says all of the tobacco companies they contacted expressed concern about working conditions for children, and all of them have a variety of previously established policies to address the problem.
Campaigners want more explicit language polices that clearly ban child labour. They also hope that tobacco companies will invest in local communities so that families have alternative options and do not feel compelled to put their children at risk.
Until then, the tobacco keeps growing, and with it, the demand for farm workers of all ages. ||||| Children working on tobacco farms in the United States are exposed to nicotine, toxic pesticides, and other dangers, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
While US law prohibits the sale of tobacco products to children, children can legally work on tobacco farms in the US. The world’s largest tobacco companies buy tobacco grown on US farms, but none have child labor policies that sufficiently protect children from hazardous work.
The 138-page report, “Tobacco’s Hidden Children: Hazardous Child Labor in US Tobacco Farming,” documents conditions for children working on tobacco farms in four states where 90 percent of US tobacco is grown: North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Children reported vomiting, nausea, headaches, and dizziness while working on tobacco farms, all symptoms consistent with acute nicotine poisoning. Many also said they worked long hours without overtime pay, often in extreme heat without shade or sufficient breaks, and wore no, or inadequate, protective gear.
“As the school year ends, children are heading into the tobacco fields, where they can’t avoid being exposed to dangerous nicotine, without smoking a single cigarette” said Margaret Wurth, children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch and co-author of the report. “It’s no surprise the children exposed to poisons in the tobacco fields are getting sick.”
The report is based on interviews with 141 child tobacco workers, ages seven to 17 (view infographic).
Children working in tobacco farming face other serious risks as well, Human Rights Watch said. They may use dangerous tools and machinery, lift heavy loads, and climb several stories without protection to hang tobacco in barns. Children also reported that tractors sprayed pesticides in nearby fields. They said the spray drifted over them, making them vomit, feel dizzy, and have difficulty breathing and a burning sensation in their eyes.
Many of the pesticides used in tobacco production are known neurotoxins, poisons that alter the nervous system. The long-term effects of childhood pesticide exposure can include cancer, problems with learning and cognition, and reproductive health issues.Children are especially vulnerable because their bodies and brains are still developing.Human Rights Watch sent letters to 10 US and global tobacco companies and met with many of them to encourage these companies to adopt policies, or strengthen existing policies, to prevent hazardous child labor in their supply chains.
“Tobacco companies shouldn’t benefit from hazardous child labor,” Wurth said. “They have a responsibility to adopt clear, comprehensive policies that get children out of dangerous work on tobacco farms, and make sure the farms follow the rules.”
Health Hazards for Children
Several hundred thousand children work in US agriculture every year, but no data is available on the number working in tobacco farming. Many children interviewed by Human Rights Watch described going to work on tobacco farms at age 11 or 12, primarily during the summer, to help support their families. Most were the children of Hispanic immigrants who lived in communities where tobacco was grown and who attended school full-time.
Children Human Rights Watch interviewed described feeling suddenly, acutely ill while working on tobacco farms. “It happens when you’re out in the sun,” said a16-year-old girl in Kentucky. “You want to throw up. And you drink water because you’re so thirsty, but the water makes you feel worse. You throw up right there when you’re cutting [tobacco plants], but you just keep cutting.” A 12-year-old boy in North Carolina described a headache he had while working:“It was horrible. It felt like there was something in my head trying to eat it.”
Acute nicotine poisoning – often called Green Tobacco Sickness – occurs when workers absorb nicotine through their skin while handling tobacco plants, particularly when plants are wet. Common symptoms include nausea, vomiting, headaches, and dizziness. Though the long-term effects are uncertain, some research suggests that nicotine exposure during adolescence may have consequences for brain development.
Several children told Human Rights Watch that they had been injured while working with sharp tools and heavy machinery. In Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, children often hand-harvest tall tobacco plants by cutting them with small axes and spearing the stalks onto long sticks with pointed ends. The children said they often cut or puncture themselves on the hands, arms, legs, and feet. A 16-year-old boy described an accident while harvesting tobacco in Tennessee: “I cut myself with the hatchet.… I probably hit a vein or something because it wouldn’t stop bleeding and I had to go to the hospital…. My foot was all covered in blood.” One 17-year-old boy interviewed by Human Rights Watch lost two fingers in an accident with a mower used to trim small tobacco plants.Almost none of the children Human Rights Watch interviewed said that employers had given them health and safety training or protective gear. Instead, children typically covered themselves with black plastic garbage bags in an attempt to keep their clothes dry when they worked in fields wet with dew or rain.
Federal data on fatal occupational injuries indicates that agriculture is the most dangerous industry open to young workers. In 2012, two-thirds of children under 18 who died from occupational injuries were agricultural workers, and there were more than 1,800 nonfatal injuries to children under 18 working on US farms.Most children interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they had no access to toilets or a place to wash their hands at their worksites, leaving them with tobacco and pesticides residue on their hands, even during mealtimes.
Lack of Protection Under US Law
Under US labor law, children working in agriculture can work longer hours, at younger ages, and in more hazardous conditions than children in any other industry. Children as young as 12 can be hired for unlimited hours outside of school hours on a farm of any size with parental permission, and there is no minimum age for children to work on small farms. At 16, child farmworkers can do jobs deemed hazardous by the US Department of Labor. Children in all other sectors must be 18 to do hazardous work.Regulations proposed by the Labor Department in 2011 would have prohibited children under 16 from working on tobacco farms, but they were withdrawn in 2012.
“The US has failed America’s families by not meaningfully protecting child farmworkers from dangers to their health and safety, including on tobacco farms,”Wurth said. “The Obama administration should endorse regulations that make it clear that work on tobacco farms is hazardous for children, and Congress should enact laws to give child farmworkers the same protections as all other working children.”
Role of Tobacco Companies
Human Rights Watch presented its findings and recommendations to 10 companies that purchase tobacco grown in the United States, including eight cigarette manufacturing companies: Altria Group (parent of Philip Morris USA), British American Tobacco, China National Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco Group, Japan Tobacco Group, Lorillard, Philip Morris International, Reynolds American, and two international leaf merchants who purchase tobacco leaf and sell to manufacturers: Alliance One and Universal Corporation.
All of the companies except China National Tobacco responded and said they are concerned about child labor in their supply chains. However, the companies’ approaches do not sufficiently protect children from hazardous work, Human Rights Watch said. In some cases, companies allow for lower standards of protection for children in their US supply chain than for children working on tobacco farms in all other countries from which they purchase tobacco.
Philip Morris International has the most comprehensive global child labor policy among the companies contacted. Since 2010, Philip Morris International has sought to carry out the policy through training and monitoring in its supply chain worldwide. In 2009, Human Rights Watch documented abuses on farms supplying tobacco to a Philip Morris International subsidiary in Kazakhstan.
Human Rights Watch urged companies to prohibit children from engaging in all tasks that pose risks to their health and safety, including any work involving direct contact with tobacco plants or dry tobacco, due to the risk of nicotine exposure. Companies should also establish effective internal and third-party monitoring of labor policies.“Farming is hard work anyway, but children working on tobacco farms get so sick that they throw up, get covered by pesticides, and have no real protective gear,”Wurth said. “Tobacco companies should get children out of hazardous work on tobacco farms and support efforts to provide them with alternative educational and vocational opportunities.” | – Children are toiling in unsafe conditions, suffering everything from breathing problems to vomiting, and putting in 12-hour days and 72-hour weeks. Think we're talking a third-world sweatshop? It's what's happening right now on US tobacco farms, Human Rights Watch alleges in a report today. The group spoke to 141 tobacco farm workers aged 7 to 17, and found that many came in bare-skin contact with tobacco plants. That can cause acute nicotine poisoning—and indeed, 66% of those polled reported symptoms consistent with that, including dizziness, nausea, and headaches. "On the first day when I was working [chemicals] got on my face a lot and I didn't know until I got home later that my face was burning," one 13-year-old worker tells the BBC. US labor laws protecting child laborers have exceptions for agricultural jobs, the group explains, allowing children of any age to work the fields, and those 12 and older to work unlimited hours. An attempt to change that for tobacco farms died in 2012. HRW shared its findings with tobacco producers, and most expressed concern. Philip Morris, which has the toughest child labor policy, tells Reuters that it believes there's an opportunity to impose an industry-wide standard. The complete report is here. |
The Federal Reserve will spend $45 billion a month to sustain an aggressive drive to keep long-term interest rates low. And it set a goal of keeping a key short-term rate near zero until unemployment drops below 6.5 percent.
The policies are intended to help an economy that the Fed says is growing only modestly with 7.7 percent unemployment in November.
The Fed says it will direct the money into long-term Treasurys to replace an expiring bond-purchase program. The new purchases will expand its investment portfolio, which has reached nearly $3 trillion.
The central bank will continue buying $40 billion a month in mortgage bonds. All told, its monthly bond purchases will remain $85 billion. They are intended to reduce already record-low long-term rates to encourage borrowing and accelerate growth. ||||| If the world's investors are right, the Federal Reserve is about to take a bold new step to try to invigorate the U.S. economy.
And many expect the Fed to unleash its most potent weapon: a third round of bond purchases meant to ease long-term interest rates and spur borrowing and spending. It's called "quantitative easing," or QE.
Others foresee a more measured response when the Fed ends a two-day policy meeting Thursday. They think it will extend its timetable for any rise in record-low short-term rates beyond the current target of late 2014 at the earliest.
On one point few disagree: The Fed feels driven to act now because the U.S. economy is still growing too slowly to reduce high unemployment. The unemployment rate has topped 8 percent every month since the Great Recession officially ended more than three years ago.
In August, job growth slowed sharply. The unemployment rate did fall to 8.1 percent from 8.3 percent. But that was because many Americans stopped looking for work, so they were no longer counted as unemployed.
Chronic high unemployment was a theme Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke spotlighted in a speech to an economic conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, late last month. Bernanke argued that QE and other unorthodox Fed actions had helped ease borrowing costs and boosted stock prices.
Higher stock prices increase Americans' wealth and confidence and typically lead individuals and businesses to spend more.
In his speech, Bernanke cited research showing that the two previous rounds of QE had created 2 million jobs and accelerated economic growth. Still, he said persistently weak hiring remains "a grave concern" that inflicts "enormous suffering."
His remarks sent a clear signal that the Fed will do more.
"He had a sense of urgency in that Jackson Hole speech," said David Jones, chief economist at DMJ Advisors. "I think he is convinced that there is a need to do something."
Some critics, inside and outside the Fed, remain opposed to further bond buying. They fear that by pumping so much cash into the financial system, the Fed is raising the risk of high inflation in the future. And many don't think more bond purchases would help anyway because interest rates are already near record lows.
Some economists who doubt the Fed is about to begin more bond buying say the European Central Bank has eased some pressure on the Fed. Last week, the ECB announced a plan to buy unlimited amounts of government bonds to help lower borrowing costs for countries struggling with debts.
If the ECB's plan succeeds in bolstering Europe, the U.S. economy could benefit, too. Europe's financial crisis and recession have slowed the U.S. economy, in part by reducing European purchases of U.S. goods.
Some also think the Fed might be reluctant to launch a bond-buying program in the final two months of the presidential campaign. Many Republicans have been critical of the Fed's unconventional methods to boost the economy. After the financial crisis struck in 2008, the Fed bought more than $2 trillion in Treasury and mortgage-backed securities.
The Fed "is already a campaign issue, and enlarging its balance sheet will make it even more of one," argues Vincent Reinhart, chief economist at Morgan Stanley and a former top economist at the Fed. Reinhart thinks the Fed will prefer to wait until at least December before announcing more bond buying.
By then, he says, the Fed will have reviewed more employment data. The effect of Europe's debt crisis on the U.S. economy will be better known. And Congress' plans for addressing a U.S. fiscal crisis at year's end will be clearer. Without a budget deal, higher taxes and deep spending cuts will kick in next year.
If the Fed takes the more modest step Thursday of extending its timetable for any rate increase, many analysts think it would push its target date to mid-2015. The goal would be to lower borrowing rates by assuring investors that short-term rates will likely stay near zero even longer than previously thought.
Yet Bernanke's remarks in Jackson Hole about unemployment were so downbeat, and his defense of Fed bond purchases so strong, that many economists suspect a bond-buying program will be unveiled Thursday.
So do investors. In part because of anticipation of a QE3, they've boosted the Dow Jones industrial average nearly 2 percent in September, a month that's typically weak for stocks. On Tuesday, the Dow rose 69 points. And Treasury yields have dropped on expectations that a new Fed bond-purchase program would lower interest rates.
The concern Bernanke expressed in Jackson Hole followed a Fed policy meeting in which many officials felt more Fed action would "likely be warranted fairly soon" unless there was a "substantial and sustainable strengthening in the pace of the economic recovery," according to minutes of the meeting.
Friday's report that U.S. employers cut back sharply on hiring in August dimmed hopes of a strengthening job market.
If the Fed does unveil QE3, some economists think it might differ from the previous bond-buying programs. With its earlier purchases, the Fed announced a dollar amount and a time frame for the bonds it planned to buy.
This time, any new bond-purchase program might be more open-ended. Three regional Fed bank presidents _ Eric Rosengren of Boston, James Bullard of St. Louis and Charles Evans of Chicago _ have expressed openness to a program in which the Fed would buy bonds until the economy improved significantly and unemployment fell consistently _ as long as inflation remained tame.
None of those officials now have a vote on the Fed's policy committee. But they take part in the committee discussions that would allow them to push the idea.
Jones of DMJ Advisors says he thinks open-ended bond purchases will be discussed at this week's policy meeting. Still, he expects the Fed to announce a more conventional bond-buying program of around $500 billion. That would be less than the $600 billion in bonds in QE2 and well below the $1.75 trillion in QE1.
In light of Bernanke's recent comments, Jones doesn't think the Fed wants to delay further support for the economy until the election is over. Neither does Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial.
"This will be an effort on the part of Fed officials to pull out as much firepower as they can," Swonk said. "They are trying for as much shock and awe as they can muster." | – The Federal Reserve dropped a bombshell today, announcing that it would spend $45 billion a month on bond purchases to keep interest rates low, and that it would keep its short-term rates near zero as long as it takes to get unemployment below 6.5%. It will also keep up its current practice of spending $40 billion a month on mortgage bonds, the AP reports, bringing its total monthly spending to $85 billion, and growing its now almost $3 trillion portfolio. This is a "historic move" that "will change how we think about Fed policy, yet again," writes Sudeep Reddy at the Wall Street Journal. Instead of pegging its targets to specific time frames, the Fed is now tying its policies to specific economic outcomes. The policy is sometimes referred to as the "Evans rule," because Chicago Fed President Charles Evans has been pushing for it for months. The Fed is also sending a strong, loud signal that it's willing to allow inflation to rise if that's what it takes to reduce unemployment. |
"It was not enough time. We only got the names of the two finalists Sunday evening." — committee member Ronald Garutti
NEW BRUNSWICK — The controversy over the appointment of Julie Hermann as Rutgers athletic director continued today as e-mails emerged showing infighting within the university over whether the new hire was properly vetted.
Meanwhile, Rutgers officials revealed they are paying a crisis communications firm $150,000 to help deal with the growing media scrutiny over the sports scandals that have engulfed the state university since early April.
In the latest development, a series of internal e-mails sent by members of the search committee that helped find Hermann show some in the 28-member group felt the process of appointing a new athletic director was rushed.
Reached by phone last night, committee member Ronald Garutti confirmed he and Kenneth Schmidt, a search committee member and member of the Rutgers Board of Governors, were among those who sent sharply-worded e-mails to Rutgers officials earlier this week criticizing the process that lead to the hiring of Hermann.
"There were flaws in this process," said Garutti, a member of the Rutgers Board of Trustees. "To some degree, I was frustrated."
Garutti, a 1967 Rutgers graduate and retired Schering-Plough executive, said he did not leak the e-mails, which were first obtained by ESPN, and never intended them to be public. But he stands behind his belief that Rutgers’ search for a new athletic director was troubled.
Garutti sent his e-mail to Rutgers officials Tuesday, responding to a message sent to members of the search committee by co-chairs Kate Sweeney and Richard Edwards supporting the process that led to Hermann’s hiring from the University of Louisville.
Rutgers has been under fire since Sunday when The Star-Ledger reported Hermann was accused of mentally and verbally abusing student athletes. The accusations were contained in a letter written by her volleyball team when she was a coach at the University of Tennessee in the 1990s.
The former Tennessee players said they publicly rehashed their 17-year-old accusations partly because Hermann had been hired by Rutgers to help rebuild its sports program after basketball coach Mike Rice was fired for physically and verbally abusing his players.
Hermann has denied abusing players and Rutgers President Robert Barchi said Monday she will keep her new job. But questions remain about why neither Rutgers nor the search firm it used to screen candidates for the post knew about the accusations against Hermann in Tennessee.
In their e-mail to the search committee after The Sunday Star-Ledger report, Sweeney and Edwards said the entire group had an opportunity vet Hermann.
"As members of the Search Advisory Team, you all had the opportunity to examine Julie’s credentials, to spend some time with her when she was on campus, and to provide us with your thoughts regarding her candidacy as Rutgers’ next Director of Intercollegiate Athletics. As you know, there was strong support for Julie, and for what she could bring to Rutgers," wrote Edwards, a Rutgers executive vice president, and Sweeney, an alumna and Morgan Stanley executive, according to a copy of the e-mail obtained by ESPN.
But Garutti contends the committee never had the opportunity to properly screen Hermann. He told The Star-Ledger the group received the names of the two finalists along with their resumes and biographical material on a Sunday night. Half the search committee was scheduled to interview both candidates for an hour each on Monday, while the other half of the committee would meet the finalists Tuesday.
"It was not enough time. We only got the names of the two finalists Sunday evening," Garutti said. "I was furiously reading and jotting notes."
Though the process was supposed to be confidential, Garutti said he was surprised the names of the two finalists — Hermann and Sean Frazier, the deputy athletic director at Wisconsin — were the same names he had seen reported in The Star-Ledger.
Garutti said the materials the search committee received included no mention of accusations Hermann abused players on her volleyball team at Tennessee. There was also no mention she was named in a sex discrimination lawsuit while an administrator at Louisville, he said.
The search committee members had read news accounts of Hermann’s involvement in another lawsuit filed by an assistant coach at Tennessee who contends the coach discouraged her from having a baby. But, with nearly 15 search committee members asking questions, the lawsuit never came up during Hermann’s 75-minute interview, Garutti said.
"Quite frankly, we didn’t have a chance to ask about it," Garutti said.
Schmidt also said in an e-mail obtained by ESPN that the process was flawed.
"There was very little information about the candidates disseminated to the larger Committee. Most of the information we received was what leaked to the media … Do not try and rewrite the facts," Schmidt wrote in response to the message from Sweeney and Edwards that praised the process.
Stefania Balasa, the only student on the search committee, said she was surprised to see the string of e-mails from other search committee members criticizing the search process.
"It was like a professional catfight in my e-mail inbox," said Balasa, a Rutgers senior and member of the university tennis team.
Balasa said she would have asked more questions during Hermann’s interview if she knew her full background. But she said she is frustrated that leaks to the news media continue to keep Rutgers in the news and tarnish the school’s reputation.
"I’m frustrated, especially because student athletes are the most directly affected," said Balasa, 21. "We are suffering now because of the harsh media spotlight."
Neither Schmidt, Sweeney nor Edwards could be reached for comment by The Star-Ledger. Several other members of the search committee declined to comment.
Rutgers spokesman Greg Trevor also declined to comment on the e-mails. But, he said, the process of screening candidates involved more than the search committee.
"It’s important to note that the search process had multiple levels," Trevor said.
Hermann was also vetted by a smaller executive committee at Rutgers, which did most of the work of screening candidates, Trevor said. The Parker Executive Search firm, which was paid $70,000 to conduct the search, and a private security firm also vetted candidates. Barchi, the school’s president, made the final decision to hire Hermann.
As the controversy over the new athletic director continues, Rutgers officials said they are using Hill + Knowlton, a global crisis communications firm with offices in New York, to help deal with the increased media attention. The firm was hired several weeks ago for $150,000 to help with the fallout over the basketball scandal.
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State Sen. Barbara Buono, the Democrat running for governor, continued to criticize Rutgers’ leadership today and called for legislative hearings into the university’s sports scandals. She also criticized Gov. Chris Christie for failing to intervene.
"He needs to call on this president to resign. I mean, how many instances do we have to have of this president muddying the name of the flagship university of New Jersey before we take action to stem the bleeding?," Buono said.
Christie reiterated he has no plans to step in.
"I’ve certainly had conversations with them over the last weekend, got a lot of my questions answered," the governor said. "This is up for them to make decisions, not me."
Staff writers Ted Sherman, Eunice Lee and Ryan Hutchins contributed to this report. ||||| Hermann, a longtime Louisville senior athletics administrator, was hired May 15 to replace Pernetti. But in the weeks since her hiring, she and other Rutgers officials have defended her character against claims that she was verbally abusive toward volleyball players she coached at Tennessee in the 1990s. Rutgers has also faced questions about whether it properly vetted lawsuits in which Hermann played a role at Tennessee and Louisville.
In the Tennessee case, which resulted in a $150,000 jury verdict, Hermann was accused of discouraging an assistant volleyball coach from becoming pregnant.
In the Louisville lawsuit, Mary Banker, an assistant track and field coach, claimed she was fired as retaliation for complaining to Hermann and the university’s human resources department about sexual discrimination by the head coach. Lawyers for Louisville said that Banker was fired for underperformance, not in retaliation for her complaints.
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A judgment in favor of Banker was overturned this year, and the case is pending before the Kentucky Supreme Court.
Banker, in an interview Wednesday night, questioned Rutgers’s decision to hire Hermann to clean up its athletics department. “She had the opportunity to clean up at Louisville, and she chose not to,” Banker said. “What she did was she covered herself and the rest of her coaching staff.”
Kate Sweeney and Dick Edwards, the leaders of the Rutgers search panel, wrote an e-mail Tuesday to the other committee members to defuse growing criticism of Hermann’s selection.
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“You all had the opportunity to examine Julie’s credentials, to spend some time with her when she was on campus, and to provide us with your thoughts regarding her candidacy as Rutgers’s next Director of Intercollegiate Athletics,” they wrote.
The first response, from Schmidt, came 10 minutes later. “There was very little information about the candidates disseminated to the larger committee,” he wrote.
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Garutti’s came two hours later. “Please, let us not at this late date attempt to convince ourselves and the public that there was sufficient time to delve deeply” into candidates’ documents, he wrote.
A Rutgers spokesman declined to comment on the e-mails.
In recent days, Democratic lawmakers in New Jersey have called for the resignations of Robert L. Barchi, the university president, and Hermann. But Gov. Chris Christie voiced support for Barchi on Tuesday and dismissed criticism of Hermann as “character assassination.”
Rutgers on Wednesday released a copy of its contract with Parker Executive Search, a Georgia -based firm, which it hired for $70,000 to manage the search for an athletic director. Parker was responsible for finding candidates and doing background checks, including criminal, credit and motor vehicle checks; confirmation of candidates’ degrees; and reference checks.
Rice’s replacement, Eddie Jordan , also had a rocky start to his job. The Web site Deadspin reported that he had not graduated from Rutgers, though his university biography said that he had. | – Rutgers University is scrambling to deal with reports that its newly minted athletic director and supposed scandal slayer Julie Hermann has a spotty past of her own—complete with abuse allegations and a sex-discrimination settlement—and emerging emails show bickering and complaints among the very board of trustees that appointed Hermann in the first place. Trustees say they were given the names of two finalists the day before the first was to be interviewed, and they spent only 75 minutes interviewing Hermann, reports the Star-Ledger. "It was not enough time," says one. "Let’s not present this as any kind of exemplary process. Subsequent events have proven otherwise.” The search leaders tried via email to smooth things over, telling trustees, "You all had the opportunity to examine Julie’s credentials, to spend some time with her when she was on campus. As you know, there was strong support for Julie." That prompted a string of emails that the lone student on the search committee likened to "a professional catfight in my email inbox." Adding insult to injury, Rutgers paid an executive search company $70,000 to vet finalists for the job, notes the New York Times; now, the school is also paying a crisis-management company $150,000 to deal with the scandals' fallout. |
Researchers in Canada have witnessed a horrifying event that, until now, has never been documented by science: A killer whale drowning and killing an infant of the same species.
The incident took place on December 2, 2016 off the coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Now the sighting has been described in a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports.
The marine scientists were out on a research expedition when they detected strange calls on their vessel’s underwater microphones, alerting them to the presence of killer whales in their vicinity.
After finding the whales responsible for the noises, the researchers noticed some splashing that they thought might be a sign that the orcas were hunting. However, they quickly realized that an infant calf in the group wasn’t surfacing.
"Then a male, who was unrelated to the mother of the calf, swam past the boat with the calf hanging out of its mouth, and that's when we were really quite horrified and fascinated,” Jared Towers, a cetacean researcher from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, told CBC News.
The stricken calf’s mother and her relatives then frantically pursued the 32-year-old male in an attempt to rescue the youngster, but the male—with help from his own mother—managed to fend them off.
The researchers describe how the chase eventually ended with the mother of the infant hitting the male so hard with her flipper that blood flew through the air, although by this point, the calf was already dead.
This is the first time that a killer whale has been observed killing a calf of the same species, according to the study, although infanticide has been observed among many animals before.
“Among terrestrial mammals, it is mostly reported in primates, carnivores and rodents,” the researchers wrote in the study. “However, compelling evidence for infanticide in cetaceans [a group of animals containing whales, dolphins and porpoises] exists in just three species of dolphin.”
Towers said the scene was distressing, however, the research team decided to watch until the end in the knowledge that they were witnessing a rare event.
Because the offending male and his mother did not eat the dead infant, the scientists suggest that the killing may be an example of so-called “sexually selected behavior”—which means that the male killed the calf to mate with its mother.
"In other mammals, we know that in a lot of cases males kill infants, because it forces the infant's mom into a fertile state much quicker," Towers said.
What is interesting in this case is that the mother of the male became involved in the killing.
"Killer whale moms are notorious for helping their adult sons and daughters by sharing food with them and leading them, and maybe even providing mating opportunities for adult male offspring," Towers added.
The researchers say the recent findings cast doubt on some long-held assumptions regarding the sexual behavior of orcas. Scientists have generally thought that female orcas have free reign when it come to choosing their mates because they are often found at the top of the pod hierarchy.
But in light of the recent encounter, Towers suggests that the females may not have as much choice as previously believed. ||||| Marine scientists in B.C. have for the first time seen a killer whale drown a baby of the same species.
The researchers watched the orca infanticide as it unfolded off the northeastern coast of Vancouver Island on Dec. 2, 2016, and published their findings in the journal Scientific Reports this week.
Cetacean ecologist Jared Towers remembers heading out on the water with two colleagues after underwater microphones picked up some transient killer whale calls that seemed a bit strange.
The researchers tracked down the whales, identified and photographed them and were about to leave when they noticed some splashing — it looked like the orcas might have found some prey.
"That's when we realized that the calf — it was a brand-new calf in the group — it wasn't surfacing at all," Towers told CBC News.
"Then the male, who was unrelated to the mother of the calf, swam past the boat with the calf hanging out of its mouth, and that's when we were really quite horrified and fascinated."
The transient killer whale calf swims with its mother moments before the attack. (Jared Towers)
Infanticide isn't unheard of among mammals. Lions do it. Primates do it. Even some bears do it, but it hadn't been documented in killer whales before.
Towers described the distressing scene as something that he'll never unsee, but the researchers quickly realized the significance of the event and stuck around to watch the aftermath.
Over the next few minutes, they observed as the calf's mother and her relatives chased the male around, while the male's mother tried to fend them off. There was more splashing, and a hydrophone below the water captured the frantic calls of the whales.
"That all kind of came to a grinding halt when the mother of the infant hit the male so hard that … his blubber was shaking on his body and you could see blood flying through the air. That was kind of the final impact, but he never let go of the infant," Towers recalled.
The male killer whale holds the calf in its mouth. (Gary Sutton)
Despite the fact that transient killer whales feed on other mammals, including seals, seal lions and young cetaceans from other species, the adult male and his mother did not feed on the baby orca.
That led the scientists to suspect this was an example of what's called sexually selected behaviour. In other words, they believe the 32-year-old male killed the calf so that he could mate with its mother.
"In other mammals, we know that in a lot of cases males kill infants, because it forces the infant's mom into a fertile state much quicker," Towers said.
A map shows the location of the attack. (Jared Towers)
And in a twist unique to orcas, the male's mother got involved.
"Killer whale moms are notorious for helping their adult sons and daughters by sharing food with them and leading them, and maybe even providing mating opportunities for adult male offspring," Towers explained.
The encounter brings into question some previous assumptions about the sexual behaviour of killer whales. Because female orcas are the leaders of their pods, researchers have often guessed that they could be choosy about their mates.
"Looking at the behaviour we've observed, we're now beginning to think that it's quite possible that females don't have a lot of choice when it comes to breeding," Towers said.
But he added that the infanticide proves that even after 40 years of observing orcas in the wild off the B.C. coast, there are still huge gaps in our knowledge about these marine mammals. ||||| An orca named J35 has finally dropped her dead calf, which she'd been pushing with her head for at least 17 days and 1,000 miles off the Pacific Northwest coast, in an unprecedented show of mourning that drew international attention.
The sad spectacle was a prime example, and confirmation, of the complex emotional lives of these sophisticated cetaceans, experts say.
Other orcas, and similar animals like dolphins, have been seen apparently mourning their dead, but this is by far the longest recorded example of such behavior.
J35, nicknamed Tahlequah, is a 20-year-old member of the long-studied J Pod of Southern Resident Killer Whales. These orcas, along with their endangered extended family—K and L pods—inhabit a huge territory that includes waters off Seattle, Vancouver, and Victoria, British Columbia.
Researchers worried that this "tour of grief" might seriously endanger the health of J35, but luckily, she appears to have made it through physically unharmed. "Telephoto digital images taken from shore show that this mother whale appears to be in good physical condition," the Center for Whale Research noted in an update, "following her record-setting ordeal.
As J35’s sojourn continued, some experts wondered why she was so attached to the calf. Was it because the calf lived for about 30 minutes after it was born? Jenny Atkinson, executive director of The Whale Museum in Friday Harbor, British Columbi, thinks the grief Tahlequah is feeling is deeper because after 17 months of gestation, she then had the chance to form an emotional connection with her baby before it died.
“I think that’s quite possible,” says John Ford, an orca researcher at the University of British Columbia. “The whales have a very strong drive to look after their offspring and this evidently extends to neonates that die at birth.”
The death of another calf is a significant blow to J Pod, which hasn’t seen a successful birth in three years. Combined, the three pods have 75 members, and time is running out to maintain its viability. Ken Balcomb, founder and principal investigator at the Center for Whale Research, gives it five years.
“We’ve got at most five more years of reproductive life in this population to make it happen”—meaning, to have viable offspring—"but if we don’t do it in those five years it isn’t going to happen,” he writes.
View Images J35 carried her calf for at least 17 days and 1,000 miles, and researchers had worried she'd endangered herself by expending so much effort. But now she appears in good health. Photograph courtesy Center for Whale Research (Permit #21238)
Balcomb points to a lack of food as the culprit. “We have long demonstrated that these fish-eating whales are getting skinnier and skinnier, and the death rate is increasing,” he writes on the center’s website.
“Whales in this endangered population are dependent upon Chinook salmon for their primary food source. Unfortunately, Chinook salmon are also endangered,” he adds.
Experts expressed relief that J35 survived. As a 20-year-old in her prime, the pod needs her to reproduce.
“Even without this death, this is a population in crisis,” Atkinson says. “They need our stewardship and support if they are to survive.” ||||| “It reflects the very strong bonds these animals have, and as a parent, you can only imagine what kinds of emotional stress these animals must be under, having these events happen,” says one researcher.
For two days she has grieved, carrying her dead calf on her head, unwilling to let it go.
J35, a member of the critically endangered southern resident family of orcas, gave birth to her calf Tuesday only to watch it die within half an hour.
All day, and through the night, she carried the calf. She was seen still carrying the calf on Wednesday by Ken Balcomb, founder and principal investigator of the Center for Whale Research.
“It is unbelievably sad,” said Brad Hanson, wildlife biologist with the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, who has witnessed other mother orcas do the same thing with calves that did not survive.
Robin Baird, research biologist with the Cascadia Research Collective in Olympia, in 2010 watched L72, another of the southern residents, carry her dead newborn in 2010.
“It reflects the very strong bonds these animals have, and as a parent, you can only imagine what kinds of emotional stress these animals must be under, having these events happen,” Baird said.
“You could see the calf had not been dead very long, the umbilical cord was visible. When we were watching, all the rest of the whales were separated by a distance, and they were just moving very slowly. She would drop the calf every once in a while, and go back and retrieve it.”
J35 is doing the same thing, carrying her calf by balancing it on her rostrum, just over her nose. She dives to pick it back up every time it slides off.
Scientists have documented grieving behavior in other animals with close social bonds in small, tightly knit groups, observed carrying newborns that did not survive.
Seven species in seven geographic regions covering three oceans have been documented carrying the body of their deceased young, including Risso’s dolphin in the Indian Ocean; the Indo-Pacific bottle-nosed dolphin and the spinner dolphin in the Red Sea; and pilot whales in the North Atlantic.
In one instance, a researcher attached a rope to the carcass of a bottlenose dolphin and towed it to shore and buried it — with the mother following, touching the carcass until she could no longer follow into water too shallow to swim in. There she remained, watching.
Some carried their young in their mouths, some on their backs.
Deborah Giles, research scientist for University of Washington Center for Conservation Biology and research director for the nonprofit Wild Orca, also watched L72 carry her dead calf, following her at a distance in her research boat until the light faded and it was too dark to see.
“Same thing, it was hours and hours,” she said of that whale. “But I have never heard of this,” she said of J35. “More than 24 hours.
“It is horrible. This is an animal that is a sentient being. It understands the social bonds that it has with the rest of its family members. She carried the calf in her womb from 17 to 18 months, she is bonded to it and she doesn’t want to let it go. It is that simple. She is grieving.”
The news of the grieving mother came even as researchers are also tracking a 4-year-old in the endangered orca clan that is emaciated. Hanson photographed J50 on Saturday and documented the classic “peanut head” — a misshapen head due to loss of body fat. Her survival is in doubt.
The southern residents face at least three known challenges to their survival as a species: toxins, vessel traffic and lack of adequate food, particularly chinook salmon. When they are hungry, it makes their other problems worse, research has shown.
Gov. Jay Inslee has appointed a task force on orca whale recovery.
Jaime Smith, spokeswoman for Inslee, said the task force is looking at a range of solutions, both short and long term.
“The loss of this calf is a sobering reminder of what’s at stake,” Smith said. “And it’s why we’ve convened partners who we believe can and will be best able to identify what we need to do in the upcoming weeks, months and years to save these animals.”
For researchers who work closely with the southern residents, their continued decline is painfully apparent.
“I am on the water collecting poop from animals that are not getting enough to eat,” Giles said. “ I don’t know if people understand the magnitude of what we are talking about here. We don’t have five years to wait, we really don’t.”
She said other members of the whale’s family knew J35 was pregnant, because of their echolocation ability, which they use to find food.
“So they must be grieving, too.” | – Scientists have observed a behavior never before seen in killer whales, and it makes for a grim discovery. Following strange calls from orcas off the northeastern coast of British Columbia's Vancouver Island in December, researchers observed the first known case of infanticide among the whales. After tracking down the orcas and hearing a ruckus in the water, the scientists spotted a male orca with a newborn calf in its mouth, being chased by the calf's mother and other members of its family. As the male's mother attempted to intervene, the calf's mother "hit the male so hard that ... his blubber was shaking on his body and you could see blood flying through the air," ecologist Jared Towers tells the CBC. "We were really quite horrified and fascinated." The male still didn't let go of the calf, which had died by that point, according to Newsweek. Researchers, describing the case in Scientific Reports, say the male orca likely killed the calf so the male orca could mate with the infant's mother. In other mammals, infanticide "forces the infant's mom into a fertile state much quicker," Towers says. He adds researchers previously thought female orcas were picky about mates, but this behavior suggests "females don't have a lot of choice when it comes to breeding." The CBC notes $9 million the Canadian government has dedicated to orca research may reveal more about the endangered species in time, as Washington state works on protection, per Time. (Orca pregnancies are failing.) |
Kate Middleton marked another milestone in her new life as a royal today, delivering her first public address as the Duchess of Cambridge.
Middleton, 30, spoke at the opening of The Treehouse, a hospice run by East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices in Ipswich, England. The hospice is one of the carefully selected group of charitable organizations that Middleton said in January she would be contributing her time to as a patron.
In her brief, nearly three-minute speech, Middleton called the work of the hospice “inspirational” and a “shining example.”
She also apologized for the absence of her husband, Prince William.
“I am only sorry that William can’t be here today; he would love it here,” she said. “A view of his – that I share – is that through teamwork, so much can be achieved. What you have all achieved here is extraordinary.”
Middleton is stepping out in a series of solo appearances while William is deployed on a six-week Royal Air Force deployment in the Falkland Islands.
She made her first solo military appearance over the weekend at an event with the Irish Guards on St. Patrick’s Day. The event made headlines after one guard passed out while the Duchess was handing out shamrocks.
Middleton jumped on the field last week with members of the British Olympic women’s field hockey team during a surprise visit to the site of this summer’s London Olympics, for which Middleton and William have been named ambassadors. The duchess marked another major milestone March 1 by making her first solo appearance with the queen, stepping out for tea to mark the monarch’s 60 years on the throne.
While at the hospice, Middleton also met with children receiving care and their families, toured the center’s facilities and planted a tree in the grounds.
As is the case with everything Middleton does, the reviews of her speech focused as much on her fashion as what she had to say.
The duchess wore a blue dress by one of her favored retailers, Reiss, accessorized by a thick black belt, black heels and a matching clutch.
British fashion watchers were quick to note that the dress is the same one her mother, Carole Middleton, wore to the Royal Ascot horsing event nearly two years ago.
In addition to the hospice, Middleton is also a patron of an addiction charity, the National Portrait Gallery and the Scout Association, the British equivalent of the Girl Scouts.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. ||||| Kate Middleton Wears Mom's Blue Dress For Her First Speech!
Like mother, like daughter.
When Kate Middleton arrived at the East Anglia Children's Hospice (EACH) at the Treehouse center in Ipswich on Monday morning for her first ever public address, royal fashion fans were shocked at the Duchess' fashion choice. See more photos of Kate Middleton giving her first speech as a royal.
VIDEO: Watch Kate Middleton's first public speech
The 30-year-old's cobalt blue Reiss dress (from the label's 2008 collection) came straight from her mother's closet, and Kate even styled it the same way: with black pumps, a thick belt and matching clutch.
PHOTOS: Kate's most stunning looks
Carole Middleton wore the look to Ascot back in 2010, pairing the outfit with a feathered fascinator.
Credit: RETNA
It's not the first time the Duchess has recycled an ensemble. The white Reiss dress she wore in her official engagement portrait made an appearance on Canada Day and she often swaps clothing with her sister Pippa. | – Members of the adoring public who didn't get quite enough of Kate Middleton's perfectly British voice while watching her exchange vows with Prince William had a chance for another fix today: The Duchess of Cambridge gave her first public address as royalty, speaking at the opening of a children's hospice in England. Middleton, a patron of the hospice, called it "inspirational" and apologized that her husband, who is deployed, could not be in attendance, ABC News reports. (Us points out that Middleton apparently wore her mom's dress for the occasion.) |
Richard Simmons’ rep is again denying that the fitness guru is being held hostage by his housekeeper. The accusation was made during episode three of Dan Taberski’s new podcast Missing Richard Simmons.
During the popular podcast, Simmons’ longtime friend and former masseuse Mauro Oliveira claimed that the workout mogul, 68, is being held by his housekeeper, Teresa Reveles.
“It was 6 p.m., and I went into his house. He was sitting in the living room, and he was very weakly, physically and mentally. He was trembling. He said, ‘Mauro. I called you here because we cannot see each other anymore. I’m just going to stay here,’” Oliveira recalled of the last time he saw Simmons in May 2014. “I thought of the worst. I thought the worst was going to happen. I thought he was suicidal.”
Gregg DeGuire/WireImage
Oliveira claimed that he then tried to talk privately with Simmons but that Reveles interfered. “She realized that I was in the house, she started screaming like a witch, ‘No, no, no, no, get out, get out! I don’t want him here!’ Richard looked at me and said, ‘You got to go.’ I said, ‘Really? Is she controlling your life now?’ and he said, ‘Yes.’ And that I have to leave.”
Simmons’ rep, Tom Estey, denies the allegations and tells Us Weekly that it’s a “complete load of crap.”
“Theresa has been working with him for 27 years. So, holding him hostage is the biggest, I mean … Theresa is the housekeeper, she’s the caretaker, she is extraordinary, she is amazing, she takes impeccable care of Richard and she has for as long as I have been working with Richard, so that is a complete load of crap,” Estey added to Us, maintaining again that Simmons’ has simply made a choice to “live a more private life.”
As previously reported, the former fitness personality hasn’t been seen out in public since February 2014. Simmons previously denied the accusations that he’s being held by Reveles and also the rumor that he’s been privately transitioning from male to female.
“Some tabloids have recently falsely reported that I am transitioning.” Simmons wrote in a June 2016 statement. "In response, I feel compelled to set the record straight and refute these lies. Although I am not transitioning, I have and always will be supportive of those who are going through their journey."
Simmons also recently closed his famous workout studio after 42 years.
"I am finally taking my own advice. I am being kind to myself, and putting myself first,” he wrote in a statement on Facebook this past November. “I am making changes and taking time to do the things I want to do. Please know that I am in good health and I am happy. No one has ever been able to tell me what to do and the same is true today. I am still independent, determined and opinionated. I simply am making a new beginning for myself — quietly and in my very own special way."
Want stories like these delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up now for the Us Weekly newsletter! ||||| Richard Simmons Credit: Gregg DeGuire/WireImage
Richard Simmons was reportedly released from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Saturday, June 4, just one day after he was hospitalized for exhibiting “bizarre” behavior.
According to TMZ, the fitness guru, 67, was taken to the hospital on Friday night after he “became incoherent,” alarming his longtime friend and housekeeper, who decided to call 911.
Paramedics were initially unsure if Simmons had suffered from a stroke, dementia or another illness, so they transported him to Cedars-Sinai for evaluation.
Since he was released from the hospital the next day, it appears that a stroke “was ruled out,” according to the site.
Simmons' rep tells Us Weekly that the beloved star was not in a hospital as of Sunday afternoon, adding, “He’s just fine.”
Earlier this year, the weight-loss specialist’s close friend told the New York Daily News that he was concerned Simmons was being held hostage by his housekeeper, Teresa Reveles, after he was out of the public eye for approximately two years.
In March, Simmons broke his silence with two new interviews, in which he insisted that his so-called disappearance was his way of staying out of the spotlight.
“I am not kidnapped, I am just in my house right now,” he explained in a phone interview with Entertainment Tonight on March 13. “No one should be worried about me. The people that surround me are wonderful people who take great care of me.”
That same day, the workout expert called the Today show and told Savannah Guthrie that the hostage rumors were “just very silly.”
“Right now, I just sort of want to take care of me,” he explained. “I just really don’t want to do anything. I don’t want to be traveling anymore. … It’s taken a toll on me.”
Want stories like these delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up now for the Us Weekly newsletter! ||||| Richard Simmons Is Not Missing, He's 'Simply Taking a Break from the Public Eye,' Says Rep
Iconic fitness instructor Richard Simmons is not in any danger, according to his rep.Recent rumors and reports that Simmons is being held inside his home against his will are false, the star's rep Tom Estey tells PEOPLE."As I have stated in the past, these claims are untrue and preposterous," Estey says. "Richard, after 40 years of being in the spotlight, is now simply taking a break from the public eye and working behind the scenes to continue to help those millions of people worldwide in need of his assistance and on several projects to be announced soon."Simmons, 67, has indeed retreated increasingly further from the spotlight in recent years, causing the New York Daily News to investigate claims that he is purposely being kept from his close friends and family.Mauro Oliveira, Simmons' former assistant, told the NYDN in an article published on Saturday that during his last visit to Simmons' mansion, the trainer told him they could no longer see each other. Oliveira also claimed that Simmons told him his longtime live-in housekeeper, Teresa Reveles, is now controlling his life.Several other friends reportedly told the NYDN they hadn't heard from Simmons since 2013 and were "very concerned." Similar rumors ignited in late 2014 after the fitness guru was not seen in public for almost the entire year.Simmons himself shut down those reports, attributing his absence to a knee injury."I am so touched by the outpouring of love and concern I have received today," he wrote on his Facebook page at the time. "I have had a tough time dealing with this injury, as it is keeping me from doing what I truly love to do and that is to teach classes around the world." ||||| Once again, the former Sweatin' to the Oldies icon's reclusive behavior has been thrust into the spotlight, with accusations and insinuations that the 68-year-old Simmons is being help captive or having his actions controlled by his housekeeper.
The claims, made in episode three of the podcast last week, were leveled by Simmons' longtime friend, Mauro Oliveira, who alleges that Simmons is being held hostage by his housekeeper and friend, Teresa Reveles.
The TV personality and fitness leader's rep, Tom Estey, is staunchly denying the allegations.
In a statement released to People , Estey said Oliveira's claims are a "complete load of crap," and that Simmons has decided to simply step back from his life as a celebrity to live a more private existence.
Dan Taberski, who was a close friend of Simmons and created the podcast, explained that he began the project two years after the health and fitness advocate supposedly began distancing himself from his circle of friends and stopped leaving his house.
According to Estey, Reveles has not been keeping Simmons captive, but rather has been caring for his every need.
"Teresa is the housekeeper, she’s the caretaker, she is extraordinary, she is amazing, she takes impeccable care of Richard and she has for as long as I have been working with Richard," Estey said, flat-out denying the insinuations that she's been holding him "hostage."
"Richard made a choice. To live a more private life. If he decides to come back, he’ll come back," Estey added. "People claim that it happened overnight. It really didn’t. We were turning down stuff for years and just kind of quieting down, and when he decides that he wants to come back, that’s when he’ll come back."
As to why Simmons doesn't end the controversy by speaking with the podcast, Estey says that he refuses to participate "because we didn’t feel the need to nor did we want to. All these things distract from his legacy and I will not allow that to happen because this man is a world treasure."
"This man is a saint," Estey noted. "So treat him like a saint and leave him alone."
When ET reached Estey for comment, he reiterated, "This is the same, recycled information from six months ago. What do people want us to say? We don’t want to lie and tell them that there is something wrong when there isn’t. There will be no further comment at this time.”
Accusations that Simmons was being held against his will first surfaced in March 2016 when the Daily News ran a feature article on his disappearance from the public arena. At the time, Simmons spoke exclusively with ET via phone interview where he denied the claims. | – It was the article that launched a thousand, well, articles: an extensive New York Daily News piece on Richard Simmons published Saturday that claimed the "intensely social public figure" has for the last two years essentially vanished, having stopped responding to calls and emails, and suggested an overly controlling live-in housekeeper, Teresa Reveles, is to blame. The fitness guru's rep, Tom Estey, called the claims "untrue and preposterous" in a statement to People, saying Simmons just wanted a break "after 40 years of being in the spotlight." To USA Today, Estey said, "I don’t want the readers ... to think this man is a Howard Hughes recluse in his own home." But, still, no word from Simmons himself ... until Sunday night. In a phone conversation with ET, Simmons said quite plainly, "I am not kidnapped. I am just in my house right now. This is how I want to live my life right now. And to all the people that are worried about me, please don't be. If I was in any trouble, if I was hurting in any way, I would reach out. It is time right now for Richard Simmons to take care of Richard Simmons." He too cites his 40 years of being in the public eye, and references a "very difficult" knee replacement surgery. But he says, "I still weigh 150. I work out every day. I have a gym at the house, and I am very healthy." (Here are 14 reasons to love Simmons' Instagram feed.) |
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson elbowed out reigning top-ranked Robert Downey Jr. to become the world's highest-paid actor--and scored his biggest ever annual paycheck in the process.
Johnson's $64.5 million payday more than doubled his 2015 earnings, making him this year's biggest dollar gainer. The erstwhile wrestler’s millions and millions came from upfront fees for movies including Central Intelligence and Fast 8, as well as the forthcoming Baywatch in which he’s set to play Mitch Buchannon. A staple of the Fast and Furious franchise, the stellar box office performance of his recent films (including 2015’s hit San Andreas) have seen his quotes skyrocket.
“I can kick ass better than anyone on the planet,” Johnson told FORBES in 2012. “And I have a decent smile.”
He bested second-ranked Jackie Chan ($61 million), who mints money with movies in China, and Matt Damon, who tallied $55 million largely off the success of The Martian to boost his earnings 120% year over year.
Rounding out the top five is perennial list member Tom Cruise (No. 4, $53 million) and Johnny Depp (No. 5, $48 million), the latter of whom received a restraining order against him in May, after his wife, Amber Heard, alleged he physically and verbally abused her. The couple reached a $7 million divorce settlement in August; Heard donated the cash to charity. The damning accusations did not impact his earnings during our scoring period--he pocketed an estimated eight figures upfront apiece for the latest Pirates of the Caribbean installment and box office bomb Alice Through the Looking Glass--but his paychecks look set to plummet next year.
The only returnee to the ranking: Harrison Ford, who sneaks on with an outsized payday for his return as Han Solo in 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. He most recently made the list in 2009.
Full List: The World’s Highest-Paid Actors 2016
A quarter of this global list hail from outside the U.S. Aside from Chan, four Bollywood stars returned to the ranking for the second year in a row. Shah Rukh Khan ($33 million), the top-ranked Indian actor, banked as much as Downey Jr. , while Akshay Kumar ($31.5 million) earned the same as Brad Pitt in our scoring period.
Almost universally, a gender pay gap persists. The world's highest-paid actress, Jennifer Lawrence ($46 million), earned 71% of Johnson's $64.5 million. That ratio is a little lower than the 79 cents a white woman is typically paid to every dollar a white man makes, but better than the pay disparity Hispanic or Black women typically face.
There are simply more big budget roles for men that pay the high fees and cut of profits needed to score multimillion take-homes. In fact, there are more roles for men, period: Male characters comprise an overwhelming 71% of all speaking roles in movies, according to a recent study. To wit, eighteen actors banked over $20 million in our scoring period, compared with just four actresses.
Vin Diesel: The Film Star Of The Future
Combined, the world's 20 highest-paid actors earned a whopping $703.5 million between June 1, 2015 and June 1, 2016, before management fees and taxes. That's more than three times the $205 million tallied by the top 10 highest-paid actresses in the same time frame.
Men in movies can also have longer careers than the top-earning women: 95% of the highest-paid actors are over 40, compared with half of the actresses. The same study found that men fill nearly three quarters of all roles for characters over 40. In our rankings, all of the highest-paid actresses are under 50, while 45% of the actors are 50-plus. In fact, two of the actors on the list, Ford and Amitabh Bachchan, are even in their seventies.
Just missing the cut this year is 64-year-old Liam Neeson, whose earnings dropped below the $15 million barrier to entry. Seth Rogen, Chris Hemsworth and Channing Tatum were among the drop-offs, largely due to quieter years or movies that fell outside our scoring period.
While last year's ranking evaluated 34 men, this year's list scaled back to the top 20 to home in on acting's earning elite. Figures are based on data from Nielsen, BoxOffice Mojo and IMDB, as well as interviews with agents, managers and lawyers.
Full List: The World’s Highest-Paid Actors 2016 ||||| (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
A gender pay gap persists in Hollywood, even among elite earners: The top 10 actors banked a cumulative $488.5 million--nearly three times the $172.5 million combined total of the 10 top-earning women. While only three actresses made more than $20 million in 12 months, 16 actors broached the mark.
This pay disparity is due, in part, to roles: There are simply fewer main female characters in the superhero movies and blockbusters that pay the sizeable backend profits that result in leading men's large paydays, or the franchise sequels that permit aggressive negotiation for future installments. According to a 2016 study, women comprise just 28.7% of all speaking roles in movies.
In order to visualize the difference in paychecks, we combined our lists of highest-paid actors and actresses. Emma Stone, who was this year's top-ranked actress, lands at No. 15 when stacked up with the men. Mark Wahlberg, the highest-paid actor, made more than 2.5 times her $26 million pretax take-home. Melissa McCarthy, ranked No. 4 among actresses with $18 million, ties for No. 21 with Chris Evans.
Earnings estimates are based on data from Nielsen, ComScore, Box Office Mojo and IMDB, as well as interviews with industry insiders. All figures are pretax and scored between June 1, 2016, and June 1, 2017; fees for agents, managers and lawyers are not deducted.
Full list:
1. Mark Wahlberg, $68 million
2. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, $65 million
3. Vin Diesel, $54.5 million
4. Adam Sandler, $50.5 million
5. Jackie Chan, $49 million
6. Robert Downey, Jr., $48 million
7. Tom Cruise, $43 million
8. Shah Rukh Khan, $38 million
9. Salman Khan, $37 million
10. Akshay Kumar, $35.5 million
11. Chris Hemsworth, $31.5 million
12. Tom Hanks, $31 million
13. Samuel L. Jackson, $30.5 million
14. Ryan Gosling, $29 million
15. Emma Stone, $26 million
16. Jennifer Aniston, $25.5 million
17. Jennifer Lawrence, $24 million
18. Ryan Reynolds, $21.5 million
19. Matt Damon, $21 million
20. Jeremy Renner, $19 million
21. Chris Evans, $18 million
21. Melissa McCarthy, $18 million
23. Chris Pratt, $17 million
24. Mila Kunis, $15.5 million
25. Emma Watson, $14 million
25. Emma Watson, $14 million
27. Mark Ruffalo, $13 million
28. Cate Blanchett, $12 million
29. Julia Roberts, $12 million
30. Amy Adams, $11.5 million
Read more:
The World's Highest-Paid Actors 2017: Mark Wahlberg Leads With $68 Million
The World's Highest-Paid Actresses 2017: Emma Stone Leads With $26 Million
How Mark Wahlberg Became Hollywood's Highest-Paid Star
Inside Emma Watson's $14 Million Year
For Prestige And Paychecks, Actresses Head To The Small Screen ||||| For the second year in a row, the odds are in her favor: Jennifer Lawrence is once again the world's highest-paid actress, notching $46 million pretax over 12 months--$13 million more than second-ranked Melissa McCarthy, who pocketed $33 million.
Lawrence's impressive earnings consist largely of a profit slice from the big box office gross ($653.4 million) of her final Hunger Games installment and a mammoth upfront fee for the forthcoming Passengers. Her total is down 11.5% from $52 million in 2015, but she remains the girl on fire, financially speaking.
McCarthy, 45, is this year's biggest dollar gainer year over year; her earnings are up $10 million on 2015's estimate thanks in part to a reported eight-figure payday for Ghostbusters. This year, the Mike & Molly star recorded her biggest annual paycheck to date, out-earning Scarlett Johansson (No. 3, $25 million).
“I started to think if I could do anything to build women up rather than the constant tear down I’m going to do it,” McCarthy, who started her own all-sizes clothing line, told FORBES.
Once again, we examined stars from around the globe, scouring Bollywood and the burgeoning Chinese cinema industry. To wit, 30% of the list hail from outside the U.S.; Chinese actress Fan Bingbing makes the cut for the second consecutive year, while Charlize Theron, a dual citizen of South African and the U.S., returns to the list for the first time since 2013.
India's Deepika Padukone is the only newcomer to the ranking. The 30-year-old joins the list with Bollywood hits such as Bajirao Mastani, though she earns far less than her Hollywood counterparts for roles. Instead, she compensates with over a dozen lucrative endorsements--a hedging tactic employed by many of her Hollywood peers.
Full List: The World’s Highest-Paid Actresses 2016
In an industry where a pay gap with male actors still exists, 90% of the world's highest-paid actresses supplement their on-screen earnings with endorsements. A particular standout: Jennifer Aniston (No. 4), 47, whose advertisements for Emirates airlines, Smartwater, Aveeno and Living Proof comprise a chunk of her $21 million earnings.
Together, the world's 10 highest-paid actresses tallied a combined $205 million between June 1, 2015, and June 1, 2016, before fees and taxes. Four women, up from three in 2015, banked more than $20 million compared with 18 of the world's leading men (a separate list of highest-paid actors will be published Thursday).
Though these select actresses earn more than most could dream of, their movie money is but a fraction of what many of their male counterparts pocket. While top actresses can negotiate eight figure upfront fees plus a cut of profits for leading parts in big budget movies, there are simply fewer of those roles available for women. In fact, a recent study found that female characters fill only 28.7% of all speaking roles in film. When women are on screen, they are likely to be eye candy for a male gaze: Women appeared in sexy attire more than a third of the time and were shown partially or fully nude 27.5% of the time, three times as much as men.
It's a phenomenon up-and-comer Brie Larson experienced firsthand. “There were many times that I would go into auditions and the casting directors would say, ‘It’s really great, we love what you’re doing but we’d really love for you to come back in a jean miniskirt and high heels,’ ” said 30 Under 30 honoree Larson after winning the Best Actress Oscar for Room.
Well-known names including Sandra Bullock, Angelina Jolie, Kristen Stewart, Reese Witherspoon and Cameron Diaz were among the drop-offs on this year's ranking. There were also some noteworthy near misses: Kristen Wiig, Renée Zellweger and Cate Blanchett all narrowly missed the $10 million cut off for this year's ranking.
Where last year's ranking evaluated 18 women, this year's list has returned to the top 10 to give a more accurate portrait of acting's earning elite. Earnings estimates are based on data from Nielsen, Box Office Mojo and IMDB, as well as interviews with agents, managers and lawyers.
Full List: The World’s Highest-Paid Actresses 2016 | – The Rock, Jackie Chan, and Matt Damon walk into a bar … and the Rock should probably pay for drinks, as the actor otherwise known as Dwayne Johnson has been named the world's highest-paid male actor by Forbes. Thanks to 2015 earnings of $64.5 million (his largest payday ever), Johnson knocked Robert Downey Jr. off the pay pedestal, helped along by upfront compensation from blockbusters such as this year's Central Intelligence and next year's Fast 8. Chan followed close behind on the Forbes list with $61 million, while Damon came in third with $55 million, boosted mainly by The Martian. Here, the top five and their 2015 earnings: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, $64.5 million Jackie Chan, $61 million, Matt Damon, $55 million Tom Cruise, $53 million Johnny Depp, $48 million Forbes ranked actresses as well, with Jennifer Lawrence earning the No. 1 spot with $46 million, followed by Melissa McCarthy at $33 million and Scarlett Johansson at $25 million. The magazine notes that comparing the two sets of earnings underscores the gender pay gap that still exists, with top-earning Lawrence earning just 71% of Johnson's pay. The top 5 women actors and their 2015 earnings: Jennifer Lawrence, $46 million Melissa McCarthy, $33 million Scarlett Johansson, $25 million Jennifer Aniston, $21 million Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, $17 million Check out the top breadwinners in both the men's and women's categories. |
Shaquille O’Neal gives the flat-Earth theory his seal of approval. (AP)
I’m sorry to break it to you, but Shaquille O’Neal is apparently a flat-Earther, too. Actually, I’m not sorry at all. I love this NBA narrative so, so much, and I’d like to thank Shaq for breathing more life into it.
Cleveland Cavaliers star Kyrie Irving was the first NBA player to reveal his flat-Earth beliefs, summarized as such: “Can you really think of us rotating around the sun, and all planets align, rotating in specific dates, being perpendicular with what’s going on with these ‘planets’ and stuff like this?”
Soon afterwards, Denver Nuggets wing Wilson Chandler and Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green endorsed Irving’s flat-Earth theory, with the latter explaining away NASA’s photos of the planet from space by suggesting everyone can manipulate doctored photos of the globe on their phones.
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The NBA storyline became so outrageous commissioner Adam Silver had to address it in his annual state-of-the-league address at the All-Star Game, clarifying, “I believe the world is round,” and suggesting Irving was making some broader social commentary about fake news in this country.
Which, no he wasn’t. Irving doubled down on his flat-Earth theory this past week, before detailing his lucid dreaming skills and informing us how an ex-teammate came to him in a dream to say goodbye.
These are all very real things that NBA players have said.
This is one wild theme to the 2016-17 NBA season, and Shaq just made it wilder when asked about Irving’s flat-Earth theory on his podcast. This was his response, through a series of interruptions:
Shaq is a flat-Earther, too I’m speechless I love this NBA narrative so muchhttps://t.co/eijTsZKJZm pic.twitter.com/3zOLbABfeQ — Ben Rohrbach (@brohrbach) March 19, 2017
Story Continues
“It’s true. The Earth is flat. The Earth is flat. Yes, it is. Listen, there are three ways to manipulate the mind — what you read, what you see and what you hear. In school, first thing they teach us is, ‘Oh, Columbus discovered America,’ but when he got there, there were some fair-skinned people with the long hair smoking on the peace pipes. So, what does that tell you? Columbus didn’t discover America. So, listen, I drive from coast to coast, and this s*** is flat to me. I’m just saying. I drive from Florida to California all the time, and it’s flat to me. I do not go up and down at a 360-degree angle, and all that stuff about gravity, have you looked outside Atlanta lately and seen all these buildings? You mean to tell me that China is under us? China is under us? It’s not. The world is flat.”
This man has a doctorate degree in education from Barry University in Miami, Fla. Seriously.
I’m not sure which detail I enjoyed better — Shaq thinking the world is flat because he drives coast to coast or Shaq thinking he’d be driving “up and down at a 360-degree angle” if the Earth was spherical.
Unfortunately, you can’t drive from here to Asia, but there are things called boats and airplanes, and if you head west from California, you’ll arrive in China. And if you head west from there, you’ll eventually end up in California again. Because we live on a globe. Shaq should know full well. He’s been to China.
And, technically, a 360-degree angle is just a circle. I don’t know why Shaq thinks you would be driving up and down on a circle, but it is possible to drive comfortably on a spherical object when that object’s circumference is 24,901 miles. Think of an ant walking around a basketball, if you will. It might think it’s moving in a straight line, but eventually it will navigate the orb and arrive in the same place.
[Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Basketball contest now]
Also, there are things called mountains, and you drive over them on your way to California. At various angles. But never at a 360-degree angle, because your car would just be careening in circles into a ravine. But we shouldn’t have to explain mountains to you, just how we shouldn’t have to tell you the Earth is not flat. And that’s what’s so great about this new NBA narrative. It raises so many questions, from where players think the sun goes at night to why they believe they travel to different time zones.
Of course, there remains the possibility that Shaq is just trolling us all. In which case, kudos to him for coming up with some fantastically elaborate fiction about how China cannot be under us, because I can’t get enough of NBA players and their flat-Earth theories — real or imaginary. Keep ’em coming.
– – – – – – –
Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! ||||| Earth is round. I know it. You know it. Bill Nye knows it.
But still, in 2017, many flat Earth truthers still are denying what has been known as scientific fact for centuries.
They draw in a famous crowd. Several N.B.A. stars (including Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving) have openly voiced their conspiracies. Now, rapper B.o.B. is using his public platform to prove his suspicions about the existence of the "curve" once and for all.
Bobby Simmons Jr. (better known as B.o.B.) launched a GoFundMe page called "Show BoB the Curve" on Thursday. In a video on the page, he calls himself "Flat Earth B.o.B." and explains that he wants to send as many satellites as he can into orbit to "find the curve." The rapper tweeted a link to the fundraising page in hopes of drumming up some support.
It looks as if B.o.B. got the idea from Twitter user Tim Pastoor, who tweeted an idea for how flat Earth truthers can "find the edge" at another user. B.o.B. retweeted and called it a "great idea."
They're always asking for an experiment they can do from home, so here's one: Crowdfund a satellite and go look for the edge. — Tim Pastoor (@timpastoor) September 20, 2017
So far, the page has raised $225. Just a little shy of the skeptical rapper's goal of $200,000.
Eighteen individuals have donated to B.o.B.'s fund at time of writing, in amounts ranging from $5 to $50. However, not all of them seem to agree with the rapper's theories. Donor Daniel Ferguson added a comment to his donation: "Here's $5 to prove yourself wrong."
This isn't the first time B.o.B. has shared his flat Earth beliefs with the world.
In early 2016, the rapper took to Twitter to share some of his his "evidence," including several photos and assertions that the earth is indeed, flat.
The cities in the background are approx. 16miles apart... where is the curve ? please explain this pic.twitter.com/YCJVBdOWX7 — B.o.B (@bobatl) January 25, 2016
Most of B.o.B's reasoning seems to be based on what he can see. He grew frustrated that some of his over two million followers told him that he wasn't high enough to see the Earth's natural curve.
This wasn't the end of B.o.B.'s public display of flat Earth trutherism. The conspiracy-driven tweets sparked a public feud between the rapper and Neil deGrasse Tyson himself.
The famous astrophysicist first fired back with some cold, hard facts. He also shared his concerns about the conspiracies.
@bobatl Polaris is gone by 1.5 deg S. Latitude. You’ve never been south of Earth’s Equator, or if so, you've never looked up. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) January 25, 2016
@bobatl Flat Earth is a problem only when people in charge think that way. No law stops you from regressively basking in it. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) January 25, 2016
The rapper didn't hesitate to respond to the science legend, questioning why only NASA had photos of "the curve."
One Twitter user said he was ready for a diss track to emerge from this epic exchange.
Favorite beef of the year is @neiltyson vs @bobatl. Can't wait for the diss track! — Ullas (@ullasu) January 25, 2016
Well, ask and you shall receive.
The Strange Clouds rapper came around later that night with the track "Flatline," which includes audio of Tyson explaining the Earth's spherical shape. In the song, B.o.B. raps, "Globalists see me as a threat, free thinking got the world at my neck."
He calls out the renowned scientist directly, saying, "Neil Tyson need to loosen his vest, they probably write that man one hell of a check." And, once again, he references his skepticism about his view of the horizon (and about science itself): "I see only good things on the horizon, that's probably why the horizon is always rising, indoctrinated in a cult called science and graduated to a club full of liars."
But Tyson wasn't going to let him get the last word. The Cosmos host enlisted the help of his nephew Stephen Tyson to clap back with his own diss-filled track.
The Notorious N.D.T. quotes his own tweet to B.o.B. on the track, "Flat to Fact." He leaves the rest of the rapping to his nephew who goes after the flat Earth theorist directly: "I'm bringing facts to combat a silly theory/Because B.o.B. has gotta know the planet is a sphere, G."
Hopefully this GoFundMe will show B.o.B. the truth about the Earth and, more importantly, end what is perhaps one of the greatest rap battles of this generation. But until then, we can check in on B.o.B.'s "step-by-step documentation" of his mission to "find the curve." | – Apparently there's a belief circulating in the NBA that the Earth is flat. Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers first revealed his flat-Earth beliefs back in February, and now retired basketball player Shaquille O'Neal has revealed he's on the same page. In an episode of his podcast broadcast late February but only recently picked up by the media, Shaq said, per Sports Illustrated: "It’s true. The Earth is flat. The Earth is flat. Yes, it is. Listen, there are three ways to manipulate the mind—what you read, what you see, and what you hear." He used an example involving Christopher Columbus, arguing that Columbus didn't really discover America because there were already "fair-skinned people" living here when Columbus arrived. Then he got into the real nitty gritty. He explained that he drives from coast to coast, and it certainly seems flat to him: "I’m just saying. I drive from Florida to California all the time, and it’s flat to me. I do not go up and down at a 360-degree angle, and all that stuff about gravity, have you looked outside Atlanta lately and seen all these buildings? You mean to tell me that China is under us? China is under us? It’s not. The world is flat." Kenny Ducey at SI says that while he wants to believe this is all a joke, both Irving and O'Neal seem to be taking it seriously; Irving, for example, has continued to defend his beliefs. Ben Rohrbach at Yahoo Sports, who first uncovered the Shaq podcast, agrees that Irving is not kidding around (or trying to make some sort of point about "fake news," as NBA commissioner Adam Silver suggested), and points out that at least two other NBA players have agreed with him. |
Miriam Reeves is escorted down the aisle by her father Bernard Reeves, 64, who has Alzheimer’s, and her mother, Marie Reeves. THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT
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Miriam Reeves and her fiance, Mark Davis, were planning a traditional wedding ceremony at their church in Ypsilanti, Mich., when she realized about a month ago that someone very special would be missing: her father.
Bernard Reeves, 64, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia in 2006, and moved to the Foundation Park Alzheimer’s Care Center in Toledo about two years ago when his symptoms worsened.
So the former Ms. Reeves, 31, of Canton, Mich., decided to bring the wedding to her father. The couple held a small, informal garden ceremony at Foundation Park on Saturday.
“My dad has been my hero my entire life and I know that if he was well, he would be at my wedding front and center. And I thought, ‘Why not move it there and it would be more of a special event,’ ” Mrs. Davis said before the ceremony.
PHOTO GALLERY: Click here for more photos from the ceremony
And as so many brides imagine for their special day, a beaming Bernard Reeves walked his daughter down the aisle Saturday morning, while those in attendance fought — many with little success — to hold back sentimental tears.
The Rev. Robert Davis, the father of the groom, conducts the marriage ceremony Saturday between Miriam Reeves and Mark Davis. THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT
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Mr. Reeves is in an advanced stage of the disease and his daughter was worried he might wander off if the family tried to bring him out of the center to a ceremony held elsewhere, said Marla Hawkins, the care center’s director of admissions and marketing.
“He still knows who we are, but he doesn’t say much and he can’t care for himself. I feel like a part of him will know what’s going on,” his daughter said beforehand.
“Even if he can’t sit through the whole thing, we just want his presence,” her mother said before the ceremony.
“It all depends on his mental state at the time,” Mrs. Reeves said.
Mr. Reeves had an inspiring life before his diagnosis.
“He was in the Army during the Vietnam War. He was stationed in Germany at the time,” Mrs. Reeves said.
He was also a police chaplain for a time. Most recently he was a pastor at the New Creation Church in Detroit.
Though father and daughter were always close, Mrs. Reeves said they grew even closer when he got sick.
“She was going to school in psychology at the time and the more she learned, the harder it was for her because she knew what to expect,” her mother said.
Mrs. Davis is one of six children and the last to marry. For that reason, and because they are so close, Mrs. Davis felt it was imperative her father be present for the wedding.
“When we came up with the idea of having the wedding there, they [the care center] were very excited about it. I didn’t expect that,” Mrs. Reeves said. She said she does not believe they have ever had a wedding ceremony held there.
Though the guest list for the ceremony originally was quite short, it began expanding.
“My husband has six kids. Then we have 10 grandkids. And on the groom’s side there are three sisters. And his father is a pastor so he’ll be doing the ceremony,” Mrs. Reeves said.
Ultimately, Mrs. Reeves estimated the audience at 30 people.
After the ceremony, the couple and wedding party planned to have dinner together at a restaurant in the Toledo area.
Blade Staff Writer Marlene Harris-Taylor contributed to this report. ||||| TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — A Michigan woman who had been planning a traditional church wedding changed the venue to an Ohio nursing home so her father with Alzheimer's could walk her down the aisle.
Miriam Reeves is escorted down the aisle by her father Bernard Reeves, 64, who has Alzheimer's, and her mother Marie Reeves, right, during the Reeves / Davis wedding at Foundation Park Alzheimer's Care... (Associated Press)
Pastor Robert Davis, the father of the groom, center, conducts the marriage ceremony between Miriam Reeves, left, and Mark Davis beneath the gazebo in the courtyard of Foundation Park Alzheimer's Care... (Associated Press)
Miriam and Mark Davis, of Canton, married Saturday at the Foundation Park Alzheimer's Care Center in Toledo.
A beaming Bernard Reeves, 64, gave his daughter away as many of the 30-some wedding guests struggled to hold back tears.
Reeves has advanced-stage Alzheimer's disease.
"My dad has been my hero my entire life and I know that if he was well, he would be at my wedding front and center," Miriam Davis, 31, told The Blade before the ceremony (http://bit.ly/VwRES7). "And I thought, 'Why not move it there and it would be more of a special event?'"
Davis and her fiance had been planning to marry at their church in Ypsilanti, Michigan. But she worried that her father might wander off if he were away from his nursing home.
The nursing home was enthusiastic about hosting the ceremony, she said.
Davis said her father still knows who she is but rarely talks and can't care for himself.
Reeves, a Vietnam War veteran, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2006 and moved to the Toledo nursing home two years ago when his symptoms worsened.
Reeves also was a police chaplain for a time. Most recently, he was a pastor at the New Creation Church in Detroit.
Marie Reeves, Davis' mother and Bernard Reeves' wife, said even though her husband may not have understood everything that was going on Saturday, his simple presence meant so much.
___
Information from: The Blade, http://www.toledoblade.com/ | – Most weddings have at least a few wet eyes in attendance. But when 30 guests watched Miriam Reeves escorted down the aisle by her beaming father Saturday, few could hold back their tears. Just a month earlier, Miriam, 31, decided to move her traditional church wedding in Michigan to the garden at the Foundation Park Alzheimer's Care Center in Toledo, Ohio, where her father, Bernard Reeves, 64, has been a resident since his Alzheimer's symptoms got worse two years ago. She had been worried he'd wander off if he had to leave the center to attend a wedding elsewhere. "My dad has been my hero my entire life and I know that if he was well, he would be at my wedding front and center," Miriam tells the Toledo Blade. "And I thought, 'Why not move it there and it would be more of a special event.'" The staff was enthusiastic, she says, adding that she believes her wedding was the first to be held at the center. Her father served in the Army during the Vietnam War, then became a police chaplain, and was also a pastor in Detroit, reports the AP. He is now in an advanced stage of the disease, but he still recognizes his daughter. (Also over the weekend, a New York cop got to see the baby he saved 20 years ago get married.) |
At the 67th anniversary of the National Thanksgiving Turkey presentation on Wednesday, President Obama pardoned two Ohio turkeys that will now live at the home of a former Virginia governor. (AP)
At the 67th anniversary of the National Thanksgiving Turkey presentation on Wednesday, President Obama pardoned two Ohio turkeys that will now live at the home of a former Virginia governor. (AP)
The communications director for a Republican member of Congress ignited a firestorm this weekend after she criticized President Obama’s teenage daughters in a Facebook post that touched a nerve even for Americans accustomed to political mudslinging.
“Try showing a little class,” Elizabeth Lauten, communications director for Rep. Stephen Lee Fincher (Tenn.), wrote Friday in a Facebook posting addressed to Sasha, 13, and Malia, 16, chastising them for their comportment during last week’s annual turkey pardoning event at the White House.
“Rise to the occasion. Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at the bar,” Lauten wrote. “And certainly don’t make faces during televised, public events.”
Lauten was not the first to comment on the girls’ demeanor at the event, an annual rite that is comfortably embedded in Washington tradition if not universally appreciated.
After the Wednesday event, several media outlets declared that the young women, standing behind their father as he pardoned two turkeys named Mac and Cheese, looked bored, exasperated or just . . . teenager-ly. USA Today published this headline: “Malia and Sasha Obama are so done with their dad’s turkey pardon,” while the Gawker Web site observed that “not even the pomp and ritual of the White House can overcome the most powerful force known to man: TEEN CONTEMPT.”
U.S. President Obama speaks as his daughters Sasha, center, and Malia listen before the pardon of two turkeys during a ceremony at the White House on Nov. 26. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Lauten’s Facebook post was shared on Twitter and then picked up by the blogosphere. Most of the online reaction to Lauten’s comments focused on her characterization of the girls’ appearance and their facial expressions, which was especially surprising given her role as a political communication adviser. Some Twitter users accused her of racial overtones in her comments.
By Saturday evening, hundreds of people had made use of the #ElizabethLauten hashtag on Twitter.
“Direct your dislike of their dad’s policies or politics toward their dad. Always leave the kids (D or R) out of it,” wrote one Twitter using the handle @Mica4Life.
Sasha and Malia Obama are among the youngest presidential children at the White House in years. Their parents have gone to great lengths to shield them from the glare of media attention as they attend school, play sports and socialize under the nose of the Washington press corps.
Julian Zelizer, a presidential historian and professor at Princeton University, said the U.S. media had generally respected similar efforts by past presidents, including Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, to keep their children away from the limelight.
“But in an era of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, this stuff is just hard to control,” he said. And, given the acrimonious nature of Republican dealings with the Democratic president, Zelizer said, “this is low-hanging fruit.”
In her post, Lauten also took a dig at the president and first lady, saying “your mother and father don’t respect their positions very much, or the nation for that matter, so I’m guessing you’re coming up a little short in the ‘good role model’ department.”
Hours after the original post, Lauten followed up with a second post apologizing for her critique. “I quickly judged the two young ladies in a way that I would never have wanted to be judged myself as a teenager,” she wrote.
“After many hours of prayer, talking to my parents, and re-reading my words online I can see more clearly just how hurtful my words were. . . . I pledge to learn and grow (and I assure you I have) from this experience.”
Lauten declined to comment about the incident, but she did confirm her Facebook postings to The Washington Post. A White House spokesman declined to comment.
Zelizer said President George W. Bush struggled with some of the same issues, when photos or reports of his daughters Jenna and Barbara partying appeared online.
“It’s a way to kind of make a statement about who the president is through how the kids are acting,” he said. “It’s not about the kids being insulted. It’s about the president, but it’s obviously frustrating for the president who’s a father.”
According to her LinkedIn profile, Lauten previously served as press secretary for a Republican representative from Illinois and as a “new media political manager” for the Republican National Committee. Her profile lists “political strategy on social media platforms (particularly Facebook and Twitter)” as among her professional specialties.
Fincher, a Republican who has been critical of Obama’s executive action on immigration and of the Affordable Care Act, did not make an immediate statement about the incident. ||||| Getty Obama makes immigration joke at turkey pardon
President Barack Obama used his presidential powers to grant one lucky turkey “amnesty” on Wednesday.
“I am here to announce what I’m sure will be the most talked-about executive action this month,” Obama joked during the Pardoning of the National Turkey, a tradition where the president excuses one turkey and an alternate from becoming a Thanksgiving entree.
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The president used the ceremony as an excuse to make jabs at recent news surrounding his executive action that protects millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation.
“Today, I’m taking an action fully within my legal authority, the same kind of action taken by Democrats and Republican presidents before me,” he said to a laughing audience. “To spare the lives of two turkeys — Mac and Cheese — from a terrible and delicious fate.”
This year the turkeys took to Twitter, as the White House started an online campaign where users could tweet their support for #TeamMac or #TeamCheese. Obama announced that Cheese was the winner of the competition, but that both will be saved from the Thanksgiving table and taken to the home of former Virginia Gov. Westmoreland Davis in Leesburg, Va.
“They’ll get to live out the rest of their days, respectably, at a Virginia estate with 10,000 acres of roaming space,” he said.
Obama continued, “I know some will call this amnesty, but don’t worry, there’s plenty of turkey to go around.” | – "I am here to announce what I’m sure will be the most talked-about executive action this month," President Obama quipped yesterday as he pardoned a pair of Thanksgiving turkeys named Mac and Cheese. He admitted that he found the Pardoning of the National Turkey "a little puzzling," but said "with all the tough stuff that swirls around in this office it's nice once in a while just to say, 'Happy Thanksgiving,'" CNN reports. The White House held an online campaign this year where users could tweet in favor of saving Mac or Cheese, Politico reports. Cheese won, but Obama said both would be spared "a terrible and delicious fate." "I know some will call this amnesty, but don't worry, there’s plenty of turkey to go around," Obama joked. This is the sixth turkey pardon of Obama's presidency and the novelty definitely appears to have worn off for Malia and Sasha. The girls, now 16 and 13, looked on with "barely contained disdain," and Malia said, "Nah" when her father asked her if she'd like to pet Cheese, Gawker reports (it shares a gif of their "teen face"). The daughters aren't the only ones with disdain for the tradition. Critics call it a mockery of real presidential pardons and note that the birds don't tend to spend long, peaceful retirements on farms: They're not bred to live long and most end up dead within a few months of the "pardon." |
Arab League monitors have met anti-government protesters but not been allowed into 'military zones' [YouTube]
Syria has rejected any plans to send Arab troops into the country, saying it will "confront" and "stand firm" against military intervention after the ruler of Qatar said in a television interview that Arab countries should step in with force.
The state-run SANA news agency quoted a "credible source" at the foreign ministry as saying on Tuesday that the country is "shocked" by the Qatari emir's comments, which "could worsen the conflict and kill the chances of Syria working closely with Arabs".
The source warned that it will be "unfortunate to see Arab blood flow on Syrian soil".
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani was quoted by an American television programme on Sunday as suggesting that Arab troops should be sent to Syria to stop the deadly violence.
The interview, which was conducted late last year, was the first time an Arab leader had called for the deployment of troops inside the country.
The United Nations estimated in December that at least 5,000 people have been killed since protests against the government of President Bashar al-Assad broke out in March.
The organisation also believes at least 400 people have been killed since the Arab League first deployed observers - meant to oversee the implementation of a League-brokered peace plan - on December 26.
Militarised conflict
The initially peaceful uprising against Assad was met with deadly force and mass arrests and has in recent months turned into a militarised conflict between the government on one side and army defectors and armed civilians on the other.
Qatar, which once had close relations with Damascus, has been a harsh critic of crackdown and withdrew its ambassador during the summer.
Since revolts began to sweep the Arab world in December 2010, Qatar has aggressively supported opposition movements, most prominently in Libya, where it trained, armed and guided the fighters who overthrew the country's longstanding ruler, Muammar Gaddafi.
Assad and his government say "terrorists" are behind the uprising and that armed gangs are acting out a foreign conspiracy to destabilise the country.
The Syrian foreign ministry source told SANA on Tuesday that "it will be unfortunate to see Arab blood flow on Syrian territory just for the purpose of serving known agendas, especially that the foreign conspiracy against Syria has become very clear".
The statement also called on Arab countries to "help prevent the infiltration of terrorists and the smuggling of weapons into Syria".
The Arab League observer mission is expected to announce this week that Syria has failed to implement a peace plan brokered by the regional bloc.
Tug-of-war at UN
International diplomats at the UN Security Council, meanwhile, are debating a new resolution that will call for an end to the violence and is set to come to a vote in two weeks.
The US and European nations are at odds with Russia, which proposed the draft language and opposes intervention in Syria.
"Western countries say the resolution isn't tough enough, [the] Russians say it's not the Security Council's place to take sides in civil dispute," Al Jazeera's Kristin Saloomey reported from the United Nations.
The Russians do not want to see a Libya-style military intervention and "are not alone" in that desire, our correspondent said.
The draft resolution does not mention sanctioning Syria, which the US and European Union have done independently, she said.
Mandate to expire
The Arab League mission's mandate is due to expire on Thursday, and the bloc is set to meet on Sunday to discuss next steps, including possibly renewing the mission.
"The outcome of the contacts that have taken place over the past week between the Arab League and Syria have affirmed that Syria will not reject the renewal of the Arab monitoring mission for another month ... if the Arab foreign ministers call for this at the coming meeting," an Arab source told the Reuters news agency.
Syria will allow the number of monitors, currently fewer than 200, to increase, but will not agree to give them official fact-finding duties or let them visit off-limits "military zones".
Activists reported that at least 20 people died in Syria on Tuesday, mostly in the flashpoint city of Homs.
SANA reported that an "armed terrorist group" fired rocket-propelled grenades at an army checkpoint 9km southwest of Damascus on Monday, killing an officer and five soldiers. ||||| Syria accepts Arab monitors as dozens more killed
CAIRO — Syria agreed Monday to allow Arab observers to monitor a deal to end a nine-month protest crackdown, in a move dismissed by the opposition as a ploy and followed by even more reports of bloodshed.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said between 60 and 70 army deserters were gunned down as they fled their military posts in northwestern Idlib province, while another 40 civilians were killed elsewhere.
The reports came as the UN General Assembly passed a resolution that "strongly condemns... grave and systematic human rights violations" by Syria, highlighting "arbitrary executions" of protesters and rights defenders.
After weeks of prevarication, President Bashar al-Assad's embattled regime signed a deal at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo to accept observers to monitor a plan to end the bloodshed.
The Arab League said an advance team of observers from Arab countries would head to Damascus within 72 hours, and the mission would last for a renewable initial period of a month.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem welcomed the deal and expressed hope the bloc would lift sweeping sanctions on Damascus.
But Burhan Ghaliun, head of the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC), accused Assad's regime of "manoeuvring" to avoid threatened UN Security Council action.
More than 5,000 people have been killed in the crackdown on nationwide democracy protests that erupted in mid-March, according to the UN's latest estimate issued a week ago.
"Signing the protocol is the start of cooperation with the Arab League and we will welcome the observers' mission from the Arab League," said Muallem, adding the League agreed to 70 percent of changes sought by Damascus.
At a joint news conference in Cairo with Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Maqdad, who signed the accord, Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said an advance team of observers would go to Damascus "within two or three days".
"The Arab League has a list of 100 names of observers from Arab, non-governmental organisations and representatives of Arab countries... (and) this number will be increased at a later date."
The plan also calls for a complete halt to the violence, releasing detainees and the military's complete withdrawal from towns and residential zones. Syria must also hold talks with the opposition under League auspices.
At the United Nations, Western envoys said the Syrian pledge would be taken into consideration at talks on a Russian-proposed Security Council resolution but expressed doubts that it would be carried out.
"It's all about implementation," Britain's UN ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said ahead of the talks on the Russian resolution to condemn violence by both sides.
France, which spearheads international pressure on Syria to end its deadly crackdown, said the observers could not be in place quickly enough.
"We regret there have been 30 more deaths in the past two days. It's urgent," a foreign ministry spokesman in Paris said.
And the SNC umbrella group of opposition factions poured scorn on the regime's acceptance of the plan, and sought Arab military intervention if the crackdown continues.
"The Syrian regime is manoeuvring to try to prevent the Syrian file being submitted to the UN Security Council," said Ghaliun. "This is just a ploy. They have no intention of implementing any initiative."
"If the Syrian regime continues its violent repression, the SNC will resort to Arab dissuasion forces. We need to make use of force in a limited way and in specific areas," he told reporters in Tunis.
The Arab League had warned it would take Syria to the UN Security Council if Damascus continued to resist plans to admit observers.
Syria's regional ally Iran, meanwhile, backed Damascus' decision.
The Arab League plan "contains many of the points Iran was also looking at," even if not all concerns were addressed, said Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdolahian.
There was no sign of the bloodshed easing on Monday.
Activists said security forces killed at least 19 civilians and left many wounded, including a child in the restive Damascus neighbourhood of Midan.
The child was wounded when security forces opened fire on demonstrators at the funeral of a 13-year-old girl killed on Sunday, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Another child was seriously wounded when security forces opened fire in northern Idlib province, where several other people were also wounded, said the Britain-based Observatory.
Army deserters killed three loyalist troops in Idlib province, it said in a statement sent to AFP in Nicosia.
Syria blames the unrest on "armed terrorist groups" -- not peaceful protesters as claimed by Western powers and rights groups -- and Muallem said he hopes the observer mission will vindicate this contention.
He said the observers would be provided with security escorts, and that they would be allowed to visit only protest hubs and other flashpoints, not sensitive military sites.
Syria would also allow in foreign media, provided they report objectively.
The 22-member Arab bloc had been trying to persuade Damascus to accept the observer mission for weeks, and last month hit Syria with sanctions after it refused to sign the deal, saying it undermined its sovereignty.
Iraq's national security adviser, Falah al-Fayadh, said meanwhile that members of Syria's opposition would visit his country next week as part of Baghdad's efforts to end the unrest.
Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved. More » | – Syria may have begrudgingly agreed to let Arab League observers into the country, but it's not about to do the same with Arab troops. Responding angrily to the emir of Qatar's suggestion that troops intervene, Syria's foreign ministry made clear it won't stand idly by if foreign soldiers move in, reports AP. "The Syrian people reject any foreign intervention in its affairs, under any title, and would confront any attempt to infringe upon Syria's sovereignty and the integrity of its territories," said a statement. Syrian officials were reportedly "shocked" at the proposal and warned it could "kill the chances of Syria working closely with Arabs," according to al-Jazeera. As for the Arab League's observer mission, it's expected to wrap up this week by announcing that Syria has failed to put a League-brokered peace plan into place. The mission is widely seen as a failure, with at least 400 people killed since the first observers deployed in late December. |
AUSTIN — The Texas Nationalist Movement marked Texas Independence Day with a rally on Saturday at the Capitol urging Texans to save the state by seceding from the United States.
A small but enthusiastic group of Texans gathered on the steps of the Capitol, as an assortment of massive Texas flags blew above them in the chilly afternoon breeze.
Outrage was spread evenly toward Democrats and Republicans as leaders of the movement expressed their disgust for the growing national debt and the federal government's treatment of Texas.
"Texas can take better care of itself than Washington," said Lauren Savage, vice president of the movement. "We are here to raise interest in the Legislature of the possibility of secession to cure the ills of America."
Members are demanding that state lawmakers introduce a bill that would allow Texans to vote on whether to declare independence.
Fed up with federal mandates, the burden of unsustainable taxes and disregarded votes, members say secession has been a long time coming.
"This is a cake that's been baking for 85 years," said Cary Wise, membership director of the Texas Nationalist Movement. "All this administration has done is light the candles."
Demonstrators said they have had enough of state leaders who are conservative in rhetoric but big government proponents in reality, calling out GOP Gov. Rick Perry as one of the biggest frauds.
"I would love to debate Rick Perry live because we could once and for all show that the guy is a big government fraud who claims to be conservative," said Eric Kirkland, member of the Constitution Party of Texas.
Among shouts of agreement from the crowd, Kirkland added that he would love for Perry to walk out of the Capitol at that moment to engage in a debate.
Demonstrators said taxes are weighing down Texans and are ultimately unsustainable. Gerry Donaldson, host of Our Constitution: Foundation and Principles Radio Show, used bricks to demonstrate the burden dozens of taxes place on Texans throughout their lives.
"Washington is encroaching on us in greater levels day by day," Donaldson said, as he piled bricks one by one into a bucket held by a fellow member. "So, what do we do?"
Secessionists stressed accountability for a government they say has become corrupted by power and distorted from the framers' original intent.
Donaldson said he is getting a committee together that will review every bill proposed by state lawmakers and determine if it is constitutional by the people.
Drawing largely from the Texas Bill of Rights, demonstrators said Texans have the responsibility to take power from the hands of a federal government that has gotten out of control.
"The only way is to secede and wipe the slate clean," Donaldson said. "We secede, and then we reform this government based on an absolute return back to basic principles." ||||| If you can't make it to SXSW, here's the next best thing: The Texas Nationalist Movement, which is exactly what it sounds like, will be holding a rally tomorrow in front of the state capitiol in Austin to push for a referendum on secession from the United States.
As with any half-decent declaration of independence, the group's resolution has a list of grievances: Specifically, the federal government has failed the protect its borders, and "implemented thousands of laws, mandates and agencies in violation of the United States Constitution that have invaded the sovereignty of the State of Texas."
But wait: This story actually gets stranger. As the Houston Press reported, the Texas Nationalist Movement's secession rally is being sponsored by none other than state Rep. Leo Berman. You may remember Berman as the man who introduced a bill to force the President of the United States to prove his citizenship (again), and, when asked for proof, cited YouTube videos he'd seen because, "YouTubes are infallible." He's also sponsoring a bill to save state courts from the scourge of Islamic Sharia law.
So why is a state legislator promoting a secession rally? The Press caught up with Berman, who explained that while he "very strongly" does not support secession (statehouse rallies need a legislative sponsor), he doesn't think it's such a terrible idea either:
He says he has "no qualms" about supporting a secession rally. Is there any group out there whose message is so far out, so radical and dangerous that he would refuse to be a legislative sponsor for them? "I'm very, very, very strongly pro-life," he says. "So I would not support an abortion-type rally."
Man's got to stand for something.
Support for secession has a long and rich history in the Lone Star State. According to a 2009 poll, 48 percent of Texas Republicans agreed that the state "would be better off as an independent nation." That came after GOP Governor Rick Perry told reporters at a tea party in Austin that if the federal government didn't change its ways, secession might be an option. And in 2009, a Kerr County resident was arrested for claiming to be a sheriff's deputy for the "Republic of Texas." For more, check out our interactive map on US secession movements.
Also of note: Although the group's poster features a severely mutton-chopped Sam Houston calling for Texas independence, the real Sam Houston famously took an unpopular stand against Texas secession on the eve of the Civil War. As he put it: "The Union is worth more than Mr. Lincoln. I was denounced then. I am denounced now. Be it so!" | – Yesterday was Texas Independence Day, and one group of Texans celebrated it by rallying on the steps of the state Capitol, urging secession from the US. The Texas Nationalist Movement is unhappy with both Democrats and Republicans, and is especially concerned with the growing national debt and rising taxes, reports the AP via the Houston Chronicle. "Texas can take better care of itself than Washington," says the group’s VP. "We are here to raise interest in the Legislature of the possibility of secession to cure the ills of America." The small but passionate group want state lawmakers to allow Texans to vote on whether or not to declare independence. "The only way is to secede and wipe the slate clean," says a radio show host. "We secede, and then we reform this government based on an absolute return back to basic principles." Adds the group’s membership director, “This is a cake that’s been baking for 85 years.” The demonstrators are no fans of Gov. Rick Perry; one calls him “a big government fraud who claims to be conservative.” Mother Jones notes that State Rep. Leo Berman, a birther, sponsored the rally. |
Curtis Dawkins wrote The Graybar Hotel while serving a life sentence. Now the state says proceeds from the work belong to them
Curtis Dawkins, a Michigan prisoner and publishing sensation, could be forced to repay the costs of his incarceration from the proceeds of his literary work.
Dawkins is serving a life sentence for a 2004 crime spree on Halloween night that left one man dead. His debut collection of short stories, The Graybar Hotel, was written in a Michigan penitentiary and published in July.
But now the Michigan department of treasury is seeking 90% of Dawkins’ assets, including “proceeds from publications, future payments, royalties” from the book. Michigan puts the cost of his incarceration at $72,000; Dawkins, 49, received a $150,000 advance from Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
Curtis Dawkins with his children in 2003. Photograph: pr
The state claims that Dawkins, who is representing himself at a hearing next week in Kalamazoo, has no right to pass his literary earnings to his family.
But Dawkins, who has expressed deep remorse for the murder and described writing as his “lifeboat”, claims his family is being unfairly punished. He says state law contains a provision stating that the court must take into account “any legal and moral obligation” he has to support his children.
Kenneth Bowman, the brother of Dawkins’ victim Tom Bowman, told the New York Times last year he believes that any money Dawkins receives should go to the victim’s family or a charity.
Bowman told the Detroit News he wished Michigan had the death penalty. Given the opportunity, Bowman said, he’d administer it himself.
Break-out stories: the murderer who hopes writing fiction will set him free Read more
Not long after, Michigan made its claim demanding partial “reimbursement to the state for defendant’s cost of care while incarcerated”. Many states have provisions to bar inmates from profiting from nonfiction accounts of their crimes by directing proceeds to victim families, but not to reimburse for their incarceration itself.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University school of law, Michigan is one of more than 40 states where prisoners can be forced to pay for the cost of their incarceration.
In recent years, the Times reports, state government claims for reimbursement are increasing and can now include medical care, clothing, meals, police transport, public defense fees, drug testing and electronic monitoring.
Last year, Michigan collected $3.7m from 294 prisoners. The state counts 40,000 inmates of the 2.2 million adults in US jails. According to the Brennan center, roughly 10 million people owe $50bn in fees stemming from their arrest or imprisonment.
In a 2015 paper, Charging Inmates Perpetuates Mass Incarceration, the center concluded that while it was understandable that states would look to offset the high costs of incarceration, “it is unreasonable to require a population whose debt to society is already being paid by the sentences imposed, 80% of whom are indigent, to help foot the bill.”
Lauren-Brooke Eisen, author of the report, told the Times that to be deprived of liberty and then be required to pay for the separation from society “raises cruel and unusual punishment issues”. H Bruce Franklin, author of Prison Literature in America, says such measures could dissuade prisoner-writers from publishing at all.
Dawkins, a father of three, has said the practice of writing allows him to exist in an imaginary world. Writing about a fictional prison eases the burden of being in a real one. “It gets me away from the world I’m trying to turn into fiction, if that makes any sense,” he told the Detroit News.
But until the legal matter is resolved, Dawkins’ finances are effectively frozen. He split his initial advance with Jarrett Haley, the founder of Bull, a small literary magazine, who had helped him get a book deal.
He placed around $50,000 in a fund to help to pay for college and high school for his children. But on orders of the state, the final advance payments from his publisher have been suspended.
A press spokesman for the Michigan attorney general said the office “cannot comment on pending litigation”. ||||| Within a few months of The Times article, a headline in The Detroit News asked whether Mr. Dawkins should be allowed to profit from tragedy. Not long after that story appeared, Mr. Dawkins received the court summons, demanding partial “reimbursement to the state for Defendant’s cost of care while incarcerated.”
Image Kimberly Knutsen says the deal her partner, Mr. Dawkins, landed for “The Graybar Hotel” has helped support their family. Credit Leah Nash for The New York Times
Michigan is one of more than 40 states where prisoners can be forced to pay for the cost of their incarceration, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law. Laws that allow the government to charge prisoners “room and board” or “cost of care” fees have proliferated in recent decades, as states charge inmates and parolees for everything from medical care, clothing and meals to police transport, public defense fees, drug testing and electronic monitoring.
Since so many prisoners are impoverished to begin with, states typically don’t raise much money by charging inmates room and board fees, and in some states, the enforcement of these laws is conditional on the prisoner’s ability to pay. But as the cost of mass incarceration has soared, with more than 2.2 million adults in prisons and jails across the United States, some states have grown more aggressive in seeking money from prisoners and formerly incarcerated people.
During the last fiscal year, Michigan collected some $3.7 million from 294 prisoners, who account for just a fraction of the state’s nearly 40,000 inmates. Around the country, some 10 million people owe $50 billion in fees stemming from their arrest or imprisonment, according to a 2015 Brennan Center report.
States often take a percentage of the earnings inmates receive through prison work programs. But some states have also sought money from prisoners who have received larger sums, through an inheritance or legal settlements or, as in Mr. Dawkins’s case, money they acquire through their own initiative. After an Illinois inmate who was serving a 15-month sentence for a drug conviction received a $31,690 settlement for his mother’s death, he was forced to pay the state nearly $20,000 for the cost of his imprisonment, leaving him nearly destitute when he was paroled in 2015.
In Florida, a convict named Jeremy Barrett who received a $150,000 settlement from the Department of Corrections for negligence, after he was attacked in 2011 by another inmate who gouged out his eye, was forced to pay the state nearly $55,000 from the settlement as reimbursement for his three years in prison.
When prisoners and former inmates fight such charges, courts often rule in the state’s favor. In 2000, Connecticut’s Supreme Court ruled that Eric Ham, who was serving a 50-year sentence for murder, had to pay nearly $900,000 toward the cost of his incarceration, after he won a settlement of around $1 million from the city of New Haven for falsely arresting him for another crime that he didn’t commit. | – A Michigan convict who won accolades for his book of short stories may be forced to give up all he earned from his book deal. Curtis Dawkins' debut, The Graybar Hotel, was published in July by Scribner and details life behind bars in ways that have thrilled readers. Michigan's Department of Treasury is less enthused, however, and has filed a court complaint that asks that 90% of the convicted killer's reported $150,000 advance be given to the state as payment for the cost of his imprisonment. Michigan's attorney general reportedly filed the complaint, which states that Dawkins is not entitled to the money or to transfer any of it to his family, not long after his victim's brother complained publicly about the book deal, per the Guardian. Because he cannot afford an attorney, Dawkins is scheduled to defend himself in the case. Dawkins has in the past expressed remorse for the 2004 botched robbery that led to the murder of Thomas Bowman. The New York Times reports he intends to argue that the same law the attorney general says allows the state to keep the profits also stipulates that courts must consider a convict's obligation to provide for his children or spouse when deciding such cases. Michigan is one of some 40 states with laws on the books that allow the government to force inmates to pay for incarceration. According to the Times, Michigan collected $3.7 million from fewer than 300 of the state's 40,000 inmates. A hearing in Dawkins' case is scheduled for Feb. 26 in Kalamazoo. |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Holly Woodlawn, the transgender actress made famous by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey in their 1970s films "Trash" and "Women in Revolt," has died.
In this 2012 photo provided by David Chick, actress Holly Woodlawn sits on Fisherman's Pier in Malibu, Calif. Woodlawn, who starred in the 1970 Paul Morrissey film "Trash" and was immortalized in the... (Associated Press)
Woodlawn died Sunday in Los Angeles after a battle with cancer, said her former caretaker and friend Mariela Huerta. She was 69.
Born Harold Danhakl, she took on the name Holly Woodlawn after running away from home at age 15 and hitchhiking to New York City, where she became one of Warhol's drag queen "superstars." Her story was immortalized in the first lines of the Lou Reed song "Walk on the Wild Side."
It began: "Holly came from Miami, F.L.A. Hitchhiked her way across the U.S.A. Plucked her eyebrows on the way. Shaved her legs and then he was a she. She says, 'Hey, babe, take a walk on the wild side.' "
Woodlawn explained in a 2007 interview with the British newspaper The Guardian that she didn't get to know Reed until after the song was released in 1972.
Woodlawn received critical acclaim for her film roles, but she couldn't find mainstream success. Her cult status helped her make a comeback in such 1990s independent films as "Twin Falls Idaho" and "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss." More recently, she appeared in the TV comedy "Transparent."
Of her time as a Warhol superstar, she told the Guardian: "I felt like Elizabeth Taylor! Little did I realize that not only would there be no money, but that your star would flicker for two seconds and that was it. But it was worth it, the drugs, the parties, it was fabulous."
Huerta said Woodlawn had no survivor. Plans for a memorial service were pending. ||||| Holly Woodlawn in 2012. (David Chick via AP)
The broad outline of her biography is known to millions — even though few, as they sing along with Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side,” would recognize the harsh life of a transgender Puerto Rican woman shrouded by a pop hook.
As Reed sang: “Holly came from Miami, F-L-A/Hitchhiked her way across the USA/Plucked her eyebrows on the way/Shaved her legs and then he was a she/ She says, ‘Hey, babe, take a walk on the wild side.’”
Now, the woman Reed sang about — and whose raw talent pop artist Andy Warhol commandeered for two of his famous underground films — is gone. Holly Woodlawn died Sunday at 69. The cause was cancer and cirrhosis, as Penny Arcade, a fellow Warhol superstar who raised funds for Woodlawn in her final days, told The Washington Post in a telephone interview.
“There was no role model for a Holly Woodlawn,” Arcade said. “We’re talking about a time where the reward was freedom in itself. For Holly, whatever sacrifices she made in terms of acceptance of her family and society could never compete with the sense of freedom that Holly needed – the freedom to be herself.”
Woodlawn was born Haroldo Santiago Franceschi Rodriguez Danhakl in 1946 in Puerto Rico. She was not repressed.
“I was raised in Puerto Rico for the first few years of my life, where the culture is more Caribbean,” Woodlawn told the Guardian in 2007. “Everyone’s naked, it’s hotter, you come out earlier. I was having sex when I was seven and eight in the bushes with my uncles and cousins — of course, they were only 11 or 12 themselves. I was raised in a house full of women and my uncle was gay.”
Still, Woodlawn didn’t really recognize the he she started out as.
“I don’t even know who he was,” she said. “When I was younger, I was extremely shy and living in what’s now Miami Beach. My father had a nice job. I guess we were middle income. I had good schools. I just was unhappy because I didn’t know who I was.”
As Reed so memorably wrote, Woodlawn left home at 15 and headed for New York. As a performer with the Play-House of the Ridiculous — what fellow performer Arcade called “the original glitter glam queer political rock-and-roll theater of the 60s” — Woodlawn was soon on the periphery of Warhol’s Factory scene, a hodgepodge of artists, musicians and hustlers re-inventing American culture. And though the pecking order in that scene was ever-shifting, Woodlawn, cast in two landmark Warhol films, “Trash” (1970) and “Women in Revolt” (1971) — found herself at the center of it for a time.
These were not Hollywood productions.
“Everybody tries to make films very well nowadays,” Paul Morrissey, who directed both films, said of he and Warhol’s commitment to authenticity. “So we go in the opposite direction: We try to make them as badly as possible.”
“Trash” told the tale of heroin addict Joe (Joe Dallesandro, or “Little Joe” of “Walk on the Wild Side”) and Holly (played by Woodlawn) trying to eke out a living — by, among other schemes, faking a pregnancy to get welfare. Like much of Warhol’s filmography, “Trash” is a study in contrasts: amateurish, pioneering, ridiculous and brilliant.
“In spite of the grubbiness of the scene and the ineffectuality of the various disguises and escapes employed by Joe and Holly and the rest, there is no sense of despair,” the New York Times wrote in 1970. “At heart, the film is a kind of exuberant exhibition of total apathy.”
Holly Woodlawn was in Room 306 when I arrived to see her today. At 3:06pm LA time, she passed away. pic.twitter.com/docl33j3iW — Joe Dallesandro (@DallesandroJoe) December 6, 2015
Joe Dallesandro, left, and Holly Woodlawn in “Trash.”
“Women in Revolt” — in which Woodlawn and two other “female impersonators,” as the New York Times put it at the time, play women struggling with female liberation — was both “the ultimate put-down of women’s lib, as well as the ultimate endorsement.”
Of Warhol’s stunt casting, Woodlawn said: “I think that basically Andy just loved glamorous women, and around that time, he just didn’t know any.”
Even the Gray Lady was a bit puzzled. Was this genius, or garbage?
“‘Women in Revolt’ is a comparatively elaborate Warhol movie with a limited intelligence, but unlike a lot of better movies, it uses almost all of the intelligence available to it,” the paper wrote. “Thus, in a crazy way, it must be called a success.”
Though the Times was of two minds about the film, “Women in Revolt,” by Arcade’s account, inspired Warhol to inspire Reed to write “Walk on the Wild Side” in the first place.
“It wasn’t Lou Reed’s idea to write,” Arcade, who also appeared in the film, told The Post of the song. “Warhol suggested it to Lou Reed because of the movie we were all in, ‘Women in Revolt.'”
Reed — known for both his temper and his feuds with Warhol — died in 2013, and is not around to object to this re-telling. But by Reed’s own admission, he drew on lives of Woodlawn and others in what he called “the gay life” to make “Transformer” (1972), arguably his best album.
“What I’ve always thought is that I’m doing rock and roll in drag,” Reed, who endured conversion therapy as a youth and dated a transgender woman while a rock star, said after the song’s release. Of another song on “Transformer,” he said: “The gay life at the moment is not that great. I wanted to write a song which made it terrific, something that you’d enjoy. But I know if I do that, I’ll be accused of being a f—g; but that’s all right, it doesn’t matter. I like those people.”
[Lou Reed and the single greatest second of recorded music in rock-and-roll history]
Woodlawn did not object to being immortalized, and called “Walk on the Wild Side” “completely true.” But two Warhol films and getting name-checked in a very famous song didn’t lead to a life of leisure.
“I was very happy when I gradually became a Warhol superstar,” Woodlawn said in 2007. “I felt like Elizabeth Taylor! Little did I realize that not only would there be no money, but that your star would flicker for two seconds and that was it. But it was worth it, the drugs, the parties, it was fabulous. You live in a hovel, walk up five flights, scraping the rent. And then at night you go to Max’s Kansas City where Mick Jagger and Fellini and everyone’s there in the back room. And when you walked in that room, you were a STAR!”
Woodlawn’s career didn’t end after “Trash” and “Women in Revolt.” She relocated to Los Angeles, studied fashion design, continued to make films, and appeared in the Emmy-winning series “Transparent” last year. But for the rest of her life, she was a performer on the margins — doing cabaret shows, making appearances at Warhol-related events, and writing a memoir that is now out-of-print. She also dreamed of opening a dress shop called “Holly’s of Hollywood.”
Penny Arcade expressed dismay that, in the era of Caitlyn Jenner, the lives of trans women of less privilege — women out for decades — are overlooked.
“In this period where many, many trans women are extremely delicate and touchy and prissy, it would be very hard to understand somebody like Holly Woodlawn who was rough and ready and didn’t really care about pronouns and didn’t care if her beard was showing,” Arcade said, remembering that Woodlawn would sometimes salvage clothing from trash cans. “It’s a whole other world from that world of those originators.” She added: “A Caitlyn Jenner erases the visibility of Holly Woodlawn.”
It’s far from clear that Woodlawn — a woman not known for her politics — would care. Once asked whether she thought the armed forces discriminated against trans people, her reply was classic.
“Thank god they do,” she said. “Otherwise I’d be fighting in Vietnam.” | – Holly Woodlawn, one of Andy Warhol's "drag queen superstars" who was also immortalized in Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side," died Sunday at age 69 after battling cancer, the AP reports. Born in Puerto Rico, her mother moved Holly—who was, at that point, Harold—to New York and then Miami Beach, the New York Times reports. Woodlawn hitchhiked back to New York at 16, where she was a go-go dancer, among other things: "I was turning tricks, living off the streets and wondering when my next meal was coming," she wrote in her 1991 memoir. While performing in a friend's musical in 1969, Woodlawn told a journalist that she was one of Warhol's superstars, and though that wasn't actually true at that point, her comment got his attention and led to what the Times refers to as Woodlawn's "underground stardom." Warhol's filmmaking partner Paul Morrissey cast her in the 1970 film Trash as the girlfriend of a heroin addict, and the performance got good reviews. She went on to star alongside two other transgender actresses in Morrissey's 1971 film Women in Revolt; both films were produced by Warhol. In 1972, Reed wrote the first lines of his now-classic song about Woodlawn at Warhol's suggestion, the Washington Post reports: "Holly came from Miami F-L-A / Hitchhiked her way across the USA / Plucked her eyebrows on the way / Shaved her legs and then he was a she / She says, 'Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side.'" She went on to do a few more films and perform as a cabaret artist, but by the end of the 1970s she was working at a Benihana in Miami. She moved to California in the 1990s, where she studied fashion design and had a few more roles, most recently in Amazon's Transparent. (Click to read about 24 transgender historical figures.) |
Lindsay Lohan had her brother, not her lawyer, contact Los Angeles prosecutors to discuss a potential THIRD rehab venue, RadarOnline.com has learned.
On the eve of her sixth stint in treatment, RadarOnline.com can reveal Michael Junior made the last-ditch approach to the City Attorneys for L.A. to have them sign off on The Lukens Institute for the court-ordered 90-day treatment.
“Lindsay is desperately trying to get out of going to rehab in Southern California,” a source close to the Mean Girls star said.
“Lindsay wants to be in the Florida center, but she isn’t sure if she’s going to be able to make that happen. She’s in a panic about her situation.”
PHOTOS: Lindsay Lohan’s Mugshot Hall Of Fame
As of late Wednesday, there were three options on the table for Lindsay: California-based Morningside Recovery, Seafield Center in New York’s Westhampton Beach and Lukens, a luxury center based in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
The unorthodox approach to prosecutors directly from a member of the Lohan family begs the question as to why the actress’ lawyer, Mark Heller, did not initiate the contact.
Heller is expected in a Los Angeles court on Thursday to notify the judge of Lohan’s venue choice.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, LiLo’s dad, Michael, has been lobbying for Lukens, which bills itself as providing “sophisticated treatment for sophisticated clients in a setting that meets the highest standards of luxury.”
PHOTOS: Lindsay Lohan Through The Years
In an interview on Wednesday, Michael revealed his daughter had lost interest in Seafield because they won’t let her smoke.
“It is come to my attention that Lindsay does not want to go to Seafield in New York because it’s not private enough, they don’t allow smoking and the accommodations are not suitable to her needs,” he said.
“She told me people want her to go to Morningside in Newport Beach, California. But that’s very place that leaked she was going there about a year ago and did the same this time.”
According to Michael, Morningside isn’t going to help his daughter.
PHOTOS: 25 Stars Who’ve Been Brutally Busted In Big Lies
He said the venue, located in a wealthy enclave by the sea, had promised to allow his daughter to smoke cigarettes “even though they have a no smoking policy.”
“This is the last straw and I’m going to do everything I possibly can to put them everyone out of the business of using people,” the Lohan patriarch said.
Lohan is slated to start her rehab on Thursday after a court ordered Lohan to spend the time in rehab as part of her sentence for lying to Santa Monica police about who was driving a Porsche on Pacific Coast Highway that collided with a truck. ||||| Desperate for money, troubled actress Lindsay Lohan is still living the high life by working as a professional escort, her father Michael Lohan and other insiders exclusively revealed in the new issue of Star magazine.
“She is getting paid to date rich men,” Michael said of his 26-year-old daughter. “Dina (Lindsay’s mother) is pimping her out – it’s disgusting!”
PHOTOS: Lindsay Lohan Through The Years
And it’s not just the Mean Girls star’s estranged dad who is dishing on her new source of income.
“The dates last for days, and the guys pay for everything – hotel, travel costs, food, whatever – as well as jewelry and other gifts,” someone close to the actress revealed.
PHOTOS: Lindsay Lohan’s Mugshot Hall Of Fame
So far, no one is suggesting that Lohan is doing anything more than act as arm candy for the rich playboys who like to be seen with beautiful and famous women.
One of Lindsay’s most high profile clients is the man who is third in line to the throne of Brunei, a small country in Southeast Asia: Prince Haji Abdul Azim.
PHOTOS: Lindsay Lohan Parties Until Dawn In London
A billionaire playboy who loves American celebrities, he allegedly paid Lindsay a whopping $100,000 to join him in London for a New Year’s celebration.
And wealthy Spanish-American painter Domingo Zapata reportedly supported the troubled actress for much longer than a holiday.
PHOTOS: Lindsay Suffers Nip Slip On Set Of Liz & Dick
“Domingo let Lindsay live in his penthouse at the Bowery Hotel in NYC for free and at his L.A. pad at Chateau Marmont [for months],” says one of his confidantes. “They’re both super swanky. No way Lindsay could’ve afforded either of them for such long periods of time on her own.”
For the full scandalous story, the new issue of Star magazine is on newsstands Thursday. ||||| By Alexis Tereszcuk – Radar Entertainment Editor
Lindsay and Dina Lohan got into a vicious fight in New York on Tuesday night and the cops were called, and RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned that the mother-daughter-duo were battling over $40,000 that Lindsay gave her mom!
“Lindsay recently gave Dina $40,000 and after partying in the club together, she told her mom she wanted the money back and that’s when the huge fight started,” a source close to the situation told RadarOnline.com.
“Dina was arguing with Lindsay and all Lindsay wanted to do was get out of the car and get away from her mother.”
PHOTOS: LiLo Out In H’Wood With Family & Friends
Lindsay and her mother started the night partying at Electric Room, a club in the Dream Hotel where she got into a fight with congressional staffer Christian LaBella recently. Their fight started in the car on the way to Dina’s Long Island home.
As the argument escalated, the source said Dina broke Lindsay’s diamond bracelet and scratched her leg. Cops were called to home, but no arrests were made.
PHOTOS: Lindsay Suffers Nip Slip On Set Of Liz & Dick
Lindsay’s father Michael Lohan weighed in on the fight between his daughter and ex-wife, telling RadarOnline.com, “Dina never should have been in a club with Lindsay. This is another example of her telling lies and this is hurting our children. I pray that Dina stops doing this to our children.”
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Dina Was Paid $50k For Train Wreck Dr. Phil Interview Says Michael Lohan ||||| By Jen Heger – Radar Assistant Managing Editor
Lindsay Lohan has told her wayward mother Dina, she needs to go to rehab – STAT! – RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.
“Lindsay told Dina during their fight Tuesday night that she needs to go to rehab,” a source close to the situation tells Radar.
PHOTOS: Lindsay Lohan Shows Off Retro Two-Piece In Malibu
“Dina went absolutely ballistic when Lindsay said this to her and insisted that there was no reason for her to get treatment. Lindsay is very concerned about her mom though and tried to convey this to Dina, but she was very emotional and tired. Lindsay even told her mom that she shouldn’t be going out to clubs with her and should act more like her mother and less like her friend.”
As previously reported, Lindsay and Dina got into a vicious fight in New York on Tuesday night resulting in the cops being called to the scene, and RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned that the mother-daughter duo were battling over $40,000 that Lindsay gave her mom!
PHOTOS: Lindsay Suffers Nip Slip On Set Of Liz & Dick
“Lindsay recently gave Dina $40,000 and after partying in the club together, she told her mom she wanted the money back and that’s when the huge fight started,” an insider previously told Radar.
Lindsay and her mother started the night partying at Electric Room, a club in the Dream Hotel where Lindsay had previously gotten into an altercation with congressional staffer Christian LaBella, whom Lohan accused of assaulting her — Labella was arrested but charges were later dropped due to lack of evidence.
PHOTOS: Lindsay Lohan’s Bikini Bod Through The Years
Lindsay and Dina’s fight started after they left the club in a car on the way to Dina’s Long Island home. As the argument escalated, the source said Dina broke Lindsay’s diamond bracelet and scratched her leg. Cops were called to the home, but no arrests were made.
During a bizarre recent appearance on the Dr. Phil Show, Dina, 49, was fidgety and giggling throughout the entire interview, leading to speculation she was under the influence. Mama Lohan insisted that she wasn’t drunk though during the interview, just suffering a bad case of the nerves.
PHOTOS: Lindsay Lohan Strips Down Into Elizabeth Taylor’s Iconic Swimsuit
“Dina and Lindsay’s relationship is very complicated. It’s not a traditional mother/daughter dynamic and both need to take a break from each other. Lindsay loves her mom, but is very concerned for her well-being,” the source says.
Meanwhile, as previously reported, Lindsay isn’t the only Lohan that wants Dina to seek treatment for her issues.
PHOTOS: Lindsay Lohan Through The Years
Michael Lohan has also urged his ex-wife to check into rehab, sending a message to Dina through RadarOnline.com: “Sober up and learn to stop using our kids as pawns like you just did to Lindsay again after calling out for me after her arrest! Fix YOUR soul!”
RELATED STORIES:
Lindsay Lohan Wears See-Through Shirt Shopping In NY
I Was Bullied Too! Lindsay Lohan Claims Harsh Treatment From Real Life Mean Girls At School
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Lindsay Lohan’s Party Pal Is Republican Congressional Staffer! No Charges Filed | – Michael Lohan continues his Father of the Decade duties by giving a new interview to the ever-so-classy Star magazine in which he claims daughter Lindsay is a high-class escort, Radar reports. "She is getting paid to date rich men," and mother "Dina is pimping her out," he says. Other "insiders" back him up, including one who says that the days-long "dates" include LiLo's hotel and travel costs, food, jewelry, and "other gifts." But no sex—or at least, not that anyone is saying. She's supposedly been paid to be seen on the arm of a Southeast Asian prince and a rich Spanish-American painter. It's far from the only troubling LiLo story bubbling up: A source also tells Us that last fall, Lindsay did $50,000 worth of damage to a fancy New York hotel room. "Her suite had so many cigarette burns, they had to change all the carpets," the insider says. "She is not allowed back at any W hotel in NYC, ever!" And then, of course, there are Lohan's legal problems. She could still be facing jail time for allegedly lying to police after her June car accident, but her longtime attorney Shawn Holley planned to make a plea deal involving rehab for Lindsay instead. But Lohan fired Holley as the attorney was on her way to court to make the deal Monday, TMZ reports. Even so, Holley entered a not-guilty plea on Lohan's behalf yesterday, and the Atlantic Wire notes that the next hearing is set for Jan. 30. |
Noah Salzgeber / EyeEm/ Getty
If you’ve ever tried to get pregnant, you’ll almost certainly have heard that it helps if a woman lies still after her partner ejaculates. But this is unlikely to make a difference, a study suggests.
The idea is that lying down for a while gives the sperm time to reach their destination egg. The same theory has been applied to intra-uterine insemination (IUI), a fertility treatment that involves injecting sperm directly into a woman’s uterus.
“There’s a lot of anxiety that after IUI if you stand up, everything will fall out,” says Nick Macklon of the University of Southampton, UK.
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Some research has backed up the theory. Some small studies in 2009 and 2015 found that 15 minutes of bed rest improved IUI success rates, leading to more pregnancies. But now Joukje van Rijswijk at the VU University Medical Center Amsterdam in the Netherlands and her colleagues have conducted a larger study.
The team randomly assigned 479 women receiving IUI to either 15 minutes of bed rest or to get up and move around straight after treatment. Most of the women had several rounds of treatment – in total, the group collected data on almost 2000 IUI cycles.
They found that 32 per cent of the cycles that incorporated bed rest resulted in pregnancy, but 40 per cent of cycles that involved immediate movement were successful. “In our opinion, immobilisation after IUI has no positive effect on pregnancy rates,” says van Rijswijk. “There is no reason why patients should stay immobilised after treatment.”
Although the results contradict previous findings, they make sense. For example, it is known that sperm can survive in the uterus for several days – there is no reason why bed rest would affect this, says van Rijswijk, who presented the findings this week at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Endocrinology annual meeting in Helsinki, Finland.
Our crude understanding of female anatomy is partly to blame for the theory, says Adam Balen, chair of the British Fertility Society. Anatomical illustrations often depict the uterus and vagina as directly aligned, with a straight-line passage from uterus to vagina to the outside world. In reality, our internal organs are somewhat tilted, he says.
Van Rijswijk doesn’t know if rest improves the chances of conceiving naturally because no studies have fully investigated this, she says. But the findings undermine the “lying still, feet-in-the-air” advice given to many women trying to conceive, says Macklon.
Read more: When should you get pregnant? Computer knows age to start trying ||||| Helsinki, 5 July 2016: Despite the positive results of small studies and a widely held belief in its benefit, the practice of keeping female patients immobilised after intrauterine insemination has no beneficial effect on pregnancy rates, according to results of a large randomised study presented here at the Annual Meeting of ESHRE in Helsinki.(1) "Indeed," said investigator Joukje van Rijswijk from the VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, "it even tends to the opposite."
Behind her conclusions lies a large randomised comparative study in which 479 patients with standard indications for IUI (unexplained or mild male factor infertility) were randomly assigned to 15 minutes of immobilisation immediately after insemination or to immediate mobilisation. With most patients having several cycles of IUI in their treatment course, the comparison was based on a total of 950 cycles of immobilisation and 984 cycles of mobilisation.
Results showed that the cumulative ongoing pregnancy rate per couple (that is, after the total course of treatment, which in some cases ran to six cycles) was comparable between the two groups - a pregnancy rate of 32.2% after 15 minutes of immobilisation and 40.3% after immediate mobilisation. These differences were not statistically significant, despite the trend, indicating no benefit from a brief period of bed rest after insemination. "In our opinion," said Dr van Rijswijk, "immobilisation after IUI has no positive effect on pregnancy rates, and there is no reason why patients should stay immobilised after treatment."
She acknowledged that these results were "in disagreement with the literature", from which a widespread acceptance of bed rest after IUI had evolved. A smaller study published last year from the Middle East found that ten and 15 minutes of immobilisation following IUI (compared to five minutes) had a beneficial effect on pregnancy rates. However, the results were based on just one cycle of treatment and not on the more real-world context of multiple cycles. Another smaller Dutch study published in 2009 also found that 15 minutes bed rest improved pregnancy rate and "should be offered to all women treated with intrauterine insemination".(2)
"It was these previous studies showing a benefit of bed rest which prompted us to perform this study," said Dr van Rijswijk. "Our goal was to replicate the results. There's always a possibility that a positive outcome in studies is the result of chance. We also know from other studies that sperm cells can reach the fallopian tube five minutes after intravaginal insemination and that they can survive for several days in the womb. Why should bed rest affect that? There's no biological explanation for a positive effect of immobilisation", which, she added, is usually carried out in a supine position with the knees raised.
"We believe our results in such a large randomised trial are solid, and sufficiently strong to render the recommendation for bed rest obsolete," she said.
Asked if bed rest might also be of no help in natural conception plans, Dr van Rijswijk said the two insemination techniques are just too different to generalise, and she pointed out that as far as she is aware there have been no randomised trials to test the efficacy of a short period of immobility after the attempt.
###
Abstract O-165, Tuesday 5 July 2016, 15.30
Should patients be immobilised after intrauterine insemination? A randomised controlled comparison between 15 minutes of immobilisation and direct mobilisation
Notes
1. Intrauterine insemination (IUI) is a very common fertility treatment in which a sample of sperm cells (from donor or partner) in fluid are injected directly into the uterus. Today, most recipients of the treatment are given some ovarian stimulation to encourage follicle growth. IUI is usually offered as first-line fertility treatment before IVF in couples whose infertility is unexplained (idiopathic) or caused by mild male factors which may not require ICSI. Several factors are related to pregnancy outcomes, but so far now no consensus exists on whether immobilisation is of benefit.
2. Custers IM, Flierman PA, Maas P, et al. Immobilisation versus immediate mobilisation after intrauterine insemination: randomised controlled trial. BMJ 2009; 339: b4080.
A podcast of Dr van Rijswijk speaking about this study is available at https:/ / www. eshre2016. eu/ Media/ Press-releases/ van-Rijswijk/ Podcast. aspx
When obtaining outside comment, journalists are requested to ensure that their contacts are aware of the embargo on this release.
For further information on the details of this press release, contact:
Christine Bauquis at ESHRE
Mobile: +32 (0)499 25 80 46
Email: [email protected] | – Good news for those trying to conceive: A new study suggests there's no reason for you to continue lying down, immobile, after having sex. There's a widespread belief that lying still after sex helps give the sperm time to get where they need to go, and the same belief has transferred over to women getting intra-uterine insemination (IUI), a fertility treatment in which sperm are injected directly into the uterus. "There’s a lot of anxiety that after IUI if you stand up, everything will fall out," an expert from the University of Southampton tells New Scientist. Two studies have found that resting in bed for 15 minutes after getting IUI did increase success rates, but they were small studies. The new, larger study out of Amsterdam's VU University Medical Center disputes that belief. Researchers looked at 479 women getting IUI, most of whom got multiple rounds; they collected information on nearly 2,000 cycles overall. Women were randomly assigned to either get up and move immediately after treatment or stay on bed rest for 15 minutes before moving. Of the cycles incorporating bed rest, 32% resulted in pregnancy—while 40% of the cycles after which the women immediately moved resulted in pregnancy. "In our opinion," says the lead researcher in a press release, "immobilization after IUI has no positive effect on pregnancy rates, and there is no reason why patients should stay immobilized after treatment." She would not "generalize" the results to give advice to couples attempting to get pregnant via traditional intercourse, but the Southampton expert thinks the study likely applies there, too. (This woman became pregnant after her doctor said she couldn't, and now she's suing.) |
Linkin Park Singer Commits Suicide By Hanging
Linkin Park Singer Chester Bennington Dead, Commits Suicide by Hanging
EXCLUSIVE
12:32 PM PT -- Law enforcement sources tell TMZ Bennington was home alone at the time of the suicide. We're told his family was out of town and he was found upstairs by an employee.
Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington has committed suicide ... TMZ has learned.
Law enforcement sources tell us the singer hanged himself at a private residence in Palos Verdes Estates in L.A. County. His body was discovered Thursday just before 9 AM.
Chester was married with 6 children from 2 wives.
The singer struggled with drugs and alcohol for years. He had said in the past he had considered committing suicide because he had been abused as a child by an older male.
Chester was very close with Chris Cornell, who himself committed suicide by hanging in May. Today would have been Cornell's 53rd birthday. Chester wrote an open letter to Chris on the day of Chris' suicide.
Cornell's wife, Vicky, tweeted out a message following the news of Chester's death, saying, "Just when I thought my heart couldn't break any more ... I love you T."
The band has had a string of hits over the years, including "Faint," "In the End" and "Crawling." Linkin Park crossed music genres, collaborating with Jay-Z.
The band's album, "Meteora," was one of the biggest alternative albums in music history.
Bennington was 41.
RIP ||||| Law enforcement received a call around 9 a.m. on Thursday reporting the death.
Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington has died, Brian Elias of the Los Angeles County coroner's office confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 41.
The coroner's office said it had been on the scene at the singer's home in Palos Verdes Estates investigating a suicide. On Friday, Ed Winter, spokesman for the coroner's office, said Bennington hanged himself. An autopsy is pending. No timeframe was given for report results.
Neither the coroner nor Los Angeles County Fire Department could confirm reports the death was due to hanging.
Law enforcement received a call around 9 a.m. reporting the death, Elias said. Palos Verdes police said it was unclear if the department was going to release a statement on the matter.
Linkin Park bandmember Mike Shinoda wrote on Twitter: "Shocked and heartbroken, but it's true. An official statement will come out as soon as we have one."
Bennington, a Phoenix native, was open about his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction, which occurred at various times during his life.
The band had just released its seventh studio album, One More Light, and was set to embark on an extensive North American tour this summer and in the fall.
The group was one of the most popular rock bands to emerge in the early 2000s. Their debut album Hybrid Theory has sold more than 10 million copies in the U.S. since its release in 2000, per Nielsen SoundScan.
The band won Grammy awards in 2001 for best hard rock performance for "Crawling" and again in 2005 for best rap/sung collaboration for "Numb/Encore."
On May 26, Bennington sang Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" at the Los Angeles memorial service of Soundgarden rocker Chris Cornell, who had died by suicide. Days earlier, in a note posted online, Bennington wrote a tribute to his friend Cornell saying: "I can't imagine a world without you in it. I pray you find peace in the next life."
"The Cornell family is overwhelmed by the heartbreaking news about Chester Bennington which tragically comes so soon after their family's own loss," a Cornell family spokesperson told the Associated Press. "They open up their loving arms to Chester's family and share in the sorrow with all those who loved him.
Bennington is survived by his wife, Talinda Ann Bentley, and six children. ||||| Chester Bennington, the ferocious lead singer for the platinum-selling hard rock band Linkin Park, was found dead in his home near Los Angeles on Thursday. He was 41.
Brian Elias, the chief of operations for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, confirmed the death, in Palos Verdes Estates, and said it was being investigated as a possible suicide after law enforcement authorities responded to a call shortly after 9 a.m.
[ Read an appraisal of Chester Bennington’s music and career ]
Mr. Bennington, who was known for his piercing scream and free-flowing anguish, released seven albums with Linkin Park. The most recent, “One More Light,” arrived in May and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart. The band was scheduled to start a tour with a concert on July 27 in Mansfield, Mass. | – Another suicide in the rock world: TMZ reports Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington has hanged himself. He was 41. The site's report comes via police sources who say his body was found before 9am local time at a home in Palos Verdes Estates, California. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed Bennington's death by way of the Los Angeles County coroner's office, which says it is investigating a "possible suicide" at his home. TMZ points out that Bennington counted Chris Cornell among his close friends. He tweeted this letter to Cornell upon learning of his May death and sang "Hallelujah" at Cornell's funeral. Cornell would have turned 53 today. Bennington leaves behind six children from two marriages. |
Lawyer for Cohen says audio, given to CNN, shows client tried to handle payment legally while Trump wanted to pay in cash
Donald Trump can be heard on tape discussing with his attorney Michael Cohen how to purchase the rights to former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story about her alleged affair with Trump, in a recording obtained by CNN.
The tape, which aired late on Tuesday, was released to the network and the public for the first time by Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, who argued that its contents proved his client tried to handle the payment legally whereas Trump instead sought to pay in cash.
Davis told Axios, it reported on Wednesday, that “there is more to come” and that Cohen had “made a turn” and was going to “tell the truth to the powers that be”.
The conversation in the tape took place in September 2016, two months before the presidential election.
Michael Cohen: at least 12 tapes handed to investigators after raid on Trump lawyer Read more
The rights to McDougal’s story were bought for $150,000 by the National Enquirer, which proceeded not to publish her account in a practice known as “catch and kill”. American Media Inc, the tabloid’s parent company, is headed by David Pecker, a close ally and friend of Trump’s.
The existence of the tape first came to light last week as part of the continuing investigation into Cohen’s financial dealings. Cohen, who long worked as Trump’s personal fixer, has increasingly signaled he would cooperate with federal authorities. That could be severely problematic for Trump, given their close association.
In the tape, Cohen can be heard explaining to the then presidential candidate his plans to open a company through which he would finance the purchase of the rights to McDougal’s story. McDougal has alleged she had an affair with Trump about a decade ago – an allegation the White House has vehemently denied.
Trump interrupts Cohen in the recording to ask: “What financing?” Cohen proceeds to tell Trump: “We’ll have to pay,” after which Trump is heard saying: “Pay with cash.” But the recording is muddled, making it difficult to confirm the full context of Trump’s comments.
The latest Trump scandal would have destroyed any other president | Jonathan Freedland Read more
On Wednesday, Trump hit out at Cohen in an early morning tweet. He tweeted: “What kind of a lawyer would tape a client? So sad!”
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) What kind of a lawyer would tape a client? So sad! Is this a first, never heard of it before? Why was the tape so abruptly terminated (cut) while I was presumably saying positive things? I hear there are other clients and many reporters that are taped - can this be so? Too bad!
Last week, Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani insisted his client had done nothing wrong and in fact sought to make the payment through check as a matter of record.
“They’re talking about a corporation doing it, one of their corporations doing it,” Giuliani said.
“The president says: ‘Make sure it’s done correctly, and make sure it’s done by check.’”
Davis said the tape was being released so that the public could hear that Trump mentioned the word “cash”, arguing that method was the preference of “drug dealers and mobsters” and inherently designed to remain secret.
“We have truth on our side and they are afraid,” Davis told the CNN anchor Chris Cuomo on Tuesday.
According to court filings, the government obtained as many as 12 audio recordings after FBI raids on Cohen conducted this year. Cohen is also under scrutiny for paying $130,000 in hush money to Stormy Daniels, an adult film actor who has also alleged an affair with Trump.
The White House similarly denied both the affair and Trump’s knowledge of any related payment, only to be contradicted by Giuliani, who suggested the president had personally reimbursed Cohen. Although Giuliani later walked back his claim, Trump’s potential involvement in the payments has been a subject of intense focus.
Speaking to Axios, Davis said the tape’s release sends the message, “I am no longer the previous Michael Cohen that you knew – taking a bullet for Donald Trump, saying anything to defend him, being a good soldier. That is over.”
Davis did not give details of Cohen’s next move but said: “I’m not saying there are more tapes as telling as [this] one, but there are more tapes. There is more to come.” ||||| Image copyright Getty Images Image caption From left: Michael Cohen, Karen McDougal, Donald Trump
A recording of a conversation in which President Donald Trump and his lawyer discuss a payoff over an alleged affair with a model has been broadcast by CNN.
Mr Trump and Michael Cohen discuss buying the rights to former Playboy model Karen McDougal's story.
The audiotape was recorded in September 2016, two months before the election. The affair allegedly dates to 2006.
Mr Trump's current lawyer Rudy Giuliani says no money was paid, and the tape does not show evidence of any crime.
The tape obtained by CNN was one of a number reportedly discovered during an FBI raid on Mr Cohen's property earlier this year in New York.
Mr Giuliani said Mr Cohen had recorded the McDougal conversation at Trump Tower in New York using a hidden device.
Mr Trump has criticised Mr Cohen on Twitter, saying: "What kind of a lawyer would tape a client?"
Mr Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis, took to Twitter to respond warning: "Just as Richard Nixon learned, tapes don't lie!"
What's on the tape?
The conversation jumps around, there are other voices and some of the audio is muffled.
Mr Trump and Mr Cohen, who no longer works for the president, appear to be discussing buying the rights to Ms McDougal's story from the parent company of the National Enquirer. The former Playboy model had sold her story to the Enquirer in the run-up to the election.
Mr Cohen says: "I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend, David."
This could be a reference to Mr Trump's friend, David Pecker, president of American Media Inc, the National Enquirer's parent company.
Mr Trump says later: "So, what do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?"
Ms McDougal reportedly received $150,000 (£115,000) from the Enquirer for her story.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Mr Cohen once famously vowed he would take a bullet for the president
Mr Cohen starts to mention financing and Mr Trump asks: "What financing?"
Mr Cohen says: "We'll have to pay".
The next section is pivotal. Mr Trump is heard saying "pay with cash" but it is not clear if he is suggesting to do so or not do so. Mr Cohen's response is clear: "No, no, no".
Mr Trump is then heard saying "cheque".
An escalating fight?
Analysis by Anthony Zurcher, BBC News, Washington
In April, Donald Trump tweeted that Michael Cohen is a "fine person" who he has "always liked and respected", adding that he didn't see him ever turning on his former boss.
The president might be having second thoughts now that Mr Cohen has made public his recording of a controversial conversation first leaked to the press last week.
"We were not going to let Michael become a punching bag," Lanny Davis, Mr Cohen's new lawyer, said in explaining the move.
Instead, Mr Cohen is throwing the punches, raising suspicions that this may be the first blow in an escalating fight with the president. There are, Mr Davis says, "a lot of other tapes". And given Mr Cohen's business and legal work for Mr Trump over the course of a decade, there's no telling what surprises might be in store.
Mr Cohen telegraphed this latest turn of events by selecting Mr Davis as his attorney. The long-time Washington operative is a former Democratic congressional candidate, member of the Democratic National Committee and lawyer for President Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial.
Mr Davis is the kind of man you want if you're preparing for war… against Republicans.
What does it all mean?
The Department of Justice is looking into alleged hush money paid to women who claim they had a relationship with Mr Trump.
It is a potential problem for Mr Trump because undisclosed payments to bury embarrassing stories about a political candidate can be treated as a violation of US campaign finance laws.
At the very least, the tape suggests Mr Trump was aware that discussions were taking place to buy the rights to Ms McDougal's story.
When previously questioned about Ms McDougal, President Trump had denied the affair and said he had no knowledge of any payment.
Mr Giuliani told Associated Press news agency that he had had the tape enhanced and it clearly shows the president saying "don't pay with cash".
He told AP: "The president wanted to do it the right way. If you wanted to hide something, you would not do it by corporation or cheque."
Mr Giuliani said no payment was made in the end although he did not know why that was the case.
Image copyright CBS
Who is Karen McDougal?
A former Playboy model who says she had a 10-month relationship with Mr Trump starting in 2006. He was already then married to Melania and was the host of TV show The Apprentice.
She sold her story to the National Enquirer, signing a $150,000 agreement that gave the tabloid exclusive story rights and banned her from talking publicly about the alleged affair.
The Enquirer did not publish her kiss-and-tell, and she says she was tricked.
Mr Trump has denied any affair took place. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said this week "the president maintains he's done nothing wrong".
What about Michael Cohen?
A former Trump stalwart, Mr Cohen once famously vowed he would take a bullet for the president.
But things changed after the FBI raided his office and home in April.
About a dozen audio recordings were seized and passed to federal prosecutors.
Mr Cohen told ABC News this month that his loyalty to his family and country came before his old boss.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Was Trump's Stormy Daniels payment legal?
His comments stoked speculation that he might co-operate with investigators against Mr Trump, although there has been no confirmation so far that he has done so.
Mr Cohen is reportedly under investigation for possible bank and tax fraud, as well as potential violation of election law, though he has so far not been charged with anything.
This relates to another woman who claims an affair with Mr Trump, Stormy Daniels, also in 2006.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Mr Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, has typically represented Democrats over the years
In May, President Trump admitted he had reimbursed Mr Cohen for a payment he made to hush up her claims.
Mr Trump had previously denied all knowledge of the $130,000 payment as part of a non-disclosure agreement. | – If President Trump and former attorney Michael Cohen weren't already on the outs, the revelation that Cohen secretly recorded at least one of their phone conversations has cinched it. The president took to Twitter Saturday morning to express his displeasure and to suggest that Cohen might have broken the law. The FBI seized the recording during its raid on Cohen's office earlier this year, but the tape only came to light this week. On Saturday, Trump reiterated he wasn't happy about that April raid, either. "Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer’s office (early in the morning) - almost unheard of," he wrote. "Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client - totally unheard of & perhaps illegal. The good news is that your favorite President did nothing wrong!" The tape is of a phone conversation Cohen had with Trump shortly before the election in which they discuss a possible payment regarding former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal, who planned to go public with allegations of an affair. Presidential attorney Rudy Guiliani has heard the tape, and he says it is not legally damaging to Trump. Plus, no payment was ever made, he says. Prosecutors have been looking into the McDougal controversy—the National Enquirer, owned by a Trump ally, eventually paid her $150,000 but then killed the story—to see whether any campaign finance laws were violated. Meanwhile, Stormy Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti tells MSNBC that he knows "for a fact" more Cohen-Trump tapes exist and should be made public, reports the Hill. |
Cato Berntsen Larsen (20 years old) tried to pick up a lost cell phone from the public toilet, but got stuck.
“I was obviously slim enough to get into it, but not slim enough to get out. I was down there for one hour, and it was very unpleasant”, Larsen says to the local newspaper Drammens Tidende, which was the first news medium to report the story.
The public toilet is not connected to the sewer. It is an old-fashioned outhouse with a large tank underneath the toilet seat.
VG meets Larsen outside the local emergency room in Drammen, a city in southern Norway, close to the capital Oslo.
“It was disgusting as hell. The worst thing I have ever experienced. Animals were down there too. I will never enter a toilet again. Now my body hurts, and I will go home and get some rest”, he tells VG.
SAVED: Cato Berntsen Larsen. Photo: TERJE BRINGEDAL
Lost cell phone
Larsen explains that a friend of him lost his cell phone into the toilet while using it. The two men quickly agreed that only Larsen was slim enough to have a chance to climb into the tank.
Seconds later he was standing at the bottom of the tank, with feces up to his thighs.
“I panicked. I hate confined spaces. It was difficult to move”, he tells VG.
MARKS: Cato Berntsen Larsen was not seriously wounded, but scratched his shoulder while trying to get up. Photo: TERJE BRINGEDAL
Out of service
His friends called for help.
“We received an emergency call at 07:58 AM, regarding a man stuck in a toilet tank. We sent a fire truck with four men to the location. It took them about ten minutes to get the man out. The fire personnel had to demolish the toilet. It is now out of service”, Kristin Rødnes at Vestviken emergency central tells VG.
At the emergency room, Larsen's wounds were cleaned. He also received antibiotic treatment.
Section manager Kristine Høibraaten in Drammen municipality says that this is the first time anyone has fallen into the toilet tank, after it was installed in the 1990s.
“The tank is normally emptied only once a year. This is a very sad incident. Normally it shall be very difficult to fall into this toilet”, Høibraaten says. ||||| A MAN was freed from down a toilet by firemen - after he climbed in to retrieve his pal's mobile phone.
Dopey Cato Berntsen Larsen, 20, volunteered for the disgusting task because he was thin enough to get inside.
3 The Norwegian toilet which imprisoned poor Cato
3 The stinky loon pictured following the unfortunate ordeal
But he was left stuck with his hands forlornly clutching the rim for an hour unable to clamber out.
Tattooed Cato explained his friend dropped the phone inside as he tried to text while urinating at Hillside River Park in Drammen, Norway.
He added: "My friend said I was thinner, and could fetch it. I did not take time to think, and jumped down legs first.
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"I was apparently thin enough to get down, but not thin enough to come up again.
"It was damn disgusting - the worst ever experience. There were animals down there too. I was bit several times.
"The sh*t was up to my thighs. I was sick. Then I started panicking because I hate confined spaces and couldn't move."
Friends called the fire brigade who had to smash the loo to haul him free.
After being treated for bruising on the arms and disinfected by medics. he said: "I really hurt and am going home to rest. I will never go down a toilet again."
Fire boss Kare Hoel added: "It was standing room only down the toilet."
He did retrieve the phone - but it was smashed in the fall.
Alamy 3 The disgusting incident was reminiscent of the famous toilet scene from Danny Boyle's hit movie Trainspotting (1996) starring Ewan McGregor
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 ||||| Cato Berntsen Larsen was able to climb through the toilet seat opening to recover the phone lying at the bottom of the outhouse, but was unable to climb back out again (AFP Photo/Drammen Fire Department)
Oslo (AFP) - Firemen in Norway came to the rescue Friday of a man who climbed into an outdoor public toilet to retrieve a friend's cell phone, after he got stuck in the tank.
Cato Berntsen Larsen, 20, was able to climb through the toilet seat opening to recover the phone lying at the bottom of the outhouse, but was unable to climb back out again.
"First we tried to get the phone with a stick but that didn't work. So I jumped in," he told daily VG.
"I was down there an hour, I was panicking," he said, adding there were "animals" crawling on his body.
Overcome by nausea and vomiting, he tried in vain to pull himself of the tank, and which is only emptied once a year, according to VG.
He ultimately decided to contact the fire brigade to help end his ordeal in the small town of Drammen outside Oslo.
"It was a fairly easy task for us. We sent a four-man crew with a chainsaw and they cut open the front of the (plastic) toilet," fire brigade spokeswoman Tina Brock told AFP.
The rescue was a "first" for the local fire brigade, she acknowledged. "It was pretty full down there."
The phone was not recovered. | – There are good friends and then there's Cato Larsen of Norway. The 20-year-old climbed into the tank of an outdoor toilet Friday after his friend dropped his cellphone into it, AFP reports. According to VG, the friends decided Larsen was the only one skinny enough to get into the toilet and retrieve the phone. "Slim enough to get into it, but not slim enough to get out," Larsen clarifies. He found himself standing thigh-deep in excrement—the toilet is only emptied once per year—and unable to climb out. Larsen was, understandably, vomiting; in addition to the human waste, he says there were animals crawling on him. After an hour of Larsen trying to escape the poo-poo prison, his friends called the local fire department. Firefighters quickly cut Larsen out of the toilet using a chainsaw. A spokesperson for the department notes "it was pretty full down there." Larsen was disinfected and treated for bruising on his arms, and he also says he received some animal bites, per the Sun. "It was disgusting as hell. The worst thing I have ever experienced," Larsen tells VG. "I will never enter a toilet again." And he didn't even get the phone, according to AFP. (That classic summertime pool smell? It's pee.) |
The City of Houston wants sermons from pastors engaged in the legal battle over the controversial equal rights ordinance.In a subpoena to five members of the Houston Area Pastors Council, the city is requesting a long list of documents and communications. Among them are "all speeches, presentations, or sermons" related to the Equal Rights Ordinance and "all communications with members of your congregation" regarding it and the failed petition against it.It is the city's latest move as it defends itself against a lawsuit filed in August requesting the ordinance be suspended.Pastor Hernan Castano received a subpoena and believes his sermons are protected by the First Amendment."For a city government to step into churches and ask pastors to turn in sermons, it's gone too far. This is not what America, the nation is about," he told Eyewitness News.The fight over the anti-discrimination ordinance that passed in May has included protests and petition drives. Thousands of signatures were deemed invalid, which led to the lawsuit.Some signatures were acquired at churches which make the sermons fair game, according to City Attorney Dave Feldman."If they choose to do this inside the church, choose to do this from the pulpit, then they open the door to the questions being asked," Feldman said.Monday -- the plaintiffs, former Harris County GOP Chairman Jared Woodfill and activist Steven Hotze, along with Pastor F.N. Williams Sr. and Pastor Max Miller -- filed a motion to quash the subpoenas calling them "overly-broad" and "harassment." ||||| AUSTIN — Republicans running for the state’s top jobs have united against a San Antonio measure to protect gays, an early sign of the candidates’ efforts to showcase their conservative credentials, even on local disputes.
The uproar over the nondiscrimination ordinance also could portend a political season — especially if Democratic Sen. Wendy Davis runs for governor — in which abortion, gay rights and other contentious social issues form the nucleus of debate.
As for “good primary politics in Texas, this is kind of a no-brainer,” said GOP consultant Matt Mackowiak. “None of these statewide Republican candidates wants to be perceived as not standing with social conservatives. You have to be right there.”
At issue is a San Antonio proposal — which the City Council will take up Thursday — that would protect gays from housing and job discrimination.
It has prompted an outcry from Attorney General Greg Abbott, running for governor; two of the lieutenant governor candidates; and all three of the attorney general contenders. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz also has joined the opposition.
Virtually identical ordinances have passed in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and El Paso without notice from state officials.
Abbott, as have his fellow Republicans, said the proposal would impinge on religious freedoms. Critics also say liberals are trying to impose a value system that many Texans oppose.
Abbott warned Mayor Julián Castro in a letter Wednesday that adopting the ordinance will “trample” religious freedom. He said it “will likely envelop the city in costly litigation.”
He said that similar ordinances in other states have prompted lawsuits by religious business owners who refused to provide wedding cakes or flowers at same-sex weddings.
“The city should scrap this proposed ordinance,” Abbott said.
Backers say the ordinance is about providing equal protection to all groups. It would add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the city’s nondiscrimination code. Advocates say it does not infringe on religious beliefs.
Castro told The Associated Press that he was disappointed at the objections. He called it an “overdue” ordinance.
“These days, unfortunately, it’s campaign season,” Castro said. “What else would you expect?”
Contested primaries
It’s rare for statewide candidates to enter a fight over a city ordinance. But all of the high-profile statewide jobs are in contention this time. Once one candidate came out against it, the others didn’t want to pale by contrast, Mackowiak said.
He added that the Republicans office-seekers all probably believe the ordinance is overly broad and flawed.
“Usually a city ordinance doesn’t break through,” he said. “But primaries are fought on the edges, and that’s where this issue is.”
Chuck Smith, director of gay rights advocacy group Equality Texas, chided the candidates for wading into the local ordinance tussle.
He said a majority of Texans agree that no one should be fired from a job, lose an apartment or be kicked out of a restaurant because they are gay or transgender.
But in the throes of a crowded election, he said, “this is a broad-scale exercise in pandering” to the political base.
Many ordinance opponents say it could prevent people of faith from condemning homosexuality.
But the ordinance, which would levy a $500 fine and bar offenders from city commissions, does include exemptions for religious organizations and those expressing their beliefs.
Once concerns about religious freedoms are stripped away, there’s not that much support for discrimination because of someone’s sexual orientation, Smith said. “That is not a widely held Texas value,” he said.
Recent independent polling has indicated that a large majority of Texans say employers should not be allowed to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.
But in those surveys, most Texans, especially Republicans, say they oppose gay marriage.
Appeal to party’s base
University of Texas at Arlington political science professor Allan Saxe said the maneuvering among Republicans is not surprising.
“It ain’t going to hurt them by any means.”
Emotional issues appeal to core voting constituencies and “really drive the base,” he said.
As for Democrats, Saxe noted that Davis, the Fort Worth senator, gained national fame after her filibuster against an abortion bill that eventually passed. She’s considering a run for governor, and that issue will stick with her.
“It’s a big election year. Abortion is in the air. And gay rights is another big one,” he said.
Davis is trying to extend her message to health care, transportation, veterans and other issues. But if it hadn’t been for abortion, “everybody would be yawning” at the prospect of her candidacy, Saxe said.
Follow Christy Hoppe on Twitter at @christyhoppe.
AT A GLANCE: San Antonio proposal
What’s at stake: The San Antonio City Council is expected to vote Thursday on an ordinance that would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Action in other cities: Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth, Austin and El Paso have ordinances making it illegal to discriminate based on sexual orientation. Nearly 180 cities nationwide have adopted similar protections.
From wire reports | – Conservative pastors in Houston complain that the city is trampling on religious freedoms in the battle over a controversial equal-rights ordinance introduced earlier this year. The city's lawyers have subpoenaed several high-profile pastors opposed to the law, seeking, among other things, "all speeches, presentations, or sermons" related to the law, homosexuality, and openly gay Mayor Annise Parker, reports the Houston Chronicle. The law's opponents are suing the city, claiming that it was wrong to determine that an effort to force a repeal referendum didn't gather enough signatures. Plaintiffs call the move "harassment" and a violation of First Amendment rights. "For a city government to step into churches and ask pastors to turn in sermons, it's gone too far. This is not what America, the nation is about," one pastor who received a subpoena tells KTRK. But a city attorney says that since some of the signatures on the repeal petition were gathered at churches, the sermons are part of the case. "If they choose to do this inside the church, choose to do this from the pulpit, then they open the door to the questions being asked," he says. |
An autopsy will be performed Thursday on an Army veteran and double amputee who died Wednesday after he was found in the Chesapeake Bay with a group of paddle boarders.
Natural Resources Police said Cody Iorns, 25, of Washington D.C. was pronounced dead at Anne Arundel Medical Center after attempts to resuscitate him failed.
Spokeswoman Candy Thomson said Iorns was part of a group of four paddle boarders who were on the water off Tolly Point around 6:30 p.m. One of the people in the group saw Iorns face down in the water behind them and they attempted to rescue him and bring him to shore, Thomson said.
At a press conference Thursday afternoon, Maryland Natural Resources Police Capt. Brian Rathgeb said Iorns suffered undetermined medical distress while on the water. An autopsy is being conducted Thursday in Baltimore to determine the cause of death.
Rathgeb said Iorns was wearing an inflatable life jacket, but the device did not inflate.
He had three people with him — they started performing CPR, according to Thomson. One went ashore seeking help, Rathgeb said. An Anne Arundel County Fire Department boat picked Iorns up from the water.
He was taken to Anne Arundel Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, he said.
Iorns was a double amputee and Army veteran who was well-known in the paddle boarding community. He paddle boarded with the help of prosthetic limbs.
Capital SUP, a paddle boarding group and business in Annapolis, said in a statement on Facebook that Iorns “went out for a downwind paddle with fellow Capital SUP paddlers and unexpectedly drowned.”
“We are still processing how it happened,” the group wrote. “We are at a loss for words. He was our brother. He was an inspiration to everyone on and off the water.”
Iorns was profiled by National Geographic last year, which described him as a competitive paddle boarder who’d lost his arms in a motorcycle accident.
In the piece, the publication said he was a former Army medic who trained and competed with Capital SUP’s “Water Warriors” program for veterans.
In an interview, Iorns described the challenges of paddle boarding while being an amputee, saying “whenever I paddle board, it’s a team sport because someone is getting my board, someone’s helping me with my arms, so that’s my team.”
“80 percent of my goal is accomplished by making it to the race,” he said.
It was one of three separate incidents that happened out on the Chesapeake Bay during choppy conditions Wednesday afternoon, and brings the number of boating-related deaths this year to 10. By this time last year there had been four boating-related deaths, Rathgeb said. The state saw nine, boating-related deaths in 2017.
“We’re on pace for one of the deadliest years boating-wise in Maryland,” he said.
Emergency crews are continuing their search today for a missing boater who fell overboard off of a 40-foot cabin cruiser between Kent Narrows and Herrington Harbor South.
Thomson said Kevin Yates Sr., 41, of Queen Anne’s County, was helping another boater who’d recently purchased a boat in Kent Narrows to move it over to Herrington Harbor South around 2:45 p.m. Wednesday.
Yates was helping the other man to move the boat to Herrington Harbor South while wind gusts were up to 25 knots as he was a more experienced boater, Thomson said.
At one point, Yates needed to use the bathroom and handed the helm over to the other boater, Thomson said.
It is believed that Yates fell off the vessel sometime during this period, as Thomson said the other boater stayed at the helm for about an hour, uncomfortable leaving it unmanned.
“We have a very very large search area,” Rathgeb said at the press conference. “We’re basically searching between Poplar Island and Herring Bay, so Eastern Shore to the Western Shore.”
He was last seen wearing blue shorts and a dark shirt with no life jacket. They are continuing to search with aviation units and boats Thursday, Rathgeb said.
In another incident, a 6-year-old boy who stepped off a crabbing pier at Sandy Point State Park is expected to survive. The water level was almost flush with the pier when the child stepped off, Rathgeb said.
Thomson said that he was with his family having a picnic at the park and went to the crabbing pier where he was swept into the water during particularly rough conditions.
The boy’s father jumped into the water after him and brought him back to shore, Thomson said.
The boy was taken to Johns Hopkins with non-life threatening injuries and is okay now, Rathgeb said.
Of the 10 boating-related deaths in Maryland so far this year, four have occurred in Anne Arundel County.
A common theme for almost all the fatalities is that the person wasn’t wearing a life jacket, Rathgeb said. Inflatable life jackets also work, and are worn by Natural Resources Police officers. The inflatable jackets are less bulky, making people more likely to wear them, he said. In Iorns’ case the device wasn’t working properly, he said.
“They’re great as long as you maintain them and keep up with them,” he said.
CAPTION Surveillance video provided by Anne Arundel County Police shows a Ford F350 pickup truck backing into a 7-Eleven on Defense Highway in Crofton in an attempt to steal an ATM from the store. Surveillance video provided by Anne Arundel County Police shows a Ford F350 pickup truck backing into a 7-Eleven on Defense Highway in Crofton in an attempt to steal an ATM from the store. CAPTION Surveillance video provided by Anne Arundel County Police shows a Ford F350 pickup truck backing into a 7-Eleven on Defense Highway in Crofton in an attempt to steal an ATM from the store. Surveillance video provided by Anne Arundel County Police shows a Ford F350 pickup truck backing into a 7-Eleven on Defense Highway in Crofton in an attempt to steal an ATM from the store. CAPTION D.C. Police release video showing "person of interest" in threats to CAIR the Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization. CAIR said it is taking extra security precautions after seeing the video. D.C. Police release video showing "person of interest" in threats to CAIR the Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization. CAIR said it is taking extra security precautions after seeing the video. CAPTION Anne Arundel County officials discuss a $550,000 grant awarded to law enforcement by Gov. Larry Hogan to combat gangs. Anne Arundel County officials discuss a $550,000 grant awarded to law enforcement by Gov. Larry Hogan to combat gangs. CAPTION A locomotive at an Odenton maintenance yard caught fire Wednesday morning, damaging the train engine but nothing else. A locomotive at an Odenton maintenance yard caught fire Wednesday morning, damaging the train engine but nothing else. CAPTION Anne Arundel police plans to expand their storage space, in part, because of the number of weapons they anticipate confiscating as a result of the new law, said Chief Altomare. Anne Arundel police plans to expand their storage space, in part, because of the number of weapons they anticipate confiscating as a result of the new law, said Chief Altomare.
twitter.com/PhilDavis_CG ||||| Army Veteran, Who Had Lost His Arms, Drowns While Paddleboarding At Age 25
Enlarge this image toggle caption Marvin D. Lynchard /Department of Defense Marvin D. Lynchard /Department of Defense
Cody Iorns was not one to lie down in defeat.
The Army medic veteran lost his arms following a motorcycle accident in 2015, but fitted with prosthetic limbs, he turned to the water, specifically standup paddleboarding.
The dogged athlete was featured in several news reports, showcasing his rise from adversity, and he became well known in the local water sports community.
Iorns died Wednesday evening after venturing out into the Chesapeake Bay from Annapolis, MD, according to Maryland Natural Resources Police Public Information Officer Candy Thomson.
He was 25.
Maryland's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner told NPR the cause was accidental drowning.
Iorns set off around 6 p.m. Wednesday with three other paddlers, Thomson said. The plan was to launch from Thomas Point and head toward Spa Creek about five miles away, returning to land about an hour-and-a-half later.
As a precaution, somebody in the group sent Maryland Natural Resources Police a message with their route, Thomson said.
But the conditions were rocky.
"We had a huge high tide because of the full moon," Thomson said, "we had four to five foot waves."
Winds were gusting up to 25 miles per hour, and somehow Iorns wound up behind the group and in the water.
"They all of a sudden looked back and noticed that Cody had fallen from his paddle board and was face down in the water," Thomson said.
His life jacket did not inflate, Thomson said, and the other paddlers were quick to act.
"They pulled him back on his board and did CPR while pulling him back toward shore," Thomson said.
Iorns was brought to the Anne Arundel Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
Despite the rough conditions, the paddlers "did everything within reason," Thomson said.
"These were experienced paddlers," Thomson said, especially Iorns. "He was in good shape, he was comfortable around the water, he was well known in our paddleboard community."
Capital SUP Annapolis, a paddleboard company, posted a message to Facebook saying Iorns "unexpectedly drowned" after going out with his fellow Capital SUP paddlers.
"We are still processing how it happened," the post said. "Please pray for Cody's family. We are at a loss for words. He was our brother. He was an inspiration to everyone on and off the water."
Last year, Iorns spoke to WJLA TV News about the motorcycle accident that changed his life.
"My left arm was just gone," Iorns said. His right arm was severely fractured and following an infection he lost it too.
Iorns, a former Army specialist who served as a combat medic, told WJLA, the easy thing to do would have been to lie in bed.
"You've got to step out of your comfort zone," he said.
"I know that I feel so much better when I'm out, trying to give something my 100%," Iorns told National Geographic Adventure, which showcased him in a paddleboarding race last year.
National Geographic said Iorns was the only adaptive paddler in the 9-mile long Wrightsville, N.C., Surf to Sound race.
He finished 28th.
"80 percent of my goal is accomplished by making it to the race," he said. "So doing the race, that's kind of like the icing on the cake."
"Standup paddleboarding has been a lot of failing, a lot of working, a lot of finding out what doesn't work the hard way," he said.
Still, he said it was the thing he wanted to do most.
An investigation into what happened on the water Wednesday evening is ongoing, Thomson said.
"They were playing by the rules and something happened and that hits you hard because it is so unfair," Thomson said. ||||| Anson and Angela Service of Vancouver, Wash., were returning from a hike Friday in the hills north of Stevenson, Wash., when they spotted a motorcycle laying on the side of the dirt road. They pulled their jeep over to take a look around.
The moment may have well saved the life of Lawrence "Matt" L'Hommedieu, 46, of Stevenson.
The couple spotted L'Hommedieu laid out on the rocks halfway down a steep embankment. Though in and out of consciousness, the injured rider managed to tell Service he'd lost control of his dirt bike and crashed the day before. He'd been laying there too hurt to move for almost 24 hours.
"I'm not a medical professional," Anson Service said. "But he was in real pain. He was thinking he might have broken his back and his leg. He used his iPhone cord to tie a tourniquet on his leg."
Angela Service took a video of her husband's first contact with L'Hommedieu
The couple couldn't get cell service to call 911. They had to drive another 20 minutes toward Stevenson before they could get reception. They led emergency crews to the site.
Skamania County Sheriff Dave Brown and rescue crews managed to haul L'Hommidieu up the embankment on a stretcher. They drove him by ambulance to the Skamania County Fairgrounds. From there, he was life-flighted out to Southwest Washington Medical Center.
On Saturday night, he was listed in critical condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Gretchen L'Hommedieu, Matt's mother, spent the day with him Saturday at the hospital. He'd already had one surgery on his badly broken leg and is due to undergo a second operation early this week. He also suffered broken ribs, a collapsed lung and shoulder injuries.
Matt L'Hommedieu had left his home in Stevenson around 4 p.m. on June 4. Though an experienced rider, he lost control while rounding a corner. The accident sent him flying off the bank into a creek. He managed to creep halfway up the embankment despite his injuries, but could go no further.
Unluckily for him, he had crashed on a remote stretch of gravel road connecting Stevenson to the upper Washougal River area. As Brown pointed out, it's a low-traffic road even in the summer.
L'Hommedieu spent the night there, wet and in pain. A former Navy Seal, he attempted to treat his injured leg, cobbling together a crude splint. He also tried to build a fire, without success.
It might have been a much more grim outcome had not the Services driven by and stopped to investigate.
"He said he's never been that cold," Gretchen L'Hommedieu said. "He's a lucky dude. We're very grateful."
-- Jeff Manning
503-294-7606, [email protected]
@JeffmanningOre ||||| VIRGINIA BEACH
The Navy identified the two sailors who died and a third, who went missing, after a Navy helicopter crashed into the frigid Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday, about 20 miles east of Cape Henry.
Lt. Wesley Van Dorn, 29, and Petty Officer 3rd Class Brian Collins, 25, died at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital Wednesday, officials told reporters at a Thursday afternoon news conference at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek. Both were members of Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 14, based at Norfolk Naval Station.
The missing pilot, Lt. Sean Christopher Snyder, 39, of Santee, Calif., was identified by the Navy late this evening.
In a statement issued by the Navy, the Snyder family thanked the Navy, Coast Guard and Virginia Beach fire crews for their efforts to rescue him.
"At this time, our hearts and prayers are for Sean's recovery, the other families who have suffered loss, and for the health of the hospitalized sailors," the statement said.
Van Dorn, a pilot, was from Greensboro, N.C. and had served for more than six years.
Collins, an aircrewman, was from Truckee, Calif., and had been in the Navy about two years, officials said.
Four of the five crewmembers, including Van Dorn and Collins, were pulled from the water after the crash Wednesday morning. The search for Snyder has been ongoing.
The Coast Guard and Navy searched an area of more than 600 square miles before suspending its active search for the missing crew member at 3:30 this afternoon, said Coast Guard Capt. John Little said. Crews will continue working to recover wreckage and search for remains.
"It was a very challenging decision to make, but it's one that we felt we had to make," Little said. "It was an exhaustive search."
The Navy also requested assistance from the Virginia Beach fire and police departments again today. The Fire Department sent its mobile command center to First Landing State Park to be used as the Coast Guard's command post for the day, said Battalion Chief Amy Valdez. A fire boat with side-scan sonar capability assisted along with a police boat that has a tow sonar.
During a news conference this afternoon, the Navy said one sailor had been released from Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and a second was in stable condition.
The Navy promptly launched an investigation Wednesday to determine what caused the late-morning crash, but the day's efforts were focused on the five sailors who went down aboard the troubled aircraft.
With the water temperature around 40 degrees, Navy and Coast Guard officials feared their rescue mission could soon become a recovery operation.
The day began routinely enough, with two MH-53 Sea Dragons from Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 14, aka HM-14, leaving Norfolk Naval Station on a training mission. One of the aircraft made a distress call about 10:45 a.m., only moments before hitting the water.
It was unclear whether the crew performed an emergency water landing or lost control and crashed, said Capt. Todd Flannery, the commander of Helicopter Sea Combat Wing Atlantic.
"I don't know," said Flannery, repeating a line he uttered more than a half-dozen times during a somber news conference on the flight line where the downed aircraft had taken off hours earlier. "There's a lot we don't know right now."
After impact, the second helicopter dropped a raft into the water, and two crew members climbed in.
The Coast Guard cutter Shearwater was 2 miles away - close enough to hear but not see the crash - and made its way to the scene as the Navy dispatched two MH-60 Seahawks from Norfolk Naval Station.
The rescue helicopters arrived within 30 minutes of impact and hoisted the two sailors from the raft. Two other crew members were pulled from the chilly water about 45 minutes after the crash and were hoisted into the second Seahawk. The four sailors were flown to Norfolk General. Two died there, one was listed in serious condition, and the other was upgraded to fair.
When Virginia Beach rescue boats arrived near the crash location, they encountered a large debris field that spread over a half-mile area, Battalion Chief Tracy Freeman of the Virginia Beach Fire Department said.
Pieces of the helicopter were scattered across the water. A fireboat with side-scan sonar helped find the fuselage and tail section, which had sunk by the time rescue crews arrived.
The Coast Guard and Navy planned to search through the night for the fifth crew member. All would have been wearing survival suits for a flight over cold water, Flannery said, but it's unclear how long someone could survive in those conditions.
The Navy sent divers from Little Creek to the crash site. Other ships assisting the joint search and rescue operation include the guided missile destroyer Jason Dunham, the amphibious transport dock Mesa Verde, the salvage vessel Grasp and a cargo ship, the Medgar Evers.
At the Norfolk hospital, Chris Goetz said he saw two Navy helicopters land and drop off two crew members each.
"They came in fast, that's why I noticed," said Geotz, an electrician who was working at the facility. "They started screaming. The first person was unconscious, and his arms were dangling. The second person had his hands bandaged, and his face was burned, but at least he held his hands up."
Navy officials said they would not identify the crew members who died until 24 hours after relatives were notified.
"Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to the families and the loved ones of those hurt and killed in today's crash," Flannery said.
Wednesday's crash was the second tragedy to strike the small MH-53 Sea Dragon community in as many years. It's also the latest accident for a workhorse airframe that the Navy had planned to retire more than five years ago.
According to the Naval Safety Center, the crash is the fourth major accident involving a Sea Dragon since 2012. MH-53s have crashed at a rate more than 10 times greater than other Navy helicopters over the past five years, according to the center's data.
Assigned to just two Norfolk-based squadrons, HM-14 and HM-15, Sea Dragons are equipped to detect and clear submerged mines - a critical capability in the Navy's mission of ensuring clear shipping channels abroad. The massive $50 million helicopters are also used to move people and cargo and are the Navy's preferred option for heavy-lift operations.
Sea Dragons were introduced to the fleet in the early 1980s. The service had planned to begin phasing them out in the mid-2000s, but without a viable replacement, it kept the Sea Dragons flying. The goal is to use them through 2025.
After a crash in July 2012 claimed the lives of two Norfolk-based sailors during a heavy-lift mission in Oman, the Navy uncovered systemic problems within the Sea Dragon community stemming from a lack of investment in the aging airframes.
"This didn't just happen overnight," Flannery said during a November interview with The Virginian-Pilot. "This was an atrophy over a long period of time, and the reason was, the Navy slowly but surely kind of forgot about the HM community.... It was absolutely tragic that it came to a head the way that it did."
After the Oman crash, the Navy invested millions of dollars to upgrade and better maintain its remaining 29 Sea Dragons, Flannery said in November. It added more than 100 maintenance personnel to the two Norfolk-based squadrons, enhanced pilot training and installed new leadership.
There are currently no plans to ground the Sea Dragons.
Asked Wednesday whether he had concerns about the safety of the MH-53s, Flannery said: "No, I don't. I do not."
Pilot reporters Cindy Clayton, Lauren King and Gary Harki contributed to this report.
Mike Hixenbaugh, 757-446-2949, [email protected] ||||| Colorado girl, 12, killed on Newfound Lake after wind-blown hat distracts father
By BEA LEWIS
Union Leader Correspondent
State Marine Patrol Sgt. Joshua Dirth talks on his cell phone as he looks at a bowrider-style Colbalt boat at the scene where a 12-year-old Colorado girl died in a boating accident Monday. (Bea Lewis/Union Leader Correspondent) State Marine Patrol Sgt. Joshua Dirth talks on his cell phone as he looks at a bowrider-style Colbalt boat at the scene where a 12-year-old Colorado girl died in a boating accident Monday.
HEBRON — A Colorado man driving a powerboat was momentarily distracted by the wind blowing off his hat when he accidentally struck and killed his 12-year-old daughter Monday morning, according to police.Sherwood Anderson had circled to give his daughter, Zoe Anderson, another attempt at water skiing when the accident happened at 8:26 a.m. off Cilley's Point, near Sanborn Bay on Newfound Lake.When a breeze took off his hat, Anderson put the boat into neutral — just as it traveled over his daughter, causing serious injuries to her torso, Marine Patrol said in a news release.The victim's father, mother, Tonya, and her 14-year-old sister were able to get her out of the water and back onto the boat and call 911. They rushed to a dock at 1775 Mayhew Turnpike, a lakeside condominium development, with the tow rope still dragging behind the 20-foot 1997 Colbalt.Despite efforts to resuscitate the girl, she died at the scene."It makes you want to go home and hug your kids," said Marine Patrol Sgt. Joshua Dirth.The family lives in Highland Ranch, Colo., and had come to New Hampshire to visit relatives in Bridgewater.As is protocol in any fatal accident, the state Medical Examiner's Office will conduct an autopsy.Neither drugs nor alcohol played a role in the incident and after conferring with Grafton County Attorney Lara Saffo, no criminal charges are expected, authorities report.New Hampshire State Police responded to the accident, along with Marine Patrol Sgt. Dirth. Lakes Region Mutual Fire Aid Dispatch sent Bridgewater and Bristol Fire/EMS to the Mayhew Turnpike address near the Hebron town line at 8:31 a.m. reporting that a child had been run over by a boat and was being taken to shore.A pickup left parked at the Bridgewater Fire Station with the driver's door open showed the speed at which volunteers rushed to help.The Dartmouth-Hitchcock Air Rescue Transport helicopter was immediately dispatched.Anyone who may have information related to the accident or who may have witnessed it is asked to contact Sgt. Dirth at 603-293-2037 or by email at [email protected] Lake is the third-largest lake in the state, about 2.5 miles wide and six miles long. It has 22 miles of shoreline and its deepest point is 183 feet.
Outdoors Accidents Hebron | – A double-amputee Army veteran who was called an "adventure seeker" and "strong-willed man" by friends died Wednesday in the Chesapeake Bay while paddleboarding, NPR and the Washington Post report. Cody Iorns, 25, pushed off land near Annapolis, Md., around 6pm Wednesday with three other paddlers, but rough conditions—including 5-foot-waves and 25mph wind gusts—soon caused Iorns to fall behind his friends. "They all of a sudden looked back and noticed that Cody had fallen from his paddleboard and was face down in the water," Candy Thomson, a rep for the Maryland Natural Resources Police, tells NPR. The others pulled Iorns, whose life jacket hadn't inflated, back onto his board and administered CPR, which medics took over when they arrived on the scene, but it was too late. Iorns was pronounced dead at Anne Arundel Medical Center; the state medical examiner said the cause of death was accidental drowning. The Capital Gazette notes Iorns' death brings the number of boat-related fatalities so far for 2018 to 10; last year by this time there had only been four. "We're on pace for one of the deadliest years boating-wise in Maryland," says MNRP Capt. Brian Rathgeb. The Annapolis paddleboard community, meanwhile, is mourning the loss of Iorns, a former Army medic who lost his arms after a 2015 motorcycle accident but had become an inspiration in the stand-up paddleboard community. His story had just been featured by National Geographic last year. "He was our brother," paddleboard company Capital SUP Annapolis posted on Facebook. "He was an inspiration to everyone on and off the water." |
Reviving a 20-year debate over illnesses of veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf war, a new scientific paper presents evidence that nerve agents released by the bombing of Iraqi chemical weapons depots just before the ground war began could have carried downwind and fallen on American troops staged in Saudi Arabia.
The paper, published in the journal Neuroepidemiology, tries to rebut the longstanding Pentagon position, supported by many scientists, that neurotoxins, particularly sarin gas, could not have carried far enough to sicken American forces.
The authors are James J. Tuite and Dr. Robert Haley, who has written several papers asserting links between chemical exposures and gulf war illnesses. They assembled data from meteorological and intelligence reports to support their thesis that American bombs were powerful enough to propel sarin from depots in Muthanna and Falluja high into the atmosphere, where winds whisked it hundreds of miles south to the Saudi border.
Once over the American encampments, the toxic plume could have stalled and fallen back to the surface because of weather conditions, the paper says. Though troops would have been exposed to low levels of the agent, the authors assert that the exposures may have continued for several days, increasing their impact.
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Though chemical weapons detectors sounded alarms in those encampments in the days after the January 1991 bombing raids, they were viewed as false by many troops, the authors report. ||||| Troops were told chemical alarms that went off at U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War were false alarms, but a new study indicates that sarin gas traveled hundreds of miles.
Soldiers with the U.S. Army's 7th Corps huddle in a bunker in Eastern Saudi Arabia with gas masks and chemical suits following the start of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. (Photo: Peter Dejong, AP) Story Highlights Weather studies show dangerous nerve agent traveled hundreds of miles to reach U.S. troops.
WASHINGTON -- U.S. bombings of Iraqi munitions factories in January 1991 released a plume of sarin gas that traveled more than 300 miles to affect American troops in Saudi Arabia, although military officials claimed at the time that chemical alarms triggered by the gas were false, a study released today shows.
The Jan. 18, 1991, bombings of the munitions plants in Nasiriyah and Khamisiya blew a plume of sarin gas high above a layer of cold, still air -- also called the boundary level -- and into a swift wind stream that carried the gas to Saudi Arabia, said the study conducted by researchers Robert Haley and James Tuite and published in the journal Neuroepidemiology.
The gas plumes, the researchers said, can be blamed for symptoms of Gulf War illness, the mysterious ailment that has affected more than 250,000 veterans of the war.
The gas set off repeated chemical weapons alarms at U.S. troop points in Saudi Arabia, the report said, but commanders said they were false alarms, because if the troops had been hit with sarin gas, there would have been casualties. There were no casualties, although U.S., Czech and French systems all detected traces of sarin and mustard agent.
Compounding the effects of the sarin were Scud missile attacks on the bases by Iraqi forces, Haley and Tuite reported, because the missiles would stir up the airborne toxic gases and force the sarin to drift back into the base level of air, which would set off the chemical alarms again.
The two researchers investigated satellite images and weather charts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to determine the movements of the sarin plume. Haley is the chief of epidemiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and Tuite is a former Secret Service senior agent who has worked as an investigator for the Pentagon and the Government Accountability Office.
Their report shows satellite images depicting a yellow patch of gas in the air above where U.S. troops were based.
"You can see it," Haley said. "This is simple. ... There it is. There's no doubt."
Haley and Tuite paired the weather data with survey results from about 8,000 troops they polled with support from the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. They found a direct relationship between the number of times troops heard the chemical alarms and the severity of their Gulf War illness symptoms, their report said.
The VA did not respond to a request for comment.
The VA has previously challenged research attributing Gulf War illness to sarin, because there was no way to determine the amount of gas to which troops were exposed. Since no troops died at the time from exposure to the gas, and the munitions factories were so far away, U.S. forces and their commanders assumed something else had set off the chemical alarms, Haley said. In some cases, troops were told the alarms were activated by burning trash.
"This is the dose," Haley said. "The more alarms you heard, the longer you were exposed to the gas."
Veterans of suffering from Gulf War illness tend to fall in three categories:
• Syndrome 1, or cognitive and depression problems.
• Syndrome 2, or confusion ataxia, which is similar to early Alzheimer's disease.
• Syndrome 3, or severe chronic body pain.
Those with syndromes two and three had a highly significant correlation between alarms and symptoms, while Haley said Syndrome 1 does not appear to be connected. Haley called syndromes two and three "incapacitating," and said those veterans feel tired or just "not good" for no explainable reason. Recent research shows that Gulf War illness, the series of symptoms ranging from headaches to memory loss to chronic fatigue, is due to damage to the autonomic nervous systems. The autonomic nervous system controls automatic functions, such as breathing or a person's heartbeat.
Troops say their exposure to the gases was compounded by their lack of chemical protection suits. Each person was equipped with two suits, which were good for only one wearing each. Many soldiers and Marines stopped bothering to put on their gas masks and suits, if they had any fresh ones left, after hearing several of the "false alarms."
While scientists have pointed at achl-inhibitors, such as sarin, bug spray and anti-nerve agent pills as contributors to Gulf War illness, Haley he said the main cause is probably the sarin gas.
"I think the other chemicals may have compounded it," he said, but scientists hadn't been looking at low-dose, long-term sarin exposure because they didn't know the cloud had traveled so far.
The VA originally funded some of the Gulf War illness research but Veterans Affairs dropped their project in 2010 after being accused of wasting millions of dollars in research money. That came directly after a 2009 study from Haley showed that neurotoxins such as anti-nerve agent pills, insect repellent and the nerve agent sarin caused neurological changes to the brain, and that the changes seem to correlate with different symptoms. Haley and Tuite used their own money and time to complete the research before it was published in Neuroepidemiology, which only runs research after it is peer-reviewed by other scientists.
Haley said the findings are important because it could help veterans gain benefits from VA, and because it gives researchers a starting point for a cure. It also could serve as a warning to countries such as Syria, which security experts fear plan to use chemical weapons against insurgents, because it's hard to determine where the chemicals will end up, he said.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/UdpMvM | – A controversial new paper may shed light on Gulf War syndrome, a collection of symptoms seen in veterans of the 1991 conflict: Chemical weapons could be to blame. The researchers assert that when US troops bombed chemical weapons depots in Iraq, the neurotoxin sarin was sent into the atmosphere then carried by the wind all the way to American encampments 300 miles to the south. From there, weather conditions may have driven the toxin downward, potentially exposing troops to it for several days. Troops were told that chemical weapons alarms that blared at the time were false alarms, the New York Times reports. The theory has been raised before; the new paper supports it using intelligence and weather reports. The researchers also noted a correlation between the number of times troops say they heard the alarm and the severity of their symptoms. Satellite images in the report show yellow gas over the US encampments, USA Today adds. Almost half of 700,000 Gulf War veterans have made claims for disability, with many citing symptoms whose cause remains mysterious. The Pentagon has maintained that the gas couldn't have traveled far enough to present a threat, and other experts have agreed. |
The well was probably part of beer brewing, as some partially germinated barley excavated nearby suggests.
To prevent mud from getting into the well, the lowest barrel was covered with reeds.
A system of pipes at the bottom of the structure led water to the well.
It appears that barrels were recycled for various use in Medieval Odense. The excavation also unearthed three barrels stacked on top of one another and tied together that served as a basic well.
Described as being in "excellent condition," the human excrement was found in wooden barrels originally used to transport goods and store fish. Later converted into latrines, the barrels were unearthed in the center of the medieval town of Odense, the birthplace of fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen. "We are talking of 700-year-old latrines. And yes, they still smell bad," Maria Elisabeth Lauridsen, the archaeologist in charge of the excavation, told Discovery News.
A number of Medieval latrines -- still filled with their original contents -- have been unearthed in Denmark, according to archaeologists working in one of the largest urban archaeological excavations in Danish history.
A number of Medieval wooden barrels have been uncovered in Denmark, revealing their less- than-glamorous contents.
Originally built to transport goods and store fish, the barrels were converted into latrines — still filled with their original contents.
"We are talking about 700-year-old latrines. And yes, they still smell bad," Maria Elisabeth Lauridsen, the archaeologist in charge of the excavation, told Discovery News.
Photos: Digging Up a Medieval Latrine
Unearthed in the center of the Medieval town of Odense, the birthplace of the fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen, the barrels are believed to have served a toilet area.
"The excavation is characterized by great conditions for preservation and is located on a Medieval site that has been found to contain brick houses, half-timbered houses and stables," Lauridsen said.
Described as being in "excellent condition," the human excrement can give scientists unique insight into what people ate in Denmark in the Middle Ages.
Photos: Top 10 Things Poop Makes Better
"Preliminary results of analysis show that raspberries were popular in Odense in the 1300s. The contents also contain small pieces of moss, leather and fabric which were used as toilet paper," Lauridsen said.
It appears that barrels were recycled for various use in Medieval Odense. The excavation unearthed three barrels stacked on top of one another and tied together that served as a basic well.
Poop Gets Its Close-Up
A system of pipes at the bottom of the structure led water to the well. To prevent mud from getting into the well, the lowest barrel was covered with reeds.
"This well has probably been a part of beer brewing. We have excavated nearby a stock of partially germinated barley which is commonly used in the brewing process," Lauridsen said.
Video: What's in Your Poop?
Visitors can go on a free tour of the excavation every Tuesday and Thursday at 1:00 pm and can visit the archaeologists' workshop every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from noon to 3:00.
"We are finding new and exciting information about the life that was lived in Odense during the 14th century," Lauridsen said.
Image: Human excrement still smelling bad has been found in these 700 year old barrel latrines. Credit: Odense City Museum. ||||| Archaeologists made a stunning, if not stinky discovery during their excavations of I Vilhelm Werners square in Odense on Funen.
The digs revealed numerous latrine barrels dating back to the 1300s and still filled with their intended content, proving – among other things – that human excrement still has a putrid odour even if it is centuries old.
Many of the barrels, which were found during 2013, are in excellent condition and their contents can provide a unique insight into the dietary habits of people living some seven hundred years ago.
READ MORE: Danish research gives new details on Ice Age extinction
Huge urban dig
But what’s also interesting is that the barrels were usually used for something else before becoming latrines, and the markings on the barrels reveal who owned it and whether it was used for the transportation of goods or storage of fish.
The dig, which is ongoing and is one of the largest urban archaeological excavations in Danish history, also uncovered three barrels stacked on top of one another that turned out to be a well. The barrels were tied together and packed with clay, and at the bottom archaeologists found a system of pipes.
Visitors can enjoy a free tour of the excavation every Tuesday and Thursday at 13:00 and can visit the archaeologists’ workshop every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from noon to 15:00. ||||| Intestinal parasites have been found lurking in ancient poop in the toilet of a medieval castle in western Cyprus, scientists report.
The findings paint a less than pretty picture of the health and hygiene of crusaders stationed on the Mediterranean island 800 years ago. Poor sanitation likely meant that food and water supplies were contaminated by fecal material, allowing parasitic infections to spread, the study suggests.
Short-lived latrine
Researchers from the University of Cambridge dug into the pit of dried-out waste under a latrine in the remains of Saranda Kolones (Greek for "Forty Columns") at Paphos, a city at the southwestern tip of Cyprus and a UNESCO World Heritage site. [Through the Years: A Gallery of the World's Toilets]
Overlooking Paphos harbor, and next to a complex of Roman villas with remarkably intact floor mosaics, Saranda Kolones was long thought to be a temple because of the granite columns that littered its ruins. But excavations in the 1950s revealed that it was actually a short-lived concentric castle.
English King Richard the Lionheart sold the island of Cyprus to the Frankish crusader Guy de Lusignan in May 1192. Archaeologists believe the Franks built Saranda Kolones to defend Paphos harbor soon after their occupation of the island began. But in 1222, the city was rocked by a powerful earthquake thought to be at least 7.0 in magnitude. Much of the fortress was left in ruins, never to be rebuilt, but the latrines on its lower floors survived.
These toilets were carved to fit the human form, with a half moon-shaped hole in the seat leading to a sewer below. Cambridge researchers Evilena Anastasiou and Piers Mitchell, who study ancient parasites, collected samples from one of those cesspools, rehydrated the waste and strained it through a micro-sieve to catch parasite eggs, each smaller than a tenth of a millimeter.
Worms in the waste
Under a microscope, the researchers saw that the samples contained the eggs of two of the world's most common and widespread intestinal parasites: whipworms (Trichuris trichiura), which cause the infection known as trichocephalus, and giant roundworms (Ascaris lumbricoides), the largest of the nematodes found in human intestines, with adults that can grow to more than 1 foot (30 centimeters) long.
People with a light load of these worms may experience no symptoms. But when whipworms and giant roundworms heavily colonize the digestive tract, they compete with their hosts for food, siphoning off the nutrients that would normally be absorbed in the intestines. Eggs of the parasites pass through the feces and spread to other hosts by ingestion (say, when a human doesn't wash their hands and spreads the parasite to food or other objects that get consumed). That means infections are most common in places with poor hygiene and sanitation as well as areas where human waste is used as fertilizer or where people defecate in the soil.
Mitchell has estimated that during a two- or three-year crusade expedition, noblemen and clergy were just as likely to die in battle as they were to succumb to malnutrition and disease. Presumably, the risk of malnutrition would have been even worse for poor foot soldiers with fewer resources. The new study suggests that parasites likely contributed to the demise of many soldiers who died of starvation or disease.
"In these circumstances [it] is quite likely that medieval soldiers with a heavy parasite load would have been at increased risk of death from starvation during famine episodes such as long sieges or expeditions when supplies ran out," the researchers wrote. "This is because they would have had to share the limited available food with their parasites."
Studying feces is a rather unglamorous but useful way for archaeologists to reconstruct the diets, health and lifestyle of ancient people. The parasites described in this study are hardly the oldest ever found in Cyprus. A recent analysis of human waste up to 10,000 years old revealed roundworms, whipworms and tapeworms at the Neolithic Cypriot sites of Khirokitia and Shillourokambos.
The research was detailed in the International Journal of Paleopathology.
Follow Megan Gannon on Twitterand Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook& Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com. | – One of the biggest urban archaeological digs Denmark has ever seen has uncovered a lowly part of history. "We are talking about 700-year-old latrines. And yes, they still smell bad," an archaeologist explains. The team stumbled on what appears to be a 14th-century communal toilet area in the medieval town of Odense, unearthing a number of medieval barrels filled with human waste. And in case you were wondering, the poop the barrels contained was in "excellent condition," reports Discovery News, with the Copenhagen Post explaining that its "putrid odor" hadn't diminished over the centuries. But it's more than just stinky. It actually tells researchers a lot about how the people of the time lived. (LiveScience notes latrine samples from roughly the same period in Cyprus revealed the intestinal parasites that plagued the crusaders there.) "Preliminary results of analysis show that raspberries were popular in Odense in the 1300s," the head archaeologist reveals. "The contents also contain small pieces of moss, leather, and fabric, which were used as toilet paper." Want to take a whiff for yourself? Well, you're in, um, luck. The site offers free tours, two days a week. (Latrines found in Pompeii have revealed some unusual Roman eating habits.) |
Just two weeks after filing suit against Google, the Department of Labor has brought suit against another big tech company: Oracle. On Wednesday morning the agency filed a complaint of racial discrimination against the database giant, which employs some 45,000 people in the US.
The complaint alleges that Oracle engaged a "systemic practice of paying Caucasian male workers more than their counterparts in the same job title," resulting in pay discrimination against women and African-American and Asian employees, especially in technical and product development positions.
The complaint further alleges that Oracle favors Asian applicants — "particularly Asian Indians" — when hiring, in part because "targeted recruitment, and referral bonuses ... encouraged its heavily Asian workforce to recruit other Asians."
In a statement, Oracle spokesperson Deborah Hellinger denied allegations of discrimination, decrying the Department of Labor's complaint as "politically motivated, based on false allegations, and wholly without merit. Oracle values diversity and inclusion, and is a responsible equal opportunity and affirmative action employer, Our hiring and pay decisions are non-discriminatory and made based on legitimate business factors including experience and merit."
Oracle CEO Safra Catz joined President-elect Donald Trump's transition team last month, following a meeting between Trump and leaders in the tech industry. "I plan to tell the president-elect that we are with him and will help in any way we can," Catz said ahead of the meeting. "If he can reform the tax code, reduce regulation and negotiate better trade deals, the US technology industry will be stronger and more competitive than ever.”
Oracle has many contracts with the federal government, which are worth hundred of millions of dollars. As such, the company has to meet certain requirements when it comes to equal employment opportunity and the provision of certain data. The Department of Labor in its complaint alleges that Oracle "refused to produce" compensation data, hiring data, and "any material demonstrating whether or not it had performed an in-depth review of its compensation practices."
If government contractors don't provide necessary information, the government can sue — and it has, filing similar suits against Google earlier this month and Palantir last fall. The agency also sued JPMorgan today over similar allegations of gender pay discrimination.
The Department of Labor itself is in a transitional moment, with Trump's inauguration coming up on Friday and the Obama administration on its way out. The confirmation of Trump's pick for labor secretary, Andrew Puzder, has been delayed following revived accusations of spousal abuse and reports that widespread criticism from unions and Democrats has left Puzder less than enthusiastic about taking the job. (Puzder has more or less denied these claims.)
Oracle, meanwhile, did not immediately respond to a BuzzFeed News request for recent diversity numbers. According to the company's website, less than a third of the company is female, but 37% of its staff are "minority employees." Whether Oracle includes Asians in the "minority employees" category is unclear. Oracle's diversity website makes no mention of compensation parity. ||||| Oracle is the latest technology company to face scrutiny from the U.S. government over its hiring practices.
The Department of Labor is suing Oracle (ORCL) for allegedly paying white men more than other employees and discriminating against non-Asian job applicants when hiring for technical roles.
The lawsuit stems from Oracle's role providing cloud computing software to federal agencies, totaling "hundreds of millions" in contracts, according to the Department of Labor.
As a federal contractor, Oracle is obligated to show the government that its hiring doesn't discriminate based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender and more.
The legal complaint asks the court to order the cancellation of all of Oracle's federal contracts unless it prohibits discriminatory hiring practices and makes up for lost compensation and employment benefits to those affected.
"The complaint is politically motivated, based on false allegations, and wholly without merit," Deborah Hellinger, a spokeswoman for Oracle, said in a statement provided to CNNMoney. "Oracle values diversity and inclusion, and is a responsible equal opportunity and affirmative action employer."
Related: Trump sits down with top Silicon Valley execs
Earlier this month, the Department of Labor filed a lawsuit against Google (GOOGL), pressuring it to turn over compensation data on its employees. The agency also sued Palantir, a data software startup, in September for allegedly discriminating against Asian applicants.
All three tech companies are federal contractors. Two of the three are overseen by executives close to the incoming Trump administration. Palantir cofounder Peter Thiel and Oracle co-CEO Safra Catz are both on Donald Trump's transition team.
The series of government lawsuits comes as Silicon Valley is very publicly trying -- and often failing -- to improve its diversity. Annual transparency reports from many of the big companies reveal the tech industry remains largely white and male.
The increased media attention may be influencing the Department of Labor as well.
"They read the same stories that everyone else reads. It's something I'm sure they take note of," says D. Michael Hancock, a former Department of Labor official who now works as a lawyer at Cohen Milstein. "They probably said, 'Now that we're getting [employee] complaints, we should take a closer look.' " ||||| Please note: As of January 20, 2017, information in some news releases may be out of date or not reflect current policies.
US Department of Labor sues Oracle America Inc. for discriminatory employment practices
Lawsuit could cost company millions in federal contracts
SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit against Oracle America, Inc. alleging the leading technology company has a systemic practice of paying Caucasian male workers more than their counterparts in the same job title, which led to pay discrimination against female, African American and Asian employees. The suit also challenges Oracle’s systemic practice of favoring Asian workers in its recruiting and hiring practices for product development and other technical roles, which resulted in hiring discrimination against non-Asian applicants.
Oracle designs, manufactures, and sells software and hardware products, as well as offers services related to its products to the federal government.
The lawsuit filed by the department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs is the result of an OFCCP compliance review of Oracle’s equal employment opportunity practices at its Redwood Shores headquarters. During the investigation – which began in 2014 – Oracle also refused to comply with the agency’s routine requests for employment data and records. For example, Oracle refused to provide prior-year compensation data for all employees, complete hiring data for certain business lines, and employee complaints of discrimination. OFCCP attempted for almost a year to resolve Oracle’s alleged discrimination violations before filing the suit.
Oracle has received hundreds of millions in federal government contracts. As a federal contractor, Oracle is prohibited from engaging in employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity or national origin and is required to take affirmative action to ensure that equal employment opportunity is provided to applicants and employees in all aspects of employment. If Oracle fails to provide relief as ordered in the lawsuit, OFCCP requests that all its government contracts be canceled and that it be debarred from entering into future federal contracts.
“Federal contractors are required to comply with all applicable anti-discrimination laws,” said OFCCP Acting Director Thomas M. Dowd. “We filed this lawsuit to enforce those requirements.”
Filed with the Office of Administrative Law Judges, the complaint asks the court to enjoin Oracle permanently from discriminating against females, African Americans and Asians in compensation practices and against African American, Hispanic and Caucasian applicants in hiring practices. OFCCP is also seeking complete relief for the affected class including lost wages, stock, interest, front wages, salary adjustments, promotions and all other lost benefits of employment and a reform of discriminatory policies.
The complaint can be viewed here.
OFCCP enforces Executive Order 11246, Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974. These laws, as amended, make it illegal for contractors and subcontractors doing business with the federal government to discriminate in employment because of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or status as a protected veteran. In addition, contractors and subcontractors are prohibited from discriminating against applicants or employees because they have inquired about, discussed or disclosed their compensation or that of others, subject to certain limitations. For more information, please call OFCCP’s toll-free helpline at 800-397-6251 or visit http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/. ||||| FILE - This Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013, file photo shows Google's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Google’s new head of diversity has rejected an internal commentary from an employee who suggested women... (Associated Press)
FILE - This Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013, file photo shows Google's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Google’s new head of diversity has rejected an internal commentary from an employee who suggested women... (Associated Press)
MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) — A 28-year-old former Google engineer who was fired over a memo he wrote about gender differences said Tuesday he's exploring all his legal options and has already filed a labor complaint over his treatment.
James Damore, whose memo over the weekend caused an uproar online, said in an email that he was terminated late Monday for "perpetuating gender stereotypes." He said that prior to being fired he had filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board and that "it's illegal to retaliate against a NLRB charge."
A filing by Damore with the board Monday alleged he was subjected to "coercive statements" while at Google.
A Google spokesperson said Tuesday that the company could not have retaliated because it was unaware of his labor complaint until reading about it in the media after his dismissal. As of Tuesday afternoon, the company said it had not been sent notice of the complaint by the board.
The board declined to comment.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday said in an email to employees that, while he supports free expression by company workers, Damore's memo crossed the line of the company's code of conduct "by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace." Pichai added that he was cutting short a family vacation overseas to address staff in a town hall Thursday.
"To suggest a group of our colleagues have traits that make them less biologically suited to that work is offensive and not OK," Pichai wrote.
The engineer's widely shared memo , titled "Google's Ideological Echo Chamber," criticized Google for pushing mentoring and diversity programs and for "alienating conservatives."
Google's just-hired head of diversity, Danielle Brown, responded earlier with her own memo, saying that Google is "unequivocal in our belief that diversity and inclusion are critical to our success." She said change is hard and "often uncomfortable."
Damore's memo, originally circulated on an internal Google discussion group, begins by saying that only honest discussion will address a lack of equity. But it also asserts that women "prefer jobs in social and artistic areas" while more men "may like coding because it requires systemizing."
The memo says biological differences between men and women may explain why women are not equally represented in the technology industry.
Damore's filing with the NLRB cites a part of the labor relations act that gives employees the right to engage in "protected concerted" activities. That includes being active on social media , though it's unclear if his memo, written on a Google Doc and submitted to an employee-only forum, qualifies for such protection. The first tweets about the post by other Google employees began Friday, though a company spokesperson said the document appeared to have been created weeks earlier.
The Twitter hashtag #JamesDamore was drawing a storm of opinions both attacking Damore for his memo and his qualifications as an engineer, and criticizing Google for his dismissal.
The battling messages come as Silicon Valley grapples with accusations of sexism and discrimination. Google is also in the midst of a Department of Labor investigation into whether it pays women less than men, while Uber's CEO recently lost his job amid accusations of widespread sexual harassment and discrimination.
Leading tech companies, including Google, Facebook and Uber, have said they are trying to improve hiring and working conditions for women. But diversity numbers are barely changing .
___
Associated Press writers Matt O'Brien in Providence, Rhode Island, and Barbara Ortutay in New York contributed to this report. | – Oracle provides contracting services for the feds via its cloud computing software, resulting in "hundreds of millions" of dollars in government contracts, per a Labor Department release. That means the tech company has to adhere to federal nondiscriminatory hiring practices, which a DOL lawsuit announced Wednesday says has not been the case, CNN reports. The complaint alleges Oracle has, in a "systemic practice," extended higher paychecks to white males over female, African-American, and Asian workers with the same job title. On the flip side, the company is also accused of having a bias toward Asian workers (specifically, Asian Indians, per BuzzFeed), with "targeted recruitment" and "referral bonuses" coaxing "its heavily Asian workforce to recruit other Asians." The DOL has been trying to address complaints of a lack of diversity in Silicon Valley, and it has filed suit in recent months against other federal contractors, including Google to turn over compensation data, data software firm Palantir for discriminating against Asian applicants, and JPMorgan Chase for gender discrimination in a complaint also filed Wednesday, per Reuters. But here's where the politics supposedly come into play, which is what Oracle claims is the underlying impetus: Oracle CEO Safra Catz and Peter Thiel, co-founder of Palantir, are both members of President-elect Trump's transition team, with Catz saying last month she would "tell the president-elect that we are with him and will help in any way we can." An Oracle spokeswoman calls the suit "politically motivated" and "wholly without merit." |
Getty Images Members of the Tea Party Patriots attended a rally Tuesday on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol. The group is planning a post-election summit.
BOWLING GREEN, Ky.—Tea-party leaders, cheering as some of their movement's most prominent figures won U.S. Senate seats in Kentucky and Florida, said Tuesday's elections were only the beginning of their quest to transform government.
"Things look good for tonight," said Jenny Beth Martin, national coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots, an umbrella group that says it has 2,800 local affiliates around the country. "No one in this movement is stopping today. This is not an endgame. This is just a beginning."
Tea-party victors included Republican Rand Paul, who claimed the Senate seat in Kentucky, and the GOP's Marco Rubio, who defeated former Gov. Charlie Christ and Rep. Kendrick Meek in Florida's three-way race for Senate.
Movement losers included Christine O'Donnell, the Republican Senate candidate in Delaware, whose comments about witchcraft embarrassed some in the movement, and Republican Carl Paladino, who lost his bid for governor of New York.
Early results signaled that despite some losses, the movement was on its way to becoming a major force in Washington and on the national political landscape. Ahead is a chaotic period as the movement's factions compete to set the agenda and influence the ranks of new members of Congress.
Full Results by State Senate, House, governors' and other races at the state, district and county level More interactive graphics and photos
One of the most prominent national tea-party groups, Tea Party Patriots, announced plans for a summit of newly minted officials in two weeks while Mr. Paul said he would convene his own similar gathering as soon as possible.
In an op-ed article in Wednesday's editions of The Wall Street Journal, major tea-party figure Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.) called on newly elected officials to hew to the movement's priorities as they decamp to Washington. "When you are in Washington, remember what the voters back home want—less government and more freedom," wrote Mr. DeMint. "Put on your boxing gloves. The fight begins today."
Ms. Martin said Tea Party Patriots is finalizing plans for a summit and "orientation" Nov. 14 in Washington for all freshman members of Congress. Newly elected officials will meet "face to face" with 200 or more local tea-party coordinators from around the country, she said. Her group is working on a legislative agenda to present then. The focus: Balance the federal budget; and repeal "100 percent repeal" of the health-care overhaul.
Enlarge Image Close Getty Images Tea Party Patriots co-founder, Mark Meckler, is hugged by his mother, Elaine Meckler, following a rally on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol on Election Day.
"We're going to talk to them about what we expect from them," she said, "and what they can expect from us if they don't uphold our core values."
Across the country, tea-party activists gathered in churches, living rooms, fraternal lodges and bars awaiting the results of more than a year of grass-roots organizing. Almost uniformly they said they remained wary of everyone in Washington—including their own candidates.
In LaGrange, Ga., 65 miles south of Atlanta, the local tea-party group already was organizing a post-election letter campaign to remind new officials to not cozy up to the Republican establishment.
"Come January," said Ellen Gilmore, a 69-year-old retired dental hygienist, "We'll be all over them like dew in the cotton fields."
In Kentucky, Mr. Paul, the son of libertarian icon Rep. Ron Paul (R., Texas) led his Democratic opponent, Jack Conway, 56% to 44% with 97% of Kentucky precincts reporting, according to data provided by the Associated Press.
"There is a tea-party tidal wave coming to Washington," said Mr. Paul, a 47-year-old eye surgeon, after voting Tuesday morning at an elementary school.
"Both parties let us down," he said. He added that, if elected, his first objective would be to secure a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget.
Mr. Paul said Tuesday that he won't compromise his positions regarding the deficit once in Washington and plans to organize his own meeting of victorious tea-party candidates to plan the best way to achieve the movement's agenda.
In Nevada, leaders of the Tea Party Express, which poured more than $1 million into Republican Sharron Angle's bid to unseat Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, holed up in a "war room" in a suite at the Aria casino and hotel on the Las Vegas strip.
The group endorsed Ms. Angle in April when she was polling at 5% in the Republican primary and appeared to have no shot at her party's nomination. Tea Party Express, another prominent national tea-party group, spent heavily on advertising and assigned operatives to operate a separate campaign on Ms. Angle's behalf during the primary.
The race now is the marquee battle for the organization, which also heavily backed Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller in Alaska and Ms. O'Donnell in Delaware.
In late polls during the campaign, Ms. Angle had inched ahead. But in the final days, Mr. Reid was getting aid from Democrats across the country for a huge get-out-the-vote effort to mobilize loyal supporters. "There's no question this race is iconic and symbolic of the tea party movement versus the establishment," said Tea Party Express spokesman Levi Russell. " There will be many victories tonight. We just hope this will be one of those victories. The next election cycle starts tomorrow and we'll move over to that."
—Alexandra Berzon contributed to this article.
Write to Jennifer Levitz at [email protected] ||||| Emerging from its first election with a string of major victories – and two glaring defeats – leaders of the tea party movement wasted no time claiming credit and taking names, signaling to the Republican establishment that they intend to remake the GOP, not merely help it regain power in Washington.
“Tonight, there’s a tea party tidal wave, and we’re sending a message to them!” tea party favorite Rand Paul proclaimed after being declared the winner of the Kentucky Senate race on Tuesday.
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The message he said he would deliver to the Senate, which he called “the world’s most deliberative body,” is “to deliberate upon this: The American people are unhappy with what’s going on in Washington” and have “come to take our government back!”
But many tea party organizers cautioned that the nascent movement has perhaps its toughest challenges ahead of it in keeping activists engaged and newly elected champions true to the small government principles of the movement. And, as usual in the diffuse and decentralized movement, there are sharp differences about how to proceed.
But such concerns were secondary Wednesday morning as organizers savored the role the anti-establishment grassroots uprising – borne less than two years ago – had played in reclaiming the House of Representatives for the GOP.
And while there was some hand-wringing over the fact that the defeat of two of the tea party’s most high profile candidates, Sharron Angle in Nevada and Christine O’Donnell in Delaware, helped keep Republicans from also taking the Senate, tea party organizers said the GOP wouldn’t have even have been within striking distance had it not been for the movement.
“We succeeded far beyond what anybody would have predicted. We’ve completely changed the complexion of American politics,” said Sal Russo, a veteran GOP operative who founded the Tea Party Express political action committee, which played a critical role in securing the GOP nominations for Angle, O’Donnell, and Joe Miller of Alaska, whose race has not been decided.
“I’m satisfied with our candidates,” he said. “They were right on the issues and in concert with the zeitgeist of our times.”
He and other key tea party organizers are already looking ahead to the 2012 presidential race (with Russo signaling a preference for Sarah Palin), and also plotting primary challenges against Republican lawmakers deemed to be out of step with the movement’s small government principles. | – The Tea Party proved itself to be a major force in yesterday's elections, but a force for what has yet to be determined. "No one in this movement is stopping today. This is not an endgame. This is just a beginning," a leader of the Tea Party patriots told the Wall Street Journal as candidates backed by the movement swept to victory in Florida and Kentucky. In Delaware and Nevada, however, the fears of the GOP establishment were realized as Tea Party-backed candidates were defeated in races the Republicans had expected to win easily. Exit polls found that 40% of voters supported the movement, though there was little agreement on which specifics of the Tea Party agenda they backed. Many who considered themselves Tea Party supporters backed compromising with the Democrats to some degree, though activists say they have no intention of compromising even with the GOP establishment. “If Republican leaders think for a minute that they’re going to suck us in and continue business as usual, they’re wrong," a Tea Party activist who ran Rand Paul's primary campaign in Kentucky told the New York Times. |
Ticks that transmit Lyme disease have significantly spread across the United States over the past 20 years, according to new research.
The report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published in the Journal of Medical Entomology, found that the parasites that carry the disease -- known as blacklegged ticks -- are now found in nearly half of all U.S. counties. This was the first study since 1998 to examine where these ticks live.
Each year, approximately 30,000 cases of Lyme disease are reported to the CDC, though the number is estimated to be much higher, as only a fraction of cases are actually reported. In fact, according to an analysis published last summer, health officials report the number of actual cases is closer to 329,000.
The disease is transmitted to humans through tick bites, and typical symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, and a rash that often looks like a "bulls-eye" at the site of the tick bite. Most cases are easily treated with antibiotics, but in some patients, if left untreated, Lyme disease can lead to chronic joint inflammation and neurological problems weeks, months, or even years after infection.
For the current study, Dr. Rebecca Eisen, a research biologist at the CDC, and her team looked at data from published reports of state and county tick surveillance data going back to 1996. They analyzed numbers from all 3,110 counties in the U.S. to determine where the ticks were "established" -- meaning there were sightings of at least six individual ticks or at least two of the three host-seeking life stages had been identified in a single year. The researchers also noted which counties had one or more reports of blacklegged ticks and which ones had none.
The results showed that the blacklegged tick has been reported in more than 45 percent of U.S. counties, compared to 30 percent of counties in 1998. What's more, these ticks are now considered established in twice the number of counties as in 1998.
The most dramatic geographic expansion was seen in the northeast and northern U.S. states, including large areas of New York, Vermont, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Minnesota.
Entomological Society of America
Dr. John Aucott, director of the Johns Hopkins Lyme Disease Clinical Research Center, said that the report correlates to what clinical researchers have observed in human cases.
"The nice thing about this data is that it shows the vector -- the ticks that transmit Lyme disease --spreading in the same ways that we've been seeing the human cases spreading," he told CBS News. "So, the take home message is that Lyme disease is a geographically expanding infectious disease and so the areas of risk have expanded dramatically over the last two decades."
Aucott explained that reforestation and an increased deer population have contributed to the tick expansion.
"It's really a reconstitution of where the ticks were originally. In the early 1900's, North America was deforested for agriculture and deer were hunted almost to extinction, and so the ticks lost their normal habitat," he said. "Now as we allow the United States to reforest and have a booming deer population, the ticks are reclaiming their habitat."
Climate change may also play a role, he said, as ticks thrive in warm, damp environments.
Experts say we will continue to see the number of ticks expand -- along with a rise in cases of Lyme disease -- in areas not previously affected.
Aucott said it's important for people to keep in mind that they can get bitten by a tick anywhere there's green space.
"To get Lyme disease, you don't have to live out in the country," he said. "There are many green belts and streams that come down into cities and those habitats support deer and ticks really well. The ticks are really everywhere unless you live in an incredible urban center where it's all asphalt and concrete."
As such, people should take precautions to avoid ticks. The CDC recommends the following: ||||| Black-legged tick inhabits twice as many counties as in 1998, CDC reports, with 320% increase in number of north-eastern counties seen as high risk for disease
Ticks that can carry the debilitating illness Lyme disease have significantly spread across the US over the past 20 years and are now found in nearly half of all American counties, including areas where they have never previously been documented, a new analysis has found.
The black-legged tick is now established in twice the number of counties it inhabited in 1998, according to the US Centers for Disease Control, and has expanded its range in the north-eastern states and the upper midwest. Following its onward march, or hop, across the Ohio river valley, western New York and the shores of Lake Michigan since the 1990s, there has been a tripling in the incidence of Lyme disease in the US.
A moment that changed me: Lyme disease turned my life upside down | David Conner Read more
The tick, which has a variant species present on the west coast of the US, can burrow into humans and transmit Lyme disease, which causes fever, headache and other flu-like symptoms. Further problems include impaired memory, dizziness, heart palpitation and inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. Around 300,000 people are diagnosed with Lyme disease each year.
The CDC said there has been a 320% increase in the number of counties in the north-east US considered high risk for Lyme disease since the 1990s. Overall, more than 45% of all American counties now host the ticks, up from from 30% in 1998, according to the research published in the Journal of Medical Entomology.
Reforestation and an increased population of deer, which host the ticks, have contributed to the increase in distribution. Temperature and rainfall also influence the fate of the tick, with a warming climate helping their spread.
Dr Rebecca Eisen, a research biologist at the CDC, said the tick expansion has been “substantial” and required mitigating action, especially in areas that have not previously had to deal with the insects.
“A lot of people are seeing ticks where they didn’t see them 20 years ago,” she said. “The observed range expansion documented in our study highlights a need for continuing and enhancing vector surveillance efforts, particularly along the leading edges of range expansion. It’s important to know which ticks are in your area or areas that you visit so that you can take steps to protect yourself.”
How to beat Lyme disease and keep enjoying the great outdoors Read more
Eisen said the spread of ticks won’t necessarily lead to a uniform increase in Lyme disease cases because of the varying presence of the infected spirochetes that are passed on, as well as uneven numbers of the ticks themselves.
But people in areas at risk of Lyme disease are advised to use repellent, walk in the middle of trails when out hiking and bathe or shower as soon as possible when coming indoors. This will help remove attached ticks.
Thankfully, there is no evidence that Lyme disease is becoming harder to treat. The ticks should also face natural obstacles in their journey across the states.
“It is likely that the ticks will continue to expand into neighboring forested areas and along river corridors,” said Eisen. “However, dry prairies and alpine areas represent natural barriers to the spread of the tick.” ||||| Rick Ostfeld lives in deep in the heart of Lyme disease country. An ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York, Ostfeld has been studying the ticks that transmit Lyme to humans for decades. These days, he’s busier than ever.1
Around the world, diseases spread by ticks are on the rise. Reported cases of Lyme, the most common US tick-borne illness, have quadrupled since the 1990s. Other life-threatening infections like anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever are increasing in incidence even more quickly than Lyme. Meat allergies caused by tick bites have skyrocketed from a few dozen a decade ago to more than 5,000 in the US alone, according to experts. And new tick-borne pathogens are emerging at a troubling clip; since 2004, seven new viruses and bugs transmitted through tick bite have shown up in humans in the US.
CDC
Scientists don’t know exactly which combination of factors—shifting climate patterns, human sprawl, deforestation—is leading to more ticks in more places. But there’s no denying the recent population explosion, especially of the species that carries Lyme disease: the black-legged tick. “Whole new communities are being engulfed by this tick every year,” says Ostfeld. “And that means more people getting sick.”
Tick science, surveillance, and management efforts have so far not kept pace. But the country’s increasingly dire tick-borne disease burden has begun to galvanize a groundswell of research interest and funding.
In 1942, Congress established the CDC specifically to prevent malaria, a public health crisis spreading through mosquitoes. Which is why many US states and counties today still have active surveillance programs for skeeters. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention uses data from these government entities to regularly update distribution maps, track emerging threats (like Zika), and coordinate control efforts. No such system exists for ticks.
Public health departments are required to report back to the CDC on Lyme and six other tick-borne infections. Those cases combined with county-level surveys and some published academic studies make up the bulk of what the agency knows about national tick distribution. But this data, patchy and stuck in time, doesn’t do a lot to help public health officials on the ground. “We’ve got national maps, but we don’t have detailed local information about where the worst areas for ticks are located,” says Ben Beard, chief of the CDC’s bacterial diseases branch in the division of vector-borne diseases. “The reason for that is there has never been public funding to support systematic tick surveillance efforts.”
That’s something Beard is trying to change. He says the CDC is currently in the process of organizing a nationwide surveillance program, which could launch within the year. It will pull data collected by state health departments and the CDC’s five regional centers about tick prevalence and the pathogens they’re carrying to build a better picture of where outbreaks and hot spots are developing, especially on the expanding edge of tick populations.
The CDC is also a few years into a massive nationwide study it’s conducting with the Mayo Clinic, which will eventually enroll 30,000 people who’ve been bitten by ticks. Each one will be tested for known tick diseases, and next-generation sequencing conducted at CDC will screen for any other pathogens that might be present. Together with patient data, it should provide a more detailed picture of exactly what’s out there.
Together, these efforts are helping to change the way people and government agencies think about ticks as a public health threat. “Responsibility for tick control has always fallen to individuals and homeowners,” says Beard. “It’s not been seen as an official civic duty, but we think it’s time whole communities got engaged. And getting better tick surveillance data will help us define risk for these communities in areas where people aren’t used to looking for tick-borne diseases.”
The trouble is that scientists also know very little about which interventions actually reduce those risks. “There’s no shortage of products to control ticks,” says Ostfeld. “But it’s never been demonstrated that they do a good enough job, deployed in the right places, to prevent any cases of tick-borne disease.” In a double-blind trial published in 2016, CDC researchers treated some yards with insecticides and others with a placebo. The treated yards knocked back tick numbers by 63 percent, but families living in the treated homes were still just as likely to be diagnosed with Lyme.
Ostfeld and his wife and research partner Felicia Keesing are in the middle of a four-year study to evaluate the efficacy of two tick-control methods in their home territory of Dutchess County, an area with one of the country’s highest rates of Lyme disease. It’s a private-public partnership between their academic institutions, the CDC, and the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation, which provided a $5 million grant.
Ostfeld and Keesing are blanketing entire neighborhoods in either a natural fungus-based spray or tick boxes, or both. The tick boxes attract small mammal hosts, which get a splash of tick-killing chemicals when they venture inside. They check with all the human participants every two weeks for 10 months of the year to see if anyone’s gotten sick. By the end of 2020 the study should be able to tell them how well these methods, used together or separately on a neighborhood-wide scale, can reduce the risk of Lyme.
“If we get a definitive answer that these work the next task would be to figure out how to make such a program more broadly available. Who’s going to pay for it, who’s going to coordinate it?” says Ostfeld. “If it doesn’t work then perhaps the conclusion is maybe environmental control just can’t be done.”
In that case, people would be stuck with pretty much the same options they have today: protective clothing, repellants, and daily partner tick-checks. It’s better than nothing. But with more and more people getting sick, the US will need better solutions soon.
1Correction appended, 7/13/18, 3:30 EDT: The original version of this story improperly relied on information from this Nature story without attribution. The opening has been updated to reflect original reporting.
More Great WIRED Stories ||||| Researchers Urge Caution As Powassan Virus Spreads In Ticks Along Coast
A serious tick-borne disease — other than Lyme — has established itself in southern Maine. Researchers from the Maine Medical Research Institute in Scarborough have found the Powassan virus in deer ticks across southern areas of the state.
The research was conducted after a midcoast woman died from the disease in 2013. In November of that year, 73-year-old Marilyn Ruth Snow was bitten by a deer tick infected with the Powassan virus. She fell ill almost immediately and died about a month later.
Her case was rare: according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, in the ten year period from 2006 to 2015, only 77 cases of Powassan were reported nationwide. Of those, 8 people died. But Snow’s death prompted researchers to find just how prevalent Powassan is here.
“We know with Lyme disease, we have rates of infection up to 60 percent in the tick population in certain parts of the state. But for Powassan, it was a real unknown for us,” says Chuck Lubelczyk, a vector ecologist at Maine Medical Research Institute in Scarborough.
In 2015 and 2016, researchers collected deer ticks across the state and tested them for the virus. Lubelczyk says they found that Powassan is readily present in one area of the state in particular.
“All of the ticks that we have found so far have been occurring in southern Maine, along a coastal stretch from MDI back to York County,” he says.
Though Powassan was not found in northern or eastern Maine, Lubelczyk says tick-borne diseases move, as evidenced by the spread of Lyme disease across the state over the past couple of decades.
Unlike Lyme disease, which tends to be transmitted most frequently in the summertime, Lubelczyk says Powassan is most often diagnosed from March to April, and October to December.
“This disease, Powassan virus, is just really another reason to really, really be careful of encountering ticks in the fall and early spring,” he says.
Though many people who become infected do not develop symptoms, Maine Center for Disease Control epidemiologist Dr. Siiri Bennett says the disease can have serious consequences.
“You can die from it, and it can cause seizures. Because it can cause encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain, and that’s why we’re concerned about it,” she says.
Bennett says to protect yourself against tick bites, wear repellent and long pants. It’s a good habit to protect against all tick-borne diseases, but Lubelczyck says it’s especially important for Powassan.
“The real scary thing about the Powassan virus is that unlike Lyme disease, which can be transmitted in 24-48 hours, laboratory studies indicate that Powassan virus is probably transmitted in under an hour,” he says.
And many Mainers spend much more time than that outdoors. ||||| Lyme disease is transmitted by the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) and the western blacklegged tick (Ixodes pacificus), and the range of these ticks is spreading, according to research published in the Journal of Medical Entomology.
Some symptoms of Lyme disease include fever, headache, and fatigue, all of which can be mistaken for the common flu, so medical personnel need to know where these ticks are found in order to make a correct diagnosis. Unfortunately, the range of blacklegged ticks had not been re-evaluated in nearly two decades, until now.
Dr. Rebecca Eisen, a research biologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, observed that the last comprehensive survey of blacklegged tick distribution was published in 1998. To remedy this, she and her colleagues performed a new survey to establish the current geographic distribution.
The team used surveillance methods similar to those used in 1998 so that they would be able to accurately judge the degree to which the distribution of these ticks had changed. Using the gathered data, they figured out which counties had established populations, which ones had one or more reports of a blacklegged ticks, and which ones had none.
They found that the blacklegged tick has been reported in more than 45% of U.S. counties, compared to 30% of counties in 1998. Even more alarming, the blacklegged tick is now considered established in twice the number of counties as in 1998.
Most of the geographic expansion of the blacklegged tick appears to be in the northern U.S., while populations in southern states have remained relatively stable. The range of the western blacklegged tick only increased from 3.4% to 3.6% of counties.
"This study shows that the distribution of Lyme disease vectors has changed substantially over the last nearly two decades and highlights areas where risk for human exposure to ticks has changed during that time," Dr. Eisen said. "The observed range expansion of the ticks highlights a need for continuing and enhancing vector surveillance efforts, particularly along the leading edges of range expansion."
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The full article, "County-Scale Distribution of Ixodes scapularis and Ixodes pacificus (Acari: Ixodidae) in the Continental United States," is available at https:/ / jme. oxfordjournals. org/ content/ early/ 2016/ 01/ 15/ jme. tjv237 . | – Nearly half of all counties in the US are now home to ticks that carry Lyme disease, including areas where they'd never before been documented, researchers at the CDC report in the Journal of Medical Entomology. That's up from 30% of counties in 1998, with the Guardian reporting that the number of Lyme disease incidents has tripled in the US since the '90s. The biggest increases were seen in northern and northeastern states, reports CBS News, which singles out Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Vermont, and Wisconsin. It's not surprising, then, that while some 30,000 cases of Lyme disease are reported annually, the real figure is estimated at a staggering 330,000 people every year. While Lyme disease continues to be fairly easy to treat via antibiotics, if left untreated it can lead to serious symptoms, including chronic joint inflammation and even heart and neurological problems years after infection, reports the CDC, which adds that the best preventive measures are removing ticks as quickly as possible and applying pesticides. Biologists blame reforestation, growing deer populations, and climate change for the fast spread of ticks that carry Lyme disease, reports the Guardian, and the researchers note in a press release the rise of the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) in particular. (Warmer autumns allow ticks more time to feed and infest.) |
US president and Japanese host give fish a large feast on second day of former’s five-nation tour of Asia
Donald Trump and the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, have taken a forceful approach to feeding fish on the second day of the US president’s five-nation tour of Asia.
Standing beside a pond brimming with colourful koi in the Akasaka palace in Tokyo, the two men began spooning out fish food before appearing to lose patience and emptying their wooden containers with a shake.
The palace’s large collection of koi have been viewed by a succession of world leaders, including Margaret Thatcher. It is not known whether the former British prime minister was as aggressive as Trump when it came to feeding the pond’s inhabitants.
White House reporters, keen perhaps to pick up on a Trump gaffe, captured the moment when he upended his box on their smartphones and tweeted evidence of his questionable grasp of fish keeping. However, other footage made clear that Trump was merely following his host’s lead.
Abe is seen grinning, as is a woman in a kimono standing to one side. Next to her, Rex Tillerson – perhaps grateful for a moment of comic relief after he was named in the Paradise Papers – could not suppress a laugh, according to witnesses.
Some speculated that a poor palace employee would be dispatched to the scene to clean up the mess as soon as the two leaders disappeared inside.
Trump and Abe are not alone in misjudging the fishes’ appetite. According to the Aquascape website, overfeeding is the most common mistake made by keepers of koi.
“This can make your fish sick, and excessive amounts of waste that strains the limits of what can be biologically reduced, results in a decline of water quality,�? the site says. ||||| Published on Nov 6, 2017
Donald Trump and the Japanese prime minister, Shinzō Abe, feed fish on the second day of the US president’s five-nation tour of Asia. Standing beside a pond brimming with colourful koi in the Akasaka palace in Tokyo, the two men upended their wooden containers and dumped the entire contents of fish food into the pond Fishy business: Trump and Abe dump fish food into precious koi pond
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Guardian Culture ► http://is.gd/guardianculture | – It's probably one of the most-repeated phrases when teaching kids about how to feed fish: just a pinch. It's a directive President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe most definitely did not follow while the two visited the Akasaka palace's koi carp pond Monday. The Guardian reports that the men began by spooning a bit of food in before "appearing to lose patience" and essentially dumping the contents of the boxes they held into the pond. While some in the media were quick to pounce on Trump for the apparent gaffe, the Guardian notes that video footage shows he was simply imitating Abe's approach. |
Yesterday, the New York Times profiled one of the most important media figures of the 21st century so far, Shirley Sherrod Jersey Shore‘s Snooki. Or, more specifically, author Cathy Horyn tried to find something Snooki was good at, and not even Snooki’s father could give her an answer.
Horyn spoke to “Papa Snooks” to get a feel for how he perceives Jersey Shore and his daughter’s barely-explicable newfound fame. He was proud in the generic sense that all parents are, but really had no explanation for his daughter’s life, other than her insistence on acting precisely as her personality dictates. More comically, he says he likes to go to her events and quiz guests as to why they like her, because he sees no reason to:
“When we go to venues, I like to stand out in the crowd,” he said. “She’ll be up there hooting and hollering, and I’ll say to someone, ‘What is it that draws you to my daughter? Be honest.’ Because it’s very hard for me to see what it is. She don’t sing. She don’t dance. I don’t want to say she don’t have talent …” He seemed to have his doubts. Then he shrugged. “Everyone basically says they can relate to her. I think Nicole’s just a likeable person.”
Horyn’s scorn for Snooki is quite palpable throughout the piece, to hilarious effect. She describes interviewing Snooki as “a little like getting down on your hands and knees with a child. You have to come down to her level, and sometimes you almost think you need to bribe her with a piece of candy to coax her to be more responsive.” She asks an American culture professor to explain the phenomenon, and the best he can do is, ““I certainly wouldn’t want to be stuck in an elevator with her.” She explains Snooki is interested in a book deal, but can’t help note that Snooki has only read two (atrocious) books in her life. He describes her as not “capable of serious introspection.”
Of course, the loathing is all part of Snooki’s appeal. America first fell in love with her because, in the first episode of Jersey Shore, she got drunk, embarrassed herself, was late to work, and was alienated from a group that includes a person named “The Situation” for being irresponsible. The defining moment of her career is getting punched in the face. So it’s difficult to think that Snooki herself will be very offended by the piece, which insists she a great character but has no substantive appeal and, in person, is intolerable. It’s attention, it won’t hurt the ratings, and will feed the lab-rat fascination she has worked so hard to cultivate.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected] ||||| Snooki Talks Drinking on 'Ellen': 'Why Did I Wake Up in a Garbage Can?'
Email This Nicole "
Polizzi, who was
The reality star-turned-author, whose book, 'A Shore Thing,' hit shelves yesterday, Nicole " Snooki " Polizzi has a well-documented history of having a darn good time, and in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, the 'Jersey Shore's' littlest lush admits that she may occasionally overdo it.Polizzi, who was fined $500 for disorderly conduct in September following an alcohol-fueled beach outing, confesses that episodes of over-imbibing used to happen as often as once a month.The reality star-turned-author, whose book, 'A Shore Thing,' hit shelves yesterday, told DeGeneres , "I want to remember my night and sometimes I just don't." She went on to admit, "I don't want to be a role model."
While her hard-partying ways have been the source of great amusement for 'Jersey Shore' viewers, Snooki says that living with reckless abandon is not always as fun as it may seem."It sucks," she says. "You're like, 'What did I do? Why did I wake up in a garbage can?'" | – You could be forgiven for thinking Snooki’s debut literary venture, A Shore Thing, is perhaps not for you … but maybe you just haven’t been considering all the reasons to buy it. The Jersey Shore star herself offered up 10 such reasons last night on the Late Show With David Letterman. At the very least, you should consider a purchase because—as she said in reason No. 4—“If everybody buys my book, the economy will be fixed.” Watch in the gallery—or click for a hilarious list of excerpts from the novel. |
‘Roseanne’ canceled after star’s racist tweet
ABC canceled the relaunched “Roseanne” program on Tuesday amid an uproar over a racist tweet by Roseanne Barr, the show’s lead actor, about Valerie Jarrett, a longtime adviser and close friend of former President Barack Obama‘s.
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” ABC Entertainment’s president, Channing Dungey, said in a statement.
Story Continued Below
Facing a fevered backlash over social media, Barr apologized on Tuesday for making the comment about Jarrett.
Over Twitter, the edgy star of the newly relaunched ABC sitcom sparked a firestorm by writing of Jarrett: “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.” Jarrett was born in Iran and is African-American.
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Barr initially responded to criticism suggesting the remark was a “joke.” But as calls quickly grew for both ABC and sponsors to drop the sitcom, she later offered a full-throated apology.
“I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans,” Barr wrote. “I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me — my joke was in bad taste.”
I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans. I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me-my joke was in bad taste. — Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) May 29, 2018
Jarrett, now a senior fellow at the University of Chicago Law School, told MSNBC during a pre-taped town hall-style program on racism set to air Tuesday night that she was “fine“ in the wake of Barr‘s remarks. But she added that the controversy should serve as a “teaching moment“ on the pervasiveness of everyday racism.
“I think we have to turn it into a teaching moment,“ Jarrett said, according to a clip released by the network. “I‘m fine. I'm worried about all the people out there who don't have a circle of friends and followers who come right to their defense.“
According to the network, the former Obama adviser added that the Walt Disney Company’s chairman and CEO, Robert Iger, whose company owns ABC, called her before announcing the cancellation of the program. After the program was dropped, Iger tweeted: “There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing.”
From Channing Dungey, President of ABC Entertainment: "Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show."
There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing. — Robert Iger (@RobertIger) May 29, 2018
The cancellation signals a victory for critics of the show, who scrutinized ABC’s decision to revive the popular 1990s sitcom despite lingering concerns over Barr’s incendiary comments online. It also marks the end of a show that drew praise from President Donald Trump, who was supported by both Barr and her fictional TV character.
After the premiere of the “Roseanne” reboot drew nearly 20 million viewers in March, Trump celebrated its ratings success during a rally in Ohio. “Look at her ratings! Look at her ratings!” Trump told the crowd, attributing the figures partly to himself and his supporters.
Trump has long touted ratings as a barometer of sorts for success, both as the former face of NBC’s “The Apprentice” and as a politician. And the popularity of Barr’s program was widely seen as linked to the populist surge that helped Trump clinch the presidency in 2016.
Asked about Barr’s comments and the subsequent cancellation, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Tuesday that Trump's focus lay elsewhere.
She told reporters aboard Air Force One that “the president is focused on North Korea. He’s focused on trade deals. And he’s focused on rebuilding our military, the economy. And that’s what he’s spending his time on, not responding to other things.“
Trump himself made no mention of the controversy on Tuesday night during a rally for a Senate candidate in Nashville, Tennessee.
ABC’s decision to drop the show was celebrated by several legislators.
“Thank you, @ABCNetwork. You did the right thing,” tweeted Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a civil rights icon who marched alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s. “There is not any room in our society for racism or bigotry.”
Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), the first formerly undocumented immigrant to serve in Congress, tweeted: “Thank you @ABC for standing up to reaffirm that racism and bigotry will NOT be tolerated.”
In response to the TV star’s remarks, David Axelrod, a longtime Jarrett friend and White House colleague, took aim at Barr earlier on Tuesday.
“I’m proud of Valerie and the extraordinary life and contributions she’s made,” Axelrod said in an email Tuesday. “Can anyone say the same about that tweet? It brands itself.”
It appears the original tweet was since taken down.
Prior to the show’s cancellation, Wanda Sykes, who described herself as a consulting producer for the program, tweeted that she “will not be returning” to “Roseanne.” And Sara Gilbert, who plays the daughter to Barr’s character, Roseanne Conner, on the show, expressed disappointment over the “abhorrent” remarks on social media.
I will not be returning to @RoseanneOnABC. — Wanda Sykes (@iamwandasykes) May 29, 2018
“Roseanne’s recent comments about Valerie Jarrett, and so much more, are abhorrent and do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show,” Gilbert tweeted. “I am disappointed in her actions to say the least.”
She added: “This is incredibly sad and difficult for all of us, as we’ve created a show that we believe in, are proud of, and that audiences love — one that is separate and apart from the opinions and words of one cast member.”
Roseanne’s recent comments about Valerie Jarrett, and so much more, are abhorrent and do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show. I am disappointed in her actions to say the least. — sara gilbert (@THEsaragilbert) May 29, 2018
The network had faced renewed pressure on Tuesday to address incendiary public remarks from Barr, who has sparked controversy by propagating unsubstantiated conspiracy theories online. Her remarks on Jarrett prompted a fresh round of calls for companies to drop their ads on the program.
In a separate Twitter screed earlier on Tuesday, Barr took aim at Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as at George Soros, the billionaire political donor who started the the grantmaking network Open Society Foundations. Barr, who is Jewish, accused Soros of being “a nazi who turned in his fellow Jews 2 be murdered in German concentration camps,” and suggested that Chelsea Clinton is married to a member of his family, tweeting: “Chelsea Soros Clinton.”
Good morning Roseanne - my given middle name is Victoria. I imagine George Soros’s nephews are lovely people. I’m just not married to one. I am grateful for the important work @OpenSociety does in the world. Have a great day! https://t.co/mXokiTEwN7 — Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) May 29, 2018
Two of the messages were retweeted by Donald Trump Jr., the president’s oldest son. A representative for him did not respond to a request for comment on the remarks or the “Roseanne” cancellation.
Chelsea Soros Clinton — Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) May 29, 2018
Sorry to have tweeted incorrect info about you!I Please forgive me! By the way, George Soros is a nazi who turned in his fellow Jews 2 be murdered in German concentration camps & stole their wealth-were you aware of that? But, we all make mistakes, right Chelsea? — Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) May 29, 2018
Clinton and a representative for Soros refuted Barr’s incendiary remarks.
“Good morning Roseanne — my given middle name is Victoria,” Clinton tweeted. “I imagine George Soros’s nephews are lovely people. I’m just not married to one. I am grateful for the important work @OpenSociety does in the world. Have a great day!”
In an email, a spokesperson for Soros blasted Barr’s allegations: “He did not collaborate with the Nazis. He did not help round up people. He did not confiscate anybody’s property. Such false allegations are insulting to the victims of the Holocaust, to all Jewish people, and to anyone who honors the truth. They are an affront to Mr. Soros and his family, who against the odds managed to survive one of the darkest moments in our history.” ||||| Roseanne Barr, the embroiled television star whose namesake show was canceled after she tweeted racist sentiments about a former Obama administration official, said Thursday night that she's not a racist.
Speaking in her first national television interview since the scandal, Barr told Fox News' Sean Hannity that she was "so sad that people thought" her tweets about Valerie Jarrett were "racist."
VALERIE JARRETT DISMISSED ROSEANNE BARR'S TWEETS: 'ROSEANNE WHO?'
"I've apologized a lot, it's been two months," Barr said. "I feel like I have apologized and explained and asked for forgiveness and made recompense, that's part of my religion."
Barr made headlines after she tweeted in May that Jarrett, who is African-American and was born in Iran, was as though the "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby."
The television star followed-up with an apology to Jarrett and "all Americans ... for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks."
ABC subsequently canceled the namesake show hours later, with ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey referring to Barr’s remarks as "abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values."
ABC CANCELS 'ROSEANNE' AFTER BARR'S RACIST TWEET
Barr on Thursday night said that she "made a mistake. It cost me my life's work."
"I was so sad, and I'm so sad that anyone thinks that of me," Barr told Hannity. "I never meant to hurt anybody, or say anything negative about an entire race of people."
Barr also addressed Jarrett directly and apologized for the tweets, advocating for a broader dialogue on race relations. "We need to talk about race and everything that's connected to it," she said.
She also claimed that her contract with ABC protected her from any mistakes she were to possibly make. Barr claimed she was allowed 24 hours to correct a mistake, adding she wanted to make media appearances to explain her tweets, but that the network didn't allow her to do so.
Barr said that while she could've legally fought the firing, she felt leaving the show was part of her "recompense," and that she signed off on her staff joining ABC's spin-off, "The Conners."
In the wide-ranging interview, Barr also told Hannity that her infamous 1990 performance of The Star-Spangled Banner, in which she shrieked the song, grabbed her crotch and spit on the ground, was a mistake.
"Well that's what the stupid pitcher told me to do," she said. "Never take comedy from a pitcher." ||||| Wanda Sykes has had enough of Roseanne.
The actress and comedian is credited as a consulting producer on the hit ABC sitcom.
But Sykes, whose credits also include on-camera roles on ABC’s black-ish and HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, just tweeted this:
I will not be returning to @RoseanneOnABC. — Wanda Sykes (@iamwandasykes) May 29, 2018
The statement comes after Barr made a racist tweet Tuesday attacking former President Obama senior advisor Valerie Jarrett.
Barr used Jarrett’s initials and said “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby.”
Later the ABC prime-time star issued a full-fledged apology:
I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans. I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me-my joke was in bad taste. — Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) May 29, 2018
Barr recently finished the first season of her rebooted sitcom, which ranked as one of the most-watched shows of the TV season. Ironically, Barr’s joke comes after her show drew some degree of praise for an episode that had the Connors meeting their new Muslim neighbors.
ABC renewed the series for a second season which will debut this fall.
ABC has not yet commented.
UPDATE: ABC has canceled Roseanne (!). ||||| In a series of tweets Thursday evening, the disgraced comic said she "was willing to do anything" to make things right following her racist comment against Valerie Jarrett.
Roseanne Barr took to Twitter yet again on Thursday evening to once more address the cancellation of her show Roseanne by ABC after she made a since-deleted racist tweet on Tuesday morning about former White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, this time saying she "begged" Disney-ABC Television Group chief Ben Sherwood not to cancel the series.
"I begged Ben Sherwood at ABC 2 let me apologize & make amends," Barr tweeted Thursday. "I begged them not to cancel the show. I told them I was willing to do anything & asked 4 help in making things right. I'd worked doing publicity4 them 4free for weeks, traveling, thru bronchitis. I begged4 ppls jobs."
She continued: "He said: what were you thinking when you did this? I said: I thought she was white, she looks like my family! He scoffed & said: "what u have done is egregious, and unforgivable.' I begged 4 my crews jobs. Will I ever recover from this pain? omg."
The network promptly canceled the revival of Barr's sitcom on Tuesday following harsh backlash against her tweet earlier that day. Shortly thereafter, her agency, ICM Partners, dropped Barr as a client, and Viacom networks pulled reruns of her show off the air.
The comic, who on Tuesday had vowed to leave Twitter following the backlash — only to return to the social media platform later that evening to blame her tweets on Ambien — also apologized Thursday to her young Roseanne co-star Jayden Rey. "The saddest part of all is 4 Jayden Rey on the show whom I grew2 love so much & am so ashamed of myself that she would ever think I do not love her bc she is African American," Barr tweeted. "It's the most gawd awful painful thing. I can't let myself cave in tho."
Barr ended her most recent string of tweets by writing, "I end by offering everyone involved one more apology and prayers for healing of our divided nation. Tomorrow is Shabbat and I will continue to pray that everything for everyone goes forward & ends well for all. signing off twitter for a while. love u guys!"
Request for comment from ABC and Sherwood were not immediately returned. ||||| Roseanne co-star Sara Gilbert reflected on the series' cancellation and its overall legacy following Roseanne Barr's racist tweet during Monday's episode of The Talk. "I would like to say this has been a very difficult week," said the show's co-host. "A lot of people have been hurt by this. I will say I am proud of the show we made. The show has always been about diversity, love and inclusion. And it's sad to see it end in this way."
Related How 'Roseanne' Had the Most Disastrous Endgame in TV History One racist tweet later, TV's most popular show is no more – but the new 'Roseanne' had already done irreparable damage before that
Gilbert – who played Barr's daughter, Darlene Conner, throughout the show's original run and its recent, nine-episode reboot – also emphasized that she supports ABC's decision to axe the program. "I'm sad for the people who lost their jobs in the process," she said. "However, I do stand behind he decision that ABC has made."
The network swiftly canceled the revived Roseanne following Barr's tweet about former Barack Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett ("muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj") on May 29th. The comic actress' agency, ICM Partners, dropped her as a client, with Viacom pulling reruns of the original Roseanne from Paramount Network, TV Land and CMT.
Gilbert quickly condemned Barr's comment on Twitter, writing, "Roseanne's recent comments about Valerie Jarrett, and so much more, are abhorrent and do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show. I am disappointed in her actions to say the least." She added that the show itself is "separate and apart from the opinions and words of one cast member."
Barr initially promised to leave Twitter after the backlash but returned hours later, blaming her racist message on the insomnia medication Ambien and apologizing directly to Jarrett. Later, she claimed to have "begged" Disney-ABC Television Group President Ben Sherwood not to cancel the series. ||||| Despite having faced a multitude of criticism and condemnation throughout her career, Roseanne Barr is still haunted by the tweet that brought her show's revival to a screeching halt. In a short, but rather to the point YouTube video released Friday, a visibly agitated Barr defended her Valerie Jarrett tweet by screaming six words into the camera: "I thought the b*tch was white!"
"I'm trying to talk about Iran!" a frustrated Barr shouts at a producer offscreen after taking a drag on a cigarette. "I'm trying to talk about Valerie Jarrett wrote the Iran deal. That's what my tweet was about."
"I thought the b*tch was white, godd*mmit!" the comedian screams in the roughly 60-second long video. "I thought the b*tch was white. F*ck!"
Barr's latest attempt to explain away her tweet comes nearly two months after ABC canceled their revival of Roseanne, claiming her tweet about Jarrett was "abhorrent, repugnant, and inconsistent with our values." In May, Barr tweeted that Jarrett, a senior adviser of former President Barack Obama who also happens to be an African-American woman, would be the result if the Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes had a baby.
The tweet, which has since been deleted, was widely criticized as racist and sparked heavy criticism from Barr's co-stars, fans, and critics.
Roseanne Barr on YouTube
Initially, Barr claimed she'd been under the influence of the sedative Ambien when she'd written the tweet. She later said she'd been misunderstood and that her tweet was really about anti-Semitism. "I've never practiced 'RACISM' in my entire life," she tweeted in June. "Rod Serling wrote Planet of The Apes. It was about anti-semitism. That is what my tweet referred to — the anti semitism of the Iran deal. Low IQ ppl can think whatever they want."
She reiterated her use of Ambien in an interview with Rabbi Shmuly Boteach conducted over the phone shortly after she'd been fired by ABC. "That's no excuse, but that is what was real," the comedian said after claiming she'd written the tweet at 2 a.m. on Ambien. "There's no excuse. I don't excuse it. It's an explanation. I was impaired, you know?"
In that same interview, Barr also told Boteach that she thought Jarrett was white. "I did not know she was a black woman," she said. "When ABC called me and said, 'what is the reason for your egregious racism,' I said, 'Oh my God, it is a form of racism.' I guess I didn't know she was black and I'll cop to it, but I thought she was white."
"I'm not a racist, I'm an idiot," Barr said.
Barr's YouTube video dropped 10 days after the star told fans she would — and then wouldn't — do a TV interview. "I decided that I won't be doing any TV interviews, too stressful and untrustworthy 4 me & my fans," the actress tweeted July 10, a day after claiming she'd be doing a TV interview. "I'm going to film it myself & post it on my youtube [sic] channel... the entire explanation of what happened & why!" Barr said she wanted to "speak directly" to her fans "and cut out any middlemen."
ABC has since said it will continue on without Barr, turning its Roseanne revival into The Conners. | – A racist joke on Twitter has cost Roseanne Barr her show. ABC on Tuesday canceled the reboot of Roseanne amid a storm of criticism directed at its star, reports CNN. The move came after Barr apologized not once but twice on Tuesday for a jarring insult directed at former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett. In a since-deleted tweet, Barr wrote, "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj." As the post began getting traction Tuesday, Barr took to Twitter again. "I apologize. I am now leaving Twitter," she wrote. And then came a lengthier mea culpa: "I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans. I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me-my joke was in bad taste." Related coverage: ABC: "Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show," says the network's statement, per USA Today. Jarrett: Now a senior fellow at the University of Chicago Law School, she declined to comment through a spokesperson, reports Politico. Jarrett is black, and she was born in Iran to American parents. Sykes bailed: Before ABC's move, African-American comedian Wanda Sykes, credited as a consulting producer on Roseanne, tweeted that she would not be returning to the show, reports Entertainment Weekly. Sara Gilbert: The Roseanne star, who was instrumental in the show's reboot, also distanced herself early. The comments "are abhorrent and do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show," she tweeted. "I am disappointed in her actions to say the least." |
What's a good place to look for undiscovered species? Remote rainforests? The deep ocean? What about your local grocery store?
That's where Bryn Dentinger and Laura Martinez-Suz, mycologists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London, recently discovered three new kinds of mushroom.
They were found in a package of dried porcini mushrooms from a grocery store in "southwest greater London" that the scientists tested using a technique called DNA barcoding. Dentinger had previously used the technique while researching mushrooms at the Royal Ontario Museum and the University of Toronto.
A typical porcini (Boletus edulis var. clavipes) is shown in its natural habitat in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario. (Brent Dentinger/Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew)
The technique involves matching the DNA profile of a sample to a database of known species in order to identify the sample. But in three out of 15 pieces tested from the porcini mushroom package, no match was found.
"None of them had scientific names, so these were essentially new species to science," Dentiger told CBC science columnist Torah Kachur. "And we found three different species in the 15 pieces that we sampled from."
CBC science columnist Torah Kachur
The team published their results in the journal PeerJ.
As it turns out, "porcini" is "a gastronomical label more than it is scientific," Kachur told CBC's The Homestretch. "What the Italians originally called porcinis were this unique flavour of nutty type of mushroom."
On the other hand, porcini mushrooms do tend to belong to a family of mushrooms known by scientists as boletes, which have tubes on their undersides instead of gills.
"Even though we don't necessarily know those species, all of them are certainly safe for consumption," Kachur said.
She said the new findings suggest that mushrooms are more diverse than scientists thought. It also highlights one of the mysteries of mushroom evolution.
"What is the evolutionary history that means they look the same and yet they are very genetically different?" Kachur mused. "We don't have the answer for that." ||||| For lovers of wild foods, autumn means things like mushrooms and fungi of dizzying variety.
Intrepid treasure hunters scour the woods in search of delectable wild mushrooms and their not-quite-meat, not-quite-vegetable qualities.
A bonus: If you find some, you may be eating something not even known to science.
The Fungi Kingdom is enormously diverse and completely under-documented. Species are tough to know, and that is without counting the billions that have gone extinct without us ever knowing about them, but of the 10 million species likely out there, only about 100,000 have been described.
Mushrooms are one the most conspicuous and well known groups of Fungi and make up around 16,000 named species, but only a handful of these species are well documented. With estimated rates of Fungi extinction exceeding current rates of description, the enormity and urgency of the task of accurate identification cannot be overstated. New approaches that accelerate the documentation and description of new species are desperately needed before it is too late.
So how well do we really know the mushrooms? In an article published today in PeerJ, Mycologists Bryn Dentinger and Laura Martinez-Suz from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London set out to ask this question by using DNA-based taxonomy. But instead of venturing into the wild in search of never before seen species, they simply went to a local grocer and bought a packet of dried porcini whose intended destiny was more likely a rich risotto than a DNA sequencer.
Some of the most sought-after of wild mushrooms are the sweet and nutty Boletus edulis and allies, often referred to by the Italian common name porcini. Dentinger has been studying porcini for over 10 years and knew that if the porcini in this packet originated in China, they were likely to be made up of unnamed species. But how many species could be detected in the packet and how quickly could diagnosing and describing them be accomplished?
Drs Dentinger and Suz arbitrarily selected 15 pieces of mushroom from the packet and sequenced the fungal DNA barcode region for each. They then compared these sequences to sequences in the International Nucleotide Sequence Database and classified them based on evolutionary relationships. This revealed three distinct species, none of which were known to science, or had scientific names. To expedite the formal naming process required by the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants, the researchers used a rapid e-publishing tool that facilitates immediate name registration and species diagnosis to satisfy the rules of the Code.
"This study demonstrates that the whole procedure, from unknown mushrooms to names, can be done rapidly – we did this in under a week, but if push came to shove, it could be done in a day" said Dentinger.
Hundreds of thousands of tons of porcini are collected from the wild and sold around the world every year, most of it ending up in Europe and North America. Although typically composed of five well-known species native to these regions (B. aereus, B. edulis, B. pinophilus, B. reticulatus, B. rex-veris), around half of all porcini traded in Europe originates in China.
These porcini, typically collected from the wild in Yunnan province, have been exported to Europe since the 1970s yet until last December, none of them had scientific names. The researchers named them with Chinese epithets referring to local common names for porcini (Boletus meiweiniuganjun, Boletus bainiugan) and the Chinese word for 'edible' (Boletus shiyong).
As Dr Dentinger put it, "our results demonstrate just how ubiquitous unknown fungal diversity is – it can literally be found right under our noses."
The researchers hope that by demonstrating the rapid identification and naming of new Fungi species in this way, others in the community will be inspired to continue the important work of identifying new Fungi species before they get eaten....errrr, disappear. ||||| Conclusions Our analysis of 15 pieces of dried porcini mushrooms from a single commercial packet showed three species corresponding to lineages that although previously reported in phylogenetic analyses have never been formally named or described until now. The recognition of these species enables them to be monitored in foods and facilitates countries’ adherence to international agreements on exploitation of wildlife, i.e., the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Supplemental Information Aligned sequences in Phylip format This is a file containing aligned ITS sequences used for the phylogenetic analyses. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.570/supp-1 Download | – That scientists discovered three new species of mushrooms isn't all that unusual. That they did so in their local supermarket is why it's making headlines. Scientists in London picked up a packet of dried porcini mushrooms at the grocery store and then used a technique known as DNA barcoding, explains the CBC. When they attempted to match the DNA profiles of the dried mushrooms to known species, they discovered that three of the 15 pieces they tested were previously unknown to science. Introducing Boletus meiweiniuganjun, Boletus bainiugan, and Boletus shiyong. All come from China, as do about half the porcini mushrooms sold in Europe, reports Science 2.0. It's not so much a bombshell discovery as evidence of the "enormously diverse and completely under-documented" world of fungi, says the blog post. These particular porcinis have likely been consumed for decades; it's just that nobody had taken the time to categorize them. That said, the researchers were surprised to get hits on three of only 15 specimens, notes Kew.org. The new research is published in the journal PeerJ. (Scientists still can't figure out what these mushroom-like creatures are in the deep sea.) |
A Manassas, Virginia, teenager went into cardiac arrest after an unusual play on a baseball diamond in mid-July. His life was saved by the quick actions of a teammate, bringing the two players and friends closer.
Steve Smith is fortunate to be able to play ping pong with Paul Dow, a friend and baseball teammate who Smith said saved his life.
"I shouldn't be alive, and I’m just blessed to be here," Smith said. "My body feels like nothing happened. Mentally, seeing everyone, kind of traumatized, it's kind of a crazy thing to experience."
It was a freak accident at the Manassas Blue and Grey Tournament team practice two weeks ago. Smith was running from second to third base when the catcher threw the ball, accidentally hitting him under the left arm pit.
The ball hit his heart, causing commotio cordis, a lethal disruption of the heart rhythm. Smith went into cardiac arrest.
"All I hear is coach Tim Smith say, 'Does anyone know CPR?' I said, 'I know CPR,'" Dow said. "I jump in, did CPR, like, I felt like I was having a spiritual conversation with him as he is sitting there slowly dying."
Dow recently learned CPR training to become a lifeguard.
Their coach is Steve Smith’s father.
"By the time I got to him from home plate to third base, he was non-responsive," Tim Smith said. "Eyes rolled back in his head."
Dow continued CPR, and moments later, Steve Smith regained consciousness. Medics arrived and airlifted him to the hospital.
He was in a medically induced coma for three days before he woke up.
"The chances of someone surviving this is very, very, low," said Tim Smith. "It's just a miracle he's here."
The actions brought the teammates and friends even closer together.
"Before the accident, we were friends," Steve Smith said. "Now, we're actually brothers. It's overwhelming." ||||| LIFESAVER: Va. teen performs CPR to help save life of teammate Local News LIFESAVER: Va. teen performs CPR to help save life of teammate A Manassas father said it is a miracle his son is alive after the teenager went into cardiac arrest at baseball practice, but a fellow teammate of his son certified in CPR is being credited for saving his life.
- A Manassas father said it is a miracle his son is alive after the teenager went into cardiac arrest at baseball practice, but a fellow teammate of his son certified in CPR is being credited for saving his life.
Steve Smith was hit in the chest by a baseball on July 14.
“When I got to Steve, he was just unresponsive,” said Steve’s father and coach, Tim Smith. “His eyes rolled back in his head and I couldn't wake him up. So I yelled, ‘Does anybody know CPR?’”
There was only one person on the field who did – Steve’s friend and teammate, Paul Dow, who is also a lifeguard.
“When I realized he had no pulse or heartbeat, that kind of scared me for a while because I knew he was dying,” Paul said. “I felt terrible because I didn't know if he was going to be okay because he did die in my arms.”
Paul said he continued doing compressions as they waited for paramedics while he relied on his faith in God.
“There is no way in heck I did that by myself,” he said.
Steve was flown to a trauma center and his family said what happened next is almost unbelievable – he came to just two days later and was feeling just fine by the third day.
“When I woke up, one of the first things my dad said was, ‘Paul saved your life,’” Steve said.
He said he remembers getting ready for baseball practice the day of the accident, but nothing from practice itself.
“For everyone else, it seemed overwhelming. For me, it felt like a normal day," Steve described on how he felt when he woke up.
Paul was one of his first visitors. Steve said it was tough to find the right words to thank his friend.
“I still feel like I couldn't do anything to repay him,” said Steve. “I know I don't need to. He's been here for me and we have been friends and everything, but something like that is kind of hard where someone helps you that much.”
For his dad, the magnitude of what happened is more clear than for his son.
“Most people don't live from this accident, “Tim said. “Almost everyone dies from this.”
He said having Paul there that day was truly a life saver.
“I was more helpless than I felt probably in my whole life,” he said. “Because here he is, he's dying and I can't help him. To have Paul there to step up, it was incredible. It was something that I'll never forget.”
Many fire departments offer free CPR classes, including D.C. Fire and EMS. For more information on the Hands on Heart CPR Program, go to fems.dc.gov/page/hands-hearts-cpr-program. There are classes offered this week. ||||| A Virginia baseball player was saved when his teammate administered CPR moments after he was struck in the chest by a baseball.
The Manassas baseball team was practicing for the Southeast Regional Tournament on July 14 when the catcher threw the ball and hit Steve Smith directly in the chest, according to Steve's father Tim.
"His heart stopped immediately," Smith said, who is also the team's coach. "When you get struck in the chest and there is about three hundredths of a second in between each heartbeat and basically if you are hit by something in that time, at the right speed, it stops your heart."
Smith said the whole team ran toward his son as he collapsed on the field.
"When I got to him he was stiff, like his body was trying to breathe but his eyes were rolled back in his head, and he wasn't responding," Smith recalled. "He was basically gone, I guess. He wouldn't wake up, he wouldn't respond. I was shaking him, trying to get him to take a breath. I yelled, 'Does anyone know CPR?'"
That's when Paul Dow, 17, came forward and immediately started performing CPR. Meanwhile, a parent on the sidelines called 911.
Smith said he was "walking around trying to stay calm, but not doing a very good job" as Paul performed CPR on his son.
Eventually Smith put his son and Paul, who was still performing CPR, in the back of his truck and drove them to the parking lot, where an ambulance arrived soon after.
EMS workers pulled out a defibrillator and were able to restart Steve's heart. Smith said 12 minutes had lapsed between the time Paul began administering CPR and when emergency workers successfully revived Steve.
Tim Smith
Steve was then airlifted to a trauma hospital in Fairfax, where he stayed over the weekend, remaining mostly unconscious.
Smith said his son woke up on Sunday asking, "What's for breakfast?" and "What am I doing here?" He had no memory of what happened to him.
"If you look at him you'd never know that anything happened. He has a hole in his neck where they put the tube and a few nicks on his arms but other than that he doesn't have a scratch on his body," Smith said. "It's a miracle."
Paul, a close friend of the Smiths, learned CPR to become a lifeguard at the local pool. He received his certification just a few months ago.
Smith said his son's recovery was a miracle.
"Thanks be to God that Paul was there to give the CPR because there would have been brain damage at the very least if he didn't get air. God has his hand on it the whole way," Smith said."
He added that another family friend, who is a retired firefighter, was inspired to start a CPR class in the community after Steve's near-death experience. "There is so much good coming out of this, for the little bit of suffering we did, so much good is coming out of it," Smith said. | – Two Virginia teens are suddenly more than just baseball teammates after a near-death experience during a practice July 14, NBC Washington reports. Steve Smith was running the bases when a throw from the catcher inadvertently nailed him under his left armpit, causing cardiac arrest. “His heart stopped immediately," his father and coach, Tim Smith, tells ABC News. "When I got to him he was stiff, like his body was trying to breathe but his eyes were rolled back in his head." Teammate Paul Dow started performing CPR, a skill he had recently learned during lifeguard training. Dow tells NBC that performing CPR on Smith “felt like I was having a spiritual conversation with him.” Twelve minutes after Dow started CPR, medics arrived and used a defibrillator to restart Smith's heart. Smith was unconscious for a few days but woke up July 17 feeling fine. Tim Smith credits Dow for preventing his son from suffering brain damage and probably saving his life. “It’s a miracle,” he tells ABC. Dow says God helped him save his teammate. “There is no way in heck I did that by myself,” he tells Fox 5. Smith says he likely wouldn't be alive if it weren't for Dow. "Before the accident, we were friends," he tells NBC. "Now, we're actually brothers.” |
State health officials have issued an alert to doctors after six Minnesota children were diagnosed with a rare, polio-like disorder that causes reduced mobility or paralysis in the arms and legs.
All six cases of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) have been reported since Sep. 20, prompting the Minnesota Department of Health to ask doctors to be on the lookout for the disorder, which has severe consequences but mysterious origins.
"It is very rare and it is certainly something we're taking very seriously," said Kris Ehresmann, who directs the Health Department's infectious disease section. "It's a very devastating situation" for the children and their families, she said.
The disease attacks the nervous system via the spinal cord, and may be transmitted by a virus. Symptoms usually include a sudden onset of arm or leg weakness and loss of muscle reflexes, but can also include drooping eyelids, slurred speech and difficulty swallowing. Treatment and therapy restores lost mobility in some children over time, but the syndrome can be fatal in those who lose the muscular function to breathe.
James Hill of Lakeville said his son, Quinton, suffered typical cold symptoms at the start of one school week last month. By the end of the week, he was vomiting and stayed home. By the weekend, his left arm and neck had stiffened badly.
Because the disorder is rare — afflicting less than one in a million children — doctors at Children's Hospital weren't considering it initially, Hill said. They conducted blood tests, imaging scans and a spinal tap to arrive at a diagnosis.
Orville Young, 4, is one of the children who has suffered lost mobility or paralysis in Minnesota due to a rare condition known as AFM. The Minneapolis boy underwent stimulation therapy at Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare in St. Paul to try to regain lost leg and arm function.
"Super scary for us," he said. "We had never heard of it. No one had ever heard it."
AFM came to the attention of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2014 after clusters of cases were discovered in Colorado and California and linked to the spread of a type of virus known as EV-D68.
States have since reported 362 cases, some with no viral presence and some that seemed linked to other West Nile-type viruses.
The six Minnesota children, all 10 and younger, were hospitalized due to their conditions. They come from the Twin Cities, central Minnesota and northeastern Minnesota. Several of the parents contacted the Star Tribune directly, hoping that news coverage would prompt parents to take precautions and doctors and hospitals to identify the condition quickly when they encounter it.
Ehresmann said she hopes that closer study of the children — and any other cases uncovered through the latest alert to doctors — could uncover causes.
"We're looking into any kind of commonality, but at this point … we don't have anything to wrap up in a bow," she said.
The cases aren't even verified by lab test results. Ehresmman said it's the "constellation of symptoms" that ties them together.
Mario Bros.
Elaine Young's 4-year-old son, Orville, was perhaps the first case in the Minnesota cluster. Last July he came down with typical cold symptoms, which quickly gave way to immobility in his legs and paralysis in his upper right arm. Limited muscular activity in his diaphragm also restricted his breathing, at first, which can be a fatal complication of AFM.
Young said doctors delivered a diagnosis fairly rapidly — after initially ruling out a stroke — when she took Orville to the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital, where a neurologist had written a paper on AFM. But confronting one of the first Minnesota cases, she had to find out what to do next on her own, she said, and found her way to Gillette Children's Specialty Services in St. Paul.
Physical rehabilitation combined with electrical muscular stimulation there over the past two months helped Orville regain 90 percent of his leg function. The top half of his right arm remains immobile, though.
"It definitely affected me and his father much more, emotionally, at least, because we can see into his future," Young said. "When you're 4 … every time you wake up it's a big new change. So losing the use of your arm? He said: 'I can't give really good hugs anymore, but I'm doing all of my exercises!' "
Orville still plays Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. video games, his favorites, because he has use of his right wrist and lower arm.
Hill has seen some recovery in his son, even only a week after being hospitalized, with therapy at Gillette. Unable to move his upper left arm, Quinton drags it forward so he can reach Legos and build with both hands. The muscles on the left side of his face remain weak, making it hard to smile, blink and swallow.
Both children are at risk for a complication known as subluxation, or the dislocation of their dormant arms, if they don't keep them moving.
"Keep lefty involved with righty," therapists tell Quinton.
Three cases in 2014
While this is the largest cluster to be reported in Minnesota, it is not the first in the state. Minnesota had three cases in 2014, and single cases in some years since then. Nationally, most cases have been reported each year in September.
In addition to viruses, health officials suspect the syndrome is linked to unknown genetic and environmental factors. Treatments include steroid medications and immunoglobulin infusions to boost the child's immune system.
Most cases start with cold symptoms followed by loss of movement on one side of the body, and can be verified by imaging scans that detect inflammation in a central part of the spinal cord, said Dr. Anu Kalaskar, an infectious disease specialist at Children's. But treatment varies with each case, and has involved respiratory support for children struggling to breathe.
The risk of transmission is low and can be further reduced by standard cold prevention practices such as washing hands and covering coughs, she said.
The CDC has been collaborating with researchers to understand AFM, to estimate how many cases occurred before 2014, and to determine why cases increased substantially starting that year.
Mehdi Ayouche's 5-year-old daughter, Sophia, is still hospitalized at Children's in Minneapolis. The Chanhassen father worries that lost mobility in her neck and right arm might make it hard for her to do the things she loves — from swimming and drawing to Tae Kwon Do. He is hopeful that therapy will help, and relieved that Sophia's twin brother and older sister did not get the syndrome, despite having cold symptoms.
"We want to make people aware," he said. "It is a rare condition. [When it occurs], people might not know what to do next." ||||| News Release
October 5, 2018
Contact information
Statement on cases of acute flaccid myelitis
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) issued the following statement today regarding reported cases of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) in six children around the state over the last few weeks. AFM is a rare but potentially severe condition that can arise following an infection, and in some cases it can lead to death, paralysis or other long-term health impacts.
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) is investigating six cases of a rare condition called acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) that occurred since mid-September in Minnesota children.
AFM is a rare but serious condition that affects the nervous system, causing muscles to weaken. It can be a complication following a viral infection, but environmental and genetic factors may also contribute to its development. AFM symptoms include sudden muscle weakness in the arms or legs, sometimes following a respiratory illness. Other symptoms may include:
Neck weakness or stiffness
Drooping eyelids or a facial droop.
Difficulty swallowing or slurred speech.
MDH disease investigators are working aggressively with health care providers to gather information about the cases. The department is also in contact with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to share information.
For reasons not fully understood, AFM affects mainly children. All recent Minnesota cases have been in children under 10 years old and all were hospitalized. Cases have been reported from the Twin Cities, central Minnesota and northeastern Minnesota.
There was a national uptick in AFM cases in 2014. Disease investigators believe this was linked to an outbreak of a respiratory illness in children that was caused by a virus known as enterovirus D 68 (EVD68). Minnesota saw three AFM cases that year. Since then, we have typically seen less than one case a year.
Since AFM can develop as a result of a viral infection, MDH recommends parents and children take basic steps to avoid infections and stay healthy:
Wash your hands frequently to limit your exposure to germs.
Cover your cough or sneeze.
Stay home if you are sick.
Stay up to date on vaccinations.
Protect yourself and children from mosquito bites if you’re spending time outside.
If parents see potential symptoms of AFM in their child, (for example, if he or she is not using an arm) they should contact their health care provider as soon as possible. AFM can be diagnosed by examining a person’s nervous system, taking an MRI scan and testing the cerebral spinal fluid. It is important that tests are done as soon as possible after someone develops symptoms. While there is no specific treatment for AFM, doctors may recommend certain interventions on a case-by-case basis.
-MDH-
Doug Schultz
MDH Communications
651-201-4993
[email protected] ||||| Story highlights Acute flaccid myelitis, known as AFM, affects the body's nervous system
Minnesota typically sees less than one case per year
Thirty-eight cases of AFM have been confirms in the US in 2018, CDC says
(CNN) Six children in Minnesota have been diagnosed with a rare "polio-like" disease since mid-September, state health officials said.
Acute flaccid myelitis, known as AFM, affects the body's nervous system -- specifically, the spinal cord -- and can cause paralysis. Unlike polio, there is no vaccine for AFM.
Minnesota typically sees less than one case a year, the state Department of Health reported. The disease typically affects children; all the recent cases in Minnesota were in children younger than 10.
AFM can develop from a viral infection, although its exact cause is unknown. Symptoms include limb weakness, facial drooping and trouble swallowing or talking. Doctors stress the importance of recognizing the early signs of AFM and seeking care as soon as possible.
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Treatment focuses only on alleviating symptoms.
Read More | – A rare condition known for its polio-like effects has been diagnosed in six Minnesota children since mid-September. Per CNN, the condition is called acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM, and damages the body's nervous system. While uncommon, AFM is serious and can lead to paralysis or even death. The state usually sees just one case of the illness per year, which the Star-Tribune reports has health officials now issuing alerts to doctors statewide. And, unlike the viral disease polio, AFM's more elusive cause means there is no vaccine. "Disease investigators are working aggressively with health care providers to gather information about the cases," the Minnesota Department of Public Health said in a statement. "The department is also in contact with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to share information." AFM most commonly affects young children and the cases in Minnesota, which are not isolated to one region but have instead been seen in multiple parts of the state, have all occurred in patients under age 10. AFM is believed to be most frequently triggered by some separate viral infection, leading officials to urge parents to ensure children follow basic preventative measures including hand washing, staying up-to-date on vaccinations, and avoiding mosquito bites when at all possible. Officials also want parents to be aware of early signs of AFM, which include weakness or stiffness of the neck, drooping eyelids, difficulty swallowing, and slurred speech. With no vaccine, all doctors can do in these cases is treat symptoms and hope effects like limb paralysis aren't permanent. (Meanwhile, the CDC says the disease may be on the rise.) |
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Francois Hollande told the conference Islamic State represented a global threat
Thirty countries have pledged to help Iraq fight Islamic State (IS) militants "by all means necessary".
A joint statement by foreign ministers taking part in a major conference in Paris said support would include "appropriate military assistance".
The talks had been called to agree a strategy to combat the group, which controls large parts of Iraq and Syria.
The meeting followed a whirlwind tour of the Middle East by US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Mr Kerry, who attended the summit, has been drumming up support for a plan of action unveiled by President Barack Obama last week.
The CIA estimates that Islamic State has between 20,000 and 31,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria.
The murder of British aid worker David Haines by IS militants, shown in a video released by the group on Saturday, has added momentum to the plans, says the BBC's Lucy Williamson in Paris.
Analysis: Jeremy Bowen, BBC News, Damascus
Another layer of conflict is being grafted on to a series of parallel and overlapping wars in Syria and Iraq.
Enemies of the Syrian regime, including Saudi Arabia, will want to calculate how much their actions against Islamic State might strengthen President Bashar al-Assad - who has men tied up fighting IS.
Iran and Saudi Arabia, regional superpowers, back opposing sides in Syria. They will look very closely to see if American actions indirectly help their rival.
Some Islamist fighters in Syria who have been trained and armed by Saudi Arabia or Qatar have already gravitated to IS. Opposition to Western involvement might make more follow.
And the US and its Western allies are becoming direct players in the wars in Syria and Iraq - and in the deepening sectarian conflict between Shia and Sunni Muslims.
Many argue that the Americans and the British tore open sectarian scars when they invaded Iraq in 2003, and now risk making matters even worse.
Daunting task ahead for US-led coalition
How will Obama's anti-IS coalition work?
'Bigger threat'
Iraqi President Fuad Masum, who co-hosted the conference with French President Francois Hollande, said the international community must pursue the jihadists "quickly".
Image copyright AFP Image caption The conference will focus on what the international community can do to help Iraqi troops fight IS militants
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have been battling the Islamists near the key city of Mosul
Image copyright Reuters Image caption IS militants possess significant military resources and have taken over large parts of Iraq and Syria
"If this intervention and support to Iraq is late, that means that Islamic State could occupy more territory and the threat it poses will be even bigger," he said.
The summit declaration said participants were "committed to supporting the new Iraqi government in its fight... by any means necessary, including appropriate military assistance".
Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim Jafari welcomed the decision, but also said he regretted that Iran was not present at the Paris talks.
Last week Mr Kerry ruled out co-operation with Iran citing its "engagement in Syria and elsewhere".
But Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed on Monday that the US had requested Iran's co-operation via the US Ambassador to Iraq.
"I said no, because they have dirty hands," he said. He added the US was seeking seeking a "pretext to do in Iraq and Syria what it already does in Pakistan - bomb anywhere without authorisation".
Syria also did not take part in the Paris gathering.
'Doing their share'
Meanwhile, France said it had begun surveillance flights over Iraq. Britain revealed in August that its aircraft had been gathering intelligence over Iraq.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Iraqi FM Ibrahim Al-Jaafari: "Whole international community will stand united"
Several Arab countries have offered to take part in air strikes on IS fighters in Iraq, US officials say.
Turkey, however, will only allow humanitarian and logistical operations from the Nato air base on its soil.
Mr Kerry said he was "extremely encouraged" by promises of military assistance to tackle the militant group.
The US strategy to weaken the group centres on military support for Iraq but also includes plans to stop foreign fighters from joining the group, cutting its funding streams and trying to counter its ideology.
The Paris conference was aimed at defining the role each member state will play.
About 40 countries have so far signed up to a coalition including 10 Arab states - Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Image copyright AFP Image caption Iraqi and Kurdish forces have been helped in their battle against IS by 160 US air strikes since August
Image copyright AP Image caption John Kerry visited Iraq last week during a tour of the region to drum up support for action against IS
Australia announced at the weekend that it was sending 600 troops and up to eight fighter jets to the UAE ahead of possible combat operations in Iraq.
However, Mr Kerry told US broadcaster CBS that the US was not seeking troops on the ground at the moment.
Since August, US fighter jets have conducted about 160 air strikes on IS positions in Iraq.
The group's former name was Isis and it has also been known as Isil (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant). ||||| RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- The king of Saudi Arabia has warned that extremists could attack Europe and the U.S. if there is not a strong international response to terrorism after Islamist extremists seized a wide territory across Iraq and Syria.
While not mentioning any terrorist groups by name, King Abdullah's statement appeared aimed at drawing Washington and NATO forces into a wider fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, and its supporters in the region. Saudi Arabia openly backs rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad, but is concerned that the breakaway al Qaeda group could also turn those very same weapons on the kingdom.
"I am certain that after a month they will reach Europe and, after another month, America," he said at a reception for foreign ambassadors Friday.
Official Saudi media carried the king's comments early Saturday.
"These terrorists do not know the name of humanity and you have witnessed them severing heads and giving them to children to walk with in the street," the king said, urging the ambassadors to relay his message directly to their heads of state.
CBS News correspondent Julianna Goldman reports from Washington that President Obama didn't talk military planning Friday night when he met with Democratic donors, but he said that he understands that Americans are anxious about the growing threat of ISIS, and he acknowledged that it's a dangerous time in the Middle East.
A day after the president said that he doesn't have a strategy yet for confronting ISIS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, in Syria, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Mr. Obama is waiting for his defense secretary to present a plan.
"There are some who probably would make the case that it's OK to not have a formulated, comprehensive strategy but, just as one pundit I know recently suggested, that we could just go drop some bombs and see what happens," Earnest told reporters Friday. "That is not what the president believes is a smart approach."
Echoing that message, Pentagon spokesman Adm. John Kirby said the Defense Department doesn't have binders full of plans at any given moment.
"Planners down in Tampa and planners here in the Pentagon continually refine and change and update planning options for potential military activity," Kirby told reporters Friday. "It is an ongoing effort."
The U.S. military campaign against ISIS is so far limited to targets in Iraq, but Mr. Obama is considering expanding the mission to also include Syria, where this week he ordered surveillance flights.
ISIS has been fighting moderate rebels, other extremists and Assad's forces in Syria for nearly three years. Iraq has faced an onslaught by the Sunni extremists and their supporters since early this year, and the country continues to be roiled by instability.
While providing arms and support to Sunni militants in Syria, Saudi Arabia has denied directly funding or backing ISIS.
British officials raised the country's terror threat level Friday to "severe," its second-highest level, because of developments in Iraq and Syria, but there was no information to suggest an attack was imminent. The White House has said it does not expect the U.S. to bump up its terrorism threat warning level.
Saudi Arabia, a major U.S. ally in the region, has taken an increasingly active role in criticizing ISIS. Earlier this month, the country's top cleric described ISIS and al Qaeda as Islam's No. 1 enemy and said that Muslims have been their first victims. State-backed Saudi clerics who once openly called on citizens to fight in Syria can now face steep punishment and the kingdom has threatened to imprison its citizens who fight in Syria and Iraq.
A decade ago, al Qaeda militants launched a string of attacks in the kingdom aimed at toppling the monarchy. Saudi officials responded with a massive crackdown that saw many flee to neighboring Yemen. In the time since, the kingdom has not seen any massive attacks, though it has imprisoned suspected militants and sentenced others to death.
Meanwhile Saturday, police in Iraq said a suicide bomber drove his explosives-laden car into an army checkpoint in the town of Youssifiyah, killing 11 people, including four soldiers, and wounding at least 24 people. Youssifiyah is 12 miles south of Baghdad.
Hours later, a roadside bomb targeting an army patrol killed two soldiers and wounded five in Latifiyah, a town 20 miles south of Baghdad.
Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to journalists. ||||| Image copyright AFP Image caption IS militants have threatened minorities and carried out extrajudicial killings in Iraq and Syria
The CIA says the Islamic State (IS) militant group may have up to 31,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria - three times as many as previously feared.
A spokesman said the new estimate was based on a review of intelligence reports from May to August.
IS has seized vast swathes of Iraq and beheaded several hostages in recent months, leading to US airstrikes.
US Secretary of State John Kerry is visiting Turkey, seeking more support for action against IS.
US officials say retired Gen John Allen will be tasked with forming an international coalition to fight IS.
'Stronger recruitment'
On Thursday, 10 Arab countries agreed to help the US attack the group in both Iraq and Syria.
The CIA had previously believed that IS had about 10,000 fighters, spokesman Ryan Trapani said.
"This new total reflects an increase in members because of stronger recruitment since June following battlefield successes and the declaration of a caliphate, greater battlefield activity, and additional intelligence," he added.
The revision comes a day after President Obama outlined a plan to "degrade and destroy" IS and to increase military support for allied forces engaged in fighting the group.
For the first time, he authorised air strikes against the group in Syria.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption John Kerry: "We believe we can take on ISIL [the previous name for IS] in the current coalition that we have"
In recent months IS has expanded from its stronghold in eastern Syria and seized control of more towns, cities, army bases and weaponry in Iraq.
The US has already carried out more than 150 air strikes against IS in Iraq. It has also sent hundreds of military advisers to assist Iraqi government and Kurdish forces, but has ruled out sending ground troops.
Other countries, including the UK, have contributed humanitarian assistance to Iraqis displaced by the group's advance.
Image copyright AP Image caption The group declared the creation of a "caliphate" in the areas under its control in June
Mr John Kerry secured the co-operation of several Arab countries during a meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Thursday.
Nato member Turkey, however, refused to sign a communique calling for countries to join the US in the fight against IS.
Analysts say this may be because the group currently holds 49 Turkish citizens, including diplomats.
Mr Kerry downplayed the move, saying the important US ally was dealing with some "sensitive issues".
He is due to travel to Turkey on Friday to try to secure more co-operation from the government. ||||| Foreign ministers from more than 30 countries, including Persian Gulf Arab states, are in Paris to discuss broad political, security and humanitarian aspects of tackling the Islamic State. (Reuters)
Foreign ministers from more than 30 countries, including Persian Gulf Arab states, are in Paris to discuss broad political, security and humanitarian aspects of tackling the Islamic State. (Reuters)
Iran on Monday spurned an American request for cooperation in the fight against Islamic State militants, but the United States said the door remains open to a rare opportunity to make common cause with its principal adversary in the Middle East.
Iran’s rebuff came as world powers meeting in the French capital agreed to use “any means necessary” to combat the militant force surging in Iraq and Syria.
Diplomats from 26 nations and several international organizations began dividing responsibilities for what U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry said will be an expanded international military, diplomatic and law enforcement assault on the group.
“It’s not the Iraq war of 2003,” Kerry told reporters Monday. “We’re not building a military coalition for an invasion. We’re building a military coalition, together with all the other pieces, for a transformation.”
The sudden rise of the Islamic State has not only rearranged old rivalries and alliances but also eclipsed Syria’s civil war and Iraq’s sectarian fragmentation as the most pressing threat in the Middle East.
Secretary of State John Kerry, right, shakes hands with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at an international conference in Paris to determine a response to the growing threat posed by the Islamic State. (Brendan Smialowski/AP)
The notion that the United States might find its concerns shared by foes Iran and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is startling, as is the emerging partnership between Saudi Arabia, the spiritual center of Sunni Islam, and Shiite-led Iraq.
Kerry noted Monday that the support building for Iraq as it confronts the militants would have been unthinkable only a few months ago.
As the Paris talks opened — without representatives from Iran or Syria — French fighter jets flew a reconnaissance mission over Iraq.
France is alone in publicly offering to join the United States in flying bombing missions against Islamic State targets in Iraq, but Arab states have signaled willingness behind the scenes.
The goal is to back up Iraqi ground forces trying to reverse the militant gains in western and northern Iraq. A statement from the diplomats in Paris made no mention of Syria, where the militants have carved out a haven in the midst of the country’s war.
In a show of support for Iraq’s new leadership, the conference participants pledged to expunge the militants from territory seized in Iraq “by any means necessary, including appropriate military assistance.”
Iran played spoiler. Its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, tweeted his disdain for the international effort and revealed a back-channel U.S. offer of unspecified cooperation against the militants. Khamenei said Iran rejected the U.S. request because of Washington’s “evil intentions,” the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
Many Iraqis say they are hopeful about a one-day conference aimed at attacking the threat from Islamic State militants. (Reuters)
The Reuters news agency quoted Khamenei as telling Iran’s state television that the U.S. request was “hollow and self-serving,” echoing Iran’s claims that Western nations are seeking to expand their influence in the region as part of the campaign against the Islamic State.
The United States did not deny the outreach to Iran and said discussions with Tehran will continue — underscoring Iran’s influence in the region as well as the political complexities of bringing the Shiite powerhouse into the emerging international alliance against the Islamic State.
“I’m just going to hold open the possibility always of having a discussion that had the possibility of being constructive,” Kerry said, without providing substantive details about the U.S. request. “I’m not going to get into a back-and-forth.”
By going public with the U.S. offer Monday, Iran appeared to close off the possibility of cooperation against the militants for now.
However, Iran has sent its allied Shiite militias in Iraq to fight with Western-backed Kurds against the Islamic State. Iran’s Shiite theocracy considers the Sunni militants a challenge to Iraq’s majority Shiites — whose political parties have close ties to Tehran — and a destabilizing force against Assad, Iran’s other main regional ally.
Although details of the U.S.-Iranian discussion remain vague, it appears to have been an offer of behind-the-scenes cooperation rather than a public partnership.
Any public cooperation with Iran would doom the emerging alliance between Iraq and Sunni Arab states in the Persian Gulf region and elsewhere that had feuded with Nouri al-Maliki, the former Iraqi prime minister. The Sunni states regard Iran with deep suspicion and considered Maliki, a Shiite partisan with strong ties to Tehran, as a pawn of Iran.
France had wanted to invite Iran to the talks, but the United States resisted the move.
The United States is trying to stitch together a diverse alliance against the Islamic State and overcome reluctance among many states to intervene in any way in the Syrian conflict, now in its fourth year. Nearly 200,000 people have died in the Syrian fighting, according to the United Nations.
Kerry said Monday that Saudi King Abdullah had told him that if Iran attended Monday’s session, the Saudis would boycott. The United Arab Emirates had drawn the same line, Kerry said.
As the international efforts gathered steam, the leader of a key Iran-linked militia in Iraq pledged Monday to pull back from any area where U.S. forces intervene, including with possible aerial attacks.
Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said his forces would pull out of any area where the United States launches attacks, “whether by land or sea, directly or indirectly.” His forces waged fierce battles against U.S. troops in the years after the American-led 2003 invasion.
Opening the Paris conference, French President François Hollande said the threat from global militancy requires a coordinated and international response. France is among the European nations deeply alarmed by the flow of radicalized young men who have traveled from Europe to fight in Syria and who could seek to return home.
The meeting came at the end of Kerry’s week-long tour of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey. The trip sought to frame the division of labor for a wider assault on the Islamic State, with the U.S. military and Iraqi forces playing the central roles.
On Sunday, U.S. officials said Arab states have volunteered to launch airstrikes alongside U.S. planes. But they stressed that such an expansion was still under discussion and subject to review by Iraq.
Officials from the region said the volunteers included Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and others whose leaders had been waiting to hear from the administration that it has a viable plan and is prepared to follow through with it.
The United Arab Emirates and Qatar conducted strikes during the 2011 air campaign in Libya. Qatar’s role is not entirely clear now, though it is helping train Syrian rebels, as is Jordan.
Saudi Arabia is also expected to participate in expanded training of the rebels fighting the Islamic State and Assad. The Saudis have been pressing the United States to accede to Syrian rebels’ long-standing requests for surface-to-air antiaircraft weapons, which could be a game-changer for the chronically underequipped opposition forces, but the Obama administration has refused.
The U.S. decision to confront the militants, first in Iraq and eventually in Syria, also benefits Assad, although U.S. officials insist they will act only in their own interests.
Kerry ruled out coordination with Syria.
Brian Murphy in Washington and Loveday Morris in Baghdad contributed to this report. | – The world is discussing the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Paris today, with President Francois Hollande opening a conference attended by leaders and diplomats from 25-plus countries by saying "there is no time to lose. Iraq's combat against terrorism is also ours." Or so hopes Iraqi president Fuad Masum, who urged those in attendance to expand the fight against ISIS to Syria, reports the New York Times. "We must not allow them to have sanctuaries. We must pursue them wherever they are." The Times notes that, thus far, the US has OKed only intelligence gathering over Syria. More on the ISIS front: Not in attendance at the conference: Iran. Though France "initially opened the door to a possible role" by the country, per the Times, John Kerry put the kibosh on the idea over fears it would dissuade Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern states from participating. Iran, for its part, says that Syria should have been invited to the table. Though it was announced yesterday that several Arab nations have agreed to join the fight against ISIS, with the BBC reporting that the anti-ISIS coalition now stands at about 40 countries including 10 Arab states, specifics remain in short supply. A BBC analyst describes a "scramble to craft a coherent plan from contributions offered" by the countries. The Wall Street Journal reports that while no officials have named which Mideast states might also conduct airstrikes, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, and Qatar likely have the ability to join the US campaign. As far as those airstrikes go, five weeks of them (150 strikes since President Obama's speech last Wednesday, notes the New York Times) have halted the militants' progress, US officials tell the Journal, but the paper points out that ISIS has reacted by becoming more "stealthy." Equipment isn't moved in open convoys; electronic communications have been curtailed; tarps and foliage are increasingly used to shield militants from drones; and militants are hiding among locals. The upside is that "ISIS has not gained any land since the airstrikes started," per one official. The downside is that they may be tougher to track. |
Editor's note: Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, a 21-year-old man, has been arrested on suspicion of planning to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, federal officials said. Authorities say he attempted to detonate what he believed was a 1,000-pound bomb. Below are major developments as we received them. Read the full story here.
Nafis, wearing street clothes and represented by a public defender, was arraigned a little while ago during a five-minute hearing in a New York courtroom. No bail application has been made. Prosecutors will have 30 days to officially indict him.
The public defender said she would not comment to reporters. Nafis will be held for now at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, U.S. attorneys say.
[Posted at 4:18 p.m. ET] Paul J. Browne, deputy commissioner of the New York City Police Department, released the following statement on the alleged plot:
"Whether al -Qaeda operatives like (2003 Brooklyn Bridge suspect) Iyman Faris or those inspired by them like (2011 suspect in bomb-making case) Jose Pimentel, terrorists have tried time and again to make New York City their killing field. We're up to 15 plots and counting since 9/11, with the Federal Reserve now added to a list of iconic targets that previously included the Brooklyn Bridge, the New York Stock Exchange, and Citicorp Center. After 11 years without a successful attack, it's understanding if the public becomes complacent. But that's a luxury law enforcement can't afford. Vigilance is our watchword now and into the foreseeable future. That's why we have over 1,000 police officers assigned to counter-terrorism duties every day, and why we built the Domain Awareness System. I want to commend the NYPD detectives and FBI agents of the Joint Terrorist Task Force for the work they did in the case and in other ways every day to help New York City safe from terrorists."
[Posted at 4:08 p.m. ET] U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch from the Eastern District of New York made the following statement regarding the alleged terror plot attack:
"As alleged in the complaint, the defendant came to this country intent on conducting a terrorist attack on U.S. soil and worked with single-minded determination to carry out his plan. The defendant thought he was striking a blow to the American economy. He thought he was directing confederates and fellow believers. At every turn, he was wrong, and his extensive efforts to strike at the heart of the nation’s financial system were foiled by effective law enforcement. We will use all of the tools at our disposal to stop any such attack before it can occur. We are committed to protecting the safety of all Americans, including the hundreds of thousands who work in New York’s financial district. I would like to thank our partners at the FBI, NYPD, the other agencies who participate in the JTTF, and the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, for their hard work on this important investigation. I would also like to thank the security teams at the New York Federal Reserve Bank and the New York Stock Exchange for their assistance."
[Posted at 4:08 p.m. ET] Nafis appeared to have had a back-up plan.
He met an undercover agent that supplied him with what he thought were explosives on Wednesday morning. After meeting up, they both traveled in a van to a warehouse, the Justice Department said.
That’s apparently when Nafis told the agent he had a "Plan B."
If Nafis felt his attack was about to be thwarted by cops, he would invoke the back-up plan, which involved a suicide bombing operation, the criminal complaint alleges.
When the pair arrived at the warehouse, Nafis began putting together what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb inside the van. Then they drove together to the target: The New York Federal Reserve Bank. As they drove, he armed the purported by putting together the detonator and the explosives, the criminal complaint says.
The van was then parked next to the bank. The pair went to a nearby hotel, where Nafis apparently recorded a video statement meant to be shown to the American public in connection with the attack.
"We will not stop until we attain victory or martyrdom," he said, according to the criminal complaint.
He then tried, several times unsuccessfully, to detonate the device, which was actually inert explosives.
Nafis was then arrested.
A good portion of the sting operation was caught on tape, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
[Posted at 3:59 p.m. ET] The plot came to light as an FBI undercover agent posed as an al-Qaeda facilitator, federal authorities say.
Nafis asked the undercover agent for 50-pound bags of what he thought were explosives, and then worked on putting together an explosive device, according to prosecutors.
"Nafis purchased components for the bomb’s detonator and conducted surveillance for his attack on multiple occasions in New York City’s financial district in lower Manhattan," a Justice Department press release describing the criminal complaint said. “Throughout his interactions with the undercover agent, Nafis repeatedly asserted that the plan was his own and was the reason he had come to the United States."
[Posted at 3:56 p.m. ET] We now have some more detail about the plot to blow up the reserve bank from a press release that breaks down the criminal complaint filed against Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis:
The Bangladeshi national allegedly came to the United States in January to carry out a terror attack on U.S. soil and said he had overseas connections to al-Qaeda. As he attempted to recruit others to join his cell, he tried to recruit someone who turned out to be an FBI source, the criminal complaint says.
Nafis initially had a few targets in mind, according to the complaint, including "a high-ranking U.S. official and the New York Stock Exchange." In the end, Nafis settled on the New York Federal Reserve Bank, federal officials said.
"In a written statement intended to claim responsibility for the terrorist bombing of the Federal Reserve Bank on behalf of al-Qaeda, Nafis wrote that he wanted to 'destroy America' and that he believed the most efficient way to accomplish this goal was to target America’s economy," the Justice Department press release said. "In this statement, Nafis also included quotations from 'our beloved Sheikh Osama bin Laden' to justify the fact that Nafis expected that the attack would involve the killing of women and children."
The "explosives that he allegedly sought and attempted to use had been rendered inoperable by law enforcement and posed no threat to the public," according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch.
[Posted at 3:41 p.m. ET] Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, was arrested for allegedly attempting to detonate what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in Manhattan, the Department of Justice and a U.S. attorney's office said in a press release.
He will be charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to al-Qaeda, the press release said.
[Posted at 3: 40 p.m. ET] A man has been arrested for planning to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, according to a federal law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation.
The man was arrested as part of a string operation conducted by the FBI and NYPD as part of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, a federal law enforcement source said.
"Attempting to destroy a landmark building and kill or maim untold numbers of innocent bystanders is about as serious as the imagination can conjure. The defendant faces appropriately severe consequences," FBI Acting Assistant Director Mary Galligan said in a statement. "It is important to emphasize that the public was never at risk in this case, because two of the defendant’s ‘accomplices’ were actually an FBI source and an FBI undercover agent. The FBI continues to place the highest priority on preventing acts of terrorism." ||||| Federal authorities have arrested a man they say was plotting to blow up the Federal Reserve building in New York City, just blocks from the World Trade Center site.
Authorities say 21-year-old Quazi Nafis was arrested Wednesday morning after a sting operation that involved the FBI and New York Police Department. The suspect parked a van filled with what he believed were explosives outside the building and tried to detonate it.
But his associates were actually undercover officers who arrested him at the scene _ and the bomb was not real.
Federal prosecutors say the man was monitored closely by the FBI in New York and members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and the public was never in danger. | – The FBI says it has foiled a plot to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, reports CNN. The story follows a familiar pattern: It was a sting operation, and the suspect was actually dealing with agents from the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force of New York City. They supplied him with what he thought was a car bomb, and he reportedly tried to detonate it outside the bank, reports AP. The suspect is identified as Bangladeshi national Quazi Nafis, 21, and authorities say he came to the US in January to carry out an attack. "In a written statement intended to claim responsibility for the terrorist bombing of the Federal Reserve Bank on behalf of al-Qaeda, Nafis wrote that he wanted to 'destroy America' and that he believed the most efficient way to accomplish this goal was to target America’s economy," said a Justice Department press release. |
The ricin-laced letters sent to President Obama and Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker were both postmarked April 8 and sent from Memphis, Tenn., signed "I am KC and I approve this message." A third letter went to Michigan Sen. Carl Levin. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
Federal agents on Wednesday arrested a suspect in the mailing of letters to President Barack Obama and a U.S. senator that initially tested positive for the poison ricin.
The suspect was identified as Paul Kevin Curtis of Tupelo, Miss., federal officials told NBC News. They said he may appear in court as early as Wednesday night.
Both letters carried an identical closing statement, according to an FBI bulletin obtained by NBC News on Wednesday.
According to the FBI bulletin, both letters, postmarked April 8, 2013 out of Memphis, Tenn., included an identical phrase, "to see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance."
In addition, both letters are signed: "I am KC and I approve this message."
The letter to Obama was intercepted at an off-site White House mail facility and was being tested further, the FBI said. A federal law enforcement official said that the letter was “very similar” to one addressed to Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss. Another letter was addressed to a Mississippi justice official.
Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson confirms a suspect has been arrested in relation to the ricin-laced letter sent to a Mississippi judge. Johnson adds that there are "great consistencies" between this letter and those sent to President Obama and Senator Wicker.
Curtis was arrested at his home in Corinth, Miss., at about 5:15 CT, after an investigation by federal, state and local agencies.
In a news conference Wednesday night, Lee County, Miss., Sheriff Jim Johnson said a Mississippi judge on April 10 received and opened a typewritten letter -- postmarked from Memphis, but without a return address -- that included “wording that was of interest,” as well as some "suspicious content."
Johnson said there were “great consistencies” between the letter received by the Mississippi judge and the letters directed to Wicker and President Obama. Tests are being conducted on the letter sent to the Mississippi judge to determine whether it was tainted with ricin, Johnson added.
The FBI is assisting the sheriff’s office in the investigation to determine whether the letters were sent by the same person.
Johnson would not identify the suspect in custody, adding that local authorities are waiting for results from the federal laboratory before filing any state charges.
Two federal officials said late Wednesday that an initial laboratory test on the material in the letters was inconclusive. The test shows some level of ricin, they said, but the potency is uncertain. They cannot tell whether the material is actually harmful or not, so more tests have been ordered.
Wicker released a statement Wednesday, thanking authorities for their help.
"Gayle and I want to thank the men and women of the FBI and U.S. Capitol Police for their professionalism and decisive action in keeping our family and staff safe from harm," the statement read.
"My offices in Mississippi and Washington remain open for business to all Mississippians. We particularly want to thank the people of Mississippi for their thoughts and prayers during this time."
The sender of the letters, one official said, "may have stumbled onto something," but it's unknown if he actually made the full-blown ricin toxin.
Ricin is made from castor beans and can kill within 36 hours. There is no antidote. Some threatening letters simply contain ground castor beans, resulting in a positive field test for ricin without the concentrated poison. Results from full laboratory tests are expected in the next 24 to 48 hours.
Filters at a second government mail screening facility also tested positive for ricin in a preliminary screening Wednesday.
An FBI official told NBC News that the agency did not initially believe the letters were related to the attack on the Boston Marathon on Monday.
Authorities also for a time cleared the atrium of a Senate office building Wednesday, removing suspicious envelopes and a package, before reopening the offices. Capitol police were also investigating a suspicious package at the office of Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. Shelby’s staff had not been evacuated.
The Wicker letter had no return address. The FBI confirmed the preliminary positive test on it Tuesday. That letter was intercepted at a postal facility in Maryland that screens mail sent to Congress, and never reached Wicker’s office.
Other senators were made aware of the Wicker letter during a briefing Tuesday evening on the bombing in Boston. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said that the person who sent Wicker the letter writes often to elected officials.
People can be exposed to ricin by touching a ricin-laced letter or by inhaling particles that enter the air when the envelope is opened. Touching ricin can cause a rash but is not usually fatal. Inhaling it can cause trouble breathing, fever and other symptoms, and can be fatal.
At a hearing Wednesday on the Postal Service’s finances, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said that while there have been ricin scares in the past, the recent discoveries were unprecedented.
“There's never been any actually proved that have gone through the system,” Donahoe said. “But we've got a process that we make sure that our employees know -- We can actually track the mail back through the system to double check from an employee health standpoint."
Field tests are conducted anytime suspicious powder is found in a mail facility, and the FBI cautioned that field tests and other preliminary tests can produce inconsistent results. When tests show the possibility of a biological agent, the material is sent to a laboratory for full analysis.
Robert Windrem, Kasie Hunt, Kelly O’Donnell, Richard Esposito, Jeff Black, Mike Viqueira and Dr. Kristina Krohn of NBC News contributed to this report.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story misidentified the suspect, based on information from federal officials.
Related:
Deadly ricin: Poisonous but clumsy weapon
This story was originally published on ||||| Story highlights A Mississippi judge received a similar letter that is also being tested
Justice Department says Paul Kevin Curtis of Corinth, Mississippi, has been arrested
Envelopes were addressed to Obama and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi
Initial tests on those envelopes detected the deadly poison ricin; additional tests under way
An arrest has been made in connection with possibly contaminated letters sent to President Barack Obama and Sen. Roger Wicker, the Department of Justice said Wednesday.
Paul Kevin Curtis was arrested by the FBI at his home in Corinth, Mississippi, the department said in a statement.
Discovered Tuesday, the letters were addressed to Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, and to Obama. The justice department release said a third letter was sent to a Mississippi justice official.
The letters to Wicker and Obama were stopped at a government mail-screening facility after initial tests indicated the presence of the deadly poison ricin.
Because initial tests can be "inconsistent," the envelopes have been sent off for additional tests, an FBI statement said. The FBI does not expect to receive results from the tests until Thursday, federal law enforcement sources told CNN.
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The letters read: "To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance."
They were signed "I am KC and I approve this message," a source said.
Reports of suspicious packages and envelopes also came into two Senate office buildings late Wednesday morning. Capitol Police evacuated the first floor of the Hart Senate Office Building for more than an hour and questioned a man in the area who had a backpack containing sealed envelopes, but the man was not taken into custody.
"It just reminds you that with public service comes the real possibility that you could be a target," said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas. "But on the other side of it, we have an excellent police force, and I think they'll get to the bottom of it."
Beyond Washington, suspicious letters spotted
Sadie Holland, a judge in Lee County, Mississippi, told CNN Wednesday night that she received an envelope with a suspicious substance and a letter similar to the ones sent to the offices of Obama and Wicker.
Last Wednesday, the judge received and opened a typewritten letter -- postmarked from Memphis, without a return address -- that included "suspicious content," Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson told reporters. The letter had "great consistencies and similarities" to the letters sent to Obama and Wicker, he said. Investigators were testing the contents of the letter to determine whether ricin was inside, he said.
Holland told CNN the letter originally tested negative for ricin but was being retested Wednesday. Local authorities were awaiting the test results to determine whether to file state charges, Johnson said.
"The letter was handled, the chemical was handled by several different individuals in our justice court system," Johnson said, but added that "we do not have any reason to believe that anyone's life is in danger."
Investigators are trying to determine whether suspicious letters found at Senate offices elsewhere in the country came from the same source, federal law enforcement sources said.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, said one of his home-state offices received a "suspicious-looking" letter and alerted authorities. "We do not know yet if the mail presented a threat," said Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
A staffer for Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake flagged "suspicious letters" at the freshman Republican's Phoenix office, Flake spokeswoman Genevieve Rozansky said in a statement, but "no dangerous material was detected in the letters."
Phoenix Fire Department spokesman Jonathan Jacobs said the envelope contained some type of powder. The person who initially found the envelope is being treated at a Phoenix-area hospital for a pre-existing condition and stress from the event, and others in the immediate vicinity were examined as well.
In a statement issued Wednesday, the FBI said it has no indication of a connection between the tainted letters and Monday's bombings at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. But the discoveries further heightened security concerns at a time when Congress is considering politically volatile legislation to toughen gun laws and reform the immigration system.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said the president had been briefed on the letters.
"Obviously, he understands and we all understand that there are procedures in place, as the FBI has said. There are -- there is is a process in place that ensures that materials that are suspicious or substances that are found to be suspicious at remote locations are then sent for secondary and more intense testing, and that process is under way now," Carney said.
A Texas chiropractor's words in the spotlight
While authorities in Washington investigated the letters, the wife of a Texas chiropractor said the wording in them caught her by surprise.
The phrase used in the letters is something chiropractor John Raymond Baker once said and has been widely quoted online, his wife, Tammy Bennett Baker, told CNN.
On Wednesday, she sounded surprised when told by CNN that the wording was included in the letters under scrutiny in Washington. She said she was not aware of the letters and that the phrase refers to her husband's general philosophy of care. She said their office phone started ringing frequently Wednesday afternoon, and it was "kind of freaking out our other employee."
A 2006 post on a blog for Baker's office says the comment originally was a criticism of insurance companies. Since then, the site says, it "has been a quote that has been picked up and quoted (sometimes without attribution) around the net" and "people are using it about all kinds of injustices."
The letter sent to Wicker had a Memphis, Tennessee, postmark and no return address, Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer wrote in an e-mail to senators and aides Tuesday. Wicker has been assigned a protective detail, according to a law enforcement source.
A laboratory in Maryland confirmed the presence of ricin on the letter addressed to Wicker after initial field tests also indicated the poison was present, according to Gainer. However, the FBI said additional testing was needed because field and preliminary tests produce inconsistent results.
"Only a full analysis performed at an accredited laboratory can determine the presence of a biological agent such as ricin," according to the bureau.
A law enforcement source said further tests would be conducted at the Army's biomedical research laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland.
After the arrest was announced Wednesday night, Wicker released a statement thanking "the men and women of the FBI and U.S. Capitol Police for their professionalism and decisive action in keeping our family and staff safe from harm." His offices in Mississippi and Washington "remain open for business to all Mississippians," Wicker said in the statement.
Mail for members of Congress and the White House has been handled at offsite postal facilities since the 2001 anthrax attacks, which targeted Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, and then-Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota.
Senate mail service shut down
Senators were told Tuesday that the mail facility would be temporarily shut down "to make sure they get everything squared away," Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, said Tuesday afternoon.
"The bottom line is, the process we have in place worked," she said.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, also praised the postal workers and law enforcement officers for "preventing this threat before it even reached the Capitol."
"They proved that the proactive measures we put in place do, in fact, work," he said.
Ricin is a highly toxic substance derived from castor beans. As little as 500 micrograms -- an amount the size of the head of a pin -- can kill an adult. There is no specific test for exposure and no antidote once exposed.
It can be produced easily and cheaply, and authorities in several countries have investigated links between suspect extremists and ricin. But experts say it is more effective on individuals than as a weapon of mass destruction.
Ricin was used in the 1978 assassination of Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov. The author, who had defected nine years earlier, was jabbed by the tip of an umbrella while waiting for a bus in London and died four days later.
A previous ricin scare hit the Capitol in 2004, when tests identified it in a letter in a Senate mail room that served then-Majority Leader Bill Frist's office. The discovery forced 16 employees to go through decontamination procedures, but no one reported any ill effects afterward, Frist said. | – Federal authorities have arrested a man identified as Paul Kevin Curtis of Tupelo, Mississippi, in the mailing of letters laced with toxin to President Obama and Sen. Roger Wicker, reports the Clarion-Ledger. Not much is known about the suspect at this point, though both letters were signed, "I am KC and I approve this message." Each also contained the message, "to see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance." The letters were flagged at mail-sorting facilities before reaching their intended targets. Initial tests turned up positive for the poison ricin, but NBC News reports that it's still not clear just how potent the letters were. Further tests are under way. The letters were postmarked on April 8. CBS News says there were three in all, one to Wicker, one to Obama, and one to a Mississippi justice official. (Claire McCaskill had previously said that a suspect identified in the case was known to be a prolific letter-writer to lawmakers.) |
A REAL PAL WILL GIVE you a dollar when you're in need, but a PayPal will give you $92 quadrillion.
Delaware County resident Chris Reynolds received just such a shocking delivery from PayPal on Friday, when he opened his monthly statement from the online money-transfer company via email and saw that his ending balance was $92,233,720,368,547,800.
"I'm just feeling like a million bucks," Reynolds told the Daily News yesterday. "At first I thought that I owed quadrillions. It was quite a big surprise."
Reynolds, 56, of Media, said he's been a PayPal customer for about 10 years and uses it to buy and sell items on eBay, including vintage car parts. He said he usually spends no more than $100 a month using PayPal. ||||| By ABC News
By LAUREN MORTON
A Pennsylvania man was briefly the richest man in the world–or maybe the poorest.
Chris Reynolds opened his PayPal statement and was shocked to read that he had $92 quadrillion in his account. “Well, initially I was a little jolted because I saw a negative number in front of a lot of digits and I just decided to have a little fun with it,” Reynolds said.
He posted a copy of the statement on Facebook, which garnered a few laughs from his friends.
The actual amount read “-92, 233, 720, 368, 547, 800.00.” PayPal immediately recognized the error and sought to rectify the situation. “PayPal was really good by the way,” Reynolds assured. “They apologized for any inconvenience.”
The public relations executive used to use PayPal when he bought vintage car parts and other supplies through eBay because the companies have a joint venture together.
PayPal agreed to make a “modest,” donation to any nonprofit organization of Reynolds’ choice, which remains undisclosed. | – It's not too often you see the word "quadrillionaire" in a headline. Actually, probably never, considering Chris Reynolds of Media, Penn., was the first man to ever be one—albeit very, very briefly. Reynolds opened his PayPal statement this month to find he had been credited $92,233,720,368,547,800. (As ABC News explains, his account read "-92,233,720,368,547,800.00," which represented not a negative balance but a credit.) But as the saying goes, his good fortune was fleeting: He logged on to find his balance had been reverted to zero. PayPal addressed the mishap Wednesday, telling the BBC, "This was obviously an error and we appreciate that Mr. Reynolds understands this was the case." As a thank you for that understanding, it has offered to make a donation to the charity of Reynolds' choice. But what PayPal told Reynolds had to smart a bit: It apologized for the "inconvenience," he says. Turns out it's an inconvenience for the rest of us, too: Had the balance been a correct one, Reynolds tells the Philadelphia Daily News he would have used it to "pay the national debt down. Then I would buy the Phillies, if I could get a great price." (In other tales of riches denied, click to read about inventors who saw no windfall from their big idea.) |
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) says his criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement does not mean he is indifferent to black suffering.
“Don’t tell me I don’t care about black lives,” he said Monday on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends." "I had an uncle who died in the line of duty. I had uncles who went out every night and tried to protect black people and white people and all people.
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“A lot of the protection of this city of New York is for black people because 70 percent of the murders in New York City are black. So it has to be that way. I believe I saved a lot more black lives than Black Lives Matter.”
Giuliani also said he is not backing down from his charge that “black lives matter” is a fundamentally racist phrase.
“It is inherently racist because No. 1, it divides us,” he said. "All lives matter. All lives matter — black lives, white lives, all lives.
“No. 2, the Black Lives Matter never protests when every 14 hours someone is killed in Chicago, probably 70–80 percent of the time a black person. Where are they then? Where are they when the young black child is killed?”
Giuliani on Sunday said the phrase “Black Lives Matter” is both “anti-American” and “inherently racist.”
National debate is raging over the role of the Black Lives Matter movement following the fatal shooting of two African-American men by police in separate incidents last week. ||||| Following last week’s tragedies in Louisiana, Minnesota and Texas, New York City’s former Mayor Rudy Giuliani made some shocking comments, including stating that black children have a 99% chance of killing each other.
The reality is, blacks are killed by other black people a majority of the time, just as whites are killed by whites a majority of the time.
But what his words show is an appalling lack of understanding of the notion that the issue of fighting crime in black and brown neighborhoods must include the fact that police crime embellishes the chaos in those communities and must be dealt with as well. It is that repeated and documented pattern of profiling, excessive force and shootings by police that we see in our communities and not in others. If we are to ever solve the issue of crime, we must tackle all crime — including crime committed by those who wear a badge.
My organization, National Action Network, has dedicated over 25 years toward fighting for social justice and equality across the board. That struggle includes reducing crime and uplifting our communities on every level. In addition to holding gun buyback events, we’ve coordinated programs like “Occupy The Corner” in cities like Chicago in order to help diffuse shootings. The residents of that community, and others around the nation, fully understand the challenges facing them, which includes the manner in which law enforcement sometimes interacts with them.
Rudy Giuliani calls Black Lives Matter ‘inherently racist’
We cannot have neighborhoods under siege by both those that may be doing criminal acts and by those that are supposed to be protecting citizens from danger. Society can no longer ignore the fact that policing in white communities is starkly different than it is in communities of color.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani doesn't understand the impact that police crime has on neighborhoods of color, Sharpton says.
A clear example of this disparity is when the stop-and-frisk program was heavily touted and implemented in places like New York City. According to the NYCLU, a weapon was found only in 1.8% of blacks and Latinos who were frisked, but was found in 3.8% of whites who were frisked.
Despite stats like this, the number of stops of young black men exceeded the entire population of young black men in the city itself. That is just outrageous. When things like profiling, pulling people over disproportionately, searching people walking down the street excessively, locking people up unreasonably and shooting people unnecessarily are all realities, then we have a severe problem in this country.
We must have a sincere commitment to address crime not only on one side (while excusing crimes on your own side), but as it takes place whether at the hands of a citizen or someone in uniform. Blacks don’t make excuses about their communities, therefore police, officials and ex-officials shouldn’t make excuses for those officers that cross the line and abuse their power.
Mo. cop kills Black Lives Matter supporter after break-in
According to The Guardian’s data tracker, “The Counted,” 136 Black people have been killed by police in 2016 alone. Ask yourself, how many cops have gone to jail or even been remotely held accountable?
Philando Castile's death helped fuel rage throughout the nation. (Lavish Reynolds via Facebook)
Rather than choosing which crimes we want to focus on, there should be a total commitment to all crimes. To exclude alleged police abuse and misconduct is not the answer — it only adds to the problem. This isn’t about taking sides, but rather it is about having a society that’s crime free from both bad officers and bad citizens. Police should enforce the law, but they are not above it.
I have never been one that justifies black-on-black crime. I’ve preached at many funerals, including that of a 4-year-old who was shot and killed by a stray bullet. I have seen the anguish and pain in a parent’s eyes firsthand after such a tragedy. But I have also seen the same pain when a parent loses a loved one at the hands of those who were supposed to serve and protect them. I have stood alongside grieving mothers, fathers and grandparents who cannot comprehend how their child was shot and killed for reaching for a wallet, for simply walking down the street, for just driving home or a slew of other unfathomable and unjustifiable reasons. Just like we arrest and charge criminals, we must arrest and charge the bad cops so that there is accountability and fairness under the law.
Anytime someone says that you shouldn’t question police or the system, then the nation loses. We fight and march when there is an anti-gay killing in Orlando, when there is a black-on-black killing, when nine Church members are shot and killed in a hate crime and when police break the law or are alleged to have broken the law.
Castile’s fiancée calls into service honoring slain Dallas cops
If we genuinely want to improve relations between law enforcement and the communities they serve, then we must have the consistency to hold everyone responsible for his or her actions in order to heal society. Otherwise, we’re simply shifting blame and that is a delay tactic none of us can afford.
Sharpton is founder of the National Action Network.
Sign up for BREAKING NEWS Emails privacy policy Thanks for subscribing! ||||| Donald Trump called for the national introduction of “stop and frisk”, the controversial police tactic ruled unconstitutional, during a town hall meant to appeal to black voters on Wednesday.
“I would do stop-and-frisk. I think you have to,” said the Republican nominee, speaking to Fox News’s Sean Hannity in a special town hall on African American issues in a church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, on Wednesday. “We did it in New York, it worked incredibly well and you have to be proactive and, you know, you really help people sort of change their mind automatically, you understand, you have to have, in my opinion, I see what’s going on here, I see what’s going on in Chicago, I think stop-and-frisk.”
Charlotte protest: shot civilian is ‘critical’ but not dead, city says in reversal – live Read more
The tactic – which involved New York police officers stopping passersby, questioning them and checking for weapons – was found in 2013 by a federal judge to disproportionately target African American and Latino neighborhoods.
The town hall, scheduled to air Wednesday night, was delayed by Fox News because of the ongoing live coverage of protests in Charlotte, North Carolina after police there killed Keith Scott, an African American man whom they claimed was armed. His family has denied those reports. In the course of the protests, one person was on life support in what city authorities said was a “civilian on civilian shooting”.
Trump also addressed the police shooting of Terence Crutcher, an unarmed African American, on Friday in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “I don’t know if she choked,” Trump said of the policewoman who allegedly killed Crutcher. “He was walking, his hands were high, he was walking to the car, he put the hands on the car – now maybe she choked, something really bad happened.”
Trump also reiterated other familiar talking points in his efforts to reach out to black voters. He described the crime in Chicago as “worse than Afghanistan”, a label which the Republican nominee has frequently used for much of what he calls “the inner city”. He also proclaimed of the inner city that “it’s so unsafe, where you walk down the street and you get shot, or your child gets shot”. While crime rates have slightly increased in the past year, violent crime is at roughly a quarter of the level that it was 20 years ago.
But while Trump is polling in single digits among black voters, he did not face any scrutiny over his troubled relationship with the African American community including his longstanding insistence that Barack Obama was not born in the US, and a history of housing discrimination lawsuits against Trump-owned real estate projects. Although Trump seemingly acknowledged that Obama was born in the United States on Friday at a peculiar press event held in a Washington hotel, he told an interviewer on Wednesday that he only abandoned the birther conspiracy theory because “I wanted to get on with the campaign. A lot of people were asking me questions.”
Instead, Hannity, who has appeared in a campaign ad for Trump, asked fawning questions of the Republican nominee and repeatedly praised him in the course of the hour-long interview. The Fox News host who has “never claimed to be a journalist” made matter of fact statements such as “Democrats still feel entitled to [the African American] vote” and characterizing Clinton campaign advertisements as “despicable”.
Trump did appear with several African American surrogates, including Don King, the legendary boxing promoter was convicted of stomping a man to death in 1966. King, who used the N-word at one Trump campaign event earlier on Wednesday and compared the Republican nominee to John the Baptist at another, was more restrained with Hannity. The boxing promoter merely called Trump “the spirit of America” and compared him to Revolutionary War hero John Paul Jones. Others who appeared on Trump’s behalf were former rival Ben Carson as well as Darrell Scott, a Cleveland pastor and longtime supporter.
Trump’s remarks met with skepticism among some in the African American community. Clayborne Carson, director of the Martin Luther King Jr Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, said “the theme of his remarks seem to be that I know better than African American leaders what’s best for black Americans. And that kind of arrogance just doesn’t play very well.” Carson noted that Trump’s birtherism made him persona non grata in the African American community as well. “I think for many African American that puts you beyond the pale, that Donald Trump came to national attention in American politics as a person who challenged whether the first black president was really an American,” said Carson. Instead, the noted scholar simply thought Trump’s effort to reach out to the African American community was really an attempt “to get white support” and signal “I am not a racist.” ||||| The San Francisco Police Department is once again fielding criticism that it doesn’t take race-based issues seriously, this time following the circulation of a union newsletter that riffed on the name of Black Lives Matter in a photograph. Christie Smith reports. (Published Friday, Aug. 5, 2016)
The San Francisco Police Department is once again fielding criticism that it doesn’t take race-based issues seriously, this time following the circulation of a union newsletter that riffed on the name of Black Lives Matter in a photograph.
The newsletter in question features a photo of two Labradors, one black and one white. The black dog is wearing a sign that says “Black Labs Matter,” while the white and tan pup holds one that says “All Labs Matter.” Next to the picture, the text reads “Maybe it’s time we all just sit back and tone down the rhetoric…”
Sgt. Yulanda Williams said she was upset by the image in the San Francisco Police Officers Association Journal.
"It was actually insensitive," she said. "It was dehumanizing and I was appalled."
The “All Labs Matter” sign parodies “All Lives Matter,” a popular phrase on social media that is typically used as an oppositional response to Black Lives Matter supporters. Anti-brutality activists have repeatedly claimed that those who say “All Lives Matter” are sidestepping statistics that report black people are disproportionately profiled by police and are being insensitive to the plight of people of color.
The debate has been waging both online and in protests nationwide, with San Francisco among the major cities that have seen hundreds take to the streets to combat perceived racism in police departments.
The photograph comes at a particularly strained time in San Francisco, reigniting a years-long struggle between San Francisco police and people of color that reached a zenith back in May and April.
"It's not a joke we're playing with," said Shawn Richards of the San Francisco NAACP. "We're dealing with a lot of racial issues right now."
At the time, a number of protests including a 17-day hunger strike and one fatal police shooting of an unarmed black woman ultimately led to the ousting of veteran police chief Greg Suhr, as well as promises from the mayor and city supervisors that allegations of racism and brutality in the department would be investigated.
Mayor Ed Lee said that the community and police need to work together.
"If there is a genuine effort by the POA, which I think there is, let's try to work together. The symbolism and the language probably need to change as well," he conceded.
The police officers asociation declined to comment for this story. | – Rudy Giuliani is being criticized after calling the term "black lives matter" ''inherently racist"—and he's not backing down. During a Sunday appearance on CBS' Face the Nation, Giuliani said "when you say black lives matter, that's inherently racist." He went on to say "black lives matter. White lives matter. Asian lives matter. Hispanic lives matter. That's anti-American and it's racist," the AP reports. In a Monday appearance on Fox & Friends he doubled down, saying, per the Hill, "A lot of the protection of this city of New York is for black people because 70% of the murders in New York City are black. ... I believe I saved a lot more black lives than Black Lives Matter." In a New York Daily News column, the Rev. Al Sharpton says Giuliani's comments reveal "an appalling lack of understanding" of the issue, and cites "that repeated and documented pattern of profiling, excessive force, and shootings by police that we see in our communities and not in others." |
Shanghai doctors were forced to amputate a shopping mall cleaner's foot after it was trapped in an escalator on the weekend, barely a week after a woman died in similar circumstances in Hubei province.
The 35-year-old man, identified only as Zhang, was mopping the escalator's steps at the Longemont Shopping Mall in Changning district on Saturday when his left foot was caught in the section where the stairs meet the floorplate. He cried out for help, shouting his leg was broken.
The foot was so badly injured that doctors had to amputate it, the website of the Shanghai-based Xinmin Evening News reported on Sunday.
Watch: Cleaner at Shanghai mall has leg amputated after it becomes stuck in an escalator (WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS STRONG IMAGES)
"The doctor said he had to amputate the [foot] to avoid the injuries from deteriorating," the report quoted an unnamed family member of the victim as saying, adding that Zhang had worked at the mall for three months.
According to news portal Eastday.com Zhang said he felt the escalator shaking as his left foot was trapped.
"But the escalator did not stop and I had to press the emergency button," he was quoted as saying.
But the shopping mall said Zhang had "improperly" stepped on his mop. "The brush of the mop was trapped inside the gap in the stairs, which caused cracks in the comb plate," the mall said in a statement.
Shanghai safety authorities said last night that the incident occurred when Zhang used a mop to clean the escalator, China News Service reported.
It was the second serious incident involving an escalator on the mainland in a week; 30-year-old mother Xiang Liujuan died after she fell through an escalator floorplate at a shopping mall in Jingzhou .
Xiang pushed her two-year-old son to safety before being dragged into the machinery. An official investigation later revealed the plates had worked themselves loose and were improperly designed.
Saturday marked the seventh day after Xiang's death, an important day of mourning in Chinese tradition.
The escalator that killed Xiang was made by the Suzhou Shenlong Elevator Company, while the one involved in the Shanghai incident was manufactured by Shanghai Mitsubishi Elevator Company.
The Hubei Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision called for safety checks on all Shenlong escalators installed in the province and for them to be taken offline until the accident investigation was completed and measures had been taken to rectify any problems.
Shanghai's quality inspection authority also said 90 Shenlong escalators had been taken out of operation in the city.
Shanghai has 17,118 escalators and moving pavements in malls and other public venues, according to the Oriental Morning Post. Shanghai authorities said they carried out safety checks on all escalators last week and found "safety risks" with Shenlong machines of the same type as that in the Hubei accident.
In another incident on Saturday, a six-year-old boy's foot was stuck in an escalator at a Beijing mall. He sustained minor injuries, The Beijing News reported.
Shanghai Metro said last month that there were 120 reports of passengers falling down escalators in the first quarter, and most of the injured were elderly. ||||| The video will start in 8 Cancel
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A mother who threw her son to safety moments before she fell to her death inside an escalator was killed due to "human error", it has been claimed.
CCTV footage captured the horrifying moment Xiang Liujuan stepped off the ascending escalator with her two-year-old son when the footplate suddenly collapsed beneath her.
Xiang had managed to push her son up to safety and he was dragged away by a shopping assistant, but not before he witnessed his mother being sucked into the machinery to her death.
Chinese authorities today revealed staff in the upscale AZG Mall in Jingzhou had allegedly known about the hazard before Sunday's tragedy.
Chen Guangxi, director of the local work safety authority, said at a press conference that mall staff had found out that a shaft cover at the top of the moving staircase was loose but didn't stop it, according to Shanghai Daily.
Maintenance had reportedly just been carried out on the escalator and workers forgot to screw the cover plate back into place.
Only when the woman was halfway up the escalator with her son did the staff members yell and warn her.
Unfortunately, by that time it was too late.
"The warning from the store attendants was already too late. It's impossible for a mom traveling with a kid to walk back on an ascending escalator," the victim's sister-in-law wrote on her Weibo account.
The 15-second video shows the horrible death of 30-year-old Xiang Liujuan, who met her death in the Jingzhou Shashi Anliang department store in China.
The video shows the mother and boy reaching the top of the escalator, before the floor in front collapses.
According to LiveLeak, the woman's body was found three hours later.
It is not the first time a faulty escalator has claimed someone's life.
Earlier this year, six-year-old Nurhayada Sofia died at a shopping centre in Malaysia when she fell five floors having being dragged over the edge by an escalator.
Last year mother of two Naima Rharouity died when she fell while travelling on an escalator in Montreal. A piece of clothing got stuck in the mechansim and tightened around her neck, strangling her.
And in 2003, Professor Sally Baldwin, from York, died when the escalator she was using at a railway station in Rome collapsed and trapped her in the cogwheels. | – Another day, another devastating escalator accident in China. An employee at Longemont Shopping Mall in Shanghai's Changning district had his foot and part of his leg amputated after becoming trapped in an escalator on Saturday, according to the South China Morning Post. The worker, identified simply as Zhang, was cleaning the escalator with a mop when he reportedly stepped on it. The mall described the 35-year-old's action as an "improper" one, and said the mop's brush became "trapped inside the gap in the stairs, which caused cracks in the comb plate." Video of the incident shows the escalator's floor plate breaking away, and Zhang's left foot falling inside the moving staircase. A relative reportedly told local media, "The doctor said he had to amputate the [foot] to avoid the injuries from deteriorating." The accident is the fourth escalator tragedy in China in a week. As previously reported, Xiang Liujuan, 30, was killed a week before Zhang's incident when she similarly fell through an escalator floor plate at Anliang department store in Hubei province. A graphic video shows Xiang pushing her son to safety before she is sucked to her death. Days after that accident, a 1-year-old's arm was seriously injured after it became trapped in an escalator in Guangxi province, NBC News reports, and a 6-year-old was injured Saturday after his foot was caught in an escalator in Beijing. The incidents have led to escalator quality inspections in Shanghai and Hubei. (Workers reportedly warned the mother just before she was swallowed by the escalator.) |
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump shuffled his transition team again on Tuesday, jettisoning a national security expert and lobbyists from his inner circle as he closed in on naming two loyal Wall Street backers to key economic positions.
Trump, a Republican outsider who won a surprise election victory last week, also cleared a paperwork snag that had temporarily stalled his transition after he put his Vice President-elect Mike Pence in charge of the process.
“Very organized process taking place as I decide on Cabinet and many other positions,” Trump said on Twitter after taking his family to dinner at 21 Club, a Manhattan restaurant, his motorcade slipping away from reporters gathered at his apartment building.
“I am the only one who knows who the finalists are!” Trump said.
At the top of his list for senior economic positions are campaign finance chair and Wall Street veteran Steve Mnuchin as treasury secretary, and long-time backer and billionaire investor Wilbur Ross for commerce secretary, according to Trump ally and activist investor Carl Icahn.
However, a well-known Republican moderate was pushed out of transition planning. Mike Rogers, a former U.S. representative from Michigan who had been mentioned as a possible pick for CIA director, suddenly left the transition team.
Rogers had worked with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who on Friday was abruptly replaced by Pence as head of the transition team.
That overhaul had put the brakes on transition talks with the White House. Pence needed to sign a memorandum of understanding, which the White House received on Tuesday evening.
The Trump team still needs to provide more paperwork before detailed agency-by-agency briefings can take place, a White House spokeswoman said. The team will need to provide a code of conduct and certify that its transition team members do not have conflicts of interest.
“HUGE IMPLICATIONS”
Additional changes are likely. Pence and Rick Dearborn, the executive director of the transition team, are “removing any lobbyists,” a transition aide said.
“This is to ensure President-elect Trump’s commitment to ban lobbyist involvement is being upheld at all levels of the transition,” the aide said.
Trump, who had pilloried opponents for being beholden to industry interests during his campaign, came under fire from his frequent sparring partner, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, for including lobbyists on his transition team.
“Based on public reports, your transition team and your potential cabinet include over twenty Wall Street elites, industry insiders, and lobbyists making decisions that could have huge implications for their clients or employers,” Warren wrote in a letter.
Trump has fewer than 70 days until his Jan. 20 inauguration to settle on Cabinet members and other senior appointees. He will eventually need to fill roughly 4,000 open positions.
Wall Street is closely watching who Trump picks for treasury chief because Republicans have majorities in both chambers of Congress, giving Trump a clearer shot at tax and financial regulatory reforms.
Mnuchin declined to comment to reporters at Trump Tower about Cabinet picks, but said the team was “making sure we get the biggest tax bill passed, the biggest tax changes since Reagan.”
A parade of advisers had been seen going in and out of Trump’s building on Tuesday, including U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, touted as a possible secretary of defense or attorney general.
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who ran against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, also dropped by for a meeting, telling reporters he was “looking forward to fighting hard to actually accomplish and deliver the promises we made” during the election.
Bloomberg later reported that Trump was considering nominating Cruz as attorney general.
NATIONAL SECURITY HARDLINERS?
Rogers was pushed off the team in part because Trump’s advisers believed he did not pursue Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton aggressively enough when he headed the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, a source familiar with the decision said.
U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump appears at a campaign roundtable event in Manchester, New Hampshire, U.S., October 28, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo
Rogers led an investigation into the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks by militants on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya. The probe dismissed many of the conspiracy theories that had been circulated by critics of Clinton, who was then secretary of state.
Trump’s team viewed the investigation as a whitewash, according to one source familiar with the operation.
Some current U.S. intelligence officials worried that Rogers’ departure would mean Trump was leaning toward more confrontational hardliners to lead his foreign policy team.
Two national security officials said Trump’s operation had been slow to get up to speed and had not yet engaged deeply with security and intelligence agency personnel who were ready to start helping them.
Loyalists such as former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton were being considered for secretary of state, according to sources close to Trump.
Giuliani, New York’s mayor at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by Islamist al Qaeda militants, is known as a hardliner on national security matters. Bolton is also a foreign policy hawk who said last year the United States should bomb Iran to halt its nuclear program.
Retired Lieutenant General Mike Flynn, a leading candidate for Trump’s national security adviser, has called for the United States to pull back from protecting long-time allies such as South Korea and Japan.
Trump has filled two positions so far. His choice of Republican Party insider Reince Priebus to be White House chief of staff was heralded by Republican leaders as an indication he wanted to work with Congress. Republicans maintained their majority in both the Senate and House in the election, but a number of Republicans in Congress opposed Trump’s candidacy.
However, Trump’s appointment of Steve Bannon as chief strategist was criticized by Democrats, civil rights organizations and some Republicans.
They denounced the former Breitbart News chief, whose website is a forum for the “alt-right,” a loose grouping of neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semites.
Neither Priebus nor Bannon need Senate confirmation for their posts, but Cabinet posts do, and some of Trump’s possible picks could face a difficult time winning approval.
Republican U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky said on CNN he could not vote to confirm Bolton unless he repudiated his support for the Iraq war and bombing of Iran. Paul, who also ran for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, said he was concerned by Giuliani’s work on behalf of foreign governments.
Slideshow (4 Images)
One loyalist who will not be playing a role in Trump’s Cabinet is retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who advised Trump after dropping his own presidential bid earlier this year.
“His life has not prepared him to be a Cabinet secretary,” said Armstrong Williams, Carson’s business manager. ||||| Top Donald Trump campaign advisers who have taken charge of the president-elect’s transition team are casting aside much of the work on Cabinet picks that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and his aides put in place over several months — and leaving behind a far more chaotic operation dominated by Trump loyalists.
Trump aides have nixed at least one Christie-backed person being considered for a Cabinet position in the aftermath of last Friday’s shakeup, a person closely tracking the transition told POLITICO.
Story Continued Below
The transition team has yet to publicly release a code of ethics for itself or for nominees. And an aide to a person being considered for a top Cabinet position said the person had not yet been asked to complete a detailed questionnaire to suss out red flags.
Trump was slated to meet Tuesday with Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who now leads the team, to review names in hopes of announcing nominees for key Cabinet posts in the coming weeks.
"Obviously, Inauguration Day is not getting further away," transition spokesman Jason Miller told reporters waiting in Trump Tower Monday night. "And people need to get going. This is an absolute top priority understood by the president-elect and the vice president-elect.”
By comparison, President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team was deep into the vetting process by early November 2008 — not just meeting with prospective nominees but also compiling fat dossiers on them, according to emails made public through WikiLeaks. The Obama team also released a code of ethics for transition team members just a few days after the election to limit the influence of special interests. The Trump transition team, meanwhile, is full of lobbyists and has not released such a code.
“It’s a lot of new people coming in the door. I’m sure their heads are spinning, with security clearances and background checks,” said one transition team source. “They’re going from the footloose and fancy-free world of the campaign into the process of setting up a government. It’s a little different.”
The demotion of Christie and his top aides — Rich Bagger, Christie’s former chief of staff, and William Palatucci, a former Christie law partner and the transition’s general counsel — sent shock waves through the team’s ranks.
Bagger and Palatucci worked behind the scenes for months to create a methodical operation that was less drama-filled than the New York-based campaign shop. They played a central role in hiring transition staff, developing an infrastructure, setting up policy- and agency-focused teams and culling shortlists for top administration jobs.
The shakeup “definitely caused some confusion,” said one person on Trump’s transition team. “There’s been a lot of dust that’s been kicked up.”
Among those departing is former House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers, who said Tuesday that the group’s work “will provide a strong foundation for the new transition team leadership as they move into the post-election phase, which naturally is incorporating the campaign team in New York who drove President-elect Trump to an incredible victory last Tuesday.”
At one point, members of the transition team even talked with good-government types — some of them Democrats, such as former Obama administration ethics czar Norm Eisen — to think through a code of ethics for the team. “I and others appealed to both sides in this election to put in these tough rules, starting in the transition, because that is where the tone is set,” he said.
The transition team has not yet made public its internal code of conduct, nor did it respond to a request for comment about it.
Nonetheless, Trump’s closest aides are meeting with prospective candidates in hopes of announcing nominees for key Cabinet posts in the coming weeks, sources told POLITICO.
Going forward, sources familiar with the team said they expect the operation to have a more top-down structure, with the president-elect’s closest advisers, such as Pence, Sen. Jeff Sessions, newly named chief of staff Reince Priebus, political strategist Steve Bannon and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner bulldozing much of the former transition leaders’ existing work and making Cabinet decisions on their own, in consultation with Trump.
Trump’s aides are focused on recruiting allies and loyalists who they have long hoped to install in top Cabinet posts, such as Sessions, or as Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, a Trump donor and Goldman Sachs veteran.
One person who has talked to transition officials compared their approach to that of Dick Cheney, who ran George W. Bush’s transition team.
“Cheney had his own list in his head, and he appointed the people he wanted,” the person said, adding that there are factions within the Trump transition — including Sessions loyalists, Heritage Foundation wonks, Trump’s campaign staff and conservative activists who admire Pence — that are each pushing their preferred candidates.
The transition team is also working to develop cohesive policies aimed at vetting nominees and protecting against conflicts of interest. Trump’s transition website, greatagain.gov, says candidates for jobs in his administration will be subjected to a full FBI background check and must complete a “Personal Data Statement.”
The statement includes questions about “possible conflicts of interest deriving from your sources of income; all aspects of your personal and professional life, including organizations to which you belong or once belonged; speeches you may have given and books, articles and editorials you may have written; legal, administrative and regulatory proceedings to which you may have been a party,” according to the website, which urges candidates to disclose “anything that might embarrass the President or you if he should choose you for a position in his administration.”
If the transition team follows through on that plan, it would subject Cabinet nominees and top White House staff to a greater level of scrutiny than Trump himself received. He was the first presidential candidate in modern history to refuse to release his tax returns, leaving Americans in the dark about his own possible conflicts on financial matters and dealing with foreign governments.
Past transition teams have generally subjected Cabinet nominees and other top administration officials to a rigorous in-house screening before announcing their nominations — and before nominees face questions from the White House Office of Government Ethics, the Office of Personnel Management and key Senate committees.
Obama infamously asked Cabinet candidates to complete a seven-page form with 63 separate requests for information. A WikiLeaks email from Nov. 2, 2008 shows the extensive vetting of James Steinberg, which involved a total of nine lawyers and a deep dive into his past. Steinberg later served as deputy secretary of state.
So far, the Trump transition team does not seem particularly concerned, for instance, about a transition team staffed heavily with lobbyists from energy, agriculture, transportation and banking.
“Frankly, one of the refreshing parts of it about the whole Trump style is that he does not care about political correctness. From a practical standpoint, I have heard lots of people say, ‘Why would we box ourselves out of the most knowledgeable policy people in the country?’” said one source close to the transition team.
Donald McGahn II, a partner at the firm Jones Day and Trump’s lawyer, is expected to play a central role in vetting nominees. So is Arthur Culvahouse Jr., a partner at the firm O’Melveny & Myers, who helped vet vice presidential candidates and, according to a source, has been helping the campaign organize its White House picks.
Culvahouse declined a request for an interview. None of the lawyers in the political law practice at Jones Day returned POLITICO’s calls. Culvahouse has faced backlash from colleagues at his firm for working with Trump, according to people familiar with the situation, with one person saying the decision was “amazingly controversial” within the firm. Many top partners at O’Melveny, including Tom Donilon, were vocal backers of Hillary Clinton. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
/ Updated By Katy Tur and Benjy Sarlin
Donald Trump’s cabinet-in-waiting is taking shape in the final days of the race, as aides eye a number of Trump loyalists for major posts should he win on Tuesday.
Among the names being considered, according to conversations with three campaign advisers who requested anonymity to speak freely: Rudy Giuliani for attorney general, Newt Gingrich for secretary of state, retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn for defense secretary or national security adviser, Trump finance chairman Steve Mnuchin for Treasury secretary, and Republican National Committee finance chair Lew Eisenberg for commerce secretary.
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and his wife Callista take a selfie before the grand opening ceremony at the new Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 26. Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
Trump himself has not taken an active part in transition efforts, in part out of superstition: He fears too much planning before a victory might jinx the campaign. In 2012, he was shocked to read detailed stories on Mitt Romney’s preparations for the White House long before election day.
Campaign insiders say they’re focused on winning first and foremost as well and no decisions have been made or positions finalized. There are also some possible roadblocks: Flynn, for example, would not be eligible for secretary of defense without a waiver from Congress; the post requires that appointees be out of the military for seven years.
But transition talks are taking on greater intensity in recent days as Trump’s polling position improved. Some loyalists are playing coy about their desire for a particular job, while others are whispering their names hoping to gain traction.
“It’s become a lot more real,” one adviser said.
Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, a loyal supporter, has taken a major role managing the transition effort, especially as the official transition chief, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, has drifted from the campaign. It’s not clear Christie is being considered for a significant role in a potential administration either.
The conservative Heritage Foundation is also helping vet names, along with some veterans of Romney’s run and the second Bush administration. Running mate Mike Pence is heavily involved and is expected to have a major role in a Trump administration, similar to more active vice presidents like Joe Biden and Al Gore.
One telling name under consideration could point to how Trump, who has sounded torn between co-opting the existing GOP and smashing it to bits, might govern as president.
Reince Priebus, the current RNC chairman, is under consideration as Trump’s chief of staff. Priebus earned Trump’s trust over the course of the campaign by steadfastly defending him while other top Republicans denounced Trump or shied away from brand.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus campaigns for Donald Trump during a rally at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire on Nov. 1. Matt Rourke / AP
"They’re thinking, 'We need to find that balance between someone who knows how Washington works and someone who shakes things up,’” the senior campaign adviser said.
But the adviser added it was unclear if Priebus was interested in the job, or if he would be the best fit managing Trump’s populist movement in the final calculus.
Related: Clinton Maintains Edge Over Trump in Election Eve Poll
If Priebus leaves the RNC, two close Trump allies could be considered to take his position. Trump's team is talking about former campaign manager and current CNN contributor Corey Lewandowski or current deputy campaign manager David Bossie as possible options.
While Priebus is an olive branch to the establishment, Lewandowski, who had a tumultuous relationship with the RNC while campaign manager, would send a message that Trump won’t forget his base.
"Washington still doesn’t get it,” another senior aide said. “You have to understand the party will never be the same.”
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gives a thumbs up as he speaks with retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn during a town hall in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Sept. 6. Evan Vucci / AP
Many top figures who worked under previous Republican presidents are still opposed to Trump’s candidacy, limiting the pool of possible names available. But one veteran of the George W. Bush White House who met with members of Trump’s transition team for several hours said he came away convinced they were interested in seasoned players from prior administrations.
“They’re reaching out to people with experience, they’re listening to them, they’re taking their counsel,” the former official said. “I was very impressed.”
Within Trump’s campaign, some of the biggest player may move on. Campaign CEO Steve Bannon has already said he’ll return to Breitbart, where his outlet would undoubtedly be a prime mover of Trump’s message as president. Sources say Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s campaign manager, might also decline an administration job after a grueling general election
Asked for comment on the above names floated for cabinet posts, Trump campaign spokesman Hope Hicks replied by e-mail that “none of this is accurate.”
She added Trump had not been too closely involved in the transition effort because he “is entirely focused on the campaign and the American people.” ||||| A New York police officer stands guard among hordes of curious tourists outside the entrance to Trump Tower, where President-elect Donald Trump held meetings Tuesday on his transition. (Kathy Willens/AP)
The bloodletting in President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team that began with last week’s ouster of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie escalated Tuesday with new departures, particularly in the area of national security, as power consolidated within an ever-smaller group of top Trump loyalists.
Former congressman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) announced that he had left his position as the transition’s senior national security adviser. Rogers, a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and the leading candidate for CIA director, was among at least four transition officials purged this week, apparently because of perceived ties to Christie.
As turbulence within the team grew, some key members of Trump’s party began to question his views and the remaining candidates for top positions. Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) said Trump’s efforts to work more closely with Russian President Vladimir Putin amounted to “complicity in [the] butchery of the Syrian people” and “an unacceptable price for a great nation.”
Trump met Tuesday with incoming vice president Mike Pence, who replaced Christie at the head of the transition Friday, to discuss Cabinet and White House personnel choices. Little to no information was released by the transition office, leaving a clutch of reporters gathered in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York to hustle after team members passing between the front doors and the elevators.
Trump posted a message on Twitter Tuesday night, saying a “very organized process [is] taking place” as he decides on Cabinet and other positions. “I am the only one who knows who the finalists are!”
The Post’s Robert Costa and Paul Farhi discuss the appointments by President-elect Donald Trump of Stephen K. Bannon as chief strategist and senior counselor and Reince Priebus as chief of staff. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)
As he had during the campaign, Trump appeared to be increasingly uncomfortable with outsiders and suspicious of those considered part of what one insider called the “bicoastal elite,” who are perceived as trying to “insinuate” themselves into positions of power.
Those in the inner circle reportedly were winnowed to loyalists who had stuck with Trump throughout the campaign and helped devise his winning strategy. They include Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), former Breitbart News head Stephen K. Bannon, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and members of Trump’s family, including son-in-law Jared Kushner.
“This is a very insular, pretty closely held circle of people,” said Philip D. Zelikow, a former director of the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia and a senior figure in the George W. Bush transition. “Confusion is the norm” for transitions, he said, “but there are some unusual features here, because they’re trying to make some statements.”
“They feel like their election was a lot of the American people wanting to throw a brick through a window,” Zelikow said. “They want to make appointments that make it sound like glass is being broken.”
[President Obama warns against ‘a crude sort of nationalism’ in the U.S.]
Increasingly, among the shards are more mainline Republicans in the national security field. In an angry Twitter post Tuesday, Eliot Cohen, a leading voice of opposition to Trump during the campaign who had advised those interested in administration jobs to take them, abruptly changed his mind, saying the transition “will be ugly.”
After responding to a transition insider seeking names of possible appointees, Cohen said, he received what he described as an “unhinged” email from the same person saying “YOU LOST” and accusing Trump critics of trying to infiltrate the administration’s ranks.
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“It became clear to me that they view jobs as lollipops, things you give out to good boys and girls, instead of the sense that actually what you’re trying to do is recruit the best possible talent to fill the most important, demanding, lowest-paying executive jobs in the world,” Cohen said.
Rogers’s departure coincided with word from Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, whose possible selection as secretary of state comforted more mainline Republicans, that he was unlikely to be chosen. “Has my name been in the mix? I’m pretty sure, yeah. Have I been having intimate conversations? No,” Corker said in an interview. “Do I understand that it’s likely that people who’ve been involved in the center of this for some time, and have been surrogating on television, are likely front-runners? I would say that’s likely, yes.”
The two names most prominently mentioned for the diplomatic job — former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and John R. Bolton, an undersecretary of state and one-year ambassador to the United Nations during the George W. Bush administration — are both Trump loyalists. But both could be problematic, even among Republicans who would have to confirm them.
Giuliani, thought to be an early choice for attorney general, was said by a person close to the transition team to have personally appealed to Trump for the diplomatic job. He has virtually no diplomatic experience or knowledge of the State Department bureaucracy.
Bolton, a national security hawk who got his U.N. job through a recess appointment after the Senate refused to confirm him, was a leading advocate for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, contradicting Trump’s campaign position opposing it.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that Bolton would be a “disaster” and that he would actively oppose his nomination.
Others were more supportive. “If he picks John Bolton, then I’ll support John Bolton. If he picks Rudy, I’ll support Rudy,” Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said.
The shortlist for defense secretary is said to include Sessions, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Flynn. Although Sessions serves on the Armed Services Committee, his main issue there has been immigration. Cotton is a Harvard Law graduate who just seven years ago was a first lieutenant in the Army.
Senate confirmation of Flynn, who has also voiced interest in serving as director of national intelligence, could be difficult, said the person close to the transition team. He was forced out as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency after two years over concerns about his leadership, and he has potentially problematic connections to foreign governments.
[A profile of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, a key Trump national security adviser]
Flynn has admitted that he accepted money for appearing at a lavish gala with Putin in Moscow last year. He recently criticized the Obama administration’s treatment of Turkey in an opinion column, without disclosing to the Trump campaign that his consulting firm has financial ties to that country, said the person close to the transition, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions.
Another possible barrier for Flynn, who retired as a three-star general after leaving the DIA in 2014, is the statutory requirement that the defense secretary be at least seven years removed from active duty.
Flynn has told members of the transition that getting a waiver to this requirement would be “no big deal,” said the person involved with the team. But that assertion has been met with at least some internal skepticism, including from Trump’s daughter Ivanka, who asked at meetings whether such a waiver “has ever been done before.” The Senate waived the provision, part of the 1947 National Security Act, when President Harry Truman appointed retired Gen. George C. Marshall to the post in 1950.
The person with ties to the transition said support for Flynn has waned as it has become evident that “he has some confirmation-type problems.”
But Flynn’s influence in the transition remains high, and several sources inside the transition or with ties to Christie said Flynn and Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, had seized control of the national security posts in the new administration and engineered the purges in what they described as a troubling episode of political score-settling.
Former New Jersey governor Thomas Kean Sr., a longtime mentor to Christie, said in an interview that Kushner was widely seen as unhappy with Christie’s handling of the transition. There was “some shock” within Christie’s circle at their abrupt dismissal from the transition ranks, Kean said.
Tensions between Christie and Kushner date back more than a decade. In 2005, Christie, then the U.S. attorney in New Jersey, led the successful prosecution of Kushner’s father, Charles, a prominent real estate developer and philanthropist, who was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion and witness tampering.
Christie also has been beset by scandal of his own making. After a month-long trial that put his gubernatorial administration in a negative light, two of his former top aides were found guilty Nov. 4 for their roles in disruptive 2013 lane closures on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge.
In addition, Christie is believed by some Trump intimates to have been insufficiently loyal in the final weeks of the campaign.
Those who have been ousted along with or following Christie include Richard H. Bagger, the former Christie chief of staff who had been executive director of the transition, and William J. Palatucci, a New Jersey Republican who served as the transition’s general counsel. Most recent departures, a transition official said, include Kevin O’Connor, a former Justice Department official who was in charge of that agency in the transition.
The New York Times also reported the exit of Matthew Freedman, a protege of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, who headed the National Security Council transition team. Earlier, Freedman privately told associates that the Trump team would be “very punitive” toward Republicans who signed letters opposing him during the campaign and was looking to put “true loyalists” in top jobs.
None responded to repeated efforts to contact them.
The person close to the transition said it was made clear to Rogers when he received a call from Trump adviser Rick Dearborn that he was being moved aside because of ties to Christie.
In an interview after announcing his departure from the team, Rogers said: “I still want them to be successful. I want them to be able to get a handle on the national security infrastructure of the United States and get it in the right direction. I still think it can happen.”
Jerry Markon, Philip Rucker, Robert Costa, Missy Ryan, Adam Entous and Julie Tate contributed to this report. ||||| Skip Ad Ad Loading... x Embed x Share Donald Trump’s conflicts of interest aren’t actually illegal, but that doesn’t mean they'll be accepted. Time
Vice President-elect Mike Pence waves as he arrives at Trump Tower. (Photo: Carolyn Kaster, AP)
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump huddled with top advisers Tuesday about filling key administration posts amid reports of staff changes and turmoil within his transition team.
Several officials, allies of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, have left the team in the wake of Trump's decision last week to replace Christie as transition chairman with running mate Mike Pence. Pence and the transition's newly installed executive director Rick Dearborn also are removing lobbyists from the transition, as Pence works to reshape the organization, according to a transition team member with knowledge of the decisions but who was not authorized to discuss them publicly.
Pence met with Trump at the latter's Manhattan tower to discuss filling White House and Cabinet slots — and also to review required legal papers to effect the change of leadership within the transition team, another reason the process has been delayed.
Trump himself took to Twitter late Tuesday to describe what he called the "very organized process taking place as I decide on Cabinet and many other positions."
"I am the only one who knows who the finalists are!" he added.
Very organized process taking place as I decide on Cabinet and many other positions. I am the only one who knows who the finalists are! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 16, 2016
Early Wednesday morning, Trump followed up with another tweet in which he attacked The New York Times for reporting on his transition difficulties.
"The failing @nytimes story is so totally wrong on transition," Trump wrote. "It is going so smoothly. Also, I have spoken to many foreign leaders."
Officials said late Tuesday that Pence has signed a memorandum of understanding that governs the process by which Trump officials work with the current White House staff on transition issues.
"The next step is for the president-elect's transition team to provide us with the names of the individuals they have authorized to represent their transition effort across the government," said White House spokeswoman Brandi Hoffine.
She added: "Once we have received those names and related materials, those individuals will be able to receive the briefing materials we have prepared and begin to communicate with their Obama administration agency counterparts as we continue our work to facilitate the transition to the next Administration."
Meanwhile, a former George W. Bush administration official and Trump critic advised other "Never Trump" Republicans not to cooperate with the transition team.
Eliot Cohen, a former counselor at the Bush State Department, tweeted: "After exchange w Trump transition team, changed my recommendation: stay away. They're angry, arrogant, screaming "you LOST!" Will be ugly."
Donald Trump speaks in Philadelphia on Sept. 7, 2016. (Photo: Mark Makela, Getty Images)
Trump did announce the leadership of his Presidential Inaugural Committee. Financier and private-equity adviser Thomas J. Barrack Jr. will chair the organization that plans the Jan. 20 inauguration.
In addition to Pence, other aides — including some said to be in line for top Cabinet jobs — also took the elevators up to Trump transition offices.
"There's a lot of things," Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama told reporters. "This is such an exciting time, I've got to tell you."
Sessions is mentioned as a possible attorney general and Defense secretary.
Trump and Pence also received their first post-election global intelligence briefing.
Campaign finance chair Steve Mnuchin, a possible pick for Treasury secretary, said he and aides are "working on the economic plan with the transition, making sure we get the biggest tax bill passed, the biggest tax changes since Reagan, so a lot of exciting things in the first 100 days of the Trump presidency."
Asked if he has been offered a job, Mnuchin said: "I'm not going to comment."
Trump is also pondering appointment of a new secretary of State. Possible candidates include John Bolton, the hawkish former ambassador to the United Nations, and Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and top surrogate for Trump.
During a forum Monday sponsored by The Wall Street Journal, Giuliani said he would not be attorney general.
Bolton, meanwhile, would be "a very good choice" for secretary of State.
Asked if there is anybody better, Giuliani said: "Maybe me; I don't know."
Another Trump supporter rumored to be in a line for a Cabinet slot, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, suggested he would not be joining the administration. "The way I'm leaning is to work from the outside and not from the inside," Carson told The Washington Post.
Carson, who sought the Republican presidential nomination, said he lacked government experience.
Trump and aides worked amid reports of discord within his transition team.
Former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., who had worked on national security issues for the transition, announced his departure Tuesday, saying "it was a privilege to prepare and advise the policy, personnel and agency action teams on all aspects of the national security portfolio during the initial pre-election planning phase."
Before his departure, Rogers had been mentioned for CIA director or homeland security secretary, among other jobs.
Rogers is an ally of Christie, whose influence within the Trump camp is reportedly being diminished. The New York Times reported that Matthew Freedman, who had been coordinating Trump's phone calls with foreign leaders, has also left the transition team.
Also spotted Tuesday at Trump Tower: Marla Maples, Trump's second wife.
Trump, who campaigned against lobbyists and promised to "drain the swamp" in Washington, has faced intense criticism from Democrats in recent days over the number of lobbyists the transition tapped to serve in key transition posts.
On Tuesday, officials in the transition said Trump is committed to upholding his pledge to restrict the involvement of lobbyists in his administration.
Contributing: Fredreka Schouten
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2fW0LYV ||||| Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was the favorite to be secretary of state in President-elect Donald Trump's administration, a senior Trump transition official said Monday.
The official told the Associated Press there was no real competition for the job and that it was Giuliani's if he wanted it. However, a second official cautioned that John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, remained in contention for the job.
A senior source told Fox News that Giuliani was being considered for the secretary of state job, but said the choice was not locked in. The source added that Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., one of Trump's earliest Washington supporters, was getting a lot of say in the selection of officeholders.
GINGRICH: I WANT TO BE TRUMP'S 'GENERAL PLANNER'
Giuliani, a top Trump surrogate, said he "won't be attorney general" in a Trump administration at a Washington event sponsored by the Wall Street Journal. The former federal prosecutor had been seen as a top contender for the Justice Department post before Trump's election last week.
Giuliani said he thought Bolton "would be a very good choice" for secretary of state. But asked if there was anyone better, he replied with a mischievous smile: "Maybe me, I don't know."
During the event, Giuliani said that defeating the ISIS terror group was Trump's top foreign policy priority, though he did not go into specifics of the president-elect's plan. The former mayor also discussed Russia's global power and influence.
"Russia thinks it’s a military competitor, it really isn’t," Giuliani said. "It’s our unwillingness under Obama to even threaten the use of our military that makes Russia so powerful."
Giuliani, 72, would be an out-of-box choice to lead the State Department due to his lack of extensive foreign policy experience. Known for his hard-line law-and-order views and brusque manner, he would set a very different tone than previous holders of the job, including Trump's ex-rival Hillary Clinton, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice.
Bolton has years of federal government experience, but he has also raised eyebrows with some of his hawkish stances, including a 2015 op-ed in The New York Times in which he advocated bombing Iran to halt the country's development of nuclear weapons.
Trump was also considering Monday whether to inject new diversity into the GOP by recommending a woman to lead the Republican Party and an openly gay man to represent the United States at the United Nations.
The moves, among dozens under consideration from his transition team, follow an intense and extended backlash from Trump's decision on Sunday to appoint Steve Bannon, a man celebrated by the white nationalist movement, to serve as his chief strategist and senior adviser.
"After winning the presidency but losing the popular vote, President-elect Trump must try to bring Americans together — not continue to fan the flames of division and bigotry," said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. She called Bannon's appointment "an alarming signal" that Trump "remains committed to the hateful and divisive vision that defined his campaign."
His inauguration just 66 days away, however, Trump focused on building his team and speaking to foreign leaders. He remained sequestered in Trump Tower in New York.
Inexperienced on the international stage, the Republican president-elect spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone. His transition office said in a readout that "he is very much looking forward to having a strong and enduring relationship with Russia and the people of Russia." Trump has spoken in recent days with the leaders of China, Mexico, South Korea and Canada.
At the same time, Trump was considering tapping Richard Grenell as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He would be the first openly gay person to fill a Cabinet-level foreign policy post. Grenell, known in part for aggressive criticism of rivals on Twitter, previously served as U.S. spokesman at the U.N. under President George W. Bush.
Trump was also weighing whether to select Michigan GOP chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel, a niece of chief Trump critic and 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney. She would be the second woman ever to lead the Republican National Committee — and the first in four decades.
"I'll be interested in whatever Mr. Trump wants," McDaniel told The Associated Press on Monday, adding that she was planning to seek the Michigan GOP chairmanship again.
Appointing McDaniel to run the GOP's political arm could be an effort to help the party heal the anger after a campaign in which Trump demeaned women. The appointment of Grenell, who has openly supported same-sex marriage, could begin to ease concerns by the gay community about Vice President-elect Mike Pence's opposition to same-sex marriage during his time as Indiana governor.
The personnel moves under consideration were confirmed by people with direct knowledge of Trump's thinking who were not authorized to publicly disclose private discussions. They stressed that the decisions were not final.
Fox News' Serafin Gomez and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Click for more from the Wall Street Journal. | – Is the Trump administration going to be a family affair? Nepotism rules prevent Donald Trump from hiring his children to serve in his administration, but sources tell CBS News that the president-elect is already looking into getting top-secret security clearances for his children, a move that, for now, would have to be approved by the current administration. They could get the clearances by being declared national security advisers. Trump kids Ivanka, Eric, and Donald Jr. are on his transition team, as well as son-in-law Jared Kushner. A member of the transition team, however, denies that top-secret clearances had been requested for Trump children, saying it's "not something I'm expecting right now," Politico reports. In other developments: The Wall Street Journal reports that Rudy Giuliani is rumored to be Trump's leading choice to replace John Kerry as secretary of state. "One never knows," Giuliani said Monday evening when asked if his job title would soon include the word "secretary." A source tells Politico that the transition team has become chaotic since Chris Christie was ousted. The insider says that in an approach reminiscent of how Dick Cheney ran George W. Bush's transition, the campaign officials that replaced Christie have discarded much of his work to focus on picking Trump loyalists. The Washington Post reports that in his first press conference since the election, President Obama described Trump as sincere about wanting to be a good president. "This office has a way of waking you up," said Obama, who was on his way out of town for a final foreign trip that will take in Greece, Germany, and Peru. A source tells the New York Daily News that the Secret Service has been holding talks with the NYPD about how to protect Trump when he's at Trump Tower. The source says the NYPD has told the Secret Service to forget about its plan to shut down Fifth Avenue whenever Trump is in town. The AP reports that students protesting Trump's election walked out of classes Monday in cities including Denver, Los Angeles, and Seattle, where more than 5,000 from 20 middle and high schools skipped classes to protest. |
SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea’s top three military officials have been removed from their posts, a senior U.S. official said, a move analysts said on Monday could support efforts by the North’s young leader to jump-start economic development and engage with the world.
Kim Jong Un is preparing for a high-stakes summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore on June 12, the first such meeting between a North Korean leader and a sitting U.S. president.
The U.S. official, who spoke on Sunday on condition of anonymity, was commenting on a report by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency that all three of the North’s top military officials were believed to have been replaced.
Kim’s motivation remains unclear but analysts said the shake-up allows him and the ruling party to tighten control over the Korean People’s Army (KPA) at a critical time of international engagement and domestic development.
“If Kim Jong Un is set on making peace with the U.S. and South Korea and dealing away at least part of the nuclear program, he will have to put the KPA’s influence in a box and keep it there,” said Ken Gause, director of the International Affairs Group at CNA, a non-profit research and analysis organization.
“This reshuffle has brought to the fore the officers who can do just that. They are loyal to Kim Jong Un and no one else.”
Trump revived the Singapore summit on Friday after cancelling it a week earlier.
SOME DISSENT
The United States is seeking a negotiated end to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and U.S. officials believe there was some dissension in the military about Kim’s approaches to South Korea and the United States.
Trump wants North Korea to “denuclearize”, or get rid of its nuclear arsenal, in return for relief from economic sanctions. North Korea’s leadership is believed to regard nuclear weapons as crucial to its survival, while Kim has said he plans to focus on economic development.
The U.S. official did not identify the three ousted military officials.
Citing an unidentified intelligence official, Yonhap said No Kwang Chol, first vice minister of the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces, had replaced Pak Yong Sik as defense chief, while Ri Myong Su was replaced by his deputy, Ri Yong Gil.
North Korean state media previously confirmed that Army General Kim Su Gil had replaced Kim Jong Gak as director of the KPA’s General Political Bureau.
The White House, State Department, CIA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond immediately to requests for official comment.
South Korea’s unification and defense ministries declined to confirm the report, while an official at the Unification Ministry said the government was watching the North’s leadership very closely.
South Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-hwa had a 15-minute phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday to discuss the upcoming summit between Kim and Trump, the foreign ministry in Seoul said.
ECONOMIC FACTORS, PARTY CONTROL
Given the military’s secondary role in the North’s nuclear and missile programs, the moves are likely more about installing a younger, even more trusted cohort of officials who Kim Jong Un can rely on as he confronts a variety of domestic and international issues, said Michael Madden, a North Korea expert at Johns Hopkins University’s 38 North website.
FILE PHOTO North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects the construction site of the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist area as Kim Su-gil (3rd L), newly appointed director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army, looks on, in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang. KCNA/via REUTERS/Files
“The nuclear weapons are a side issue,” he said.
The moves are likely linked in part to Kim Jong Un’s drive to have the military take a bigger role in critical infrastructure projects. That could explain why newly appointed director of the KPA’s General Political Bureau, Army General Kim Su Gil, accompanied Kim Jong Un on a field guidance trip to a beach tourist zone with other officials, Madden said.
Kim Jong Un is also likely expecting to receive more international economic aid and investment soon as part of the ongoing talks and he wants to prevent corruption that plagued some past projects, Madden said.
All of the newly promoted officials are younger than their predecessors, including 63-year-old Ri Yong Gil, who is 21 years younger than Ri Myong Su.
“This points to two things: the consolidation of Kim Jong Un’s power as the sole leader of North Korea and strengthened cooperation between the North’s party and military as the country works towards further economic development,” said Yang Moo-jin, professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
“They’re all young but capable people,” Yang said.
Lower-level U.S.-North Korean talks to prepare for the summit are continuing but have made only “halting progress”, according to a second U.S. official briefed on the discussions.
That official said U.S. negotiators’ efforts to press for definitions of immediate, comprehensive, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization by North Korea had run into opposition from the White House.
In a remarkable shift in tone eight days after cancelling the summit, citing Pyongyang’s “open hostility”, Trump welcomed North Korea’s former intelligence chief, Kim Yong Chol, to the White House on Friday, exchanging smiles and handshakes.
Yonhap reported that Kim Yong Chol had transited Beijing on Monday on his way back to Pyongyang from the United States.
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All three of the new military officials have at least some experience interacting with foreign delegations, a factor that is critical as Kim seeks to line up meetings with leaders from the United States, China, Russia, and Syria.
“They are shaping these guys up because there is going to be a lot of foreign interaction,” Madden said. “They know to sit there and not get too drunk at the parties ... they know how to behave themselves.” ||||| Three of North Korea’s top military officials have been replaced, a South Korean news agency reported Monday, marking an apparent shake-up in leader Kim Jong Un’s inner circle before next week’s planned summit with President Trump.
The report by the Yonhap news agency, citing an intelligence source, could not be independently verified.
But, if confirmed, the moves suggest another step in Kim’s ongoing reorganization in military leadership — this time bringing in younger military overseers to replace older ranks possibly at odds with his outreach to the United States and its ally South Korea, experts said.
The officials who reportedly were dropped are from some of the highest echelons of the North’s military structure, including Ri Myong Su, the chief of general staff for the Korean People’s Army. Ri was thought to be a confidant of Kim’s father, the late leader Kim Jong Il.
The others dismissed, according to Yonhap, were defense chief Pak Yong Sik and Kim Jong Gak, director of the political bureau of the North Korean army.
It was unclear when the changes were carried out, but plans to replace Kim Jong Gak were reported in the North Korean media last month, Yonhap said.
North Korea made no immediate reference to any military changes, and it remains difficult to assess whether the shake-up could signal a significant change in North Korean policies.
It appeared, however, that it represented some level of generational shift. All the officials who were reportedly promoted were younger than those dismissed, according to Yonhap, including the new general staff chief, Ri Yong Gil, who at 63 is 21 years younger than the outgoing Ri Myong Su.
To underscore the challenges in following North Korean affairs, the Yonhap agency reported erroneously in February 2016 that Ri Yong Gil had been executed as part of high-level purges. But he and the two other generals who reportedly were promoted to top positions — No Kwang Chol and Kim Su Gil — have been seen at major party and military events with the North’s leader over the past two years, according to 38 North, a website that closely follows North Korean affairs.
Kim Yong Hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul, said the reported new military leadership brings expertise in military-run economic affairs rather than combat strategies.
This could be a sign that the North Korean leader is “pursuing a new policy to become a developing country without nuclear weapons, rather than a poor country with nuclear weapons,” he said.
“He has chosen the route of pursuing denuclearization and a peace treaty through dialogue, and is appointing a new generation of military leaders to set the tone for his vision,” Kim Yong Hyun said.
He described Kim’s reported move as sidelining “leaders of the past, of Kim Jong Il’s generation.”
“Kim Jong Un has chosen a new leadership who reflects his new approach and can more naturally propagate his new policies to bring stability within the military,” the professor said.
The military moves also may be viewed as another step by Kim to underscore his willingness to make bold internal changes ahead of the scheduled June 12 summit with Trump in Singapore. But the North has given no clear hints about how far it could go toward meeting U.S. demands to dismantle its nuclear program.
Michael Madden, who runs the North Korea Leadership Watch website, said the military changes, if confirmed, are part of a gradual remake to put the armed forces in the hands of Kim loyalists.
“These are guys that are Kim Jong Un guys — Kim Jong Un loyalists and people who he trusts,” Madden said, noting that Kim also may have wanted to make sure his handpicked military chiefs are in charge when he leaves for the Singapore summit.
“If he doesn’t bring them to Singapore with him, it might help to have them in watch while he goes away, like a designated survivor,” Madden said.
Appointing his loyalists to the top military ranks would ensure there is no communication gap or corruption that could jeopardize improving inter-Korea relationships, Madden said. The military oversees distribution of resources from the South, which likely will pick up as the two Koreas try to forge more cultural and diplomatic contacts.
“It’s a good choice of support for his diplomacy efforts. It’s good to have these people in high office to provide him follow-through,” Madden said. “So if there are policies he needs to implement, these are people who are not going to be resistant to that and they will make sure his policies are implemented in a timely fashion.”
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Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news | – In preparation for the Singapore summit, Kim Jong Un has reportedly shaken up North Korea's military leadership—though it's not clear whether it's the kind of reshuffle that involves executions or mere demotions. According to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, all three of North Korea's top military leaders have been replaced, the Guardian reports. A senior US official confirmed to Reuters that the three leaders had been ousted. Yonhap named the military leaders as defense chief Pak Yong Sik, Korean People's Army chief of staff Ri Myong Su, and Kim Jong Gak, head of the KPA's General Political Bureau. All three men, including 84-year-old Ri Myong Su, were replaced by younger deputies. Analysts believe Kim is sidelining powerful figures from father Kim Jong Il's generation ahead of the summit. Their replacements "are guys that are Kim Jong Un guys—Kim Jong Un loyalists and people who he trusts," Michael Madden of the North Korea Leadership Watch website tells the Washington Post. Madden believes Kim made the changes because he wants to have the new military leaders in charge of the country while he is away—and to help oversee changes including possible denuclearization. "So if there are policies he needs to implement, these are people who are not going to be resistant to that and they will make sure his policies are implemented in a timely fashion," Madden says. (Syria's Bashar al-Assad is also interested in meeting Kim.) |
Tim Pawlenty stands with his wife, Mary, background left, and running mate Michelle Fischbach as he concedes his run for governor at his election night gathering at Granite City Food and Brewery, Tuesday,... (Associated Press)
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Democrats embraced diversity Tuesday in a primary night of firsts, while Republicans in Minnesota rejected a familiar face of the GOP old guard in favor of a rising newcomer aligned with President Donald Trump.
In Vermont, Democrats rallied behind the nation's first transgender nominee for governor. Minnesota Democrats backed a woman who would be the first Somali-American member of Congress. And in Connecticut, the party nominated a candidate who could become the first black woman from the state to serve in Congress.
Still, Democrats in Minnesota also backed a national party leader who is facing accusations of domestic violence. He has denied the allegations, yet they threaten to undercut enthusiasm in his state and beyond.
On the other side, Trump tightened his grip on the modern-day Republican Party as the turbulent 2018 primary season lurched toward its finale. A one-time Trump critic, former two-term Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, lost a comeback attempt he was expected to win.
All but 10 states picked their candidates for November's general election by the time the day's final votes were counted. While the full political battlefield isn't quite set, the stakes are clear: Democrats are working to topple Republican control of Congress and governors' offices across the nation.
Four states held primaries Tuesday: Vermont, Connecticut, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Kansas' gubernatorial primary, which was held last week, was finalized when Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer conceded defeat.
In Minnesota, Republican County Commissioner Jeff Johnson defeated Pawlenty, who once called Trump "unhinged and unfit" and was hoping to regain his old post. In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker, endorsed just this week by Trump, won the right to seek a third term.
The president's pick for Kansas governor, Secretary of State Kris Kobach, scored a delayed victory against Colyer, who became the first incumbent governor to fall this season.
In Vermont, Democrat Christine Hallquist won the Democratic nomination in her quest to become the nation's first transgender governor. The former chief executive of Vermont Electric Cooperative bested a field of four Democrats that included a 14-year-old.
While she made history on Tuesday, Hallquist faces a difficult path to the governor's mansion. Republican incumbent Phil Scott remains more popular with Democrats than members of his own party in the solidly liberal state.
Vermont Democrats also nominated Sen. Bernie Sanders, who hasn't ruled out a second presidential run in 2020, for a third term in the Senate. The 76-year-old democratic socialist won the Democratic nomination, but he is expected to turn it down and run as an independent.
Democrats appeared particularly motivated in Wisconsin, where eight candidates lined up for the chance to take on Walker.
Walker's strong anti-union policies made him a villain to Democrats long before Trump's rise. State schools chief Tony Evers, who has clashed with Walker at times, won the Democratic nomination and will take on Walker this fall.
Once a target of Trump criticism, Walker gained the president's endorsement in a tweet Monday night calling him "a tremendous Governor who has done incredible things for that Great State."
Trump also starred, informally at least, in Wisconsin's Senate primaries as Republicans try to deny Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin a second term.
Longtime state lawmaker Leah Vukmir, who was backed by House Speaker Paul Ryan, won the Republican primary, even after struggling to explain footage recently unearthed from 2016 in which she called Trump "offensive to everyone."
Tuesday's primaries served as a test of Democratic enthusiasm in the upper Midwest, a region that has long been associated with liberal politics but has been trending red. Trump won Wisconsin by less than 1 percentage point in 2016, becoming the first Republican presidential candidate to carry the state since 1984.
It was much the same in Minnesota, where Trump lost by less than 3 percentage points in a state that hasn't backed a Republican presidential contender since 1972.
Nearly twice as many Minnesota Democrats as Republicans cast ballots in their parties' respective gubernatorial primaries.
Pawlenty had been considered the heavy favorite in a two-person Republican contest for his old job. But he struggled to adapt to a GOP that had changed drastically since he left office in 2011 and flamed out early in a 2012 presidential bid.
The former two-term governor strained to live down his October 2016 comment that Trump was "unhinged and unfit for the presidency," remarks that incensed many Republican voters in Minnesota and beyond. Johnson, his underfunded opponent, circulated Pawlenty's critique far and wide, telling voters that he was a steadfast supporter of the president.
Johnson will face Democratic Rep. Tim Walz, who won a three-way race for his party's nomination.
Three Minnesota women won Senate nominations, including incumbent Democrats Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith.
Smith, who had been appointed to replace disgraced Democrat Al Franken, will face Republican state Sen. Karin Housley, ensuring a woman will hold the seat once held by Franken, who left Congress amid allegations of sexual misconduct toward women.
Nationwide, a record number of women are running this year for governor and Congress.
Meanwhile, a new scandal threatened to dampen Democratic enthusiasm.
Rep. Keith Ellison, the Democratic National Committee's deputy chairman, captured his party's nomination in the race to become the state's attorney general. That's after Ellison's candidacy was rocked by allegations over the weekend of domestic violence amid a broader national outcry against sexual misconduct by powerful men in business, entertainment and politics.
Ellison has denied a former girlfriend's allegations that he dragged her off a bed while screaming obscenities during a 2016 relationship she said was plagued by "narcissistic abuse."
Also in Minnesota, Democrat Ilhan Omar, the nation's first Somali-American legislator, won her party's congressional primary in the race to replace Ellison.
In Connecticut, Republican businessman Bob Stefanowski emerged from a field of five Republicans seeking to replace the unpopular outgoing governor, Democrat Dan Malloy. Former gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont won the Democratic nomination.
Connecticut Democrats picked a former teacher of the year, Jahana Hayes, to run for the seat vacated by Rep. Elizabeth Etsy, who is leaving Congress after bungling sexual abuse claims levied against a former staffer. Hayes could become the first black woman from the state to serve in Congress.
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Peoples reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin contributed to this report. ||||| [Read more about Republican governors in Democratic states.]
Mr. Scott’s popularity fell, however, especially among conservatives, after he signed gun control measures this year. Still, a poll in July by public media organizations in the state found two-thirds of Vermonters supported the law, and nearly half of Democrats had a favorable opinion of Mr. Scott. Only 18 percent of Democratic respondents in the same poll said they had a favorable opinion of Ms. Hallquist, and 55 percent did not yet know who she was.
That may change now that Ms. Hallquist is the nominee, and she is likely to draw national attention — and fund-raising dollars — because of the historic potential of her candidacy. “She’ll raise more money and her message will get out there more,” said Eric Davis, an emeritus professor at Vermont’s Middlebury College. “Even if she doesn’t get elected governor, the greatest contribution of her campaign could be to raise awareness about the issues transgender people face.”
Before she ran for governor, Ms. Hallquist spent 12 years as the chief executive of the Vermont Electric Cooperative, an in-state power utility that she helped to bring back from near ruin. Her transition from male to female took place in 2015, while she was at the helm of the company, and was the subject of a documentary film made by her son.
As a candidate, she made it part of her stump speech, drawing knowing laughs from her female supporters at a fund-raiser this summer as she talked about what it was like to experience life as a woman for the first time.
“I remember the first time after transitioning, a stranger walking by told me to smile — I’m like, ‘Who the heck are you to tell me to smile?’” Ms. Hallquist said. “What my transition has taught me is just how far we have to go.” ||||| U.S. Sen. Tina Smith beat Richard Painter, once the ethics chief in a Republican White House, in the DFL primary election Tuesday, setting up the state’s first U.S. Senate race with two women nominees.
State Sen. Karin Housley, who won the Republican nomination, will face Smith in the fall. “It’s inspiring for all young women out there that they can make a difference,” Housley said of the historic matchup.
Smith agreed. “It is a year when women feel particularly enthusiastic about stepping into the public arena, and I think that’s a good thing,” she said in an interview.
Two women who won primaries Tuesday in Wisconsin also will square off in that state’s U.S. Senate race. A record-breaking 19 women have won major-party nominations for the U.S. Senate this year, according to Rutgers University’s Center for American Women in Politics.
The Minnesota winner on Nov. 6 will finish the final two years of former DFL Sen. Al Franken’s term. He resigned in January amid sexual misconduct allegations. The race is crucial; Senate Republicans have a one-vote edge.
Smith’s victory was “a testament to the trust that Minnesota voters have in Tina to represent their interests,” DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement.
Sen. Tina Smith
Chris Hansen, director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a statement that Housley “has what it takes to end left-wing Democrat Tina Smith’s brief career” in the Senate.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar won the Democratic nomination easily over four little-known opponents. In her bid for a third term, she’ll face state Rep. Jim Newberger of Becker, who has served three terms in the state Legislature. He defeated three Republican candidates in the primary.
Smith attributed her win to the fact that she “really listened to people.” She’ll employ the same strategy against Housley, she said. “The way elections are won in Minnesota is by talking to people and sharing what’s on their minds,” Smith said. “It sounds so simple, but it really is the thing that works.”
Housley said she’ll continue in the fall campaign to work hard and talk about jobs, the economy, trade issues’ effect on farmers, and immigration. “I will continue to support our elders,” she added.
She’s confident about her chances against Smith. “I am going to win,” she said.
Smith, 60, was appointed to the seat by Gov. Mark Dayton, whom she had served as lieutenant governor since 2015. Before that, she was the DFL governor’s chief of staff. She was endorsed by the DFL.
Housley, 54, is from St. Marys Point. She was elected to the Minnesota Senate in 2012 and in 2014 lost a race for lieutenant governor.
Painter, 56, who announced in April that he was leaving the Republican Party, is a University of Minnesota law professor. He was the chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2007.
Painter said his campaign helped call attention to ethics issues and to single-payer health care, which he endorsed. “We got a lot of attention around the country,” he said in an interview. He’ll resume teaching, Painter said. Asked if he’d consider running for office again, he said, “I don’t know. I’ll think about it.”
Voters interviewed at the polls Tuesday said their decisions in the Smith-Painter race turned on support for his animosity toward President Donald Trump — whom he said should be impeached — or doubts about whether his DFL conversion was genuine.
In late July, the DFL’s Martin publicly questioned whether Painter is actually a Democrat. Martin described Painter’s candidacy as “a craven act of desperation” because he is out of sync with the Republican Party. At the time, Painter said the DFL assault proved he was “a true threat to win this election.”
West Foster, 24, of Minneapolis, who works for a nonprofit group, voted for Smith. “I vote as far left as I can, and I’m not too impressed with Republicans — whether they say they are or not,” he said.
Paul Nelson, 50, a self-employed contractor in Minneapolis, was tempted by Painter, but he voted for Smith. “I’m a party guy,” he said.
When Housley and Smith meet in November, Trump’s policies and the senator’s record will be the top issues.
Smith has pledged to “stand up” to Trump. However, she has said she doesn’t think voters “want to hear us only talking about what we don’t like about this president.”
Housley has tried to establish some distance between her views and style and those of the president. For example, she said this summer that she disagreed with his decision to separate immigrant families.
Painter’s candidacy forced Smith to focus on wooing DFL voters. Meanwhile, GOP-endorsed Housley — who faced two candidates in the primary — made Smith her sole target.
Housley made frequent references to the “failed Dayton-Smith administration,” citing MNsure and the beleaguered vehicle registration system.
Cook Political Report, which handicaps campaigns, rates the race as a likely Democratic win. So do Inside Elections and the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. All three groups are nonpartisan.
The fall campaign is sure to become an expensive national battlefield, with outside TV ads flooding the airwaves and national interest groups’ money flowing into the race.
As of June 30, Smith had raised $4.8 million and Housley had collected $1.8 million.
Retired nurse Patricia Cohen, 75, voted in Minneapolis for Smith and Klobuchar because of their support for abortion rights. “There’s an assault on women’s privacy and the right to plan their families,” she said. “For me that’s one of the defining issues of our time.”
Kerry Riley, 41, a photographer and wardrobe stylist from Minneapolis, said her vote for Smith was less vital than showing up to vote — especially in the current political climate. “You have to,” she said. ||||| Kiah Morris, the only black woman in the Vermont legislature, shocked the US state when she resigned last month, citing ongoing racial harassment. Even in one of the most progressive states in America, she says white supremacy and a toxic political discourse are serious, unacknowledged problems.
Kiah Morris was puzzled. Why did friends on social media keep sending her links to a Saturday Night Live comedy video? Then she watched it.
In the sketch, which aired the last weekend of September, a group of Southern neo-Confederates discuss resettling in place with "no immigrants and no minorities - an agrarian community where everyone lives in harmony because every single person is white".
One member, played by actor Adam Driver, raises his hand.
"Yeah, I know that place," he says. "That sounds like Vermont."
The studio audience laughs as the Vermont jokes continue, but for Ms Morris the lines had a bite.
"It was funny," she says. "But it was sad."
In 2014 Ms Morris became only the second black female member ever elected to the Vermont state legislature. Four years later, in the midst of a re-election race, she resigned from public office after repeatedly being the target of racial harassment.
She received death threats. Her property was vandalised. She found swastikas painted on the trees near her house.
She obtained a restraining order against a repeat online harasser, but the threats continued.
For Ms Morris, racism in Vermont - long considered a bastion of liberal values - was no joke.
"There were individuals in the community and throughout the state that we were finding were parts of white supremacist groups," she says. "Because we were so progressive and because we have been working so hard on so many issues of equality, we just sort of fell asleep and didn't pay attention to that."
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Vermont Governor Phil Scott and his Democratic challenger Christine Hallquist are running in the overwhelmingly white state
The 42-year-old Morris, who grew up in Chicago, came to Vermont over a decade ago. She says she initially had no interest in running for public office, but friends and mentors changed her mind. She enrolled in Emerge America, an organisation that recruits and trains female Democratic candidates, and put her name on the ballot in the southern Vermont town of Bennington.
"I really learned what it meant to be out there and to represent and how you can truly be this voice for the people that you are representing and bring an opportunity to bring change in a way that I couldn't do locally," she says.
As she began her campaign, however, it became very clear that her ethnicity - in a state that is 95% white and 1.2% black - was going to be an issue.
"We received online threats," she says. "We received hateful messages. We had things happen at our home. We had a break-in while we were asleep."
She adds that she wasn't the only member of a minority in the state to experience such harassment - and she says it's only got worse since Donald Trump's victory in the highly contentious 2016 presidential race.
"It brought about a complete destruction of anything that we want to call political discourse and moved into an area where the fears and the anger and the sadness and the hurt that people were feeling throughout the nation came forth and came out of their mouths and into our lives," she says.
More on race in America
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption African Americans in New Orleans on the state of race relations
During her four years in office Ms Morris says she helped push legislation extending free contraceptive coverage to all Vermonters, control pollution and address racial and income disparities in the education and the criminal justice systems.
It was her support for a comprehensive gun control bill, however - passed in April 2018 - that brought the harassment and threats to an intolerable level. She says opponents of the gun law, which strengthened background checks and banned large magazines and bump stocks, cited her as the "voice and face" of out-of-state efforts that they said would eventually lead to firearm confiscation.
"It did not escape my attention that that type of behaviour, doing that type of a clarion call, could get me killed," she says. "It was solely directed at me, as the black woman."
So in August Ms Morris, after winning the Democratic primary, decided to abandon her re-election bid. When that didn't stop the harassment, she resigned from the legislature, effective immediately.
She said her son and her husband, who had just undergone heart surgery, needed her and that she had given the state all she could. She returned to her job with Tesa Collective, which makes games and tools for progressive organisations, and planned to do more writing.
Ms Morris says friends and colleagues tried to convince her to change her mind. After her announcement, Vermont Governor Phil Scott, a Republican, offered to support her re-election, warning that her resignation would allow the forces of hate to win.
That, according to Ms Morris, is victim-blaming.
"The systems need to change to support individuals in office so that they do not have to live in fear and terror," she says. "These are incredibly violent times, and I do not feel any need to martyr myself or my family."
It can't fall on her, she says - or on any one person - to try to fix a broken system. It takes a "chorus of people".
"They win when you leave it up to a movement messiah to be the one to move the work forward," Ms Morris says. "They win when you place it squarely on my shoulders as somehow this emblematic person.
"The change has to happen from each and every one of us because the work is that enormous. It cannot be an ask and it is wrong to ask anyone to place themselves in that type of a circumstance.
"So I win because I chose to take my life back." ||||| About 65 people showed for the fundraiser for gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker and lt. gov. candidate Byron Mallott on Monday night. It wasn’t the usual Dem crowd. These people were a little bit older, a little less enviro, a little bit more stable. A lot more excited. When Mallott gave a speech, he said that one thing that had changed was all the Acuras and Lexuses parked out front. A standout: Sterling Emmal, one side of her hair ashy blond, the other side dark. Stylishly rag-tag, and, as she put it “tortured.” This will be Emmal’s first general election voting experience. She is 18 years old, and she takes her civic duty very seriously. Until a few days before, she was a committed Democrat. She changed her registration to protest the fact that Hollis French is no longer on the ticket. She is a die-hard French supporter, and can’t understand why the party didn’t choose him to top the ticket. She stood up to shake Walker’s hand and to try to figure out if she could vote for him, a Republican. He’s good at these things and he was patient with her but much of what he said didn’t sink in because he spoke in platitudes and she was so nervous. But there was something about him that she liked. Awhile later, after she calmed down, she tried again over the buffet table. They talked about his commitment to education. That worked better. She’s not there yet, but it was something that she could hold on to. “Maybe I could vote for him” she said, and she looked relieved. Among others spotted: Ira Perman, former lt. gov. candidate Bob Williams, Rep. Andy Josephson, former ANGDA guy Scott Heyworth, Bea Rose, Hal and Barbara Gazaway, pollster Jean Craciun, former Teamster boss Mike Kinney, woman-hall-of-famer Eleanor Andrews, and Oscar, the ubiquitous flower peddler.
Last week, I reported that Tom Wright was rumored to be coming aboard the Parnell-Sullivan campaign. Now, it’s official. He’ll be taking over the reigns as campaign manager replacing Jerry Gallagher.
Bill Walker’s campaign manager, Nancy Peterson, will remain in the same position with the Walker-Mallott ticket. Peterson has worked in local government in Valdez and Unalaska.
Megan Alvanna-Stimpfle, AKA “Mega-Megan,” has joined the Dan Sullivan for Senate campaign staff this week as their rural outreach coordinator. Prior to this position, she worked for Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
Former Anchorage Police Department Chief and state Department of Public Safety commissioner Walt Monegan, and retired Anchorage Fire Department Chief Craig Goodrich have agreed to co-chair the repeal effort of Mayor Dan Sullivan’s controversial AO37.
Earlier this week, the Washington Post named Republican Senate candidate Dan Sullivan the “pol” of the week citing that he was one of the best candidates in the country.
Juneau Rep. Sam Kito III has a new campaign manager, Elizabeth Bolling. It’s the third one of this election cycle already, and he doesn’t have much of a competitive race. Rumor has it that he’s in good hands now and that Bolling is the great-great granddaughter of Edith Bolling who was married to President Woodrow Wilson.
The Alaska Support Industry Alliance has endorsed senate candidate Dan Sullivan. It is the first political endorsement that they’ve made in 20 years. The Alliance is an oil, gas and mining trade association with 500 member companies representing 30,000 employees in Alaska.
Political unknown Loren Means, a registered Republican running in the non-partisan race for mayor of Wasilla, seems to be picking up steam. He has been endorsed by the District 7 (Wasilla) Republican committee which came with a check for his campaign in the amount of $1,000.
Hell hath no fury like a Palin family visit: Just when I was about to give up on them, the Gods of gossip came visiting this week, and as they’ve done in the past, they beckoned me to look towards Wasilla, towards the fortress of Our Lady of the North, the woman who was almost a heartbeat away from the presidency, whose family had a dramatic weekend, Wasilla style! As many of us have read, Bristol Palin was visited by a Floridian stalker on Sunday who somehow ended up on the family’s balcony. The stalker currently sits in jail. That’s pretty dramatic. But that’s the least of it. The night before, Saturday, was a doozy. The details are a little sketchy, but there’s enough of them, from enough different sources, that a story emerges, a story that according to the gossip Gods, looks kind of like this: There’s some sort of unofficial birthday/Iron Dog-type/snowmachine party in Anchorage. A nice, mellow party, until the Palins show up. There’s beer, of course, and maybe other things. Which is all fine, but just about the time when some people might have had one too many, a Track Palin stumbles out of a stretch Hummer, and immediately spots an ex-boyfriend of Willow’s. Track isn’t happy with this guy, the story goes. There’s words, and more. The owner of the house gets involved, and he probably wished he hadn’t. At this point, he’s up against nearly the whole Palin tribe: Palin women screaming. Palin men thumping their chests. Word is that Bristol has a particularly strong right hook, which she employed repeatedly, and it’s something to hear when Sarah screams, “Don’t you know who I am!” And it was particularly wonderful when someone in the crowd screamed back, “This isn’t some damned Hillbilly reality show!” No, it’s what happens when the former First Family of Alaska comes knocking. As people were leaving in a cab, Track was seen on the street, shirtless, flipping people off, with Sarah right behind him, and Todd somewhere in the foreground, tending to his bloody nose.
Tiger “burning bright in the forests of the night” Helgelien was appointed by Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan to the Budget Advisory Commission. Helgelien, as some might remember, is married to the former Elizabeth Halseth, who was named one of the hottest politicians in the country by lad mag Maxim, with a bikini photo spread to prove it, when she was a state senator in Nevada, before she quit half-way through her term. Read more about her here, here and here. Helgelien, a golfing pro, has been busy setting himself up for a future in Alaska politics.
The Cook Political Report moved the ratings of the Alaska governor’s race to “likely Republican” from “solid Republican.”
Fifty years ago this week, a political TV ad aired, showing a little girl plucking flower petals, and helped elect Lyndon B. Johnson to the presidency of the United States. Watch the 60-second ad that revolutionized paid political advertising here.
Contact Amanda Coyne at [email protected] ||||| Photograph by Darren McCollester/Getty Images.
There's no doubt about it: The big winners of last night's election were women. And not just because we're the majority of voters and most politicians crawl over each other to appeal to us. Last night, when Tammy Baldwin won her race in Wisconsin, it meant a record number of women would be going on to serve in the Senate come January. Other new female faces joining the Senate are Deb Fischer, Mazie Hirono, Elizabeth Warren, and likely Heidi Heitkamp, though right now it looks like her victory in North Dakota might have to wait until after a recount. All of the new women, except for Nebraska's Fischer, are Democrats. If Heitkamp wins in North Dakota, it will bring the number of women in the Senate from 17 (with two female Republicans retiring) to 20. In the past 15 years, this number has more than doubled.
Amanda Marcotte Amanda Marcotte is writer for Salon.
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Memo to Republicans: Try running fewer rape philosophers next time. — James Wolcott (@JamesWolcott) November 7, 2012
Elizabeth Warren's defeat of Republican incumbent Scott Brown of Massachusetts is less of a surprise. No matter how far she fell behind in the polls in the early days, I personally found it implausible that the state would re-elect a glib head of hair like Brown when they had such a popular Democrat to vote for instead. Still, Warren campaigned heavily against the war on women in order to secure her win. Brown, not one of his party's crazies, campaigned as a pro-choice candidate, aware that being opposed to legal abortion would hurt him in Massachusetts, but his spotty record on reproductive rights came back to haunt him. Warren singled out his support of the Blunt Amendment, which was a last ditch attempt by Republicans to try to limit insurance coverage for contraception. She also attacked him for not supporting the Paycheck Fairness Act, which was intended to help women achieve pay equity. Warren will be the first female Senator from Massachusetts.
Overall, the election showed an electorate tilting left in the culture wars, with gay marriage finally winning at the ballot box, a restriction on abortion funding going down in flames in Florida, and a president who is routinely characterized by his opposition as a "socialist" and a "radical" winning the election anyway. In this more socially moderate-to-liberal environment, Democrats do better, and since Democrats run more women, women do better. | – In a historic moment for the transgender rights movement, former power company exec Christine Hallquist won the Democratic primary for Vermont governor Tuesday, becoming the first transgender candidate from a major party to win a gubernatorial primary. Hallquist, who transitioned from male to female in 2015, was chief executive of the Vermont Electric Cooperative before entering politics, the New York Times reports. Annise Parker of the LGBTQ Victory Fund praised the victory as a "defining moment," though she added that Hallquist won "not because of her gender identity, but because she is an open and authentic candidate ... who speaks to the issues most important to voters." In other results: Vermont also nominated Sen. Bernie Sanders to seek a third term, the AP reports. He won the Democratic primary, but is expected to run as an independent again. In Minnesota, Sen. Tina Smith defeated Richard Painter, George W. Bush's former ethics counsel, in the Democratic primary, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. In November, she will face Republican state Sen. Karin Housley in a race to decide who will finish the last two years of former Sen. Al Franken's term. Rep. Keith Ellison has won the Democratic primary for Minnesota attorney general despite allegations of domestic violence involving an ex-girlfriend that surfaced days before the election, the Washington Post reports. He placed far ahead of the other four candidates in the race, and is expected to face Republican former state lawmaker Doug Wardlow in November. In Wisconsin, Democrat Tony Evers won an eight-way gubernatorial primary and promised to end Republican Gov. Scott Walker's "reign of terror," the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Walker, who is seeking a third term, cruised to victory in the GOP primary. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who once called President Trump "unhinged and unfit for the presidency," was trying to get his old job back but lost the GOP primary to pro-Trump candidate Jeff Johnson, the AP reports. Former National Teacher of the Year Jahana Hayes won the Democratic primary for the House seat being vacated by scandal-plagued Rep. Elizabeth Esty, the Hartford Courant reports. If she wins in November, Hayes will be the first black Democrat from New England elected to the House. |
A homeless woman accused of slamming a car carrying her 3-year-old daughter into a crowd of pedestrians on the Las Vegas Strip told authorities she was stressed out after being chased by security guards from parking lots where she had been trying to sleep before the crash, according to a police report obtained Monday.
Lakeisha N. Holloway, 24, resided in Oregon and had been in Las Vegas for about a week in her 1996 Oldsmobile sedan, parking it at garages throughout the city, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said.
After her arrest, Holloway "described a stressful period today where she was trying to rest/sleep inside her vehicle with her daughter but kept getting run off by security of the properties she stopped at," the police report states.
Lakeisha N. Holloway, 24 (Las Vegas police)
"She ended up on the Strip, `a place she did not want to be,"' the report quoted her as saying. "She would not explain why she drove onto the sidewalk but remembered a body bouncing off her windshield, breaking it."
Investigators said Holloway had run out of money and she and her daughter had been living in the car. Police believe she was headed to Dallas to find her daughter's father after they had a falling out.
Holloway is accused of intentionally mowing down people on a busy stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard, killing a woman from Arizona and injuring dozens of others on Sunday night.
After the crash, she parked at a casino a few blocks away, told a parking attendant that she had run down people and asked the valet to call 911, Lombardo said. Her daughter, who was in the backseat, was not hurt.
An impromptu memorial for the victims on #LasVegas boulevard pic.twitter.com/knoGltUI0f — @kimbrunhuber
The sheriff said Holloway was stoic when police arrived, showed no resistance and spoke coherently about what happened. He declined to elaborate on what she said.
"She didn't appear to be distressed due to her actions. That's the best way I can describe it," Lombardo said.
Authorities declined to comment on a potential motive and said they were struggling to piece together Holloway's background.
She had changed her name to Paris Paradise Morton in October, according to Oregon court records.
Several years ago, Holloway, a graduate of an alternative high school, received an award for overcoming adversity from the nonprofit Portland Opportunities Industrial Center.
In 2012, she told The Skanner, a newspaper that covers Portland's African-American community, that she was homeless during her freshman year in high school.
Holloway's cousin, Lashay Hardaway, told The Oregonian that Holloway worked hard to provide for her daughter.
The crash happened in front of the Paris and Planet Hollywood casino-hotels and across from dancing water fountains of the Bellagio hotel-casino. Droves of visitors to the stretch walk from one casino to another.
The Miss Universe pageant was being held at Planet Hollywood at the time of the crash.
People jumped on the car and banged on its windows, but Holloway didn't stop driving on the sidewalk, Lombardo said. The car was fully on the sidewalk twice, including once when it traveled for 200 feet, police said.
There was no evidence that Holloway had consumed alcohol, but a drug recognition expert at the scene determined that she was under the influence of some sort of stimulant, Lombardo said.
Held without bail
Holloway, who was being held without bail, will be charged with murder with a deadly weapon, said Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson, who anticipated "a great number" of additional charges.
"When a person drives a 2,000-pound-plus motor vehicle intentionally onto a sidewalk, killing and injuring scores of people, that's murder," Wolfson said.
Holloway was under suicide watch at jail, said Deputy Clark County Public Defender Scott Coffee said. He said it was too early to say if he would pursue an insanity defence.
UMC officials tell me "5 or 6" Canadian victims. 2 in critical condition, "the rest have been discharged." #LasVegas pic.twitter.com/B1ptanZxgC — @kimbrunhuber
At least 35 people injured in the crash were taken to hospital, including three people still in critical condition with head injuries, officials said. Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center, which treated 13, still had five patients Monday, including two who were upgraded to good condition.
The crash killed Jessica Valenzuela, 32, of Buckeye, Ariz., who was visiting Las Vegas with her husband, according to the Clark County coroner. An online campaign is trying to raise $15,000 US to cover transportation and funeral costs for the mother of three.
Other victims were from Oregon, Florida, Colorado, California, Washington, Mexico, and Quebec. Five were Canadian citizens, and four were Oregon college students in town to compete in a wrestling tournament.
We remember Jessica Valenzuela, the 32-year-old mother of three killed in Sunday evening's #StripCrash. pic.twitter.com/DlleycuZ0V — @CityOfLasVegas
Among the injured were five wrestlers and their coach from Delaware Valley University in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Another four were wrestlers from Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon.
Justin Cochrane of Santa Barbara, Calif., said the car appeared to be going 30 to 40 mph when it struck the pedestrians.
"It was just massacring people," said Cochrane, who was having dinner at a sidewalk restaurant outside the Paris hotel.
Cochrane said he couldn't understand why the driver went into the crowd a second time. He saw children and adults injured on the ground as the car drove away.
"Why would it slow to go around and then accelerate again?" he said. "I thought, `It's a crazy person."' ||||| Skip Ad Ad Loading... x Embed x Share A witness and a deputy police officer describe the scene after a woman drove her car through a crown of pedestrians in Las Vegas Sunday night. Video by Walbert Castillo for USA TODAY
Police and local officials investigate the scene on the Las Vegas Strip on Dec. 20, 2015. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)
The woman accused of deliberately driving onto a packed sidewalk along the famed Las Vegas Strip told police she was stressed out by security guards chasing her from parking lots in which she had been trying to sleep, a police report indicates.
Lakeisha Holloway, 24, will be charged with murder with a deadly weapon and other charges related to the incident Sunday evening that left one person dead and dozens injured. District Attorney Steven Wolfson added that it was too early to determine whether the death penalty could or would be sought.
"The videos obviously show intention," Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said at a Monday press conference. But he reiterated that there was no indication the case involved terrorism.
Lombardo put the number of injured at 35 and said three people remained in critical condition. The Clark County Coroner's Office identified the person killed as Jessica Valenzuela, 32, of Buckeye, Ariz.
Holloway lived in Oregon and had been in Las Vegas for about a week, apparently living in her 1996 Oldsmobile sedan and parking it at garages throughout the city, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said. After her arrest, Holloway "described a stressful period today where she was trying to rest/sleep inside her vehicle with her daughter but kept getting run off by security of the properties she stopped at," according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press.
"She ended up on the Strip, 'a place she did not want to be,'" the report quotes her as saying. "She would not explain why she drove onto the sidewalk but remembered a body bouncing off her windshield, breaking it."
Investigators said Holloway had run out of money and that she and her daughter had been living in the car. Police believe she was headed to Dallas to find her daughter's father after they had a falling out.
The tragedy unfolded on Las Vegas Boulevard, steps away from the Planet Hollywood resort where the 2015 Miss Universe pageant was crowning a winner before a live audience and TV audiences around the world. Lombardo said video from bystanders and businesses shows the car roaring onto the sidewalk at least twice, smashing into panicked pedestrians. Some fought back, jumping on the car and pounding on it in an effort to make her stop, Lombardo said.
Skip Ad Ad Loading... x Embed x Share Police arrested 24-year-old Lakeisha Holloway of Oregon in connection with the deadly crash that left one person dead and more than 30 injured. Video provided by Newsy Newslook
She finally drove the 1996 Oldsmobile around the corner and parked it at a hotel before speaking with the valet. A 3-year-old toddler in the back seat, apparently her child, was in good condition under the care of child services, Lombardo said.
Blood tests were pending. Lombardo said Holloway did not appear to be drunk when she talked with officers, but a drug expert said she appeared to be under the influence of a stimulant.
On Monday, Holloway was under an around-the-clock suicide watch at the Clark County jail, deputy public defender Scott Coffee told The Associated Press.
Holloway’s cousin, LaShay Hardaway, told the Los Angeles Times that Holloway was a hardworking fashion designer who doesn't suffer from any mental health issues as far as she knows.
She said Holloway had gone to Las Vegas “to go and check out the economy, and some other things.” She also said Holloway “wasn’t homeless, she lived with my mom.”
Hardaway said her cousin "makes a pretty good living." She said it was her understanding that Holloway had a hotel room in Las Vegas, contrary to officials’ remarks that she was living out of her car.
She said Holloway is a former fashion model who attended Portland Community College and had created her own fashion line. Oregon business records showed that she had started a women's clothing business in April called "Modeltype," the Times reported.
Antonio Nassar told the Las Vegas Sun he had just walked out of Planet Hollywood when he saw the car roar onto the sidewalk, slamming into stunned pedestrians. It briefly dragged a young boy, he said. The sound of the car hitting people was like "watermelons falling on the sidewalk," Nassar said.
"It was chaotic," Nassar told the Sun. "I was running down the street saying, 'Move! Move! Get out of the way!'"
Tourist Justin Cochrane said he and two other people had just sat down for dinner when the car began careening onto the sidewalk.
"It was mayhem and it was very intentional," Cochran told CNN. "People were flying. It was a sound I will never forget. It (the car) wasn't hitting cars, it was hitting people."
The case is not unprecedented. Ten years ago, the driver of a stolen car deliberately plowed into pedestrians on the Strip, killing three people and injuring a dozen others. Stephen Ressa, of Rialto, Calif., pleaded guilty but mentally ill and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Contributing: The Associated Press; Greg Toppo, USA TODAY
Skip Ad Ad Loading... x Embed x Share Las Vegas Police say they are investigating Sunday night's crash as a possibly intentional act, but terrorism was ruled out. A car hit several dozen people in front of two busy hotels. At least one person died. More than 30 were hurt. (Dec. 21) AP
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1YvV0P7 ||||| LAS VEGAS (AP) — The latest on a deadly crash on the Las Vegas Strip (all times local):
Las Vegas Metro police and crime scene investigators look over a sedan believed to have been involved in an incident where police said a woman intentionally swerved her car into pedestrians on the Las... (Associated Press)
People crowd on a sidewalk while police cars and ambulances gather on a street after a car drove onto a busy sidewalk and mowed down people outside a casino in Las Vegas, NV., Sunday, Dec. 20, 2015. A... (Associated Press)
Police and emergency crews respond to the scene of an incident along Las Vegas Boulevard, Sunday, Dec. 20, 2015, in Las Vegas. A woman intentionally swerved her car onto a busy sidewalk two or three times... (Associated Press)
10:40 a.m.
Authorities say people jumped on a car and banged on its windows as it plowed through pedestrians on a sidewalk on the Las Vegas Strip.
Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo told reporters Monday that 24-year-old Lakeisha N. Holloway wouldn't stop and it appeared from video that it was an intentional act. Her 3-year-old daughter was in the car but wasn't injured.
He says that after striking more than two dozen people, Holloway drove to a hotel and told a valet to call 911 after explaining what she had done.
Lombardo says police believe she had a falling out with the father of her child before the crash.
A drug recognition expert on the scene determined Holloway was under the influence of a "stimulant," but blood test results are pending.
He says Holloway was believed to be from Oregon and had been in Las Vegas for about a week. He says investigators believe she was homeless and living in the car.
___
9:55 a.m.
A government official said five Canadians were injured by a car that crashed into pedestrians on the Las Vegas Strip.
Canada's Global Affairs department spokesman John Babcock said he couldn't immediately provide information on the condition of the Canadian citizens. He says Canada is working with local authorities to provide support and assistance.
University Medical Center in Las Vegas said it treated people from Montreal who needed a French translator.
Authorities say a woman drove a car on and off the sidewalk into crowds Sunday night, injuring dozens. She is in custody. She had a 3-year-old in the car with her, but the child wasn't injured.
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9:15 a.m.
Prosecutors say they expect to file murder charges and other counts against the driver who crashed into pedestrians on the Las Vegas Strip, killing an Arizona woman and injuring dozens of others.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said Monday that the vehicle could be considered a deadly weapon.
He said, "When a person drives a 2,000-pound-plus motor vehicle intentionally onto a sidewalk, killing and injuring scores of people, that's murder."
Wolfson didn't identify the woman in custody, but police have said that she's in her 20s and recently came to Vegas.
A 10 a.m. press conference with the sheriff is scheduled to offer updates on the Sunday night crash.
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8:15 a.m.
Officials say a woman from Arizona was killed when a car plowed into pedestrians on the Las Vegas Strip.
Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg (FYOU'-den-berg) said Monday that 32-year-old Jessica Valenzuela of Buckeye, Arizona, died in the crash Sunday night.
The coroner said the suburban Phoenix woman was visiting Las Vegas with her husband. A cause of death is pending, with an autopsy scheduled Monday.
Authorities say dozens of others were injured when a woman behind the wheel of a 1996 Oldsmobile sedan intentionally drove on and off the sidewalk into crowds Sunday night. The driver is in custody.
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7:50 a.m.
Las Vegas police say that video of a car crashing into pedestrians on the Las Vegas Strip "looks like it's very intentional."
Capt. Brett Zimmerman said Monday that the car was fully on the sidewalk twice, including once when it traveled for 200 feet. He says the car went onto the sidewalk first near a restaurant at the Planet Hollywood hotel-casino and then again at the driveway entrance to the Paris Las Vegas hotel-casino.
Authorities say the 1996 Oldsmobile sedan intentionally drove on and off the sidewalk into crowds Sunday night, killing one person and injuring dozens of others. The driver is in custody.
___
7:20 a.m.
Four college students from Oregon were among those hurt when a vehicle plowed into pedestrians on a sidewalk outside a Las Vegas Strip casino.
Pacific University spokesman Joe Lang says the students are members of the wrestling team and were in Las Vegas to compete in a tournament. He says 19 athletes and coaches were walking together Sunday night when the woman swerved onto the sidewalk.
The crash killed one person and injured dozens of others.
Lang says three of the four injured students were taken to a hospital. Two students were later released, and the other was kept overnight for observation.
He says the team won't compete in Monday's tournament.
Pacific University is based in Forest Grove, about 30 miles west of Portland.
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7:10 a.m.
A hospital official says three people who were injured in a crash on the Las Vegas Strip are in critical condition.
University Medical Center spokeswoman Danita Cohen said Monday that their life-threatening injuries are being closely monitored at the Las Vegas hospital.
Authorities say a car intentionally drove on and off the sidewalk into crowds near the Planet Hollywood casino-hotel Sunday night, mowing down dozens of pedestrians. The driver is in custody.
Cohen says two others at the hospital are in serious condition. One person died there, and the rest brought in for treatment have been released, including an 11-year-old.
By 6 a.m., the Las Vegas Strip had reopened after being closed for nearly 12 hours. | – The woman accused of intentionally steering her car into crowds on the sidewalk of Las Vegas Boulevard on Sunday has been identified as 24-year-old Lakeisha Holloway, who is believed to be from out of state and had been in Vegas for about a week, investigators say, possibly living in her car. Holloway is described as "stoic" in the aftermath, reports USA Today, and reportedly asked a valet to call 911 after describing her actions. Police say she may have had an argument with the father of her 3-year-old daughter, who was in the vehicle; a drug expert at the scene further tells the AP that the suspect was on some type of "stimulant," though the Review-Journal reports that she wasn't exhibiting severe impairment, citing police sources. Formal charges are expected later Monday or early Tuesday, the DA tells USA Today. A 32-year-old Arizonan, Jessica Valenzuela, has been identified as the sole casualty thus far. |
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A hiker who was stranded for six days in California's Sierra Nevada with a badly broken leg says survival mode kicked in when he treated his own injury and sought sustenance by eating crickets and moths, and drinking melting ice.
Gregg Hein, who broke his leg on a solo hike in the Sierra Nevada mountains, recovers at the Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, Calif. on Wednesday, July 16, 2014. The 33-year-old hiker from... (Associated Press)
Recovering at a Fresno hospital, Gregg Hein, 33, said Wednesday that he was a couple days into a solo hike high in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks northeast of Fresno when a large rock crushed his right leg above the ankle.
After letting out a yelp, the Clovis man said his first thought was treating his dangling leg and protruding bone to boost his chances of making it out alive.
"I have to get these next moments right," said Hein, an avid outdoorsman. "What do I do to make sure I have the best chance for a positive outcome?"
He briefly considered applying a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, a move that he knew would end with an amputation.
Rather, Hein said he used hiking gear to wrap and secure his leg, and then he scooted to a flat clearing with a good vantage point to wait for rescuers. He had left his heavy pack behind, and the few insects he could scour at arm's reach hardly filled him up. He blew a whistle, hoping its echoes would catch somebody's attention.
Back home, Doug Hein reported his son missing two days after he didn't return home as planned. Rescuers searched on foot and from the air. A helicopter crew eventually spotted the hiker July 10 and lifted him to safety.
Hein underwent two surgeries and expects two more in a healing process likely to take months. Five pins hold his bones in place, and his legs are covered with scrapes from the 150-foot fall he took in the accident.
Hein's father said he has warned his son against hiking alone, but that didn't keep him from two major expeditions, one covering 165 miles of wilderness. He's waiting for his son to recover to have another heart-to-heart conversation.
"I've got a long time to get him back home and get him cornered and say, 'Hopefully you've learned from this,'" Doug Hein said.
Gregg Hein said his risky days of hiking alone are behind him, but not his love of the outdoors.
"As soon as I can get back to trail running and hiking, I'll be out there," he said. "It's my community." ||||| Hiker Gregg Hein of Clovis "entertained the idea" of possibly dying in the high Sierra of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks as he lay severely injured for six days.
But he said the thought only crossed his mind a few times. The 33-year-old experienced hiker, rock climber and rafting guide was determined to live -- and he did.
From a wheelchair Tuesday at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, Hein talked about breaking his leg on July 5, hiking down from 13,600-foot Mount Goddard, and his eventual rescue Thursday by a National Park Service helicopter.
Hiking down the mountain, he dislodged a boulder that plowed into the back of his right calf, breaking bones in three spots. The impact forced bone to protrude about an inch and a half through the skin, Hein said.
His foot was soon "dangling," Hein said. "I had to grab it so hopefully it wouldn't rip off."
After sliding down several ice fields, he was without food for six days -- except for a few crickets and moths -- but he managed to drink a little melted ice and later, from a stream.
Rescue crews starting combing the high Sierra on Wednesday, the day Hein's dad, Doug Hein, called the Fresno County Sheriff's Office. Gregory Hein had been expected home two days earlier.
"I can't commend them enough for the efforts and the energies that they put out to try and save one person's life," Gregg Hein said of the rescue teams from Fresno County and the Park Service -- about 80 people in all -- who helped look for him.
Hein said Tuesday he has at least two more surgeries on his right leg to combat infection and repair bones, and that he could be in the hospital into next week. The eventual goal is to install a metal rod into his calf.
Hein has family ties to Clovis Unified: His mother is Randy Hein, principal of Temperance-Kutner Elementary School, and his grandfather is Floyd "Doc" Buchanan, former longtime district superintendent.
Hein's perilous trek began July 3. He parked his car at Florence Lake in Fresno County and within two days, had hiked alone more than 20 miles -- much of it cross-country -- to the summit of Mount Goddard. After summiting on July 5, he hoped to make it to Blayney Hot Springs that evening, but the goal was soon shattered with his leg.
Hein wasn't due home until July 7, and he said he realized he had at least three days to survive before anyone would start looking for him.
In an attempt to avoid potential rockfall, and knowing he had to get further down the mountain to find help, Hein left his backpack on the side of Mount Goddard. He grabbed only a few things from the pack: A poncho, pocket knife, cords, whistle and a bivvy sack -- a small, lightweight shelter.
He didn't take more because he miscalculated, believing he was closer to Evolution Valley, where he hoped he'd see hikers.
As he lay bleeding, Hein contemplated applying a makeshift tourniquet, a device used to tightly clench blood vessels connected to an injury.
It was a big decision: If he did, "I would have lost a limb."
By the time night fell, Hein wasn't feeling light-headed. So he took a chance and didn't cinch his leg. By the next morning, the bleeding had slowed significantly.
For four days, he lay near the edge of a small glacier, nursing his injury with ice.
Hein stabilized his leg with hiking poles, wrapping them with a belt and some cord, and on Wednesday, headed for Davis Lake -- crawling about a mile and dropping about 1,000 feet. He hoped the new location might increase his chance of being found.
On Thursday, he saw helicopters -- but they didn't see him. Two flew over him several times, he said. "It was kind of wrenching."
But around 7:30 p.m. Thursday, a Park Service helicopter landed about 50 feet from him at Davis Lake. The pilot was dropping off a search-and-rescue crew in the area when Hein came into view.
After seeing the crew spot him, "I laid down on my back for a while, and breathed a deep sigh of relief."
Alive and safe at Community Regional Medical Center, Hein has a lot to look forward to. He just finished his undergraduate degree in environmental studies at Humboldt State and hopes to attend the San Joaquin College of Law in Clovis.
The next time Hein treks into the wilderness -- which he says will "definitely" happen again -- he plans to be "more cautious about my own life." In the future, Hein plans to carry a reflective mirror, which can be used to signal rescue aircraft; a satellite-linked device, which can be used to alert rescuers about a location; and more medical supplies and gear.
Hein said backpackers should also apply for a wilderness permit so there is documentation of a proposed route, and make sure loved ones are aware of that route, too.
As for Hein's parents, there's just a "lot of relief" to see their son "alive, breathing, talking."
"I've been amazed at the outpouring of support from friends and family," father Doug Hein said. "It took a huge team, not just the searchers, but the prayer network, that helped bring him back."
The reporter can be reached at (559) 441-6386, [email protected] or @CarmenGeorge on Twitter. | – Hiking alone has its disadvantages, and experienced climber, rafter, and trail runner Gregg Hein got up close and personal with most of them earlier this month. Two days into a solo hike in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks near Fresno, Calif., his footing set loose a boulder that caused the 33-year-old to fall 150 feet and broke his right leg in three places, leaving his foot "dangling" and his bone protruding out of his skin more than an inch. Knowing that a tourniquet would later lead to amputation, he took his chances and went without it; the bleeding eventually slowed. "I have to get these next moments right," Hein tells the AP. "What do I do to make sure I have the best chance for a positive outcome?" Part of that meant surviving for at least three days; he wasn't expected home for another two, so that's how long it would take for a search party to be dispatched. Hein abandoned his heavy pack on Mount Goddard, taking a poncho, pocket knife, whistle, and bivvy sack with him as he scooted to a glacier; there, he nursed his injury with ice for four days, surviving on melted ice, moths, and crickets. He then decided he'd have a better chance of being spotted elsewhere; held his leg together using hiking poles, a belt, and a cord; and crawled for about a mile. On day six—July 10—two helicopters flew above him several times. "It was kind of wrenching," he tells the Fresno Bee. Around 7:30pm, a "fortuitous" moment arrived: A crew was dropped off just 50 feet from him, and when he saw the searchers spot him, he rolled onto his back and "breathed a deep sigh of relief." Full recovery is expected to take months. Hein plans to get back in the wilderness—though next time not alone, he says. (Check out which insect this man survived on for months in the wild.) |
Story highlights Lego tower in Budapest confirmed as world's tallest by Guinness World Records
Tower reaches 34 meters over city's St. Stephen's Basilica
Local school children helped build the structure, which was topped by a Rubik's cube -- a Hungarian invention
Imagine the size of the box this one came in -- a Lego tower stretching 36 meters into the sky above the Hungarian capital Budapest.
The 34.76- meter (114 feet) tower, which was completed on Sunday, has been certified as the world's tallest toy brick structure by Guinness World Records.
It beat the previous record holder, a 34.4-meter structure constructed last year with the help of U.S. students from a school in Delaware.
A spokesman for Guinness World Records confirmed that the tower qualified as the "tallest structure built with interlocking plastic bricks."
He said the record was officially registered to Lego Store Budapest on May 25.
The Budapest tower, topped by a Rubik's cube -- a Hungarian invention -- was also built with the help of Hungarian primary school children, according to local news websites.
The structure, built in front of the city's St. Stephen's Basilica, used hundreds of thousands of blocks.
MORE: Budapest's escape games go global ||||| Hungarian enthusiasts set a new Guinness world record for the world's tallest Lego tower. Standing at 36 metres, the tower was constructed in front of Saint Stephen's basilica in Budapest. School children helped to build the structure, and the mayor of the city's fifth district put the final block in place. The previous record was 34.43 metres | – Lego lovers will be stoked by this news: Budapest, Hungary, is now home to a 114-foot-tall Lego tower to rival the city’s most picturesque architecture, CNN reports. The Guinness Book of World Records has put its official stamp on the project, declaring the multi-colored structure—which features a profile of Pac-Man and is topped by a Rubik’s cube (Hungary's contribution to pop culture)—the "tallest structure built with interlocking plastic bricks." The Lego Store Budapest will be listed as the record holder. And for a too-cute spin on the story, the Guardian reports that school kids helped snap together some of the hundreds of thousands of blocks needed to build the tower. Sadly, somewhere in Delaware a bunch of students may be weeping—they held the previous record of nearly 113 feet, CNN notes. (More quirky Lego news: Lego people will outnumber real people by 2019.) |
A member of the University of Hong Kong’s governing council was arrested on Tuesday over the alleged murder of his wife.
Associate Professor Cheung Kie-chung of the Department of Mechanical Engineering was arrested after police found the decomposing body of his 52-year-old wife at his office. The body was inside a suitcase inside a wooden box.
Cheung, 53, filed a missing person’s report last Monday evening. The police said Cheung filed the report claiming that he had a family dispute with his wife on August 17 before they slept. He told police he found his wife had gone missing after he awoke.
Cheung is the warden of the university’s Wei Lun Hall, where he lives with his family including his son and daughter.
Police said a family dispute over toilet hygiene initially took place between Cheung’s wife and his daughter on the evening of August 16. The daughter then left home. In the early hours of the next day, Cheung’s wife blamed him for not supporting her during the dispute, according to police. The wife then went missing and a missing persons report was filed.
The daughter then posted missing person’s notice on the streets and online.
Police conducted an investigation at the halls of residence. On Tuesday morning, Cheung sent an email to the hall’s students to apologise for any anxiety caused among them, explaining that the police were there to investigate a missing person case involving his family.
The police reviewed security camera footage and discovered that Cheung’s wife did not leave the hall. CCTV cameras also showed Cheung moving a large wooden box measuring around 10 by 20 by 30 inches.
The police made a surprise inspection at Cheung’s office at Haking Wong Building and found the wooden box, which was made with six wooden plates and assembled with screws and silicone glue.
The police found a soft suitcase inside the wooden box. Blood was coming out of the suitcase and it had a strong smell.
The body inside was clothed only with underwear and an electric cord was found around the victim’s neck. Police said it was believed choking could have been the cause of death. The time of death was not known.
The police said the family was well-off, had disputes occasionally but had no record of domestic violence.
Cheung was held overnight. ||||| One day after a professor was arrested over a dead body found in his office, the University of Hong Kong welcomed new students to campus with its newly-minted president promising to help them and staff cope with the tragedy.
Speaking at an inauguration ceremony for first-year students at HKU’s campus in Sai Ying Pun on Wednesday, its president and vice chancellor Zhang Xiang said many students would have heard of the death.
Without naming the professor, Zhang said: “I’m sure you are as saddened and shocked as I am.”
Zhang, who took office last month, said the details were uncertain but the university would offer support to all students and staff.
“Our thoughts are with those who are affected and the university will be providing the necessary assistance to them at this very difficult time,” Zhang said to the more than 1,300 staff and students attending the ceremony at Lee Shau Kee Lecture Centre’s grand hall.
On Tuesday, it emerged that associate professor Cheung Kie-chung from the department of mechanical engineering had been arrested over the suspected murder of his wife.
Her decomposing body was found in a suitcase placed in a wooden box in his office at Haking Wong Building on the main campus.
Investigators suspected his wife was killed in their home at Wei Lun Hall – one of the university’s residential halls – about a four-minute car ride from Cheung’s office.
Wei Lun Hall is one of the three halls on Sassoon Road. It is a mixed dormitory in a quiet neighbourhood and houses mostly undergraduate students. The hall is particularly popular with medical or nursing students as it is opposite the medical school and its teaching hospital, Queen Mary Hospital.
Cheung was the warden of the hall, where he lived with his family, including his son and daughter.
One member of staff said Cheung rarely spoke of his wife or family. “He just brought his wife along once for a staff union dinner,” said the source. “Other than that I barely remember her.”
The Post learned his daughter, in her mid-20s, had graduated from a British university about two years ago and once worked at HKU.
During the ceremony, Professor Lung Ying-tai, Hung Leung Hau Ling Distinguished Fellow in Humanities in HKU and guest of honour at the ceremony, also alluded to the event.
She also called on students, both male and female, to be feminists.
She said men should realise women’s rights were part of human rights and “something fundamental”.
“If you are a woman, be a feminist, out of self-protection and self-interest,” she added. “You are protected when you are respected.”
Lung said respect had to be earned and women could do this by asserting themselves. Being a feminist did not make a woman lose her femininity but instead, made her stronger, she said.
Lung admitted she had considered omitting a section of her pre-written speech after the tragedy, but instead pressed on, believing it carried a more pertinent message than ever.
Student union president Davin Wong said the school was providing counselling for Wei Lun Hall residents.
He urged HKU’s more than 4,000 first-year students to “never settle for rules and norms”.
“We should be the ones who mould society instead of the other way around,” he said.
“Our city’s future is at stake, yet I believe it is still in our hands.”
He also paid tribute to students or alumni including Alex Chow Yong-kang, former union vice-president who was jailed for a few months for his involvement in the pro-democracy Occupy protests; Edward Leung Tin-kei, a pro-independence activist currently behind bars over his involvement in the Mong Kok riot; and Billy Fung Jing-en, former student union president sentenced to community service for his role in a siege of a university council meeting.
“They have accomplished astonishing achievements in their young age, and of course, I am looking forward to more heroes rising in your generation, our generations,” Wong said.
He added that as Cheung was the university student union’s honorary treasurer, responsible for its finances, the union’s councillors would hold an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss next steps.
He said he was not close to Cheung but found him “a kind and helpful person”.
Despite the tragedy, the atmosphere in the hall where the ceremony was held was lighthearted with freshmen responding enthusiastically to speakers on stage.
At Wei Lun Hall, a first-year student who had arrived from India two days earlier to stay at the dormitory said he was not affected by the incident.
“I don’t think [the case] is a reflection of the university’s professors and it won’t affect what I think of campus safety,” he said.
In an email to students and staff on Wednesday afternoon, Dr Steven Cannon, executive vice-president for administration and finance listed contact details for counselling services and said the seventh floor of Haking Wong Building would be closed on Wednesday. The office of the department of mechanical engineering would operate on the fifth floor of the same building in the meantime.
The department’s head, Professor Alfonso Ngan Hing-wan, said he was arranging for other staff members to teach courses assigned to Cheung when the new school year begins next week. ||||| Hong Kong (CNN) A prominent Hong Kong academic was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of murdering his wife and stuffing her body into a suitcase.
The case comes as the city is already gripped by the bizarre ongoing trial of another university professor, who is accused of killing his wife and daughter with a gas-filled yoga ball.
At a press conference Tuesday, Hong Kong police superintendent Law Kwok-hoi said a 53-year-old man surnamed Cheung had been arrested on suspicion of murder.
Local media identified the man as Cheung Kie-chung, an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and member of its governing council.
"I am sure that you are as saddened and shocked as I am," HKU Vice-Chancellor Xiang Zhang said in an internal email to staff and students that was provided to CNN.
Read More ||||| HONG KONG — A professor at the University of Hong Kong was charged with murder Wednesday after the body of his wife was found inside a suitcase at his office, the police said.
The arrest of the professor, whose name was not released by the police, comes as Hong Kong is transfixed by the trial of another professor accused of killing his wife and daughter with a carbon monoxide-filled yoga ball.
In the latest case, security footage showed the suspect hauling a box apparently with his wife’s remains out of a student dormitory, where he lived as a faculty warden with his wife and children, the police said.
The professor had filed a missing persons report more than a week ago, saying that his wife had gone missing the morning of Aug. 17 after a family dispute overnight. But the police grew suspicious when they did not find footage of his wife leaving their building. | – A professor at the University of Hong Kong emailed students Tuesday morning to calm them regarding a police presence at the residence hall in which he lived with his family and served as warden. "They are here to investigate a missing person case," wrote Cheung Kie-chung, who'd told police his wife vanished on Aug. 17 following an argument. "There is nothing to worry about among the students." Later that day, police say they found a wooden box at Cheung's office on the university's main campus. Inside was a malodorous, bloody suitcase holding a woman's body, an electrical wire around her neck, police superintendent Law Kwok-hoi says, per the New York Times. Police allege 53-year-old Cheung strangled his 52-year-old wife after a family dispute. The dispute allegedly involved the couple's daughter and bathroom cleanliness, per CNN, while the Hong Kong Free Press specifically refers to "toilet hygiene." After the daughter left their residence, Cheung's wife is believed to have confronted her husband for not supporting her in the dispute, police say. She wasn't seen exiting the building, though surveillance video did show Cheung taking out a wooden box measuring roughly 10 by 20 by 30 inches. A member of the department of engineering as well as the school's governing council, he was charged Wednesday with murder as university officials offered counseling to Wei Lun Hall residents, per the South China Morning Post. (Another Hong Kong professor is accused of killing his wife and daughter with a gas-filled yoga ball.) |
SAN FRANCISCO _ Dressed in his trademark hoodie and jeans, Facebook Inc. co-founder Mark Zuckerberg kicked off a cross-country road show to pitch his company’s initial public stock offering.
Hundreds of institutional investors stood in long lines Monday to pile into a ballroom at New York’s Sheraton Hotel to hear the billion-dollar pitch from the 27-year-old chief executive before his company’s hotly anticipated IPO. The meeting was closed to the media.
Facebook is trying to build excitement for the IPO that in a few weeks could value the company at more than $96 billion. That would make it the largest offering to come out of Silicon Valley. The Menlo Park, Calif., company said last week that it would offer 337.4 million shares at $28 to $35 each.
Investors expect that price range to jump as the road show makes its way across the nation, including stops in Boston and Chicago. Facebook plans to raise as much as $11.8 billion in its IPO. It’s expected to price the offering May 17 and begin trading the next day. The shares will be listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol FB.
The presentation was more than an hour late in starting and began with a slickly produced video, which frustrated some would-be investors, who say they only got the opportunity to ask eight questions.
Zuckerberg was accompanied by Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman, in suit and tie, and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, in business attire. They fielded questions about Facebook’s slowing revenue growth and its $1 billion purchase of photo-sharing firm Instagram.
The executives said they were confident that Facebook’s growth would continue. Zuckerberg called Instagram a “good deal” and said he would buy Instagram again.
“All in all, it wasn’t extremely penetrating,” said one investor, who added that he had never seen anything like the heightened security at the Facebook event.
Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Herman Leung expects Facebook’s revenue to grow 40 percent this year and 33 percent in 2013, he said in a note to investors Monday. He said the $28 to $35 range was a “compelling entry point” for investors.
“It’s generally agreed upon amongst investors that the Facebook IPO will be very successful and Facebook as a company will be very successful,” said Anthony Valencia, a media analyst at TCW Group who attended the event. “What is not agreed upon is how much upside there will be for new investors.”
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(c)2012 the Los Angeles Times
Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com
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Topics: c000047573 ||||| Facebook Vice President of Product Chris Cox delivers a keynote address at Facebook's ''fMC'' global event for marketers in New York City in this February 29, 2012 file photograph.
SAN FRANCISCO |
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc aims to raise about $10.6 billion in Silicon Valley's largest IPO, dwarfing the coming-out parties of tech companies like Google Inc and granting the world's largest social network a market value close to Amazon.com's.
The eight-year-old social network that began as Mark Zuckerberg's Harvard dorm room project indicated an initial public offering price range of between $28 and $35 a share on Thursday, which would value the company at $77 billion to $96 billion.
The size of the IPO reflects the company's growth and bullish expectations about its money-making potential as a hub for everything from advertising to commerce.
"We certainly haven't ever seen a tech IPO on this grandiose a scale," said Lise Buyer, a principal with the IPO advisory firm Class V Group.
Buyer, who worked on Google's 2004 IPO, said the question about a company "that's already this big and that is raising this much money is how many of the glory days of growth are in the past versus how many are ahead."
Facebook stands to raise as much as $12 billion at the upper end of its planned range. If an over-allotment or "greenshoe" option is triggered, the company could sweep up a maximum of $13.6 billion, according to a Thursday prospectus.
Facebook is only getting about half, or $5.6 billion, of the estimated $10.6 billion that it would raise at the midpoint of its planned IPO range. About $4.9 billon will go to some existing shareholders.
Facebook's stock could begin trading as soon as May 18, according to a road show schedule obtained by Reuters. The offering's price range can be adjusted depending on Wall Street's response during the road show.
Investors are expected to flock to the highly anticipated IPO, although there have been growing concerns about the social network's longer-term growth and Zuckerberg's majority control.
Facebook will trade at 13 to 16 times the revenue that GreenCrest Capital analyst Max Wolff believes it will generate this year. By comparison, Google, the world's dominant Internet search engine, currently trades at 5.5 to 6 times expected 2012 revenue, he said.
Google's valuation was higher when it went public in 2004, though Facebook's IPO valuation is still higher than Google's was back then, Wolff noted.
But some observers said the rich premium was unlikely to deter investors.
"People are going to be very comfortable with this valuation," said Sam Schwerin of Millennium Technology Value Partners, which owns Facebook shares worth roughly $200 million. The firm is not selling in the IPO.
"A price range of $28 to $35 will be a relief to some people who are concerned that they may try to take the highest possible price because of high demand," he said.
"The amount being raised is noteworthy. Selling stockholders are raising about $5 billion in the IPO, which is a lot."
Facebook executives are due to hit the road on Monday, presenting their investment case to audiences. They will start in New York, go to other major cities such as Chicago and Boston, and end up on Facebook's home turf in Menlo Park, California, according to the schedule.
Zuckerberg is expected to participate in the two-week road show, a source has said, although Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and Finance Chief David Ebersman will lead the briefings.
TANTALIZING WALL STREET
Zuckerberg's involvement in the road show will be key for investors with concerns about Facebook's long-term strategy and money-making potential, said Brian Wieser, an analyst with Pivotal Research Group.
Zuckerberg's control of the company -- which was underscored when he orchestrated the $1 billion acquisition of mobile app maker Instagram last month -- means that investors need to "get comfortable" with the 27-year-old CEO, said Wieser.
Last week, Facebook reported its first quarter-to-quarter revenue slide in at least two years, a sign that the social network's sizzling growth may be cooling just as it prepares to go public. Some observers have also flagged the company's lack of revenue on mobile devices such as smartphones as an area of concern.
Dressed in a gray t-shirt and jeans, the copper-haired Zuckerberg appeared in a 31-minute road show video posted online on Thursday. In the video, Zuckerberg predicted that in five years almost every software app would be integrated with Facebook.
Facebook generated the lion's share of its $3.7 billion in revenue last year from online advertising. It also collects fees when consumers use its special Credits currency to purchase virtual goods in social games such as Zynga's Farmville. The company has said it may expand the use of its payment business beyond games.
Facebook, which plans to list its stock on the Nasdaq under the ticker "FB", has long tantalized investors with the prospect of a mega IPO.
As a private company, shares of Facebook have traded briskly in secondary markets for the past couple of years, as investors sought to get a piece of the fast-growing company ahead of its expected IPO.
The IPO price range indicated in Facebook's filing on Thursday would value the company a hair below the level it has traded at in the secondary markets in recent months, with some trades valuing the company at slightly more than $100 billion.
But some investors think Facebook, which touts 900 million users worldwide, is setting itself a fairly conservative target.
"The price range may be tactical. They will likely walk the range up," Schwerin argued.
Facebook plans to sell 337.4 million shares, or 12.3 percent of the company, in the offering. The capital-raising target far outstrips big Internet IPOs that came before it. Google raised just shy of $2 billion in 2004, while last year Groupon tapped investors for $700 million and Zynga raked in $1 billion.
At the top end of the IPO range, Facebook would rival the market value of Amazon.com and Cisco Systems Inc, which are worth just over $100 billion, and surpass the combined market value of older technology companies Hewlett-Packard Co and Dell Inc.
Among existing shareholders, the largest seller in the IPO will be venture capital firm Accel Partners, which will make about $1.2 billion assuming the shares sell at the $31.5 mid-point. Zuckerberg is selling the next largest chunk of shares, worth a little under $1 billion.
Facebook said that a "substantial majority" of the proceeds from Zuckerberg's stock sale will be used to satisfy taxes he will incur from exercising his options.
In its prospectus, Facebook said the "lock-up" period, during which employees cannot sell shares after the IPO, would range from 151 days to 181 days.
Facebook also added two new underwriters, including online broker E*Trade Securities. The broker caters to retail clients who some have speculated may try to pile into the IPO.
"No doubt Facebook doesn't want to upset the average mom and pop out there," said Craig Huber, research analyst, at independent research firm Huber Research Partners.
(Writing By Edwin Chan, additional reporting by Poornima Gupta, Gerry Shih and Sarah McBride in San Francisco and Olivia Oran in New York; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Bernadette Baum, Matthew Lewis and Richard Pullin) | – Looks like Facebook's IPO roadshow has done a pretty good job of drumming up investor interest. The company has raised its IPO price range up to $34 to $38 a share from $28 to $35 a share, sources tell the Wall Street Journal. The new price range gives the company founded by Mark Zuckerberg—who turned 28 yesterday—a valuation of $104 billion. At the mid-point of $36, Facebook would raise $12.1 billion with the IPO. The company plans to close the books on the IPO today, set the price range on Thursday, and start trading on Friday, sources tell Reuters. Small investors are jumping at the chance to get in on Silicon Valley's biggest-ever IPO, although many larger investors doubt whether its $3.7 billion in revenue and $1 billion in profits last year deserve such a high valuation, the Journal notes. "It's a cult stock," says the chief investment officer of investment-management firm Granite Investment Advisors. |
Sunday started out as a normal day waiting tables for Claire Hudson.
The 25-year-old was working a double shift for her job at local burger joint, Mac's Grub Shak, when something amazing happened.
"It was actually a really slow day and then this couple came in," said Hudson of Spring Hill, Tennessee. "I didn’t even realize the tip until after they were gone."
The unidentified diners had left a $36 tip on a bill that couldn't have been more than $30, Hudson told ABC News.
"I would’ve liked to have caught them and said 'hey this is awesome!,' she said. "They did it anonymously and it was really sweet."
In addition to the $36, the couple also left Hudson with a note explaining the heartfelt meaning behind the digits.
"Today is my brother's b-day," it said, written behind the credit card receipt. "He would have been 36 today. Every year I go eat his favorite meal (hot dogs) and tip the waitress his age. Happy B-day Wes."
Claire Hudson
"I was in tears when I read it," Hudson said. "I had to go in the back of the restaurant and compose myself before I went out to my other tables."
About three hours after the experience, Hudson posted an image of her customer's note on Reddit.
"When I woke up I was on the front page," she said. "It had over 1.5 million views on Imgur and 350K upvotes on Reddit."
In light of her story going viral, Hudson and the restaurant owner hope to track down the kind patron that left the tip.
"We want to see what his brother Wes liked on his hot dogs because we'd like to name a hot dog after him," she said.
"I have a friend, he was my best friend, he died about three years ago. This experience has definitely given me the idea to do the same thing on his birthday every year. It was deeply moving and just the coolest thing that’s ever happened." ||||| Good News Waitress shares the heartwarming way a customer honored his late brother March 10, 2015 at 4:24 PM ET
Claire Hudson got the best tip of her life this week, but it wasn't about the money.
At first, the 25-year-old waitress at Mac's Grub Shack in Spring Hill, Tennessee didn't even notice the note scrawled on the back of the receipt left by a "very sweet couple" who'd ordered beers, a burger and hot dogs.
Courtesy of Claire Hudson
"Today is my brother's b-day," read the note. "He would have been 36 today. Every year I go eat his favorite meal (hot dogs) and tip the waitress his age. Happy b-day Wes."
Hudson says she was "deeply moved" by the message.
"I didn't even see their receipt until after they left!" she told TODAY.com.
"I've been a server for several years and this is the best tip I've ever gotten," she added. "Not because of the money, but because of the meaning."
Courtesy of Claire Hudson
She posted the picture to Reddit, where it quickly got noticed, as people were moved by the story.
"I love Reddit and felt like it was a great picture that should be shared," she said. "I had no idea it would get that much attention! I think it's fantastic that so many people liked it, but I mainly wanted to share the sweet memory."
Hudson hopes they can give the diner a lasting legacy for his brother, in food form.
"The owner of my restaurant, Michael McCray, is trying to contact the patrons and find out what Wes liked on his hot dogs so we can add it to the menu," she said. ||||| An unknown couple who had drinks at the First and Last Chance Bar in Lisbon, N.D., on Saturday, April 30, left Shiela Weisgerber a $300 tip after talking with her about the triplet grandsons she was raising. Weisgerber said when she realized what they had done, she had to go to the bathroom and cry for a few minutes. Photo by Shiela Weisgerber / Special to The Forum
LISBON, N.D. – A chance meeting at Lisbon's First and Last Chance Bar has Shiela Weisgerber smiling.
Weisgerber, who is raising triplet grandsons Dalton, Bentley and Ashton Peterson, received a $300 tip from a couple who overheard her talking about the boys with some regular customers, and then chatted with her about them.
It was nearly midnight Saturday, April 30, when the couple paid their bill and left it upside down on the bar, Weisgerber said. When she cleared their glasses and took the slip to the till, she was floored.
There, for a $33 bill, was a $300 tip and the message, "Take care of those boys!!" printed beneath.
"You read about it. You hear about it. .... It really shocked me. I went to the bathroom and I cried. I was really surprised," Weisgerber said.
Bar owner Dave Cole Jr. said it was a beautiful gift for Weisgerber, and for the town. too.
"It's fantastic. Anytime we can do some good in the world in general," Cole said. "The last few months have been really hard with random deaths around here. We really needed a boost. This was a godsend. Literally, it made everybody brighten up. ... You know that there still is good left."
Weisgerber, 48, has three grown daughters, Courtnee Marchetti, 30, Stephanie (Peterson) DeWolf, 28, and Emily Scott, 26.
The triplets were born to Stephanie, but she already had a child and felt she couldn't take care of three more, Weisgerber said.
So, Weisgerber took on the role of parent again when the boys were 2 months old.
Getting through the bottle feedings and diaper changings was tough, she said.
But the payoff has been pure joy.
"I love children and it wasn't in my cards to have more," she said. "And now I've been blessed to raise the boys. If I was asked to do it over again, I would. These little guys are a true blessing."
There has recently been sadness, too.
The boys' father, Joshua Ertelt, died in a car crash in late February, Weisgerber said.
Weisgerber has worked full time at the bar since October.
Early Sunday, May 1, she posted a photo of the bar tab, with the big tip and message of encouragement, on Facebook.
"You only read about things like this happening. ... So grateful," Weisgerber wrote.
When the boys' father died, Weisgerber opened a savings account for each of them. Each boy will now get $100 from that tip.
She said if she ever sees the couple again, she'll give them a big hug.
"Words can't describe how grateful I am. You know there's good out there. It helps, and it will help the boys later." | – A waitress in Tennessee was brought to tears this week when a customer left her a generous tip and a moving message. Claire Hudson, 25, was serving tables at Mac's Grub Shak in Spring Hill on Sunday when a "very sweet couple" sat down and ordered beers, a burger, and hot dogs, Today.com reports. It was only after they left that a cashier pointed out the $36 tip the man had left on his $28.12 bill, along with a note on the back. "I didn't know what to say," Hudson tells ABC News. "I was in tears when I read it." It read: "Today is my brother's b-day. He would have been 36 today. Every year I go eat his favorite meal (hot dogs) and tip the waitress his age. Happy B-day Wes." "It's the best tip I've ever gotten," Hudson says, "not because of the money, but because of the meaning." Hudson posted a photo of the bill on Reddit after she finished up her shift that night. "When I woke up I was on the front page," she says. "It had over 1.5 million views on Imgur and 350,000 upvotes on Reddit." Hudson and the owner of Mac's Grub Shak now want to honor the man that inspired the generous gratuity. They hope to track down the tipper to find out exactly what Wes liked on his hot dogs so the eatery can "name a hot dog after him." Hudson adds she may start a similar tradition herself. "My best friend, he died about three years ago. This experience has definitely given me the idea to do the same thing on his birthday every year," she says. "It was deeply moving and just the coolest thing that's ever happened." (This waitress got a big tip just when she really needed it.) |
In this undated photo released by Proyecto Vaquita, a porpoise is seen trapped in a fishing net at the Gulf of California. (C.Faesi/Proyecto Vaquita via AP)
Surprise raids on Mexican smuggling boats, international treaties, and outright fishing bans have done little to stop the steady decline of the vaquita, the world’s smallest and possibly cutest porpoise.
Now, in a last-ditch effort straight out of a Sea World-themed sci-fi movie, conservationists are turning to a new method of vaquita preservation: military dolphins.
Technically, they’re the Seal Team 6 of dolphins, specially trained by the U.S. Navy to detect undersea mines and such.
Navy officials hope they’ll be equally good at finding the last vestiges of the vaquita, which make their home in the warm waters between the Mexican mainland and the Baja California Peninsula and have been decimated by a cruel mixture of fishing nets and economics.
“Their specific task is to locate” vaquitas, Jim Fallin of U.S. Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific told the Associated Press. “They would signal that by surfacing and returning to the boat from which they were launched.”
If the plan is approved, it would be the first step in a risky relocation project that may be the vaquita’s only chance to survive the next decade.
Vaquita numbers have dwindled since a fishing boom around World War II for a species of sea bass called totoaba, according to The Post’s Darryl Fears. In China, where the totoaba bladder is both a delicacy and a traditional medicine, a pair of bladders can fetch $8,500.
To catch totoaba, which are also endangered, fishermen drag mesh gill nets through the warm waters of the Pacific, snagging everything they come in contact with — including vaquita.
Trapped in the nets, the porpoises drown when they can’t swim to the surface for air.
“It became clear that vaquitas were dying in most, if not all, types of gill nets used in the northern Gulf,” wrote the Cetacean Specialist Group, which tracks the porpoises.
[With 800 offspring, ‘very sexually active’ tortoise saves species from extinction]
Mexico has long had laws to protect vaquita, and the government is pressuring fishermen to use nets that vaquita could swim out of if caught. But by the time all fishermen have the new nets, the vaquita may already be extinct.
In September, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species urged Mexico, the United States and China to do a better job of sharing information on totoaba busts and seizures to catch more criminals and better protect the endangered porpoise, The Post reported.
But the Gulf of California is full of impoverished fishermen who see totoaba bladders as a way to provide for their families.
The economics don’t bode well for the vaquita.
Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class Manuel Gonzalez is shown with a bottlenose dolphin. Both are assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 1. Officials have announced a plan to use Navy-trained dolphins to try to capture the few remaining vaquita porpoises in a final effort to prevent their extinction. (Lt. David Bennett/Navy via EPA)
In 2014, a survey found only 100 vaquita, half the number reported two years earlier.
Last year, a count found just 60, and scientists worried that the battle to save the vaquita was all but over, Fears wrote.
The Navy’s dolphins would help locate them. Then, an international team of experts would capture them and transport them to a special holding facility, safe from the trawling nets of fishing boats, according to the AP.
But the plan has potential holes.
For one, vaquita have never been found to survive or thrive in captivity. They’re elusive and hard to find and haven’t been thoroughly studied.
[These men stole an endangered penguin and released him. Officials say he may not survive.]
And the “little cows” aren’t exactly the rabbits of the sea.
They reproduce slowly — a mature female has about one calf every other year.
If the few remaining females die in captivity, for example, the species would be doomed.
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‘My whole leg was in its mouth’: Oregon surfer says he punched shark to survive ||||| Scientists with Vaquita CPR returned the first captured vaquita, a small porpoise on the verge of extinction, into Mexico’s Gulf of California in mid-October. (Mexican Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources/Reuters)
When dozens of top marine-mammal experts and conservationists gathered in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez last month for a last-ditch rescue effort, they knew their mission was risky. They were there to catch some of the world’s last 30 vaquitas, in a bid to save the small porpoises by breeding them in captivity. Live capture had never been done before, and no one knew how the animals would cope with the stress.
It didn’t go well. The first one caught, a juvenile, was quickly released after veterinarians said it showed signs of stress. The second, a breeding-age female caught last weekend, died just a few hours after being placed in a protective floating pen. Instead of making strides toward salvation, the joint U. S.-Mexico rescue team, Vaquita CPR, had brought the population one individual closer to extinction.
In a statement, Vaquita CPR said it was “heartbroken by this devastating loss,” and this week it decided to suspend the capture program indefinitely. Now the team is reckoning with what, if anything, can be done to prevent the disappearance of a species before our eyes.
The project has for the time lowered its sights, focusing on counting the remaining animals by using underwater listening devices and taking photographs of their dorsal fins, each of which carries unique scars and markings. The Mexican government might give each one identified a name, officials said, in hopes that personalizing the cute cetaceans — known as “pandas of the sea” for the black rings around their eyes — might galvanize public attention.
“We do know we won’t be attempting any more captures” anytime soon, said one Vaquita CPR leader, Randy Wells, director of the Chicago Zoological Society’s dolphin research program in Sarasota, Fla. But maybe, he added, broadcasting that “there are so few of them that you can essentially give them all names is something that will cause more people to embrace their plight.”
The mission’s quick derailment was not a surprise to some groups that said they had not supported the idea from the start. Sea Shepherd, an activist group that patrols the vaquitas’ habitat to deter fishermen whose illegal nets sweep them up, said the project had “contributed to the possible extinction” of the porpoise and should be called “Vaquita RIP.” The Washington-based Animal Welfare Institute called for an “immediate halt” to the capture effort.
“I looked right at them and said, ‘You’re going to kill an animal.’ And nobody likes to be right about something like that,” said Naomi Rose, a marine-mammal scientist with AWI, recounting conversations with some of the team’s members. “Vaquitas are fragile. They are vulnerable to stress.”
Stepped-up enforcement to counter illegal fishing needed to be done “yesterday,” Rose said. “Sometimes there’s no answer. They’re going to go extinct, and I hate that with every fiber of my being.”
Population trend lines certainly make it look that way. The number of vaquitas, which live only in a small section of the upper Gulf of California, also called the Sea of Cortez, plummeted from 567 in 1997 to 245 in 2008. By 2016, only about 30 were swimming the gulf’s muddy waters.
Tragically, the vaquita’s precipitous decline happened by accident: It is the victim of illegal trade in another endangered animal, the totoaba fish, whose bladders fetch thousands of dollars in Asia. The gill nets used to catch totoaba also ensnare vaquitas, and a Mexican government ban on gill nets and fishing in the area has done little to stem the problem.
A vaquita that was caught as by-catch in a fishing net. (Flip Nicklin/Minden Pictures/Getty Images)
Vaquita CPR members said the threat illustrated by those plunging numbers — imminent extinction — was the only reason they agreed to try capturing some animals. Andy Read, a Duke University marine biologist, said he never would have entertained the idea two decades ago, when he joined an international vaquita recovery committee. But by this year, he said, the group determined that the threat of gill nets outweighed the risks with capture efforts.
“Our initial thought was that [poaching] is a harder nut to crack than bringing them into captivity,” Read said. Now that conclusion is in question, he added, and “it’s 11:59:59. We feel that urgency very much.”
Starting last month, the team — including trained U.S. Navy dolphins — headed out into the gulf to search for vaquitas, which are so small and shy that, Read said, they can be spotted only when waters are “mirrorlike.” The chosen capture method was a lightweight surface net that had successfully been used to capture harbor porpoises, and the team hoped it might also work for their smaller cousins.
When a Vaquita CPR net caught the female Saturday, Mexico’s environment secretary, Rafael Pacchiano, tweeted that it was “a great achievement that fills us with hope.” But the rejoicing did not last long.
Frances Gulland, a senior scientist with the Marine Mammal Commission in California and the mission’s lead veterinarian, has worked with stranded dolphins, and she said she was surprised to see that the vaquita was calm in the net and during the hour-long boat ride to the 65-foot-diameter, mesh-sided sea pen where she would be released. With a steady heart rate and breathing, “she was really a one out of five in terms of signs of discomfort or distress,” Gulland said.
They first released her into a smaller, 30-foot-wide pen within the larger one. That’s when things changed. She swam rapidly, hitting the net, then began going back and forth, doing “quick turns, like an Olympic swimmer doing laps,” Gulland said. The porpoise calmed down for about an hour — and then suddenly went limp in the middle of the pool. Gulland said the team decided at that point to release the vaquita back into open waters.
The porpoise panicked, swimming away rapidly and then making a quick U-turn back toward the pen. To prevent her from crashing into it, several team members jumped in to catch the animal, and they found she wasn’t breathing; she’d probably had a heart attack, Gulland said. On a boat, the veterinary team tried to resuscitate the vaquita — using chest messages, emergency drugs, oxygen and intravenous fluids — but she never began to breathe on her own. After three hours, the vaquita had another cardiac arrest, and “we just declared her dead, essentially,” Gulland said.
A World Wildlife Fund representative carries a papier-mâché vaquita, a critically endangered porpoise, during an event in front of the National Palace in Mexico City. (Rebecca Blackwell/AP)
The death profoundly shook those present and those nervously watching from afar.
“It just seems like they’re not as robust as harbor porpoises,” Read, who had left before the capture, said of vaquitas. “I was heartbroken, both for the animal itself and also because that would likely end the attempts to establish an ex-situ population.”
And it angered some observers, including Rose, who said it heightened her frustration over an expedition she said used valuable resources and manpower for a Hail Mary pass with a “very, very, very low probability of success.”
Read rejected the idea that Vaquita CPR isn’t worth it, citing examples of other species pulled from the brink of extinction by captive breeding programs, including the California condor and the northern elephant seal. And it’s not as though the mission’s resources could have easily been transferred to some other species, he argued — they came together for the vaquita and only the vaquita.
“As a conservation scientist, I just never give up. I’m not willing to consign a species to extinction while there’s still hope,” he said. But he does regret that it wasn’t attempted in the 1990s, when a few deaths wouldn’t have made such a dent.
“One of the big lessons for me is not to wait until the very last minute — to try conservation interventions like this and to be bold,” he said. “Maybe we weren’t bold enough.”
Team members said conversations with the Mexican government are now focusing on enforcement against poachers. Veterinarians are also awaiting results from blood samples taken from the vaquita at different points during her brief captivity. They might show the point at which her hormones and other markers of stress changed, and together with information from ultrasound exams, they might signal whether it was the capture, transport or enclosure that made her panic, Gulland said.
Knowing that, she said, could help Vaquita CPR decide whether to modify the plan and try again at some point in the future — if there are any vaquitas left to capture.
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The horror elephants face in India — in one heartbreaking photo | – The world's smallest porpoise is also ever smaller in number, its population decimated in recent decades thanks to what the Washington Post describes as "a cruel mixture of fishing nets and economics." The vaquita, or "little cow," has gotten tangled up in fish nets since World War II, when fishermen began to seriously hunt a species of sea bass called totoaba. The porpoise, known for sporting a little smirk, is a marine mammal that would drown in the nets where they couldn't swim to the surface for air, and the appetite for totoaba has not diminished as the fish's bladder is used in Chinese medicine and considered a delicacy there, fetching more than $4,000 for just one. The Mexican government has frantically decided to try to capture the remaining survivors, now around 60, to try to save the species. The US is joining in, too, offering up another marine mammal to help: the dolphin. The US Navy is training the so-called Seal Team 6 of dolphins, which already prowl around for underwater mines, to find the last surviving vaquita, which live between the Mexican mainland and Baja California Peninsula. "Their specific task is to locate," one expert says. "They would signal that by surfacing and returning to the boat from which they were launched." Unfortunately, the vaquita doesn't thrive in captivity, where they would need to remain to be safe from fishing nets. They also reproduce very slowly, with one calf every other year. Not everyone is on board with the plan, adds Live Science. "I don't like this idea at all," says a rep for World Wildlife Fund Mexico. "The risk of killing a vaquita while catching them is very high. With only 50 or 60 animals left, we can't play with that." (Dolphins appear to chat much like humans.) |
Police said there is a good possibility that a woman's torso found floating near Niagara Falls last week could have come from the U.S.
They called on the public to check on female family members, co-workers or neighbors they haven't heard from in some time. Police have classified the case as a homicide investigation.
A tourist spotted the torso near the base of the falls last Wednesday.
New York State Police Capt. Steven Nigrelli said Tuesday that because the U.S. shares the river with Canada, it's possible the person may have entered the water from there.
Police have said the case is not related to body parts found in Toronto earlier in August. Such cases have received extra attention after porn actor Luka Magnotta was accused of dismembering a Chinese student in Montreal and mailing his body parts to political parties and a school earlier this year. ||||| Niagara Regional Police have ruled out the “vast majority” of missing-persons cases they have reviewed across Canada related to their ongoing investigation into a female torso found in the Niagara River.
NRP Insp. Jim McCaffery said investigators looked into around 50 cases that matched the description of the victim, but most have not led police any closer to identifying who the torso belonged to.
“There are a couple we still need to clear, but we’re satisfied the vast majority of them do not meet the parameters,” McCaffery said during a press conference at NRP headquarters in St. Catharines Tuesday.
“We have met with our American policing partners who continue to review missing-persons reports in their jurisdiction. We have and will continue to follow up on investigative leads that have been forwarded to our tip line.”
The NRP continues to ask the public to forward any tips they may have, and have engaged New York State Police, which is currently reviewing missing-persons cases as well.
State Police Capt. Steven Nigrelli said they started by going through missing-persons cases in western New York, but have since expanded throughout the entire state and could go as far as other Great Lake and north-east states.
He said it’s only natural State Police would be involved, as the investigation surrounds a torso — minus limbs and a head — found in a river traversing both countries.
“There’s a good possibility this person may have entered the water from the United States,” said Nigrelli.
He said based on ongoing testing of the torso, his department keeps “excluding people who could be possible victims.”
“This is an arduous task and it’s ongoing at this time.”
During the press conference, McCaffery provided further information about the torso recovered from the Niagara River near the Rainbow Bridge last Wednesday.
Initial post-mortem results indicated the victim was a middle-aged, white female with a pierced navel. She had at least once caesarian section and her tubes were tied.
On Tuesday, McCaffery narrowed the victim’s age to between 31 and 55. He said the piercing was “closed off,” and that she had two caesarian sections.
Further testing continues at the Centre of Forensic Sciences and the Chief Coroner’s Office in Toronto.
McCaffery said he is not prepared to get into the cause of death, or the condition of the torso when it was found. He maintained the matter is a homicide and that “we are prepared to say that it was a dismemberment.”
He said police received between 15 to 20 tips from the public over the weekend, the vast majority from Niagara.
“People are calling in suspicious items, suspicious behaviour on the part of people they have seen in the community. Mostly that’s what we’re getting … and we will follow each one of them up and continue to do that.”
At this stage, what police really need is the public’s help, said McCaffery.
“We ask that you contact the female family members that you’ve not heard from recently. Contact co-workers who have not shown up to work to check on their welfare. Check on neighbours with unexplained absences,” he said.
“If you are not satisfied with the results you’re getting, please contact the (NRP) service for investigative followup. No tip is too small for us to follow up on.
Someone in the community knows who this person is. The identity of the individual is critical to this investigation.”
[email protected]
Twitter: @RaySpiteri
The victim | – Canadian authorities found a woman's torso floating at the bottom of Niagara Falls last Wednesday, and they suspect it may be a missing American, the AP reports. Police have classified the case as a homicide investigation, and “we are prepared to say that it was a dismemberment," says a Canadian police spokesman. Investigators have pored over 50 or so Canadian missing-person case files, but believe none "fits the parameters" of the discovered body, Niagara's regional police inspector tells the Niagara Falls Review. “We have met with our American policing partners who continue to review missing-persons reports in their jurisdiction," he says. State police have a begun a search through missing person records in New York, but may expand the investigation to other states. “There’s a good possibility this person entered the water from the US,” says a state police spokesman. The body, missing limbs and a head, is that of a middle-aged white female with a pierced navel. |
Breaking News National
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In a world first, Australian surgeons have successfully transplanted "dead" hearts into patients at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital.
The procedure, using hearts that had stopped beating, has been described as a "paradigm shift" that will herald a major increase in the pool of hearts available for transplantation.
It's predicted the breakthrough will save the lives of 30 per cent more heart transplant patients.
Until now, transplant units have relied solely on still-beating donor hearts from brain-dead patients.
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But the team at St Vincent's Hospital Heart Lung Transplant Unit announced on Friday they had transplanted three heart failure patients using donor hearts that had stopped beating for 20 minutes.
Two of them have recovered well, while the third, who recently undertook the procedure, is still in intensive care.
Cardiologist Prof Peter MacDonald said the donor hearts were housed in a portable console coined a "heart in a box".
Here they were submerged in a ground breaking preservation solution jointly developed by the hospital and the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute.
The hearts were then connected to a sterile circuit where they were kept beating and warm.
Cardiothoracic surgeon Assoc Prof Kumud Dhital, who performed the transplants with hearts donated after circulatory death (DCD), said he "kicked the air" when the first surgery was successful.
It was possible thanks to new technology, he said.
"The incredible development of the preservation solution with this technology of being able to preserve the heart, resuscitate it and to assess the function of the heart has made this possible," he told a press conference on Friday.
The first patient to have the surgery done was Michelle Gribilas.
The 57-year-old Sydney woman was suffering from congenital heart failure and had surgery about two months ago.
"I was very sick before I had it," she said.
"Now I'm a different person altogether.
"I feel like I'm 40 years old. I'm very lucky."
The second patient, Jan Damen, 43, also suffered from congenital heart failure and had surgery about a fortnight ago.
The father of three is still recovering at the hospital.
"I feel amazing," he said.
"I have to say I never thought I'd feel so privileged to wear the St Vincent's pyjamas.
"I'm just looking forward to getting back out into the real world."
The former carpenter said he often thinks about his donor.
"I do think about it, because without the donor I might not be here," he said.
"I'm not religious or spiritual but it's a wild thing to get your head around."
Prof MacDonald, the director of the Hospital's Heart Lung Transplant Unit, said the team had been working on this project for 20 years and intensively for the past four.
"We've been researching to see how long the heart can sustain this period in which it has stopped beating," he said.
"We then developed a technique for reactivating the heart in a so-called heart in a box machine.
"To do that we removed blood from the donor to prime the machine and then we take the heart out, connect it to the machine, warm it up and then it starts to beat."
The donor hearts were each housed in this machine for about four hours before transplantation, he said.
"Based on the performance of the heart on the machine we can then tell quite reliably whether this heart will work if we then go and transplant it.
"In many respects this breakthrough represents a major inroad to reducing the shortage of donor organs," he said. ||||| A woman who underwent surgery to have her lungs removed was kept alive artificially for six days until she regained enough strength to receive donor lungs, doctors at Toronto General Hospital said, calling the life-saving effort a world-first success.
Melissa Benoit, 33, was born with cystic fibrosis — a genetic disease that can cause phlegm buildup in the lungs and affect the digestive system. Last April, the Burlington, Ont., resident had a bout with influenza that required her to receive oxygen and then go into intensive care.
Burlington, Ont., resident Melissa Benoit was hours away from death last April when doctors at a Toronto hospital were given the go-ahead by her family to take the unprecedented step of removing her lungs and keeping her alive with state-of-the art technology. (University Health Network)
The bacteria in her lungs became resistant to most antibiotics and spread throughout her body, and she slid into septic shock — when an infection becomes serious enough for blood pressure to plummet and affect bodily functions. Her organs shut down despite life support systems running at maximum capacity.
As her oxygen levels and blood pressure dipped and her condition worsened, doctors told the family how they carefully weighed the risks.
"They pulled me back from the dead," Benoit said, also thanking her family at a hospital news conference on Wednesday.
She encouraged organ donation, saying it gave her a second chance to be a mom, daughter and niece.
"Foremost I have to thank my donor and my donor's family. Without them, whatever procedure the physicians would have performed would have been useless."
While risky, taking out her lungs removed the source of her sepsis problem, said Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, director of TGH's lung transplant program.
"It was her only option," Keshavjee said. "For the first time ever, we had a patient in our intensive care unit with no lungs. In fact, she technically was on an artificial lung, an artificial heart and an artificial kidney for six days."
Did not believe it
On a ventilator and in an induced coma, the mother of a three-year-old daughter had been unaware of how close she had come to dying or what doctors had done to save her life.
Before the transplant, the medical team put Benoit on two machines:
A Novalung to take the place of the lungs in infusing blood with oxygen while removing carbon dioxide.
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, to helped her heart pump blood through her body.
When she was first told she had lived without lungs, Benoit, a nurse, "thought it was a piece of science fiction."
"I did not believe my mom or my husband, the people that I trust the most that I had had a lung transplantation and I lived for six days on life support with an empty chest cavity," she said in an interview.
Living without lungs for six days saves a dying mom's life in #worldfirst: https://t.co/VF2eJz34mI @DrEricHoskins #onhealth #beadonor pic.twitter.com/xYOnD8iKAN — @UHN_News
Her muscles essentially became paralyzed from lack of use. As part of her recovery, Benoit had to relearn how to hold her head up, sit, move her hands, sit, stand and then walk.
Her husband, Christopher Benoit, said the family had come to accept her continuous coughing from cystic fibrosis as something in the background. Now when she coughs, "that's strange," he said.
Benoit said her biggest motivations were to see her daughter grow up and swim with her again, and to eat again after five months of being fed through a tube.
While no one knows her prognosis, she is delighted and thankful to the surgical team.
"I'm the first in the world that they've tried this on. I'll be the first in the world to see how long we live," Benoit said.
Her mother, Sue Dupuis, also can't believe it all.
"All I heard was one per cent chance we can save her life," Dupuis recalled. "I still can't believe it. I still can't believe [when] I see her X-rays with no lungs, it's like it happened to another family."
"I still have a hard time believing it happened to us and to Melissa, because she looks great."
The surgical team's report on the case is published in Wednesday's issue of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. | – For 20 years, the heart transplant unit at Sydney's St. Vincent's Hospital has been working hard to figure out a way to transplant a dead heart into a live patient. Today doctors from the team announced their work had paid off: They have successfully completed three transplants using hearts that had stopped beating for 20 minutes—said to be the first such transplants in the world, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Two of the patients are already up and about, while the most recent recipient is still recovering in intensive care. Heart transplants typically rely on organs taken from brain-dead donors whose hearts are still beating; the Herald reports the new development could save 30% more lives. The surgeon who performed the operations says he "kicked the air" after he realized the first surgery had gone well. The secret to their success lies in cutting-edge technology and the preservation solution in which the nonbeating hearts are immersed. The heart is first placed in a special "heart in a box" machine that warms it up and keeps it beating for about four hours before the transplant operation. The preservation solution, which alone took 12 years to develop, minimizes damage to the organ after it has stopped beating and helps ensure it both survives the surgery and functions in the recipient's body, Sky News reports. Michelle Gribilas, a 57-year-old who had congestive heart failure, tells the Herald that she was "very sick" before having the operation two months ago, and "now I'm a different person altogether. I feel like I'm 40 years old." (This woman wants to live out her heart donor's bucket list.) |
WASHINGTON—The federal government is on track to forgive at least $108 billion in student debt in coming years, as more and more borrowers seek help in paying down their loans, leading to lower revenues for the nation’s program to finance higher education.
The Government Accountability Office disclosed the sum Wednesday in a report to Congress which for the first time projected the full costs of programs that set borrowers’ monthly payments as a share of their earnings and eventually forgive portions of their debt.
The GAO report also sharply criticized the government’s accounting methods for its $1.26 trillion student-loan portfolio, pointing to flaws that have led it to alter projected revenues significantly over the years. The government says it still expects the program to generate a profit over the long term, but it has repeatedly trimmed expectations for revenues.
President Barack Obama has promoted income-driven repayment plans—passed by Congress in the 1990s and 2000s—to stem a sharp rise in borrowers defaulting on their loans since the recession. Enrollment in such plans has more than tripled over the past three years to 5.3 million borrowers, who owe roughly $269 billion, according to Education Department statistics cited by the GAO.
A new federal report shows that the government is expected to forgive at least $108 billion in student debt in the coming years. The relief is part of an Obama administration plan to help borrowers, but is proving costly. WSJ's Lee Hawkins explains.
Ted Mitchell, undersecretary at the Education Department, said such programs “are helping millions of borrowers successfully manage loan repayment, particularly those for whom standard repayment may prove challenging.”
He added that the administration has proposed changes to reduce costs. Mr. Obama, for example, has called for capping how much debt public-service workers can have forgiven.
The most generous version of income-driven repayments caps a borrower’s monthly payment at 10% of discretionary income, which is defined as adjusted gross income above 150% of the poverty level.
That formula typically lowers monthly payments of borrowers by hundreds of dollars. Public-service workers—those employed by a government agency or at most nonprofits—have balances forgiven after 10 years, tax-free. Private-sector workers have balances forgiven in 20 or 25 years, with the forgiven amount taxed as ordinary income.
President-elect Donald Trump said during his campaign he supported the idea of helping student-loan borrowers. He has proposed setting payments at 12.5% of income and forgiving balances after 15 years. He has also suggested winding down the federal student loan program and shifting lending to the private sector.
Growing evidence suggests many of the most hard-pressed borrowers—college dropouts who owe less than $10,000—aren’t taking advantage of the programs, while workers with graduate degrees, such as doctors and lawyers who don’t necessarily need help, are.
The figures that the GAO cites suggest the average balance of borrowers in income-driven repayment plans stands at roughly $51,000. That sum suggests a disproportionate share of those benefiting from the plans are graduate-degree holders. Undergraduate borrowers owe about $30,000, on average, upon graduation, other research shows, and the government caps lifetime borrowing from federal programs for undergraduates at $57,500. It doesn’t limit how much grad students can borrow. And graduate-degree holders typically have higher incomes and have low rates of unemployment, Labor Department data show.
There are still about 8 million Americans in default on their student loans, and the number of defaults among borrowers who recently left school has come down only slowly.
Meanwhile, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R., Wyo.), who ordered the GAO study, has criticized the Obama administration’s use of executive authority to sweeten terms of the repayment plans, which he said would add to the national debt.
“This Administration has been manipulating the terms of the student loan program without the consent of Congress, while shirking its statutory duty to carefully assess the cost impact of those changes,” Mr. Enzi said in a statement, adding that he was considering legislation to force changes in the government’s accounting methods.
Some outside academics say it is increasingly likely that the projected surpluses of the federal student loan portfolio—which has more than doubled over the past decade—won’t materialize. “I’m not at all confident that the federal government will end up making money on student loans,” said Robert Kelchen, an assistant professor of higher education at Seton Hall University.
In addition to debt forgiveness under income-driven repayment programs, the administration is also moving to forgive loans for borrowers who can show they were lured to enroll at schools—mostly for-profit colleges—that used deceptive advertising.
Students at the Rutgers University graduation ceremonies in Piscataway, N.J., in May. Photo: Mel Evans/Associated Press
Income-driven repayment plans are also causing concern that as more students become aware of the benefits, they will become less sensitive to tuition increases, enabling universities continually to raise tuition ultimately at taxpayer expense. Higher education costs have increased by an average of 5.2% a year in the past decade, far faster than inflation, which has been running at under 2%.
And some borrowers with graduate-school loans are refinancing their debt at lower interest rates with private lenders such as SoFi. Congress, through legislation, has set higher interest rates for grad students than undergrads, to ensure the programs don’t lose money. When private lenders pick off those borrowers, the surpluses dwindle.
The GAO estimates $137 billion owed under income-driven repayments won’t be repaid. Most of it—the $108 billion disclosed Wednesday—would be forgiven because of borrowers fulfilling their obligations under the plans. The other $29 billion will be written off because of disability or death, the GAO projects, the only other circumstances under which the government takes a loan off its books. The government can garnish wages and Social Security checks for those in default.
And that $108 billion only covers loans made through the current fiscal year. The overall sum could continue to grow alongside enrollment increases. The GAO said it could take 40 years to know the full costs of the programs.
Still, supporters say the plans offer a lifeline to borrowers who are unemployed or earning little, while the Obama administration has credited the programs with leading to a reduction in the number of new graduates defaulting on their loans.
Supporters point out that under current law, any amount forgiven would be taxed as ordinary income for private-sector workers, limiting the benefits for individuals. Public-sector workers aren’t taxed on forgiveness.
The GAO report also criticizes how the Education Department has produced budget estimates for the loan program. For example, it said the department has failed to account for inflation when estimating borrowers’ future earnings. And it said the agency failed to account for further increases in enrollment in income-driven repayment plans.
Write to Josh Mitchell at [email protected]
Corrections & Amplifications:
Borrowers enrolled in plans that forgive student debt owe an average of about $51,000 and a combined $269 billion, according to Education Department statistics cited by the Government Accountability Office. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said these borrowers owed an average $67,000 and a combined $355 billion. (Dec. 2, 2016) ||||| The Education Department drastically underestimated the cost of the government's income-driven repayment plans for student loans in its original estimates, the Government Accountability Office said in a highly critical report Wednesday.
The GAO report finds that estimates of the cost to the government of income-driven repayment plans -- which eventually discharge a student's remaining debt after 20 years or more of payments -- has jumped from $28 billion to $53 billion for student loans issued from 2009 to 2016. And it found that nearly a third of student loan debt expected to be repaid via income-driven repayments ($108 billion) will be forgiven by the federal government through programs such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
Observers of federal financial aid policy said those numbers -- and the apparent inability of the department to estimate the cost of student loan programs -- could provide new ammunition to Republican lawmakers looking to target expensive student aid programs to rein in costs, if not drastically downsize the department itself. The GAO investigated the costs of the income-driven repayment program at the request of Wyoming Republican Mike Enzi, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.
The Obama administration made enrolling student loan borrowers in income-driven repayment plans a major tool for assisting borrowers struggling with student loan debt. The original income-driven repayment program predated the administration, but the Obama Department of Education oversaw the addition of several new, more generous repayment programs. And it ramped up efforts to enroll student borrowers in those programs as total outstanding loan debt ballooned in recent years.
On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump spoke favorably about income-driven repayment plans, saying in one speech that “students should not be asked to pay more on their loans than they can afford.” He proposed in a speech a repayment program that would be even more generous than the programs already available to student loan borrowers.
Data released by the Department of Education this year indicated that those programs have seen steady increases in enrollment. Almost 4.6 million federal direct borrowers had enrolled in income-driven repayment plans by December 2015 -- up 48 percent from 2014 and 140 percent from 2013. As of June, 5.3 million borrowers had enrolled in one of those plans.
But according to the GAO’s report, the cost of each successive loan cohort has been greater than the one that preceded it since 2012. And the fiscal 2017 cohort of student loans is expected to carry a cost five times that of the 2012 cohort.
The higher-than-expected costs of income-driven repayment are a result of multiple flaws in the cost estimate methods used by the department, according to the report:
The department assumed no existing student borrowers would switch to income-driven plans.
Until 2015, the department assumed no borrowers of Graduate PLUS loans, which are uncapped, would switch to income-driven plans.
The department’s estimates assumed no growth in enrollment, even as the Obama administration was seeking to enroll two million additional borrowers in the plans.
The GAO concludes that the department has consistently underestimated the value of subsidies going to income-driven repayment plans in each year. It also reports that the cost estimates used by the Department of Education lack appropriate transparency.
Alexander Holt, a policy analyst with the education policy program at New America, said the report showed the department has no business being involved in budgeting the repayment program.
“This is insane incompetence,” he said. “If you go through the report, there are just basic things that they missed or that they didn’t do.”
Jason Delisle, a resident fellow who specializes in higher ed finance at the American Enterprise Institute, said the report was a vote of no confidence in the department’s abilities to estimate what income-driven repayment will cost taxpayers.
“Really what the GAO is saying is that the Obama administration’s expansion of this program has been done without good information about the effects,” Delisle said.
Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell said income-driven repayment plans are helping millions of borrowers successfully manage loan repayment, particularly those who find standard repayment challenging.
“IDR plans also help keep borrowers from financial strain and reduce default, which can wreak havoc on struggling families' credit rating and ability to get back on their feet,” Mitchell said in a statement. “The Department of Education has proposed several common-sense reforms that would reduce costs by about $49 billion over 10 years, and taken action to protect students and taxpayers from colleges that are failing students by leaving them with unaffordable debt and poor employment outcomes, ensuring they either improve or risk losing access to the federal student aid programs.”
The Department of Education oversees a $1.3 trillion loan portfolio and $150 billion annually in new loans. Jessica Thompson, the policy and research director at the Institute for College Access and Success, said it was important to put the numbers in the report in that context. Thompson said income-driven repayment programs were designed to be a safety net for students who couldn’t repay their loan debt after many years. She also said the GAO report showed important fixes that the Department of Education could make in its cost estimates.
Policy experts have criticized the administration’s changes to the program for making income-driven plans more generous to graduate student borrowers, who have some of the highest volumes of student loan debt but are best positioned to pay off their student loans. Income-driven plans are the basis for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which goes into effect next year. And a large proportion of loan debt being repaid through income-driven plans is driven by the Graduate PLUS program or graduate Stafford loans, Delisle said.
It’s possible that Republican lawmakers looking to tackle the costs associated with the programs could take steps like capping the amount of loan debt that can be taken out for graduate studies, eliminating Public Service Loan Forgiveness or otherwise limiting student borrowing.
A spokeswoman for Tennessee Republican Senator Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Senate education committee, said the GAO report raises concerns about the costs of income-driven repayment programs.
“In the upcoming Higher Education Act reauthorization, Senator Alexander looks forward to working with Senator Enzi and committee Republicans and Democrats on re-evaluating, simplifying and better targeting these repayment plans to reduce these costs and better protect the taxpayer, while still providing a manageable repayment option for borrowers,” the spokeswoman said. ||||| The White House and the Mall seen from the Hay-Adams Hotel in Washington. (Oliver Contreras for The Washington Post)
The price tag on a popular student loan repayment program is far larger than Education Department estimates, the Government Accountability Office said Wednesday. The GAO pegged the true cost at about $108 billion and called the Education Department’s accounting unreliable.
[What you need to know about Obama’s latest student loan plan before enrolling]
To help people manage their student loans, the Obama administration has expanded programs that cap monthly payments to a percentage of earnings and eventually forgives the balance. Enrollment in these income-driven repayment plans is soaring and so is the cost, but the government’s budget estimates are not keeping pace, an oversight that fuels criticism of a federal policy that conservatives say has become far too expensive.
Current budget estimates for income-driven plans are more than double what was originally expected for loans made in fiscal 2009 through 2016, climbing from $25 billion to $53 billion, according to the GAO report. The growth is primarily a result of the rising volume of loans in the plans, but researchers at the GAO say faulty projections from education officials may cause costs to be over- or understated by billions of dollars.
[Lowering student debt payments is costing taxpayers billions of dollars]
“Some uncertainty is unavoidable when anticipating long-term loan costs,” the GAO wrote, “but we found numerous shortcomings in Education’s estimation approach and quality control practices that call into question the reliability of its budget estimates and affect the quality of information Congress has to make informed budget decisions.”
The report takes issue with education officials’ assumption that borrowers’ incomes will not grow with inflation, which could lower estimated costs by more than $17 billion. The model also fails to account for people switching in or out of the plans in the future, which frequently happens when they have to certify their income to remain in the program each year.
In a letter to the GAO, Amy McIntosh, a deputy assistant secretary in the Education Department, said the agency has been working with Treasury to revise its estimates and agreed that there is room for improvement. The department in its annual budget report said the money being repaid through other student loan programs offsets some of the expense of the income-driven plans.
“The life cycle of a student loan is exceedingly complex, with a multitude of projection paths and outcomes,” McIntosh wrote. “We are constantly seeking to enhance and refine our cost estimation models.”
Still, she noted that the decisions made, and critiqued in the report, were “based on existing staff and system resources available, assessed impact and consideration for conservatism.” The observation calls into question whether the government agency is capable of managing a multibillion-dollar program that is projected to grow.
“Reading between the lines of the GAO report makes it sound like the Department of Education … has got one or two staff with a 30-year-old computer or maybe index cards trying to figure out costs,” said Jason Delisle, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. “You need to hire a firm that is skilled at estimating the value of financial securities to tell you what these loans are worth and what they’ll cost taxpayers.”
As it stands, there are 5.3 million people enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan with about $353 billion in outstanding student loans. Although the government has let people repay education debt based on their income for the past 20 years, few took advantage until the Obama administration expanded the number of options and eligibility. Plans are designed to prevent borrowers from defaulting on their loans and ruining their credit.
“This is a way that we can ensure that graduates are fulfilling their basic responsibility to repay the government for the money that they borrowed,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Wednesday. “But we want to make sure that when students graduate, that they’re not saddled with so much debt that they’re essentially penalized financially for pursuing college education opportunities.”
The GAO estimates that $215 billion, or 61 percent of the debt in income-driven plans, will be paid in full. Another $108 billion will be forgiven, with the remaining $29 billion discharged because of death or disability. But those estimates are only for loans made from 1995 to 2017. As more people sign up, the cost of the program will soar.
“At a time when our nation is facing a mammoth national debt, the Department of Education has expanded a student loan program that will cost twice as much as originally estimated,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), who requested the GAO study, said in a statement. “This administration has been manipulating the terms of the student loan program without the consent of Congress, while shirking its statutory duty to carefully assess the cost impact of those changes.”
Enzi said at the very least there needs to be greater transparency in the way education officials calculate costs, but his office said he is not calling for any major changes to the repayment plans at the moment.
Congressional Republicans have called President Obama’s expansion of the repayment program fiscally irresponsible and pushed for dialing back eligibility. Even Obama has proposed limiting forgiveness for graduate students. Yet President-elect Donald Trump has said he would lower the period of repayment, a move that will probably raise the cost for taxpayers.
[Trump just laid out a pretty radical student debt plan]
“As the Trump administration comes into power they need to take a measured approach that develops a program that is well targeted to the neediest borrowers,” said Michelle Asha Cooper, president of the Institute for Higher Education Policy. “Regardless of who’s in power, the issue of college affordability is a real problem, and while these plans are helpful, they are not a solution.”
Want to read more about the student loans? Check out these stories:
A guide to paying off your student loans
Student debt relief scams are on the rise. Here’s how this government official plans to stop it.
The Obama administration’s plan to lower the student debt payments of millions more Americans | – A new report out of the Government Accountability Office reveals that the federal government will forgive at least $108 billion in student loan debt in the coming years, a higher amount than official estimates out of the federal government's Education Department, the Washington Post reports. The GAO report, which Inside Higher Ed says is "highly critical," looked at the federal government's income-driven repayment plans, which cap borrowers' monthly payments based on their income and, in some cases, ultimately forgive the balance of the debt entirely. Currently, $355 billion is owed under income-driven repayment plans, and the GAO report found that $137 billion of that will never be repaid. Of that, $108 billion will be forgiven under the terms of the plans, and $29 billion will be written off due to disability or death. Those amounts only cover loans made through the current school year, the Wall Street Journal reports. Income-driven repayment plans were passed by Congress in the 1990s and 2000s, but the Obama administration beefed some of them up and increased efforts to enroll people in them; currently 5.3 million borrowers are enrolled. The GAO report could offer ammunition to congressional Republicans looking to trim such programs in an attempt to rein in costs. "Really what the GAO is saying is that the Obama administration’s expansion of this program has been done without good information about the effects," says one higher-ed finance expert. |
Prince George’s County sheriff’s deputies have evicted a Fort Washington couple who spent years fighting the foreclosure of their million-dollar house.
Keith and Janet Ritter did not make a single mortgage payment on the showcase home along the Potomac River after buying it at the end of 2006.
Sheriff’s deputies showed up at the house Wednesday morning with an eviction order issued last week by the county Circuit Court. The order had been sought by Kondaur Capital Corp., a California firm that buys foreclosed properties and now owns the house.
The Ritters could not be reached for comment.
During the real estate boom, the Ritters earned six-figure incomes by flipping houses — buying and reselling rapidly. Most of their activity was in the Fort Washington area. The Ritters ran into financial trouble once the housing bubble burst. They had said previously that they did not make payments because they were scrambling to save other investment properties from foreclosure.
The mortgage on the million-dollar house passed through several lenders, at least two of which tried to foreclose. The Ritters held them off with repeated bankruptcy filings in different states, temporarily halting the foreclosure process. They also benefited from a national moratorium on foreclosures following the
robo-signing scandal and from Maryland’s unusually long foreclosure process, one of the most protracted in the nation.
Attorneys for Kondaur successfully foreclosed on the house late last year and obtained an eviction order in December. In March, after an article about the couple appeared in The Washington Post, sheriff’s deputies pulled up to the house but had to leave because of another last-minute bankruptcy filing by Janet Ritter. Kondaur’s lawyers last week secured the court order that allowed the eviction to go forward.
The Ritters had filled their home with art and furnishings. One witness to the eviction said it took the entire day to remove the couple’s belongings.
By Friday afternoon, the front door sported a new lock and a real estate lock box. There were bits of debris strewn about outside — clothing hangers, paint cans, a dog crate filled with rocks and “For Rent” and “For Sale” signs. A cream-colored Mercedes with a flat tire was parked outside the garage, where it has been for several months. The driveway was also sprinkled with broken glass. One front window on the ground floor appeared to have been vandalized.
Neighbors in the small development of custom-built, high-end homes were reluctant to talk to a reporter about the eviction. One man, who did not give his name, said, “This is reality.” ||||| The eviction from their million-dollar home could come at any moment. Keith and Janet Ritter have been bracing for it — and battling against it — almost from the moment they moved into the five-bedroom, 4,900-square-foot manse along the Potomac River in Fort Washington.
In five years, they have never made a mortgage payment, a fact that amazes even the most seasoned veterans of the foreclosure crisis.
The Ritters have kept the sheriff at bay by repeatedly filing for bankruptcy and by exploiting changes in Maryland’s laws designed to help delinquent homeowners avoid foreclosure.
Those efforts to protect homeowners have transformed Maryland’s foreclosure process from one of the country’s shortest to one of the longest. It now takes on average 634 days to complete a foreclosure in Maryland, compared with 132 days in Virginia.
Champions of Maryland’s system, including Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), credit it with driving down the state’s foreclosure rate and helping thousands of victims of predatory lending, fraud and other abuses hang on to their homes.
“The market won’t fix itself,” said Anne Norton, Maryland’s deputy commissioner for financial regulations. “By the time it does, how many homeowners will be churned up and spit out by the machine?”
Critics, including economists and lenders, blame the state’s go-slow approach for a growing backlog of foreclosures and a weak-to-nonexistent recovery in home prices. To them, the system puts too much emphasis on helping individual homeowners and not enough on quickly clearing the market of foreclosures so prices can rebound and hard-hit communities can recover. And they say it also creates opportunities for abuse by those determined to drag the process out for as long as possible.
“How is it people can stay in a house for five years without ever making a mortgage payment?” said Thomas A. Lawler, a former senior vice president at Fannie Mae who now runs his own consulting firm in Loudoun County. “That’s a screwed-up process. It’s an example of how the process is broken.”
The Ritters, who bought their house for $1.29 million with almost no money down, are hardly representative of the vast majority of Maryland’s distressed homeowners.
During the boom, they set out to become mini real estate moguls, buying properties and flipping them for a profit. In the process, Keith Ritter, 54, went from being on probation for bankruptcy fraud and making minimum wage to being a successful real estate investor and landlord with a six-figure income. Then, when the housing market tanked five years ago, the couple found themselves facing multiple foreclosures.
The Ritters have tried to negotiate different payment arrangements with their lender to save their posh home near National Harbor, they said, but to no avail.
“It was never our intention to get here and never make a mortgage payment,” Keith Ritter said. “We don’t believe in living for free.”
But he and Janet, a 51-year-old real estate agent, make no apology for using every tactic available to them to stay in their house, including challenging the foreclosure sale in court, requesting mediation and claiming they had a tenant living with them. Their adversaries, they argued, are giant financial institutions with armies of lawyers that are out to make as much money as possible at the expense of homeowners.
“When a bank does all it can to save itself, that’s good business,” Keith said. “When a homeowner does the same thing, he’s called a deadbeat.”
Reprieve after reprieve
For a guy who has lost much of his wealth and is on the verge of getting booted from his home, Keith Ritter is oddly calm. He says things such as, “No matter what happens, we are at peace” and likes to quote Scripture.
He and Janet pray daily, read the Bible, attend Pentecostal services and are reliable tithers. Their faith fuels their hope that they can somehow stave off eviction. But they also keep the sheriff’s office on speed dial. Keith calls the number every few days, always with the same question: “Do you have a date for us yet?”
By now, he recognizes the voices that answer the phone at the sheriff’s office. They keep the conversation brief.
No, nothing yet. Another reprieve.
Ritter’s composure in the face of eviction may be due to the fact that he has survived worse. A native of Detroit, he settled in the Washington area after college and started a successful company cleaning commercial buildings. Through his business, he got interested in real estate.
“I saw real estate as the way to wealth,” Ritter said.
By the 1990s, he was buying up properties in Northern Virginia, and he quickly learned that making money in real estate can be harder than it looks.
“I made a lot of mistakes,” he said.
According to federal prosecutors and court records, Ritter bought real estate and then put the properties in the names of family members. When he fell behind on mortgage payments, he filed for bankruptcy protection in his relatives’ names in various jurisdictions to stop foreclosure proceedings. Then he tried to get the bankruptcy filings dismissed without telling the mortgage lenders. He pleaded guilty in 2000 to bankruptcy fraud and was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison in Petersburg, Va., where he wrote the first of three books about his deepening faith, “Life From the Inside.”
“I’ve always loved God,” Ritter said. “I haven’t always obeyed God, but I’ve always loved him.”
When he got out of prison, he spent two years on probation, working at a Sears to pay $10,000 in court-ordered restitution.
By the time his probation ended in 2004, the housing boom was underway. He and Janet settled in Fort Washington, an affluent, fast-growing community south of the Beltway.
The Ritters started out in a $360,000, 2,300-square-foot house with a circular driveway and a pool. As its value skyrocketed, the couple borrowed against it to buy other properties in Fort Washington that they would fix up and then sell. They were convinced that National Harbor, a massive planned hotel, retail and convention center complex, would raise home values.
At one point, they owned seven properties. In 2004, the run-up in prices was so steep that the Ritters grossed more than $200,000 in six months, off two deals. In 2006, they made close to that amount with a single sale.
The couple, who have no children, began driving Mercedes-Benz sedans and taking trips to Europe and the Middle East. They also donated $6,000 to a church in Springfield, court records show.
Ritter said he began to worry in 2006, when a few deals started falling through because the buyers could not get financing. He started looking into buying a restaurant, where he could showcase his wife’s cooking. Then a real estate agent friend came by, saying, “I’ve got a house for you.”
The custom-built property, on three-quarters of an acre on Riverview Road, was a showstopper, with Palladian windows, high ceilings and a gabled roof. Inside, French patio doors led to a magnificent sunroom. The dining room had red walls, a tray ceiling and a chandelier the original owner had brought back from Prague. Upstairs, the master bedroom had a sitting area and a three-way fireplace. The windows surrounding the tub in the master bath offered incredible views of the Potomac. And the house next door had sold for $1.7 million.
The Ritters were not sure they could afford the million-dollar-plus price tag until they were approved by Realty Mortgage Corp., a now-defunct Mississippi lender, for $1 million. Another lender covered the down payment.
The couple called their new residence “God’s house” because, as Keith Ritter put it, “that’s the only way we could have been approved for a loan.”
They did not get to revel in their good fortune for long. By the time they moved in at the end of 2006, home prices had begun their disastrous free fall.
The housing crash
The market soured with ferocious speed. Between 2006 and 2008, housing prices in Prince George’s County fell 17 percent while the number of properties in foreclosure surged from 3,094 to 32,338, according to a state report. Housing counselors went from seeing one homeowner behind on a mortgage a week to seeing 10 a day.
For the Ritters, the housing crash was a catastrophe. The couple still owned five properties, four of which they had rented out.
But falling home values meant they could not refinance the mortgages, some of which carried adjustable rates. Pretty soon the rents they were charging were not covering the mortgages. Janet Ritter’s sales commissions started to dry up, along with other sources of income. By the time the first mortgage payment of almost $7,600 on the Riverview Road house was due in January 2007, they faced a decision: which properties to save.
“Do we put the money we had left in this one? Or is it better to spread it to the others?” Keith Ritter recalled wondering.
They chose the latter course, expecting to be able to catch up on the Riverview Road payments later. But that didn’t happen.
The first foreclosure against the Riverview Road house was filed in 2007. By that time, Realty Mortgage no longer owned their loan, which would change hands at least two more times. The foreclosure case was brought by lawyers representing Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, or MERS, the controversial electronic mortgage registry that some lenders used as a proxy to initiate foreclosures. But the proceedings ground to a halt the next year after Janet Ritter filed for bankruptcy protection. The bankruptcy case was later dismissed at her request.
Meanwhile, the couple’s rental properties and previous residence, which they had held on to, were also facing foreclosure.
In 2009, the year foreclosure proceedings began on their old house on Clay Drive, Keith Ritter filed for bankruptcy twice. Both bankruptcy cases were later dismissed, but they managed to disrupt the foreclosure of the Clay Drive home three separate times. The property was even sold on the courthouse steps in Upper Marlboro in spring 2010. However, a county circuit court judge later declared the sale invalid because the bankruptcy case was still active when the sale took place.
Ritter defended his tactics.
“Anytime anyone tries to take your home,” he said, “you are going to use the legal system to save it.”
Only they didn’t save it. In 2010, the Riverview Road house went into foreclosure for the second time shortly after Kondaur Capital, a California company that buys and services troubled home loans, purchased the note from Morgan Stanley.
Talks with Kondaur began. The Ritters initially agreed to a short sale, with a starting sales price of $1 million that was later dropped to $799,000. The house did not get any takers.
At different times, the couple said, they offered to make payments, but they said Kondaur turned them down, preferring to foreclose. Kondaur did not return calls and e-mails asking for comment. The company’s attorney, Robert Hillman, also declined to discuss the case.
The Ritters then asked for a remedy that had just been approved by Maryland lawmakers to help distressed homeowners: mediation.
“Defendant(s), humbly prays that the Honorable Judge, will recognize that this process, written into law by Governor O’Malley was to prevent just this situation, whereby the note holder can . . . trample on the rights of the homeowner,” Keith Ritter wrote in a December 2010 mediation request.
When the mediation day arrived in April, however, the Ritters were not there. They later said that, because of a mailing address mix-up, they never got the necessary paperwork. They complained that they were denied mediation, but Prince George’s Circuit Court Judge Thomas P. Smith ordered the house sold.
Janet Ritter filed for bankruptcy, this time in Georgia, where the couple owned another house that was later lost to foreclosure. The foreclosure on the Riverview Road house was stopped again until that bankruptcy was dismissed, too. The house finally went on the auction block in July, and Kondaur bought it back for $552,500, a common industry practice.
The Ritters immediately challenged the sale in court. Judge Smith ratified the sale. The couple then said they had a tenant living with them, potentially triggering recently passed state and federal laws that prohibit tenants from being tossed out when their landlords are foreclosed on. Kondaur’s attorneys again demanded possession of the house, usually the last step before eviction. A hearing was set for mid-December.
The day of the hearing, the hallway outside the courtroom buzzed with speculation that the couple in the million-dollar home had finally reached the end of the road.
Hillman, the Kondaur attorney, arrived first. As he placed his briefcase on the plaintiff’s table, he said to the few people seated inside the courtroom, “It’s old me — the underdog.”
The Ritters arrived soon after to represent themselves. The tenant, whom the judge had ordered to appear, was a no-show.
Janet Ritter argued that Kondaur had no right to foreclose, because it could not prove it owned the note on the house. She said some of the paperwork documenting the mortgage’s many transfers from one pool of mortgages to another was fraudulent because it had been “robosigned,” a legacy of hasty processing during the boom in which foreclosure-mill employees signed thousands of documents without reading them. Such errors have been sufficient to halt foreclosures in other states. And widespread evidence of robosigning led to a recent $25 billion settlement with several major banks on behalf of hundreds of thousands of homeowners. But in Maryland, the courts have ruled that if the lender can provide records of a note’s history, and how it came to possess it, it has the right to foreclose, even if the records weren’t properly endorsed.
In response to Janet Ritter’s argument, Hillman held up an original copy of the note, with Keith Ritter’s signature in blue ink.
Judge Smith awarded Kondaur possession of the property. Two days later, Kondaur filed for eviction. The Ritters knew it was only a matter of time before the sheriff showed up at their door to deliver it.
A long-shot hope
On a rainy Wednesday in February, Keith Ritter stood in front of a foreclosed brick house a few miles from his home on Riverview Road. On the garage door, the county had posted a notice that said the property needed to be cleaned.
Ritter, dressed in jeans, a knit cap and a jacket, had come to clear the house as part of his new business, Beat It Movers, which cleans and maintains foreclosed homes so they can be sold. Ritter gets the irony of working for some of the same banks that have foreclosed on him. But he has to make money somehow.
“All I know is real estate,” he said.
The job took only 30 minutes. Afterward, Ritter decided to stop at another house nearby that he and Janet bought in 2006. It was also in foreclosure, although it had not been auctioned yet.
The tenant had moved out about two months earlier, and the house was empty except for a leather sectional just off the kitchen. The beeping sound of smoke detectors with dead batteries pierced the air at regular intervals. Ritter and the other men went inside to bring out the couch.
Being able to clear out your own house is a luxury, and far better than the alternative. Ritter dreads coming home to Riverview Road to find his belongings — the fine furniture and framed artwork, his wife’s designer shoes — spread out on the front lawn.
“People think, because you haven’t paid, you must be a bad person. But not everything is black and white,” Ritter said. “A lot of things happen between the lines.”
Ritter still thinks he can work something out to save his house. He is trying to persuade an investor to buy the house from Kondaur and then sell it back to them. It’s a long shot, and Ritter said he has been praying a lot. In January, he fasted for 30 days “for spiritual cleansing and guidance,” he said.
He has found solace in his Bible, especially a passage from Matthew that he has bracketed in black ink from the parable of the unforgiving servant.
“At this the servant fell on his knees before him,” the passage reads. “ ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ ”
Staff researchers Jennifer Jenkins and Magda Jean-Louis contributed to this report. | – After buying their million-dollar house in 2006, a Maryland couple never made a single mortgage payment; now they've been evicted after a long struggle, reports the Washington Post. Keith and Janet Ritter made a fortune, temporarily, buying and flipping homes during the housing bubble, and they bought their $1.3 million home with no money down, according to a previous article in the Post. Then they lost much of their wealth when the bubble burst and have been fighting eviction ever since. Though two mortgage lenders attempted to foreclose on the home, the couple managed to avoid such a fate for years thanks to multiple bankruptcy filings across several states. Maryland also has one of the country's longest foreclosure processes. California property buyer Kondaur Capital finally got an eviction order in December. Police attempted to evict the Ritters in March but were barred by another bankruptcy filing; this week's successful eviction follows a court order last week. |
Federal court orders disgraced wellness blogger to pay penalty after she sold a cookbook and app after claiming to have cured cancer naturally
The disgraced wellness blogger Belle Gibson has been ordered by the federal court in Melbourne to repay $410,000 to the state of Victoria.
For the past few months the court had been struggling to decide on an appropriate penalty for Gibson, after she sold thousands of copies of her cookbook and wellness app off the back of false claims she cured numerous cancers through following a healthy lifestyle.
'None of it’s true': wellness blogger Belle Gibson admits she never had cancer Read more
The 25-year-old has failed to show up to court since proceedings brought against her by Consumer Affairs Victoria began last year and has also not responded to evidence before the court or submitted her own.
Consumer Affairs Victoria brought the case, and its legal counsel told federal court justice Debra Mortimer on Thursday morning that Gibson could face a maximum penalty of $1.1m for contravening five consumer laws.
But in June Mortimer said there was no point in issuing a significant fine against a person or company if they had no means of paying that penalty. In making her order on Thursday, Mortimer said Gibson would be able to pay the penalty in instalments.
Gibson’s product, The Whole Pantry, included a website, mobile phone app and recipe book of the same name. Her story of shunning conventional medicine and curing herself with food began to fall apart in 2015 when it was revealed she had not made thousands of dollars in charity donations she promised off the back of money raised through her success.
In an interview with the Australian Women’s Weekly in 2016, Gibson admitted she never had cancer at all, saying: “None of it’s true.”
On Monday night Mortimer said her executive assistant had received an email from Gibson in response to notification that the penalty would be handed down on Thursday. Gibson simply responded: “Thank you for your update. Confirming receipt of your email. Much appreciated, Belle.” She was not present in court for the judgment.
Belle Gibson mimicked countless fake healers. They aren't delusional | Ranjana Srivastava Read more
Mortimer ordered Gibson to pay a penalty of $90,000 for her false claims that she would make donations for the sale of her app; $90,000 for false claims her company would make charity donations; $50,000 for false claims that following her app launch she would donate to charity; $150,000 for false claims that she would make donations to the Schwartz family, whose son suffered brain cancer; and $30,000 for false claims that she would donate to charity off the back of a Mother’s Day event.
“I note also that Ms Gibson has already been ordered to pay a percentage of the director’s [of Consumer Affairs Victoria] legal costs of this proceeding, fixed at $30,000,” Mortimer’s judgment read.
“If Ms Gibson were to actually pay the pecuniary penalties imposed (whether by instalments or otherwise), in the court’s respectful opinion … it may be appropriate for consideration to be given to whether there is a mechanism by which some or all of the funds can be donated to some or all of the organisations, and people, Ms Gibson had promised would receive donations.
“In that way, some good might still come for the vulnerable people, and the organisations supporting them, which were indirectly drawn into this unconscionable sequence of events.” ||||| Image copyright 9 News / 60 Minutes Image caption Belle Gibson falsely claimed alternative therapies helped her beat cancer after conventional medicine failed
An Australian wellness blogger who falsely claimed to have cancer has been fined A$410,000 (£240,000, $322,000) for misleading her readers.
Belle Gibson, 25, gained fame in Australia after she claimed to have beaten brain cancer using natural remedies and nutrition.
She launched a successful app and cookbook, but later admitted the diagnosis was made up.
Ms Gibson was found guilty of five breaches of consumer law in March.
A judge at the time said Ms Gibson may have "genuinely" believed what she was saying, and might have suffered from "delusions" about her health.
She did not attend the Federal Court of Australia in Melbourne on Thursday to hear the penalty handed down.
'Pitching' for sympathy
Ms Gibson built a social media empire off claims she had cured her cancer with Ayurvedic medicine, oxygen therapy and a gluten and refined sugar-free diet.
"Her 'pitch' overwhelmingly used groups likely to evoke sympathy because of their vulnerabilities - young girls, asylum seekers, sick children," Justice Debbie Mortimer said in March.
Ms Gibson's app and cookbook, both called The Whole Pantry, made A$420,000, and she had promised to deliver a share of the profits to several charities.
But the money allegedly never reached the charities and cracks began to appear in Ms Gibson's story, leading her to admit her claims were untrue. ||||| CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An Australian cookbook author who falsely said she beat cancer through healthy eating has been fined by a court for misleading consumers by lying about her charitable donations.
The judge had ruled in March that Belle Gibson's deceptive claims of donating the proceeds from the sales of "The Whole Pantry" and a related app constituted unconscionable conduct under Australian consumer law.
Federal Court Justice Debra Mortimer on Thursday ordered Gibson to pay a total of 410,000 Australian dollars ($320,000) for five contraventions of the law relating to false claims that the proceeds would go to various charities.
Gibson did not attend court in Melbourne. She was advised of the fine Wednesday night and responded in an email: "Thank you for the update. Much appreciated."
The book and app were withdrawn. ||||| Gibson, who built a wellness empire on the back of claims she cured terminal brain cancer through diet and lifestyle, has admitted deceiving her followers
'None of it’s true': wellness blogger Belle Gibson admits she never had cancer
Disgraced wellness blogger Belle Gibson, who built an online community and sold a recipe book off the back of claims she cured terminal brain cancer through diet and lifestyle alone, has admitted she never had cancer.
“None of it’s true,” Gibson told the Australian Women’s Weekly in an interview to be published on Thursday.
“I don’t want forgiveness. I just think [speaking out] was the responsible thing to do. Above anything, I would like people to say, ‘OK, she’s human.’”
Gibson’s wellness empire, which included a mobile phone app called The Whole Pantry and a website and recipe book of the same name, began to fall apart in March when it was revealed she never made thousands of dollars in charity donations she promised off the back of money raised through her success.
Pseudoscience and strawberries: ‘wellness’ gurus should carry a health warning | Hadley Freeman Read more
Later that month, Gibson said she had been “wrongly” diagnosed with cancers she claimed to have in her blood, spleen, uterus and liver by a German magnetic therapist, but maintained her terminal brain cancer was real.
She refused to show journalists medical records or any proof to back her claims that by shunning conventional medicine, her brain cancer had been kept in check.
The Women’s Weekly interview is the first time Gibson has spoken to the media following questions being raised about her cancer claims.
“During the interviews, whenever challenged, Belle cried easily and muddled her words,” the Women’s Weekly reports.
“She says she is passionate about avoiding gluten, dairy and coffee, but doesn’t really understand how cancer works.”
When questions began to be asked about Gibson’s story last month, she experienced a swift backlash on social media, with many people who followed her saying they felt betrayed. She began deleting her social media accounts and blogposts about her various illnesses.
Many criticised Gibson for putting cancer sufferers in danger by suggesting dietary approaches alone could successfully treat them.
Consumer Affairs Victoria is now investigating Gibson, while Penguin has ceased publishing her recipe book and the Apple store no longer offers her app for download.
In the interview, Gibson says she has an upcoming meeting with Penguin. However, Penguin communications manager Camilla Subeather told Guardian Australia on Thursday no such meeting had been arranged.
“We are disappointed that, despite several requests for clarification regarding recent allegations made against her, Belle is yet to respond to us directly,” she said.
“We have read with interest her recent interview and are considering our rights and options as set out in our agreement with her. We have no knowledge of the forthcoming meeting she refers to.”
News Ltd, which appears to have obtained a full copy of the Women’s Weekly interview ahead of publication, reports Gibson fails to explain fully why she lied, saying only that she had a difficult childhood.
Her false illness claims date back to 2009, when she claimed on an internet forum to have undergone multiple heart surgeries and to have died on the operating table.
In the days following the allegations against her, Gibson posted on social media that she was being bullied and had changed “thousands of lives for the better”.
Meanwhile, the media was criticised for running glowing articles about Gibson prior to the allegations coming to light without properly checking the facts of her story. ||||| Mel Gibson offered the mother of his illegitimate child almost $20 million to settle their bitter custody battle before it imploded, RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned.
But Oksana Grigorieva is rejecting the massive cash settlement because she would have had to share custody of their eight-month-old daughter Lucia.
EXCLUSIVE NEW AUDIO: Mel Gibson Admits Hitting Oksana, Threatens To Kill Her – Listen To It Here
“Mel wanted Oksana to sign an agreement that would have meant Lucia spends 80 per cent of her time with her mother and the remaining 20 per cent with her father,” said a source, familiar with the case.
“Over time, it could have increased to 50-50.
WORLD EXCLUSIVE AUDIO: Mel Gibson’s Explosive Racist Rant — Listen To It Here
“Mel was offering a deal that would have landed Oksana almost $20 million over her lifetime, but despite the inducement, she couldn’t bring herself to sign the final agreement.
PHOTOS: Mel Gibson’s Greatest Movie Roles
“Oksana thought that Lucia spending even 20 per cent of her time with Mel was too much — and after the incident on January 6, she became convinced Mel was not fit to be alone with her.”
PHOTOS: Mel & Oksana At Oscar Nominee Dinner
As RadarOnline.com revealed, Gibson has admitted punching Oksana while she held their daughter in an incident at his Malibu mansion on January 6, because she “f**king deserved it.”
The confession was caught on 30 minutes of explosive audio recordings that Oksana made because she feared for her life.
PHOTOS: Mel & Oksana Go Public For First Time
As RadarOnline.com revealed, Oksana signed a cohabitation agreement while pregnant last year in a move that locked her out of ever claiming a slice of Gibson’s billion-dollar fortune.
But when the pair’s relationship imploded, Mel moved to compensate Oksana above and beyond the co-habitation agreement, in addition to providing for her to financially care for Lucia.
PHOTOS: Stars Who Have Battled Drinking Problems
We’re told Oksana initially agreed to the $20 million deal.
However, the Russian musician has since claimed she signed the agreement “under duress,” according to a source with knowledge of the case.
PHOTOS: Oksana Shows Off Her Post Baby Body
Last month, as she prepared to launch her fight against Gibson, Oksana replaced the lawyer who masterminded the pact with the actor’s lawyers and installed her current legal eagle, Marci Levine.
Yet despite Oksana’s claim that she was forced to sign the agreement against her will, the judge overseeing their custody fight upheld the original 80-20 parenting plan, said the source.
EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS: See The First Photos of Mel and Oksana In a Passionate Embrace On The Beach
“Oksana is powerless to stop Mel from having visitation rights to Lucia,” added the insider.
PHOTOS: Celebrity Cheaters
Sources close to Grigorieva cite the co-habitation agreement and her reluctance to agree to the $20 million loot as proof she is not interested in Gibson’s fortune or tried to extort him.
Protested one source, “Oksana gave up her potential financial future in order to secure her baby daughter’s safety.”
PHOTOS: Mel & Oksana At Pre-Oscar Bash | – In March, Belle Gibson was found guilty of breaching consumer law with her false claims on how she'd beaten her supposed brain cancer. On Thursday, Melbourne's Federal Court of Australia handed down the fine the Aussie blogger will pay as a consequence: around $320,000, the BBC reports. The 25-year-old had made a name for herself in her home country when she claimed she'd beaten her cancer through a regimen of healthy living and eating, which she monetized via an app and cookbook she created, both called The Whole Pantry. Per the AP, the fine was handed down due to Gibson's claims that proceeds from the app and cookbook would go to different charities. But the charities never got those funds, and that's when questions started to pop up about Gibson herself. It was in mid-2015 when Gibson finally admitted she'd never had brain cancer, or other cancers she'd also initially said she had (she later called those misdiagnoses). Gibson's "pitch" for people to throw money her way "overwhelmingly used groups likely to evoke sympathy because of their vulnerabilities—young girls, asylum seekers, sick children," federal judge Debra Mortimer said in March. The Guardian notes the court had spent months trying to figure out a penalty for Gibson, and Consumer Affairs Victoria, which brought the case against Gibson, said she could've faced a fine of up to $860,000. But Mortimer had previously said it was pointless to issue a fine that Gibson would be unable to pay. Gibson wasn't in court to hear Mortimer's decision, instead sending an email response to the AP that said, "Thank you for the update. Much appreciated." |
Deputy CIA Director Michael Morell is retiring and President Barack Obama has selected a White House lawyer, Avril D. Haines, to replace him at the spy agency.
Morell, 54, who began at the Central Intelligence Agency in 1980 as an analyst, helped draft the administration’s talking points on the attack on diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya. He will become a member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, the White House said in a statement.
Taking over the job is Haines, 43, who has been deputy counsel to the president for national security affairs since 2010, marking the first time a woman has ascended to the agency’s second highest position. While she previously worked at the State Department and on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, she does not have a background in intelligence work.
“I am proud that such experienced and committed individuals have agreed to serve the American people in these important roles,” Obama said in a statement. “I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead.”
With United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice scheduled to become Obama’s national security adviser in July and former adviser Samantha Power nominated to replace Rice at the UN, Obama’s foreign policy team has three women in top positions.
Morell, who served as acting director following the resignation of David Petraeus in November until John Brennan was confirmed as CIA director in March, said he’s leaving to devote more time to his family.
Family Concerns
“Whenever someone involved in the rough and tumble of Washington decides to move on, there is speculation in various quarters about the ‘real reason,’” Morell said in a statement. “But when I say that it is time for my family, nothing could be more real than that.”
Brennan, who was Obama’s counterterrorism adviser before taking over at the CIA, said he’s worked closely with Haines over the past several years. She’s been a regular participant in high-level meetings and headed a group of lawyers that reviews the CIA’s most sensitive programs, he said in a statement.
He also thanked Morell for helping him make the transition back to the agency.
Morell, who also was one of President George W. Bush’s intelligence briefers, has come under criticism from Republicans over the Benghazi talking points, which removed any reference to al-Qaeda from the administration’s initial explanation of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
Talking Points
The talking points were used by Rice on Sunday talk shows to describe the Benghazi attack as growing out of a spontaneous demonstration sparked by a movie trailer that Muslims found offensive to their religion. Republicans have conducted multiple hearings on the administration’s response.
When the Obama administration released almost 100 pages of e-mails about the origins of the talking points last month, administration officials said that they showed that it was Morell, a career CIA employee, who made the final edits to the document.
That chain of authorship allowed the Obama administration to preserve its argument that the White House made only minor edits to a document that originated in the intelligence community.
Final Draft
References to al-Qaeda were removed while the document was still being drafted by the CIA, according to White House officials who briefed reporters. It was eventually replaced with “Islamic extremist,” in the final draft.
Morell didn’t mention the Benghazi controversy in his public notice about his retire.
“I am passionate about two things in this world -- the agency and my family,” he said in a statement emailed to CIA employees. “And while I have given everything I have to the Central Intelligence Agency and its vital mission for a third of a century, it is now time for me to give everything I have to my family.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Hans Nichols in Washington at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steven Komarow at [email protected] ||||| The C.I.A.’s deputy director, Michael J. Morell, is retiring after 33 years at the agency and will be replaced by Avril D. Haines, the top lawyer at the National Security Council, the C.I.A.’s director, John O. Brennan, announced Wednesday.
The switch will put a woman in one of the agency’s top two jobs for the first time. Ms. Haines is an unusual choice because she is not an intelligence professional, though in her two years at the White House she has been deeply involved in intelligence programs and got to know Mr. Brennan when he was President Obama’s counterterrorism adviser.
In April, the president had nominated Ms. Haines to become the legal adviser at the State Department, a job in which she would also have been the first woman. But with Mr. Morell’s departure, he evidently decided to shift her to the C.I.A. post.
The agency’s deputy director is not subject to Senate confirmation.
Mr. Morell, 54, is leaving voluntarily, officials said, after a full career that has included two recent stints as acting director of the spy agency, first after the departure of Leon E. Panetta in 2011 and then after the resignation of David H. Petraeus last year over a sex scandal. He was a leading candidate for the top job, but Mr. Obama chose Mr. Brennan in January, and colleagues said then that Mr. Morell was likely to retire. ||||| The Spy Who Loved Me
In her 20s, Avril Haines held erotica readings at the Baltimore bookstore and restaurant she co-owned at the time. Ben Jacobs and Avi Zenilman report.
The former host of “Erotica Night” at a Baltimore bookstore will be the first-ever female No. 2 official at the CIA.
On Wednesday, Barack Obama nominated Avril Danica Haines to be the deputy director of the CIA, replacing Michael Morell, who twice served as acting director of the agency but took much of the blame for editing the highly controversial talking points around the 2012 attack on the consulate in Benghazi. As a lawyer in the White House Counsel’s office, Haines oversaw the approval process for the CIA's covert actions, acting as a vital link between the CIA and the president.
But 20 years ago, Haines opened and co-owned Adrian’s Book Café in the Baltimore waterfront neighborhood of Fells Point. She opened Adrian’s after dropping out of a graduate program in physics at Johns Hopkins University. The store featured regular “Erotica Nights.” including dinner and a series of readings by guests of published work or their own prose, according to a 1995 report in the Baltimore Sun; couples could attend for $30, while singles paid $17.
"Erotica has become more prevalent because people are trying to have sex without having sex. Others are trying to find new fantasies to make their monogamous relationships more satisfying,” Haines, then in her 20s, told the Sun. “What the erotic offers is spontaneity, twists and turns. And it affects everyone." (She also told Baltimore Sun reporter Mary Corey that friends heckled “you just want a mass orgy in your bookstore, while she and her co-owner were initially worried only "dirty old men" would show up.)
The event Corey attended at the bookstore featured a room lit with red candles where guests held chicken tostadas, waiting to eat as Haines read aloud the opening pages of The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, by Anne Rice writing under the pseudonym A.N. Roquelaire, which features passages such as:
“He mounted her, parting her legs, giving the white inner flesh of her thighs a soft deep pinch, and, clasping her right breast in his hand, he thrust his sex into her.
He was holding her up as he did this, to gather her mouth to him, and as he broke through her innocence, he opened her mouth with his tongue and pinched her breast sharply.”
But her bookstore was hardly defined by erotica (which was shelved between self-help and parenting), stocking titles from a variety of smaller publishing houses and local authors, and offering a café. Haines was also well respected in the close-knit waterfront neighborhood of Fells Point, according to former neighbors.
One of them, long-time neighborhood fixture Steve Bunker, who has since retired to Maine, raved about Haines to The Daily Beast, saying “She’s brilliant, has a genius IQ, is easy to work with, and reliable.” He recalled going to New Year’s Eve parties with her at the $22 million dollar townhouses then owned by her father, Dr. Thomas Haines, a liberal activist and noted chemist, on the Upper West Side of New York.
Another property owner in the neighborhood, Howard Barstop, raved about Haines’ work ethic, reminiscing about when she would rehab her apartment in “jeans or a pair of shorts.”
At an agency recently rocked by revelations about then-Director David Petraeus’s secret erotic emails while having an affair with his biographer, Haines’s bookstore past seems considerably more appealing, and about as racy as what a reader might find in a Lewis Libby or Jim Webb novel. | – CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell has announced his retirement, making way for the first woman to take the job. Avril Haines, 43, is a White House lawyer who has worked in the State Department and Senate Foreign Relations Committee. She hasn't worked in an intelligence post before, Bloomberg notes, but her work at the White House has been steeped in intelligence-related matters, the New York Times reports. President Obama had initially nominated her to the post of State Department legal adviser; she would have been the first woman in that job, too, the Times notes. Morell, for his part, was involved in the drafting of White House talking points on Benghazi. He's leaving to spend more time with his family, he says, though he will also join the President's Intelligence Advisory Board. "Whenever someone involved in the rough and tumble of Washington decides to move on, there is speculation ... about the 'real reason,'" Morell says. "But when I say that it is time for my family, nothing could be more real than that." (Odd aside about his successor: The Daily Beast reports that Haines co-owned a Baltimore bookstore in her 20s, and the store hosted regular "Erotica Nights," during which she would do readings.) |
Seventy years ago, Vilnius, Lithuania, was known as the Jerusalem of Lithuania—a bustling town home to more than 100,000 Jews at its peak. But then it all vanished.
In three years during the Holocaust, 95% of Lithuanian Jews were killed. But hidden within this tragedy is a story of hope and courage that archeologists are just now bringing to light.
Jews from the Vilnius Ghetto were executed in a pit in the Ponary woods between 1941, when this photo was taken, and 1944.
On June 8, a team led by Richard Freund, a Judaic studies professor at the University of Hartford, and Jon Seligman, an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority, discovered the existence of an escape tunnel at Ponar, just outside of Vilnius. The tunnel had been rumored in oral histories kept alive by escapees, their descendants, and other Lithuanian Jews from that era, including Freund’s great-grandfather, who came from Vilnius.
On the last night of Passover, April 14, 1944, 80 Jews began their escape from the pit where they were being held prisoner through a 100-foot tunnel that had been painstakingly dug by hand.
The pit where the tunnel began.
Digging in the dark of night, chained to one another, the prisoners had secretly scratched at the earth for three months before their daring escape. Of the 80 prisoners who attempted the getaway, only 11 survived. But they told their stories, and the tunnel gained legendary status among the people of Vilnius.
For decades, the exact location of the tunnel remained a mystery, and archaeologists couldn’t dig at the site for risk of disturbing more than the 100,000 remains buried at Ponar.
However, advances in archeological technology allowed Freund and his team to study the site using noninvasive techniques, including ground penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT). Upon turning on their equipment, they discovered the escape tunnel almost immediately.
Richard Freund studies the ERT data that first revealed evidence of the tunnel.
“When they ran the first test over the area leading outside of the pit where [the prisoners] started from, they immediately saw it on the imaging.” Freund said. “There was nothing but sand, and the tunnel lit up. That was a moment.”
GPR works similar to traditional radar, but instead of sending radio waves through the air, it broadcasts them into the ground. The resulting charts illustrate what lies below without disturbing the site, and archaeologists can see the results immediately, said Dean Goodman, a geophysicist at GPR-Slice Software, a company that specializes in GPR software. “We’re able to collect a lot of data really quickly and almost see the results real time. As you’re collecting the antenna over ground, you actually get a 2D profile of the swath of ground you’re going over.”
The other technique, ERT, is usually used by geologists working in the oil and gas industry, not archaeologists. ERT works by sending a current into the ground and measuring the electrical resistance of the various substrates, producing a map of what lies below.
Richard Freund and his collaborators discuss which area of the site to study next.
GPR and ERT enable archaeologists to peer into sites that were previously off limits because they couldn’t be disturbed.
“All these technologies allow people to gain information about an era—the Holocaust era—without having to desecrate a burial site,” Freund said.
Freund is working with the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum and the Tolerance Center of Lithuania to create an exhibit so that visitors from around the world can hear the story of the courageous Jews that dug their way out of the death pits.
Freund said it will be a refreshingly different piece of Holocaust history—“a story about life instead of death.”
“Holocaust Escape Tunnel” will air April 19, 2017 on PBS.
Find out more about this breathtaking find. ||||| A tunnel used by Jews to escape the Nazis has been re-discovered after decades of searching the Ponar forest in Lithuania. Despite there being extensive witness testimony of the tunnel's existence, it took 71 years for the tunnel to be uncovered.
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Some 100,00 people, of whom 70,000 were Jews, were massacred and thrown into pits in the Ponar forest by the Nazis. A special Nazi unit was formed in 1943 with the task of covering up the genocide as the Russian Red Army advanced on Nazi positions on the Eastern Front. In Ponar, this task was assigned to a group of 80 prisoners from the Stutthof concentration camp.
At night the prisoners were kept in a deep pit which was previously used for the execution of Vilna's Jews. During the day they worked to open the mass graves, pile up the corpses on logs cut from the forest trees, cover them with fuel and incinerate them.
The pit in the Ponar forest where Jews were massacred (Photo:Ezra Wolfinger, NOVA)
Some of the workers resolved to attempt a daring escape by digging a tunnel from the pit that was used as their prison. For three months they dug a 35-yard tunnel using only spoons and their hands. On the night of April 15th, 1944 the prisoners made their escape. They cut their leg shackles with a nail file, and 40 of them began to crawl through the narrow tunnel.
Unfortunately, they were quickly discovered by the guards and many were shot. Only 15 managed to cut through the fence of the camp and escape into the forest. Eleven reached the partisan forces and survived the war.
Archaeologists searching for the tunnel (Photo: Ezra Wolfinger, NOVA)
Since WWII the exact location of the tunnel was unknown. Now, thanks to the cooperative work of Dr. Jon Seligman of the Israel Antiquities Authority, Prof. Richard Freund of the University of Hartford, Paul Bauman of Advisian of Calgary, Canada and the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum, the tunnel has been rediscovered. It was located using a geophysical technique used in mineral and oil exploration known as Electrical Resistivity Tomography from the pit used to imprison the captives, to an open space beside it.
Dr. Jon Seligman, Israel Antiquities Authority said, "As an Israeli whose family originated in Lithuania, I was reduced to tears on the discovery of the escape tunnel at Ponar. This discovery is a heartwarming witness to the victory of hope over desperation. The exposure of the tunnel enables us to present, not only the horrors of the Holocaust, but also the yearning for life."
Minister of Culture, MK Miri Regev said of the discovery, "I congratulate the Israel Antiquities Authority on its participation in this international effort that turns history into reality. The exciting and important discovery of the prisoners escape tunnel at Ponar is yet more proof negating the lies of Holocaust deniers. The success of modern technological developments, that have aided the Jewish people to reveal another heroic story the Nazis attempted to hide benefits all humanity." ||||| Traces of an escape tunnel have been uncovered at the site of an infamous Nazi death camp in Poland, according to news reports.
Archaeologists say the passageway, found 5 feet (1.5 meters) below the surface, spanned 32 feet (10 m) and reached beyond the barbed-wire border surrounding the extermination camp at Sobibor, The Telegraph reported.
"We were excavating near where the sonderkommando barrack was and we came across two rows of buried barbed wire," Polish archaeologist Wojciech Mazurek was quoted as saying by The Telegraph. "Digging down we found the traces of the tunnel. It was about as wide as a human, and we are 99 percent certain that it was an escape tunnel." [8 Grisly Archaeological Discoveries]
Sobibor was operated in German-occupied eastern Poland between 1942 and 1943. Estimates for the number of people killed there range from 167,000 to upwards of 250,000. Virtually all of the victims were Jews and most were gassed upon arrival. Some prisoners were spared immediate death and kept in the work units known as the sonderkommando, forced to help in the gas chamber operations and the disposal of bodies.
The researchers digging at the site reportedly don't have any evidence that the newly discovered escape tunnel was ever actually used. Prisoners at Sobibor did, however, stage an uprising in October 1943. Six-hundred prisoners revolted and managed to kill nearly a dozen of their guards. Many of the 300 laborers who broke out of the extermination camp were eventually captured and killed, and only 50 escapees are believed to have survived the war.
After the uprising, Nazi officials leveled the camp and covered its traces. That makes work difficult for archaeologists trying to understand the site.
"The area we were excavating has been disturbed and plundered many times over the years since the war," Yoram Haimi, an Israeli archaeologist who is also investigating the camp, was quoted as saying by Haaretz. "It's a mess containing human bones, human ash, glass, pieces of metal and a lot of waste."
Excavations have been underway at Sobibor for more than a decade. In addition to the escape tunnel, the team has reportedly found a crematorium, human skeletal remains, and dozens of artifacts including eye glasses, jewelry and sobering personal items, like a Mickey Mouse pin, that seem to have belonged to children.
Follow Megan Gannon on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com. | – A 100-foot escape tunnel dug by Jewish prisoners using only their hands and spoons has been unearthed in Lithuania, a research team announced Wednesday. From 1941 to 1944, about 100,000 people (70,000 of them Jews from nearby Vilnius) were slaughtered by the Nazis, then dumped into burial pits in Lithuania's Ponar forest—systemic murder that started even before the gas chambers in what archaeologist Richard Freund tells the New York Times was "ground zero for the Holocaust." To cover up the massacre, the Nazis forced 80 Jews from the nearby Stutthof concentration camp to exhume the bodies, burn them, and hide the ashes, Ynetnews reports. These "corpse unit" members were kept in a deep pit during the night, and some spent those hours digging an escape tunnel. On the night of April 15, 1944, 40 of them made a break for it. Guards shot many on sight, but 11 escaped and survived the war to tell the story of the legendary tunnel. The research team led by Freund used a special geophysical process to locate the tunnel, combining radar and electrical resistivity tomography, which uses electricity to examine natural objects in the ground and soil disturbances that may have been caused by digging. These nonintrusive search methods allow scientists to explore sites that previously were off-limits, notes PBS, which will air a Nova documentary on the discovery in 2017. It also puts to bed the belief that stories told through the years about the tunnel were only a myth. "As an Israeli whose family originated in Lithuania, I was reduced to tears on the discovery of the escape tunnel," an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority tells Ynetnews. "[It] enables us to present not only the horrors of the Holocaust, but also the yearning for life." (Evidence of an escape tunnel was found under the Sobibor concentration camp.) |
Alec Baldwin attacks photographer after release from hospital, pal blames Kim Basinger for circus
Mauceri/Donnelly/INFphoto.com A visibly angry Alec Baldwin grabs at a photographer outside his Central Park apartment Thursday.
Emmy-winning actor Alec Baldwin blew a gasket Thursday and attacked a photographer while police and a pack of reporters looked on with amazement.
"This guy! This guy!" the actor yelled as he burst out of a lobby and grabbed New York Post photographer Tim Wiencis by the collar. Cops immediately pulled the actor off Wiencis and hustled him back inside.
A witness said Baldwin was pacing around the lobby muttering: "They are the lowest scum of the Earth. They are the lowest scum of the Earth."
Meanwhile, an incredulous Wiencis told cops, "He just assaulted me."
No charges were filed.
Baldwin's bizarre outburst capped a day that began at 12:55 a.m., when he was rushed to Lenox Hill Hospital after his 14-year-old daughter, Ireland, dialed 911, sources said.
"I'm tired of this," Baldwin said, his daughter told the dispatcher. "I'm going to take some pills. I'm going to end this."
When cops arrived at Baldwin's pad on Central Park West, the actor told them he took an Ambien sleeping pill and had "no intention" of committing suicide, sources said.
Baldwin, who is due to emcee the Oscars on March 7, told cops he and Ireland had been arguing over the phone and that his daughter was "put up" to dial 911 by her mom, actress Kim Basinger, sources said.
Still, cops had Baldwin checked out and doctors released him after deciding he was no threat to himself, sources said.
When the "30 Rock" star returned home, he found reporters on his doorstep.
"This is another example of Kim's sickness," a buddy of Baldwin's told the Daily News. "Alec came back from the hospital and there were cameras outside his house at 2 a.m. Gee, I wonder how they found out?"
Baldwin went to work at 7 a.m., and when he came home around 5:30 p.m. the reporters were still there.
It was then that Wiencis lightly tapped Baldwin on the arm and the actor exploded, according to witnesses.
"Don't touch me!" Baldwin yelled. "I'm calling the cops!"
There was no comment from Basinger, whose divorce from Baldwin has been a Hollywood horror show that has left their daughter torn between warring parents.
Baldwin and Ireland also have had a rocky relationship, a fact that was revealed in spectacular fashion when a voice mail of the actor calling his spawn a "rude, thoughtless little pig" was leaked in 2007.
[email protected]
With Jonathan Lemire and George Rush ||||| Actor Alec Baldwin was rushed to a New York City hospital Wednesday night after his daughter called 911 concerned for the "30 Rock" star's health.
A source familiar with the situation now tells Fox411 that Ireland was not with her father in New York at the time of the 911 call. Instead, she likely called from Los Angeles, seemingly refuting earlier reports that the 14-year-old found her father unresponsive.
Medics rushed to the actor’s apartment before taking him to Lenox Hill hospital, NBC said. He was reportedly released after an hour of treatment at around 1 a.m.
According to a report from the New York Post, the initial 911 call came in as a“possible alcohol or drug overdose.” Sources told the newspaper that while he never actually ingested sleeping pills, Baldwin threatened to take them during a heated argument.
Matthew Hiltzik, a rep for Baldwin, tells Fox411 that the situation was a "misunderstanding on one person's part" and that actor is “completely fine and is at work today."
Hiltzik added that Baldwin's quick release indicated that there were no serious health concerns.
"If there was any real issue or concern, he would not have been released from the hospital so quickly," Hiltzik said.
Baldwin is scheduled to host the Academy Awards with comedian Steve Martin next month. | – Alec Baldwin's ugly came out yesterday after his brief stint in a hospital when he grabbed a New York Post photographer. "This guy! This guy!" the actor yelled as he rushed from his apartment building lobby to grab lensman Tim Wiencis' collar before police pulled him off, reports the New York Daily News. Seconds earlier a witness reportedly overheard Baldwin muttering to himself: "They are the scum of the earth." Wiencis called his confrontation with Baldwin an "assault," but did not press charges. Earlier yesterday Baldwin left a Manhattan hospital after his teenage daughter called 911, disturbed that her father said during an argument over the phone that he was "going to take some pills; I'm going to end this." Sources tell Fox News Ireland Baldwin was not in New York at the time, despite previous reports that she found her father "unresponsive." |
Aaron Bernstein / Reuters Rep. Diane Black must be watching some crazy violent porn, it seems.
Does anyone know what kind of porn Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) is watching?
Whatever it is, the 67-year-old Black, who is running for governor of Tennessee, said it’s a “big part” of what is driving the spike in school shootings.
During a meeting last week with local pastors, Black raised the issue of gun violence in schools and why it keeps happening.
“Pornography,” she said.
“It’s available on the shelf when you walk in the grocery store. Yeah, you have to reach up to get it, but there’s pornography there,” she continued. “All of this is available without parental guidance. I think that is a big part of the root cause.”
Here’s an audio of her remarks, which she made during a listening session with ministers at Safe Harbor of Clarksville, Tennessee. ||||| A Republican congresswoman from Tennessee blamed pornography — as well as a host of other cultural issues — for school shootings, during a recent meeting.
Diane Black, who is running for governor of Tennessee, made the comments while speaking to a group of ministers during a “listening session” recently, according to HuffPost, which reported the story and included audio of the remarks.
The comment about pornography came as Black wondered what was driving some children to such violent ends.
“What makes them do that?” she said. “Because as a nurse, I go back to root causes.”
She then listed a couple of these root causes, which included pornography, as well as “deterioration of the family” and violence in movies.
“Pornography, it’s available, it’s available on the shelf when you walk in the grocery store,” she said. “Yeah, you have to reach up to get it, but there’s pornography there. All of this is available without parental guidance. And I think that is a big part of the root cause.”
Black also spoke briefly about mental illness being something “we’ve got to address.”
HuffPost published only about 2 1/2 minutes of audio, so it is not clear whether Black gave specifics about the ways she believes pornography could lead to gun violence.
Chris Hartline, a spokesman for Black, wrote that the congresswoman “believes the breakdown of families and communities plays a significant role in instances of school violence.”
Black’s remarks were among the latest attempts to explain the United States’ high numbers of mass shootings.
Liberals and other advocates of stricter gun control point to statistics that indicate that the prevalence of guns is the single most important variable when examining why the United States has more mass shootings than other countries. Many conservatives and the National Rifle Association point to other causes, including intense news coverage of mass shootings, video games, abortion and a lack of religion, inadequate control of entry into schools, and even the act of going to school itself.
[Things blamed for the deadly Texas school shooting: Ritalin. Abortion. The media. Schools. And doors.]
“Hearing from many parents, they’re scared to send their kids to school,” Texas state Rep. Jonathan Stickland (R) wrote on Twitter after the shooting near Houston. “We need to give them as many different choices as possible.”
Pornography has long been a target of social conservatives and some religious groups in the United States, though it has been upheld by the courts as constitutionally protected speech.
As The Washington Post’s Amber Phillips wrote after legislators in Utah approved a resolution calling porn “evil, degrading, addictive and harmful,” “the science isn’t settled yet on what regular porn use does to the brain and a person’s sexual and romantic life — especially when it comes to young people who view it in their formative years.”
Debating porn’s ills on society seems like a game of choose-your-own-study. There are studies that claim to show a link between pornography and a myriad of sexual, mental and emotional problems. And there are studies that claim to show porn watching actually helps people’s relationships. In Denmark, some teachers actually use the topic of porn to teach students about the difference between consensual and nonconsensual sex, the Economist reports. Branding porn as a public health hazard, though, also doesn’t change advocates’ fundamental problem: They have little legal recourse to limit it.
Studies analyzing mass shootings in the United States and contrasting this country with others demonstrate that the single most important variable is the high number of guns in the United States, according to the New York Times, given that many other developed countries experience similar rates of video-game use, mental illness and other societal challenges but do not have comparable numbers of mass shootings.
Read more:
The ‘Active Shooter’ video game horrified Parkland parents. It was pulled prior to release.
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Conservative outrage after anti-Muslim campaigner Tommy Robinson secretly jailed in Britain ||||| Legislators in Florida—where a gunman authorities later identified as Nikolas Cruz opened fire on the grounds of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County, Florida, killing at least 17 last week—have apparently decided that the threat they need to focus on right now is pornography.
Per the Sun Sentinel, as surviving students from the school watched them from the gallery on Tuesday, the Florida House voted down a motion to let legislation that would “ban assault rifles and large capacity magazines” proceed out of committee to in a 36-71 vote. Democratic sponsor Rep. Kionne McGhee argued that the legislation would be essentially dead for the remainder of the legislative session ending March 9th unless the House scheduled it for a hearing.
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“It was just so heartbreaking to see how many (voters’) names were up there, especially after it was my school,” 16-year-old Stoneman Douglas junior Sheryl Acquaroli told CNN. “It seemed almost heartless how they immediately pushed the button to say no.”
On the exact same day, that same House voted for legislation that declared pornography a “public health threat,” per the Associated Press:
The resolution states a need for education, research and policy changes to protect Floridians, especially teenagers, from pornography. Republican Rep. Ross Spano says there is research that finds a connection between pornography use and mental and physical illnesses, forming and maintaining intimate relationships and deviant sexual behavior. Spano is also a candidate for attorney general. Democratic Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith asked Spano why there was an immediate need to pass the resolution and countered that there are more important bills and topics that should be taken up by the Legislature.
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While the research on pornography’s impact is mixed, per CNN, most of the professionals who actually work on the subject agree that it’s not a “crisis.” Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health associate professor Eric Schrimshaw told CNN that “Growing evidence also suggests that it is not pornography in general that may be correlated with potential negative outcomes.” That hasn’t stopped conservatives, especially in states with large evangelical populations like Utah, from increasingly reframing their own social concerns about pornography as a public health crisis as of late whether or not medical professionals are actually on board.
Meanwhile, there is an awful lot of research indicating that stricter gun laws are correlated with a reduction in gun homicides, while looser gun laws are correlated with more gun homicides. Research on the Federal Assault Weapons Ban in 1994 is mixed—if anything, the evidence suggests that the real problem was the sheer number of grandfathered weapons exempt from the ban as well as the widespread availability of modern semi-automatic firearms in general—but since its expiration in 2004, the L.A. Times writes, the “consequence has been increased use of these weapons in crimes of all sorts ever since.”
Per the L.A. Times, Christopher S. Koper and other researchers at George Mason University say the evidence is clear the expiration of the ban resulted in more people spraying bullets in general:
“There’s a tendency to focus on mass shootings,” Koper told me. “I’ve tried to draw attention to some of the broader issues beyond mass shootings and at the use of these guns and magazines in crime generally. You can have a lot of additional high-volume gunfire incidents that don’t result in mass shootings — you might have incidents where more than 10 shots are fired but maybe have only one or two victims who are actually shot. But that’s still a public policy concern.” ... “By forcing offenders to substitute other weapons, you’re essentially forcing them to use weapons that are less deadly.”
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In any case, the Centers for Disease Control is forbidden to research gun violence due to an National Rifle Association-backed congressional ban. In Florida, legislators have sent a similar signal about selectively listening to the evidence (and the boos of people who, just last week, survived a massacre). While some Florida legislators are considering a number of far weaker half-measures, per the Miami Herald, the conservative media has already begun its headache-inducing habit of screaming about how the real issue is anything other than guns in the hopes they can distract people long enough to blunt any real progress.
They are not even interested in the discussion.
“Basically, what they have determined is that these are the Republican priorities in 2018,” Rep. Carlos Guillermo-Smith, who has been trying to an assault weapons ban passed in the state for two years, told the Independent. “Wasting our time with debate and legislation that declares porn as a health threat, meanwhile we can’t even get a single debate, vote, or hearing on anything related to assault weapons. That’s really sad.”
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[Sun Sentinel/AP] ||||| The Florida House of Representatives was in session on Tuesday considering several issues. These included a motion to debate a bill banning the sale of assault weapons in the aftermath of the mass shooting that killed 17 people last week at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and a resolution declaring pornography a public health risk.
The House chose not to consider the gun-control bill.
It later passed the resolution claiming that porn is dangerous.
“Unfortunately, just five days after 17 people were gunned down at a Florida school, the Florida House just passed a bill that declares pornography a ‘public health risk,’” state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D) told the Independent. “Basically, what they have determined is that these are the Republican priorities in 2018: Wasting our time with debate and legislation that declares porn as a health threat. Meanwhile we can’t even get a single debate, vote or hearing on anything related to assault weapons.”
“That’s really sad,” he added.
Tuesday’s session opened with state Rep. Kionne McGhee (D) asking for a procedural change to allow the House to consider the bill banning assault weapons, which was assigned to three committees but had not yet been scheduled for a hearing.
“I ask that you keep this bill and the conversation about the solution to combat mass shootings alive,” McGhee declared. “The shooting at Parkland demands extraordinary action.”
The House voted down the motion 71 to 36 within three minutes as survivors of the shooting watched from the gallery of the Capitol.
“It was just so heartbreaking to see how many [voters’] names were up there, especially after it was my school,” Sheryl Acquaroli, a 16-year-old junior at Stoneman Douglas who was watching, told CNN. “It seemed almost heartless how they immediately pushed the button to say no.”
“They had a chance to stop it today. If there is another mass shooting it’s going to be their fault,” she added.
Less than an hour later, state Rep. Ross Spano (R) presented his resolution, arguing that viewing porn can lead to both “mental and physical illnesses” along with “deviant, or problematic sexual behaviors.”
Smith asked Spano questions, among them whether anyone has ever been “been physically handicapped” by porn, or if porn had ever caused any first responders to seek therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Do you believe that identifying porn as a public health risk is more important than identifying gun violence as a public health violence, especially after the events of this week and the events of June 12, 2016, when 49 people were murdered by gun violence at Pulse?” Smith asked.
While there is some evidence that pornography can be mentally damaging, there is also support for the argument that it leads to greater sexual satisfaction. No scientific consensus exists on its overall positive or negative effect.
The House approved the resolution by a voice vote, to the chagrin of many House Democrats.
“He was saying porn as a health risk was more important to address here in the Florida legislature than the epidemic of gun violence,” Smith later told the Associated Press. “These are their priorities. I don’t understand the politics, to be honest, if I’m being honest. I’m not aware there’s a base of voters who are losing sleep every night over the epidemic of pornography as a public health crisis.”
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This single cartoon about school shootings is breaking people’s hearts
Man who died in Yellowstone fall was hunting for treasure millionaire says he buried ||||| With the impact of the horrific attack on a Connecticut elementary school still fresh, a grieving nation turns to an equally grief-stricken media in the hopes of making sense of this nightmare. What they find, though, is a lamentable parade of falsehoods and half-truths. With the true villain in this story having robbed the nation of its desire for revenge, media figures and politicians alike are casting about for an antagonist. Since Sunday, a target has emerged in violent video games, and an emotional media is venting their powerless anger on the entertainment industry. But to indict entertainment, and video games in particular, is a self-serving instinct and irresponsible broadcasting.
A disturbing number of public figures have lashed out at video games since the atrocity committed at Sandy Hook Elementary on Friday. A bipartisan group of legislators embraced this scapegoating on the Sunday news programs; from Democrats like Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) to Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge.
They were joined by members of the media – sadly, too many to count.
On MSNBC on Monday, Chris Jansing asked her guests what connection Adam Lanza’s interest in video games had to his murderous shooting spree. She quoted senior White House advisor David Axelrod who tweeted “shouldn’t we also quit marketing murder as a game?” Liberal contributor Goldie Taylor revealed that she refused to let her child play games until he was 14-years-old.
“Exposure to that kind of content is just simply not good for children,” Taylor said. “I think that it’s important to guard our children and keep them safe from some of these messages that are simply destructive.” She noted that music, movies, games, and even cartoons, are responsible for… something.
On Fox & Friends on Monday, legal analyst Peter Johnson Jr. delivered an offensively sermonizing renunciation of entertainment producers and videogame makers who are “clinging to guns economically.”
“They are glamorizing guns in this country. They are the scourge in terms of these guns,” Johnson Jr. said of game and filmmakers. “Guns can kill if people have evil intentions, but don’t tell our children that it’s acceptable to mow down people in malls, in churches, in schools, on the street – they don’t know better. They know what they’re taught. And we’re teaching them wrong.”
“Death should not be the byproduct of our entertainment,” Johnson Jr. concluded.
Johnson Jr. cites a study which purports to show prolonged exposure to violent video games over the course of three straight days made the subjects show “increases in aggressive behavior and hostile expectations.” But Johnson Jr. is guilty of cherry-picking data to support his conclusion. A 2009 study showed that video games which focus on driving make the subjects more aggressive than violent games in where the player is primarily shooting at targets. Another study showed that just thinking about violent video games can make males more aggressive. Given the ever-expanding target demographic for games, gun violence should be on the rise. In fact, the opposite is occurring.
Violent crime, and gun crime in particular, has decreased as videogame playing has increased. Are the two conditions related – that is unlikely. Myriad factors are responsible for the decrease in violent crime; videogame proliferation is probably not among them. Likewise, there is no causal link between being a videogame player and exhibiting violent tendencies.
The Economist tackled this subject in 2005, and the wisdom they committed to print still pertains: It’s the classic struggle of the old versus the new that has video games in policymakers’ crosshairs:
“The opposition to gaming springs largely from the neophobia that has pitted the old against the entertainments of the young for centuries. Most gamers are under 40, and most critics are non-games-playing over-40s.”
The horror that unfolded in Connecticut on Friday was an unspeakable atrocity. It was not, as some have said, a tragedy. Tragedies are so often beyond control, but gun violence is not an inevitable consequence of living in a free society. Politicians feel the need to do something — anything — in the wake of such a disaster to assuage the inevitable public cries for action. Media figures, however, have a different responsibility. Theirs mission is not to advocate but to inform – unfortunately, that kind of responsible broadcasting is fast becoming an anachronism on cable news.
It is unlikely that any reasonable law would have prevented this attack without negatively impacting millions of law-abiding citizens. No amount of reverence for an almighty God would have made this killer think twice about his actions. No movie or videogame drove Lanza to murder 20 first graders in cold blood.
Broadcasters used to feel it was their mission to speak these cold truths to their audiences when disaster struck, lest the electorate reach for emotionally-driven and overreaching remedies to jarring events. Today, broadcasters pull on emotional triggers and further aggravate their viewers with baseless scapegoating. I do not know if there is an immediate solution to that condition. Now that is a tragedy.
> >Follow Noah Rothman (@Noah_C_Rothman) on Twitter
Have a tip we should know? [email protected] | – Pornography is playing a "big part" in the spike in school shootings, according to a Republican congresswoman running for governor of Tennessee. While discussing school shootings during a meeting with pastors in Clarksville last week, Rep. Diane Black said porn is "available on the shelf when you walk in the grocery store" and "without parental guidance," per HuffPost, which has the audio. "I think that is a big part of the root cause," she continued, also pointing to the "deterioration of the family" and violent movies. The 67-year-old briefly noted mental illness is also something "we've got to address," per the Washington Post. A rep later elaborated, saying Black "believes the breakdown of families and communities plays a significant role in instances of school violence." Meanwhile, Black has introduced a bill to crowdfund President Trump's wall along the border with Mexico, whose president vowed again Tuesday never to pay for it. "If someone wants to send in money to the federal government to help to build the wall, they can do so, but … what this does is actually dedicates a fund," Black tells NewsChannel5. |
Federal officials said Wednesday that the new Indiana law cutting Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood violates Medicaid rules — a determination that could cost the state millions and possibly even billions of dollars. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services informed state officials by letter that it was denying Indiana’s new Medicaid plan because states can’t pick and choose where recipients receive health-care services. What happens next is, at best, a guess. But almost certain is that it will add fuel to a legal and political battle likely to be watched closely across the nation. An HHS official would not comment on what happens if Indiana does not change its law, though one possible ramification would be withholding funding. Indiana relies on about $4million in federal Medicaid family planning funds and more than $4 billion in total Medicaid dollars. The state Family and Social Services Administration — caught between state and federal law — said it would seek guidance from Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller. “For now, our lawyers advise us that we must continue to follow the law the Indiana General Assembly passed,” said FSSA spokesman Marcus Barlow. Zoeller spokesman Bryan Corbin said that the office is working with the FSSA to determine its options, “but we will continue to defend the statute.” Gov. Mitch Daniels, who signed the bill into law, declined to comment Wednesday. There also is the matter of the courts. The law, which took effect May 10, is being challenged in federal court by Planned Parenthood on various grounds. The next court date is scheduled for Monday. The law made Indiana the first state to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood and ended roughly $1.3 million in annual payments to the health provider. Planned Parenthood of Indiana, which has been scraping together donations over the past few weeks in an effort to keep serving its 9,300 Medicaid patients, welcomed Wednesday’s letter. “It is incredibly gratifying to have the federal government confirm what we’ve been saying all along, that (House Enrolled Act) 1210 violates federal law,” said Betty Cockrum, president of Planned Parenthood of Indiana.
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Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, called the letter “a strong rebuke to Indiana” and said it “serves as a warning to other states that attempts to bar federal funding for Planned Parenthood violate Medicaid law.” State Rep. Eric Turner, R-Cicero, who helped lead the effort in the legislature to defund Planned Parenthood, was disappointed. “We believe we represented the public’s opinion on this, and we’ll see what happens,” he said. “It’s another example of the federal government trying to tell states what to do. I think states are very capable of deciding their own fate and running their own ship.” Anti-abortion activists challenged the Obama administration’s interpretation of federal Medicaid policy, saying they believe states do have authority to defund Planned Parenthood and called the letter a strong-arm tactic. “We’re not surprised by it,” said Indiana Right to Life Legislative Director Sue Swayze. “This is the most pro-abortion president we’ve ever had. It almost feels like they’re bullying the state of Indiana over the wishes of our legislative branch.” President Marjorie Dannenfelser of the Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion group, said, “(HHS) Secretary (Kathleen) Sebelius is strong-arming states like Indiana to protect the administration’s powerful ally Planned Parenthood.” House Bill 1210 was approved overwhelmingly by the House and Senate. Supporters of the law said they did not want their tax dollars going to an organization that provides abortions — even though the procedure is not paid for with tax dollars. Opponents said the law could leave 9,300 Medicaid patients, who receive services such as birth control, cancer screenings and sexually transmitted disease tests, without reproductive health care. The law took effect immediately after Daniels signed it, giving FSSA little time to apply for federal approval for the changes until after funding had already been cut off. The application went out May 12. The letter received Wednesday was the federal government’s response rejecting that application. ||||| WASHINGTON — The Obama administration prohibited the State of Indiana on Wednesday from carrying out a new state law that cuts off money for Planned Parenthood clinics providing health care to low-income women on Medicaid.
The state law penalized Planned Parenthood because some of its clinics also perform abortions.
Dr. Donald M. Berwick, administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the state law imposed impermissible restrictions on the freedom of Medicaid beneficiaries to choose health care providers. The freedom of choice, he said, is generally guaranteed by the federal Medicaid law.
But state officials said Wednesday that they intended to continue enforcing the state law, which took effect on May 10, when it was signed by Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican.
In a letter to Indiana officials, Dr. Berwick said the state law “would eliminate the ability of Medicaid beneficiaries to receive services from specific providers for reasons not related to their qualifications to provide such services.”
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For years, federal law has banned the use of Medicaid money to pay for abortion except in certain cases. | – The White House has—as promised—moved to block an Indiana law that strips Planned Parenthood of Medicaid funds. State officials have been notified that the law, which cuts off funding to Planned Parenthood because some clinics perform abortion services, violates Medicaid rules because states aren't allowed to choose where recipients receive health care services, reports the New York Times. State officials say they plan to continue enforcing the law, which was signed by Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels last month. The federal government's move is "a strong rebuke to Indiana” that should serve as a warning to other states seeking to defund Planned Parenthood," the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America tells the Indianapolis Star. Medicaid officials have signaled that the state could lose $4 billion in federal funding if it refuses to comply with the administration's decision. |
David Allan Coe in 1983 (Photo: AP file/Rudolph Faircloth)
Country music singer-songwriter David Allan Coe pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Cincinnati to income tax evasion and owes the IRS more than $466,000, officials said.
Coe, 76, who wrote the song, "Take This Job And Shove It," has owed the Internal Revenue Service for outstanding taxes since at least 1993, court documents say.
Between 2008 and 2013, officials said, he either failed to file his individual income tax returns -- or when he did, he failed to pay the taxes due. Coe faces up to three years in prison. The nearly half a million dollars owed includes taxes, interest and penalties.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, instead of paying the taxes in full, Coe spent the money earned from live concert performances "on other debts and gambling."
The case is in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati. Court documents say Coe received multiple MoneyGram transfers of income in Cincinnati in 2011 and 2012. He also used a Cincinnati-based accounting firm to prepare his taxes, and in 2009 filed his taxes from Cincinnati.
His Memphis-based attorney, Michael Stengel, could not be reached for comment.
Coe, who performs at least 100 times a year, arranged to be paid primarily in cash, the news release said. Coe didn't allow $50 bills, the news release said, because "he believed they were bad luck and would not gamble with them."
He stopped using a personal bank account in 2009.
"Coe's arrangement to be paid primarily in cash was also in an effort to impede the ability of the IRS to collect on the taxes owed," the news release said.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Attorney's Office and special agents with the IRS's criminal investigations unit.
Read or Share this story: http://cin.ci/1FadW1Y ||||| If the notion of any current country performer labeling himself an outlaw was ever laughable, it would never be more so when considering David Allan Coe. In reform school by the age of nine, and charged with such offenses as armed robbery and auto theft, Coe would be in and out of various correctional facilities for the next two decades and would serve three years at the Ohio State Penitentiary.
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While he was behind bars, Coe penned several songs that would be released on his 1969 debut album, the dark and crudely recorded Penitentiary Blues, which resurfaced in 2005 getting its first CD release. Coe was encouraged to write the songs, which detail stark prison life in such songs as "Death Row," "Oh Warden" and "Cell #33," by the man in the cell next to him, soul singer Screamin' Jay Hawkins. After he was released in 1967, Coe released those tracks via Shelby Singleton's SSS International label, and began touring with B.B. King and the Staples Singers. A subsequent deal with Columbia Records yielded The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy, a hardcore country effort co-produced by Billy Sherrill and Ron Bledsoe, which failed to chart.
The next album from Coe, Once Upon a Rhyme, would give him the first of his three Top Ten hits. "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" was a stone-country, semi-novelty song written by Steve Goodman ("City of New Orleans") and John Prine (who refused a writer's credit but was gifted a jukebox by Goodman for his contribution). In the second verse of the tune, Coe namechecks – and does some pretty spot-on imitations of – Waylon Jennings, Charley Pride and Merle Haggard. In the third verse, there's a little nod to Faron Young's "Hello Walls," penned by Willie Nelson, and Coe even namechecks himself. The fourth and final verse has Coe explaining, in a spoken intro, how Goodman wrote to him telling him he felt he had written "the perfect country and western song" with this one. Coe further explains that he wrote back to Goodman and protested that the song was missing key elements that would make it perfect: Mama, trains, trucks, prison and getting drunk. Goodman then rewrote the tune, resulting in one of the most iconic – and hilarious – verses in country music history.
Recorded on August 20th, 1974, "You Never Even Called Me By My Name," would debut on the Billboard country chart in July 1975, eventually peaking at Number Eight. Although he wrote much of his own material, ironically, Coe's only Number One hit came in 1978 as the writer of Johnny Paycheck's Number One smash, "Take This Job and Shove It." He would score another pair of Top Five hits as an artist with songs he didn't write: "The Ride" in 1983, and his biggest solo hit, "Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile," which just missed the top spot, peaking at Number Two.
Coe, who appeared in the 1981 film based on "Take This Job and Shove It," would later tour with Kid Rock, writing "Single Father" for him in 2003. He also worked with members of the metal band Pantera on an LP released in 2006, and he remains notorious for several X-rated songs he recorded while reportedly riding as a member of an outlaw biker gang.
This rare clip [above] of "You Never Even Called Me By My Name," from the year the single was released, was certainly not radio-friendly, with the singer spitting out an F-bomb during the last verse, but it's vintage Coe and certainly another notch in the gun that is his well-deserved outlaw reputation.
If there's any doubt that the "perfect country and western song" has stood the test of time, this 2010 all-star performance, featuring Darius Rucker, Easton Corbin, Montgomery Gentry, Vince Gill, Jason Aldean and the Band Perry should put that notion to rest. | – Well, this is about what you'd expect from the guy who wrote the song "Take This Job and Shove It": David Allan Coe owes the IRS more than $466,000 in back taxes. The country music singer-songwriter, 76, pleaded guilty to income tax evasion in federal court in Cincinnati yesterday, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. He faces up to three years in prison—precisely the amount of time he spent in the Ohio State Penitentiary in his younger days, reports Rolling Stone. The US Attorney's Office says Coe arranged to get much of his payment in cash when he performed, which was partially "an effort to impede the ability of the IRS to collect on the taxes owed." He then spent that cash "on other debts and gambling," the office says in a press release. Perhaps the quirkiest detail in that release: Coe apparently refused payment in $50 bills, because he considered them bad luck and "would not gamble with them." |
Flipboard is a beautiful iPad app that looks at the content your friends are sharing on Twitter and Facebook and reformats it into a digital, interactive magazine.
The consumer reaction to the app since its launch last week has been nothing short of completely nuts.
Click here for a quick walk-through →
How nuts? Cofounder and CEO Mike McCue tells us that before launching Flipboard, he made his engineers hook up double the amount of servers they thought would be necessary. After the launch, Flipboard maxed out that server capacity in a shocking 20 minutes. Since then, Mike says "a significant percentage of the iPad population" has already downloaded the app.
We sat with Mike for an extended interview, which we've published below. We covered what it was like during the app's crazy first days, why Mike raised so much money so early, and what it's like working with Apple and Kleiner Perkins.
The most interesting thing we learned is how Flipboard plans to make money. Flipboard plans to actually show more of publishers' content, advertising against it, and then share revenues. Mike says it will increase publishers' digital revenues "by a factor of ten from what they're currently doing with banner ads."
Here are some more highlights:
Is Flipboard stealing content? Mike says, "There have been probably about 130 publishers that have reached out to us in the last 4 days or so, and unanimously the reaction has been very positive."
Flipboard raised $10 million in its first round so it won't "be forced into a situation where we have to break the glass of the nearest business model just to survive."
"We only have 19 people in the company now, I'll hire another 5 or 10 or something, but were going to keep things small."
Flipboard's launch was as chaotic as it seemed from the outside. It took 20 minutes to max out Flipboard's servers. The company actually asked Apple NOT to feature Flipboard in the iTunes App Store.
Contrary to reports, John Doerr hasn't checked-out at blue chip VC firm Kleiner Perkins, says Mike. "I can still call him up and he would instantly respond. I can ask him for a meeting with basically anyone in the world, and he'd deliver. It's just amazing."
Here's the whole Q&A;:
SAI: Where'd you get the idea for Flipboard?Mike McCue: I left Tellme, my last company a year ago. I sold the company to Microsoft and about a year ago I had completed the integration, I felt like it was a great time to move on. I did a bunch of traveling. I'd be on the plane a lot, and of course all the time I'd buy magazines on the newsstand and flip through them on the plane. And it occurred to me on one of these flights - "Why is it that the Internet looks so ugly and the magazines look so beautiful? Wouldn't it be great if you could take the power of the Internet and the beauty of these magazines and fuse them together somehow?"
The tablet hadn't happened then, but I started asking myself, "I wonder if I could design a Web-like experience that was sort of rooted in the timeless principles of print, and bring the beautiful photography, the really well done typography, layout and graphic design but have that same sort of power and richness and dynamic of the web."
How did you join up with your cofounder?
As I thought about this more, I decided to hire an engineer to help me prototype some of these ideas. I hired this guy Evan Doll from Apple who was on the original iPhone team. He and I started working together and it was pretty clear to me when I met him, that he was going to be more than an engineer to work with, that he'd be the kind of person I could actually start a company with. He has the judgment, the sensibility and the holistic thinking that's needed to be a founder, not just an engineer.
So as the idea developed, about 6 months after doing this kind of exploration where we'd meet continually with a whole bunch of different people, industry thinkers and stuff, it became clear that we could actually start a company around this and we could build the world's first social magazine.
I was really excited by the idea that people were sharing information now and discovering information in a totally new way on the internet via Twitter and Facebook, yet that experience was pretty clunk and just lots of bit.ly links. I thought, "wow maybe we could actually build this sort of social magazine idea where we could make it far easier to see the content that people are sharing with you, kind of scan through it flip through it and then when you actually view the content."
Were you always going to build an iPad app?
We were originally thinking we'd bring this to the web, but in thinking about this, it was clear that a tablet—and the iPad rumors started to pick up pace—it was pretty clear that betting on a tablet, and form factor, would be the idea. So we started designing for that, hoping and praying that something would actually happen there. And lo and behold it did. And then when the iPad came out we really just bet the whole company on it. So we designed something really specifically for the iPad and that really captured this idea.When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad back in January it must have been a pretty big day for the company. Oh it was huge. We called it "iPad Day." It was like a holiday in our company. We were joking with people in our family, like, "happy iPad day". It was a very big deal for us. I was waiting, as the announcement came out, I was just really on the edge of my seat, like what's it going to be? What's the operating system? Can we build something here? Will it have the capability of doing what we want? Will it already have something that we build like we've been thinking already installed in it? So it was really great when it came out, like wow, this is going to be perfect for us. So we downloaded the SDK [software development kit for iPad app developers] that day and started coding that moment. And ever since we've been building it.Did you get a curveball that day at all? Was it what you were expecting? It was pretty much what I was expecting. I was thinking there may have been something more with magazines on that day. It turned out that like Time didn't really do anything until the iPad actually shipped and Popular Science came out later and stuff, so I think I was a little puzzled that there wasn't more magazine type material on the iPad when it launched. But that happened later on when it actually shipped. But no real curveballs though, it was a very exciting day, I was like wow this is going to be amazing. And I really believed that it was going to sell a lot of units, I still think there were some people who were like, wow, you know what if it doesn't really sell well? And there were some questions. But I really believed that it was going to be a hot selling product and it's nice to see that panning out.Evan, having come from Apple, probably had a good idea the iPad was coming, right? Well I don't know, he was very careful, and I was really specific: I wanted no knowledge from Apple to enter into our company. But we had some backup plans, like if the tablet didn't happen, we probably could do an iPhone version, and we were also thinking about an HTML5 version.
But I really wanted to see the tablet pan out. It would be hard to launch a product like this on those other platforms. It might be asking users to depart too far from what they're used to. What the iPad does is it opens people's minds to a new way of doing things. They're actually thirsting for it.
When Flipboard launched, demand was so high for the app that you guys had to limit user-registrations. What was it like watching that from the inside?
It was like nothing I've ever seen before. We thought it would take a while for people to understand the concept and get used to it and download it. I didn't realize that it would be explosive - that within seconds people would be downloading it by the thousands.
The other thing I didn't anticipate was the way that people used the product. They use it far more intensely than I thought they would. When people started downloading it they were flipping back to 2009 on their Facebook pages. It was crazy! They just sat there just flipping. Flipping, flipping, flipping, flipping. That stuff takes server time. We have to build pages for every few hundred posts that we go out and get.
You ever see that UPS commercial where they go live with a website and there was this group standing around and nothing happens as they're looking at a counter, and then it goes up to 1 and they're like "YAY", and then 10 and they're like "YEAHH!", and then it climbs up to like thousands and they're like "Uh-Oh", it was totally like that man, it was exactly like that commercial.
You can't see the download counts in real time, because Apple doesn't expose that, but you can see the people that are signing on to the network, and it was just unbelievable. Immediately we knew that we were going to have an issue.
So did you panic?
Luckily we had put in a governor in the system. Having run Tellme before, one of the things I learned about running a big network, is it's one thing to have some people not be able to get on the way they want to get on, but as long as people who are on the network are having a good experience you're totally cool. So I wanted a way to restrict new users from coming on. We built in a very crude way of doing that. I didn't expect or anticipate to have to use it but basically within the first 15 minutes or so.
20 minutes in, I gave the order. We needed to stop new users coming in, we needed to stabilize, and we needed to allow the users who are in to have a good experience. Then we needed to figure out a way to create an invite system that would allow people on in an orderly fashion. What we needed to do was work with Apple to very quickly get a new build out her that would create this nice, easy to use invite system, which has only been done one other time on the app sore as far as I know.
Are things smoothing out yet?
We got that new build out there and then everything settled down, and people became far more happy. Basically we've been sending out wave after wave of invites. We're actually now accelerating those invites. We've been testing the servers like crazy. We've been optimizing all sorts of things. There's going to be a new build that will come out that well do offline and caching support and we'll make even more efficient use of the network.
What was it like watching the servers roast? Well I mean it went form zero to maximum utilization with in a matter of minutes. [Before the launch] I specifically asked to deploy extra servers. Tey told me how many servers we had to deploy and I said, "ok I want to double that"—I just want to be safe. We maxed them out within a matter of minutes.How many times has Flipboard been downloaded? All I can say is it's a significant percentage of the iPad population.Did Apple feature the app at all? No, no. In fact we asked them not to. I literally called them up that night, and I said you know, please do not feature us. It was really funny because when I talked to these guys at Apple, I told them we just can't get people on fast enough, and they're like well join the club: we can't make iPads fast enough. We're clearly on to something here. Flipboard pulls in a lot of text and a lot of photos from online publishers. What do you say to people who say you're stealing content? Our whole goal is to basically feature publishers content and get people to click over to that content on the website. We don't display the full article. We basically display enough to get people to click over to that "read on web" button and then read the rest of the article on the web. We try to load that webpage in the background so that when you click on the "read on web" button, it's instantly there.
I don't think a lot of people click through a lot of these links when you see them in your Twitter stream. But when you see them on Flipboard I think you're going to find that there is going to be a higher percentage of people clicking on these links. I also think you're going to see a higher percentage of people sharing these links. So I think it benefits publishers.
We use RSS as a guideline or a proxy for how much of an excerpt the particular publisher is willing to show. We're basically the same as like Pulse or any other RSS reader in terms of the amount of content we're showing. In fact we actually don't, Pulse would even show more of an article than we will, because many RSS feeds are actually the entire articles, we don't do that. We bring people right to the websites.
Have any publishers complained?
Actually, there have been probably about 130 publishers that have reached out to us in the last 4 days or so, and unanimously the reaction has been very positive. People want to work with us, partner with us, do Flipboard-optimized content and feature their content in our sections. It's been universally positive. These publishers basically include all the big guys. If any publishers are at all concerned about the way were using Readability to get the content, or if they feel were showing too much content, it's very easy for us in a server file to dial that down and do something that they're more comfortable with.
Flipboard does represent kind of a new approach, there's no question about it. I can understand why there might be questions about something new that's different, but we've really tried to do it from the point of view of the publishers, and we believe that we can create an environments that's actually really great for the publishers, really great for the readers, and also really great for the advertisers.
When we build our business model here, it's not going to be on the backs of the publishers, it will be with the publishers—you know we're going to make money with them not off of them. You'll see that play out as we continue to go forward with the business model.So the plan is to actually show more of publishers' content, advertising against it, and then share revenues? Absolutely, absolutely. We think we can bring a totally new form of advertising to the table that will allow publishers to monetize their content by a factor of ten from what they're currently doing with banner ads.If you look at web pages today, they basically are battlegrounds between content and ads. The ads are competing for the readers interest, the content's competing for the readers interest. It's a terrible experience, especially when you compare it to a magazine. It hurts the publisher. It hurts the advertiser. It hurts the reader.
There's the opportunity to approach this from a design point of view. If we lay out the content in a way that's paginated, that has a clear separation for advertising and content like what you see in magazines, if you figure out how to deliver all these things faster so you're not waiting for things to load - you're not waiting for a page to load because it has all these ads on it - and you follow some of the basic old world magazine designing principles and apply those to Internet content, he advertising business model works.
Take Vogue magazine, for example. They have a circulation of 1.2 million people and they make $300 million in advertising. That's awesome. But you can't do that in the web. Ask someone who reads Vogue: "Imagine I have two different copies of Vogue magazines, they're the same issue except one has ads and the other one doesn't. Which one are you going to pay $5 for?" Everybody who reads Vogue wants the one with the ads. But if you asked them the same thing about the website they all say they don't want the ads. So what that says to me is that this is a design problem. The economics have always been there, and I think they can be there. So I think there's a tremendous opportunity here. Publishers are excited about it. We've captured their imagination and they're actively working with us now to dial up the content and actually present more of it - faster, cached, paginated, beautifully laid out just like a magazine - to end up actually making 10x the revenue from advertising they are on their websites today.You took more than $10 million in your first round of funding for Flipboard. That's a lot for a first round, isn't it? I want to have plenty of runway so that I can build the business model and the product the way that it needs to be built and not be forced into a situation where we have to break the glass of the nearest business model just to survive. When I was at Tellme, we built a great company but it took ten years to do it. It was incredibly hard because we built the company around this really awesome consumer vision, but when the economy fell off a cliff, we basically needed to find an immediate business model and put the consumer stuff on hold for a bit, so that we could survive.
That basically took us off our consumer gameplan for like 7 or 8 years. Ultimately we were able to go back onto that gameplan after we were cash positive we were able to start to build the new mobile search capabilities where you were able to say what you want and get it, and that ultimately was what attracted Microsoft and that led to the acquisition.
But with this company, that's a mistake I want to avoid. I want to make sure there's plenty of cash so that we can build this consumer vision out, and really do it right, and not have our hands forced because we don't have enough money. So we only have 19 people in the company now, I'll hire another 5 or 10 or something, but were going to keep things small.
Back in the day Flipboard investor Kleiner Perkins was the premier VC firm in IT, having backed Amazon and Google. But is it still a top venture firm now that John Doerr moved to green tech and Vinod Khosla left to start his own firm? There's been some questions in the startup community.
I read that piece actually. I believe that Kleiner Perkins is the type of VC firm you go to if you're an entrepreneur that wants to change the world. What Kleiner does is really quite unique amongst all the other VC firms; they think and act huge. They have the courage to build a company that will change the world. They have the staying power and the wisdom and the contacts and the sort of sheer tenacity that it takes to actually do that. When people ask me what it's like to work with KP, I always talk about how, they are the kind of the company that if you want to build something that is a company as vast as Google or Amazon, basically, KP is a must.
Now there are definitely other VCs that are good out there. I raised money, for example, from Index. I also raised money from Benchmark when I was at Tellme. But Kleiner, there's something special about them in that that is a firm that exists to change the world and they don't mess around with small stuff.
I actually believe that the investments that they've made in terms of things like the iFund where if you're a startup and you want to build a really great new Internet company that's going to leverage what apple is doing with mobile, Kleiner is it, they are it. Steve jobs is extremely excited about what KP has done there. Apple is very supportive of companies that are in the iFund. I've seen this myself in action, it's very very impressive.
John Doerr, by the way, has never been on my board - he's not on my board here at Flipboard and he wasn't on the board at Tellme - but I can still call him up and he would instantly respond and I can ask him for a meeting with basically anyone in the world, and he'd deliver. It's just amazing. He's one of these guys that when you talk to, he kind of inspires you. You come away with the impression that life is short and you need to do something important. That's the way he thinks, and acts.
Kleiner is as relevant as they've ever been. It sounds like it's sort of other competitors that are just trying to position themselves vis-à-vis Kleiner. But I really think it's an incredible firm, always has been, well continue to be so, they're just pure excellence, I'm just really impressed with those guys. What's next? Is Flipboard coming to Android? The iPhone? I certainly think there are other platforms in the future. The main thing is to focus on the experience we have now. We've got to get everybody on. We're going to come out with some rapid new iterations of this experience and I think you'll see the iPad continue to be our flagship experience. At some point it will become clear when and how we should move to the iPhone or the web, but we're a small shop and I'm going to keep things small. I want to make sure we continue to build something here that's going to help publishers and it's going to help advertisers, and it's going to be a completely new kind of browsing experience for people who are using a tablet and are using the Internet. So that's going to take a lot of focus, a lot of energy and that's what we'll be doing for the foreseeable future. ||||| Magazines aren't dead; they're just getting reinvented. Flipboard turns Facebook and Twitter feeds into attractive, magazine-style pages for beach-friendly consumption.
Facebook and Twitter feeds have never looked better than with Flipboard for iPad. (Credit: Flipboard)
iPad app Flipboard calls itself a "social magazine," a way to browse Facebook and Twitter content with the same breezy effortlessness you'd browse the pages of a favorite periodical.
I call it cool.
Flipboard reminds me of Blogshelf, the awesome iPad app that gives blogs and RSS feeds an iBooks-style makeover.
Here, however, the app pulls from your Facebook and Twitter accounts, turning friends' updates into nicely formatted, perusal-friendly pages. (Shades of Sobees, which works a similar kind of magic--though only for Facebook.)
Flipboard also delivers your choice of a couple dozen aggregated content sections (news, finance, music, tech, etc.) selected by Flipboard's creators. It's perhaps the best way I've found to read The Onion on my iPad.
You can tap any section to see headlines, story blurbs, and photos mashed up in an attractive, magazine-style format. Swipe to flip to the next page, or tap a story to read it--an abbreviated version of it, anyway. As with Blogshelf, you often have to "tap through" to the original Web page to access the full content.
I can live with that, but Flipboard needs to fix a few other areas. For starters, you're currently limited to just nine sections. Choosing a new one means deleting something else--and the Facebook and Twitter sections can't be removed, even if you're not a social-media maven.
There's no offline option, either, so if you're not currently connected via Wi-Fi or 3G, no soup for you.
The biggest wrinkle? Flipboard has quickly turned into a victim of its own success. For the past several hours I've been unable to link my Facebook and Twitter accounts; the app is suffering from "capacity overload."
That's a temporary glitch, no doubt, and even without that stuff, Flipboard is worth a look. For me it's already joined the likes of Blogshelf, Early Edition, and PressReader as one of my favorite ways to consume content on my iPad.
Want to know more? Check out this morning's post on the Digital Media blog: Meet Flipboard: Mike McCue's stealth "social magazine." You can also watch the company's promo video below--though see if you don't agree that the pitchman comes across as overly smug. Yeah, it's a cool app--we get it! ||||| Major publishers have slowly been rolling out their visions of how an analog magazine should look and work in a digital world full of iPads. Flipboard, on the other hand, is a new type of digital publication for the iPad that wants to meld your news and social worlds into a sort of personalized magazine.
Flipboard collects news, Twitter updates, and Facebook posts into a unique, animated magazine-style layout. Some preset news feeds and a Twitter "daily photo" stream introduce you to the concept, and you are prompted to add your Twitter and Facebook credentials so you stay on top of your own social networks and share interesting things you find with your friends.
You can also choose from a handful of built-in news sources like the Wall Street Journal and GigaOM's tech blogs. Flipboard displays sources as tiles on a magazine-like table of contents page. When you tap a source, fluid animations will roll out stories, headlines, and photos across the page to remind you that this is most certainly not your grandparent's magazine.
If you run to try out Flipboard right away Wednesday morning, you should know that quite a lot of buzz is swirling around it, so some features may stutter or hang. This is an unfortunate reality of Web services that get temporarily overwhelmed, but things should settle down soon.
Flipboard is available for free now in the App Store and requires an iPad running iOS 3.2 or later. | – Flipboard may be the first true killer app for the iPad, a "social magazine" that weaves information from your Facebook and Twitter feeds together with personalized, aggregated news content into an attractive, intuitive presentation. The app's smooth, magazine-like appearance has drawn almost universal acclaim—check these reviews from PC World and CNET. In fact, Flipboard's biggest drawback so far may be that demand since its launch last week has periodically paralyzed its servers. A key feature of Flipboard is its ability to extract links embedded in Twitter by services like bit.ly and present that content upfront as part of your personal "magazine." The company intends to wed that kind of social media content with conventional publishing, CEO Mike McCue tells Business Insider, while serving ads alongside both. The resulting revenue will be split with publishers in an arrangement McCue says will allow publishers to "monetize their content by a factor of ten from what they’re currently doing with banner ads." |
Two NYPD sergeants were shot in the Bronx Friday.
Cops and paramedics rushed to Noble Ave. near Bronx River Ave. about 3 p.m. after the shooting.
The suspect, who had multiple guns, was shot dead by cops, sources said.
Both sergeants were taken to Jacobi Medical Center in serious condition, according to preliminary reports.
The circumstances of the shooting were not immediately clear.
This is breaking story. Check back for updates. ||||| Story highlights Slain officer identified as Paul Tuozzolo, a 19-year NYPD veteran
He and other officers were pursuing a suspect in a reported home invasion
(CNN) A New York City police sergeant was killed and another officer was wounded Friday afternoon in a shootout with a Bronx home invasion suspect, Police Commissioner James O'Neill said.
The slain officer, Paul Tuozzolo, 41, was a 19-year veteran of the department, O'Neill said.
Paul Tuozzolo.
Emmanuel Kwo, a sergeant with nine years experience, was shot in the leg and hospitalized, O'Neill said. He was in stable condition.
O'Neill said a woman called 911 about 2:45 p.m. to say an armed man had broken into an apartment. Inside were the man's estranged wife, their 3-year-old son, the 911 caller and a 13-year-old child, O'Neill said.
As officers approached the residence they learned the suspect had fled in a red Jeep.
Read More | – Two NYPD officers responding to a home invasion in the Bronx were shot Friday afternoon, and CNN reports one of them has died. The New York Daily News reports that the "heavily-armed gunman" was killed in the firefight. The second officer's injuries were said to be non-life-threatening. |
Edmunds.com, one of the top Web sites for car shopping and automotive information, is hoping to revolutionize how people buy cars and eliminate the No. 1 most frustrating part of the car shopping process.
According to Seth Berkowitz, president and chief operating officer of Edmunds.com, 54% of car shoppers say they want more clarity on the exact price of a car rather than haggle with dealers.
"The average American person cannot understand how it is that as an industry that we cannot deliver an actual car price to them," Berkowitz said today at the Automotive Press Association in Detroit. "It ... ||||| Free Price Quote From a Local Dealer Free Price Quote From a View Special Offers
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The Tesla Model 3 is here, and it is the most important vehicle of the century.
Yes, the hyperbole is necessary. The original Tesla Model S was a proof of concept—it was possible to make a long-range electric vehicle. The Model X showed that you could make an electric SUV. But neither was affordable to the masses. And although the Chevrolet Bolt has shown that 238 miles of electric range is possible for less than $40,000, GM’s volume aspirations are modest.
Not so for Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who wants to blow out the walls of his Fremont, California, factory to build a half-million Tesla Model 3s every year.
Tesla gave Motor Trend an opportunity for an extended test drive with the Tesla Model 3 engineer. Following is Testing Director Kim Reynolds’ review.
Thirty-six hours before Elon Musk hands the keys to the first 30 purchasers of the new Tesla Model 3 electric car, we are waiting at a gravel parking lot at the corner of Mullholland Highway and Old Topanga Road in Malibu. “What time is it?” somebody asks. “8 a.m.” replies videographer Cory Lutz as he and Travis Labella ready an arsenal of GoPros. Everybody—photographers Brian Vance and William Walker, me, the video guys—are taking turns shooting glances up Old Topanga. We’re watching for a red car.
8:05: “There he is,” I hear somebody say. He is Franz von Holzhausen, chief designer for Tesla. And the red car is not only his, but it’s also one of the most awaited and speculated-about automobiles in years—the Tesla Model 3, a car I’ve overheard relatives talking about who don’t know how many cylinders their Camry’s engine has. The scene felt a little like Hollywood paparazzi staking out Justin Bieber again, but this time it wasn’t a hijacking. In a somewhat intimidating coup, Franz is going to let me tear up and down nearby Stunt Road in it (and what better name for a test route, eh?).
Franz emerges. Although he’s a pedigreed car designer after deployments with VW, GM (Pontiac Solstice), and Mazda, the guy’s seemingly Hollywood-cast for the Tesla taste-meister part, in black jeans, black T-shirt, and aviator sunglasses. And his car appears remarkably similar to the prototype. “We softened the nose’s frown a little, and these proximity sensors are new, of course,” he says with a shrug. At the back, the parting lines do elegant double-duty as air-separation creases, the charging port’s flap flips upward now, and there’s no external badging at all, besides the Tesla logos. Franz climbs into the passenger seat as I slide in on his left. “Drive it like you own it,” he commands. “Like you own it,” I correct him with a crooked smile.
Anyone familiar with the Model S will quickly feel oriented with the smaller Tesla Model 3. There’s the shifter stalk on the right (reverse up, drive down, depress for park), but now with extra taps once under way, it doubles as the cruise-control lever. All of the car’s infographics reside on a 15.4-inch, landscape-oriented multitouch screen that’s perched on an austere, sweeping, almost Scandinavian-simple, dash. And being a Tesla, it’s an hors d’oeuvre tray of software delectables. Interior air (from subtle vents) is aimed by moving spots around on the display, even dividing the airflow to send it past each ear. There’s a wallet-able security card that plugs in, acting as a valet key. Other coolnesses? Franz’ car is a loaded version—a Premium (add $5,000), meaning better-grade materials, wood-veneered dash, 12-way front seats, 12-speaker sound, heated rear seats, side-by-side inductive phone chargers, and that panoramic glass ceiling that nevertheless protects like SPF 90 sunscreen. A detail that tickled me: One of the assignable functions of the twin thumb scrolls on the wheel spokes is tilting and telescoping the steering column. Cool. You adjust the wheel with your hands right where they should be. It’ll take a lot more miles than this to decide if the single off-center screen completely substitutes for a conventionally located gauge cluster, but I’m already adapting to it. At least I can always see the mph display near my right hand position (upper left corner of the screen) versus it being often half-hidden behind spokes.
Tesla worked hard to increase interior space, and subjectively it succeeded. For a compact car, the Model 3 feels incredibly light and airy. The dash is pulled ahead and pressed down, but cleverly, the touchscreen is apart from that, close to your right hand. (It was embedded into the Model S’ dash, constraining them to be equidistant.) The Tesla Model 3 has a trunk opening instead of a Model S-like hatch to delete the hatch-required crossmember, which shaves rear headroom. The prototype’s trunk opening was criticized as too small; now it’s yawning. And at 15 cubic feet, with a very low lift-over and 60/40 folding rear seats, it looks hungry for a surfboard or a bike. (Franz assures me of this; he’s a cyclist.) Up front, the frunk is precisely sized to hold a carry-on suitcase. “If it’s too big here,” Franz says, “you’re going to have to check it.” I tap the stalk down into drive, and we arc out onto Mulholland.
And then the foot goes down. How does it drive? The gush of torque clearly indicates DNA shared with the Model S. Yet it’s a new motor specific to the 3; Franz is coy about its horsepower, but Tesla’s claim of 0-60 in 5.1 seconds seems right when paired with this car’s $9,000 long-range battery. Yes, there’s a choice of two batteries. Tesla’s trying to change the vocabulary we’re using to describe it, from “kilowatt-hours” to “range.” Franz says the standard one (while still doing 0-60 in 5.6 seconds) will travel 220 miles, but his provides 310 miles of range. (Supercharging is available but at a fee that’s attractive compared to filling with an equivalent amount of gasoline.)
What’s blanching, though, is the car’s ride and handling. If anybody was expecting a typical boring electric sedan here, nope. The ride is Alfa Giulia (maybe even Quadrifoglio)–firm, and quickly, I’m carving Stunt Road like a Sochi Olympics giant slalomer, micrometering my swipes at the apexes. I glance at Franz—this OK? “Go for it,” he nods. The Model 3 is so unexpected scalpel-like, I’m sputtering for adjectives. The steering ratio is quick, the effort is light (for me), but there’s enough light tremble against your fingers to hear the cornering negotiations between Stunt Road and these 235/40R19 tires (Continental ProContact RX m+s’s). And to mention body roll is to have already said too much about it. Sure, that battery is low, way down under the floor. But unlike the aluminum Model S, the Tesla Model 3 is composed of steel, too, and this car’s glass ceiling can’t be helping the center of gravity’s height. Nearly-nil body roll? Magic, I’m telling you. Magic. And this is the single-motor, rear-wheel-drive starting point. The already boggled mind boggles further at the mention of Dual Motor and Ludicrous.
The photographers stare, looking bummed they haven’t gotten everything they wanted, but Franz has got to go. He’s heading up to that same key handover in Fremont. Handshakes, then the red car silently whooshes out of sight around a corner, leaving a vacuum that’s instantly filling with questions: Have I ever driven a more startling small sedan? I haven’t. At speed, it gains a laser-alertness I haven’t encountered before. By happenstance, associate road test editor Erick Ayapana had penciled me into a 2.0-liter Alfa Romeo Giulia to get here, and it feels like a wet sponge by comparison. Technological fascination? Besides what I’ve already described, the Tesla Model 3 is available with Enhanced Autopilot ($5,000) and for another $3,000 what’s called “Full Self-Driving Capability” in the future. A lot of money, sure—but how many $35,000 cars offer that? Or for that matter, standard over-the-air updatability?
But of course, Franz’s car isn’t $35,000. A quick summing of its features puts it at about $59,500 before incentives—including $1,500 for the larger 19-inch wheels (18 inches are standard), and a grand for the red multicoat paint. (You can have any no-extra-cost color as long as it’s black. Seriously.) And it’ll be a while before $35,000 versions are built, but reservation holders can place an order for an upgraded Model 3.
As we pack up, I’m thinking. Recently I’ve been spending some time in Motor Trend’s long-term Chevrolet Bolt EV and with every mile edging closer to calling it The Automobile 2.0. With its affordability, stress-free range, and delightful driving qualities, I’m thinking that maybe this is where the second era of the car commences. Pause that thought. With the Tesla Model 3’s performance, slinky style, fascinating creativity, and, critically, its Supercharger safety net, I think this is truly where it begins. Here at the corner of Mulholland Highway and Old Topanga Road. | – Add Edmunds.com to the list of companies dreaming of emulating Amazon's success. With last year's quiet launch of a service called Price Promise, the car shopping website is trying to "be as close as possible to Amazon.com for the automotive experience," president Seth Berkowitz explained at an industry gathering yesterday. What that means, per the Detroit Free Press: Berkowitz says car shoppers' No. 1 gripe is the lack of a clear, exact car price; Price Promise cuts out the haggling that follows as a result by allowing dealers to email the exact price of a vehicle found on the site to shoppers who request it. Shoppers can then print out a certificate bearing the number; the dealer must sell the car for that price. Ergo, no haggling. Though the site hopes the feature will set it apart from the competition, TrueCar.com has offered a similar program since 2009, the Free Press notes; it claims 6,200 participating dealers, to Edmunds.com's 600. The service also doesn't factor in a buyer's credit history, which could change the monthly payments, points out the Wall Street Journal. Price Promise doesn't necessarily meaning getting the lowest price, either. Dealers say they sell cars to Price-Promise users for $300 to $500 more than traditional buyers. But according to Berkowitz, it's a worthwhile tradeoff for those looking to save time and avoid headaches. |
BURLINGAME, Calif. (AP) — Attorneys for a 97-year-old woman being booted from her Northern California home filed suit Friday to enforce a long-ago promise by the landlord that the woman could live there until she died.
The complaint filed in San Mateo County states that Marie Hatch moved into her Burlingame cottage more than 60 years ago at the request of her friend Vivian Kroeze, who owned the property and needed companionship after her husband died.
Hatch was promised a lifetime tenancy, and the promise was honored by Kroeze's daughter and granddaughter after Vivian Kroeze died in 1980.
But in 2006, the granddaughter was murdered by her boyfriend and her estranged husband, David Kantz, took over collecting rent.
This month, his attorney told Hatch and her 85-year-old roommate to vacate within 60 days.
Kantz previously told the San Francisco Chronicle that he felt terrible about evicting the women but had no choice given that the agreement is not in writing and he has to provide for his sons.
The newspaper's story prompted calls and emails from hundreds of people offering help. One call came from a Joe Cotchett, a high-profile civil attorney whose firm is representing Hatch free of charge.
"This is one of the most egregious acts of taking advantage of one of our community's most vulnerable citizens that I have seen in my legal career," said Nancy Fineman, one of Hatch's lawyers.
The complaint claims elder abuse as well as breach of contract.
Kantz's attorney, Michael Liberty, did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.
Burlingame is a wealthy enclave about a half hour drive south from downtown San Francisco. ||||| Marie Hatch,97, in the living room of her home in Burlingame, Calif., on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016. (John Green/Bay Area News Group) ( JOHN GREEN )
BURLINGAME -- More than anything, Marie Hatch wanted to stay in her home -- the cottage where she raised a son and lived for 66 of her 97 years -- until she died. It was a promise made to her by her original landlady, for whom she had cooked and served as a trusted companion, when Hatch moved into the cottage as a single mom during the Truman administration.
In the end, she got what she wanted, but not the way she wanted it.
When Hatch died Thursday night, she was battling cancer and nearing the end of a 60-day eviction notice, with the wolf at her door, nearing the end of her rope. Her eviction -- and quest to stay in her home -- quickly became a highly publicized symbol of how the Bay Area's affordable housing crisis has been especially difficult for the elderly.
The promise that had sustained Hatch through 792 monthly rent checks was made by Vivian Kroeze in 1950, and honored -- without benefit of a written contract -- by Kroeze's daughter and granddaughter.
"Vivian was a widow, and she was lonely," says Georgia Rothrock, 85, who rented a room in the cottage from Hatch for the past 32 years. The pair pooled their Social Security checks to make rent, which went to David Kantz, who was in the process of divorcing Kroeze's granddaughter, Pamela, in 2006, when she was murdered by a boyfriend. Kantz has stated it was the expiration of his late wife's trust later this year that forced him to evict Hatch, who was stricken with lung cancer before she learned she had to move out.
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Hatch's suffering over the eviction notice was made more acute by agoraphobia, an anxiety disorder brought on every time she stepped outside the sanctuary of her home. "I really feel the 60-day eviction notice contributed to her demise," says Rothrock, who remains "unclear" about where she will live next.
A lawsuit filed on Hatch's behalf last week by Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy -- the firm whose suit forced billionaire Vinod Khosla to open Martin's Beach to the public -- accused Kantz of breach of contract, elder abuse and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Nanci Nishimura, one of the attorneys working pro bono on Hatch's case, said the legal case would proceed despite her client's death.
Hatch was hospitalized earlier this week and diagnosed with a viral infection, and though she was still having trouble breathing, the hospital released her around 4:20 p.m. Thursday. She died at home less than two hours later with her son, Gary Hatch, by her side.
Kantz insisted the family trust forced him to evict the two elderly women, and another tenant in a house he owns next door. However, Nishimura noted that California law still recognizes oral contracts. Kantz's attorney, Michael Liberty, said in a statement last week that "no such guarantee ever existed." Liberty did not respond to a call seeking comment.
Nishimura said the property is still legally registered with the county recorder in Pamela Kantz's name. A trust could supersede that, but Nishimura said it hasn't been filed with the court. "We have repeatedly asked for a copy of that alleged trust," she said, "and we have not seen one."
The case has focused attention once again on the Bay Area's housing affordability crisis. Hatch paid about $960 per month, roughly $1,600 less than the average rent in San Mateo County as of December, according to housing data.
"The Marie Hatches of the world are being displaced," Nishimura says. "Where is society going when we do not revere, honor and care for our elderly people? What's wrong with this world if we can't provide for them?"
News of Hatch's eviction led to numerous offers of housing and financial assistance. A fundraising website had raised more than $47,000 for Hatch at the time of her death. But Hatch said she didn't want to move. "Just leave me alone in my little sloppy house," she said.
Staff writer Aaron Kinney contributed to this report. Contact Jason Green at 408-920-5006. Follow him at Twitter.com/jgreendailynews. | – Attorneys for a 97-year-old woman being booted from her Northern California home filed suit Friday to enforce a long-ago promise by the landlord that the woman could live there until she died, the AP reports. The complaint states Marie Hatch moved into her Burlingame cottage more than 60 years ago at the request of her friend Vivian Kroeze, who owned the property and needed companionship after her husband died. Hatch was promised a lifetime tenancy, and the promise was honored by Kroeze's daughter and granddaughter after Vivian Kroeze died in 1980. But in 2006, the granddaughter was murdered by her boyfriend and her estranged husband, David Kantz, took over collecting rent. This month, Kantz's attorney told Hatch and her 85-year-old roommate to vacate within 60 days. Kantz previously told the San Francisco Chronicle that he felt terrible about evicting the women but had no choice given that the agreement is not in writing and he has to provide for his sons. The newspaper's story prompted calls and emails from hundreds of people offering help. One call came from a Joe Cotchett, a high-profile civil attorney whose firm is representing Hatch free of charge. "This is one of the most egregious acts of taking advantage of one of our community's most vulnerable citizens that I have seen in my legal career," one of Hatch's lawyers says. The complaint claims elder abuse as well as breach of contract. |
Adam Schefter reports the latest on the NFL's plan to "move past" its ongoing debate about player protests during the national anthem. (0:36)
The NFL has developed a plan to "move past" its ongoing debate about player protests during the national anthem and could enact it next week, commissioner Roger Goodell wrote Tuesday in a letter to all 32 teams.
Goodell made it clear in the letter, obtained by ESPN's Adam Schefter, that he wants players to stand during the anthem. He did not provide specifics on how he intends to ensure it, but he wrote that it would "include such elements as an in-season platform to promote the work of our players on these core issues."
The issue will be discussed, and likely acted upon, during the NFL's regularly-scheduled fall meetings on Oct. 17-18.
In the letter, Goodell said he wanted to end the controversy by agreeing on a uniform approach for all teams.
"Like many of our fans," Goodell wrote, "we believe that everyone should stand for the national anthem. It is an important moment in our game. We want to honor our flag and our country, and our fans expect that of us.
"We also care deeply about our players and respect their opinions and concerns about critical social issues. The controversy over the Anthem is a barrier to having honest conversations and making real progress on the underlying issues. We need to move past this controversy, and we want to do that together with our players."
The NFL's current anthem policy states that players "should" stand for the anthem, but it stops short of requiring it.
The proposed new policy is the result of "many of discussions with clubs and players," Goodell added.
President Donald Trump has called on NFL owners since last month to fire players who do not stand for the anthem, saying their protest "disrespects the flag" and the country. The issue intensified last weekend, when Vice President Mike Pence walked out of the 49ers-Colts game because more than 20 players from the 49ers kneeled during the anthem.
It is about time that Roger Goodell of the NFL is finally demanding that all players STAND for our great National Anthem-RESPECT OUR COUNTRY — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2017
Players involved in the protest, which began in 2016 with 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, have said they are protesting police brutality and racism -- not the flag itself. But many NFL owners have grown concerned about the appearance of unpatriotic acts and, on Sunday, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he would bench any player who kneeled. ||||| ATLANTA -- NFL owners have unanimously approved a new national anthem policy that requires players to stand if they are on the field during the performance but gives them the option to remain in the locker room if they prefer, it was announced Wednesday.
The policy subjects teams to a fine if a player or any other team personnel do not show respect for the anthem. That includes any attempt to sit or kneel, as dozens of players have done during the past two seasons to protest racial inequality and police brutality. Those teams also will have the option to fine any team personnel, including players, for the infraction.
"We want people to be respectful of the national anthem," commissioner Roger Goodell said. "We want people to stand -- that's all personnel -- and make sure they treat this moment in a respectful fashion. That's something we think we owe. [But] we were also very sensitive to give players choices."
Goodell said the vote was "unanimous" among owners, although San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York said he abstained. York said that all owners that voted in the process supported the change. The policy will be part of the NFL's game operations manual and thus not subject to collective bargaining. The NFL Players Association said in a statement that it will review the policy and "challenge any aspect" that is inconsistent with the CBA.
Some important details remained unclear in the hours after the policy's approval, including the specific fine that teams would be subject to and also how the league will define respect for the flag.
"To make a decision that strong, you would hope that the players have input on it," Cleveland Browns quarterback Tyrod Taylor said. "But obviously not. So we have to deal with it as players, for good or a bad thing.
"I think the main thing out of all of it is that each ballclub is having open communication with the players and ownership about the issues that are going on in the community and trying to change it."
NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith reacted with displeasure in a series of tweets Wednesday.
"History has taught us that both patriotism and protest are like water; if the force is strong enough it cannot be suppressed. Today, the CEO's of the NFL created a rule that people who hate autocracies should reject," Smith tweeted.
"Management has chosen to quash the same freedom of speech that protects someone who wants to salute the flag in an effort to prevent someone who does not wish to do so. The sad irony of this rule is that anyone who wants to express their patriotism is subject to the whim of a person who calls himself an "Owner." I know that not all of the NFL CEO's are for this and I know that true American patriots are not cheering today."
After spending months in discussions, and another three hours over two days at the league's spring meetings, owners said this found a compromise that will end sitting or kneeling with an edict that stops short of requiring every player to stand.
The previous policy required players to be on the field for the anthem but said only that they "should" stand. When then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began kneeling in 2016, the league had no rule it could use to prevent it. The movement drew increasing criticism from President Donald Trump, as well as many fans, who believed it was a sign of disrespect toward the flag and country.
Owners, however, had been divided on how to extricate the league from that criticism. Some owners, including the Dallas Cowboys' Jerry Jones and the Houston Texans' Bob McNair, wanted all players to stand. Others, such as the New York Jets' Christopher Johnson, wanted to avoid any appearance of muzzling players.
Even the seemingly simple option of clearing the field prior to the anthem was rejected by some owners who thought it would be interpreted as a mass protest or at least a sign of disrespect.
Earlier this week, the league finalized an $89 million social justice platform with players to help address "some of the underlying issues" that were under protest, said Mark Murphy, the Green Bay Packers' president/CEO.
"I think we learned from each other in order to come to a unanimous consensus," Murphy said. "We also talked a lot about our players. I think when you look back at last fall, it was difficult for all of us within the league. But one of the positives that came out of it was an improved relationship with our players."
In a statement accompanying the announcement, Goodell said the league wanted to eliminate criticism that suggested the protests were unpatriotic.
"It was unfortunate that on-field protests created a false perception among many that thousands of NFL players were unpatriotic," Goodell said. "This is not and was never the case."
Kaepernick and former 49ers safety Eric Reid have both filed collusion cases against the league after failing to find jobs as free agents.
Eagles defensive end Chris Long tweeted that the policy is "fear of a diminished bottom line." Long, who is white, notably kept his hand on African-American teammate Malcolm Jenkins' back for the entire playing of the anthem before a 2017 preseason game. Long then gave Jenkins a pat on the shoulder pads and a hug when the song was over.
"It's also fear of a president turning his base against a corporation. This is not patriotism. Don't get it confused," Long tweeted. "These owners don't love America more than the players demonstrating and taking real action to improve. It also lets you, the fan, know where our league stands."
Jenkins is one of a handful of outspoken players who vowed Wednesday to carry on the cause.
"I will not let it silence me or stop me from fighting," he said. "This has never been about taking a knee, raising a fist or anyone's patriotism, but doing what we can to effect real change for real people." | – The NFL changed its rule book Wednesday to stop players from kneeling during the national anthem. All 32 team owners approved a new rule designed to ban players from sitting or kneeling on the field in protest during the anthem, reports ESPN. However, the league said players could remain in the locker room and emerge once the anthem is over. Previously, all players had to be on the field during the anthem. The NFL will fine teams whose players disobey, but the teams themselves will decide on the penalties for individual players, reports CNN. "This season, all league and team personnel shall stand and show respect for the flag and the Anthem," said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in a statement. "It was unfortunate that on-field protests created a false perception among many that thousands of NFL players were unpatriotic," he added. "This is not and was never the case." All of this began in 2016, when former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the anthem to protest police brutality. |
Washington lurched toward another potential government shutdown crisis Friday, as the House approved by a 219-203 vote a GOP-authored short-term funding measure designed to keep the government running through Nov. 18 and Democrats in the Senate immediately vowed to reject the bill.
“We expect a vote fairly quickly,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Friday morning.
In an after-midnight roll call, House Republican leaders persuaded conservatives early Friday morning to support a stop-gap measure nearly identical to one they had rejected just 30 hours earlier. By a narrow margin, 213 Republicans supported the plan, along with six Democrats; 179 Democrats opposed it, joined by 24 Republicans.
The bill, which will keep federal agencies funded through Nov. 18, passed over staunch objections from House Democrats, who opposed a provision that would pair increased funding for disaster relief with a spending cut to a program that makes loans to car companies to encourage energy efficient car production.
But House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) victory is likely to be short-lived. Reid said late Thursday that the measure could not pass his chamber, with a vote expected sometime Friday. A Senate defeat would leave Congress at a new standoff.
“It fails to provide the relief that our fellow Americans need as they struggle to rebuild their lives in the wake of floods, wildfires and hurricanes, and it will be rejected by the Senate,” Reid said of the House bill.
Without a resolution, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund will run out of money early next week and the rest of the government would be forced to shutdown Oct. 1.
House leaders contend that the Senate would be responsible for blocking desperately needed disaster dollars from flowing to FEMA if they reject their bill.
“You saw the House act,” said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) as he left the Capitol early Friday morning. “We are intending that the money gets to FEMA and to disaster victims as they need it.”
“I think Harry Reid’s political ploy is not going to work,” Cantor continued, adding that blame for FEMA funding drying up if the Senate rejects the bill would fall on Senate Democrats. “I guess Harry Reid will have to bear the burden of denying disaster victims the money they need.”
Friday’s House vote marked a reversal of fortunes for Boehner, who after losing the initial Wednesday vote on the House spending resolution found himself roaming the contours of a familiar dilemma — capitulate to fiscal hawks in his own party who want to spend less, or compromise with Democrats who want to spend more.
Instead, Boehner found another route: He huddled all day and night Thursday with his rank-and-file, warning them he would give them one more chance to approve the bill or he would be forced to agree to drop the offsetting cut, as Democrats had demanded.
In addition, after a 90-minute meeting with the House GOP Conference on Thursday afternoon, the leadership agreed to an additional, largely symbolic cut by striking $100 million from a loan program that funded the bankrupt solar panel manufacturer Solyndra. That company, which received the loan guarantees through the Obama administration’s 2009 stimulus legislation, has become a favorite target for Republicans in their critique of the White House’s handling of the economy.
As for the swipe at the program that had funded Solyndra, Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.) told colleagues on the House floor late Thursday that the goal was to “ensure that hard-earned dollars of the American people are not wasted in the way that we have seen” with the company.
Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-N.Y.) countered that the measure had hardly changed after a day of wrangling and still made “unacceptable cuts to an essential manufacturing jobs program to pay for equally essential disaster relief.”
The blow-up over what Boehner had once hoped would be a routine matter — a bill to merely keep government operating until Nov. 18 — illustrated what has become a central reality for the Republican speaker: He controls the House majority only on paper.
On any given vote, he must contend with a sizable bloc of his own members willing to buck his leadership in the name of shrinking government.
This leaves him in the uncomfortable position of having to consider alliances with Democrats — and facing negotiating those alliances from a position of weakness.
Despite the embarrassing loss on Wednesday’s vote, Republicans defended the decision to hold the vote even though they realized it was likely to fail. The GOP leadership wanted to demonstrate to the recalcitrant conservatives that their actions had real consequences. One senior Republican adviser called the process “an educational experience.”
“I’ve always believed in allowing the House to work its will. I understood what the risk was yesterday. But why not put the bill on the floor and let the members speak? And they did,” Boehner said Thursday morning at his weekly press briefing.
According to GOP lawmakers and aides, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) had reported to Boehner and Cantor that a few dozen Republicans would oppose the legislation, mostly because they thought its spending levels were too far above those they voted for in the spring when they approved the 2012 budget originally proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
Boehner’s leadership team knew that it would need Democratic votes to approve the plan, but only by Wednesday afternoon did they fully understand that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) were whipping their caucus to oppose the measure and make Boehner deliver nearly all Republican votes for passage. Rather than pulling the bill from the floor, Boehner told his deputies to hold the vote.
The extraordinary effort required to pass such a basic bill suggests even bigger battles later in the fall on potential blockbuster deficit-reduction plans.
The stopgap spending bill is necessary because the House and Senate have stalemated over how to fund government through the whole year. Without a stopgap in place to buy time for further negotiations, the government will shut down at month’s end.
House leaders had hoped to pass the short-term funding bill without the strife that had characterized recent debates, which they knew would erode financial markets’ confidence and spark further disgust among voters. They would do it by agreeing to set spending in the bill at a rate of $1.043 trillion for the year, the amount set in the rancorous August deal to raise the nation’s debt ceiling.
But that plan ran headlong into the political realities of their divided chamber — as well as a congressional calendar that provides for a week-long recess starting Friday so that Jewish lawmakers can observe their holidays next week.
Democrats, stung by accusations that they had made too many concessions in the debt fight during the summer, stood unified against the measure over a Republican decision to pair $3.65 billion in funding for disaster relief with a $1.5 billion spending cut to the the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program, which offers loans to car companies to encourage the production of energy-efficient cars. That particular cut was anathema to many Democrats, who argued that the loan program has generated tens of thousands of jobs.
Democrats relished the prospect that their unified opposition forced Boehner to publicly struggle.
“In the House, the majority controls all the mechanisms,” said Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.). “You’d better be able to produce the votes. You just cant go willy-nilly to the floor and then say, ‘Well, oopsy.’ ”
Staff writers David A. Fahrenthold and Felicia Sonmez contributed to this report. ||||| WASHINGTON -- The Senate voted Friday morning to reject the House's stopgap spending bill, less than 12 hours after the House's Republican leaders had forced it through on their second try.
The Senate vote was 59 to 36 to table the House bill, effectively killing it. Some conservative Republicans joined in rejecting the measure.
The House, in the wee hours of Friday morning, had passed its latest version of a stopgap spending bill after rejecting on Wednesday a nearly identical version of the legislation, which is needed to keep the government open after Sept. 30 and to provide assistance to victims of natural disasters. The House vote was 219 to 203.
House Republican leaders, trying to recover from a humiliating political defeat, had made one change in the bill -- but it was one that most Democrats in the House and Senate opposed, trimming green energy loans. The new version would offset more of the cost of disaster assistance by rescinding $100 million from an Energy Department program that guaranteed a loan for Solyndra, the solar equipment manufacturer that filed recently for bankruptcy protection.
The bill, to finance government operations for seven weeks after the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1, had faced problems in the Senate, where Democrats want to spend more without cutting other programs to offset the cost.
Senate Democratic leaders had said all along that the House version would be swiftly rejected in the Senate, which had already passed a version of its own. Indeed, the senators acted even before the House version had formally arrived for their consideration.
"The House bill is not an honest effort at compromise," said the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada. "It fails to provide the relief that our fellow Americans need as they struggle to rebuild their lives in the wake of floods, wildfires and hurricanes, and it will be rejected by the Senate."
Mr. Reid said he had hoped that House Republicans would move toward the middle. "Instead," he said, "they moved even further toward the Tea Party."
It is not clear how the two houses will overcome the impasse and avert a government shutdown. Most federal agencies need money to continue operations beyond Oct. 1. The disaster relief fund of the Federal Emergency Management Agency is running short of money. And lawmakers are planning to leave town for a recess scheduled for next week.
House Republican leaders, who lost control of their caucus on Wednesday, worked furiously on Thursday to round up votes for the revised version of the stopgap bill.
They prevailed by halving the number of defections from their ranks. On Wednesday, 48 Republicans voted against the bill. On Friday, just 24 voted no. Representative David Dreier, Republican of California and chairman of the Rules Committee, said it had been "an ugly, messy, difficult process." The purpose of the change, he said, was to prevent "another boondoggle like Solyndra."
The new version of the House bill, like the original, would have partially offset the cost of disaster assistance by cutting a separate Energy Department loan program that promotes development of energy-efficient cars. This cut infuriates Democrats in the House and the Senate, who say the program is creating thousands of jobs at automakers and auto parts suppliers.
"The bill was wrong yesterday, the bill is wrong today," Representative Louise M. Slaughter, Democrat of New York, said Thursday night on the House floor. "Virtually nothing has changed."
The House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi of California, said Republicans were offering "the same old warmed-over stew that was rejected" on Wednesday.
Speaker John A. Boehner had solicited the views of his colleagues at a meeting of the House Republican Conference, where lawmakers expressed frustration at the setback they suffered Wednesday on the bill to provide $3.65 billion in disaster relief. | – House Republicans got their ducks in a row late last night, passing a spending measure nearly identical to the one that went down in flames Wednesday. But that might not be enough to prevent a government shutdown, because the Senate is drawing a hard line against the bill, the Washington Post reports. Boehner won conservatives by slicing $100 million from the loan program that benefited Solyndra, and warning that if the bill didn’t pass, he’d be forced to compromise with Democrats. Like the failed bill, the new version also cuts some funding from an energy efficient car program. Democrats who back the program—which they say creates thousands of auto-related jobs—were outraged, and the Senate immediately vowed to reject the bill because it didn’t provide enough funding for disaster relief efforts. “The House bill is not an honest effort at compromise,” Harry Reid told the New York Times. “They moved even further toward the Tea Party.” But if something doesn’t pass, FEMA will run out of money next week, and the government will shut down Oct. 1. |
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/ Updated By Cassandra Vinograd
The seaside French city of Cannes has banned burkinis, full-body swimsuits worn by some Muslim women, from its beaches.
Cannes — home of an annual star-studded annual film festival — is located not far from Nice, where more than 80 people died in a July terror attack on the city's beachfront promenade.
A Muslim woman wears a "burkini" on a beach in Sydney. TIM WIMBORNE / Reuters file
Mayor David Lisnard cited that tragedy and subsequent attack on a northwest France church in an ordinance forbidding swimwear that doesn't respect "good morals and secularism."
"Beachwear manifesting religious affiliation in an ostentatious way, while France and its religious sites are currently the target of terrorist attacks, could create the risk of disturbances to public order," the ruling says.
A spokeswoman for his office confirmed that the ordinance — in effect through the month of August, peak tourist season on the French Riviera — applies to burkinis. Violators face a fine.
French soldiers patrol the Promenade in Cannes on Aug. 5. Dan Kitwood / Getty Images
Security has been stepped up across France in wake of the Nice attack, with soldiers prominently patrolling the beaches and promenades of the Riviera.
The ordinance was issued on July 28 but only publicized on Friday.
Lisnard told the Nice Matin newspaper that the ban was designed to "protect the population" in the context of France's ongoing state of emergency and terror threat.
When asked if he thought the ordinance would send a negative message to the numerous Muslim tourists in Cannes, Lisnard replied: "Not at all."
Religious groups vehemently disagreed, with France's Muslim Federation of the South calling it an "illegal" and "abusive" use of power with the unique purpose of stigmatization and exclusion.
"The federation ... is absolutely scandalized," it said in a statement.
France's approach to religious attire has long stoked controversy: The country in 2010 passed a law that bans the burqa, an Islamic veil that completely covers women's faces and bodies. ||||| A ban on the Islamic burkini swimsuit by several French towns will come before France’s highest administrative court tomorrow, the tribunal says.
The Human Rights League is appealing a decision by a lower court in the Riviera city of Nice which upheld a ban on the outfit by the town of Villeneuve-Loubet.
Villeneuve-Loubet, just west of Nice, was among the first of some 15 French towns to ban the burkini, triggering a fierce debate in France and elsewhere about the wearing of the full-body swimsuit, women’s rights and secularity.
The Nice tribunal ruled on Monday that the ban in Villeneuve-Loubet was “necessary, appropriate and proportionate” to prevent public disorder after a succession of jihadists attacks in France, including one in Nice on July 14.
The ruling by the State Council, France’s highest administrative court, will provide a legal precedent for towns to follow around the country.
A mother of two tells AFP she had been fined on the beach in the resort of Cannes wearing leggings, a tunic and a headscarf.
Her ticket, seen by AFP, read that she was not wearing “an outfit respecting good morals and secularism.”
“I was sitting on a beach with my family. I was wearing a classic headscarf. I had no intention of swimming,” says the 34-year-old who gave only her first name, Siam.
— AFP
View all entries for this Live Blog | – Many would consider a full-body swimsuit less offensive than a skimpy bikini. Not the mayor of Cannes, apparently. David Lisnard says "burkinis"—modest swimwear worn by some Muslim women—are a "symbol of Islamic extremism" and aren't allowed on the French city's beaches. Should a woman be spotted wearing one, she'll be asked to change into something else or leave, David Lisnard tells the BBC. Offenders of the city's new rule—in effect since July 28, reports NBC News—may also face a $42 fine. French law bans people from wearing the burka and niqab in public, but there's no nationwide ban on burkinis. "Access to beaches and for swimming is banned to any person wearing improper clothes that are not respectful of good morals and secularism," says Lisnard. "Beachwear which ostentatiously displays religious affiliation, when France and places of worship are currently the target of terrorist attacks, is liable to create risks of disrupting public order." However, Lisnard says the Jewish kippah and Christian cross will still be allowed on beaches. A rep for the Collective Against Islamophobia in France calls the ban "illegal, discriminatory, and unconstitutional," while the League of Human Rights says it will take its opposition to court. |
Spanish police have arrested an American woman for issuing death threats against the astrophysicist Stephen Hawking at a science event on the island of Tenerife.
The 37-year-old suspect was detained in the municipality of Arona, on the most populous of the Canary Islands, on Wednesday – the same day that Hawking delivered his first lecture at the Starmus International Festival.
The woman, who has no prior record and had traveled to Tenerife by herself, could be facing a six-month prison sentence and immediate deportation for harassment and issuing serious threats against the famous scientist, legal sources told the Efe news agency.
Police investigators who searched her hotel room found a collection of esoteric items linked to religious extremism
The same sources said that one of the cosmologist’s children alerted authorities after detecting over 100 threatening messages on Twitter and in e-mails on Tuesday. The messages contained sentences such as “I am going to kill him.”
In her statement to the police, the woman apparently said that she loves Hawking and would never harm him.
Police investigators who searched her hotel room found a collection of esoteric items linked to religious extremism and contrary to Hawking’s theories denying the existence of God. They also found notes and documents detailing the scientist’s residence and workplace, and notebooks outlining precise plans on how to approach her target.
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According to news agency Europa Press, the woman, who currently resides in Norway, has been following Hawking across the globe and may suffer from psychiatric problems.
Hawking’s Wednesday address had attracted long lines of people at the science and arts festival. The astrophysicist arrived on stage flanked by two members of the Spanish National Police, an unusual sight that caused some alarm among members of the audience. Outside the venue, other officers checked visitors’ bags.
That same day, the police arrested the alleged stalker at a hotel located very near the festival venue, the Pirámide de Arona, which contains one of the biggest auditoriums in Europe.
The woman had apparently been issuing threats against Hawking for years, but the situation got out of hand in recent days, when the threats proliferated over e-mail an in the social media.
“I am going to kill you.” read one of the messages. “I am right next to you and I can kill you,” said another.
The e-mails included specific plans to end the scientist’s life, the police said.
Sources close to Hawking told this newspaper that the scientist felt safe at all times, and played down the incident.
English version by Susana Urra. ||||| Image copyright EPA Image caption It is the first time threats have been made against the professor
A US woman has been given a suspended four-month jail sentence in Spain for threatening to kill British physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking.
The 37-year-old has also been banned from approaching to within 500m of the scientist or communicating with him on social media for eight months.
The woman was arrested in a hotel in Tenerife, close to where Prof Hawking was attending a conference.
She had stalked him on social media before following him to the island.
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Prof Hawking's daughter told police that threatening messages had begun flooding the scientist's social media profiles and one of his email accounts on Tuesday, Spanish News Today reported.
The woman, named in Spanish media reports as Jenny Theresa C., had told the scientist she would kill him during the Starmus Festival, attended by Nobel laureates as well as musicians including Brian May, Brian Eno and Hans Zimmer, and famous astronauts.
She was arrested on Wednesday by police who found her in possession of a map showing Prof Hawking's itinerary while on the island.
After being detained, she told police that she was in love with the scientist and would never have hurt him.
Police said everything pointed to the woman being mentally unstable.
Spanish police had provided Prof Hawking with extra security because of the emails - the first time such threats have been made against him.
During his lecture, entitled "A brief history of mine", Prof Hawking forecast that humans would not survive another thousand years on Earth because of the fragility of the planet, Spanish News Today said. | – An American woman was arrested Wednesday in Spain for sending dozens of death threats to Stephen Hawking then trailing him to an astronomy festival in the Canary Islands, Gizmodo reports. According to El Pais, the unnamed 37-year-old woman lives in Norway and has no previous criminal record. Authorities were tipped off by one of her children, who found more than 100 tweets and emails she had sent to Hawking, threatening to kill him. When Hawking gave his first lecture this week at the Starmus Festival, he was flanked by two police officers. The woman was arrested nearby. The woman was staying at a hotel near where Hawking was staying. Authorities found evidence of religious extremism, including items contradicting Hawking's claim that God doesn't exist, in her room. They also found details of Hawking's home and office and plans for how to approach him. The BBC reports the woman was also in possession of a map of Hawking's festival itinerary. After her arrest, the woman told police she loves Hawking and would never try to hurt him. Authorities believe the woman has psychological issues. She was given a four-month suspended prison sentence for harassment and threats. In addition, she is not to come within 1,600 feet of Hawking or communicate with him on social media for eight months. Sources say Hawking never felt he was in danger. |
Story highlights "Why should we believe (Boehner) at all?" asks New York City Council speaker
Vote on the relief bill is a priority, Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Cantor say
President Obama: "Our citizens are still trying to put their lives back together"
"We're getting what New York and New Jersey need," Rep. King says
The promise of $60 billion can do a lot to calm outrage.
That point was underscored Wednesday, when House leaders met with irate representatives from New York and New Jersey who felt they had been ignored by House Speaker John Boehner when he scrapped a planned vote late Tuesday on a massive aid package for Superstorm Sandy victims.
"We're getting what New York and New Jersey need, and that's all that counts," Rep. Peter King, R-New York, told reporters after emerging from a 20-minute meeting with Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. "We're all big boys; we understand that all that counts is the bottom line."
A vote on $9 billion for immediate aid is now set for Friday, with the balance of $51 billion due for consideration January 15.
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For its part, the Senate plans to vote by unanimous consent on Friday on the $9 billion but is waiting to see what is in the larger package before announcing a plan for that, a Senate Democratic leadership aide said.
"On the second tranche, we will need to see more details before we decide how to proceed," the aide said. "As the Senate has shown by passing our bipartisan bill, we consider getting aid to the victims of Sandy a superlative priority, but we need to know more about the contents of the bill before deciding on a path forward."
Democrats were less mollified.
"While it would have been far better had they passed the Senate's bill today, at least this provides a path to produce the needed $60 billion for New York and New Jersey by the end of the month," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, in a statement.
"It's really unbelievable how Speaker Boehner and his party could just walk away," said Christine Quinn, speaker of the New York City Council. "To promise us a vote weeks from now? Why should we believe him at all? It's just shocking."
In a statement, Boehner and Cantor said "critical aid" to storm victims should be the first priority of the new Congress, which convenes Thursday.
Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Cleaning crews work in Manhattan's financial district following damage from Superstorm Sandy on Monday, November 12. View photos of New York's recovery. Hide Caption 1 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Evelyn Faherty hugs a friend on Sunday, November 11, while discussing the damage done to her home by Superstorm Sandy in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens, New York. Hide Caption 2 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Volunteers shovel sand and water out of the basement of Monir Islam's home in the Rockaway Park neighborhood of Queens, New York, on Sunday. The Rockaways peninsula in Queens was one of the areas hardest hit by Sandy. See photos of Rockaway's continuing struggles Hide Caption 3 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Furniture and other belongings are strewn under and around a beach house damaged by Sandy on Saturday, November 10, in Mystic Island, New Jersey. Hide Caption 4 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Streets in Ortley Beach, New Jersey, were destroyed by Sandy. Hide Caption 5 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Clean-up continues on Saturday, November 10 among piles of debris where a large section of the iconic boardwalk was washed away in the heavily damaged Rockaways. Hide Caption 6 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Mac Baker, right, poses with her niece Nytaisha Baker next to pots of water she heats on the floor with small flames for a bit of warmth in Baker's unheated apartment in the Ocean Bay public housing projects in the Far Rockaway neighborhood in Queens on Friday, November 9. Hide Caption 7 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Theresa Goddard, her apartment still without electricity, is overwhelmed while discussing her living conditions on Thursday, November 8, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Hide Caption 8 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A police officer carries blankets donated by Ikea for people affected by Superstorm Sandy in Brooklyn. Hide Caption 9 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Debris from Superstorm Sandy is seen on a beach Thursday in Long Branch, New Jersey. Hide Caption 10 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Troops from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit and the U.S. Navy help local residents remove household items damaged by Superstorm Sandy on November 6, in the New Dorp Beach neighborhood of Staten Island, New York. Hide Caption 11 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Voter Sheresa Walker uses a flashlight for poll worker Lloyd Edwards in a tent set up as a polling place in Queens, New York. Hide Caption 12 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A poll worker directs people to a temporary polling center in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, New York. Polling sites in Coney Island and the surrounding area were damaged during Superstorm Sandy. Hide Caption 13 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Michael Fischkelta, 8, lies on his cot with his mother, Jenifer Wilson, in a Red Cross evacuation shelter set up in the gymnasium of Toms River High School on Monday, November 5, in Toms River, New Jersey. View photos of the recovery efforts in New York. Hide Caption 14 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Ruth Hawfield sits next to her cot Monday in a Red Cross evacuation shelter at Toms River High School. Hide Caption 15 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A woman fills out an early voting ballot on Sunday, November 4, in Jersey City, New Jersey. Gov. Chris Christie ordered early voting stations to stay open through the weekend in an effort to get people to vote despite the damage done by Superstorm Sandy. Hide Caption 16 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A woman sifts through her mother's damaged home for items to save Sunday in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens, New York. Hide Caption 17 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A workman repairs damage to the steeple of the First United Methodist Church on Sunday in Port Jefferson, New York. Hide Caption 18 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – People sift through their damaged home on Sunday in Breezy Point. Hide Caption 19 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A statue of a firefighter stands in front of a burned down house Sunday in Rockaway, New York. Hide Caption 20 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Abraham Cambrelen, 19, takes the Staten Island Ferry to go check on his mother Sunday while New York recovers from Hurricane Sandy. Hide Caption 21 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Crowds wait for free gas on Saturday, November 3, at the Bedford Avenue Armory in Brooklyn, New York. Hide Caption 22 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A house sits devastated by Superstorm Sandy on Friday, November 2, in Union Beach, New Jersey. The cost of the storm's damage in the U.S. is estimated at between $30 billion and $50 billion, according to disaster modeling firm Eqecat. Hide Caption 23 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A baby picture lies beneath rubble in a neighborhood devastated by the storm in Union Beach on Friday. Hide Caption 24 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Flood-damaged belongings sit on the side of the road in Union Beach on Friday. Hide Caption 25 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Park Choul works by flashlight in his deli in New York's East Village on Thursday, November 1. More than 3.3 million customers remained without electricity in 15 states and the District of Columbia four days after Sandy barreled ashore. Hide Caption 26 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Geronimo Harrison's apartment in the East Village remains without power or water Thursday. He's using candles for light and a gas stove for heat. Hide Caption 27 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Water gets pumped out of a business in the East Village on Thursday. Hide Caption 28 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A roller coaster sits in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday after the Fun Town pier it sat on in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, was destroyed by Superstorm Sandy. Hide Caption 29 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Amusement-park rides lie mangled on the beach after the Fun Town pier in Seaside Heights was destroyed. Hide Caption 30 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – The arcade at the FunTown pier in Seaside Heights is in ruins. Storm damage is expected to cost tens of billions of dollars. Hide Caption 31 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – The inside of a gas pump is exposed at a closed station that was recently under floodwater on Thursday, November 1, in Hoboken, New Jersey. Superstorm Sandy, which made landfall along the New Jersey shore, has left the state with a fuel shortage due to logistical problems and power failures. Hide Caption 32 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – People wait in line for fuel at a Shell Oil station onThursday in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Fuel shortages have led to long lines of cars at gasoline stations in many states. Hide Caption 33 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Cars wait in line for fuel at a Gulf gas station in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Hide Caption 34 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A woman leaves an Exxon gas station that was out of fuel on Thursday in North Bergen, New Jersey. Hide Caption 35 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Bridget De La Torre holds her daughter Neve, 3, as daughter Paz sits nearby while they rest and charge devices on Thursday. They were at a shelter for those affected by Superstorm Sandy at Saints Peter and Paul Church in Hoboken, New Jersey. Bridget's family has no electricity or hot water, and their car was destroyed by flooding. Hide Caption 36 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Waves break in front of an amusement park destroyed by Superstorm Sandy on Wednesday, October 31, in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. At least 56 people were killed in the storm. New Jersey suffered massive damage and power outages. Hide Caption 37 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – People walk near the remains of burned homes in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens, New York, on Wednesday. Hide Caption 38 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – An overview of the fire damage in Queens, New York, following Hurricane Sandy. Residents in hard-hit areas sifted through the wreckage of Sandy on Wednesday as millions remained without power. Hide Caption 39 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Buildings on the shoreline are pictured from Air Force One as it prepares to land in Atlantic City, New Jersey, carrying President Barack Obama, who visited areas hardest hit by the unprecedented storm. Hide Caption 40 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – President Barack Obama speaks as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie looks on, as they visit a shelter for Hurricane Sandy victims in Brigantine, New Jersey. Hide Caption 41 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – The shadow of Air Force One is cast on the water as it prepares to land in Atlantic City on Wednesday, October 31. Hide Caption 42 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Residents in the Rockaway section of Queens, New York, wait to charge their phones at a government generator. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey resumed operations on limited schedules Wednesday, and the New York Stock Exchange commenced trading after being closed for two days. Hide Caption 43 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Motorists drive through standing water in Hoboken, New Jersey. Known as the Mile Square City, the low-lying neighborhoods suffered deep flooding resulting from the storm surge associated with Hurricane Sandy. Hide Caption 44 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A member of Army National Guard Unit Gulf 250 from Morristown, New Jersey, evacuates victims of Hurricane Sandy in Hoboken on Wednesday, October 31. Hide Caption 45 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Residents traverse flooded streets as clean up operations begin in Hoboken, New Jersey. Hide Caption 46 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – New Jersey Natural Gas technician Carlos Rojas inspects a leaking gas main that is under water at a home damaged by Hurricane Sandy in Long Beach Island, New Jersey. Hide Caption 47 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A resident looks through the remnants of his home in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens, New York. Hide Caption 48 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Flood-damaged streets are viewed in the Rockaway section of Queens, New York, where the historic boardwalk was washed away due to Hurricane Sandy. Hide Caption 49 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – People walk past homes damaged by Hurricane Sandy in Long Beach Island, New Jersey. Hide Caption 50 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Traders stand outside of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Wednesday, October 31. U.S. equity markets resumed trading Wednesday for the first time this week after Hurricane Sandy. Hide Caption 51 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – People board the ferry, one of the few functioning transportation systems, in Hoboken, New Jersey, on Wednesday, October 31. Hide Caption 52 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Members of the State University of New York Maritime Academy aid in the relief efforts, using row boats to help victims from in Hoboken, New Jersey. Hide Caption 53 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Jimmy Lee, owner of The Nail Store, begins the cleanup of his shop from damage done by Hurricane Sandy in Hoboken, New Jersey. Hide Caption 54 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Blaine Badick and her fiancee Andrew Grapsas cross a flooded street with their dog while leaving their home in Hoboken. Hide Caption 55 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Residents walk through the area where the boardwalk was washed away in the Rockaway neighborhood of Queens, New York, on Wednesday. Hide Caption 56 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – The Rockaway boardwalk in Queens, New York, was stripped down to the piers by Superstorm Sandy. Hide Caption 57 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – People look at a damaged section of the Rockaway boardwalk in Queens, New York, on Wednesday. Hide Caption 58 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – People walk down a flooded street on Wednesday, October 31, in Hoboken, New Jersey. Hide Caption 59 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A man charges his cellphone at a home that still has power in Hoboken, New Jersey, on Wednesday, October 31. As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 2 million customers in New Jersey were without power. Hide Caption 60 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A firefighter stands on the porch of a home destroyed by fire in Queens on Wednesday. Hide Caption 61 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Customers line up to buy supplies at an Ace Hardware with a power generator in Hoboken, New Jersey, on Wednesday. Hide Caption 62 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Superstorm Sandy stripped the steps from the deck of this home in Long Beach Island, New Jersey. Hide Caption 63 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Superstorm Sandy left a car buried in sand in Long Beach Island, New Jersey. Hide Caption 64 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A helicopter flies past damaged homes in Long Beach Island, New Jersey, on Wednesday, October 31. Hide Caption 65 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A man makes his way through floodwater and debris in Long Beach Island, New Jersey, on Wednesday. Hide Caption 66 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A police car patrols an empty waterfront neighborhood without power in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Wednesday. Hide Caption 67 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Concrete piers are all that remain of the destroyed boardwalk in Atlantic City on Wednesday. Hide Caption 68 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Debris from damaged property and the remains of a boardwalk litter the shoreline in Atlantic City on Wednesday. Hide Caption 69 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Waterfront property in Atlantic City lays in tatters on Wednesday. Transportation in the state was crippled by floodwaters, as well. Hide Caption 70 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – "We are in a state of crisis all across this state," Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Cory Booker told CNN on Wednesday. "It's going to be a challenging time." Hide Caption 71 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A police car patrols an empty waterfront neighborhood that lost power at dawn in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Wednesday. Hide Caption 72 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – People wait for buses along New York's Sixth Avenue on Wednesday. Hide Caption 73 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Superstorm Sandy stripped New York's historic Rockaway boardwalk down to its foundation. Hide Caption 74 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A woman examines damage to the Rockaway neighborhood in New York on Wednesday. Hide Caption 75 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Commuters ride a NY Waterway ferry from Jersey City, New Jersey, on Wednesday, the first day of operation since the storm hit. Hide Caption 76 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A man rides on the front of a forklift while recording flood damage for insurance purposes in Little Ferry, New Jersey, on Wednesday. Hide Caption 77 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Con Edison employee John Shammah pauses while working on a steam pipe on First Avenue in New York City on Wednesday. Hide Caption 78 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – CNN iReporter Jordan Shapiro captured this view of the Williamsburg Bridge in New York at 11 p.m. on Tuesday, October 30. Half of the bridge and Brooklyn is lit, while the Manhattan side and the surrounding part of the island remain shrouded in darkness. Hide Caption 79 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Dog owners in Alexandria, Virginia, gathered to see the flood waters left by Hurricane Sandy on Tuesday. Hide Caption 80 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Taxis sit in a flooded lot Tuesday in Hoboken, New Jersey. Hide Caption 81 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – People take pictures of a flooded street Tuesday in Hoboken. Hide Caption 82 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A man stands near a homemade road block on Tuesday in Little Ferry, New Jersey. Hide Caption 83 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – People wait in line to fill containers with gas at a Shell station in Edison, New Jersey, on Tuesday. Superstorm Sandy left much of Bergen County flooded and without power. Hide Caption 84 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Aerial images from the U.S. Coast Guard show the coastline in Brigantine, New Jersey, on Tuesday. Sandy struck land near Atlantic City, New Jersey, around high tide Monday night. Hide Caption 85 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Homes and other buildings in Brigantine were destroyed in Sandy's wake. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie described the devastation in the state as "unthinkable." Hide Caption 86 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Brigantine saw extensive damage from high winds and flooding. Hide Caption 87 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Homes are flooded Tuesday in Tuckerton, New Jersey. President Barack Obama signed major disaster declarations for New Jersey and New York, clearing the way for federal aid. Hide Caption 88 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A resident walks down a street covered in beach sand due to flooding from Hurricane Sandy in Long Beach, New York on Tuesday. Hide Caption 89 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Firefighters work to extinguish flames in a home in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens on Tuesday. The massive fire broke out during the storm and destroyed at least 80 homes Hide Caption 90 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Ted Wondsel, owner of Ted's Fishing Station in Long Beach, assesses the damage to his business Tuesday. Hide Caption 91 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – People wait outside a shelter at the Bergen County Technical Schools Teterboro Campus on Tuesday in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. Hide Caption 92 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Utility workers from Delmarva Power replace a power pole that was damaged during Hurricane Sandy in Ocean City, Maryland, on Tuesday. Hide Caption 93 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Dale Kelly sits on a bench Tuesday on a flooded street in Ocean City, New Jersey, which was hit hard by Superstorm Sandy. Hide Caption 94 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Ted Wondsel, left, of Point Lookout works on part of a dock destroyed in the storm in Long Beach on Tuesday. Hide Caption 95 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – West Broadway in Long Beach is covered in beach sand due to flooding from Hurricane Sandy on Tuesday. Hide Caption 96 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Residents walk along a street covered in beach sand after floodwaters from Superstorm Sandy retreated Tuesday in Long Beach. Hide Caption 97 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A small plane damaged in the storm sits on a runway in Farmingdale, New York, on Tuesday. Hide Caption 98 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Streets remain flooded in portions of Ocean City, New Jersey. Hide Caption 99 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Utility workers repair a traffic signal damaged by the storm in Ocean City, New Jersey, on Tuesday. Hide Caption 100 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A Virgin Mary statue stands in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens, New York, on Tuesday after a fire fed by high winds destroyed at least 80 homes, officials said. Hide Caption 101 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – President Barack Obama outlines the federal government's response to Superstorm Sandy at the Red Cross headquarters in Washington. Hide Caption 102 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Firefighters work to contain the fire in Queens on Tuesday. Some 200 firefighters battled the six-alarm blaze. Hide Caption 103 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A man surveys damage to sailboats Tuesday at a marina on City Island in New York. Hide Caption 104 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – "My message to the federal government: no bureaucracy, no red tape, get resources where they're needed as fast as possible, as hard as possible, and for the duration," Obama said in Washington Tuesday. Both Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney canceled campaign events. Hide Caption 105 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – People stand on a mound of construction dirt on Tuesday to view a section of the uptown boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, that was destroyed by flooding. Hide Caption 106 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A firefighter looks through debris in Queens on Tuesday. In September, the same area endured severe weather as a powerful cold front brought heavy rain, high winds and a tornado. Hide Caption 107 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – A malfunctioning generator billows black smoke at a building in New York on Tuesday. Hide Caption 108 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Mitt Romney helps gather donated goods for storm relief Tuesday in Kettering, Ohio. Hide Caption 109 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Emergency personnel help a resident of Little Ferry, New Jersey, onto a boat after rescuing her from floodwater on Tuesday. Hide Caption 110 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Dean Walter, left. and Henry Young walk along a seawall in Scituate, Massachusetts, with their surfboards after going into the heavy surf for about 20 minutes on Tuesday. Hide Caption 111 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Superstorm Sandy left New York's South Street Seaport flooded and covered in debris on Tuesday. Hide Caption 112 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Passers-by look at a car that was crushed by a tree near New York's financial district on Tuesday. Hide Caption 113 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Pedestrians and bikers cross the Brooklyn Bridge after the storm on Tuesday. Hide Caption 114 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – People stand among the debris of the destroyed section of Atlantic City, New Jersey's, uptown boardwalk on Tuesday. Hide Caption 115 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Sailboats rest on the ground after being tipped over by Superstorm Sandy on City Island, New York, on Tuesday. Hide Caption 116 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Onlookers watch a dangling crane, damaged in the winds of Superstorm Sandy, atop a luxury high-rise under construction in midtown Manhattan on Tuesday. Hide Caption 117 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – An onlooker snaps a photo of the damaged crane on Tuesday. Hide Caption 118 of 143 Photos: Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy – Jolito Ortiz helps clean up a friend's apartment on New York's lower east side on Tuesday. 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The comity contrasted sharply with the outrage that had exploded earlier in the day over Congress' inaction on the package, pitting even fellow Republicans against Boehner.
It was "disappointing and disgusting to watch," said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, blaming "the toxic internal politics of the House majority."
"New Jersey deserves better than the duplicity we saw on display," he said, adding, "shame on Congress."
Christie, a Republican, said he had tried to reach Boehner on Tuesday night after the latter canceled a vote on the aid bill, which had already been approved by the Senate. "He did not take my calls," said Christie.
In a news conference, Christie said he joined people of his state in feeling "betrayed" and added that the move summarizes "why the American people hate Congress."
In a statement, Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo wrote: "This failure to come to the aid of Americans following a severe and devastating natural disaster is unprecedented. The fact that days continue to go by while people suffer, families are out of their homes, and men and women remain jobless and struggling during these harsh winter months is a dereliction of duty. "
Boehner did not make public remarks and did not post about the issue on social media.
GOP leadership sources said Boehner was worried it would be a bad political move for him to allow a vote on the new federal spending after a long day of getting pummeled by his own House Republicans for not demanding enough spending cuts in the fiscal cliff bill.
Civility was restored late in the afternoon. "As far as I'm concerned, that was a lifetime ago," King said. "I know it was last night, but the bottom line is we're going forward getting what we believe is necessary."
Earlier, King had slammed his own party. "The Republican Party has said it's the party of 'family values.' Last night, it turned its back on the most essential value of all, and that's to provide food, shelter, clothing and relief for people who have been hit by a natural disaster," King told CNN.
King said he chased Boehner "all over the House last night" and that Boehner had said everything would be taken care of after the vote on the fiscal cliff. But Boehner left.
King called the House leadership's move a "knife in the back."
"Anyone from New York or New Jersey who contributes one penny to the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee should have their head examined," King said. It's very rare for a lawmaker to call on anyone not to support his own party.
But on Wednesday afternoon, King said he would vote for Boehner in leadership elections scheduled for Thursday.
A senior GOP leadership aide said Boehner will make a Sandy aid package "his first priority in the new Congress," which begins its term Thursday.
When a new Congress begins, both chambers have to begin from scratch with legislation, so the Senate's passage of a previous bill will be moot.
Michael Steel, Boehner's spokesman, said the speaker is "committed to getting this bill passed this month."
Before the House adjourned Wednesday, President Barack Obama urged a vote.
"It has only been two months since Hurricane Sandy devastated communities across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut as well as other Eastern states. Our citizens are still trying to put their lives back together," Obama said in a statement.
"When tragedy strikes, Americans come together to support those in need. I urge Republicans in the House of Representatives to do the same, bring this important request to a vote today, and pass it without delay for our fellow Americans," Obama said.
Scott Mandel, vice president of New York's Long Beach City Council, told CNN, "The money was needed yesterday, and the fact that there's an obstacle in the way for whatever reason and a vote wasn't allowed to go forward was inexcusable."
The money would improve the city's ability to withstand damage from winter storms, Mandel said.
Fiscal cliff battle held up the measure
The tumultuous process of getting the fiscal cliff deal passed in the House had held up the relief measure, and many House Republicans opposed the size of the Senate bill.
"Leadership was all-consumed with the cliff procedure," Rogers told reporters off the House floor late Tuesday. "And they really have not had the time to devote to this because of that."
Sandy killed at least 113 people in the United States and left millions of people without power after running up the East Coast in late October. The storm hit hardest in New York and New Jersey.
Cuomo has put storm-related costs at $41.9 billion, while Christie has estimated a price tag of $36.8 billion.
The bill includes grant funding for owners of homes and businesses, as well as funding for public improvement projects on the electrical grid, hospitals and transit systems to prevent damage from future storms.
John Stone, a resident of New York's Staten Island, owned two homes before the storm. One was destroyed; the other was so severely flooded that it remains unlivable.
But he expressed no anger over the House's decision. "They'll just have to do it all over again, I suppose. What can you say?"
"It's a lot of money," he said, adding "there's a lot of other things they've got to do."
He tends to vote Republican and doesn't plan to turn away from the party, he said, although, he added, "I don't give them much money anyway."
He's been living with relatives in New Jersey. ||||| 6 years ago
(CNN) – In a rare display of fierce intraparty sniping, New Jersey's Republican Gov. Chris Christie took the GOP House speaker to task for delaying a vote on federal funding for states affected by the devastating superstorm Sandy.
Christie, speaking the day after the Republican-controlled House of Representatives refused to take up the $60 billion relief measure already passed by the Senate, said culpability for sustained distress in his state rested solely upon GOP lawmakers.
"There is only one group to blame for the continued suffering of these innocent victims: the House majority and their speaker, John Boehner," Christie said. "This is not a Republican or Democratic issue. National disasters happen in red states and blue states and states with Democratic governors and Republican governors."
Christie was the latest Republican to voice his disapproval of the House after last night's inaction. The House stands in recess until 11 a.m. ET Thursday – the day a new Congress will be sworn in. It remains unclear whether a last-minute vote could happen in the current Congress.
Any measure not voted upon by the end of this session would have to be re-voted upon by the Senate.
Christie said Wednesday that House Republicans were breaking a longstanding vow to help states devastated by natural disasters.
"We respond to innocent victims of natural disasters, not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans," he said. "Or at least we did until last night. Last night politics was placed before hosts to serve our citizens. For me, it was disappointing and disgusting to watch."
Leaders in Washington assured Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo the funding votes would happen on Tuesday or Wednesday, according to the New Jersey governor. The decision not to hold the vote was Boehner's, he said. ||||| New York Rep. Peter King on Tuesday said he’s willing to overlook the “hypocrisy” of lawmakers who opposed aid for his state in the wake of Superstorm Sandy but might support funding for tornado-stricken Oklahoma.
“I think there’s a lot of hypocrisy involved here, [Sen. James] Inhofe saying Sandy aid was corrupt but Oklahoma won’t be,” King (R-N.Y.) told POLITICO. “But I don’t want to hold the people of Oklahoma responsible for what elected officials are saying, for the husband and wife without a home, for the people who lost all their worldly possessions.”
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reset Peter King unloads on John Boehner over Sandy bill Obama: Nation stands with Okla.
King, who stressed that he wasn’t looking for a fight, emphasized that aid should be provided to Oklahoma — which sustained a deadly tornado on Monday — without the requirement of budgetary offsets.
(PHOTOS: Oklahoma tornado)
“I’ve always believed that but certainly, going through it myself [during Sandy], seeing the devastation a national disaster brings to a district…it’s a [national issue], not a local issue, like Sandy wasn’t a New York, New Jersey issue,” he said. “It’s an American issue, we have an obligation to come forward.”
Inhofe (R-Okla.), for his part, said on MSNBC on Tuesday that he had wanted reduced Sandy aid because “everyone was getting in and exploiting the tragedy taking place” by adding funding for unrelated projects to the measure, but said “that won’t happen in Oklahoma.” Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) indicated early on Tuesday that he would support offsets for Oklahoma aid.
King was a vocal critic of those in his own party who didn’t back full Sandy funding.
“I won’t hold it against anyone,” King said of lawmakers who opposed Sandy aid but could support Oklahoma help without offsets. “I don’t want suffering people in Oklahoma to be held hostage while we engage in political fights, saying ‘I told you so.’ I want to deal with it on the merits.” ||||| BY Dan Friedman
New York and New Jersey lawmakers said they will turn the other cheek and support aid for tornado recovery in Oklahoma, whose lawmakers want federal emergency aid for tornado relief even though all but tow opposed aid for Hurricane Sandy.
Those pledges came after conservative Oklahoma senator Jim Inhofe’s said Tuesday that he voted against aid for Sandy victims but wants it for his state because the two situations are “totally different.”
Inhofe said Hurricane Sandy bill was loaded with pork.
“They had things in the Virgin Islands,” Inhofe said on MSNBC. “They were fixing roads there, they were putting roofs on houses in Washington, D.C. Everybody was getting in and exploiting the tragedy that took place. That won’t happen in Oklahoma.
Inhofe got his facts partly wrong. The Sandy relief bill initially contained money for projects outside of areas damaged by Sandy, with the hope of attracting enough votes to get it through Congress.
That spending represented a small portion of the massive bill - and much of it eventually was dropped from the legislation after objections by Republicans in the House.
The Sandy relief legislation did not contain money to put roofs on homes in Washington, but there were funds to repair museum roofs damaged by the hurricane.
Oklahoma’s other senator, Tom Coburn, a Republican, wants any federal aid for victims of Monday’s tornado to be offset by cuts elsewhere in the federal budget, his spokesman said Tuesday.
Democrats, who oppose offsets emergency disaster aid, said Coburn will have to vote against help for his own constituents if he wants to stick to his position.
"I am gonna go with no offsets," said Senate Appropriations Chair Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.)who said lawmakers are starting to assess how much aid Oklahoma will need.
"Sen Coburn is consistent in his views and he is consistently wrong,” Mikulski said.
Both of Oklahoma’s senators and three of its five House members voted against the $60.2 billion aid package for Sandy victims.
Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), whose district includes the tornado-shattered town of Moore, Okla., voted for the Sandy package.
Rep. Peter King (R-L.I.) who helped move Sandy aid through the House, declined to address Inhofe’s statements but said that he would never deny the state aid because of its elected officials’ opposition to the Sandy aid.
“I don’t want the people of Oklahoma to suffer for something politicians have done,” King said. “I’ve been through this. I will support them 100 percent.”
-With Joseph Straw
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@dfriedman33 ||||| Transcript for Rep. Peter King Blasts Speaker Boehner on House Floor
Majority leader -- -- very straightforward. Very direct last night I know that he was fighting to get the bill on the yet calendar it was a -- do whatever reason walked off the flaw. And said that the bill was being Paul. I don't enjoy saying -- I consider myself. A personal friend to John Boehner and John -- personally as a very helpful to me over the years so it pains me to say this but the fact is -- Dismissive attitude that was shown last night. Toward new York New Jersey Connecticut. -- of the leaders strain in the Republican Party and oh this is not the place to discuss politics. But that politics seeped over into a government -- decision that was made I can imagine. That type -- different that -- disregard that cavalier attitude being shown to any other part of the country when people we're talking about real. Life and death situation idea just -- -- speak or walk -- not even tell -- He tells an aide to majority -- who tells us that we -- -- majority leader that the item that means life and death. Was taken off the calendar and is gone for the session now they say it's a report cracked open January. While the fact is let's be real we're not in session next week. The following week recession for two days the following week is the inauguration recessions and two days then we have the state of the union. Committees haven't even organized yet and does anyone believe if they wouldn't vote is -- sixty to sixty point four billion dollars last night. That the Appropriations -- it's only gonna. I get religion and is on multiple amount when we know what their attitude is that somehow money going to new York and New Jersey Connecticut is corrupt money when money going to this -- -- -- honorable. And I would just say that. These people have no problem finding New York when it comes to raising money. It's only when it comes to allocating money that can't find the ability to do so I'm standing here in the house floor tonight they we have a moral obligation. As Republicans as Democrats as Americans. I spoke to governor Chris the F -- to Governor Cuomo we've been Constant Contact the Mayor Bloomberg we cannot believe that this. Cruel knife in the back was delivered to our region I have to go home this weekend and next week the week after and -- hundreds of thousands of people. Or out of -- homes who don't have shelter who donor of food. And there -- living with relatives friends living in trailers this is not United States of America. This should not be the Republican Party this should not be the Republican leadership and I'm -- you speak. Tell how Rodgers tell these people who somehow. It's become very sanctimonious. When it comes to -- new York and New Jersey that they have an obligation to do what they have to do and that's provide the aid and relief that we need if there's one -- That they have a problem with let us know but don't walk out the -- -- at a Norris you're not my time.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate. | – Peter King is more than just unhappy that the House failed to vote on a Sandy relief bill last night: Now he's calling for New York and New Jersey residents to stop donating money to the GOP over the matter, CNN reports. "Anyone from New York or New Jersey who contributes one penny to the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee should have their head examined," King tells the network. Many other lawmakers are similarly distressed, including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who issued a bipartisan joint statement calling out the House's "inaction and indifference." ABC News has video of King calling out John Boehner specifically on the House floor today, calling his decision to delay the vote a "cruel knife in the back." Rep. Frank LoBiondo gave a similarly epic floor speech, and he tells PolitickerNJ.com that he and Boehner got in a yelling confrontation over the issue yesterday. "This is absurd. I’ve never been this angry," he says. "This could have been a poster child for bipartisanship, instead, this is what we have." And in a press conference today, Christie further slammed Republicans and Boehner. Per CNN: "There is only one group to blame for the continued suffering of these innocent victims: the House majority and their speaker, John Boehner." |
The British edition of Vogue celebrated its centenary issue with something of a royal coup Saturday, revealing it had landed the Duchess of Cambridge’s first-ever magazine cover shoot. The magazine’s June issues features seven new photographs of the 34-year-old royal taken by British photographer Josh Olins in January in the Norfolk countryside where the Cambridges live.
The striking pictures are the result of a unique collaboration between the magazine and Britain’s National Portrait Gallery, which will display two of the portraits in its exhibition Vogue 100: A Century of Style. A keen photographer herself, the duchess is patron of the National Portrait Gallery and will view the exhibition on Wednesday.
By choosing British Vogue for her first-ever cover Kate is following in famous footsteps. Princess Diana famously graced the cover of the magazine four times. Her final cover, taken by photographer Patrick Demarchelier, was in 1997, the year of her death. Another Vogue cover shot of the late princess in black and white and wearing a tiara, also taken by Demarchelier, features in the National Portrait Gallery exhibition as well.
Kate’s cover shoot is set to be equally memorable. Styled by one of the magazine’s senior style directors Lucinda Chambers, Olins’s shoot captured the duchess at her most natural. Smiling radiantly and with minimal makeup, she looks entirely at ease in the Norfolk countryside.
“This was the duchess’s first sitting for a magazine and she was a joy to work with, a natural,” said Olins, who was chosen by the magazine, the National Portrait Gallery, and Kensington Palace. The British-born, New York-based photographer works regularly for Vogue and has shot campaigns for leading fashion houses including Calvin Klein and Louis Vuitton.
A source at the magazine said that Kate worked closely with the editor and style director on the shoot eschewing glamour for country chic when it came to the wardrobe. On the cover she is seen wearing a Burberry trench coat and a £293 white jacquard shirt by the same fashion house. The fetching green hat, provided by the fashion team, is by vintage store Beyond Retro. In another of the series of pictures Kate is photographed resting against a wooden gate in front of a stone farm building in a pair of Burberry £695 stretch boot cut trousers and a £35 striped black and red jersey top by Petit Bateau. The picture was the last to be taken during the day.
According to Alexandra Shulman, the magazine’s editor in chief, who was on the shoot: “The Duchess watched how Josh worked with the light and asked a lot of questions. It was her choice to shoot that picture where she is leaning over the gate because the late afternoon sun was particularly beautiful.”
In the picture the couple’s Landrover Defender can just be seen. While William’s security team drives a fleet of luxury Discovery Landrovers the Duchess prefers to drive around in the less-conspicuous Defender.
Shulman said that the shoot took place all day, “in a field somewhere down several tracks. There were some farm buildings available for the crew and to use as a dressing room. We were very lucky with the weather and had bright sun for most of the time.”
According to a spokesman at Kensington Palace, Wednesday will be “the first time” Kate has seen the images suggesting she did not have final approval over the portfolio of images which do not appear to have been heavily airbrushed. ||||| Princess Kate Covers Vogue! See the Radiant Photos
Josh Olins
In what they describe as a "landmark" photoshoot, British Vogue has unveiled portraits of Princess Kate , for the magazine's centenary issue, and several of the photos will be displayed in the National Portrait Gallery starting this weekend.The shoot, by photographer Josh Olins and set in Norfolk's English countryside, features Kate in "casual clothes rather than adopting a more formal approach," the magazine said in a statement.Two of Olins' portraits will be on display at the gallery, in the Vogue 100: A Century of Style exhibit, beginning Sunday. Kate, 34, has been the patron of the gallery since 2012, soon after her wedding to Prince William "Josh has captured the Duchess exactly as she is – full of life, with a great sense of humor, thoughtful and intelligent, and in fact, very beautiful," Nicholas Cullinan, director of the National Portrait Gallery, said in a press release.British Vogue's editor-in-chief, Alexandra Shulman, said this project had been one of her "greatest ambitions for the magazine.""I'm delighted the Duchess agreed to work with us and the National Portrait Gallery, and as a result of this unique collaboration we have a true celebration of our centenary as well as a fitting tribute to a young woman whose interest in both photography and the countryside is well known," Shulman said in the release.Kate shared that delight, a spokesperson said in the release: "The Duchess was delighted to play a part in celebrating the centenary of an institution that has given a platform to some of the most renowned photographers in this country's history.
"She is incredibly grateful to the team at Vogue and at the National Portrait Gallery for asking her to take part. She would like to thank Josh Olins for being such a pleasure to work with. The Duchess had never taken part in a photography shoot like this before."
Josh Olins
Kate will get a chance to see the portraits first-hand when she visits the National Portrait Gallery on Wednesday.The full shoot will also be available in June's centenary issue of British Vogue, on sale Thursday, May 5. ||||| Kate Middleton is the latest beauty to grace the cover of British Vogue, and she looks absolutely stunning doing so.
In her first-ever magazine shoot, the Duchess of Cambridge is fittingly fronting “Vogue’s 100 Years,” which celebrates a century of covering all things fashion and celebrity.
View photos
WATCH: Happy 5th Wedding Anniversary to Kate Middleton and Prince William: A Look Back At Their Royal Marriage
The royal beauty was photographed by Josh Olins in Norfolk, England, where she and her husband, Prince William, have a 10-bedroom country home, Anmer Hall.
Her cover look is perfectly country chic, from the beautiful brown suede jacket paired and white button-down to her forest green wide-brimmed hat.
View photos
WATCH: Princess Charlotte and Prince George Are as Cute as Ever In New Royal Family Photo
In a second photo revealed by the magazine, the 34-year-old mom-of-two is all smiles as she leans over a wooden fence in a simple red-and-back striped long-sleeve sweater, her hair falling naturally around her shoulders.
View photos
Vogue also revealed that two of the eight photographs from the upcoming June issue will be featured in the National Portrait Gallery’s #Vogue100: A Century of Style portrait series in London.
The centenary issue hits stands May 5. Middleton will visit the National Portrait Gallery on Wednesday.
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Middleton is well-known for having an incredible sense of fashion, so it’s only fitting that she’s helping honor Vogue’s major milestone. In fact, she showed off a series of gorgeous looks during her and Prince William’s royal trip to India and Bhutan earlier this month, including a beautiful orange gown on their last night in Bhutan.
Get a good look at the dress in the video below.
Related Articles ||||| And for the first time the Duchess, 34, allowed a professional make-up artist to prepare her for the photographer, giving her a fresher, more youthful look.
Vogue hired make-up artist Sally Branka, who persuaded the Duchess to do without her usual black eyeliner and heavy blusher, with striking results.
The pictures were taken by Josh Olins, one of the world’s leading fashion photographers, in a collaboration between British Vogue and the National Portrait Gallery.
Two of Mr Olins’ pictures will hang in the Gallery from today as part of the Vogue 100: A Century of Style exhibition, and seven images, including the cover, will appear in the June issue of the magazine.
The Duchess, who is Patron of the National Portrait Gallery, will see the exhibition for herself on Wednesday on an official visit to the Gallery.
She is the most senior member of the Royal family to appear on the cover of the magazine since Princess Diana, who featured on four covers, including a posthumous appearance in October 1997. ||||| The image of Princess Diana walking alongside Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, in the shadow of the Newsweek logo is an attention-getter. Surely, that was the intention of Newsweek's editor Tina Brown, who's penned the latest issue's cover story on what Diana would be like if she'd lived to see her 50th birthday on Friday. But the Photoshopped, looking-you-straight-in-the-eye picture of Diana at 50 seems about half as controversial as the entire cover package which includes not only Tina's brief article, the obvious side-by-side slideshow of Diana and Kate's fashion sense, an update on Diana's causes, a fake Facebook page for Diana, and one doctored photograph of Diana clutching a white iPhone. It's all alarmingly difficult to look away from, bloggers agree.
Tina Brown sure loves princesses, says Daniel D'Addario at the New York Observer. Glazing over the cover image, D'Addario quantifies Tina's love for Kate Middleton--she's been on four out of the 15 covers since Brown took over as editor--and calls Newsweek's latest indulgent round-up of princess news "this week's installment of Ms. Brown's beautiful, dark, regal fantasy." About that fantasy, though, D'Addario noticed something funny:
A follow-up to our item on Newsweek's creepy alive-Diana cover: the “plot” of Ms. Brown’s article, in which an aging Diana gets Botox and moves to New York, is like-but-unlike the plot of Monica Ali’s new novel, Untold Story, in which an aging Diana dyes her hair and moves to the Midwest. It’s been getting a lot of press, including the cover of this week’sNew York Times Book Review–perhaps Ms. Brown had heard of it before the writing process began.
Tina Brown's version of Princess Diana at 50 sounds kind of shallow, says Joe Coscarelli at The Village Voice. Furthermore, isn't it a little indulgent of Brown to frame the whole thing in the context of a socialite magazine editor's glamorous life hanging out in "the London über-swirl of fashion and society and media?"
First of all, if she were turning 50 this month, Diana would still be "great-looking." That is literally the first piece of information in the cover story of this weekly news magazine, after a description of a party that the editor-in-chief of said magazine attended. Diana might've worn J.Crew and Galliano, Brown imagines, like Michelle Obama, and might've moved to New York, married a "super-rich hedge-fund" guy who would buy her "toys" and blah blah, France, charity, blah, Kate Middleton. Did you know Tina Brown wrote a book about Diana? We'll be watching for a sales spike.
Is the cover image creepy? Let the readers decide! The Los Angeles Times and The Huffington Post ran brief posts and corresponding reader polls on the "jarring" cover image. Nearly half of the L.A. Times readers polled find the image "horribly offensive," and 60 percent of HuffPost readers think it's "a bit too much!" Twitter, the 21st-century polling device seems to agree. The top trending tweet comes from Janice Turner, a columnist for The Times of London. She tweeted, "Astonishing. Why didn't Newsweek just row to Althrop island, exhume & snap Diana's rotted corpse?"
What do you think? Let us know in the comments!
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Adam Clark Estes ||||| Category:
Newsweek has never been in the same league as the celeb weeklies US Weekly, OK!, or even People magazine. It's a news magazine, and you'd think they'd want to be taken seriously. But I guess not, given that the cover of the publication this week features a PhotoShop-ped image that's not only "imagined" (aka false), but also cringe-worthy and inappropriate. To promote editor-in-chief Tina Brown's story, "Diana at 50: If She Were Here Now," the cover features Princess Diana "walking beside" her new daughter-in-law Kate Middleton, aka the Duchess of Cambridge.
Inside, the story speculates about Diana's would-be life in 2011. Brown muses that the Princess would be hangin' with the Middletons, tweeting on her iPhone from Davos (there's even a creepy, unnerving photo of Diana with a superimposed white iPhone 4), and using Botox "strategically."
She would have also been jealous of Kate (because I guess Tina figured throwing something in that was a wee bit Oedipal would get tongues wagging).
How on Earth is this dream of a maniac in any way worthy of being in a publication that aims to print serious journalism? Yes, during the royal wedding, we all thought, either fleetingly or at length, about how it was sad that Diana wasn't there to witness Will's and Kate's "I do"s. Sure, when the anniversary of her death passes every August, we wonder what it would have been like if she hadn't been killed. There's even a controversial documentary about her death called Unlawful Killing, in which the filmmaker asserts there was a conspiracy to hide important facts about Diana and boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed's deaths in 1997.
But to take Diana's memory and dumb it down to a fictionalized glossy, celeb tabloid-esque cover and story -- befitting of the types of tabloids that hunted Diana throughout her entire public life -- is nothing short of cheap and tacky. Brown may summarize the article by writing, "Diana still lives and is vibrant in his memory. And in ours." But the "sentimental" article accomplishes exactly the opposite of what it intends to -- it's a dishonor and a disservice to Diana, her sons, and anyone who cherished "The People's Princess."
If Brown and Newsweek actually respected Diana, they simply wouldn't have "gone there" with this exploitative cover, photos, and story.
Do you think the cover and story are tacky and exploitative?
Image via Newsweek | – Vanity Fair calls it "something of a royal coup": The 100th anniversary edition of the British version of Vogue is graced by none other than Kate Middleton on its cover, in what is the royal's fashion editorial debut. (Princess Diana covered the magazine four times.) British photographer Josh Olins took the seven photographs included in the issue in the Norfolk countryside in January; at Kate's request, the images are what Vanity Fair calls "country chic" rather than high glamour. Indeed, Yahoo describes the cover shot as "perfectly country chic, from the beautiful brown suede jacket paired and white button-down to her forest green wide-brimmed hat." In another image, she's clad in a $1,015 pair of Burberry trousers and a $50 red- and black-striped top. The Telegraph notes the shoot marked the first time that a professional make-up artist did Kate's makeup before she was photographed, and says Sally Branka "persuaded the Duchess to do without her usual black eyeliner and heavy blusher, with striking results." People reports British Vogue editor-in-chief Alexandra Shulman called the images "a fitting tribute to a young woman whose interest in both photography and the countryside is well known." Indeed, four new photos of Princess Charlotte have been released in advance of her first birthday on Monday; the photographer: Kate, reports Us Weekly. |
In an interview with "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King, Dylan Farrow detailed the alleged sexual abuse by her adoptive father, actor and director Woody Allen. At the age of 7, Dylan told her mother, actress Mia Farrow, that Allen had molested her.
Allen has always denied the allegations and has never been charged with a crime. Dylan Farrow has stood by her story for more than two decades. She first went public with her accusations in 2014 with an open letter in the New York Times.
Below is Allen's full response to "CBS This Morning":
"When this claim was first made more than 25 years ago, it was thoroughly investigated by both the Child Sexual Abuse Clinic of the Yale-New Haven Hospital and New York State Child Welfare. They both did so for many months and independently concluded that no molestation had ever taken place. Instead, they found it likely a vulnerable child had been coached to tell the story by her angry mother during a contentious breakup.
Dylan's older brother Moses has said that he witnessed their mother doing exactly that – relentlessly coaching Dylan, trying to drum into her that her father was a dangerous sexual predator. It seems to have worked – and, sadly, I'm sure Dylan truly believes what she says.
But even though the Farrow family is cynically using the opportunity afforded by the Time's Up movement to repeat this discredited allegation, that doesn't make it any more true today than it was in the past. I never molested my daughter – as all investigations concluded a quarter of a century ago." ||||| Dylan Farrow responded to Moses by calling his statement “easily disproven” and aimed at discrediting her assault.
Dylan Farrow on Wednesday pushed back on claims made by her brother Moses after he accused their mother, Mia, of physical and mental abuse and denied his father, Woody Allen, sexually assaulted his sister. "I’m a very private person and not at all interested in public attention," Moses wrote in a lengthy blog post published Wednesday. "But, given the incredibly inaccurate and misleading attacks on my father, Woody Allen, I feel that I can no longer stay silent as he continues to be condemned for a crime he did not commit." In response, Dylan Farrow called his statement "easily disproven" and aimed at discrediting her assault.
All I have to say with regard to the latest regarding my brother.
An assistant for Mia Farrow's publicist told BuzzFeed News they had no statement at this time. Wednesday's blog post was yet another salvo in the long-running back-and-forth between the Farrows and Allen. Dylan and Mia Farrow have long alleged Allen molested the then-7-year-old girl in the attic of Mia's Connecticut home in 1992. A team of investigators at Yale-New Haven Hospital wrote a contested report that found no evidence to support the claim, as did the New York Department of Social Services. However, a Connecticut prosecutor said he had "probable cause" to charge Allen, but declined to do so in order to spare Dylan from appearing in court. (The prosecutor was later rebuked for this by a disciplinary panel.) Dylan's case received renewed public attention after she published a New York Times piece in 2014, alleging Allen led her to a "dim, closet-like attic" where he sexually assaulted her. "He instructed me to lie down on my stomach and play with my brother's toy train that was set up," she told CBS in January of this year, "and he sat behind me in the doorway and as I played with the toy train, I was sexually assaulted. "As a 7-year-old I would have said he touched my private parts."
Ben Gabbe / Getty Images Dylan and Mia Farrow in 2016.
In his blog post Wednesday, Moses, who was then 14, recalled being at the home on the day of the alleged assault. Also present, Moses said, was their 4-year-old brother Ronan Farrow (the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, who was then called Satchel), three other children belonging to Mia's friend Casey Pascal, two nannies, and a French tutor. Moses, Dylan, and Ronan Farrow did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday, nor did Woody Allen. Moses challenged Dylan's version of events, including the layout of the attic where she says the assault occurred. He further alleged his mother had been physically and mentally abusive to him.
Mario Cabrera / ASSOCIATED PRESS Allen leaving a custody hearing in 1993.
This is not the first time Moses has defended his father, having blamed Mia in January for brainwashing Dylan into believing the abuse allegation, as a parade of entertainers inspired by the #MeToo movement vowed not to work again with Allen. The director has long denied the allegations from Dylan and Mia. In January, he said the Farrows had been "cynically using the opportunity afforded by the Time's Up movement to repeat this discredited allegation." "I never molested my daughter — as all investigations concluded a quarter of a century ago," he said. In a statement posted to Twitter and sent to BuzzFeed News, Dylan described Moses' account as "an attempt to deflect from a credible allegation made by an adult woman, by trying to impugn my mother who has only ever been supporting of me and my siblings."
"It's easily disproven, contradicts years of his own statements, is beyond hurtful to me personally, and is part of a larger effort to discredit and distract from my assault," she wrote. "My brother is a troubled person. I'm so sorry he's doing this." Ronan Farrow also posted a statement on Thursday, defending his sister and mother.
All I’m going to say about efforts to deflect from my sister‘s allegations: ||||| Dylan Farrow Speaks Out About Her Woody Allen Allegations – and the Backlash
David Mcgough / DMI / Time Life Pictures / Getty
Jane Read Martin / Globe
Answering Her Critics
Elle JotaBFANYC.com / BFAnyc / Sipa
Her Turning Point
'My Brother Has Broken My Heart'
A Greater Goal
It was a letter she wished she never had to write, about something she says she wished had never happened.Dylan Farrow says it took all the courage she had to finally pen the emotional open letter she sent to the New York Times detailing her claim that her adoptive father, Woody Allen , had sexually molested her as a child, she exclusively tells PEOPLE."It took all of my strength and all of my emotional fortitude to do what I did this week in the hope that it would put the truth out there," says Dylan, 28, now a happily married writer. "That is my only ammunition. I don't have money or publicists or limos or fancy apartments in Manhattan. All I have is the truth and that is all I put out there."When she spoke out for the first time about the allegations of abuse in Vanity Fair 's October issue, her comments were overshadowed by the revelation that her brother Ronan, 26, might be the biological child of Frank Sinatra instead of Allen , which left her feeling "that no one cared," says a family friend.Dylan says she thought long and hard about coming forward with her story in her own words. In her Feb. 1 letter, she expounded on the allegations she made in Vanity Fair, saying, "For as long as I could remember, my father had been doing things to me that I didn't like."Allen, 78, has vehemently denied any abuse, with his rep telling PEOPLE, "Mr. Allen has read the article and found it untrue and disgraceful."Throughout a criminal investigation and bitter custody battle in 1992 and 1993, Allen maintained that he never molested Dylan and accused Dylan's mother, Mia Farrow, of coaching Dylan to repeat a false story. Farrow has always emphatically denied that.In the end, Allen was never charged with molestation. In what was deemed a controversial move, then-Connecticut state's attorney Frank S. Maco announced in 1993 that while he found "probable cause" to prosecute Allen, he was dropping the case because Dylan was too "fragile" to deal with a trial that would further "traumatize" her. Mia, 68, agreed with the decision, he said. But a panel of investigators from Yale-New Haven Hospital consulted during the investigation concluded that Dylan confused fantasy with reality and had not been abused.Dylan says she knew she would be taking on one of the most powerful and esteemed forces in Hollywood. Indeed, some of Allen's defenders claim she wrote the letter – during awards season, no less – to sabotage her father, whose film Blue Jasmine is nominated for three Oscars. Others have said she wrote it to vindicate her mother. (Mia did not see the piece before it ran, a family friend says.)"I've been hearing that a lot," says Dylan. "I'm happy to answer that. My intention in writing that piece was to put the truth on paper from a voice that was not able to speak before.""People are saying that I am not actually remembering what I remember. People are saying that my 'evil mother' brainwashed me because they refuse to believe that my sick, evil father would ever molest me, because we live in this society where victim blaming and inexcusable behavior – this taboo against shaming the famous at the expense of their victims – is accepted and excused."A turning point for her came on Jan. 12, the night of the Golden Globes, when Woody Allen received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement, which his longtime friend, Diane Keaton , accepted on his behalf.Dylan says that she had wanted to share her side of the story for a long time. But, she tells PEOPLE, "After the Golden Globes, my brother Ronan showed immense bravery for standing up for the family and I realized it was my turn to stand up and to tell the truth."On Jan. 12, Ronan Tweeted , "Missed the Woody Allen tribute – did they put the part where a woman publicly confirmed he molested her at age 7 before or after Annie Hall?"Dylan says she knew the letter would draw "backlash.""I knew there were people saying I was a liar and that this was part of some smear campaign – some bitter vendetta of my mother's," she says. But, she adds, "I didn't realize that it was going to be a betrayal of this magnitude."That betrayal, she says, came when her brother Moses Farrow, 36, spoke out to PEOPLE this week.Dylan spoke to PEOPLE shortly after she learned what her brother had said. Clearly anguished, she sobbed as she said, "My brother has broken my heart. Moses divorced himself from the family a long time ago. I always missed him. I loved him and I kept him in my thoughts. These lies – this betrayal – is unfathomable to me coming from a brother I loved and cherished and grew up with," she said."I'm sorry," she said, apologizing for crying. "I'm shaking right now."She paused, regained her composure and said, "He has betrayed me in the cruelest way imaginable, and betrayed my family and my mother who has loved him since day one. His betrayal is the lowest form of evil that I could ever imagine."Moses and Dylan, who were both adopted by Allen and Farrow, and their brother Ronan were at the center of a 1993 custody battle in which both sides testified about Allen's affair with Farrow's adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn, whom Allen went on to marry in 1997. Farrow was awarded custody of Moses, Dylan and Ronan.None of what Moses said is true, maintains Dylan. "It's lies. It's all lies." She stands by her letter, saying, "My memories are true. What happened to me as a little girl ... is my cross to bear. But I will not see my family dragged down like this. I can't stay silent when my family needs me."She says there was a time when she adored her father. "Part of the reason why it was so hard for me to write the piece that I wrote was because once upon a time I loved my father so much."Dylan says that when her mother heard the contents of Moses's letter, "She was stunned. She couldn't believe that he betrayed her and me and the family like this. Her reaction is on par with mine."Farrow, who declined to respond to Moses's accusations, Tweeted, "I love my daughter. I will always protect her. A lot of ugliness is going to be aimed at me. But this is not about me, it's about her truth."Amid the sadness she feels over her shattered family and childhood memories that continue to haunt her are moments of happiness and normalcy. While she spoke to PEOPLE, her husband stood in the background, comforting her.She says she and her husband met through an ad on The Onion. "And we have been in love ever since. Yesterday was the anniversary of our first date. It's been seven years.""He is the most wonderful man in the world. When they say living well is the best revenge – I have that. My conscience is clean. I have told the truth. I cannot say the same for Moses."She also has her family, who she says has always been there for her. "I love my family so much. We are a strong family. We are a loving family. We are a brave family. We are fighters. I love my mother so much."She hopes her open letter will help sexual abuse victims come forward and seek help."I am hoping to help at least one person out there. And that's why I spoke out."For much more on this story, including details of Dylan's and Woody Allen's lives now and an update on all of Farrow's children, pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday | – One person vigorously reupping her claims in the wake of the #MeToo movement: Dylan Farrow, who continues to insist her father, Woody Allen, molested her when she was a child at the home of her mother, Mia Farrow. On Thursday, Farrow appeared on CBS This Morning and says she wishes there'd been a trial since "I was already traumatized" from the alleged assault on August 4, 1992. That's when Farrow says her "hero" led her to the attic of Mia Farrow's Connecticut residence and "touched my labia and my vulva with his finger." Dylan Farrow was 7 at the time. The now-32-year-old mom told interviewer Gayle King she felt it was necessary to finally come forward on TV, saying, "I want to show my face and tell my story. ... I want to speak out. Literally." And she has supporters in high places, including Mira Sorvino and Natalie Portman, per Time. Although Allen vowed in 2014 to never again comment on the allegations from his adopted daughter, he broke that vow Thursday. "I never molested my daughter," the director says in a statement to CBS News. He adds two investigations—one by a hospital's child abuse clinic and another by child welfare investigators in New York—previously "concluded that no molestation had ever taken place" and it was "likely a vulnerable child had been coached to tell the story by her angry mother during a contentious breakup. ... Sadly, I'm sure Dylan truly believes what she says." Dylan Farrow refutes that, noting that "my mother has only encouraged me to tell the truth," adding she wonders why "this crazy story of me being brainwashed" is more believable than her own account. (One person who's backing Allen this week: Alec Baldwin.) |
Daniele Santos, 29, holds her son Juan Pedro who is 2-months old and born with microcephaly, at their house in Recife, Brazil, February 9, 2016. REUTERS/Nacho Doce
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Researchers on Wednesday reported new evidence strengthening the association between Zika virus and a spike in birth defects, citing the presence of the virus in the brain of an aborted fetus of a European woman who became pregnant while living in Brazil.
An autopsy of the fetus showed microcephaly or small head size, as well as severe brain injury and high levels of the Zika virus in fetal brain tissues, exceeding levels of the virus typically found in blood samples, researchers in Slovenia from the University Medical Center in Ljubljana reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The findings help “strengthen the biologic association” between Zika virus infection and microcephaly, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, wrote in an editorial that accompanied the paper.
Researchers in Brazil are scrambling to determine whether the arrival of the Zika virus in that country has caused a major rise in microcephaly, with more than 4,000 suspected cases of the condition reported to date. Brazil has confirmed more than 400 of those cases as microcephaly, and identified the presence of Zika in 17 babies, but a link has yet to be proven.
The virus is transmitted by mosquitoes. There is no treatment or vaccine.
Professor Tatjana Avšič Županc, who led the researchers in Slovenia, said in an email her team’s findings “may present the most compelling evidence to date” that birth defects associated with Zika infection in pregnancy may be caused by replication of the virus in the brain.
For definitive proof, however, she said more studies are needed.
In the NEJM paper, the mother showed signs of Zika infection during her 13th week of pregnancy, but ultrasounds during her 14th and 20th week were normal.
It was not until the woman returned to Europe that researchers found ultrasound evidence of severe fetal abnormalities during an ultrasound in her 29th week.
That suggests that ultrasounds may pick up signs of severe fetal abnormalities “only very late in gestation - in many cases too late to terminate the pregnancy,” Drs. Eric Rubin, Michael Green and Lindsey Baden wrote in the editorial.
In the Slovenian case, the woman also noticed reduced fetal movement and was told the fetus had a poor prognosis. She requested an abortion, which was approved by state and hospital ethics boards and performed at 32 weeks gestation. A normal pregnancy lasts 40 weeks.
Aside from obvious microcephaly, the fetus showed no other deformities. The woman had no family history of genetic abnormalities that could have caused the microcephaly.
Researchers did an autopsy, and instead of normal grooves formed in the brain during growth, the surface of the brain was smooth and there were numerous calcifications, which are suggestive of inflammation.
Brain samples tested positive for the Zika virus, and no other viruses in the same class, such as dengue, yellow fever or West Nile virus. The doctors also ruled out many other potential infectious causes of microcephaly, including rubella, cytomegalovirus and toxoplasmosis.
From the brain samples, the team was able to identify the complete genetic sequence of the Zika viral genome, which most closely matched a Zika virus strain isolated from a patient from French Polynesia in 2013 and a Zika virus strain isolated in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2015.
Importantly, the team found no presence of the virus and no other defects in any fetal organs other than the brain, which suggests the virus selectively attacks nerve tissue, Avšič Županc and colleagues wrote. But exactly how the virus does this is not clear.
The discovery of viral particles and a high load of Zika virus RNA in the brain samples, coupled with the absence of other possible pathogens, and a complete viral genome present “strong evidence” of the Zika virus’ potential for causing birth defects, Avšič Županc said in an email.
In January, a team of researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that they, too, found evidence of Zika virus in brain samples from Brazil taken from two miscarriages and two newborns who died shortly after birth.
CDC published full results of their findings earlier on Wednesday. ||||| Rio de Janeiro (CNN) Brazilian health officials are dishing out some unusual advice these days: Don't get pregnant.
That's the message for would-be parents, especially in the country's northeast, after officials linked a mosquito-borne virus called Zika to a surge in newborn microcephaly , a neurological disorder that can result in incomplete brain development.
"It's a very personal decision, but at this moment of uncertainty, if families can put off their pregnancy plans, that's what we're recommending," Angela Rocha, the pediatric infectologist at Oswaldo Cruz Hospital in Brazil's hardest-hit state, told CNN.
Behind Brazil's outbreak
More than 2,400 suspected cases of microcephaly have been reported this year in 20 Brazilian states, compared with 147 cases last year. Doctors are investigating 29 related infant deaths.
Microcephaly results in babies being born with abnormally small heads that cause, often serious, developmental issues and sometimes early death.
As a result, six states have declared a state of emergency. In Pernambuco state alone, more than 900 cases have been reported.
"These are newborns who will require special attention their entire lives. It's an emotional stress that just can't be imagined," Rocha said. "Here in Pernambuco, we're talking about a generation of babies that's going to be affected."
When the cases of microcephaly started to soar last month, doctors noticed they coincided with the appearance of the Zika virus in Brazil. They soon discovered that most of the affected mothers reported having Zika-like symptoms during early pregnancy -- mild fever, rash and headaches.
On November 28, Brazil's Health Ministry announced that during an autopsy it had found the Zika virus in a baby born with microcephaly, establishing a link between the two.
"This is an unprecedented situation, unprecedented in world scientific research," the ministry said on its website.
Research continues to determine if Zika actually causes microcephaly and further establish an association.
Initially concentrated in northeastern Brazil, many cases of microcephaly have now been detected in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo to the south, fueling fears across the country.
Patricia Compassi , from Sao Paulo state, has received an outpouring of support and sympathy on social media after she opened up on national television about her son Lorenzo, born with microcephaly in November.
"It's been very difficult because initially the ultrasounds were normal," she told Globo TV in an interview. Early in her pregnancy, she woke up with a rash all over face and achy joints -- symptoms that doctors initially attributed to a food allergy and now associate with Zika.
Toward the end of her term, doctors determined her baby would be born with microcephaly.
"There are days that I cry, but just looking at him gives me strength," she said.
Where Zika came from and where it can go
Zika fever was first discovered in Uganda in the 1940s and has since become endemic in parts of Africa. It also spread to the South Pacific and areas of Asia, and most recently to Latin America.
It was detected in Brazil early this year. Some doctors believe tourists from Asia or the South Pacific introduced it during the 2014 World Cup.
There are concerns it could continue to spread north, but at this point, the virus is known to be transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which thrives in tropical climates. In the United States that type of mosquito is only found in small numbers in Texas, Florida and Hawaii.
Aedes aegypti is the same mosquito responsible for the spread of yellow fever, dengue and chikungunya
Zika is hard to detect, and there often aren't any symptoms. Brazil's Health Ministry says there have been anywhere between a half million and 1.5 million cases in the country in the latest outbreak.
Both the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization have issued alerts in relation to the outbreak of Zika in Brazil and other countries in Latin America.
Federal and local governments have ramped up efforts to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquito and encouraged people -- especially pregnant women, to lather on insect repellant and stay indoors.
In Rio de Janeiro, the host city for the 2016 Olympics, officials said they have already made more than 9 million house visits to eradicate the stagnant pools used as a breeding ground for mosquitoes and are monitoring 391 pregnant women who are suspected of having Zika infections.
With the hot, rainy summer just beginning, the concern is Brazil could see a big spike in Zika. And while it could take months or even years before researchers determine if mosquitoes are really to blame, they are encouraging families to avoid risks and hold off on those pregnancies. | – The US has reached an unhappy milestone: the first case of brain damage in a baby linked to the "explosive pandemic of Zika virus infection." The baby was born recently in Oahu, Hawaii, and suffers from microcephaly, smaller-than-normal head and brain, the New York Times reports. The mother—who had lived in Brazil last year, a hotspot for the mosquito-borne illness—was likely infected early in her pregnancy before leaving for Hawaii. Meanwhile, the CDC on Friday advised pregnant women, along with those trying to become pregnant, to avoid traveling to areas known for Zika, including Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico, CNN reports. Carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the Zika virus typically causes only mild symptoms, or none at all, reports the Times. Late last year, however, health officials in Brazil began to find a correlation between the disease and an increase in cases of microcephaly. More than 3,500 cases, including 46 infant deaths, in the nation may be linked to Zika, CNN reports. In the US, 14 imported cases of the virus were diagnosed in returning travelers between 2007 and 2014, plus a total of eight in 2015 and so far this year. Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci notes that factors like urban crowding and international travel "can cause innumerable slumbering infectious agents to emerge unexpectedly." |
People typically rush into marriage, not divorces. But a curious change in the GOP’s tax bill means that some couples — or individuals — might rush back to the courthouse.
The GOP tax bill signed by Trump late last year fundamentally altered many aspects of the tax code, sending accountants scrambling, and stands as the biggest change to the tax system since 1986. Despite long-standing calls to address the federal debt, the tax cuts outlined in the bill came out to be pricey, projected to cost $1.5 trillion or more, with insufficient revenue gains to pay for it.
One way the Republican bill writers tried to raise revenue to compensate for the cuts was through alimony. Under the new bill, alimony paid by one spouse to the other will not be tax deductible, and the spouse receiving the alimony no longer has to pay taxes on it. In the current system, it works the opposite way, with the payer deducting the full amount and the recipient paying taxes on the alimony at a rate of 15%. The new rule means the government will end up with more of a divorcing pair’s combined money.
When news dropped that this might be included in the bill in November, things got crazy.
“When everyone thought the deduction deadline was going to be Dec. 31, we had a rush of clients,” said Madeline Marzano-Lesnevich, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. “All of a sudden we had clients who were going to be receiving alimony demanding we get them divorced immediately.”
Ultimately the law won’t take effect until next year, giving divorcing couples a reprieve. But the law does set up 2018 to potentially be a wild year for divorces.
“Under the new tax bill, things are going to change somewhat drastically and it’s difficult to predict how it’s going to affect parties,” Sheera Gefen, a divorce attorney in New York, told Yahoo Finance.
It almost sounds like the plot of a Coen brothers movie. In some states, the alimony-seeking spouse may have significant incentive to delay the divorce settlement in order to get the tax benefit in 2019. Meanwhile, the alimony-paying spouse could try to rush it through so they could secure a deduction. What could go wrong?
Divorces could get a lot messier
Potentially, a lot.
Attorneys like Gefen and Marzano-Lesnevich will likely have a much harder time keeping things civil and amicable in divorce disputes, because the alimony payer isn’t only going to have to pay, but will also lose a key deduction.
“The payer spouse could potentially suffer a much higher financial burden and that’ll make settlement discussions more difficult, more difficult to swallow,” said Gefen. “I think it’s going to cause more fights — and tension between attorneys.”
Perhaps the largest and most uncomfortable tension will stem from timing. One side could be dragging its feet in an attempt to delay, and the other will be trying to get a deal signed before New Year’s.
“Depending on who you’re representing you might want to drag it out,” said Gefen. “I’m either going to likely attempt to expedite settlement of global negotiation, or I might want to delay the ultimate.”
This isn’t so in call cases. In states like New York, there’s a formula for calculating appropriate payments and less leeway for negotiations, so timing may be critical. But for some other states, it’s an open negotiation.
“Every state is different,” said Marzano-Lesnevich. In states like New Jersey, without a formula, there is considerable incentive for both parties to hustle because the receiving spouse will end up netting less income for a similar out-of-pocket expense from the paying spouse.
An example of the change
Marzano-Lesnevich illustrated what it’d be like, using a wealthy client as an example. Under the old system, if a highest-tax bracket, soon-to-be ex spouse was set to pay $100,000 per year in alimony, they would get a deduction off the top — at the highest tax rate of around 40% — so they would only be out around $60,000. The recipient would end up with $85,000 after paying a 15% rate on that $100,000.
For couples divorcing in 2019, if the wealthier spouse paid $60,000 — the same out-of-pocket cost as the example above (they’d have less money without the deduction) — the other spouse would only get $60,000.
“We’re shifting the tax, and it’s not to the detriment of the person receiving the money,” said Marzano-Lesnevich.
Story continues ||||| Republicans may pride themselves on upholding family values, but their new tax law could soon lead to a surge in married couples calling it quits.
Lawyers are counseling couples considering divorce to do it this year — before a 76-year-old deduction for alimony payments is wiped out in 2019 under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Story Continued Below
“Now’s not the time to wait,” said Mary Vidas, a lawyer in Philadelphia and former chair of the American Bar Association’s section on family law. “If you’re going to get a divorce, get it now.”
Potential divorcees have all of 2018 to use the alimony deduction as a bargaining chip in their negotiations with estranged spouses.
The deduction substantially reduces the cost of alimony payments — for people in the highest income-tax bracket, it means every dollar they pay to support a former spouse really costs them a little more than 60 cents.
The change is an example of how the tax law is having far-reaching consequences beyond its corporate and individual tax cuts, in some cases by quietly overturning decades of tax policy.
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Many divorce lawyers criticize Republicans’ decision to end the break, saying it will make divorces more acrimonious. People won’t be willing to pay as much, they say, which will disproportionately hurt women who tend to earn less and are more likely to be on the receiving end of alimony payments. (Child support payments are not deductible.)
“The repeal reduces the bargaining power of vulnerable spouses, mostly women, in achieving financial stability after a divorce,” said Brian Vertz, a family law attorney in Pittsburgh.
Projected to raise $6.9 billion over the next decade, the repeal is one of the ways Republicans defrayed the cost of their tax rewrite.
A spokesman for House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) said, “This is one of the many provisions of the law that removes special rules applicable only in certain circumstances in order to help simplify the code and reduce tax rates for all Americans.”
The break has also long been criticized as a burden on the IRS because, if the alimony amounts ex-spouses report paying and receiving don’t match, it can force the agency to audit two people who may already be feuding. In 2010, there was a $2.3 billion gap between the reporting, according to the Treasury Department’s Inspector General for Tax Administration.
Alimony has been deductible since World War II. Added to the code in 1942, lawmakers have long believed it was unfair to tax people on the alimony they paid when the money was not available for them to spend.
The deduction is a big deal to splitting couples because if someone who earns, say, $250,000 — which puts them in the 24 percent income tax bracket under the new law — agrees to pay $4,000 per month, it really costs the person about $3,000 after taking the deduction into account.
Without the break, many people will agree to pay only what would have been their after-tax amount — in this case, about $3,000.
More couples will end up fighting in court because they won’t be able to agree on alimony terms, predicts Madeline Marzano-Lesnevich, head of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.
“It helps settle cases,” she said. “Without this, we will have husbands saying, 'I'm not paying you that much.'”
That will have wives asking, “How do I live?” said Marzano-Lesnevich. Many will say, “Get me before a judge so I can plead my case.”
In an early draft of the tax legislation, House Republicans suggested it was unfair to offer a special break to divorcees, saying the repeal “prevents divorced couples from reducing income tax through a specific form of payments unavailable to married couples.”
The repeal is one of only a handful of provisions in the tax law that didn’t take effect immediately. While complicated new rules for multinational corporations, unincorporated businesses and a slew of other complex changes took effect Jan. 1, the alimony deduction repeal doesn’t kick in until 2019.
That’s a relief to many family law attorneys because it otherwise would have upended divorce proceedings around the country as people demanded to renegotiate alimony terms.
Meeting the deadline won’t necessarily be easy, though, lawyers say.
Many states have mandatory “cooling-off” periods, for example, for those seeking divorces. In California, people must wait six months before their divorces can be finalized; in Pennsylvania, people in certain circumstances must wait a year.
“You can’t just file for a divorce today, and expect that you’re going to be divorced tomorrow,” said Ed Lyman, a lawyer in Los Angeles.
Many lawyers also wonder whether the change affects prenuptial agreements where someone agreed to pay a specified amount of alimony in the event of divorce, on the presumption that it could be deducted.
Not necessarily everyone will be in a hurry to finalize their divorces, Vertz said.
Because people receiving alimony next year won’t have to pay taxes on it, some may figure they’re better off waiting, even if their exes complain about losing the deduction.
“Some spouses may think they have an advantage by delaying,” Vertz said. “The payer wouldn’t have a tax deduction, it’s true, but that won’t necessarily motivate the recipient to demand less.” ||||| Breaking up is hard to do. But the GOP tax bill could make it even harder, divorce lawyers say.
The final version of the tax plan, which was released Friday and is set for votes next week, eliminates the tax deduction for alimony payments. Divorce lawyers say this move could make ending marriages an even more drawn-out and expensive process, and the change could be particularly painful for lower-income couples.
Alimony payments, typically codified in the terms of a divorce settlement, are separate from child support. They are the payments that someone gives to an ex-spouse who earns less money.
If the tax bill becomes law, the alimony deduction repeal would affect divorces carried out after December 31, 2018. The new rule wouldn't affect anyone already paying alimony.
But it'll mean big changes for divorce proceedings in the years ahead.
Right now, alimony payments are tax free for the payer, and they're taxed like regular income for the recipient. Since the recipient usually makes less money -- and is thus in a lower tax bracket -- it keeps more money in the family unit and away from Uncle Sam.
The IRS says that about 600,000 Americans claimed an alimony deduction on their 2015 tax returns, the most recent year for which data is available.
Related: Will Obamacare survive the tax bill?
Divorce lawyers "use this tax deduction as a way to make a settlement go down easier -- because there was more money in the pot to be able to split up," said New York-based divorce attorney Lisa Zeiderman. Without the deduction "there's less money to go around," she said.
Eliminating the alimony tax deduction may also have plenty of spillover implications, complicating how child support is calculated and how assets are divvied up, Zeiderman said.
That could make divorce settlements much more difficult to reach -- "which means more litigation, which is more money in terms of legal fees," she said.
Christopher Melcher, a California-based divorce lawyer, said the move could be particularly difficult on lower-income couples.
Wealthy people can usually afford higher taxes on alimony payments, he said. "It's the people with limited means where $200 or $300 dollar per month is going to make a big difference in their lifestyle and quality of life. That's a car payment, that's meals."
Related: Grad students spared under the GOP tax plan
Malcolm Taub, a divorce attorney based in Manhattan, agreed. Most of his clients are upper middle class and above. He doesn't think the elimination of the deduction will play a big role in negotiations. "I don't anticipate this to be a big deal at all," he said.
It's not just future divorces that will be affected by the tax deal -- couples working out prenuptial agreements should take heed, said Michael Beyda, another New York based divorce lawyer.
He said prenuptial -- and postnuptial -- agreements typically contain clauses that outline what alimony would look like should the couple get divorced. Until this point, those clauses have typically been drafted assuming the alimony tax deduction will be in place. | – An alimony deduction to be erased in 2019 under the new tax plan has lawyers preparing for a wave of divorces this year—and eying complications for recipients beyond. Payers have long received a tax break on alimony, while recipients have paid income tax on payments. But after Dec. 31, 2018, alimony will no longer be deductible for the payer, and recipients won't need to pay income tax on it, reports Politico. While this will help recipients—primarily women—in one sense, they'll suffer in other ways. As lawyer Madeline Marzano-Lesnevich tells Yahoo, a man in the highest income-tax bracket who pays his wife $100,000 in alimony in 2018 ($85,000 for the woman after taxes) actually pays about $60,000 with the deduction. Without it, he might argue $60,000 is all he can afford to pay, leaving the wife with $25,000 less than before. Attorneys predict the change will complicate divorce negotiations and lead to more cases being heard in court. But some say women will be disproportionally injured by it. "The repeal reduces the bargaining power of vulnerable spouses, mostly women, in achieving financial stability after a divorce," a lawyer tells Politico. Others point out alimony recipients may have a harder time saving for retirement as contributions to retirement accounts often have to come from taxed income, per CNBC. Marzano-Lesnevich says her firm has already had "a rush of clients … demanding we get them divorced immediately" to avoid such complications in 2019. More couples are expected to follow suit this year. Politico reports removing the deduction is expected to raise $6.9 billion over the next decade and help offset the cost of tax cuts outlined in the GOP bill. |
Egypt's Interior Ministry offered a rare expression of regret Saturday after riot police were caught on camera a day earlier beating a protester who had been stripped of his clothes, and then dragging the naked man along the muddy pavement before bundling him into a police van.
Egyptians flee tear gas fired by security forces during an anti-President Mohammed Morsi protest in front of the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. Thousands of protesters denouncing... (Associated Press)
Egyptian protesters shout anti-Mohammed Morsi slogans before clashes in front of the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. Thousands of Egyptians marched across the country, chanting... (Associated Press)
Egyptian riot police beat a man, after stripping him, and before dragging him into a police van, during clashes next to the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. Protesters denouncing... (Associated Press)
An Egyptian protester throws a tear gas canister back during clashes with riot police in front of the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. Thousands of protesters denouncing Egypt's... (Associated Press)
Egyptian riot police beat a man, illuminated by the green light of a protester's laser, after stripping him, and before dragging him into a police van, during clashes next to the presidential palace in... (Associated Press)
The video of the beating, which took place late Friday only blocks from the presidential palace where protests were raging in the streets, further inflamed popular anger with security forces just as several thousand anti-government demonstrators marched on the palace again on Saturday. The uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011 was fueled in part by anger over police brutality.
In the footage aired live on Egyptian TV, at least seven black-clad riot police used sticks to beat 48-year-old Hamada Saber, who was sprawled out on the ground, shirtless and with his pants down around his ankles.
In a statement, the Interior Ministry voiced its "regret" about the assault, and vowed to investigate. But it also sought to distance itself _ and the police in general _ from the abuse, saying it "was carried out by individuals that do not represent in any way the doctrine of all policemen who direct their efforts to protecting the security and stability of the nation and sacrifice their lives to protect civilians."
Later in the day, however, Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim put the blame elsewhere entirely, saying initial results from the public prosecutor's investigation indicated that Saber was undressed by "rioters" during skirmishes between police and protesters.
"The Central Security Forces then found him lying on the ground and tried to put him in an armored vehicle, though the way in which they did that was excessive," Ibrahim said.
President Mohammed Morsi's office called Saber's beating "shocking", but stressed that violence and vandalism of government property is unacceptable.
The abuse took place as thousands of protesters chanted against President Mohammed Morsi on Friday. The march was part of a wave of demonstrations that have rocked Egypt since last week's second anniversary of the 2011 revolt, leaving more than 60 people dead and plunging the country into turmoil once again.
In what appeared to be an effort to protect the police from a harsh backlash over the video, Ibrahim said that nearly 400 policemen have been wounded this past week in clashes, and warned that the disintegration of police will lead to even wider-spread chaos in the Arab world's most populous nation.
"The collapse of police will affect Egypt and transform it into a militia state like some neighboring nations," Ibrahim said, alluding to Libya where militias comprise the bulk of security after that nation's uprising.
Already some Islamists have warned they could set up militias to protect their interests, while a group calling itself "Black Bloc" whose followers wear black masks claim to defend protesters opposed to the Islamist president's rule.
Rights groups have accused Morsi of not taking steps to reform the Interior Ministry, which was the backbone of Mubarak's regime. Police under Mubarak were notorious for using excessive force against protesters and beating those in custody.
In a defining image of post-Mubarak violence against protesters, Egyptians were outraged last year when military police were caught on camera dragging a veiled woman through the streets during a protest, pulling her conservative black robe over her head and revealing her blue bra.
Protesters and rights groups have accused police of using excessive force this past week during a wave of mass demonstrations in cities around the country called by opposition politicians, trying to wrest concessions from Morsi.
But many protesters go further, saying Morsi must be removed from office. They are accusing his Muslim Brotherhood of monopolizing power and of failing to deal with the country's mounting woes. Many have been further angered by Morsi's praise of the security forces after the high death toll. Some have taken to attacking government buildings, from prisons to police stations to courthouses.
The chaos prompted Morsi to order a limited curfew in three provinces and the deployment of the military to the streets.
The main opposition National Salvation Front said Saturday that the "gruesome images" of Saber's beating demand the interior minister's resignation.
Also Saturday, Prime Minister Hisham Kandil visited Cairo's Tahrir Square and the area around the presidential palace. He said those who are camped out there are neither protesters nor revolutionaries. He said protesters "do not torch, attack hotels, rape women, steal from shops, they do not burn the presidential palace."
In an impassioned speech Saturday carried live on Egyptian state TV, Kandil said the street violence and political unrest that has engulfed the country for more than a week is threatening the nation's already ailing economy.
"The Egyptian economy is bleeding," he said. "It is holding itself, but if this situation persists it will be dangerous, extremely dangerous."
Foreign currency earners such as tourism and foreign investment have dried up in the past two years of political unrest. Foreign reserves currently estimate at around $15 billion, less than half of where it stood before the 2011 uprising that ousted Mubarak. The Egyptian pound has also lost around four percent of its value due to the turmoil and planned austerity measures threaten to curb subsidies relied on by millions of poor Egyptians.
Kandil called on the opposition to back away from any more protests or marches.
Also Saturday, Mubarak's former interior minister, Habib al-Adly, was found guilty of abusing his position by forcing police conscripts to work on his mansion and land outside Cairo. Both he and former riot police chief Hassan Abdel-Hamid were sentenced to three years in prison and fined around $340,000. The verdict can be appealed.
Al-Adly is already serving time for corruption and was sentenced to life in prison with Mubarak for failing to prevent the killing of nearly 900 protesters during the 2011 revolt that ousted the longtime leader. Both men appealed, and will be given a retrial. ||||| Several hundred Egyptian protesters hurling rocks and battling through tear gas clashed with security forces for a second day Wednesday outside the Interior Ministry as the demonstrators pressed for swifter trials for officials accused of brutality during the revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak It was the worst violence in downtown Cairo in months and revealed the deep mistrust and anger many Egyptians harbor for the state and its police. The number of protesters was relatively small, but the rage flowing through the streets startled riot police who fought off stones and a few Molotov cocktails.No high-profile activists or opposition figures immediately joined the crowd, which consisted mostly of young men roaming across scattered rocks and broken glass between Tahrir Square and the Interior Ministry a few blocks away. Some of them called for Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of the military council ruling the country, to step down.About 1,000 people were injured, most with minor cuts and scrapes, according to the Health Ministry."We will stay outside the ministry until we avenge to the blood of the revolution's martyrs," said Mahmoud Gharieb, a protester. "We want to set this ministry ablaze after breaking into it."The Interior Ministry was for decades the symbol of state repression. It remains reviled by the families of more than 800 demonstrators killed by police and security forces during the 18-day revolt that toppled Mubarak in February. They complain that cases against officials have moved too slowly, especially regarding Interior Minister Habib Adli, who faces the death penalty and has had his trial adjourned twice.Police blamed the two days of rioting on youths who were turned away from a theater Tuesday before a small ceremony to honor those who died in the revolution. Authorities said young men then quickly gathered in Tahrir Square. Several thousand protesters, including families of martyrs, were attacked overnight by hundreds of riot police. The force fired heavy volleys of tear gas.Large groups of demonstrators returned later Wednesday afternoon and battled police, who set up barricades outside the Interior Ministry. Security forces closed roads and pushed the protesters back toward the square. By early evening, two tents had been set up in Tahrir but the number of protesters diminished as the city prepared for a big soccer match.A posting on the military council's Facebook page said the protesters "had no justification other than to shake Egypt's safety and security in an organized plan that exploits the blood of the revolution's martyrs and to sow division between the people and the security apparatus."But Ashraf Ebeid, a protester, gave this account: "We were peacefully demonstrating in Tahrir last night when police and their thugs came to attack us.… They kept firing tear gas, birdshot and rubber bullets from about 10 p.m. Tuesday till 3 or 4 a.m. Wednesday."He added: "We never gave them the chance to evacuate the square. Then we gathered in the early morning and decided to come to the ministry to attack them [police] and keep them away from the square."The scenes from the square — bandaged men and damaged shops — were reminiscent of the most violent days of the revolution. They came as the military council has been struggling to instill a sense of normality in a nation facing economic turmoil, upcoming parliamentary elections and fears among activists that the revolution may be hijacked by Islamists and remnants of the former regime.Much of the disillusionment and anger have been vented on the police. Many officers have not returned to work since the revolution, fearing reprisals from Egyptians they once intimidated. Mobs have attacked and beaten a number of patrolmen and officers. But activists blame the police and military for continued human rights violations.One street cop has been sentenced to death for shooting and killing 23 protesters during the revolution. But families of victims say the government is protecting top officials from similar fates, including Mubarak whose trial is expected to begin in August. | – Egypt's Interior Ministry offered a rare expression of regret today after riot police were caught on camera a day earlier beating a protester who had been stripped of his clothes, and then dragging the naked man along the muddy pavement before bundling him into a police van. The video of the beating, which took place late yesterday only blocks from the presidential palace where protests were raging in the streets, further inflamed popular anger with security forces just as several thousand anti-government demonstrators marched on the palace again today. The uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011 was fueled in part by anger over police brutality. In the footage aired live on Egyptian TV, at least seven black-clad riot police used sticks to beat 48-year-old Hamada Saber, who was sprawled out on the ground, shirtless and with his pants down around his ankles. In a statement, the Interior Ministry voiced its "regret" about the assault, and vowed to investigate. But it also sought to distance itself—and the police in general—from the abuse, saying it "was carried out by individuals that do not represent in any way the doctrine of all policemen." Later in the day, Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim put the blame elsewhere entirely, saying initial results from the public prosecutor's investigation indicated that Saber was undressed by "rioters" during skirmishes between police and protesters. Click for more. |
In early June 2014, accountants at the Lumiere Place Casino in St. Louis noticed that several of their slot machines had—just for a couple of days—gone haywire. The government-approved software that powers such machines gives the house a fixed mathematical edge, so that casinos can be certain of how much they’ll earn over the long haul—say, 7.129 cents for every dollar played. But on June 2 and 3, a number of Lumiere’s machines had spit out far more money than they’d consumed, despite not awarding any major jackpots, an aberration known in industry parlance as a negative hold. Since code isn’t prone to sudden fits of madness, the only plausible explanation was that someone was cheating.
Casino security pulled up the surveillance tapes and eventually spotted the culprit, a black-haired man in his thirties who wore a Polo zip-up and carried a square brown purse. Unlike most slots cheats, he didn’t appear to tinker with any of the machines he targeted, all of which were older models manufactured by Aristocrat Leisure of Australia. Instead he’d simply play, pushing the buttons on a game like Star Drifter or Pelican Pete while furtively holding his iPhone close to the screen.
He’d walk away after a few minutes, then return a bit later to give the game a second chance. That's when he'd get lucky. The man would parlay a $20 to $60 investment into as much as $1,300 before cashing out and moving on to another machine, where he’d start the cycle anew. Over the course of two days, his winnings tallied just over $21,000. The only odd thing about his behavior during his streaks was the way he’d hover his finger above the Spin button for long stretches before finally jabbing it in haste; typical slots players don't pause between spins like that.
On June 9, Lumiere Place shared its findings with the Missouri Gaming Commission, which in turn issued a statewide alert. Several casinos soon discovered that they had been cheated the same way, though often by different men than the one who’d bilked Lumiere Place. In each instance, the perpetrator held a cell phone close to an Aristocrat Mark VI model slot machine shortly before a run of good fortune.
By examining rental-car records, Missouri authorities identified the Lumiere Place scammer as Murat Bliev, a 37-year-old Russian national. Bliev had flown back to Moscow on June 6, but the St. Petersburg–based organization he worked for, which employs dozens of operatives to manipulate slot machines around the world, quickly sent him back to the United States to join another cheating crew. The decision to redeploy Bliev to the US would prove to be a rare misstep for a venture that’s quietly making millions by cracking some of the gaming industry’s most treasured algorithms.
From Russia With Cheats
Russia has been a hotbed of slots-related malfeasance since 2009, when the country outlawed virtually all gambling. (Vladimir Putin, who was prime minister at the time, reportedly believed the move would reduce the power of Georgian organized crime.) The ban forced thousands of casinos to sell their slot machines at steep discounts to whatever customers they could find. Some of those cut-rate slots wound up in the hands of counterfeiters eager to learn how to load new games onto old circuit boards. Others apparently went to Murat Bliev’s bosses in St. Petersburg, who were keen to probe the machines’ source code for vulnerabilities.
By early 2011, casinos throughout central and eastern Europe were logging incidents in which slots made by the Austrian company Novomatic paid out improbably large sums. Novomatic’s engineers could find no evidence that the machines in question had been tampered with, leading them to theorize that the cheaters had figured out how to predict the slots’ behavior. “Through targeted and prolonged observation of the individual game sequences as well as possibly recording individual games, it might be possible to allegedly identify a kind of ‘pattern’ in the game results,” the company admitted in a February 2011 notice to its customers.
Recognizing those patterns would require remarkable effort. Slot machine outcomes are controlled by programs called pseudorandom number generators that produce baffling results by design. Government regulators, such as the Missouri Gaming Commission, vet the integrity of each algorithm before casinos can deploy it.
But as the “pseudo” in the name suggests, the numbers aren't truly random. Because human beings create them using coded instructions, PRNGs can't help but be a bit deterministic. (A true random number generator must be rooted in a phenomenon that is not manmade, such as radioactive decay.) PRNGs take an initial number, known as a seed, and then mash it together with various hidden and shifting inputs—the time from a machine’s internal clock, for example—in order to produce a result that appears impossible to forecast. But if hackers can identify the various ingredients in that mathematical stew, they can potentially predict a PRNG’s output. That process of reverse engineering becomes much easier, of course, when a hacker has physical access to a slot machine’s innards.
Knowing the secret arithmetic that a slot machine uses to create pseudorandom results isn’t enough to help hackers, though. That’s because the inputs for a PRNG vary depending on the temporal state of each machine. The seeds are different at different times, for example, as is the data culled from the internal clocks. So even if they understand how a machine’s PRNG functions, hackers would also have to analyze the machine’s gameplay to discern its pattern. That requires both time and substantial computing power, and pounding away on one’s laptop in front of a Pelican Pete is a good way to attract the attention of casino security.
The Lumiere Place scam showed how Murat Bliev and his cohorts got around that challenge. After hearing what had happened in Missouri, a casino security expert named Darrin Hoke, who was then director of surveillance at L’Auberge du Lac Casino Resort in Lake Charles, Louisiana, took it upon himself to investigate the scope of the hacking operation. By interviewing colleagues who had reported suspicious slot machine activity and by examining their surveillance photos, he was able to identify 25 alleged operatives who'd worked in casinos from California to Romania to Macau. Hoke also used hotel registration records to discover that two of Bliev’s accomplices from St. Louis had remained in the US and traveled west to the Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, California. On July 14, 2014, agents from the California Department of Justice detained one of those operatives at Pechanga and confiscated four of his cell phones, as well as $6,000. (The man, a Russian national, was not indicted; his current whereabouts are unknown.)
The cell phones from Pechanga, combined with intelligence from investigations in Missouri and Europe, revealed key details. According to Willy Allison, a Las Vegas–based casino security consultant who has been tracking the Russian scam for years, the operatives use their phones to record about two dozen spins on a game they aim to cheat. They upload that footage to a technical staff in St. Petersburg, who analyze the video and calculate the machine’s pattern based on what they know about the model’s pseudorandom number generator. Finally, the St. Petersburg team transmits a list of timing markers to a custom app on the operative’s phone; those markers cause the handset to vibrate roughly 0.25 seconds before the operative should press the spin button.
“The normal reaction time for a human is about a quarter of a second, which is why they do that,” says Allison, who is also the founder of the annual World Game Protection Conference. The timed spins are not always successful, but they result in far more payouts than a machine normally awards: Individual scammers typically win more than $10,000 per day. (Allison notes that those operatives try to keep their winnings on each machine to less than $1,000, to avoid arousing suspicion.) A four-person team working multiple casinos can earn upwards of $250,000 in a single week.
Repeat Business
Since there are no slot machines to swindle in his native country, Murat Bliev didn’t linger long in Russia after his return from St. Louis. He made two more trips to the US in 2014, the second of which began on December 3. He went straight from Chicago O'Hare Airport to St. Charles, Missouri, where he met up with three other men who’d been trained to scam Aristocrat’s Mark VI model slot machines: Ivan Gudalov, Igor Larenov, and Yevgeniy Nazarov. The quartet planned to spend the next several days hitting various casinos in Missouri and western Illinois.
Bliev should never have come back. On December 10, not long after security personnel spotted Bliev inside the Hollywood Casino in St. Louis, the four scammers were arrested. Because Bliev and his cohorts had pulled their scam across state lines, federal authorities charged them with conspiracy to commit fraud. The indictments represented the first significant setbacks for the St. Petersburg organization; never before had any of its operatives faced prosecution.
Bliev, Gudalov, and Larenov, all of whom are Russian citizens, eventually accepted plea bargains and were each sentenced to two years in federal prison, to be followed by deportation. Nazarov, a Kazakh who was granted religious asylum in the US in 2013 and is a Florida resident, still awaits sentencing, which indicates that he is cooperating with the authorities: In a statement to WIRED, Aristocrat representatives noted that one of the four defendants has yet to be sentenced because he “continues to assist the FBI with their investigations.”
Whatever information Nazarov provides may be too outdated to be of much value. In the two years since the Missouri arrests, the St. Petersburg organization’s field operatives have become much cagier. Some of their new tricks were revealed last year, when Singaporean authorities caught and prosecuted a crew: One member, a Czech named Radoslav Skubnik, spilled details about the organization’s financial structure (90 percent of all revenue goes back to St. Petersburg) as well as operational tactics. “What they’ll do now is they’ll put the cell phone in their shirt’s chest pocket, behind a little piece of mesh,” says Allison. “So they don’t have to hold it in their hand while they record.” And Darrin Hoke, the security expert, says he has received reports that scammers may be streaming video back to Russia via Skype, so they no longer need to step away from a slot machine to upload their footage.
The Missouri and Singapore cases appear to be the only instances in which scammers have been prosecuted, though a few have also been caught and banned by individual casinos. At the same time, the St. Petersburg organization has sent its operatives farther and farther afield. In recent months, for example, at least three casinos in Peru have reported being cheated by Russian gamblers who played aging Novomatic Coolfire slot machines.
The economic realities of the gaming industry seem to guarantee that the St. Petersburg organization will continue to flourish. The machines have no easy technical fix. As Hoke notes, Aristocrat, Novomatic, and any other manufacturers whose PRNGs have been cracked “would have to pull all the machines out of service and put something else in, and they’re not going to do that.” (In Aristocrat’s statement to WIRED, the company stressed that it has been unable “to identify defects in the targeted games” and that its machines “are built to and approved against rigid regulatory technical standards.”) At the same time, most casinos can’t afford to invest in the newest slot machines, whose PRNGs use encryption to protect mathematical secrets; as long as older, compromised machines are still popular with customers, the smart financial move for casinos is to keep using them and accept the occasional loss to scammers.
So the onus will be on casino security personnel to keep an eye peeled for the scam’s small tells. A finger that lingers too long above a spin button may be a guard’s only clue that hackers in St. Petersburg are about to make another score. ||||| MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia closed down its casinos overnight as gambling was banned nationwide, a move the industry says could throw a third of a million people out of work.
A dealer stacks chips on a roulette table at the Shangri La Casino in Moscow June 29, 2009. REUTERS/Denis Sinyakov
The July 1 ban shut gaming halls, from gaudy casinos crowned by extravagant neon structures to dingy dwellings containing a handful of slot machines.
“I feel terrible. We just let 1,000 people go,” said Yuri Boyev, general director at Metelitsa, an upmarket casino where billionaires rolled the dice and Russia’s gas giant Gazprom held a lavish Christmas party.
Vladimir Putin, now prime minister, came up with the idea in 2006 when he was president after the Interior Ministry linked several gaming operations in Moscow to Georgian organized crime.
The Kremlin plans to restrict gambling to Las Vegas-style gaming zones in four rarely visited regions deemed to need investment, including one near the North Korea border, but nothing has been built and critics say the zones will fail.
Though gaming establishments knew the shutdown date for at least a year, few thought the government would go through with it, but officials moved in overnight to close them down.
The industry says the ban will axe at least 300,000 jobs but officials in Moscow put the national figure at only 11,500.
Rows of slot machines, usually blinking around the clock in smoky, crowded halls, lay dormant and wrapped in cellophane.
Moscow deputy mayor Sergei Baidakov, watching men dismantle poker tables and lay roulette wheels on the floor, said the state was ready to thwart any big to move gambling underground.
“We are confident we will control the situation,” he said.
He said the ban was to protect the health of society. Many critics in the gambling industry say it has more to do with Russia’s poor ties with Georgia. Georgians are thought to run many Russian gaming halls.
City police stood on guard in case of protests by disgruntled former workers in the popular gaming halls that have sprouted since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and now pepper Russia’s cities.
A hotline was set up Wednesday to report on those suspected of operating illegal gambling, Itar-Tass reported.
Moscow had around 550 gambling places, including 30 casinos in prime spots, symbolizing the capital’s love of excess.
Midnight on Novy Arbat street, the heart of the gambling scene, was muted as its flashing lights and loud music were turned off for the first time in over a decade.
“I’m upset but I guess I’ll have a little rest and re-visit my job situation in August,” said Elena, a slot machine operator who has worked in the gaming business for five years.
Each year gaming brought in up to $7 billion and paid $1 billion in tax, a gap the industry says will cause the state a budget headache.
The development replacement zones — in southern Krasnodar, the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, east Siberia’s Altai region and the Far East — require investment of up to $40 billion and have not been built.
“The zones have no roads, water or electricity. We fulfilled the law by shutting, the government did not fulfill it as the zones are not ready yet,” said casino director Boyev.
The industry has raised eyebrows at government guarantees of work in restaurants and shopping centers that are to replace casinos when unemployment in Russia has hit an eight-year high.
But some addicted gamblers thought the ban might help them.
“Maybe this is all a good thing. I’m a family man and I come here every day and lose all my money. I’ll be happy to see them go,” said a 40-year-old Muscovite near the flashy Shangri-La casino in the city center. | – An iPhone and a few well-timed button pushes by a mysterious patron was all that was needed to make a Missouri casino's slot machine pay out lots of cash. But this wasn't just a random scammer who'd figured out how to play the machine: It was part of an elaborate Russian hacking scheme Brendan Koerner explores for Wired. That patron, Murat Bliev, was a member of a St. Petersburg cheat group, a willing participant in what Koerner describes as a "hotbed of slots-related malfeasance." This underground movement originated in 2009, when then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin decided to make most gambling illegal to curb organized crime. All of the slot machines in Russian casinos had to go somewhere, and so many of them ended up with high bidders (including Bliev's organization), who then poked around in the machines' coding to figure out how to exploit them. How the racket-runners worked: They figured out the patterns behind the machines' pseudorandom number generators, or PRNGs, which, while difficult to crack, aren't impossible if someone can get into the machine's insides. But because the "temporal state" of each machine is different, additional surveillance steps were needed in combination with the PRNG intel—and a casino security expert figured out how the hackers pulled it off. The scheme involved cellphones with video, a tech team back in St. Petersburg, and vibrating "timing markers" sent to the players to indicate when to hit. While Bliev and others were eventually busted, the hacking still lives on via enhanced methods, as there's "no easy technical fix. "A finger that lingers too long above a spin button may be a guard's only clue," Koerner writes. More on the cheat at Wired. (How slot machines feed gambling addictions.) |
Jakub Halun, Wikimedia Commons
Human language is biased toward being happy, finds a new study that identifies 10 of the world’s most upbeat languages.
The study, published in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, supports the Pollyanna Hypothesis, which holds that there is a universal human tendency to use positive words more frequently than negative ones. Nevertheless, the findings determined that some languages tend to skew happier than others.
Lead author Peter Sheridan Dodds of the University of Vermont’s Computational Story Lab and his team found the top 100,000 of the most frequently used words across 10 languages. The researchers then asked native speakers of the various languages to rate whether the words were “happy” or “sad” on a 1–9 scale. For example, check out these English words and their rating: laughter: 8.5, food: 7.44, truck: 5.48, greed: 3.06 and terrorist 1.3.
“The study’s findings are based on 5 million individual human scores and pave the way for the development of powerful language-based tools for measuring emotion,” Dodds and his team wrote.
No. 10 on the list was Chinese. Websites and books among other sources were analyzed in the study. Chinese books scored the lowest for happiness among all included sources. ||||| It's not just you: That late-day slump is nearly universal, at least in the world of social network users.
Sociologists at Cornell University studied updates from millions of Twitter users, analyzing tweets on an hourly and daily basis. After breakfast, moods from Dubuque to Dubai start going downhill.
"We found a very similar pattern in India, Africa, Europe, the UK, Canada, North America, Australia, New Zealand. The patterns are very, very similar even though all those cultures are different," said Michael Macy, a sociology professor at Cornell who, along with sociology graduate student Scott Golder, co-authored an article about the study in the latest issue of Science.
NEWS: Parody Blooms on Twitter
The sociologists analyzed more than half a million public updates from 2.4 million Twitter users in 84 countries over a two-year period. They divided the updates into groups by hour of the day and day of the week. Then they ran them through a program developed by psychologists to measure feelings. It uses a positive and a negative lexicon that each contain hundreds of words like "happy," "excited," "fearful" and "sad."
"People are most upbeat around breakfast time," Macy said. "Their mood deteriorates over the course of the day and then rebounds in the evening. Around dinnertime on through the time they go to bed it picks back up again."
At first the sociologists wondered if this was due to work-related stress because overall moods tended to be elevated on weekends. But they noticed that even then, tweets expressed late-day mood dips, even in the United Arab Emirates where weekends are Fridays and Saturdays.
"It could be that the elevated mood on the weekends is because they did not get woken up by an alarm clock, which would have disrupted their natural sleep patterns," Macy notes.
He cites strong evidence from previous research how important sleep is as a factor influencing feelings throughout the day.
But how can searching for words in tweets tell the scientists how a person is feeling -- don't they need more context? Macy says it doesn't matter who or what someone is tweeting about. The psychological lexicons, which have been validated, determine general mood based on whether the words Twitter users choose to use are particularly positive or negative.
"Social and behavioral scientists have these wonderful opportunities now to study human behavior and human interaction in ways they could not do before," Macy said.
Next, Macy says they are focused on using the enormous Twitter data to study behavior. Golder recently created a public website, Timeu.se , so anyone can do a keyword search on their data and plot the results. One of the sociologists' early findings: "happy hour" starts around 4 or 5 Monday through Thursday, but on Fridays begins after lunch and keeps going until 10 at night.
NEWS: Can Tiny Tweets Predict Financial Markets?
David Lazer is an associate professor of political science and computer science at Northeastern University. His group has determined countrywide moods based on Twitter updates, but the study didn't look at individuals' daily variations.
"The new thing here is that they're clearly finding some sort of signal," Lazer said of the Cornell article. "Part of what's beautiful about these data is that they truly offer a picture of the system as opposed to detached observations you might get in a standard survey."
When paired with traditional questionnaires, the Cornell results will give social scientists a better understanding of daily human rhythms, said Thomas Streeter, a sociology professor at the University of Vermont who studies media culture and technology.
"Definitely there's a pattern there," he said. "But of course they're talking about people who use Twitter. It's not farmers in Zimbabwe."
Social media can be ideal for expressing certain kinds of human expressions but not for others, he added. "We have to be careful to not read them as hot lines to our hearts." ||||| Last week, Facebook's data analysis team published some interesting facts about its users based on an analysis of 1 million status updates from English speakers in the United States.
Here's some of what they found out:
Old people tend to babble--length of status updates was the best predictor of a user's age. Religious terms, social processes, and family were also more common among older users
Kids skip words--there was a strong correlation between age and the use of articles and prepositions. Younger users were also more likely to swear, express anger, and use the word "I."
Using the word "you" is a sign that you have lots of friends.
People are most positive in the morning--that's when status updates contained the most positive emotional messages. Negative emotions spiked after 10 p.m.
References to time peak in the morning. This is probably people posting about how late they were up last night, how late they are for work, and so on.
Updates with negative emotions receive more comments than those with positive emotions, probably as friends race to console each other.
People tend to use the same kind of words in status updates as their friends--particularly if they're referring to their family, using religious words, or swearing.
To get these results, the company used 68 word categories from the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) Dictionary, a textual analysis program that identifies parts of speech (like prepositions and articles) as well as content (such as religious references or terms that indicate a strong emotion). It then correlated Facebook status messages against user characteristics like age, number of friends, and time of day.
The statistics could be very useful to advertisers and marketers. For instance, if a rock band wants to match the habits of younger users, its updates should be angry and full of curse words and sexual references--not much of a stretch, really. Or, if an event planner wants to get users out that night, the promotional push should start around 4 p.m., when references to leisure activities begin to spike. | – If you're in a foul mood, it might be time to learn Spanish. Languages, and the people who use them, tend to favor using positive words over negatives, researchers find, and they've learned that that's particularly true in Spanish. Experts at the University of Vermont and the MITRE Corporation went through volumes of text from all kinds of sources: books, the news, music lyrics, movie subtitles, and more, including some 100 billion words used on Twitter, UVM reports. Investigating 10 languages, they picked out the 10,000 most common words, then had native speakers rank these words on a nine-point happiness scale; "laughter," for instance, was rated 8.5, while "greed" came in at 3.06. All 24 types of sources reviewed resulted in scores above the neutral 5, meaning they leaned "happy." In other words, "people use more positive words than negative ones," a researcher says. As far as individual languages go, here are the top five happiest ones, via Discovery: Spanish Portuguese English German French Chinese came in last of the 10 languages in the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Positive-language data has also resulted in an actual happiness meter, known as the hedonometer, UVM notes. It follows Twitter posts in English to determine when the happiest words are being used. Christmas, it shows, is a very happy day, while celebrity deaths correlate with low points. Meanwhile, Boulder, Colorado, is apparently the happiest city (at least among Twitter users), while Racine, Wisconsin, appears to be the most miserable. (If you need a lift, try changing the way you walk.) |
FILE - In this Nov. 26, 2017 file photo, Jay-Z performs on the 4:44 Tour at Barclays Center in New York. Jay-Z and Beyonce have released a joint album that touches on the rapper's disgust at this year's... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this Nov. 26, 2017 file photo, Jay-Z performs on the 4:44 Tour at Barclays Center in New York. Jay-Z and Beyonce have released a joint album that touches on the rapper's disgust at this year's Grammy Awards and features a shout out from their daughter Blue Ivy to her siblings. The pair released... (Associated Press)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jay-Z and Beyonce are keeping up a family tradition, dropping a surprise album before anyone knew it was coming.
The couple released a joint album that touches on the rapper's disgust at this year's Grammy Awards and features a shout out from their daughter Blue Ivy to her siblings.
The nine-track album "Everything Is Love" dropped Saturday on the Tidal music streaming service that Jay-Z partially owns.
The album features Beyonce rapping on songs more than she has done on previous releases.
One song that has a profanity in its title includes Jay-Z lashing out at the Grammys. He was the top nominee at February's awards show, but left empty-handed.
The rapper also says he turned down the NFL Super Bowl halftime show, rapping that the league needs him more than he needs them.
Blue Ivy ends the song "BOSS" with a shout-out to her 1-year-old brother and sister, Rumi and Sir.
In 2013, Beyonce released the self-titled album "Beyonce" without any notice. ||||| Finally: JAY-Z and Beyoncé have released their collaborative album, Everything Is Love. Stream it here and below via Tidal. The streaming service credits the two artists as “the Carters.” Bey and Jay also released a new music video for their track “APESHIT” and an additional single “SALUD!” that doesn’t appear on the project. Find those below. Ricky Saiz directed the visual, which is set in the Louvre and features the couple posing among the art.
Jay disses the Grammys on “APESHIT,” rapping, “Tell the Grammys fuck that 0 for 8 shit.” (Jay was the most nominated artist at the 2018 ceremony, but was completely shut out.) He also confirms the rumor that he turned down a Super Bowl Halftime Show offer: “I said no to the Super Bowl/You need me, I don’t need you/Every night we in the end zone/Tell the NFL we in stadiums too.”
Beyoncé calls out Spotify on the track “NICE.” She raps, “If I gave...two fucks about streaming numbers woulda put Lemonade up on Spotify. Fuck you,” referencing the fact that her 2016 album has never been available on the streaming platform. Jay refers to Meek Mill’s recent release from prison on “FRIENDS,” and on “HEARD ABOUT US,” Beyoncé sings the iconic line from Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy”: “If you don’t know, now you know, nigga.” The couple sample Phoenix Express’ song “You Make My Life a Sunny Day” on “LOVEHAPPY.”
“APESHIT” features Migos and Pharrell, while “BOSS” features Ty Dolla $ign and the couple’s daughter Blue Ivy. She also makes a brief cameo at the end of “SALUD!,” shouting out her twin siblings. Pharrell also helped produce “NICE,” while Cool & Dre contributed additional production to “SUMMER” “713,” “BLACK EFFECT,” and “SALUD!” (with Dre adding vocals to the latter). Nav is listed as a composer and co-producer on “FRIENDS,” while TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek is a producer on “LOVEHAPPY.”
Rumors have long swirled about the creation of a collaborative Bey and Jay album. Last November, JAY also told The New York Times that a project with Bey started coming together as they worked on 4:44 and Lemonade. “We were using our art almost like a therapy session,” he said at the time. “And we started making music together.” He explained that, because Bey’s music was progressing more quickly, Lemonade ended up coming out “as opposed to the joint album that [they] were working on.”
The couple are on the road for OTR II through the fall. Their most recent collaboration was on DJ Khaled’s “Top Off.” JAY also enlisted Bey for the Grammy-nominated “Family Feud” from 4:44. They last toured together in 2014.
This article was originally published on June 16 at 5:43 p.m. EST. It was updated on June 17 9:19 p.m. EST. | – Out of the blue, Beyonce and Jay-Z dropped a joint album that's being described as both unexpected and long-rumored, reports Pitchfork. But Everything Is Love is not all sunshine and rainbows from the duo now going by The Carters, particularly for the Grammys (where Jay-Z went 0-8 at the 2018 awards) and Spotify, which gets a couple of F-bombs from Bey. Jay-Z also confirms that he turned down the Super Bowl halftime show, rapping, well, "I said no to the Super Bowl / You need me, I don’t need you/ Every night we in the end zone / Tell the NFL we need stadiums too." The couple's daughter, Blue Ivy, also gives a shout-out to her 1-year-old twin siblings, notes the AP, and a music video released with the nine-track album features the couple hobnobbing in Paris' Louvre museum. Everything Is Love is available on Tidal. |
Norm Macdonald’s way of handling a controversy appears to be to create a new one.
The comedian experienced swift fallout over his victim-blaming comments to the Hollywood Reporter while defending friends Louis C.K. and Roseanne Barr, leading him to issue an apology. It wasn’t enough for the Tonight Show, which disinvited him from the program just an hour before his appearance on Tuesday. By Wednesday, however, the star of the new Netflix show Norm MacDonald Has a Show had stirred up even more drama on The Howard Stern Show. While discussing the controversy, he said, “You’d have to have Down syndrome to not feel sorry” for victims of harassment.
During the Sirius XM interview, the former Saturday Night Live personality, who is 58, said he “never defended” Barr, who lost her job over racist remarks, or Louis C.K., who was dropped by FX after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct. “I am completely behind the #MeToo movement,” MacDonald insisted. “You’d have to have Down syndrome to not feel sorry” for the victims of harassment. “#MeToo is what you want for your daughters and you want that to be the future world, of course. And I meet all kinds of women with terrible stories of what’s happened to them. So, I wasn’t talking about the victims. They asked me about Roseanne.” For good measure, he repeated himself: “Down syndrome. That’s my new word.”
Reactions to his latest controversial comments haven’t been kind.
NORM STOP TALKING.
Why put down people with Down Syndrome?🤦🏽♀️
"I am completely behind the #MeToo movement. You'd have to have Down Syndrome to not feel sorry for —#MeToo is what you want for your daughters and you want that to be the future world." https://t.co/oq4RSXgPLm — Holly Figueroa O'Reilly (@AynRandPaulRyan) September 12, 2018
Dear @normmacdonald Down Syndrome is not something that prevents someone from having emotion, feeling empathy, or understanding the importance of a movement like #MeToo. Your statement is just inaccurate and does not qualify as an apology https://t.co/aB2rKlXU8K — Shannon Scully (@ShannonMScully) September 12, 2018
Norm McDonald: “Let me explain how much of an idiot I have been by insulting people born with Down Syndrome and their families” — Exavier Pope (@exavierpope) September 12, 2018
Oh, Norm! Is this an act? Surely you are not serious about people with Down Syndrome. I am very sad for you if you haven't experienced their unconditional love? — Etienne McD (@smcdonn4499) September 12, 2018
“I’m sorry I said that thing about Down Syndrome. That was totally gay of me.” — Norm Macdonald tomorrow, probably — Ish (@Ish) September 12, 2018
However, some of his fans found it to be a very calculated comment.
I LOVE HIM. If you think he accidentally included the Down Syndrome mention you've never listened to Norm. — Lyndsey Fifield (@lyndseyfifield) September 12, 2018
During his chat with the shock jock, Macdonald talked about Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon coming backstage personally to tell him that his invitation had been rescinded. Initially, the plan was to have Macdonald make a statement to smooth things over at the top of the show, but the plan changed. “Jimmy came back in, said, ‘Can I talk to you, buddy?’ He was very broken up about it. He said, ‘I don’t know what to do. It’s just that I have so much pressure. People are crying. Senior producers are crying.’ I said bring them in and let me talk to them. I don’t want to make people cry. Jimmy said, ‘Come back whenever you want, but I think it might hurt the show tonight.’”
Macdonald added that he spoke to Netflix content chief Ted Sarandos before he issued his apology Tuesday on Twitter. “He is one of the greatest people to ever come into my life,” he said. “He knows I am a good person. Ted said, ‘We don’t want to hear legalese; write your own thing.’”
Roseanne and Louis have both been very good friends of mine for many years. They both made terrible mistakes and I would never defend their actions. If my words sounded like I was minimizing the pain that their victims feel to this day, I am deeply sorry. — Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) September 11, 2018 ||||| Norm Macdonald told Howard Stern he was “confused” when he made controversial comments about the #MeToo movement in an interview published in The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Macdonald said he was “happy the #MeToo movement has slowed down a bit.” He also expressed concern that Louis C.K. “[lost] everything in a day” after admitting he was guilty of sexual misconduct. “Of course, people will go, ‘What about the victims?'” Macdonald said. “But you know what? The victims didn’t have to go through [losing everything in a day].”
On The Howard Stern Show, Macdonald did not apologize for those comments. “I wish I never had to do an interview, especially a print interview, because they edit it and put it together and ask you questions that maybe you don’t want to answer,” he said.
“I’m a fucking dumb guy, I get confused and shit,” he added. “[The Hollywood Reporter was] asking me about a whole bunch of things at the same time.”
Macdonald also suggested that his comments about victims were not interpreted correctly. “I said the victims went through worse [than Louis C.K.] but it wasn’t the same [as what he went through],” he added. “You’d have to have Down Syndrome to not feel sorry for [the victims of sexual misconduct]. #MeToo is what you want for your daughters. You want that to be the future world.”
Macdonald has a new show coming to Netflix, and the comedian’s press appearances this week was supposed to raise awareness about it. However, following his comments in The Hollywood Reporter, Macdonald’s planned appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon was cancelled. The comedian offered an apology on Twitter. “If my words sounded like I was minimizing the pain that their victims feel to this day, I am deeply sorry,” he wrote.
Norm Macdonald Has a Show is set to debut on September 14th. ||||| The comedian talks Roseanne Barr, Louis C.K. and Trump ahead of his return to TV with a David Letterman-produced show where "there can be nothing topical."
Norm Macdonald is giving TV another shot.
Despite having one of the most dedicated fanbases in comedy, he hasn't had a lot of success in the medium. After being famously fired from Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" desk in 1998 and failing to launch two early-2000s sitcoms (Norm, A Minute With Stan Hooper), the Canadian stand-up's career has taken some haphazard detours. He's popped up as judge on NBC's Last Comic Standing; as Colonel Sanders in a series of KFC ads; and on talk shows plugging his (semifictionalized) memoir, Based on a True Story.
It's been a tumultuous year for Macdonald, 58, since that book came out: The close friend who penned its foreward, Louis C.K., saw his career derailed by #MeToo, while the woman who gave Macdonald his first break in Hollywood — Roseanne Barr, who hired him to write for the original Roseanne — squandered her comeback with a tweet, costing Macdonald a writing job on the reboot. So when longtime mentor David Letterman suggested that Macdonald topline a Netflix talk show (with Letterman producing), he saw very little reason to say no.
The result, Norm Macdonald Has a Show, which debuts Sept. 14, is a freewheeling hour that focuses on one guest per episode — including Jane Fonda, Judge Judy Sheindlin, Macdonald's former SNL boss Lorne Michaels and Letterman.
THR talked with Macdonald about C.K. (the conversation was several days before C.K.'s controversial Aug. 28 return to the stage) Barr, Trump, Emmy hosts Michael Che and Colin Jost, and his own foray into TV talk.
In 2015, you warned about the dangers of a Trump presidency when most people thought his candidacy was a joke.
Wow. How about that?
Is it as bad as you feared?
Not at all. I don't know anything about the Constitution. But it seems that the framers of this republic figured out how to make it bulletproof to this type of interloper. I don't know what [lasting damage] you could point to except, you know, the Supreme Court judge nomination, which is certainly not an anomaly: I mean, a right-wing guy is going to put in a right-wing guy.
What about all this emboldening of racism, though?
I live in L.A., where I'm always faced with the lunacy of the left. I didn't know that the same lunacy existed on the right. So I never really bought into this notion that everybody is racist — because there was a black president, you know? But the Sacha Baron Cohen show has been a frightening eye-opener. I was also in a bubble, but in a different way. I guess everyone is a fucking idiot. Everyone is an idealogue. Hopefully the pendulum will slow down in the next four years.
And swing back toward liberalism?
Not necessarily. I'm happy the #MeToo movement has slowed down a little bit. It used to be, "One hundred women can't be lying." And then it became, "One woman can't lie." And that became, "I believe all women." And then you're like, "What?" Like, that Chris Hardwick guy I really thought got the blunt end of the stick there.
What about when someone admits to wrongdoing?
The model used to be: admit wrongdoing, show complete contrition and then we give you a second chance. Now it's admit wrongdoing and you're finished. And so the only way to survive is to deny, deny, deny. That's not healthy — that there is no forgiveness. I do think that at some point it will end with a completely innocent person of prominence sticking a gun in his head and ending it. That's my guess. I know a couple of people this has happened to.
Who?
Well, Louis [C.K.] and Roseanne [Barr] are the two people I know. And Roseanne was so broken up [after her show's reboot was canceled] that I got Louis to call her, even though Roseanne was very hard on Louis before that. But she was just so broken and just crying constantly. There are very few people that have gone through what they have, losing everything in a day. Of course, people will go, "What about the victims?" But you know what? The victims didn't have to go through that.
What did the two of them talk about?
They both said they had a good conversation and were just giving any advice you could give to each other. There would be no way for me to even understand that advice, because who has ever gone through such a thing? All their work in their entire life being wiped out in a single day, a moment.
Barr gave you your first job in Hollywood. You also wrote for the reboot. Is she a racist?
I always knew her as a very left-wing person. On the original show, she had [a network sitcom's] first gay couple. She would always want more minorities on the show, on the writing staff. When she did this [reboot,] it was all her idea to get all these different orientations and religions and so forth represented. So that's how I always knew her.
So what do you make of her incendiary tweeting?
I had looked on her Twitter feed once in a while. I really couldn't understand her because I am not that worldly in politics. Her feed was so arcane about these Middle East politics. What I do know is that she is a single-issue motivated person. And that issue is Israel. That's all she cares about politically. She is left wing in everything else. But that is why she did not like the Obama administration, because they snubbed Netanyahu. I believe that is the only reason that she voted Trump. She is certainly not a racist. That's just crazy.
You were my favorite "Weekend Update" anchor on Saturday Night Live. What kind of job do you think Colin Jost and Michael Che are currently doing behind the desk?
I like both of those guys. I always really liked Michael's stand-up. Colin comes from Harvard and is a completely different kettle of fish than Michael. But he is an exceptionally good writer. I find Colin's jokes to be very precise and have a lot of respect for those jokes. And I think Michael's delivery is fantastic. He is also a more politically incorrect person, as most stand-ups are compared to most Harvard graduates. But I am a big fan of those two guys.
Michael has drawn some heat for suggesting stand-up comedy has lost the plot — that's its more about confessionals and identity politics than making the audience laugh.
I have never seen the Nanette thing because I never wanted to comment on it. But from what I have read about it, [comedian Hannah Gadsby] is saying that comedy is now not about laughter. And of course that's a slap in the face of a traditional stand-up comedian who thinks that comedy by dictionary definition is about laughter. And that that's your job. You actually do have a job onstage. Nanette doesn't sound like stand-up to me. That sounds like a one-woman show. And one-person shows are, to me, incredibly powerful. But it's not stand-up comedy and it's not the same thing.
What sets Norm MacDonald Has a Show apart from the current wave of comedian-hosted talk shows?
I decided very early on there can be nothing topical. Ever since Jon Stewart, late-night hosts have all been forced to become political pundits, you know? Even down to Jimmy Fallon. And he is derided for his treatment of Donald Trump.
Do you think Fallon has been unfairly criticized?
Completely. He is just all about fun and silliness. That's what his audience wants. And then to be maligned for quote-unquote humanizing Trump. Funny, I thought he was a human. If you have the nominee to be president on your show and he is your guest, then he is your guest. Don't have him on the show if you don't want him.
A version of this story appears in the Sept. 12 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe. ||||| The actress writes about the alleged incident in an excerpt from her upcoming memoir, 'This Will Only Hurt a Little.'
Busy Philipps claims in her forthcoming memoir, This Will Only Hurt a Little, that James Franco physically assaulted her on the set of their cult comedy Freaks and Geeks, where they played a tumultuous high school couple onscreen.
In an excerpt leaked online Monday that The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed is authentic, Philipps alleges that Franco — whom she calls a "fucking bully" — pushed the actress after filming a scene. The short-lived NBC sitcom, which aired for one season from 1999-2000, was created by Paul Feig and executive produced by Judd Apatow.
In her book, Philipps remembers that the script called for her character, Kim Kelly, to gently nudge Franco's Daniel Desario in the chest. Philipps writes that the scripted gesture caused Franco to get upset, after which he allegedly "threw" the actress to the ground in retaliation.
"He grabbed both my arms and screamed in my face, 'DON’T EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN!'" Philipps writes in the book. "And he threw me to the ground. Flat on my back. Wind knocked out of me."
Philipps goes on to say that she tearfully described the alleged incident to her other Freaks and Geeks co-star Linda Cardellini, who suggested that Philipps report what happened to her manager. Philipps writes that Franco eventually apologized after being told to do so by the episode's director and producers. Though he was asked to say he was sorry, Philipps says that Franco was never punished for his alleged behavior.
When speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about her upcoming memoir and E! late-night talk show, Busy Tonight, Philipps said she and Franco have since discussed what happened on set and that he apologized.
"It wasn't even outrageous. At the time, 19 and with my first professional acting job, I was under the impression that this was just the way things were," she said. "James and I have talked about it over the years. At one point he apologized to me. I was always acutely aware of my expendability, and so I felt I needed to never complain, always show up on time and not be difficult. If someone else was being difficult, it was my job to be the easy one or figure out a way to soothe the situation."
During a 2016 appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Philipps had told host Andy Cohen about her previous confrontation with Franco on the set of Freaks and Geeks. During her chat with Cohen, the actress brought up Franco allegedly shoving her to the ground.
"When we were 19, we were on Freaks and Geeks and we really, really disliked each other. It’s well-documented," Philipps said. "He, like, shoved me to the ground once. It was really brutal. But we’re friends now and we really like each other now as adults." She added that though she and Franco "really didn't get along," they had "since made amends."
The excerpt from Philipps' book comes nearly nine months after Franco was accused of sexual misconduct by more than five women. The star of HBO's The Deuce has denied the accusations, calling the accounts "not accurate."
Aside from the assault she allegedly suffered at the hands of Franco, Philipps revealed days ago that her book will also detail her experience being raped at 14 years old. The actress shared her story last week, hours after Christine Blasey Ford testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, whom Ford has accused of sexual assault. (Kavanaugh has denied Ford's allegations.)
"This is me at 14. The age I was raped. It's taken me 25 years to say those words. I wrote about it in my book. I finally told my parents and sister about it 4 months ago," Philipps wrote on Instagram, accompanied by what appears to be a school photo. "Today is the day we are silent no more. All of us. I'm scared to post this. I can't imagine what Dr. Ford is feeling right now."
THR has reached out to reps for Franco.
This Will Only Hurt a Little is due in stores Oct. 16.
Oct. 9, 7 a.m. Updated with Philipps' quotes to THR. | – Norm Macdonald attempted to explain his controversial #MeToo comments in an interview with Howard Stern Wednesday—and managed to make things worse. The comedian landed himself in a fresh controversy after insulting people with Down syndrome in an effort to express empathy for victims of sexual misconduct, Yahoo reports. "You'd have to have Down syndrome to not feel sorry" for harassment victims, said Macdonald, who'd told the Hollywood Reporter he was glad #MeToo had "slowed down a bit" and that he felt bad for friends like Louis CK, who "lost everything in a day." He told Stern, however, that "#MeToo is what you want for your daughters. You want that to be the future world." "Down syndrome. That's my new word," Macdonald told Stern. His remarks were met with a fierce backlash on social media. Down syndrome "is not something that prevents someone from having emotion, feeling empathy, or understanding the importance of a movement like #MeToo," tweeted one critic. Macdonald, whose Tonight Show appearance was axed after his #MeToo remarks, has a new show coming to Netflix, called Norm Macdonald Has a Show. In his Stern interview, he called himself a "dumb guy" who got "confused" when interviewers were "asking me about a whole bunch of things at the same time," Rolling Stone reports. He apologized in a tweet for his remarks about Louis CK and Roseanne Barr, saying he would "never defend their actions." |
A guard at a southwest Mississippi prison died Sunday and several other employees were injured during a disturbance involving hundreds of inmates that continued into the evening, authorities and the prison's operator said.
Emily Ham, a spokeswoman for the Adams County Sheriff's Office, confirmed Sunday evening that the guard died while being transported to a hospital. She said Corrections Corp. of America, the prison's private operator, was working Sunday night with law-enforcement authorities to bring the disturbance under control.
CCA said in a news release that the disturbance began at around 2:40 p.m. CDT. The news release said five employees were transported to a local hospital for treatment of injuries and one was taken offsite. It said "the disturbance is contained within the secure perimeter of the facility, with no threat to public safety."
State and local law-enforcement officers are providing outside perimeter security, the news release said.
The company said the cause of disturbance is pending investigation. The 2,567-bed prison houses adult male criminal aliens for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the news release said.
CCA spokesman Steve Owen confirmed in an email "there has been one employee death" but he said he could not provide more details immediately.
"Efforts by facility staff and law enforcement officials to quell the incident are ongoing," Owens said in an email late Sunday to The Associated Press.
Ham said no inmates had escaped the facility.
Adams County Sheriff Chuck Mayfield told the Natchez Democrat that agencies were working to release eight staffers who were still inside. He said they know where some of them are and doesn't believe any more are injured. Fifteen employees were freed at once by opening a fence and protecting the route with guns, he told the newspaper.
Mayfield estimated that 200 to 300 inmates were causing the problems, including lighting a campfire. At one point, flames and smoke were visible from outside the prison. These inmates causing the troubles were not armed with traditional weapons, the sheriff said. Mayfield said the scene was calming down. ||||| Story highlights The ACLU blasts "for-profit incarceration," says the riot wasn't surprising
The riot began with a fight among prisoners, a sheriff says
Guard died due to what the coroner thinks was blunt force trauma
The sheriff praises law enforcement efforts and the private firm that runs the prison
Hundreds of inmates in Mississippi whose fight among themselves spiraled into a riot were back in their cells Monday afternoon, leaving authorities to mourn the death of one guard and express thanks that things didn't turn out worse.
"When we first ... learned of the situation, I had a high degree of anxiety because there were so many guards who were unaccounted for," Adams County Sheriff Chuck Mayfield said, praising the efforts of law enforcement and those with the private company that runs the facility. "I know it when I see it when something is handled correctly."
By Monday afternoon, all of the roughly 2,500 inmates at the Adams County Correctional Facility in Natchez were secure in their cells on lockdown, which Mayfield said will continue indefinitely as the investigation continues.
It was a far different scene about 24 hours before.
Mayfield said that, about 2:40 p.m. Sunday, a fight broke out either among members of one gang or between members of rival factions in a prison yard and soon ballooned out of control. With a core group of about 300 inmates involved -- meaning most others were simply caught up in the chaos -- the disturbance quickly spread through the grounds.
"It turned into a mob mentality, and ... it just expanded so quickly," the sheriff said.
Sometime early in the riot, a guard was assaulted and ended up on the roof of a building, Mayfield said. That guard -- later identified as Catlin Carithers, 24 -- was brought out through the facility's gates within an hour, only to be later pronounced dead due to blunt head force trauma, according to the county coroner.
Guard Catlin Carithers was killed during the riot that broke out Sunday at the Mississippi prison.
The disturbance continued for hours more around the western Mississippi facility, which houses illegal immigrants from around the region who are serving time after convictions for both violent and nonviolent crimes. The Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of America operates the facility and employs all those within.
At one point, inmates pulled out some mattresses, rags and other materials into a prison yard and started a fire. Others used an array of weapons, such as mop and broom handles, in their fight.
Meanwhile, the facility's employees at once tried to maintain order and take cover. Mayfield said earlier Monday that at least 24 or 25 hostages were being held at one point.
County and state authorities were on site within an hour to maintain the perimeter and help the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) bring the situation under control, according to Mayfield, who noted that FBI agents were also there.
No gunshots were ever fired, and Mayfield praised the "restraint" by law enforcement. Authorities did use "pepper balls," which the sheriff said are shot from something akin to a paintball gun.
"The whole thing was probably over by 11 or 11:30 p.m. Sunday," at which point all the inmates had been forced out into a prison yard, Mayfield said. But it wasn't until 3:30 a.m. Monday that every prisoner had been searched and brought back to his housing unit.
In addition to Carithers, about 10 workers at the facility were injured, including one who suffered head trauma and was transported about 100 miles northwest to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, according to the sheriff. CCA, meanwhile, has reported that 16 of its staffers at the prison were treated and released from the hospital.
Four inmates had to be taken to area emergency rooms for treatment -- for injuries such as a stab wound, a concussion and rib injuries -- though Mayfield said he didn't think any of them needed to be admitted. CCA had said three inmates received such treatment.
The sheriff stressed that the public was never in danger, as the riot was confined within the facility and there were no breaches of its perimeter.
While he didn't know what exactly caused the riot, Mayfield did say that, "from the outside looking in, I can't see anything that would have prevented it." He lavished praise on the decisions made by Corrections Corporation of America and law enforcement, saying, "I don't think they could have handled it any better."
The sheriff added that the facility has "not had anything of this magnitude at all" since opening in 2009.
"This could have happened anywhere, anytime," Mayfield said.
Yet the American Civil Liberties Union said the riot wasn't surprising because companies like the Corrections Corporation of America "have incentives to cut corners even at the expense of decent and safe conditions"; they employ "too often poorly paid and trained" staff; and they run facilities with conditions that "are often woefully inadequate."
"This weekend's riot should make clear to Mississippi and every other state that for-profit incarceration must end," the advocacy group said in a statement. "We need to save taxpayer money by ending the nation's addiction to incarceration, not give money to private companies whose profit depends on locking up as many people as possible." | – A 23-year-old guard has been killed and 16 workers injured in a riot by hundreds of inmates at a private Mississippi prison. Three inmates were also hospitalized, though one has since been returned to prison. The riot broke out at the Adams County Correctional Facility in Natchez at around 2:40pm yesterday, according to the AP. Some two dozen employees were taken hostage, and local and state law enforcement agencies had to be called in to quell the violence. They quickly regained control of most of the prison, but one section held out until 2:45 this morning, CNN reports. "I just want people to understand that no one has gotten out and no one will," a local county sheriff assured the public during the standoff. "We have all our deputies out here and ready. The county can sleep well because we've got it secured." The Tennessee-based company running the facility did not reveal what triggered the violence. The prison houses some 2,500 prisoners—many of them illegal immigrants—for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. |
Rand Paul appears to have clinched the GOP's nomination for Kentucky’s open Senate seat. Rand Paul tapped into 'anger'
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Rand Paul, the first-time candidate for elective office who has emerged as a symbol of the national tea party's clout in Republican politics, appears to have clinched the GOP's nomination for this state's open Senate seat — in a victory certain to jolt the political order in Kentucky and across the country.
The 47-year-old Bowling Green ophthalmologist — who until last year was best known for being the son of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and whose staunch libertarian views have spawned a national grass-roots following — knocked out Trey Grayson, the Kentucky secretary of state, who had been the favorite of this state's political heavyweights, most notably Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
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"I have a message, a message from the tea party, a message that is loud and clear and does not mince words: We have come to take our government back," declared Paul, with his parents and the rest of his family by his side, to roaring supporters at a posh country club here in his hometown.
With his attention-grabbing views railing against Washington and its ballooning budget deficits, the fire-breathing Paul successfully connected with this state's furious Republican primary voters, something that the more subdued Grayson was unable to accomplish in the fight to replace retiring two-term GOP Sen. Jim Bunning.
"The electorate is pissed," said Mike Shea, a longtime political adviser to McConnell. "Rand did a really good job of tapping into those themes and tapping into that anger. Trey is a nice guy, but in his commercials and everything else, he seemed completely unable to generate any kind of dialogue to indicate he was tapping into that. If you meet him, he didn't seem like he was angry."
With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, Paul appeared poised to seize a huge victory — leading Grayson by 59 percent to 35 percent. The Associated Press projected that Paul would win the race.
A packed crowd here at the Bowling Green Country Club let out a loud cheer when the AP projected the race for Paul.
But many of the Paul supporters had expected nothing less than resounding victory.
"I kind of expected it actually," said Brent Young, a 45-year-old tea party activist who works with a local firm researching swine production. "I've really been a big supporter of his dad, and I really hope he can be elected in November. Time will tell, but we really do think he's a different kind of politician — and hopefully [he'll] send a message to the GOP that we want something different."
Paul will face state Attorney General Jack Conway on Nov. 2. Conway narrowly defeated Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo in the battle for the Democratic nomination. Conway's views are more in line with the Democratic base's positions, and he was seen by national Democrats as a safer choice. ||||| Congratulations to Rand Paul and his campaign--this was a big win. But it might not be quite as meaningful as it's being made out to be. There was a lot about it that was specific to Kentucky politics, and just because a Tea Partier won in Kentucky, doesn't necessarily mean the Tea Party will fare as well elsewhere this fall. Here are six things to consider:
1) Kentucky has a closed GOP primary. Conservatives were willing to support a Tea Party candidate--but we don't yet know if indies and Dems will be, here or elsewhere.
2) Kentucky's GOP is split into factions. Last night's results showed only that the Paul/Bunning wing was stronger than the McConnell/ Fletcher wing.
3) Paul's celebrity dad brought him money, volunteers, name recognition, and media attention, particularly on Fox News. What other Tea Party candidate can match that?
4) It was well known among Kentucky GOPers that Trey Grayson was a Bill Clinton supporter and volunteer, and a member of the Harvard College Democrats.
5) The Grayson family were notable Democratic fundraisers until they sensed the climate shifting in northern Kentucky, and the whole state shifting toward the GOP. They're not beloved.
6) Grayson's political maneuvering backfired disastrously. He was a Bunning protege, then stabbed his patron in the back by forming an exploratory committee before Bunning dropped out. Bunning then endorsed Paul. Nobody likes a man in a hurry.
UPDATE: Bonus 7) Democratic turnout was much, MUCH higher than Republican turnout.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to [email protected]. | – Rand Paul's resounding Senate win in Kentucky's GOP primary represents a major upset for the Republican Party and a major victory for the Tea Party movement. Paul—who led opponent Trey Grayson by 59% to 35% with 89% of precincts reported—tapped into voter anger at Washington far more successfully than Grayson, notes Manu Raju at Politico, predicting the win will send shockwaves through the Republican Party nationwide. Much about Paul's win was specific to Kentucky, however, Joshua Green writes in the Atlantic, arguing that last night's result doesn't necessarily signal major Tea Party gains this fall. The Kentucky primary was closed, he notes, so there's no sign that Independents or Democrats will back a Tea Party candidate. Paul also had the support of a celebrity dad who brought name recognition, money, and volunteers, and faced an opponent whose family members were well-known Democratic fundraisers until recently. |
One of the two shooters who launched a deadly attack on a San Bernardino social services center Wednesday was mistakenly identified in media reports as his brother, a veteran who shares the same name.
In the hours after the mass shooting Wednesday in Southern California, several media outlets including The Daily Beast, incorrectly identified Syed Raheel Farook as one of two killers responsible for the shooting that left 14 people dead and 21 others injured.
Farook is a veteran of the United States Navy with several “awards and decorations,” a spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. He enlisted in August 2003 and left the service in August 2007.
Navy records show he was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.
Syed Raheel Farook was an information system technician, third class, serving on the USS Enterprise; in the Surface Warfare Officer School Unit, in Great Lakes, Illinois; and at the Recruit Training Command, in Great Lakes, Illinois.
He was an enlisted surface warfare specialist and was awarded the Good Conduct Medal, records show.
His brother, Syed Rizwan Farook, and sister-in-law were killed Wednesday in a shoot-out with police after the mass shooting in San Bernardino. ||||| (CNN) More than one week later, authorities are still digging to make sense of the San Bernardino massacre, piecing together the clues they've compiled so far and trying to discover more, including by investigating the shooters' electronic trail and searching a lake near where the carnage occurred.
The identity of the killers, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, is not in doubt. But investigators want to find out more about who this married couple interacted with, how they hatched and carried out the plot, and why.
These are the latest and most significant investigative leads so far:
Friday
Friend of killer says he helped build prior pipe bombs
Enrique Marquez, a former neighbor of Farook, told investigators he and his friend previously built pipe bombs, law enforcement officials said.
Marquez said he had nothing to do with devices found at the home of Farook and Malik, or the ones that apparently failed to go off at the site of the shooting, the officials said.
Marquez, who has spent several days being voluntarily interviewed by the FBI, portrayed the two men as hobbyists experimenting with building the devices, the officials told CNN.
He also boasted, one official said, that if he had made the bombs they would have gone off.
Marquez has emerged as a person of interest in the San Bernardino shootings because he bought rifles used in the attack. He has not been charged with a crime.
Divers search a small lake near where shooters had been, the FBI says
Divers ended Friday evening a second search of a small lake in a park a few miles from San Bernardino's Inland Regional Center, where 14 people were killed last week.
David Bowdich, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles office, wouldn't comment on what they were looking for. But he said Farook and Malik were in the area "at some point," without specifying if this was before or after the massacre.
One of the items divers likely are looking for is a missing hard drive from the couple's computer.
Bowdich has said the search will take several days.
Thursday
Farook was in the same 'social circle' as convicted terrorist, FBI believes
The FBI believes Farook had ties to a group of jihadists in California who were arrested in 2012 for attempting to travel to Afghanistan to join al Qaeda.
Specifically, investigators are taking a new look at one of the four men who was arrested in the 2012 case, Sohiel Kabir. Kabir, who was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison, was the recruiter who helped radicalize others.
The 2012 probe happened in Riverside, California, not far from San Bernardino. Farook was in the social circle of Kabir, officials told CNN.
The FBI initially investigated five men as part of the Riverside group. The fifth wasn't arrested and hasn't been identified. But Farook was not among those investigated at the time, the officials said.
Wednesday
Marquez says Farook considered terror plot in 2012
Marquez told investigators that he and Farook conceived a terror plot in 2012, but abandoned their plans after the FBI arrested an unrelated group in Riverside that had been planning to join al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
Marquez checked himself in to a mental health facility after the San Bernardino attack.
He is cooperating with the FBI, but investigators are still trying to corroborate the information he has provided, including details of the alleged 2012 plot.
Marquez claims he knew nothing about the San Bernardino shootings. He has not been charged with a crime.
That same friend's marriage -- to a woman of Russian descent -- is under scrutiny
Now that Farook's friend and former neighbor Enrique Marquez has the attention of investigators, his own relationships are being scrutinized.
Federal authorities are "examining the circumstances of the marriage" between Marquez and a woman of Russian descent, according to a source familiar with the matter. Investigators are looking into whether this was a sham marriage for immigration purposes.
The woman came to the United States from Russia on a J-1 visa in 2009, according to another law enforcement official. That official said the woman did not appear for an interview earlier this week for her permanent resident application.
The FBI has recovered some electronic communication from killers, officials say
Farook and Malik tried to destroy their electronic tracks, but the FBI has been able to recover some of those communications, two law enforcement officials told CNN.
FBI Director James Comey told a Senate hearing Wednesday the agency has found online discussions about jihad between Farook and Malik from late 2013, before they began dating. Investigators have found data on a tablet computer and other cell phones at the couple's home, he said.
The FBI is still trying to recover information from two smashed cell phones found in a garbage can near the home. They also have not found the hard drive from a computer at the home; investigators believe the hard drive was removed as a way to cover up the crime.
The shooters talked about jihad and martyrdom before marrying, FBI leader says
The online communications recovered so far indicate that the two killers had become radicalized long before carrying out last week's attack.
Comey elaborated a bit on the conversations between Farook and Malik, where they talked to each other about jihad and martyrdom before they were married and before Malik immigrated to the United States.
Asked if Malik was radicalized before she entered the United States, Comey replied: "So far, it looks like she was... she was before she connected with the other killer."
Tuesday
Authorities say Farook's friend, Marquez, bought weapons used in the rampage
The two AR-15s used in the San Bernardino attack were purchased by Enrique Marquez for Farook back in 2011 and 2012, two law enforcement officials said. Marquez acknowledged that he bought the weapons and soon after gave them to Farook, though he never reported the ownership transfer. Such transactions could be a violation of California law, the officials said.
Farook borrowed $28,500 via online lender Prosper last month
Farook took out a loan for $28,500 in November, multiple law enforcement officials told CNN. Investigators have accounted for all the money and do not believe any of the money was provided to the killers by any outside entity backing the plot, according to one of the sources.
Because of that, the officials said the loan, from the online lender Prosper, is not considered of significant investigative value at this stage.
About half was given to Farook's mother in the last couple of weeks, one official said and some was spent on household items.
It is believed the couple had bought the arsenal they used before the loan was taken out.
A representative for Prosper would not confirm the existence of the loan, but provided CNN the following statement: "Prosper is prohibited by law from disclosing any non-public, personally identifiable information regarding any loan originated through our platform. All loans originated through the Prosper platform are subject to all identity verification and screening procedures required by law, including US anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering laws. As part of our standard procedures, we also confirm that all loan funds are disbursed into a verified US bank account in the borrower's name. Like all Americans, Prosper is shocked and saddened by recent events in San Bernardino."
A man thought to be Farook went to a gun range -- alone -- days before the attack, a source says
A man believed to be Farook visited the Magnum Shooting Range in Riverside, California, alone on the Sunday and Monday prior to the December 2 attacks in San Bernardino, according to a source familiar with the matter.
He practiced shooting an AR-15. The source said sign-in logs at the range were paired with surveillance video that have been turned over to the FBI. The FBI was at the range Monday night asking questions and showing pictures of another male (not Farook), asking if that man had ever been to the range.
Last week
Officials: While the shooting was happening, Malik pledged allegiance to ISIS in a Facebook post
As the San Bernardino attack was happening, investigators believe Malik posted on Facebook pledging allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, three U.S. officials familiar with the investigation told CNN.
Malik posted the comment, but it was made on an account with a different name, one U.S. official said. The officials did not explain how they knew Malik made the post.
"There was a post that went up around 11 a.m. PT on the account Wednesday that violated the company's community standards (those standards prohibit people using Facebook to promote terrorism or celebrate/glorify violence)," a Facebook official told CNN. "It was taken down Thursday. He said he couldn't go into details about the nature of the post other than it violated standards (pointed to their standards prohibiting terrorism). The official said Facebook is cooperating with law enforcement."
Authorities think the couple met in 2013 in Saudi Arabia during the Hajj
Farook traveled to Saudi Arabia in 2013 for the Hajj for a couple of weeks, two government officials said.
One of the officials explained that this is a common occurrence and the trip would not have raised any red flags as many Americans travel to Saudi Arabia during that time.
The feds believe Farook met Malik during that trip. Malik eventually came to the United States on a fiancée visa, the official said. She then obtained a green card. ||||| An examination of digital equipment recovered from the home of the couple who killed 14 people in San Bernardino last week has led FBI investigators to believe the shooters were planning an even larger assault, according to federal government sources.
Investigators on Thursday continued to search for digital footprints left by Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, scouring a downtown San Bernardino lake for electronic items, including a hard drive that the couple was hoping to destroy, sources told The Times.
FBI agents will probably spend days searching Seccombe Lake and canvassing the neighborhood for clues after receiving a tip that the couple may have visited the area on the day of the attack, according to David Bowdich, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles field office.
Farook and Malik were in the final planning stages of an assault on a location or building that housed a lot more people than the Inland Regional Center, possibly a nearby school or college, according to federal sources familiar with the widening investigation.
Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times A memorial to victims of the terrorist attack in San Bernardino continues to grow near the Inland Regional Center. A memorial to victims of the terrorist attack in San Bernardino continues to grow near the Inland Regional Center. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
Investigators have based that conclusion on evidence left behind on Farook and Malik's computers and digital devices, not all of which the couple were able to destroy before they were killed in a firefight with police, the sources said.
Images of San Bernardino-area schools were found on a cellphone belonging to Farook, according to a law enforcement source. But the source cautioned that Farook may have had a legitimate reason to have the images because his work as a county health inspector involved checking on school dining facilities.
On Thursday, one of the federal government sources told The Times that Farook asked his friend and neighbor, Enrique Marquez, to buy two military-style rifles used in the attacks because he feared he "wouldn't pass a background check" if he attempted to acquire the weapons on his own. The rifles were bought at a local gun store, the source said.
The timing of the rifle purchases is significant to FBI investigators. Another federal government source previously told The Times that Farook may have been considering a separate terror plot in 2011 or 2012.
Farook was self-radicalizing around that time, FBI Director James Comey said, and met Malik soon after, eventually escorting her to the United States. Farook was a practicing Muslim. Marquez converted to Islam around the time he purchased the weapons, sources have told The Times.
FBI agents believe Farook abandoned his plans to launch the earlier attack after a law enforcement task force arrested three men in Chino in November 2012. The men were later convicted of charges related to providing material support to terrorists and plotting to kill Americans in Afghanistan. A fourth man arrested in Afghanistan also was convicted in the scheme.
Bowdich said federal agents are investigating whether the men had ties to Farook.
Marquez has emerged as a central figure in the investigation. The FBI had been conducting interviews with 24-year-old, who checked himself into a mental health facility after the attacks.
The former Wal-Mart security guard has waived his Miranda rights and cooperated with the inquiry, and it was Marquez who told FBI agents about Farook's earlier plans, according to one of the government sources, who also requested anonymity.
(Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)
"They were talking generally about something, but I don't think it made it to anything specific," one of the sources said of the earlier plot. "I don't think it got to a time or a place."
The source said it remains unclear whether Marquez had any involvement in the planning of the shooting or had any prior knowledge that an attack was pending.
Marquez, a cycling enthusiast who wanted to join the U.S. Navy, was a longtime friend and neighbor of Farook. He also married the sister of Farook's sister-in-law last year, although the circumstances of the union are now under investigation, a government official previously told The Times.
There was no paperwork transferring ownership of the assault rifles from Marquez to Farook, as required by California law, government officials told The Times.
Hours after the shooting, Marquez posted a cryptic message on his Facebook page.
"I'm. Very sorry sguys," the message read. "It was a pleasure."
Bowdich on Thursday declined to answer questions about Marquez, who has not been charged with a crime.
Marquez told FBI agents that the Facebook post has been "misunderstood," according to one of the government sources. Agents are concerned that Marquez's mental and emotional state may affect what he has been telling interrogators, the source said.
While Marquez has spoken to agents about his ties to Farook, federal officials are still working to verify the information he has provided, the source said.
Marquez's mother, Armida Chacon, addressed reporters on Thursday from her Tomlinson Avenue home in Riverside, sobbing as she said she hadn't been in contact with her son since the day of the massacre.
"I don't know how this happened.... My world is upside-down," she said. "My life changed Wednesday."
Chacon was outside with one of her sons, cleaning up the broken glass and twisted panels of their garage door. The damage occurred when federal agents raided the stucco home over the weekend.
As she combed through the wreckage of the garage door, Chacon eventually turned to the reporters camped out on the street and agreed to an off-camera interview.
Marquez was his mother's "right hand at home," helping take care of his brothers, she said.
She said her son loved to hang out with friends and go to parties.
"My son is a good person," she said.
When asked about Farook, Chacon said her son was friends with him and "nothing more." ||||| FILE - In this Dec. 2, file image from video provided by KNBC-TV, first responders attend to people outside a Southern California social services center in San Bernardino, where one or more gunmen opened... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this Dec. 2, file image from video provided by KNBC-TV, first responders attend to people outside a Southern California social services center in San Bernardino, where one or more gunmen opened fire, shooting multiple people. A lengthy report into the San Bernardino terror attack reveals new... (Associated Press)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — As their colleagues were cut down by gunfire, three men rushed a shooter in an attempt to thwart the San Bernardino terror attack, according to an in-depth report of the massacre that provided new details Friday.
The three county employees were shot in the rampage by a colleague and his wife. The report did not say if any survived, though a federal prosecutor hailed their sacrifice.
"These victims had no chance to protect themselves as a result of the callous perpetration of violence, while others heroically sacrificed themselves in an attempt to stop the shooting," U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker said in a statement. "In the face of this unfathomable suffering, the law enforcement personnel and citizens who put themselves in harm's way to help others exemplifies the very best that our country has to offer."
The report by the Police Foundation, a policy study group, and the Department of Justice provided a detailed account of the pandemonium that unfolded as the Islamic extremists opened fire at a Dec. 2 meeting of the man's colleagues and, minutes later, as police first arrived at the scene of horrific bloodshed.
Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people and wounded 22 others in the massacre at a training event and holiday gathering of the San Bernardino County Health Department, where Farook worked as a food inspector.
Farook had been present at the meeting but got up and left before returning a short time later clad in black, wearing a mask and armed with a semi-automatic rifle. His wife was also wearing black and toting an assault rifle.
The first victims had been shot outside the Inland Regional Center. One appeared to have been eating lunch at a picnic table and the other was found still holding his cellphone, according to the report based on interviews with over 200 witnesses, law enforcement officers and others.
Colleagues inside had heard popping sounds, but many didn't recognize the sound of gunfire until the doors burst open and they saw a man in black start spraying bullets. They didn't recognize him or his wife. People ran in horror, some dove to the floor and others fell from the fusillade.
Even then, some weren't sure what was happening, with one county official taking cover and thinking it was the "most glorified training I had ever seen."
"Probably on the second or third clip, it finally clicked that this wasn't an exercise," he said. The report provided confidentiality to witnesses, victims and first responders.
The couple calmly reloaded several times over the course of two to three minutes before they left, and appeared to look for signs victims might still be alive, shooting one or more bullets into those who made a sound or moved.
One injured woman asked a colleague "to call her mother and say goodbye for her," according to a draft of the report obtained by The Associated Press, but not included in the final version because of its graphic nature. The colleague tried to assure her she'd be OK, but the woman replied, "I'm not, I'm bleeding from the mouth" before closing her eyes for good.
The report, which was first written about by The New York Times, gives law enforcement high marks for their response, though it also points out areas of confusion or challenges law enforcement faced as they encountered the startling aftermath of the violence.
The carnage was described as looking "like a bomb had gone off." Smoke from gunpowder filled the room and water poured down from a fire sprinkler struck by gunfire.
"It was the worst thing imaginable," said a patrol officer who was one of the first four officers to enter the scene. "Some people were quiet, hiding, others were screaming or dying, grabbing at your legs because they wanted us to get them out, but our job at the moment was to keep going."
The officer regretted having to leave the casualties, but they thought the shooters were still in the building and had to first make sure it was safe.
A rookie officer took a report from one of the survivors, who said Farook had left the meeting early and that there was something about the shooter's body language that looked similar.
That led officers to Farook and Malik's apartment in nearby Redlands hours later. The two left in a rented black SUV and were trailed by several undercover officers. When a sergeant in a squad car joined in and tried to pull the couple over, his vehicle was hit by gun fire.
Farook then abruptly stopped and he and Malik began shooting at officers in the street, who took cover behind vehicles and returned fire.
The couple shot 81 bullets at police before being outgunned by two dozen officers who fired 440 rounds. One officer was shot in the leg and a deputy was grazed by a bullet.
Farook was struck 25 times, mostly in the legs. Malik was shot twice in the head, and had 13 other wounds.
Police found more than 2,000 rounds of ammo in the vehicle, along with first-aid equipment.
It wasn't all they left behind. Back at the conference room more than six hours after the attack, investigators found three pipe bombs in a bag Farook had left behind. The report said authorities now think they were intended to be detonated remotely when first responders aided the victims, but the remote detonating device didn't work.
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Abdollah reported from Washington.
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Follow Tami Abdollah at https://twitter.com/latams
Follow Brian Melley at https://twitter.com/bmelley | – Whatever San Bernardino gunman Syed Rizman Farook's problem was, it wasn't the result of his upbringing, if his brother is anything to go by. The brother, whose name is Syed Raheel Farook, was falsely identified as the gunman by some media outlets because the names are so similar, but he is, in fact, a decorated Navy veteran, BuzzFeed reports. The brother joined up in August 2003 and left the service in August 2007, and Navy records state that he received the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon during his service, which included time as an information systems technician on the USS Enterprise. A Navy spokesman tells the New York Daily News that Farook was a computer technician who also received an award for good conduct. Investigators are still trying to piece together a motive for the rampage the other Syed R. Farook allegedly carried out with wife Tashfeen Malik. A "veritable armory," including at least a dozen pipe bombs, was found at their home, and officials say they're probing possible links to Islamic extremists but haven't found firm evidence of radicalization, the Los Angeles Times reports. Associates, including colleagues who survived the massacre, say they simply don't understand how the man they knew could have done this. "This was a person who was successful, who had a good job, a good income, a wife, and a family. What was he missing in his life?" a man who worshiped with him at a mosque in San Bernardino tells the AP. |
UPDATE: A suspect has been charged for the killings
FLINT, MI - A woman at the center of a bellwether Flint water crisis lawsuit was one of two women who were shot to death inside a townhouse earlier this week.
Sasha Avonna Bell was one of the first of a growing number of people to file a lawsuit in connection to the Flint water crisis after she claimed that her child had been lead poisoned.
Bell was found dead April 19 in the 2600 block of Ridgecrest Drive at the Ridgecrest Village Townhouses. Sacorya Renee Reed was also found shot to death in the home.
An unharmed 1-year-old child was also found inside of the Ridgecrest home when Bell's body was discovered and was taken into custody by child protective services. Police declined to confirm if it was Bell's child discovered in the home.
"Sasha was a lovely young woman who cared deeply for her family, and especially for her young child," said her attorney Corey M. Stern. "Her tragic and senseless death has created a void in the lives of so many people that loved her. Hopefully, her child will be lifted up by the love and support from everyone who cared deeply for Sasha."
Bell's case was one of 64 lawsuits filed on behalf of 144 children by Stern's firm, New York-based Levy Konigsberg, and Flint-based Robinson Carter & Crawford.
Flint neighborhood shaken after young women slain in house
The lawsuit named six companies that had various responsibilities with respect to the treatment, monitoring, and safety of the Flint water prior to and during the Flint water crisis, according to her attorneys. The case also named three individual government, or former government, employees who played significant roles in the alleged misconduct that led to the alleged poisoning of thousands of children in Flint, her attorneys claim.
The Bell case, however, played an important role in determining the future of the more than five dozen other lawsuits that were filed.
Flint water crisis conspiracy theories swirl after two recent deaths
Initially, Bell's case and the others were filed in Genesee Circuit Court. However, they were transferred to U.S. District Court on a motion from one of the defendants, engineering company Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam.
However, Ann Arbor U.S. District Judge John Corbett O'Meara ruled April 13 that Bell's case should return to the state court claiming it lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.
Stern said the case will continue and a representative will be appointed for Bell's child.
The ruling also forced the other 63 cases to be returned to state court.
Flint police say they have a person in custody in connection to the slayings of Bell and Reed. No charges have yet been filed. ||||| Sarah Truesdail holds her five-year-old daughter, Gabriella Venegas, who screams as a health official pricks her finger with a needle for a free lead test on Monday, Feb. 8, 2016 in Flint, Mich. (Jake May/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP)
As a probe begins into the water crisis gripping Flint, Mich., a top investigator announced Tuesday that if officials are found to have been grossly negligent, they could face charges as serious as manslaughter.
“We’re here to investigate what possible crimes there are, anything [from] involuntary manslaughter or death that may have happened to some young person or old person because of this poisoning, to misconduct in office,” said Todd Flood, special counsel for the state attorney general’s office who is in charge of the investigation. “We take this very seriously.”
Since the city switched suppliers in April 2014, corrosive tap water has caused the level of lead in kids’ blood to soar and has sparked fears of permanent neurological damage. In some cases, the water has been so poisoned by lead that it qualified as “toxic waste.”
A spike in Legionnaires’ disease led to 10 deaths during the same time period, although it’s not clear whether the bacterial outbreak was linked to drinking the water, according to Mlive.
Outrage over those deaths and the possible long-term effects of lead poisoning hung over Tuesday’s news conference. Flood was brought in to lead the investigation last month because the Department of the Attorney General is defending Gov. Rick Snyder (R) and various state departments against lawsuits brought by Flint residents.
The water emergency in Flint, Mich., is two years in the making. Here are the people who've played a key role in the crisis. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)
Flood described a number of possible outcomes of the investigation. He said it could turn out that the crisis was simply a result of “honest mistakes,” the Associated Press reported.
But it could also turn out that city, county or state officials were guilty of a “breach of duty” or “gross negligence,” exposing them to possible criminal or civil actions, he said.
Flood said that the severest possible charge, manslaughter, was “not far-fetched.” He compared charging officials with manslaughter over the water crisis to charging construction workers with the same crime for leaving open manholes unattended, resulting in death.
He said he could also pursue restitution against both private companies and governments on behalf of Flint residents affected by the water crisis, according to the Detroit News.
Flood’s team will consist of nine full-time investigators, including former state and Detroit police officers as well as Andrew Arena, former head of Detroit’s FBI office.
Bottles owned by Flint residents Jessica Owens and Tonya Williams, filled with water, sit on the table outside of city council chambers as Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder speaks during a news conference in Flint, Mich., Monday, Jan. 11, 2016. (Jake May/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP)
A separate federal investigation also has been launched and will include prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s office in Detroit as well as the FBI, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Inspector General and the EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, Reuters reported last week.
The two investigations will try to suss out who is to blame for Flint’s dangerous drinking water.
So far, state and federal officials have been trading blame, often along political party lines.
[Hope — and clean water — remains elusive for the people of Flint]
Last week, the EPA’s acting water chief, Joel Beauvais, told Congress that Michigan — under the leadership of Snyder — had ignored federal advice to treat Flint’s water for corrosive elements, which are believed to have eroded old lead pipes and contaminated drinking water. Beauvais also said the state delayed for months in telling the public about the health risks, according to the AP.
State officials shot back, however, claiming that the EPA did not act urgently enough, either.
Not even city officials are exempt from scorn. Although the city was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager when it switched from Detroit water to the highly corrosive Flint River, it was the Flint City Council that voted 7-1 on March 25, 2013 to end its contract with Detroit, a decision that opened the door for the later debacle, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Even then, though, Snyder’s office was heavily involved in the decision, the Free Press reported. The morning before the Flint City Council vote, the state’s Democratic treasurer called Snyder’s chief of staff to discuss “Flint water supply alternatives,” according to the Free Press. And the next morning, the treasurer held two more meetings regarding the switch.
Snyder, a tech venture capitalist elected in 2010 on promises to turn around the state’s floundering economy, has accepted some blame for the crisis. He has apologized — calling the crisis a “disaster” and his “Katrina” moment — and promised to fix it. He also has released his emails on the subject.
But Snyder also has claimed that his top aide’s concerns about Flint’s water were “blown off” by Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality, an agency under the direction of a man whom Snyder appointed.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, center and Our Lady of Guadalupe Church Deacon Omar Odette, meets with volunteers helping to load vehicles with bottled water, in Flint, Mich. (Carlos Osorio/AP)
As the state and federal investigations proceed behind closed doors, public records are beginning to shed more light on the crisis and who might be at fault.
Last week, for instance, a liberal group released records showing that Snyder’s office knew of the Legionnaires’ outbreak more than nine months before the governor announced the problem this January, according to the Free Press.
“More than 40 cases reported since last April,” wrote Brad Wurfel, then the director of communications for Michigan’s Deptartment of Environmental Quality, in an email to Snyder’s director for urban initiatives and DEQ Chief Dan Wyant, a Snyder appointee. “That’s a significant uptick. More than all the cases reported in the last five years or more combined.”
A health official in Genesee County, where Flint is located, was “putting up the flare” and had “made the leap formally in his e-mail that the uptick in cases is directly attributable to the river as a drinking water source,” Wurfel wrote.
Snyder’s office released a statement saying that the governor “was not briefed on this issue until January 2016” and pointing to passages in Wurfel’s email calling the link to the city’s water as “premature” and “beyond irresponsible.”
But Snyder’s critics pounced on the public documents.
[Flint’s water crisis reveals government failures at every level]
“For months the public has been asking Gov. Snyder what he knew and when he knew it regarding the Flint crisis and this e-mail shows that one of his top aides was aware nearly a year ago that county health officials were concerned that the switch to the Flint River could be potentially deadly,” said Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan, the group that obtained the email.
On Tuesday, the Free Press published its own investigation into thousands of other emails that suggest city and state officials were aware of the Legionnaires’ outbreak eight months before Snyder disclosed it and that those officials also withheld information about the problem from county health investigators.
“We are very concerned about this Legionnaires’ disease outbreak,” Laurel Garrison of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wrote an April 27 email to Genesee County health officials, the Free Press reported. “It’s very large, one of the largest we know of in the past decade, and community-wide, and in our opinion and experience it needs a comprehensive investigation.”
The CDC official added: “I know you’ve run into issues getting information you’ve requested from the city water authority and the MI Dept of Environmental Quality.”
Five weeks later, however, an official from the state’s Department of Health and Human Services emailed Genesee County health officials to lambast them for speaking to the CDC.
“Relative to communications around the investigation, I believe that CDC is in agreement that their involvement really should be at the request of the state, rather than the local health department,” Collins said, according to the Free Press. “To be clear, we do value the skills and resources of our CDC colleagues, but we also recognize that their involvement needs to have some structure,” and “I want to reinforce the necessity that investigation communications from the Genesee County Health Department need to be directed to staff at the MDHHS.”
By December, county health officials were so frustrated they accused the state of a “deliberate cover-up.”
The Flint River is shown on February 7, 2016 in Flint, Michigan. (Photo by Sarah Rice/Getty Images)
“The state is making clear they are not practicing ethical public health practice,” Tamara Brickey, the Genesee County Health Department’s public health division director, wrote in a Dec. 5, 2015 email to colleagues. “Now evidence is clearly pointing to a deliberate cover-up. … In my opinion, if we don’t act soon, we are going to become guilty by association.”
Whether any of these officials will be charged as a result of the two ongoing probes remains to be seen.
On Tuesday, state officials said they were taking Flint’s water crisis seriously.
“We’re not going to shortchange justice,” said Bill Schuette, the attorney general, sitting beside Flood, Arena and another investigator. “We’re not going to do justice on the cheap. We’re going to have a full and complete investigation, and where the truth goes, that’s where we’ll go.”
On Wednesday, Snyder will propose an additional $195 million in state spending to address the city’s emergency, including $25 million to replace lead-contaminated pipes, a spokesman told the AP.
The same day, the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee will hold a hearing on Flint’s water crisis.
Snyder turned down an invitation to speak, according to CNN.
Correction: On March 25, 2013, the Flint City Council voted to end its contract with Detroit and authorize a new agreement, under which it would get the majority of its water from Lake Huron and a small amount from the Flint River, according to Mlive. It was only later that the Flint River became the main source for the city’s water. Also, it is the Department of the Attorney General, not Attorney General Bill Schuette himself, that is defending the governor and various state departments against lawsuits brought by Flint residents.
Read more about Flint’s water crisis:
[This is how toxic Flint’s water really is]
[Lawmakers wrestle with who is responsible for Flint water crisis]
[Clinton calls Flint water crisis ‘immoral’ in break from NH] | – One of the first people to file a lawsuit alleging her child was poisoned by the water in Flint, Mich., was shot dead this week, reports Michigan Live. Sasha Avonna Bell was found dead in a townhouse in the city on Tuesday along with another female victim, Sacorya Renee Reed. A 1-year-old child found at the home was uninjured; it isn't clear if the child is Bell's. Police say one person is in custody, though no one has been charged. "Sasha was a lovely young woman who cared deeply for her family, and especially for her young child," says Bell's attorney, calling her death "tragic and senseless." He adds her case will continue in state court. It's among 64 lawsuits on behalf of 144 children against six companies that handled Flint's water. Days before the shooting, a mother and her 9-year-old son were also shot in Flint, per Michigan Live. |
By of the
Wendy's is investigating the case of an employee who was captured eating soft serve ice cream straight from the machine in a viral photo Wednesday.
A photo of the worker was posted on Reddit Wednesday morning with the title, "I was going to buy a frosty from Wendys until I saw the employee do this."
Bob Bertini, a spokesman for Wendy's, responded late Wednesday that he just saw the photo.
"If true, this is totally inexcusable. We are investigating and will take action," Bertini wrote in an email to the Journal Sentinel.
A commenter on Reddit pointed out that the photo appears to have been taken behind the counter. The person said the photographer was a fellow employee.
The Wendy's worker is the most recent fast food worker to gross out potential customers in a viral photo.
The photos may be posted as a harmless joke (or, who knows, in an attempt to get someone fired maybe?), but viral photos have caused a lot of bad publicity and harm to the companies they target, so businesses tend to crack down hard on the culprit.
The last fast food worker who pulled a similar viral stunt, a Taco Bell employee who licked a stack of taco shells, was fired. That's even though the shells were destined for the trash bin, according to company spokespeople.
Get ahead of the curve on viral stories. Follow Gitte Laasby on Twitter or Facebook. ||||| The restaurant chain Golden Corral was a hot topic on Reddit Monday morning as images surfaced of purported disgusting kitchen conditions and a video by an alleged employee charged that the chain keeps its meat by the dumpster.
A Reddit user named GCWhistleblower posted four pictures of a kitchen overflowing with garbage near food that is spilling out of boxes. The caption: "Just an average day for a Golden Corral Employee, best working conditions ever!"
SEE ALSO: Taco Bell Employee Who Licked Taco Shells Is Getting Fired
That, coupled with the video above, has prompted a subReddit devoted to the chain.
A rep from the chain offered the following statement:
A video was recently posted showing an incident of improper food handling at our Port Orange, Fla., location. None of these items were served to a single customer. All were destroyed within the hour at the direction of management. Brandon Huber, the employee who made the video, participated in the disposal of the food.
The following day, the father of the employee, posted an offer to sell the video for $5,000, which was not accepted.
The manager involved in the improper storage was terminated for failing to follow approved food handling procedures.
Huber could not be reached for comment.
The barrage comes after images of a Taco Bell employee licking some taco shells emerged on Facebook last month. In general, restaurant chains appear uniquely vulnerable to such charges. The first such example of this phenomenon appears to be a Domino's Pizza YouTube scandal in 2009 that showed a couple of rogue employees doing disgusting things to pizzas intended for customers. Such incidences illustrate how images and videos on social media can undo millions of dollars in advertising.
Image courtesy of Flickr, Rob_rob2001 | – If you thought gross fast-food-worker images started and ended with the Taco Bell licker, brace yourself for the latest photo, which seems to show a Wendy's employee dispensing ice cream directly into his mouth. The image was posted to Reddit yesterday, along with this quip: "I was going to buy a frosty from Wendys until I saw the employee do this." A number of Redditers pointed out the photo was apparently taken behind the counter, though (so, ostensibly, a fellow employee/friend is the likely shutterbug). The Journal Sentinel got in touch with a Wendy's rep late yesterday; he was not amused. "If true, this is totally inexcusable. We are investigating and will take action." |
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