Value in using tax system for basic income: Report – The Sudbury Star

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The latest report from Northern Policy Institutes Basic Income Guarantee series argues there are a number of advantages and challenges to using the personal income tax system to deliver a basic income guarantee in Ontario.

As author Lindsay Tedds points out, our current tax system is not just used to raise revenue; it has become an increasingly important instrument for delivering income support. Many, including Hugh Segal, special adviser for the Ontario Basic Income Pilot, have suggested the Canada Revenue Agency could play a natural role in the administration of a basic income program.

The report, titled Implementing a Basic Income Guarantee Through the Personal Tax System: Benefits, Barriers and Bothers, explores this idea in more detail, initially highlighting the value of using the tax system to implement a basic income guarantee.

According to Tedds, using the tax system could simplify a very complex, often overlapping process for recipients of social benefits, while at the same time reduce administrative costs. Additionally, the tax system already has the tools to deliver a basic income guarantee namely, through refundable tax credits.

But while Tedds acknowledges advantages to having a single administrative structure for social assistance, "it is important to remember that Canadas tax system is itself complex, intimidating, and not easy to navigate especially for those who may require a BIG the most, he writes. Along with the benefits "there are also a number of challenges."

The report suggests income accuracy and Canadas harmonized tax system could prove to be the most significant hurdles to in delivering basic income in this way.

Any basic income would have to be funded through tax revenues and/or clawbacks, both of which depend on the accuracy of the income reported.

Tedds also outlines various ways in which inaccurate income reporting occurs in Ontario.

Another formidable challenge to using the tax system for a basic income guarantee is Canadas harmonized tax system.

Provinces are bound by tax-collection agreements which restrict their flexibility in designing tax programs. Those wishing to make significant changes are required to receive approvals from other provincial and territorial governments, along with the federal government which requires a high degree of partnership and collaboration.

Finally, although the tax system could provide a basic income through cash transfers, the Canada Revenue Agency is not equipped to provide the many other services that are important to low-income social welfare recipients like employment supports and referrals to other agencies, Tedds notes.

Addressing these implementation details, in fact, would be linked to both the policy and objectives of a basic income guarantee," the author concludes. "Such issues could be solved, if not easily, but they would require real effort, discussion and the maturity of all the players involved.

The paper is the fourth of a series that explores the various topics presented at NPIs Basic Income Guarantee conference last October. Report topics include food insecurity issues, potential models for a BIG pilot, tax implications, and the potential impact on social innovators and First Nations.

To read the full report, visit http://www.northernpolicy.ca.

To view presentations from the NPIs BIG conference and explore comments and feedback from participants, visit http://www.northernpolicy.ca/big.

sud.editorial@sunmedia.ca

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Value in using tax system for basic income: Report - The Sudbury Star

Does Basic Income Solve Anything? Grasp the Arguments for and … – Futurism

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Society and working life are changing at an incredible pace today. SitraMegatrends 2016is one publication, among others, that introduces the idea that humankind will change more in the next 30 years than in the past 300. This can already be seen as changes in the nature of work and the disappearance of professions. In the future, many companies will not need a large number of employees to produce large profits. One example is Instagram, which had only 12 employees when it was sold to Facebook in 2012 for USD 1 billion. In comparison, the 20th-century photography giant Kodak employed more than 140,000 people at its peak. This example is indicative of the potential change that digitalisation is capable of bringing about.[i]

Even if the boldest predictions about the impacts of digitalisation on the labour market do not come true, polarisation and uncertainty in the labour market is likely to increase in the future.

Many people feel that basic income is the best long-term option for dealing with change caused by technological development.

Many people feel that basic income is the best long-term option for dealing with change caused by technological development. Basic income is considered a flexible way of guaranteeing a minimum income for people in a situation where demand for everyones work is not sufficient, income comes from many sources, and social securitys rigid classification of people as employed or unemployed is no longer appropriate. Other reasons used to justify basic income include the need to simplify the social security system, plug loopholes and dismantle disincentives.

Basic income is defined as an income paid personally to all members of society on a regular basis without conditions or means testing. Further income can be earned without losing basic income. Several models for implementing basic income have been proposed, focusing on how to finance the system and other details. However, the models still require development in order to realise the expectations set for basic income.

Many of the models take increased earnings into account when taxing income. Although the benefit is, as a general rule, the same amount for everyone, steps can be added, for example, based on the recipients age or some other criterion. Various means-tested components of social assistance can be retained alongside basic income. In addition to basic income, the term citizens wage has also been used in Finnish discussions. At times, this has referred to income without a work requirement and at other times, to income that requires some sort of service to society. Terms like citizens income, participation income and negative income tax have also made part of the discussion.

Even during the early stages of industrialisation, social reformists proposed that dividends on the income from common property be distributed on a regular basis or as a lump sum. In particular, land and natural resources were considered to be such common property. Similar ideas have also been proposed today, especially in reaction to increases in the wealth gap that may be caused by digitalisation. Some people believe that income taxes are not the only legitimate way of financing basic income, because all wealth is ultimately the result of collective activities. Thus, financing for basic income should be arranged in another manner, for example, by taxing property or capital and the income from them, or even by some sort of robot tax. However, most basic income models link income taxation and basic income, possibly supplemented by other financing.

Many countries are already planning basic income experiments.

Basic income and the ideas surrounding it have been discussed as a way of reforming social security for several decades. In recent years, this debate has been activating in different parts of Europe and North America and also in some so-called poorer countries. Many countries are already planning basic income experiments. Several Dutch cities want to launch their own basic income experiments. Canada too, is also preparing an experiment, while a private capital investment company in the United States plans to implement its own basic income project.

The first basic income experiment in Finland was launched at the beginning of 2017 and will last two years. Its target group are labour market subsidy or basic unemployment allowance recipients between the ages of 25 and 58. Two thousand people from this group have been selected at random for the trial. The tax authority is not involved in the first experiment, so the taxation model for the participants is the same as for other Finns. The tax-exempt basic income in the experiment is EUR 560 per month, and it will replace basic daily allowance of the same amount. Any other social security benefits will remain unchanged. If an unemployed person participating in the experiment finds employment, he or she will not lose the basic income and the sum will not be reduced. In practice, this is the feature that is most beneficial to participants and will potentially improve the incentive to work. The primary aim of the experiment is to determine whether participants are more likely to find employment than other unemployed people. It is part of the government programme of Finlands current government and separate legislation has been passed for the experiment.

The terms negative income tax and citizens wage were first postulated in the 1970s, but the discussion became more regular during the 1980s. Political discussion also addressed the idea of a basic income system, which would harmonise income transfers and guarantee a statutory minimum income regardless of a persons life situation. Starting in the mid-1990s, the term basic income gradually established itself. Although interest has varied, the idea has never completely disappeared from public discussion. The discussion usually peaked prior to parliamentary elections in years when basic income was part of party platforms (1987, 1994, 1996-1998, 2006-2007). The latest and highest peak in discussion occurred prior to the 2015 elections, a result of the planned implementation of a basic income experiment by the government now in power.

Although this interest has crossed party lines, there are many differences concerning the objective of basic income and the best model for it.

The political parties in Finland have shown varying levels of interest in a citizens wage and basic income. Although this interest has crossed party lines, there are many differences concerning the objective of basic income and the best model for it. Along with political parties, many interest groups, experts and opinion formers have taken part in the discussion.

The understanding of the nature of the citizens wage and basic income has varied over the years. In the 1980s, a citizens wage was seen as a potential solution to the decrease in industrial work caused by technological development. Automation was expected to radically reduce the need for human work. A citizens wage was primarily considered as a way to reduce the supply of work to meet the reduced demand and provide a decent income for people without employment. A citizens wage was seen as a means of sharing work more equally and shifting some people to various non-profit work in the softer sector of society (households, associations or local communities). People often called for a complete redefinition of the concept of work.

Discussion of the citizens wage decreased during the recession in the early 1990s and revived again after the worst years of recession had passed. At the same time, the term basic income gradually became more common and replaced the citizens wage term. Record unemployment levels throughout the latter half of the 1990s ensured that interest in basic income remained high. However, understanding of basic income changed after the recession. This was associated with a more general change in social policy discussion that provided more space for policy actions related to labour supply factors and activation of the unemployed. In contrast to the discussion of the citizens wage in the 1980s, basic income was considered a way to encourage people to also accept casual and low-wage work rather than only full employment. People believed that expanding the service sector could compensate for the loss of industrial jobs if employment costs were reduced, collective agreements became more flexible and social security changed and moved in a more encouraging direction. Basic income was seen as a way of dismantling social security disincentives so that working would always increase net income. Basic income would be a fairly low base wage serving as a foundation for building income from several sources.

As employment rates improved in the early 2000s, discussion of basic income decreased. The discussion revived in response to a motion to improve the rights of temporary workers made by the precariat movement in 2006. Activists demanded a basic income that would safeguard a decent income and improve the bargaining position of low-income earners on the labour market. Basic income was widely debated in newspaper columns in 2006-2007, with the Green Party highlighting the basic income theme prior to the parliamentary elections. Attention now focused mainly on changes in work and uncertainty of income. The traditional social security system, with its disincentives and complicated rules, was seen as a poor match for post-industrial labour market needs. Basic income was presented as an investment focusing on work and entrepreneurship, which would make it possible to pursue a new kind of full employment (made up of temporary jobs). The latest debate has revolved around digitalisation and the basic income experiment planned by Juha Sipils government.

Other factors behind the new international basic income discussion include the view that the current phase of robotisation and digitalisation threatens to destroy more jobs than technology development can produce in other areas. The new working life that is now evolving will also require a new kind of social security. Basic income is considered an important part or at least a significant option for this new system.

The arguments for and against basic income are rarely based on scientific evidence. No results have been measured because basic income has never been properly tested in practice. Various operators also have a different focus regarding what they see as the most important benefits or threats of basic income. A list of the arguments presented by key defenders and opponents of basic income is presented below.

For:

Basic income would

Against:

Basic income would

A flat general income has also been considered a more equal way of providing social security to people in different life situations.

The aim of basic income is to influence labour market activities and social policy principles and practices. Although different operators want to achieve different things with basic income, common targets include clarifying support system bureaucracy, eliminating the disincentives associated with combining social security and work, preventing people from falling through the cracks of social security, reducing poverty, and enabling flexible transition between different life situations. Automatically granting the same minimum income security to everyone has been considered a way to reduce the red tape associated with granting benefits and facilitate the employment of benefit recipients because all income would no longer have to be reported to the authorities. In addition, basic income has been seen as a way to provide income security for those who, despite a low income, are not entitled to benefits for one reason or another, or who have been unable or unwilling to apply for benefits to which they are entitled. A flat general income has also been considered a more equal way of providing social security to people in different life situations and enabling flexible transition between different forms of work, studies and family life.

Opponents of basic income have generally focused on the presumed high cost of the system and its negative effects on work morale. Opponents argue that basic social security paid unconditionally would provide the right to a free ride and weaken the position of work as the foundation of our society. Opponents and defenders can be found in political circles on both the right and the left. The right has primarily been concerned about the costs of the system and its incentive effects. The left (especially in the union movement) has been worried that basic income would cause an increase in low-income work and polarise the labour market.

The idea of basic income is to deliver a periodic cash payment to everyone in the system on an individual basis. According to the definition, there are no conditions or work requirement involved with receiving basic income. The purpose is not to increase the net income of middle- or high-income earners, so basic income models nearly always involve a tax system reform in which the added income provided by basic income is recovered from high-income earners via taxation.

The purpose of basic income is generally considered to be the replacement of different forms of means-tested minimum social security. The starting point for Finnish discussion has usually involved separating the housing allowance from basic income, but in theory it could also be covered by basic income if the basic income was high enough. However, this would present a challenge in terms of financing. Another challenge would be how to take regional differences into account. For example, if the basic income paid in a small community was based on housing costs in Helsinki, this could mean an unreasonably high income without a work requirement. On the other hand, basic income based on housing costs in small communities would be inadequate in the Helsinki capital region. Housing costs also differ depending on whether a person owns or rents their home. Regional differences in housing costs could be taken into account by, for example, making basic income proportional to the average rent per square meter in the community. Differences in the type of housing could be balanced by taxation.

One possible method of implementing basic income is a negative income tax model. This model involves only paying basic income to those who fall below a certain income level so that the amount of the payment gradually decreases as the persons income rises.

Basic income models are very different.

Basic income models are very different. For example, they can be classified according to the models:

Depending on the model, basic income is a rather extensive reform of the tax and social security system that has to be combined with existing institutions in one way or another. Basic income is generally seen as a system that would replace means-tested minimum social security benefits and put them on the same level. The higher the basic income, the greater the number of subsidy forms it could replace. However, proposals generally suggest that some means-tested benefits could be retained alongside basic income, at least for such special groups who, for one reason or another, cannot be expected to participate in the labour market.

Basic income models vary according to which groups would be included in the scope of the system. In some models, basic income would only be paid to people of working age. Other models would also include minors and/or pensioners, and in this case basic income could have different levels for different age groups. Some models propose that basic income only be paid to citizens while others would grant it to non-citizens with permanent resident status, for example, after they had lived in the country for a certain period of time. There are also models where a benefit called basic income would only target a certain population group, such as those entitled to social security, people who receive unemployment benefits or have irregular income, or where the right to basic income would have a time limit. Other proposals include models that resemble basic income but are based on a work requirement and/or means testing.

The level of the benefit also varies considerably between different models. Full basic income means that the level of the benefit is sufficient to cover the essential costs of housing and living. Partial basic income means that other social security is needed to supplement basic income if a persons earnings are not sufficient. Other differences between models include whether basic income would be subject to taxation or whether it would be a tax-exempt benefit. The idea of basic income as a more limited system functioning as part of existing social security has also been proposed.

In theory, there are many different alternatives for financing basic income. Many of the models would reform income taxation so that the added income provided by basic income would gradually be collected back as a persons earnings increased. The idea is that basic income would not significantly change the net income of an average wage-earner. Adjustment of tax rates and the amount of basic income can affect income distribution: the basic income model can be implemented in a way that maintains the current income distribution or in a way that changes it in one direction or another. Money will circulate in the economy in a different way when everyone receives basic income and also pays a higher income tax. Income taxation can be supplemented with other direct or indirect taxes as needed.

A switch to a flat tax rate for income taxation is often proposed in conjunction with basic income. However, this is by no means essential, because progressive taxation can also be used with basic income.

The basic income models proposed in Finland have generally been criticised for the high marginal tax rates they require, which are seen as disincentives. Financing based on income taxation can be supplemented by other taxes in order to reduce the marginal tax rate in basic income models. The basic income models presented in Finland have, for example, proposed environmental taxes, inheritance and wealth taxes, the elimination of tax deductions, and an increase in property and capital income taxation as ways to supplement financing by means of income taxes. Use of consumption taxes to finance basic income has also been suggested in some connections.

One possibility for implementing basic income is the so-called negative income tax model. Negative income tax is a combination of taxation and automatic income support in which an income transfer is paid when a persons earnings remain below a certain level. This is gradually reduced as earnings increase. Although basic income and negative income tax have a somewhat different history and support base, they can technically produce nearly the same result. The advantage of negative income tax is that it could help achieve the presumed impacts of basic income at a lower marginal tax rate. However, implementation of this model would require real-time monitoring of earnings. The national income register that is planned to be launched in early 2019 would make this possible in Finland.

Micro-simulation analyses can be used to assess the impacts of basic income models on households and the entire population. These analyses generally indicate that basic income would increase net earnings for low-income earners who have some earnings in addition to social security. However, the effects would vary in different cases due to the joint impact of benefits.

Basic income would most clearly increase net income for social security recipients whose current benefit level is lower than the basic income and for those with no income or a low income who dont receive any social security benefits. Basic income, for example, would substantially improve the income of entrepreneurs with the lowest earnings, because currently, they are not eligible for an adjusted unemployment allowance. Efforts are often being made to build basic income models so that the net earnings of middle-income earners would not change at all.

The relationship between basic income and the EUR 300 of exempt earnings currently used in Finland should also be examined. If the exempt earnings component is not included in the basic income model, people doing casual work may actually end up with less net earnings. Child and activation increases for labour market subsidy and basic unemployment allowance may also be a disincentive if they remain in force.

The most interesting effects of basic income would, naturally, be so-called dynamic effects, in other words, those affecting human and company behaviour.

The most interesting effects of basic income would, naturally, be so-called dynamic effects, in other words, those affecting human and company behaviour. An experiment is the only way to bring about these effects to some extent. For example, there have been fears that a higher marginal tax rate would weaken work incentives for middle- and high-income earners.

Conversely, it has been suggested that basic income would encourage people to try entrepreneurship because it would guarantee a minimum income even when the company is struggling. Economists have shown that the proposed basic income models would still contain some disincentives unless other social security elements were reformed at the same time. However, the mere knowledge of a steady income could psychologically increase the willingness to accept casual work. One of the problems in terms of todays social security is the so-called bureaucratic disincentive. This refers to the extra paperwork that casual workers must complete in order to report working hours, work locations and the pay received for that work to the authorities and the delays in payment caused by the need to check that information. The complicated system also makes it difficult for recipients of overlapping subsidies to understand how work affects different benefits. Uncertainty about the effect that work income has on benefits may already be enough to create a disincentive.

In order to achieve the desired positive effects, more attention must be focused on the joint impacts of basic income, other social security components, and taxation. The current basic income model still has many shortcomings, particularly in relation to work incentives. One solution is to lower taxation on low incomes or implement a tax deduction for work income that only applies to low-income earners. The fact that the low level of primary benefits forces many low-income earners to regularly seek basic social assistance represents another disincentive. If we want to restore basic social assistance to its original role as temporary emergency assistance and simultaneously prevent it from causing disincentives, basic income must be higher than the existing minimum unemployment allowance.

A reform of the housing allowance would also be needed in conjunction with the basic income model, by allowing, for example, a certain amount of exempt earnings for low income earners. The possible benefits of the basic income model would probably be most effectively achieved if basic income could be set high enough to also replace the housing allowance and in some way take regional and other differences into account in the costs. However, in this case, the high cost of financing basic income would be a challenge.

This article is based on Johanna Perkis reportSuomalainen perustulokeskustelu ja mallit(Public debate and proposed models for a universal basic income system in Finland)[ii].

This article is part of The Next Era, a global initiative to track, connect, and amplify emerging ideas for an open and forward-looking society. The Next Era is a collaboration between the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra and the Nordic think tank Demos Helsinki.

[i]Kiiski Kataja, Elina (2016):Megatrends 2016: The future happens now. Sitra.https://www.sitra.fi/julkaisut/Muut/Megatrendit_2016.pdf

[ii]Perki, Johanna (2016):Suomalainen perustulokeskustelu ja mallit.Typapereita 85/2016.Kela.http://hdl.handle.net/10138/159369

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Does Basic Income Solve Anything? Grasp the Arguments for and ... - Futurism

Is your organization ready for automation deployment? – TechTarget

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Remember the voice-data convergence? I hope you're prepared, because a similar transition is ready to take roo...

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This time, it is the transition to automation, and then to forms of automation deployment and advanced control and management.

When we transitioned from wired PBX systems to voice over IP, the team that handled the voice system had to make a big change. In the old system, circuits and wires were the basic components. Sure, there was some multiplexing -- T1s and the like -- but nothing like IP packets. Training voice technicians was an interesting process. Some made the transition, while others retired, along with the equipment they supported.

A similar situation is unfolding today. I've had more than one network engineer tell me they hope the latest transition takes long enough to allow them to retire before they have to learn new things. I was shocked.

Change is coming, and it is necessary. Compute and storage are dynamic, having made their transition over the last 10 years. The network is the final obstacle to dynamic IT systems that can more easily adapt to changing business requirements. Change is needed to increase networking efficiency, just as it has for server automation. The only thing we need to determine is the path this journey will take.

This transformation of IT and networking is gathering speed. The growth in the DevNet section of Cisco Live is one indication. When I search the web, I find a lot more activity around the use of APIs for automation deployment. I even took a class on using Ansible for network configuration control.

It's pretty incredible how simple a configuration can be when it is constructed in a YAML definition. Configuration elements that are repeated in a normal configuration get entered once in YAML, such as loopback interface addresses or Border Gateway Protocol addresses. A BGP peering relationship can be reduced to just a few lines of configuration and ported between hardware vendors with simple changes. A complete data center pod can be configured with a similar reduction in complexity.

The tie-in to culture is due to the change in how network configuration is handled. Processes and procedures that have been developed -- over the past 10 to 20 years -- need to change when automation is used. These past procedures will often have the network staff propose a set of changes, a test plan and a back-out plan to be executed if a change fails.

A change control board reviews the change and frequently approves it. Because changes sometimes create brief network outages -- for example, a spanning tree root bridge change -- they are typically implemented during a preapproved change window. Part of the reason for this step-by-step process is to force the network engineers to think more carefully about changes before rolling them out to the network.

Many organizations use network change and configuration management (NCCM) tools to push changes to devices. That's a step toward automation, but they still rely on command-line interface (CLI) configuration commands. Manual methods are then frequently used for the validation test, limiting the extent of things that can be checked. This is where automation can be applied. Construct good test plans and a set of automated checks to be performed on the network -- not just the device being changed. Likewise, the back-out plan should be automated through the NCCM platform so it is easy and fast to back out.

Automation is just the next step in the journey. It isn't the final step.

Automation is just the next step in the journey. It isn't the final step. The problem I have with basic automation tools is they don't create new abstractions. The Ansible libraries for Cisco NX-OS use the same parameters in the API as are used in the CLI. There's nothing new there, just a new communications mechanism that's uninteresting. There are no new abstractions that allow us to hide the details of a complex configuration.

Some companies, like Amazon, are already in this next phase. Create an Amazon Web Services (AWS) compute instance with X CPU power, Y storage capacity and a public IP address. How long does it take for AWS to create the instance, modify the network to support it and have a public IP address assigned? It's just a few minutes. You specified what you wanted, and the system delivered it. You didn't have to specify "how to do it" details like VLAN ID, firewall rules or any Layer 4 VPN to keep your traffic separate from everyone else's. AWS created an abstract compute and storage entity.

We need new abstractions in networking that allow us to hide as much complexity as possible. It remains to be seen whether new abstractions will come from the intent-based networking systems that companies like Apstra have pioneered and Cisco has now embraced. These systems are worth investigating, but probably only after you've undertaken the effort to learn about basic automation. Think of it as a "walk before you run" approach.

Clearly, some people are concerned that automation and whatever follows will replace their jobs. As with the convergence of voice and data, some people make the transition and others don't. That transition, just like this one, was more about changing jobs than eliminating them. There will always be a need for people who understand how complex technology works, how to use it in good designs and how to diagnose problems when it doesn't work the way you intended.

This is a journey. You don't get to skip steps. The entire organization has to learn new technology, how to best apply that technology, and to develop processes to implement and maintain it. Several things must happen to make a successful journey, among them:

You get to decide if you're going to participate in this journey to automation deployment as a leader and control your destiny, or if you're going to participate after someone else has blazed the trail. Just note that first movers frequently have a competitive advantage over their slower-moving peers.

What will the future hold for enterprise networking?

SDN now includes virtualization and automation

DevOps and automation in software-defined networks

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Is your organization ready for automation deployment? - TechTarget

Dockworkers squeezed by automation, abandoned by politicians – SFGate

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Photo: Ben Margot, Associated Press

A crane transporting vehicles from a container ship operates at the Port of Oakland. Automation is reducing the number of longshore workers jobs.

A crane transporting vehicles from a container ship operates at the Port of Oakland. Automation is reducing the number of longshore workers jobs.

Dockworkers squeezed by automation, abandoned by politicians

The ink wasnt even dry on the West Coast longshore contract when the head of the employers group, the Pacific Maritime Association, proposed to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union a three-year extension, making it an eight-year contract. While the number of registered longshore jobs, 14,000, is the about same as in 1952, the volume of cargo passing through the 29 ports has increased 14 times to a record-breaking 350 million revenue tons a year.

Under the current contract, employers have eliminated hundreds of longshore jobs through automation on marine terminals such as the fully automated Long Beach Container Terminal and the semi-automated TraPac freight-forwarding facility in the Port of Los Angeles.

By the end of an extended contract in 2022, several thousand longshore jobs will be eliminated on an annual basis due to automation, warned Ed Ferris, president of ILWU Local 10 in San Francisco. With driverless trucks and crane operators in control towers running three cranes simultaneously, the chance of serious and deadly accidents are enormous.

Now maritime employers are pulling out all stops to push through this job-killing contract extension, using both Democratic and Republican politicians, high-powered PR firms and even some union officials.

On July 18, The Chronicle published an Open Forum by Democrats Mickey Kantor, former U.S. secretary of commerce who led the U.S. negotiations to create the World Trade Organization and the North American Free Trade Agreement, which cost millions of jobs, and Norman Mineta, also a former secretary of commerce.

The authors of this pro-employer piece talk of preserving labor peace and refer to West Coast port shutdowns over the last 15 years. Yes, there is a class war on the waterfront, but its being waged by the employers: Those port closures were caused by employer lockouts in 2002, 2013 and 2014 during longshore contract negotiations.

The 2002 lockout was ended after Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., called on President George W. Bush to invoke the antilabor Taft-Hartley Act not against the maritime employers lockout but against the longshore union. The only time the ILWU shut down Pacific Coast ports between 2002 and today was May Day, 2008, in protest of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan the first-ever labor strike in the United States to protest a war.

In their Chronicle commentary, the two Democrats cite figures for wages and pensions that reflect only the highest skill level after a lifetime of work in one of the most dangerous industries. And then they threaten that if the contract proposal is rejected, it could lead Republicans and Democrats alike to impose antistrike legislation on the waterfront.

The ILWU backed Bernie Sanders in the presidential primary and then Hillary Clinton in the election. Yet no matter who leads it, the Democratic Party represents Wall Street on the waterfront. Clearly whats needed is a workers party to fight for workers interests. And that includes fighting for nationalization without compensation of the transport industry while establishing workers control.

The so-called friends of labor Democrats have been enlisted by the Pacific Maritime Association because earlier this year at the Longshore Caucus, a union meeting representing West Coast dockworkers, the San Francisco delegates voted unanimously to oppose a contract extension. Saturday, they held a conference at their union hall on automation and the proposed contract extension. One proposal was to make automation benefit dockworkers by reducing the workweek to 30 hours while maintaining 40 hours pay, creating another work shift.

There are tens of millions of unemployed people in this country. The labor movement should launch a new campaign for a shorter workweek at no loss in pay as part of a struggle for full employment to benefit all, not President Trump and his Wall Street cronies. In resisting this contract extension, ILWU waterfront workers can stand up for all workers.

Jack Heyman, a retired Oakland longshoreman, chairs the Transport Workers Solidarity Committee. https://www.transportworkers.org/

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Dockworkers squeezed by automation, abandoned by politicians - SFGate

Apple Acquires BellSouth Patent Regarding Home Device Automation and Smart Interaction – Patently Apple

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Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple titled "Learning Device Interaction Rules." The invention was acquired. As you can see below, the inventors of today's Apple patent are the same as those listed on the 2006 granted patent with BellSouth IP being the assignee, not Apple.

The patent covers a smart home environment being controlled by a single handheld device that learns new functions over time to control various in-home devices from a TV to an oven, microwave and so forth. There's no use delving into this patent because it's unknown if Apple acquired the patent for a particular technology to use with HomeKit or a future smart TV or to simply stave off a potential patent infringement lawsuit.

However, with that said the original patent only covered 6 patent claims focused on TV and VCR functionality and interaction whereas Apple's version greatly expands the patent claims to 21 in total and modernizes the invention to cover all devices in a home and eliminating any references to VCRs that are no longer relevant.

For those wanting to dive into the details of this invention, check out Apple's patent here.

Apple's patent application 20170207982 was published today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Considering that this is a patent application, the timing of such a product to market is unknown at this time.

Patently Apple presents a detailed summary of patent applications with associated graphics for journalistic news purposes as each such patent application is revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trade Office. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any patent application should be read in its entirety for full and accurate details. About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or negative behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus.

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Apple Acquires BellSouth Patent Regarding Home Device Automation and Smart Interaction - Patently Apple

Report: ‘Automation risk is concentrated among low-wage, low-skilled workers’ – American Enterprise Institute

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In my new The Weekcolumn, I briefly examine whether my fellow American humans are experiencing a technopanic right now, and if Silicon Valley is making things worse. (Spoiler: yes and yes!) Indeed, one look at recent headlines about automation and by recent I mean this week is enough to at least slightly unnerve any worker whos not a recreational therapist or emergency management director.

Those jobs, by the way, are the top two least automatable occupations, according to a new Ball State University analysisof existing literature on the subject.

Anyway, Bloomberg gives us Machines Poised to Take Over 30% of Work at Banks, McKinsey Says, while CNBC offers Half of American jobs are at risk from automation, new study suggests.That study CNBC refers to is the Ball State report, mentioned above. It also looks at the risk jobs being offshored, calculating that figure at 25%. Here is the summary:

These studies reveal that roughly one in four American jobs, across the income and educational spectrum, are at risk of foreign competition in the coming years. Much more critically, approximately half of the jobs are at risk for automation. Thus, considerable additional labor market turbulence is likely in the coming generation.

More worrisome, perhaps, is that there is a considerable concentration of job loss risks across labor markets, educational attainment and earnings. This accrues across industries and is more pronounced across urban regions, where agglomeration economies have concentrated all net new employment in the US for a generation.

Indeed, much of the political rhetoric surrounding these job loss risks misses the major policy worries. Job loss risk to offshoring is spread across income and education, while automation risk is concentrated among low-wage, low-skilled workers. Both types of job loss risk are concentrated within labor markets (which we define as a county and all adjacent counties), and urban places tend to offer more resilience due to existing forces of agglomeration. . . .

The evidence outlined above suggests a much higher share of jobs are susceptible to automation and offshorability in the future than in the recent past.

So the people who should be most worried right now about robots taking their jobs are with lesser skills who live outside cities, a point I also made in The Week. The study also suggests some overlap between communities suffering both offshoring and automation risk.

(Note that the McKinsey banking study refers to work tasks rather than jobs. The positive spin: In many higher-skill jobs, automating specific tasks will enable staff to focus on higher-value work, such as research, generating new ideas or tending to clients, as Bloomberg describes the McKinseys take.)

I think the proper response here is public policy creativity, not a) neo-Luddism or b) the acceptance of a post-work era that you see among many basic income advocates. And, yes, this is a big challenge! But it is to be hoped that Automation Will Lead To Collaboration Between Man And Machine, as it has in the past.

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Report: 'Automation risk is concentrated among low-wage, low-skilled workers' - American Enterprise Institute

How the social gospel movement explains the roots of today’s religious left – The Times and Democrat

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Throughout American history, religion has played a significant role in promoting social reform. From the abolitionist movement of the early 19th century to the civil rights movement of the 20th century, religious leaders have championed progressive political causes.

This legacy is evident today in the group called religious progressives, or the religious left.

The social gospel movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as I have explored in my research, has had a particularly significant impact on the development of the religious left.

What is the social gospel movement and why does it matter today?

The social gospels origins are often traced to the rise of late 19th-century urban industrialization, immediately following the Civil War. Largely, but not exclusively, rooted in Protestant churches, the social gospel emphasized how Jesus ethical teachings could remedy the problems caused by Gilded Age capitalism.

Movement leaders took Jesus message love thy neighbor into pulpits, published books and lectured across the country. Other leaders, mostly women, ran settlement houses designed to alleviate the sufferings of immigrants living in cities like Boston, New York and Chicago. Their mission was to draw attention to the problems of poverty and inequality especially in Americas growing cities.

Charles Sheldon, a minister in the city of Topeka, Kansas, explained the idea behind the social gospel in his 1897 novel In His Steps. To be a Christian, he argued, one needed to walk in Jesuss footsteps.

The books slogan, What would Jesus do? became a central theme of the social gospel movement which also became tied to a belief in what Ohio minister Washington Gladden called social salvation. This concept emphasized that religions fundamental purpose was to create systemic changes in American political structures.

Consequently, social gospel leaders supported legislation for an eight-hour work day, the abolition of child labor and government regulation of business monopolies.

While the social gospel produced many important figures, its most influential leader was a Baptist minister, Walter Rauschenbusch.

Rauschenbusch began his career in the 1880s as minister of an immigrant church in the Hells Kitchen section of New York. His 1907 book, Christianity and the Social Crisis asserted that religions chief purpose was to create the highest quality of life for all citizens.

Rauschenbusch linked Christianity to emerging theories of democratic socialism which, he believed, would lead to equality and a just society.

Rauschenbuschs writings had a major impact on the development of the religious left in the 20th century. After World War I, several religious leaders expanded upon his ideas to address issues of economic justice, racism and militarism.

Among them was A.J. Muste, known as the American Gandhi, who helped popularize the tactics of nonviolent direct action. His example inspired many mid-20th century activists, including Martin Luther King Jr.

The intellectual influences on King were extensive. However, it was Rauschenbusch who first made King aware of faith-based activism. As King wrote in 1958, It has been my conviction ever since reading Rauschenbusch that any religion which professes to be concerned about the souls of men and is not concerned about the social and economic conditions that scar the soul, is a spiritually moribund religion only waiting for the day to be buried.

Kings statement highlights the importance of the social gospel concept of social salvation for todays religious left.

Although many of its primary leaders come out of liberal Protestant denominations, the religious left is not a monolithic movement. Its leaders include prominent clergy, such as the Lutheran minister Nadia Boltz-Weber as well as academics such as Cornel West. Some of the movements major figures, notably Rev. Jim Wallis, are evangelicals who identify with what is often called progressive evangelicalism.

Others come from outside of Christianity. Rabbi Michael Lerner, founder of the organization Network of Spiritual Progressives, seeks not only to promote interfaith activism but also to attract persons unaffiliated with any religious institutions.

These leaders often focus on different issues. However, they unite around the social gospel belief that religious faith must be committed to the transformation of social structures.

The Network for Spiritual Progressives mission statement, for example, affirms its desire: To build a social change movement guided by and infused with spiritual and ethical values to transform our society to one that prioritizes and promotes the well-being of the people and the planet, as well as love, justice, peace, and compassion over money, power and profit.

One of the most important voices of the religious left is North Carolina minister William Barber. Barbers organization, Repairers of the Breach, seeks to train clergy and laity from a variety of faith traditions in grassroots activism. Barbers hope is that grassroots activists will be committed to social change by rebuilding, raising up and repairing our moral infrastructure.

Other organizations associated with the religious left express similar goals. Often embracing democratic socialism, these groups engage issues of racial justice (including support for the Black Lives Matter movement), LGBT equality and the defense of religious minorities.

Despite the public visibility of activists like Barber, some question whether the religious left can become a potent political force.

Sociologist James Wellman observes that often religious progressives lack the social infrastructure that creates and sustains a social movement; its leaders are spiritual entrepreneurs rather than institution builders.

Another challenge is the growing secularization of the political left. Only 30 percent of Americans who identify with the political left view religion as a positive force for social change.

At the same time, the religious lefts progressive agenda in particular, its focus on serving societys poor might be an attractive option for younger Americans who seek alternatives to the perceived dogmatism of the religious right. As an activist connected with Jim Walliss Sojourners organization noted, I think the focus on the person of Jesus is birthing a younger generation. Their political agenda is shaped by Jesus call to feed the hungry, make sure the thirsty have clean water, make sure all have access to healthcare, transform America into a welcoming place for immigrants, fix our inequitable penal system, and end abject poverty abroad and in the forgotten corners of our urban and rural communities.

This statement not only circles back to Charles Sheldons nineteenth century question, what would Jesus do? It illustrates, I argue, the continued resiliency of the core social gospel belief in social salvation for a new generation of activists.

Can the religious left achieve the public status of the religious right? The theme of social salvation that was critical to Walter Rauschenbusch, A.J. Muste and Martin Luther King Jr. might, I believe, very well galvanize the activism of a new generation of religious progressives.

Christopher H. Evansis a Professor of the History of Christianity, Boston University.

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How the social gospel movement explains the roots of today's religious left - The Times and Democrat

CS stresses on timely submission of UCs – Rising Kashmir

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Committee of Secretaries meeting held

Chief Secretary, B B Vyas Thursday underlined the importance of submitting utilization certificates (UCs) on time to pave way for speedy and effective implementation of various Centrally Sponsored Schemes. Chairing the meeting of the Committee of Secretaries (CoS), here, Chief Secretary urged Administrative Secretaries to ensure that project-wise UCs are submitted and bottlenecks if any in the utilisation of funds removed immediately. Chief Secretary observed that the Finance and Planning Departments released 50% funds of the revenue and Capex budget in the month of February, 2017, authorizing expenditure to be made from 1st April, 2017, to enable the departments to take advantage of the early release and ensure early tendering and execution of work on ground. While reviewing the status of expenditure on the developmental front, Chief Secretary asked the Administrative Secretaries to submit expenditure statement as on 30th June, 2017, within a week. Observing that Pradeep Singh has recently joined as Advisor, Infrastructure Development to the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Secretary urged the Administrative Secretaries to make best use of his experience and knowledge by seeking his advice/guidance on Infrastructure Development and flagship projects/schemes. Chief Secretary also reviewed the status of various works, as part of the Chief Ministers commitments and asked the Administrative Secretaries to ensure that directions given by the Chief Minister during her tours are followed and action taken report submitted to the Planning Development & Monitoring Department on an urgent basis. Chief Secretary also shared with the Administrative Secretaries issues raised in the meeting chaired by the Prime Minister at New Delhi on July 10, 2017, as part of the National Conference of Chief Secretaries on the theme of "States as Drivers for Transforming India including those related to studying Punjab Model for Ease of doing Business, Chandigarh Model for DBT linked Ration Card Holder and Goa/Delhi Model for Solid Waste Management, so that same could be replicated in the state among the best practices, replacement of existing street lights by LED, promoting Solar Power, ensuring regular up-dation of District Gazetteers by DCs and use of GeM Potal for procurement Government products and Services. For enhanced transparency, in procurement, Chief Secretary urged the Administrative Secretaries to study the document of the Central Government regarding a one stop Government eMarketplace (GeM), for online procurement of common use Goods & Services required by various Government Departments/Organizations/ PSUs. Chief Secretary also reviewed the status of disposal of public grievances, settlement of SRO 43-cases, cases relating to adhoc/consolidated/ contractual employees, abolition of interviews for junior level posts, abolition of affidavits, disposal of pending departmental enquires, Aadhaar Based Bio-Metric & Skill Profiling of Casual and other Workers, up-dation of departmental websites, web based file tracking system and pending court cases.

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CS stresses on timely submission of UCs - Rising Kashmir

Al Gore Explains Why He Keeps Comparing Global Warming Activism To Freeing The Slaves – The Daily Caller

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Former Vice President Al Gore explained why he routinely compares the fight against global warming to the civil rights, anti-apartheid and abolitionist movements during a live SiriusXM radio town hall Thursday.

Because what all three of those issues have in common is a group of advocates trying to bring about a morally-based change in policies that have caused tremendous harm, Gore said whenan NBC News reporter asked him about comparing his work to the civil rights and gay rights movement.

In all three of those cases, there has been ferocious resistance to the change being advocated, and in all three of those cases, there have been advocates of change that were tempted to despair, Gore said.

Gore said all three cases eventually boiled down to a pretty simple choice between whats right and whats wrong. Gore went on to quote Nelson Mandela about the anti-apartheid movement in 1990s South Africa.

Gore was recently criticized for comparing his crusade against global warming to the abolition of slavery, ending apartheid, and the civil rights, womens rights and gay rights movements something hes done many times in the past.

The global warming fight is in the tradition of all the great moral causes that have improved the circumstances of humanity throughout our history, Gore said in Australia in July, according to Climate Depot.

The abolition of slavery, womans suffrage and womens rights, the civil rights movement and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, the movement to stop the toxic phase of nuclear arms race and more recently the gay rights movement, Gore said.

Gore made similar comparisons during a 2013 interview with The Washington Post. In 2011, Gore compared winning the conversation on global warming to building support for civil rights.

This time, black conservative activists criticized Gores comparison of slavery and civil rights to the fight against global warming.

When Al Gore, Jr. associates these moral movements of history with one grounded in questionable data, he gives climate change activists unearned moral credibility they havent earned and dont deserve, Horace Cooper, co-chairman of the Project 21 initiative with the group Conservative Black Leadership.

Horace also pointed out that Gores father, a former Democratic Tennessee Senator, opposed civil rights initiatives in the 1960s, though he did support the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Fighting people being owned as property and debased in an entrenched system enshrined in law is akin to worshiping the idea that humans can materially impact the climate? Project 21 co-chairman Stacy Washington asked in a statement.

He cannot be serious! Washington said.

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Al Gore Explains Why He Keeps Comparing Global Warming Activism To Freeing The Slaves - The Daily Caller

Chris Bianco Talks About His New Book, Culinary Empowerment, and Phoenix – Phoenix New Times

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It's 10:52 p.m. and Chris Bianco is still working. He's sending emails when most of the country has finished their shifts and are already deep in REM sleep.Bianco has no doubt already spent all day at one of his several restaurants, or maybe even all of them, and an hour short of midnight, he's still at it.Which makes it either all the more remarkable or all the more typical that he's tackled the major project of a cookbook.

"We are the measures of balance," he writes. "Crispy, chewy, thin, thick, spicy how we like things is personal to understanding nuances, and how to get to those places and profiles is the roadmap of a journey." That's the vision for his new book, Bianco: Pizza, Pasta, and Other Foods I Like(Ecco, 2017), which will be released on Tuesday, July 25.

If that sounds like the musings of a man who rarely stops thinking, whose inner narratives are never paused by a comma or period, then you heard right. And his cookbook? It's not really a cookbook. It's more like spending the day with the James Beard-winning, Oprah-hailed, Jimmy Kimmel's fellow fly-fisherman chef who has stopped what he is doing to teach you how to cook something astounding in 15 minutes.

There are recipes for pizza, for meatballs, for focaccia, for Sunday gravy, beets roasted with fig leaves, custard, and lemon cookies. There's also Chris in every recipe; a story, an inspiration, a family tale. The book is more than a book; it's a Chris Bianco omnibus, taking a willing participant through the Candy Land of his restaurants, creations, and motivations.

"I tried my hardest with a limited skill set to one day leave this physical place better than I found it ... maybe just an inch," he says.

The narrative chronicles his career, which started in a small kitchen behind a grocery store in central Phoenix. He then dives into his relationship with sourcing, using the best ingredients possible, and his philosophy that food is a collective experience to be shared, modified, and fit to each individual who tackles a recipe.

"The book is about empowerment of our personal worth as it relates metaphorically through food," he explains. "And it already existed before you turned a page."

The magic potion for his pizza dough has been traversing the internet for about a decade, but those who have tried it knowthat while it's a great recipe, it really can't be replicated unless you have Bianco's oven, his flour, and whatever other magic it takes to make the pizza served at his restaurants. But, combined with entries like gnocchi, lasagna, and risotto, isn't he worried about giving away the store?

"I've always given up recipes or sources, letting transparency, and intention tell the story," he says. "Recipes to me are only notes, to make music is for us to find a genre that fits our person, and to play it with purpose and a whole heart."

And there's no favorite recipe. "I would like to, and do think, that they are all significant in their own way," he says. "Like your kids."

Speaking of kids, paging through Bianco's book, with its very personal narrative and staple recipes from Bianco's close-knit family,it easy to wonder if perhapshe had his children in mind as he compiled the chapters. It reads like a tribute or a legacy, for them and for us.

Bianco writes in his book that it was 30 years ago, when he was just a kid from the Bronx, that he won two free plane tickets to anywhere in the United States. For reasons that are still a mystery to him, Bianco chose Phoenix. Mesmerized by the sky during that first encounter, he returned. He made Phoenix his home and put the city on the culinary map with pizza that was dubbed by many to be the best in the country.

Which begs the question: Whose hometown boy is he? Does he belong to Phoenix, or to the Bronx?

"Finders keepers," he replies. "It's funny about where we are from. You think you know, then you spit in an ancestry.com cup and the dots start to connect. But there is always where you land and end up that has its influence and that gives you your accent. My wife, Mia, goes back three generations here; my kids were born here. Phoenix feels like home to me more than any place I've ever been."

So that settles it. He's ours.

Even at 6:45 a.m., the time stamp on the final email in our conversation.

Bianco: Pizza, Pasta and Other Food I Like,will be published on July 25. Chris Bianco will be reading at Changing Hands, 300 West Camelback Road, at 7 p.m. on Monday, July 31. Tickets are $34.99 and include one copy of the book and admission for two people.

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Chris Bianco Talks About His New Book, Culinary Empowerment, and Phoenix - Phoenix New Times

Girls Trip goes too far, far too often: review – Toronto Star

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From left: Queen Latifah, Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett Smith and Tiffany Haddish in Girls Trip. ( Universal Pictures / TNS )

Starring Regina Hall, Queen Latifah. Directed by Malcolm D. Lee. Opens Friday in GTA theatres. 122 minutes. 18A

There is a positive and life-affirming message about sisterhood and personal empowerment in Girls Trip.

But you have to wade through an awful lot of clutter to get there. Or perhaps dross would be a more accurate description.

The film is audacious and unabashed in its determination to draw laughs from material that takes vulgarity to the extreme. Some of it works while a lot of it is just head-shakingly awful.

The plot is straightforward: four women, best pals since college 25 years earlier, reunite for the first time in quite a while to party hardy at the annual Essence Music Festival can you say product placement? in the Big Easy.

Ryan (Regina Hall) is a successful self-help author and guest speaker at the event, hoping to land a merchandising deal with a mega-retailer (if only she can overlook the activities of her cheating louse of a husband).

Sasha (Queen Latifah) is a journalist who has sold out, barely scraping a living with a celebrity-gossip blog. Lisa (Jada Pinkett Smith) is a glammed-down helicopter mom to two kids while Dina (Tiffany Haddish) is the sassy, libidinous one with major impulse-control issues.

With four credited screenwriters, the too many chefs maxim applies the script is loose and lazy, with more focus on antics and bad language than plot and character development.

Words like bitch, ho and the dreaded N-word flow freely, and how tiresome and anti-feminist it is to hear women repeat the mantra that what all a woman with the blues needs is something big and black.

Two scenes drew horrified peals of laughter from the audience at a recent public screening, one involving golden showers and a second featuring full frontal nudity by a homeless man.

Still, the film is not a total writeoff. Theres some good chemistry among the four principals and a fine performance from Hall as Ryan, a torn woman whose life looks way better on the outside.

And Queen Latifah brings her usual solid screen presence, along with some sweet melancholy, to the role of Sasha.

Theres clearly a ready audience for Girls Trip it certainly tickled funny bones at the advance screening and theres a resolution that is genuinely warm and redemptive.

But a comedy thats so determined to shock the laughs out of you isnt going to be everyones idea of a fun trip to the movies.

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Girls Trip goes too far, far too often: review - Toronto Star

Does Facebook cause eating disorders? – Dhaka Tribune

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Following the release of shocking figures that more than half of the UK's hospital admissions for eating disorders were under 20-years-old and some of them under 10, social media has copped much of the blame for contributing to the development of eating disorders in "the Facebook generation."

Teen and pre-teen eating disorders have been on the rise, with children as young as seven being admitted for treatment in Australia, and anorexia nervosa among the most common disorders affecting adolescent girls.

A study from the University of Haifa recently found that the more time adolescent girls spend in front of Facebook, the more their chances of developing a negative body image, and various eating disorders.

But even though the studies found that Facebook was a contributor, the researchers said that ultimately it was up to the parents to control those habits, so parents are encouraged to get involved in their daughter's media exposure.

"This study has shown that a parent has potential ability to prevent dangerous behavioural disorders and negative eating behaviour in particular," researchers said.

Girls whose parents were involved in their media usage " who knew what they were viewing, reading, and what websites and social networks they were visiting " showed more personal empowerment, forming a protective shield against eating disorders.

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Does Facebook cause eating disorders? - Dhaka Tribune

From farmer’s son to President, Ram Nath Kovind’s story is a case of Dalit empowerment – DailyO

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For the last one month, a sleepy little village, Paraunkh, 110km from Kanpur, has been sending up prayers to goddess Pathri Devi. The goddess has clearly listened to them. Today, one of their own, Ram Nath Kovind, has become the 14th President of India. Today, the village will celebrate like never before.

The villagers talk about how difficult life was for the Dalit family, how father Maikulal Kori eked out a living for his family of nine children by running a small grocery store, how Ram Nath learnt his first lessons under the ancient pipal tree, how sharp he was, how fast he learnt things and remembered those, how spiritual he was.

His old classmates still reminisce about the little boy reciting Ramayana and Gita at a tender age; that they all walked barefoot eight km every day to attend high school in a village nearby. Unlike many of his mates, Ram Nath had gone to Kanpur to pursue higher studies and eventually to practice law in Delhi in the 1970s.

By the time he became personal assistant to former Prime Minister Morarji Desai in the late 70s, the village had realised that they had a star in their midst. When in 1994, he became a Rajya Sabha MP, they had stopped being surprised.

As Bihar governor Kovind reportedly played a role in reducing the bitterness between PM Modi and Nitish Kumar.

The rest is history: Ram Nath Kovind developed Paraunkh into a "model village", using MP funds paved roads, high school for girls, a State Bank of India branch, electricity meters in every house even donating his ancestral home to the village (which became a place for solemnising marriages).

Ask anyone and they will show you the way to the family home partly in ruins and partly a community centre. Services are free for all who live in this village, says Anil Kumar, Kovinds nephew.

Not just the village, he has contributed to the development of Kanpur city as MP, developing stretches of barren land into some of the best places to live in from Indira Nagar near IIT to the Maharishi Dayanand Vihaar in Kalyanpur with well-tiled, shining roads, trees and steel chairs for the elderly to rest.

Like that little village, one out of nearly seven lakh villages in India, no one really knew of Ram Nath Kovind, when his name was announced on June 19 as the NDA presidential candidate.

Prime Minister Modi had to diffuse the confusion through a series of tweets: Shri Ram Nath Kovind, a farmers son, comes from a humble background. He devoted his life to public service & worked for poor & marginalised. With his illustrious background in the legal arena, Shri Kovinds knowledge and understanding of the Constitution will benefit the nation. I am sure Shri Ram Nath Kovind will make an exceptional President & continue to be a strong voice for the poor, downtrodden & marginalised.

Ram Nath Kovind was always close to senior RSS leaders, especially Dr Krishna Gopal, RSS joint general secretary, in-charge of coordination with the BJP. But he had come in the good books of the BJP during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. A Kori Dalit (a caste group that forms the biggest Dalit chunk in UP after Jatavs and Passis), he was the face BJP President Amit Shah chose, to cobble together a non-Jatav Dalit alliance against BSP chief Mayawati. Kovind had accepted the high command wish with grace: from BJPs Dalit Morcha president, a national position, he became the BJP general secretary in UP, a state-level post.

His regard for party discipline had reached the PMs ears. During the Bihar Assembly election campaign in 2015, the PM showcased Shriman Ram Nath Kovindji in his speeches, as someone who has given his all to the welfare of the oppressed, the dispossessed, the Dalit, the backward and the extremely backward all his life.

In August 2015, Kovind was appointed the governor of Bihar one whom Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has hailed as an ideal governor, impartial, a stickler for constitutional propriety and one who, unlike many of his predecessors, always consulted the CM.

As Bihar governor he reportedly played a role in reducing the bitterness between Modi and Nitish Kumar. Quiet, humble, modest and a stickler for rules, his Patna Raj Bhavan never saw him lose his temper, nor refuse an invitation from the staff.

He liked to spend time with books, watching television only for news. Father of a son, Prashant, and a daughter, Swati, Kovind and his wife Savita believed in living simple, spartan lives.

President Kovinds is a classic story of Dalit empowerment, one that is also closely linked to the identity politics of the Hindi heartland, especially at a time of rising caste-violence and escalating assertion by the electorally formidable Dalit community.

Also read: 5 things to expect from Ram Nath Kovind as he inches towards Rashtrapati Bhavan

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From farmer's son to President, Ram Nath Kovind's story is a case of Dalit empowerment - DailyO

‘Trains are 19th century technology,’ Miami-Dade mayor says in touting cheaper options – Miami Herald

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Miami Herald
'Trains are 19th century technology,' Miami-Dade mayor says in touting cheaper options
Miami Herald
After running a campaign ad last year touting More Rail Lines, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez on Wednesday defended his new pitch for modernized express bus systems running north and south of Miami. My mind was there for more rail lines, ...

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'Trains are 19th century technology,' Miami-Dade mayor says in touting cheaper options - Miami Herald

Together, technology and teachers can revamp schools – The Economist

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Together, technology and teachers can revamp schools - The Economist

Remaining relevant through leveraging technology and member needs – CUinsight.com (press release)

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As you are probably well aware, Apples iPhoneturned 10 years oldrecently. Of the many articles written to commemorate this occasion, a couple in particular caught our eye. IniPhone Review Redux:10 Years Later, SoSlow, So Small(Source: The Wall Street Journal), the author describes her experience trying to use an original iPhone for a week in todays world. She says, I made it 12 hours. As groundbreaking as the iPhone was back in 2007, thats a little hard to imagine. However, given the authors experience with comparatively slow speeds, poor graphics and sound, a 2-megapixel camera, and no Siri, we start to realize just how far technology has come in the last decade. Of course, with these technological developments have come changes in how consumers interact with each other and the organizations with which they do business. Take stock of how things have changed around your credit union in the last 10 years from a technology perspective. Have you added new technology? Upgraded? Does your credit union have technology today it did not have in 2007? Is your member interaction different today than it was a decade ago? The answer to all of these questions is probably a resoundingYes!

Now, fast-forward, as does the articleIn 10 Years, Your iPhone Wont Be a Phone Anymore(Source: The Wall Street Journal). In this article, the author imagines a future where the consumer is more wired-in than ever before. Smarter, wearable technology, artificial intelligence, augmented realityits almost overwhelming. Our gadgets may literally direct our daily lives, according to this article. Whether or not the future turns out the way this article describes, we can surely bet it will make the technology we have today seem ancient, just as the current iPhone makes the original model look outdated. How will your credit unions technology change?

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Remaining relevant through leveraging technology and member needs - CUinsight.com (press release)

Another Golden Age for Corporate Technology – Bloomberg

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Allow me to take you back to the 1970s. Picture the terrible hair and the wonderful rock music. Back then, the best technology was made for governments and companies.

We might be on the cusp of another golden age for corporate technology.

I was thinking about this when Google discussed this week itsrebooted strategyfor the much lampooned Google Glass, which shows information like repair instructions or weather forecastsin a wearer's field of vision. "Glassholes" are out, and sober uses of Glass on the factory floor and medical offices are in. Glass might still flop in its new target market, but Google isn't alone in identifying companies as the most fruitful buyers for its futuristic eyewear.

My colleague Ian King has written abouthospitals experimenting with virtual reality headsetsto manage pain or the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, and this week Selina Wang reported about a startup called Meta that useshologramsto try to change office work. Microsoft has emphasized commercial uses for its $5,000 HoloLens goggles. Thinkarchitects collaborating on building blueprints. Forrester Research has estimated companies will buy far more midpriced VR headsets in coming years than consumers will. Meanwhile, after two price cuts this year, Facebook is now charging $400 for its Oculus Rift video reality kit aimed (for now) mostly at video game fans.

Cost of the Commercial Version of HoloLens

$5,000

It's not news that businesses are a gold mine for techcompanies and for way more than VRgadgets. Big corporations and governments are responsible for the bulk of $2 trillion in annual spending on technology products and services. And even many of the most successful consumer technology companies -- Amazon, Microsoft and Apple for example -- generate huge sums selling to corporations or their workers.

Tech Patrons

Big companies and governments are responsible for the bulk of the $2 trillion spent on technology each year

Source: Gartner Inc.

But tech companies focused purely on businesses are one of the biggest technology trends of the last decade. Amazon transformedits fortunes and the direction of the industry with cloud-computing offerings from Amazon Web Services. There's also a proliferation of young companies targeting businesses including Slack, Docker and Box. Corporate technology is actually really good now -- sometimes.

Even consumer companies are trying to make businesses foot at least some of their bills.Instacartis figuring out ways tomake money from large food brandssuch as Red Bull, and not only from consumers reluctant to pay delivery fees.AirbnbandUberwant more bookings from people traveling on thecorporatedime.

Some of this strategy is about squeezing revenue from as many sources as possible. But it also highlights the limits of tech products and services just for individuals. We the people are penny-pinching jerks.Businesses watch their bottom lines, too, but they are often willing to pay for software and gadgetsthat give them an edge.

That's why Intel, Oracle, International Business Machines and the early internet were built on sales to governments, spies, big corporations and others that wanted cutting-edge stuff and had the budgets to support its development. It feelsa little like that again now. I think I'll stream somePink Floyd.

A version of this column originally appeared in Bloomberg's Fully Charged technology newsletter. You cansign up here.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.

To contact the author of this story: Shira Ovide in New York at sovide@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Niemi at dniemi1@bloomberg.net

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Another Golden Age for Corporate Technology - Bloomberg

MLB’s Rob Manfred tepid on strike zone technology at commissioners’ panel – Chicago Tribune

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That high-tech graphic on the side of the screen during baseball telecasts showing pitch locations? The one that makes it look as though umpires can't tell balls from strikes?

It's not all that accurate, according to Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred.

That's what Manfred implied at least, appearing Tuesday at New York's Paley Center for Media, asserting the underlying technology isn't reliable enough to replace the folks in blue behind home plate.

"In all candor, that technology has a larger margin of error than we see with human umpires," Manfred said. "Someday I think it will be up to the task of calling balls and strikes, but I actually believe at that point that you have to ask yourself a question as to whether you want to take that human element out of the game and replace it with a machine."

Manfred was on a panel addressing the future of sports that managed the rare feat of getting him together with fellow commissioners Roger Goodell of the NFL, Adam Silver of the NBA and Gary Bettman of the NHL to talk about a wide range of issues from player safety and youth sports participation rates to social media, esports and gambling.

The technology and umpires bit was in response to a question from an audience member cable TV scion and Knicks owner James Dolan who was impressed watching technology determine if 130 mph tennis serves at Wimbledon were in or out within a fraction of an inch.

Beyond noting the obvious a tennis court, unlike baseball's strike zone, has fixed, clearly marked boundaries Manfred reminded Dolan that what he saw on TV from Wimbledon was a computer-generated animated graphic illustrating the computer-generated ruling and not actual evidence.

"You should always think about a technology where what they show you as part of the replay is a simulation as opposed to the actual stop frame," Manfred said. "Think about that when you're watching tennis and see what conclusion you come to."

Hit like: Since mid-May, MLB has streamed one Friday night game each week on its Facebook page, live and without blackout restrictions. This week it's the White Sox at the Royals. The Facebook arrangement is emblematic of new thinking among all the sports leagues.

Sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Amazon want content. Leagues want increased engagement, particularly with younger people who are more receptive to video on phones and other devices than traditional TV.

"Rather than thinking over the last six years or so that basic cable has gone from 100 million homes to 85 million homes, I think of our universe having gone from 100 million to 200 million ... which is essentially the install base for (U.S.) smartphones," Goodell said.

"The challenge is how do we take advantage of those new platforms and present those games in a much different way, taking advantage of those huge social media communities and the engagement that comes with that type of viewership."

As for traditional TV viewers, Goodell said one engagement play this NFL season will be fewer ad breaks so "we don't give them a reason to turn the channel or look at another device."

You bet: Esports is building engagement. So is another kind of gaming, fantasy sports.

"We see it in ratings," Goodell said. "We see it with our television partners. Even if your team is out of it, you're going to watch. It does potentially have a little bit of a negative view. Do they still have the same loyalty to a team they once had? But they used to (be turning) the television set off. Now they're not."

There's less consensus when it comes to out-and-out gambling. The NBA's Silver reiterated his belief that prohibitions on sports wagering will be relaxed in this country in the coming years, and that it's a good thing for his league.

"It's a multi-hundred billion-dollar illegal industry in the United States," Silver said. "Ultimately, as the owners of the intellectual property, we're going to embrace it."

Other leagues aren't yet quite so gung-ho, but they are not blind to what's going on.

Silver said NBA fans "want to bet throughout the game ... on quarter scores, on particular players, and free throws" and "it results in enormous additional engagement."

Manfred said this "growth area" translates in baseball to "discrete activities" that are "hard for anybody to affect or control," such as whether the next pitch will be a ball or strike.

Bettman said he worried about arenas taking on the atmosphere of racetracks. But Silver said research suggests "fans are fairly sophisticated" when it comes to rooting both "for their team and virtually all the action."

Mike drop: The final edition of ESPN's "Mike & Mike" is officially set for Nov. 17. Its replacement on radio and TV, "Golic & Wingo," will make its debut with Trey Wingo joining Mike Golic 10 days later on the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Ahead of going solo with his own ESPN morning TV show, Mike Greenberg has gotten some prime-time broadcast exposure as a cohost of ABC's "Battle of the Network Stars" revival, which sorely misses a Howard Cosell to energize it.

The original "Battle" discovered this, too. The penultimate edition of the occasional 1976-88 series of specials had Dick Van Dyke in Cosell's ringmaster role. Van Dyke fared better with Rob Petrie's living-room ottoman.

Look who's talking: When the Bears and Falcons open the regular season Sept. 10 at Soldier Field, Jay Cutler will be suiting up. In a suit. For Fox.

"It's a natural," Charles Davis, Cutler's fellow analyst on the network's No. 2 NFL announcing team, told Toronto's CJCL AM-590 "The Fan."

Fox already said Cutler's debut will be the Bears' Aug. 27 exhibition against the Titans in Nashville, his new hometown.

Last-second shots: Time has run out on ESPN's Buzzer Beater channel. TVPredictions.com reports the service offering "look-in" coverage and analysis during college basketball season on some cable and satellite services is a victim of budget cuts. ... Joe Maddon talks to Harry Smith about growing up in Hazleton, Pa., on NBC's "Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly." ... Anyone going to hire O.J. Simpson?

The story: The commissioners said promoting narratives are another way to boost audience interest.

"Our sport in 13,14,15 markets over the course of the season will be the No. 1 rated programming during the summer," Manfred said. "The trick for us is making sure all those fans in Detroit that made the Tigers No. 1 stay with us in the postseason, and we really do believe ... the Cubs gave us 40 million people in Game 7. It is that storyline that's the key."

philrosenthal@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @phil_rosenthal

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MLB's Rob Manfred tepid on strike zone technology at commissioners' panel - Chicago Tribune

San Jose Earthquakes’ Tommy Thompson making progress under Leitch – MLSsoccer.com

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SAN JOSE, Calif. It is tempting to link the change in San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Tommy Thompsons productivity to the ascension of new coach Chris Leitch. Since Leitch assumed control last month, Thompson has started all five of the Quakes competitive matches, providing two assists in U.S. Open Cup play and his first MLS goal after starting his career with a 63-game drought.

Yet the 21-year-old Thompson points to a moment during the reign of former coach Dominic Kinnear as the turning point for his fortunes: Late in the second half against Orlando City onMay 17, Thompsons ball to the back post turned into an assist on team captain Chris Wondolowskis game-tying goal.

Thompsons first career point in league play helped secure a critical point for the Quakes in their quest to regain a playoff spot, and gave him a sorely-neededboost in morale.

Its crazy how much one stat can mean, but it inspires confidence," Thompson told MLSsoccer.com last week."Since then, I think its been all downhill. ... I knew once I got the monkey off my back, the rest would come.

Regardless of the genesis of his surge, its undeniable that Thompson has finally begun to unveil in games the kind of tools that have long made him an object of fascination in skills challenges over the years. As the Quakes have become more entertaining and assertive under Leitch even in a situation such as the 5-1 loss San Jose suffered against the New York Red Bullson Wednesday Thompson has perhaps been the fullest representation of that change.

I think we can be the team that puts teams on the back foot and outscores teams, Thompson said. Thats what we did [in a 3-2 win against theLA Galaxyin the US Open Cup quarterfinals].Yeah, they scored two goals on us, but we put three in the back of the net. It feels good.

The biggest observable difference regarding Thompsons game is a level of decisiveness that seemed lacking at times previously, and this is not by accident. As Leitch made it clear in his initial press conference after taking the job, his vision of the Quakes affords them more chances to fail and to learn from that process.

With certain players, especially the attackers, youre going to ask them to take risks to change a game and to beat your opponent, to try the final pass, to attempt a shot, Leitch told reporters after San Joses 4-1 exhibition romp over Eintracht Frankfurt last week. And so if youre going to ask those players to do that, then you have to know within that risk, those things arent always going to come off, and so you have to be OK with that, so that those creative guys can have the space to be creative and to express themselves and try those things.

That theory of allowing young players to make mistakes seems to beworking for the Earthquakes. Rookie Jackson Yueill, who spent much of the year buried on Kinnears depth chart, has been a key cog for Leitch. And Homegrown defender Nick Lima, who moved straight into Kinnears lineup as a rookie this season, has been deployed as a wingback when the Quakes utilize a 3-5-2 formation, giving him license to roam forward even more freely than in Kinnears usual 4-4-2.

Even [Valeri Qazaishvili] is a great example of the Quakes shift to wanting young, talented players before theyre in their prime, Thompson said, citing the recent addition of 24-year-old attacker. Its exciting to be a part of. This locker room has changed drastically since I signed when I was 18. But I think were going in the right direction.

"Young players have the ability to show well on the biggest stages, if theyre given confidence. I think Jacksons shown that. I think Nicks shown that.

That is a sea change for a Quakes team that is still finding its way under Leitch, who previously had front-office experience but no coaching reps at this level.

Winning is always fun, but winning with style is all the better, Thompson said. I would say this is the most fun Ive had as a pro. I think part of that comes from getting assists and getting a goal.

I said at the beginning of this season: this is the most talent weve had in this locker room since Ive been here. And I think were only getting better. Were only getting more and more confident with each other, with the coaching staff. Im really looking forward to whats going to come with the rest of the year.

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HIV drug resistance could undermine progress in AIDS battle: WHO – Reuters

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LONDON (Reuters) - Rising levels of resistance to HIV drugs could undermine promising progress against the global AIDS epidemic if effective action is not taken early, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

Already in six out of 11 countries surveyed in Africa, Asia and Latin America for a WHO-led report, researchers found that more than 10 percent of HIV patients starting antiretroviral drugs had a strain resistant to the most widely-used medicines.

Once a threshold of 10 percent is reached, the WHO recommends countries urgently review their HIV treatment programs and switch to different drug regimens to limit the spread of resistance.

HIV drug resistance develops when patients do not stick to a prescribed treatment plan - often because they do not have consistent access to proper HIV treatment and care.

Patients with HIV drug resistance start to see their treatment failing, with levels of HIV in their blood rising, and they risk passing on drug-resistant strains to others.

The WHO's warning comes as the latest data from UNAIDS showed encouraging progress against the worldwide HIV/AIDS epidemic, with deaths rates falling and treatment rates rising.

Some 36.7 million people around the world are infected with HIV, but more than half of them - 19.5 million - are getting the antiretroviral therapy medicines they need to suppress the HIV virus and keep their disease in check.

The WHO said, however, that rising HIV drug resistance trends could lead to more infections and deaths.

Mathematical modeling shows an additional 135,000 deaths and 105,000 new infections could follow in the next five years if no action is taken, and HIV treatment costs could increase by an extra $650 million during this time.

"We need to ensure that people who start treatment can stay on effective treatment, to prevent the emergence of HIV drug resistance," said Gottfried Hirnschall, director of the WHO's HIV and hepatitis program.

"When levels of HIV drug resistance become high we recommend that countries shift to an alternative first-line therapy for those... starting treatment."

The WHO said it was issuing new guidance for countries on HIV drug resistance to help them act early against it. These included guidelines on how to improve the quality and consistency of treatment programs and how to transition to new HIV treatments, if and when they are needed.

Reporting by Kate Kelland, editing by Pritha Sarkar

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HIV drug resistance could undermine progress in AIDS battle: WHO - Reuters