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Donald Trump talks up solar panel plan for Mexico wall – BBC News

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Donald Trump talks up solar panel plan for Mexico wall
BBC News
US President Donald Trump has told supporters that his proposed wall along the border with Mexico could have solar panels fixed to it. Addressing a rally in Iowa, he said the panels would provide cheap energy and help to pay for the controversial wall.
Donald Trump's Mexico wall might use solar panels to cut costsCNET
Donald Trump Suggests Solar Panels to Save Money on US-Mexico Border WallWall Street Journal (subscription)
Donald Trump claims attaching solar panels to Mexico border wall will ensure fortification 'pays for itself'The Independent
Daily Mail -Breitbart News
all 77 news articles »

Donald Trump talks up solar panel plan for Mexico wall - BBC News

Donald Trump Challenges DNC on Servers: ‘It’s All a Big Dem HOAX!’ – Breitbart News

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

The president highlighted testimony from Obamas Homeland Security Advisor Jeh Johnson as the latest sign that there was no evidence that hecolluded with Russia during the election.

Former Homeland Security Advisor Jeh Johnson is latest top intelligence official to state there was no grand scheme between Trump & Russia, Trump wrote on Twitter.

Rep. Trey Gowdy questioned Johnson during a hearing on Wednesday, asking him if there was any evidence that the president colluded with Russia during the election.

Not beyond what has been out there open-source, Johnson replied. And not beyond anything that Im sure this committee has already seen and heard before, directly from the intelligence community.

On Twitter, Trump challenged the Obama administration for failing to stop the Russians.

By the way, if Russia was working so hard on the 2016 Election, it all took place during the Obama Admin. Why didnt they stop them? he asked.

Johnson defended his efforts to secure the electoral process against Russian attacks during the hearing.

Trump accused the Democratic National Committee for failing to allow the DHS to protect their servers from attacks before the election.

Its all a big Dem HOAX! Trump concluded.

During Johnsons testimony, Gowdy asked why the Democratic National Committee refused to turn over their server for federal law enforcement to examine.

I guess what Im asking you is, why would the victim of a crime not turn over a server to the intelligence community or to law enforcement? Gowdy asked.

Im not going to argue with you, sir, Johnson answered.

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Donald Trump Challenges DNC on Servers: 'It's All a Big Dem HOAX!' - Breitbart News

Nicolle Wallace: Donald Trump A Cyberbully; Sean Spicer A ‘Seinfeld’ Character – Deadline

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

We now have a president who called [former FBI Director James Comey] a crazy loon with a bunch of Russians, who taunts him on Twitter like kids do, MSNBCs Nicolle Wallace told Seth Meyers on Late Night. You cant treat people on Twitter the way the president treats former officials in his government, without getting kicked out of most private and public schools. Hes a cyberbully. (Watch part 2 of interview below.)

Meyers thanked Wallace for guesting on his NBC late-night show, noting how hard it is to book Republicans. But, he noted happily, she is anti-Trump.

Its a bridge too far for most people I know, frankly, to support this president, Wallace admitted. Its not about Republicans and Democrats. Its about reveling in blowing up everything that was normalHe destroyed something I care about: the Republican Party.

People governing under the Trump banner do not understand how bad it is, Wallace said.

There are the keepers of the Trump flame the Bannon Wing is how everyone talks about it. Then there are the professionals, people that are working in national security jobs, she said, naming Secretary of Defense James Mattis and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster.

You cant take away the serious parts of those jobs just because we have an unserious guy in the office, she assured Meyers.

Wallace, who served in a communications capacity during George W. Bushs presidency, marveled that only this presidency could make the Bush era look like the Golden Times.

Bush was aware when things were bad. We never had to spin him, she insisted. As for Trumps message-massaging team, they dont talk to him, for reasons that arent clear to me. They go out and brief the press without talking to him.

We know what [Spicer] is talking about nothing, she said. So it is sort of like Seinfeld meets the White Housethe briefings are about nothing.

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Nicolle Wallace: Donald Trump A Cyberbully; Sean Spicer A 'Seinfeld' Character - Deadline

The Donald rides again – Washington Times

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

The Donald is back, and hes keeping the Democrats up at night as they try to find a way back into American politics.

I said that to myself as I listened to the president address that huge crowd of some 6,000 people in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Wednesday night.

There were reports that the line to the stadium was more than a mile long four hours before his scheduled arrival. Some camped out overnight to make sure they got seats.

When President Trump did address them, his bouncy enthusiasm, his asides that had me laughing aloud before I knew it or pumping a fist in the air and, yes, his patented Donald J. Trump confidence (he did mention a few times that the GOP is now 5-0 against Democrats in special elections contests since he took office four months ago) all reminded me of his nomination and general election campaigns. In them, his broke every political rule in the book.

No American had campaigned that way in my lifetime. He came off Wednesday again as unscripted (though he read from a teleprompter much of the time) and said things national-level politicians dont say. They still dont. Only he does. But he actually did it all even better, even than he did as a candidate.

Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans yes, theyre still around make fun of his having appointed wealthy men like Wilbur Ross as commerce secretary and as his economic adviser Gary D. Cohn, who was not just a Wall Streeter but one from Goldman Sachs, the very same outfit he dumped on as candidate Trump.

Populist-sounding presidents just dont do something so stupid, Trump haters state and restate.

On Wednesday, the president took that argument spouted by his detractors and wrapped it around their necks.

In those particular positions, I just dont want a poor person does that make sense? he said. Six-thousand ordinary people leaping to their feet and shouting yes was the answer that reverberated in newsrooms and board rooms of every major news organization. Whether anybody in those organizations actually heard it is another question.

The Donald/Mr. President chastised communist Chinas President Xi Jinping for not slapping communist North Koreas missile-rattling leader Kim Jong-un upside the head hard enough to knock some sense into him.

Even while blowing a few kisses Mr. Xis way, Mr. Trump made it clear he, as president of the United States, (and perhaps Defense Secretary Mattis?) would take it from here, thank you, President Xi. If that doesnt keep Mr. Kim up at night, hes not paying attention.

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The Donald rides again - Washington Times

Will Ferrell on Donald Trump, Michelle Obama and His New Movie – New York Times

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

The question that inevitably gets asked for every comedy is: How much is improv in the movie? And how much is scripted? And its really hard not to mess with people. Ill just say, On this movie, 14 percent is improvised. And theyll go, Oh! How do you know? and Ill say, We have a logarithm or We run it through a computer that analyzes it. [laughs]

A preview of the film.

What appealed to you about playing a nice guy who transforms into a thuggish casino boss?

One thing I thought was great was getting to play a couple who are both equally committed to the premise. Usually in a movie, one of them the wife, the husband is in on the plan and the other is, like, Whats going on? But here, for better or for worse, theyre both like, O.K., lets just do it. They get to be funny together. I liked that.

You and Amy Poehler will both do whatever it takes for a laugh.

Shooting the scene where were walking home drunk and she urinates in the front yard? There was all this talk about [in a sincere, worried voice] How do we shoot this? and being very professional. And Amy goes, Ill just pull my pants down! and I thought: Oh, my god. This is great!

One of your first successes on Saturday Night Live was playing a dad who toggles between grilling hamburgers and shouting at his kids to get off the shed.

The Get Off the Shed sketch, I did that at the Groundlings, and it worked right away. Just the combination of regular backyard barbecue conversation Hows your golf game? juxtaposed with flying off the handle, screaming at your kids for a benign reason. That was such a delicious combination to me. It was also always inherently funny to me to play a dad who thought he had a high-stakes position, but its really very low stakes. Sort of like the comedy version of Willy Loman. Playing the befuddled father whos just earnestly trying his best has always struck me as funny. I dont know why. I cant say thats who my dad was.

Was gambling a part of your parents lives?

My dads a musician. He had his own lounge acts, then played with the Righteous Brothers on and off for 20, 25 years. He played a lot in Vegas. I have a nostalgic view of Vegas because as kids wed go stay with him for a week at the Riviera and see the Strip with all the lights. Then combined with that were the cautionary tales wed hear of people losing all their money and thinking, Thats not for me.

Is it true that Michelle Obama is a fan of your and Adam McKays Funny or Die sketch The Landlord?

Yes. We were invited to come to the White House for a Christmas party that is only for the cabinet, the executive branch, their spouses and family. The invite was first for me to come dressed as Buddy the Elf. And I was like, Um, yeah, I dont have that costume. So then they said, Come and read The Grinch. Which was interesting because there were no kids. Im reading it to, like, Defense Secretary Robert Gates. [laughs] But afterward, we got to sit at the first ladys table. Michelle Obama, one of the nicest people, said, Ive got to tell you, my staff and I watched The Landlord all the time. Then she just started doing lines, like, Give me my money, bitch! The Landlord helped launch our site and shut down all our servers. So the fact that she was a fan? That was high praise.

Speaking of viral videos, the recent speech you gave at U.S.C., your alma mater, has more than two million YouTube views. Did that surprise you?

I didnt realize that itd get that much reaction. Im used to writing things that are sarcastic, not things that are supposed to be funny, but also insightful and earnest. So it was an interesting challenge to find that middle ground. But also my family was there, my parents were there, and I got to sing a Whitney Houston song.

Did you ever get a reaction from our 43rd president to your eerily spot-on impression of him?

I happened to call Jimmy Kimmel on the day when [President George W. Bush] was going to be on promoting his book. And Jimmy said: Its so funny youre calling. Im having W on, and Im going to ask him about how he felt about your impersonation.

How did he respond?

He said: I loved it. Thats part of the gig. Youre going to get made fun of. Thats freedom of speech. And at that moment, he really looked like the adult in the room compared to the current guy [in office]. I get the narcissism because I feel like every president has an element of that, whether they hide it or not. But the thin skin part? Thats amazing. Youre kind of like: Really? Cant you just go with it? When [President Trump] wasnt going to have any part of the correspondents dinner you wanted to go: Do you realize that at that dinner you get to make fun of people too? Theyll make fun of you, but you get to punch back. I think it hurts so much so even the allure of getting to punch back isnt enough.

If you were back on S.N.L., who in the current administration would you want to send up?

I would have loved to have done Jared Kushner. Or Reince Priebus. No one really knows what that guy does. This is more of a sketch, but Amy and I were talking about the bizarre cabinet meeting where they had to compliment [President Trump]. It would be fun to do a sketch where you have a bunch of empty chairs, but Trump doesnt notice, and Im the one guy who pops from chair to chair, maybe with different wigs, and keeps complimenting him.

Hollywood makes few dramatic movies about middle-class worries now. So can comedies fill that gap?

I love comedies where we get to either make very direct satirical comments about whats going on or indirect. I think its great when we can slide that stuff in. But is that the only way were going to get people to listen? It seems to be more and more that way. When you feel like you get more real news by watching The Daily Show or Samantha Bee, thats saying something.

A version of this article appears in print on June 25, 2017, on Page AR1 of the New York edition with the headline: Now Its Time to Wield an Ax.

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Will Ferrell on Donald Trump, Michelle Obama and His New Movie - New York Times

Sears Canada files for bankruptcy – CNNMoney

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Sears Canada, which has more than 200 stores and about 17,000 employees, was spun-off as an independent company in 2012. But the filing is still bad news for Sears Holdings (SHLD), which owns both the Sears and Kmart brands in the United States. Sears Holdings still owns 12% of its shares.

Sears Holdings CEO and principal shareholder Eddie Lampert, who has been struggling to keep the company afloat amid its own mounting losses, owns a total of 45% of Sears Canada both personally and through his hedge fund.

The bankruptcy filing was not a surprise. Sears Canada said a week ago that it was in danger of running out of the cash it needed to fund operations. Thursday's filing said that it expects to remain in business.

Related: Retail bloodbath - Bankruptcy filings are up

Sears Canada said that recent changes to its stores are starting to resonate with consumers, but it had to file for bankruptcy to give it the time it needed to let those changes take hold. In the last quarter alone, Sears Canada burned through about 30% of its cash and maxed out its existing credit lines. It said it had planned to borrow 175 million Canadian dollars to fund operations, but after negotiations with lenders it found it could only secure only C$109 million in additional loans.

Sears Canada said it hoped to be able to restructure and emerge from bankruptcy later this year. It did not give any details about store closing plans or staff cuts it might make as part of its restructuring.

In March, Sears Holdings also issued a warning about there being "substantial doubt" it could stay in business. But that warning, as serious as it was, did not paint the dire picture of a company running out of cash in the near term as did Sears Canada's warning last week.

Sears and Sears Canada are hardly the only struggling retailers. In the United States, retail bankruptcies are up about 30% so far this year, according to BankruptcyData.com. Well known names including RadioShack, Gymboree, Sports Authority and Payless Shoes have all filed for bankruptcy within the last year. Total store closings across the U.S. are likely to reach record levels this year.

By some estimates, 25% of U.S. malls could close within the next five years. Department stores have shed 46% of their workers since 2001, a greater percentage of their jobs than coal mines or factories have lost over the same period.

CNNMoney (New York) First published June 22, 2017: 8:41 AM ET

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Sears Canada files for bankruptcy - CNNMoney

Takata to file for bankruptcy Monday, SMFG to provide bridge loan: sources – Reuters

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

TOKYO Takata Corp (7312.T) will seek bankruptcy protection from creditors on Monday, two sources said, as the Japanese company faces billions of dollars in liabilities stemming from the biggest recall in automotive history.

The firm, whose defective air-bag inflators have been blamed for at least 16 deaths and more than 150 injuries worldwide, will file for protection in Tokyo District Court under the Civil Rehabilitation Act, Japan's version of U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy, said the sources, one of whom has direct knowledge of the matter and one who was briefed on the process.

Takata will then seek bridge loans from the core banking unit of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc (8316.T), which will provide tens of billions of yen (hundreds of millions of dollars) in bridge loans, one source said.

Takata spokesman Toyohiro Hishikawa said nothing had been decided regarding any filing or financing.

Shares in Takata changed hands for the first time since sources said last week that the struggling airbag maker was preparing to file for bankruptcy.

By mid-afternoon shares had more than halved in value to 116 yen, eroding Takata's market capitalization by about 75 percent from a week ago to nearly $86 million now.

Any filing would coincide with a deal for financial backing from U.S. auto parts maker Key Safety Systems Inc. Key is expected to acquire Takata assets as part of a restructuring in bankruptcy, a source told Reuters.

Takata would stop making air-bag inflators after completing a global recall as part of the restructuring plan with Key, separate sources said.

Takata plans to begin bankruptcy proceedings in both the United States and Japan, sources have said. Such moves would culminate a long, tumultuous fall for the family-controlled company that grew to become a global supplier to most of the world's major automakers.

(Reporting by Taro Fuse and Maki Shiraki, writing by Thomas Wilson; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

American Airlines' chief executive said on Thursday the company is not "particularly excited" about Qatar Airway's interest in buying up to 10 percent of the U.S. carrier's shares, in a letter to employees following disclosure of the state-owned Gulf airline's overture.

WASHINGTON The new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman wants to reverse the steep decline in initial public offerings and give individual investors more access to smaller, successful companies, according to a speech he is scheduled to deliver on Thursday.

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Takata to file for bankruptcy Monday, SMFG to provide bridge loan: sources - Reuters

The Mesothelioma Victims Center Now Urges a Diagnosed Navy … – PR Newswire (press release)

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

NEW YORK, June 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --The Mesothelioma Victims Center says, "We are certain most people have seen a cable TV commercial sponsored by a law firm offering a free book about mesothelioma. Typically, this is a law firm's marketing effort to identify people who have mesothelioma, and in our opinion the book is the bait.

"If you are a US Navy Veteran or person with mesothelioma, we offer a higher quality resource than a generic book about an extremely rare form of cancer caused by asbestos exposure as we would like to discuss anytime at 800-714-0303. As an example, we offer instant access to the nation's leading mesothelioma attorneys who can completely explain the mesothelioma financial compensation process.

"Once we have some basic information about the person, we will do our own on-the-spot research to make certain the diagnosed Navy Veteran or person has access to their region's top oncologists, who have experience treating mesothelioma. A Navy Veteran or person with mesothelioma will not get these types of resources in a free book about mesothelioma. The physicians we suggest are not associated with a VA hospital because these hospitals, in our opinion, provide an inferior service for Veterans with an aggressive cancer such as mesothelioma as we would like to explain anytime at 800-714-0303." http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com

Customized services offered by the Mesothelioma Victims Center to any US Navy Veteran that are vastly superior to a generic book about mesothelioma:

"Mesothelioma should not tear a family apart as we would like to discuss anytime at 800-714-0303. Mesothelioma can hopefully bring a family together," says the Mesothelioma Victims Center. http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com

According to the CDC the states indicated with the highest incidence of mesotheliomainclude Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland,New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia,Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Louisiana, Washington, and Oregon.

However, based on the calls the Mesothelioma Victims Center receives a US Navy Veteran with mesothelioma could live in any state including New York, Florida, California, Texas,Illinois, Ohio, Iowa,Indiana, Missouri, North Carolina,Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia,Alabama, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada,Arizona, Idaho, or Alaska.

High-risk work groups for exposure to asbestos include US Navy Veterans, power plant workers,shipyard workers, oil refinery workers, steel mill workers,manufacturing/factoryworkers, pulp or paper mill workers, plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics, machinists, miners, construction workers, insulators, rail road worker, roofers, or firemen. As a rule, these types of workers were exposed to asbestos in the 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, or 1980's. US Navy Veterans make up about one-third of all US Citizens who are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year. http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com

The Mesothelioma Victims Center says, "When it comes to obtaining the best mesothelioma settlement, the quality of the attorney matters, as we would like to explain anytime at 800-714-0303. Please don't shortchange yourself when it comes to mesothelioma financial compensation." http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com

For more information about mesothelioma please refer to the National Institutes of Health's web site related to this rare form of cancer: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mesothelioma.html

Media Contact:Michael Thomas163186@email4pr.com 800-714-0303

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-mesothelioma-victims-center-now-urges-a-diagnosed-navy-veteran-to-call-them-about-nations-top-lawyers-for-honest-answers-about-compensation-rather-than-a-generic-book-300478125.html

SOURCE Mesothelioma Victims Center

http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com

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The Mesothelioma Victims Center Now Urges a Diagnosed Navy ... - PR Newswire (press release)

Polish Study Confirms That Mesothelioma Risk Only Increases With … – Mesothelioma.net Blog (blog)

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Malignant mesothelioma is a cancer that is unlike all others in many ways. One of the most notable and frustrating of these is that mesotheliomasrisks continue to rise as more time passes from exposure to asbestos. This is in direct contrast to other types of cancers: for example, when a smoker quits smoking, every day that goes by without a cigarette their risk of being diagnosed with lung cancer decreases. The same is true for those who give up other harmful exposures or who change sedentary lifestyles to more active ones.

This has long been suspected in the mesothelioma research community, and was recently confirmed by a study conducted by Polish scientists at the Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine. Their study was comprehensive, comparing information from 131 patients diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma to a control group of 655 patients enrolled over a 14-year period in a health surveillance program specifically targeting asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma, asbestosis and asbestos-related lung cancer.

The researchers found that the moretime went by followingasbestos exposure, the higher the risk of a later diagnosis of the disease. The scientists report said in part, The results show that the risk of pleural mesothelioma continued to increase even after 40 years since the last exposure. The information gathered was also useful in that it identified the types of asbestos that put patients at greatest risk, with blue asbestos, or crocidolite carrying the highest levels of danger and workers who had been exposed to a combination of several different types of asbestos being at a risk five times greater than of those who were exposed to chrysotile asbestos alone.

Theories as to why asbestos behaves so differently from other toxins abound, but the most frequently posited notion has to do with the physical properties of asbestos itself. Unlike nicotine or other inhaled chemicals, asbestos fibers are pointy and sharp. They become embedded in the cells of the body and remain there rather than being expelled. This means that they continue to have the potential for causing mutations and inflammation decades after the fiber is originally inhaled or ingested.

If you have been exposed to asbestos and are concerned about your own risk of being diagnosed with mesothelioma, or if someone you love has already been diagnosed with the disease, you need information on signs, symptoms, and resources that are available to you. At Mesothelioma.net, we are dedicated to providing asbestos exposure victims with the help that they need. Call our Patient Advocates today at 1-800-692-8608, or visit our website at http://www.mesothelioma.net.

Terri Oppenheimer is an independent writer, editor, and proofreader. She graduated from the College of William and Mary with a degree in English. Her dreams of a writing career were diverted by a need to pay her bills. She spent a few years providing the copy for a major retailer, then landed a lucrative career in advertising sales. With college bills for all three of her kids paid, she left corporate America for a return to her original goal of writing. She specializes in providing content for websites and finds tremendous enjoyment in the things she learns while doing her research. Her specific areas of interest include health and fitness, medical research, and the law.

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Polish Study Confirms That Mesothelioma Risk Only Increases With ... - Mesothelioma.net Blog (blog)

Nintedanib Combination Delayed Progression in Malignant Mesothelioma – Cancer Network

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Adding nintedanib to pemetrexed/cisplatin improved the progression-free survival (PFS) of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma compared with placebo, according to updated results (abstract 8506) presented at the 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting.

Nintedanib is an oral multikinase inhibitor that targets vascular endothelial growth factor receptors 13, platelet-derived growth factor receptors /, fibroblast growth factor receptors 13, and Src and Abl kinase signaling. Patients treated with nintedanib on this trial had a median PFS (the primary endpoint) gain of 3.7 months compared with placebo.

This study met its primary endpoint and demonstrated clinical benefit in first-line treatment in patients with mesothelioma with the addition of nintedanib to pemetrexed and cisplatin, said Anna K. Nowak, MD, of the University of Western Australia, who presented the results.

According to Nowak, mesothelioma is often diagnosed at an advanced stage. Pemetrexed/cisplatin is the only approved regimen for this disease, providing a median overall survival of about 1 year.

Data from the primary analysis of this trial showed that nintedanib improved PFS (hazard ratio [HR], 0.56; 95% CI, 0.340.91) compared with placebo. At the meeting, Nowak presented updated PFS and mature overall survival results.

The trial included 87 patients with unresectable mesothelioma who were randomly assigned to 6 cycles or less of pemetrexed/cisplatin plus nintedanib or placebo followed by nintedanib or placebo monotherapy until progression.

Results from the updated analysis showed a median PFS of 5.7 months for placebo compared with 9.4 months for nintedanib (HR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.330.87; P = .010). In a preplanned subgroup analysis of patients with epithelioid histology, the median PFS increased from 5.7 months with placebo to 9.7 months with nintedanib (HR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.300.82; P = .006).

There was no significant difference in overall survival between the two treatment arms (HR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.461.29; P = .319). The median overall survival increased from 14.2 months in the placebo arm to 18.3 months in the nintedanib arm, but the difference was not statistically significant. In patients with epithelioid histology, the median overall survival was 20.6 months for nintedanib compared with 15.2 months for placebo (HR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.401.21; P = .197).

Finally, the objective response rate was 57% in the nintedanib arm compared with 44% in the placebo arm (odds ratio, 1.66; 95% CI, 0.723.92).

There was substantially more neutropenia and thrombocytopenia in the nintedanib arm. In addition, diarrhea and abnormalities in liver function were also more common in the nintedanib arm. However, Nowak noted that few of the diarrhea events were grade 3 or higher. Four fatal serious adverse events occurred on the studyone in the nintedanib arm and three in the placebo armbut all were related to disease progression.

A phase III study of this regimen is ongoing.

Link:

Nintedanib Combination Delayed Progression in Malignant Mesothelioma - Cancer Network

Collapsed bridge cut off over 5000 residents in llorin – National Accord

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

From KEHINDE AKINPELU, Ilorin Over 5,000 residents including school children of Alagbado community in llorin South Local Government of Kwara have been cut off with other communities following the collapse of the only bridge linking them.

Alhaji Mustapha AbdulHameed, the Chairman Joint Associations for the community gave the figure of the affected residents during an interview with National Accord.

He lamented since the bridge. Collapsed about a month ago, it had virtually paralysed the social and Economic activities of the affected residents.

The collapsed bridged. He added affected the acquisition of both western and lslamic educations of their children as. The school buses that normally convey the children had stopped coming.

AbdulHameed appealed to the state Government to assist in the construction of the bridge to improve the socio-economic life of the affected residents.

A commercial motorcyclist, lshola Aremu plying the route who spoke with NATIONAL ACCORD, said most residents were unable to pay for the alternative which is a long distance to other communities.

In a swift reaction, the state Commissioner for. Works and Transport, Alhaji Aro Yahaya said the state Government had awarded contract for the construction of real concrete bridge that can last longer than the collapsed one.

He appealed to the affected residents to exercise patience, sitting that the construction will commence in august when rain break.

The Commissioner advised residents of the state to always ensure clean drainaged system to curb cases of collapsed bridges.

Accord re called that Alagbado bridge collapsed on Saturday 26th May after heavy downpour which listed over five hours .

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Op-Ed: South Africa’s central bank row points to dangerous levels of intolerance – CNBCAfrica.com

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Photo: Flickr.

What kind of financial system is sure to collapse if the central bank cares about peoples well-being?

The recommendation by South Africas Public Protector that the Reserve Banks mandate change, says much about Busisiwe Mkhwebane, none of it flattering. It says just as much about mainstream economic debate and none of that is flattering either.

Mkhwebane recommended that the central banks constitutional mandate, which makes protecting the currency its primary goal, be changed to one which requires it to promote balanced and sustainable economic growth while ensuring that the socio-economic well-being of the citizens are protected. She also said the constitution should require the bank to achieve meaningful socio-economic transformation.

This triggered a wave of protests, as well as an announcement from the South African Reserve Bank that it would take the matter to court. The Reserve Bank had no option. The constitutional court has ruled that the Public Protectors findings are binding unless they are challenged in court. Her recommendation wildly exceeded what she is allowed to do by the constitution or democratic good sense and the Reserve Bank could not allow it to stand.

Democratic constitutions are changed by large majorities of the people or their elected representatives not by individuals. By making a binding recommendation that the constitution be changed, Mkhwebane signalled that she either doesnt understand or does not care for democracy.

Her report is also very useful to a faction of the governing party which wants to deflect charges of state capture by claiming that white monopoly capital already controls the state. There are real questions about the fitness for office of a Public Protector whose report seems more interested in protecting connected politicians and business people than with taking the peoples will seriously.

But the reaction did not stop at insisting that Mkhwebane has no business telling the people what the constitution should say. Much of it objected not only to her saying what the Reserve Banks mandate should be, but to anyone at all doing that.

The prize for the wildest reaction went to the commentator who declared that Mkhwebanes ideas on the Banks mandate were inspired by someone who denied that the Nazi genocide happened. Others stopped short of tarring constitutional change with the same brush as mass murder but were united in claiming that to suggest that the Reserve Banks mandate be broadened is economically illiterate and deeply damaging.

Absa, who was the subject of a separate finding by the public protector on the issue of a controversial bailout, asked a court to rule that her proposed change posed a serious risk to the financial system. For its part the rating agency Standard & Poors, happy as ever to police the boundaries of economic correctness, warned that any interference with the Reserve Banks independence could trigger new downgrades.

To insist that anyone who proposes changing the Reserve Banks mandate is economically damaging and stupid is as contemptuous of democracy and dangerous to the economy as Mkhwebanes excess. It is undemocratic because it seeks to close down policy debate by declaring that only one view of the Reserve Banks mandate can ensure a healthy economy. It is dangerous because it blocks the search for economic remedies by seeking to bully even those who propose only mild changes to what the country now has.

The idea that the Reserve Bank should have a broader mandate is neither radical nor dangerous. The most famous central bank, the US Federal Reserve, has a broader mandate. Its dual mandate requires it to seek maximum employment as well as price stability.

The Australian equivalents mandate includes maintenance of full employment and economic prosperity and welfare of the people. The European Central Bank, famed for its love of austerity, has a mandate to seek sustainable growth.

And the the Bank of Englands website says that, subject to its goal of price stability, it aims to support the governments economic objectives.

In South Africa, not only has the view that the central banks mandate is too restrictive been repeated periodically but it may well have been implemented for a while. In 2010, then finance minister Pravin Gordhan wrote to then Reserve Bank governor, Gill Marcus, proposing a mandate which included growth and employment. Marcus reacted positively, which suggests that the bank acted on Gordhans letter. The financial system survived.

The US, European and Australian financial systems have also not collapsed. Their mandates have not triggered a downgrade and no one has accused these societies of economic illiteracy.

So either double standards are being applied or we are being told that restrictive central bank mandates are essential only if countries are in particular parts of the world (such as Africa) and governed by particular types of people (Africans).

And why does a change in the Banks mandate undermine its independence? A central bank loses its independence if politicians (or anyone else) can tell it what to do, not if its mandate changes.

For all its flaws, the Public Protectors proposal would retain the Reserve Banks independence, leaving it to the bank to decide what promotes the well-being of the people or transformation.

None of this means that the Reserve Banks mandate must change. Or that central bank independence must go. But it does mean that no one should be discouraged from debating the issue, as people routinely do in other democracies and market economies. What, besides that prejudice which we prettify by the term Afropessimism, explains the insistence that we may not debate what is freely discussed in most other places?

Closing down debate in this way is common in South Africa. It also lies behind complaints of policy uncertainty which does not mean, as it does elsewhere, that government keeps changing its mind and sending mixed messages the macro-economic framework has been stable for more than two decades. It means, rather, that some people who some others may take seriously raise policy ideas the economic mainstream does not like.

This demand that people can say anything they like about economic policy as long as the mainstream likes it too offers a misleading view of the economy. It says that there is nothing wrong with it except political interference and that it will flourish if politicians simply leave alone what is done now.

The contrary evidence is offered by mainstream organisations such as the International Monetary Fund and the South African Reserve Bank itself which have shown that the current economic rut is a product of problems in the private economy as well as what government does.

This means that the economy must change. This, in turn, requires new ideas. They will not emerge unless everything is up for debate and ideas are not silenced because they trigger the fears and prejudices of a few.

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Op-Ed: South Africa's central bank row points to dangerous levels of intolerance - CNBCAfrica.com

Use of harmful chemicals for fish preservation harmful to consumers … – BusinessGhana

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Mrs Elizabeth Naa Afoley Quaye, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, has warned fishmongers using Monosodium Glutamate to process expired fishes to halt the practice since it is harmful to human health.

She said fishmongers use monosodium glutamate on expired fish especially tilapia to let it look glossy to attract potential buyers.

The Sector Minister gave the warning at a Stakeholders Meeting on Fisheries Law Enforcement in Accra, on Tuesday, to deliberate on the best ways of halting unreported and unregulated fishing practices in the country

She said some fishmongers around the Volta Lake and other coastal communities had been buying rotten or expired fishes from some cold stores, the practice known in local parlance as Kodoso and used Monosodium Glutamate to make them attractive to potential buyers.

The Fisheries Minister said the indiscriminate use of explosives, chemicals, under-sized fishing nets, light fishing and other aggregating devices for fishing would collapse the fisheries sector if serious and pragmatic measures were not taken to address the menace.

The continuous use of various chemicals to harvest fish in the artisanal sector has serious health consequences for consumers.

"The practice of using chemicals is seriously wiping out our fishery resources because many of the poisoned fishes that are not harvested eventually rot at the bottom of the sea, and this pollute the environment.

This she explained if not stopped would lead to the total collapse of the fishery industry.

She warned that individuals or fishers who would be caught in any form of illegal fishing practices would have a brush with the law.

Mrs Quaye promised to subsidise fishing nets to fishermen and canoe owners as part of efforts to enhance their work.

She also entreated all owners of seized fishing vessels to report to the Ministry for identification and collection and warned them not to indulge in any illegal fishing practices again.

The Minister said under the Collaboratory Fisheries Management, fishermen have been given the authority to regulate fishing activities in their respective areas and to deal with people practising illegal fishing methods.

She noted that light fishing affected the reproductive system of the fishes and changed the temperature of the water body and, thus, made the water uncomfortable for habitation by marine life.

She explained that the current exploitation rate of the fisheries resources was not sustainable and urged all stakeholders in the fisheries industry to collaborate to stamp out unreported and unregulated fishing practices.

The Sector Minister said that the collapse of the fishery industry would have grave consequences on the national economy such as job losses, malnutrition and other negative socio-economic repercussions that would be difficult to quantify.

In the efforts to arrest and reverse the situation, the Minister said, her outfit had developed a comprehensive Fisheries Management Plan to address the challenge.

She mentioned some key measures like the effective enforcement of Fisheries legislation, improving information on fisheries biology and stock assessment to support the re-building strategy and reducing the current levels of fishing efforts and capacity.

Other measures include protecting marine habitat to conserve biodiversity and product certification and reducing post-harvest losses.

Mrs Quaye advocated the need for fishers to collaborate with the Fisheries Law Enforcement Unit to clamp down on "galamsey in the fishing sector" for sustainable fishery conservation.

Watch Committee members in Prampram in the Greater Accra Region, testified that, their vigilance against light fishing in the area, had yielded positive outcomes and enjoying bumper catch.

They suggested that the Ministry should replicate the setting up of such committees in other coastal communities, to protect marine life in the sea and other water bodies

The stakeholders meeting concluded ended with major players in the fishing industry agreeing that light fishing, use of -chemicals, under-sized fishing nets and bamboo for fishing should be barred.

Ghana has been battling light fishing for a number of years now and consensus reached by the stakeholders would help in bringing an end to all forms of illegal fishing practices in the country.

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Use of harmful chemicals for fish preservation harmful to consumers ... - BusinessGhana

Why Being Saved By A Black Gay Woman Doesn’t Delegitimize Steve Scalise’s Politics – The Federalist

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Once he gets out of the hospital, Rep. Steve Scalise ought to change his position on gay marriage and a host of other issues. Thus saith George Takei, MSNBCs Joy Reid, and a number of other liberal voices who are demanding that the Majority Whip see the error of his conservative ways after his attempted assassination was thwarted by Special Agent Gay Black Woman.

Gay Black Woman is not, as you might guess, the special agents given name. Its Crystal Griner. But considering Scalises politics, Griners name and bravery had to play second fiddle to her sex, sexuality, and race. It was just too deliciously ironic, you see, that a Republican now owes his life to someone composed of such non-Republican identities.

For those of us with a higher-than-Alanis standard of irony, however, this raises the question, um, wait, why is that ironic? Had Scalise ever said, I oppose same-sex marriage because those who engage in homosexual relationships are incapable of bravery, then, sure, the irony would be clear. Had this been the logic behind Scalises pro-traditional-marriage views, the first thing he should do when he gets out of the hospital is acknowledge that Officer Black Gay Womans bravery proved the goodness of gay marriage.

But Scalise never argued that homosexual unions shouldnt be considered marriage because gay sex renders people incapable of valor or selflessness. Nor has he ever suggested that gay marriage should be illegal because gay people dont deserve to have their lives protected. Like most conservatives, hes argued that, because homosexual unions are incapable of procreation, theyre incapable of being what marriage is. And Crystal Griners courage, commendable as it is, neither contradicts nor even addresses Scalises argument. So expecting her courage to change his position is just as illogical as expecting Pope Francis to convert to Lutheranism simply because a German mechanic fixed the papal golf cart.

Why, then, are all these voices on the left conflating Griners courage with her gayness? Why do people believe that Scalises supposed anti-gay bigotry should be destroyed by Griners bravery? The answer, it seems, is intersectionality, a mindset that has spread like wildfire through many leftist circles in recent years.

If youre not familiar with intersectionality, think of it as Identity Politics 3.0. The first version of Identity Politics told us that there are two classes the privileged oppressors (rich, white, straight, etc.) and the disadvantaged oppressed (poor, black, gay, etc.). Identity Politics 2.0 then told us that your self-chosen identity is part of your humanity.

Those who engage in homosexual acts, for example, are not men who have sex with other men. They are gay men. Their gayness is part of their very being, and because of this, to oppose same-sex relations is to oppose them as human beings. Now, intersectionalityIdentity Politics 3.0tells us that these various identities are all interconnected and overlapping, forming an elaborate series of identity tunnels that effectively unionize the oppressed against their oppressors.

This is why, for example, the Values and Principles of the Womens March declare, we believe Gender Justice is Racial Justice is Economic Justice. In other words, the struggles of women are connected to the struggles of minorities, which are connected to the struggles of the poor. So if you rich white ladies dont check your privilege by supporting the political agendas of minority women and poor women, well toss you across the picket line with the oppressors where you belong and strip you of your feminist credentials.

But as the shooting in Alexandria makes clear, intersectionality doesnt simply insist on the connection of various identities. It also insists on the transfer of good works from one identity to another, a kind of moral Marxism that seeks the redistribution of virtue. Crystal Griner is Special Agent Gay Black Woman. Her various identities cannot be separated from each other, which means that the goodness produced by Griner the Police Officer can be attributed to Griner the Lesbian.

With a trick like that in your back pocket, why bother even engaging Scalises argument? If you want to prove the goodness of your political agenda, just hit the intersectionality button and youll teleport straight from the line of scrimmage right into the end zone!

To see this trick in action, consider how Rev. Dr. William Barbers master class on how to prevent Republicans from being victims, even after they were targeted for assassination. In response to Paul Ryans statement an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us, Barber said, This cant just be a moral ethic that you apply to congress. Thats why the real question is will one or two days of changes in personality mean a fundamental change in public policy? A black man from my alma mater saved their lives. Will they go back to work and restore the voting rights act and stop systemic racism against black people thats happening through voter suppression and racialized redistricting? A lesbian black woman saved them. Will they go back to work and promote laws that no longer attack the rights of the LGBT community?

In other words, the oppressed did something good, which proves that the policies supported by the oppressed are good, so Republicans better get on board if they want me to stop considering them oppressors.

Of course, if a conservative Christian saved George Takei from a psycho, knife-wielding Star Trek fan, the actor and LBGT activist would most certainly not be expected to reconsider his support of Obergefell v. Hodges. By design, intersectionality never works in a conservatives favor. Because privileged identities are oppressive by nature, and because all identities are connected, any good produced by those with privilege is always tainted with the oppressiveness flowing through the tunnels. This is why, for example, when white Christians adopt non-white children, they arent consumed with holy desires, but with a white savior complex.

Its also why privileged, conservative politicians cant offer up anything but corrupted fruit. Mitt Romney, by virtue of being a white male, was a sexist. And even his binders full of women, his attempt to actively include women in his cabinet, was evidence of his misogyny. By virtue of being a white male, John McCain was a racist, which is why his career-long praise of John Lewis didnt stop John Lewis himself from comparing McCain to George Wallace. Because they are Republicans, everything Republicans do is tainted with oppression. They have no good works. And the only way they can change that, as Dr. Barber noted, is by becoming Democrats.

The great problem with intersectionality, however, is not merely that it puts conservative politicians at a competitive disadvantage, but that it puts them at risk for violence. Political violence has always been rare in the United States, due in large part to the design of the American government, imperfectly as that design has been executed at times. When you cant be thrown in jail for airing a minority opinion, when you cant be fined for having the wrong religion, when you have the right to defend yourself from mob violence, violent revolution against the mob isnt necessary. When your political adversaries dont have the power to oppress you, you have the luxury of trying to convince them instead of having to kill them.

But intersectionality insists that your political adversaries do have the power to oppress you because our white-male-designed government issurprise, surprisean oppressive system. And because the privileged are oppressors by nature, they will use that system to oppress you. And because you cant convince these reprobates not to oppress you, you have only one option left to protect yourself: violence. Granted, the vast majority of those who embrace intersectionality have enough of a moral foundation to avoid this. Most of them wont take this doctrine to its logical end. But those looking to sanctify their bloodlust just might. In fact, it appears the shooter in Alexandria already did.

What I find saddest about the Alexandria shooting is the perpetrators hatred. What I find saddest about the coverage of that shooting is that so many people dont view Scalise and Griner any differently than the shooter did (or at least would have, had he known who Griner was). Rep. Homophobe McBigotFace Gunned Down by Vigilante Hero in Defense of Blacks, Gays, Women and Oppressed People Everywhere is clearly the headline that Alexandrias shooter was writing in his murderous mind. Rep. Homophobe McBigot Faced Saved by Officer Black Gay Woman, the essential headline from many on the left, is not all that different.

Perhaps when Scalise and Griner have healed from their wounds, theyll sit down and have a conversation about gay marriage. If they do, Im sure theyll view each other as friends who disagree rather than as enemies in class warfare. Im sure that, instead of calling each the straight white male and the gay black woman, theyll call each other by name. We ought to do the same.

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Why Being Saved By A Black Gay Woman Doesn't Delegitimize Steve Scalise's Politics - The Federalist

Sedition or intolerance? – Mumbai Mirror

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Our columnist writes on why Pakistan is much more than just a political issue in India.

Last year, Umar Daraz, a 22-year-old man was arrested by Pakistani authorities for hoisting the Indian flag atop his house after India won a cricket match against Australia in which Kohli scored 90 runs. According to a report, Daraz was a big fan of Kohli and the flag hoisting was an act to express love for the cricketer.

Earlier this week, 19 people, including minors were arrested from various parts of the country for celebrating Pakistans victory over India in the Champions Trophy Final. No Indian law prohibits celebrating another countrys sporting victory over India. Some reports claim that these people have been booked under the charge of sedition. Actual violence or incitement to violence is a necessary ingredient to the charge of sedition. By no stretch of imagination can celebrating Pakistans victory be tantamount to incitement of violence.

Why would an Indian celebrate when Pakistan wins against India and is it wrong to do this? I can think of two reasons. One reason can be the teams sheer sporting excellence. Pakistan was considered a weak team and staged a spectacular turn-around after initial losses. This shouldnt be outside the realm of possibilities.

I have friends who get almost violent, give up eating or punch walls in a fit of rage when, thousands of miles away, a football club in England, loses a match. These friends have no connection to England whatsoever. The fact that England colonised India, oppressed Indians for two hundred years, and killed millions does not seem to bother them. I (thankfully) dont see anyone taking umbrage to them.

A friend who recently declared me a traitor argued that Pakistan is not just another country. Similar rules dont apply to them. When we are playing against Pakistan, it is not just a game. The team represents the State of Pakistan. The State of Pakistan is Indias enemy and has killed thousands of our citizens. While I dont agree, let me take this argument to its logical conclusion. If the Pakistani cricket team represents Pakistan then the Indian cricket team is representing the Indian State. The Captain of the Indian team was full of praises for the Pakistani side after the loss. Yuvraj, Dhoni and Kohli clicked photographs with the children of two Pakistani cricketers. Some Indian cricketers were seen exchanging banter in another video. I dont think this behaviour indicates that they were fighting against people who symbolise all the wrongs Pakistan has visited upon India.

Wikipedia defines sportswomanship as an ethos that an activity will be enjoyed for its own sake with proper consideration for fairness, respect and a sense of fellowship for ones competitors. All evidence leads me to the inevitable conclusion that those we were rooting for were themselves treating it like a sport and nothing else. Why cant everyone else do the same? My friend and stand-up artist Sanjay Rajoura often performs in Pakistan. In his set, he jokes about religion, the Pakistani Army, Pakistani Government and many other elephants in their proverbial room. I always see Pakistanis stand up and applaud and take those jokes very well.

Needless to say, stand up is not a competitive sport but it isnt war either, just like sport isnt. It is absolutely fine to feel broken and hurt if someone cheers a team you dont like. It is terrible, however, to begin doubting their patriotism, or worse, arrest the people in question. It is not the business of the state to protect everyones hurt feelings. It may not be just agame for you, it should be ok for it to be just a game for others.

The second reason I think someone would support another countrys team is when this is done as an act of protest. The Indian state has committed and continues to perpetrate horrible atrocities in various parts of the country. People who belong to some religions are treated like secondary citizens discriminated against when looking to rent a house, find a job and more. No one in their right mind can deny that the Indian government has often oppressed innocent citizens-in Kashmir, in Nagaland, in Manipur. This oppression has also and often been perpetrated in police stations across the country. I, for one, dont feel surprised at all when people who believe they are treated like strangers or enemies in their own homes, express support for another country. If this bothers you, these people being arrested should bother you even more. Like Gandhi once said, affection cannot be manufactured by force. I am also paraphrasing something Shehla Rashid said if patriotism could be manufactured at gunpoint all areas under AFSPA would be full of citizens brimming with patriotism.

Those arrested will come back more bitter than they were when they initially. Or maybe we could take a leaf out of a viral video I saw. Two groups of cricket fans on the London tube one supporting Pakistan, another India. Pakistanis start chanting Pakistan Zindabad. The Indian group joins in. Soon after, Indians chant Hindustan Zindabad and Pakistanis repeat the favour and fervour. I think theres a huge lesson here. What do you think?

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Sedition or intolerance? - Mumbai Mirror

Labour and the Lib Dems are as much to blame as the Tories for Grenfell Tower – Spectator.co.uk (blog)

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

I havent been in Camden this afternoon, so I cant vouch for there being no marches of activists holding banners with the words Labour Out and Corbyn Must Go, but somehow I doubt there are and I certainly havent seen them on the news. But why not? Last week we saw no end of left-wing activists out on the streets trying to exploit the Grenfell Tower tragedy for their own party political purposes trying to present it as a case of callous Tories treating the lives of the poor as worthless as they slash their way through budgets with abandon.

Yes, Kensington and Chelsea is a Conservative-controlled borough but it turns out that is was far from alone in cladding its tower blocks with flammable cladding. Today, it emerges that five blocks in Labour-controlled Camden have also been clad with a similar material, which is now to be removed as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, fire officers will man the corridors 24 hours a day.

The cladding of tower blocks with flammable materials is a scandal, but it is one in which all three main political parties have their fingers. Across the country, 600 blocks have been clad (not necessarily with the same materials as those at Grenfell Tower, though many are now being tested). They span council areas of all colours. The cladding of tower blocks began under the Blair government whose Decent Homes Initiative, which demanded that 95 per cent of social housing be brought up to specified insulation standards by 2010 but which failed to lay down adequate fire standards. It was a Labour-controlled Southwark Council which was fined 570,000 for the fatal fire at Lakanal House in Camberwell in 2009 which was found to have spread as a result of renovation work. The practice of cladding continued under the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition and under a standalone Conservative government.

The fact that all parties might be culpable in cladding tower blocks hasnt stopped Jeremy Corbyn, however, who continues his attempt to turn Grenfell Tower into a parable about class oppression. From Hillsborough, to the child sex abuse scandal, to Grenfell Tower, the pattern is consistent: working-class peoples voices are ignored, their concerns dismissed by those in power, he said this afternoon. Yet Hillsborough victims werent all working class. While child sex abuse has been exposed among children in care in Rotherham, Oldham and elsewhere, it has also come to light in private boarding schools where childrens complaints were equally ignored.

If Corbyn is going to continue this line of attack he might at least check his facts first. Last week he said: The ward where this fire took place is, I think, the poorest ward in the whole country. Actually, it comes in at number 3823 out of 32,844 wards in the governments deprivation index: not even in the top 10 per cent. The most-deprived is Jaywick, on the fringes of Clacton, Essex, and the next two are in Blackpool. Corbyn might pitch himself as a champion of the working class, but in doing so exposes his own London-centric, middle class prejudices.

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Labour and the Lib Dems are as much to blame as the Tories for Grenfell Tower - Spectator.co.uk (blog)

Rants and raves – The Augusta Chronicle

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Submit a Rant or Rave

Its good to see that the investigation on the Russian interference is moving forward. We need the truth to finally be out about Trump supporters who want back doors and other hidden communications with Russians to avoid legal penalties.

It is clear that the president is attempting to erase all of President Obamas achievements. What he cant erase is what we are all seeing about him. When this investigation is over, he will be remembered, but not with reverence. He and Richard Nixon will stand alone all by themselves. What a sad, vindictive, vicious man.

Why on Earth would someone ex-pect that American military should go after terrorists worldwide? The cowboying into other territories without proper body armor and tank protection and other expensive military equipment needed against IEDs is what cost the lives and limbs and other harms to our military less than two decades ago.

Candidate Trump stated he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it. Did he give people the incentive to follow suit?

Regarding John Coles cartoon, June 15 enough with the beheading. Cartoons are OK, but we need civility in them also.

Lets see an accounting of all those millions spent so far by the Trump family alone in their various travels, especially during the weekends. They bellyached so much about what was spent by other presidents on so-called vacation times, but Im sure the Trumps have outspent them in these past few months.

I see Ivanka Trump got permission to sell even more things in China. Are they made by Chinese or American companies?

I think comedian Adam Conover summed up our current political situation perfectly last year: There is a huge difference between me and those people. They are wrong, whereas I am right.

Its about our government making a better deal with Cuba: Make a better deal with Cuba so that money does not go to their government, where they control everything including oppression of the Cuban people.

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Rants and raves - The Augusta Chronicle

Jeff Sessions’s new war on drugs won’t be any more effective than the old one – Washington Post

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

By David Cole and Marc Mauer By David Cole and Marc Mauer June 22 at 2:45 PM

David Cole is national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union. Marc Mauer is executive director of the Sentencing Project.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is right to be concerned about recent increases in violent crime in some of our nations largest cities, as well as a tragic rise in drug overdoses nationwide [Lax drug enforcement means more violence, op-ed, June 18]. But there is little reason to believe that his response reviving the failed war on drugs and imposing more mandatory minimums on nonviolent drug offenders will do anything to solve the problem. His prescription contravenes a growing bipartisan consensus that the war on drugs has not worked. And it would exacerbate mass incarceration, the most pressing civil rights problem of the day.

Sessionss first mistake is to conflate correlation and causation. He argues that the rise in murder rates in 2015 was somehow related to his predecessor Eric Holders August 2013 directive scaling back federal prosecutions in lower-level drug cases. That policy urged prosecutors to reserve the most serious charges for high-level offenses. Holder directed them to avoid unnecessarily harsh mandatory minimum sentences for defendants whose conduct involved no actual or threatened violence, and who had no leadership role in criminal enterprises or gangs, no substantial ties to drug trafficking organizations and no significant criminal history. (Mandatory minimums can lead to draconian sentences, as in the case of Ramona Brant, a first-time offender sentenced to life imprisonment for her part in distributing drugs at the direction of an abusive boyfriend). Individuals who met the stringent criteria of Holders policy would still be prosecuted, but they would be spared overly long mandatory minimums. Sessions offers no evidence that this policy caused the recent spikes in violent crime or drug overdoses. There are three reasons to doubt that there is any significant connection between the two.

First, federal prosecutors handle fewer than 10 percent of all criminal cases, so a modest change in their charging policy with respect to a subset of drug cases is unlikely to have a nationwide impact on crime. The other 90 percent of criminal prosecution is conducted by state prosecutors, who were not affected by Holders policy.

Second, the few individuals who benefited from Holders policy by definition lacked a sustained history of crime or violence or any connections to major drug traffickers.

Third, the increases in violent crime that Sessions cites are not nationally uniform, which one would expect if they were attributable to federal policy. In 2015, murder rates rose in Chicago, Cleveland and Baltimore, to be sure. But they declined in Boston and El Paso, and stayed relatively steady in New York, Las Vegas, Detroit and Atlanta. If federal drug policy were responsible for the changes, we would not see such dramatic variances from city to city.

Nor is there any evidence that increases in drug overdoses have anything to do with shorter sentences for a small subset of nonviolent drug offenders in federal courts. Again, the vast majority of drug prosecutions are in state court under state law and are unaffected by the attorney generals policies. And the rise in drug overdoses is a direct result of the opioid and related heroin epidemics, which have been caused principally by increased access to prescription painkillers from doctors and pill mills. That tragic development calls for treatment of addicts and closer regulation of doctors, not mandatory minimums imposed on street-level drug sellers, who are easily replaced in communities that have few lawful job opportunities.

Most disturbing, Sessions seems to have no concern for the fact that the United States leads the world in incarceration; that its prison population is disproportionately black, Hispanic and poor; or that incarceration inflicts deep and long-lasting costs on the very communities most vulnerable to crime in the first place. As of 2001, 1 of every 3 black male babies born that year could expect to be imprisoned in his lifetime, and while racial disparities have been modestly reduced since then, African Americans are still a disproportionate share of the prison population. Mass incarceration has disrupted families, created even greater barriers to employment and increased the likelihood that the next generation of children will themselves be incarcerated. Advocates as diverse as the Koch brothers and George Soros, the Center for American Progress and Americans for Tax Reform, the American Civil Liberties Union and Right on Crime agree that we need to scale back the harshness of our criminal justice system.

Rather than expanding the drug war, Sessions would be smarter to examine local conditions that influence crime and violence, including policing strategies, availability of guns, community engagement and concentrated poverty. Responding to those underlying problems, and restoring trust through consent decrees that reduce police abuse, hold considerably more promise of producing public safety. Sessionss revival of the failed policies of the past, by contrast, has little hope of reducing violent crime or drug overdoses.

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Jeff Sessions's new war on drugs won't be any more effective than the old one - Washington Post

OURS: War on drugs just got tougher | Editorial | rapidcityjournal.com – Rapid City Journal

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

It was just 14 months ago when Pennington County Sheriff Kevin Thom told a state oversight council that meth use had gone off the charts and was out of control in parts of South Dakota.

Since then, the state has appropriated several hundred thousand dollars to bolster treatment opportunities, start a marketing campaign to warn youth and others of the dangers of meth, and to incentivize those on probation and parole to stop using a drug that is almost instantly addicting.

It appears, however, that these efforts have been akin to putting a finger in a dyke that is about to crumble. Meth use has skyrocketed in the past year and is often a key ingredient in violent crimes.

Now, however, meth and the madness and mayhem it creates has a rival and experts say its potency makes it far more dangerous. It's called fentanyl analog and should alarm everyone who is concerned about public health and public safety.

On Tuesday, the Lawrence County State's Attorney's Office announced that nine people were indicted on 50 felony drug charges. The primary drug cited was fentanyl analog. The investigation that led to the indictments came after two Spearfish residents, ages 23 and 38, died in January after using the synthetic opiod that the National Institute on Drug Abuse says is 50 to 100 more times potent than morphine, making it extraordinarily lethal.

The Lawrence County indictments come just one week after a 19-year-old Chamberlain man was arrested for possessing 20,000 fentanyl pills worth $500,000.

Until recently, fentanyl has been seen as primarily a big-city problem in a few states. In 2014, the Centers for Disease Control reported that 80 percent of fentanyl seizures occurred in 10 eastern states.

Since then, however, this killer drug has swept through the nation and now has surfaced in central and western South Dakota where many of us feel insulated from drug epidemics and their fatal consequences. The drug, however, has the potential to sweep through a state like a plague. In New Hampshire, for example, the number of fentanyl-related deaths climbed from 145 to 283 from 2014 to 2015, according to the National Drug Early Warning System. The state's population is only around 1.3 million people.

In Lawrence County, 37-year-old Eric Reeder now faces 20 felony charges, including two counts of first-degree manslaughter. Spearfish police said the suspect told them he ordered the fentanyl on the darknet and they were delivered to him. Also facing a first-degree manslaughter charge is 32-year-old Ashley Kristina Kuntz.

The Lawrence County Sheriff's Office, the Lawrence County State's Attorney's Office and Spearfish police are to be congratulated for pursuing this case and seeking convictions on manslaughter charges. It's become all too clear that our ongoing war on drugs has become a lot tougher and the stakes are even higher.

It is a problem that requires an immediate and strong response from law enforcement. In the meantime, we all have a duty to report any suspected drug activity to law enforcement and to do everything possible to protect our families and loved ones from this devastating drug.

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OURS: War on drugs just got tougher | Editorial | rapidcityjournal.com - Rapid City Journal

No additional funds for war on drugs – The Indian Express

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Danzig

Written by Adil Akhzer | Chandigarh | Published:June 22, 2017 11:34 am

The Punjab government that promised eradication of drug menace to be on top of its agenda did not allocate any additional funds in its maiden budget worth Rs 1.18 lakh crore presented on Tuesday. Other than an amount of Rs 50 crore for establishment of primary rural rehabilitation and drug de-addiction centres in the state, the template of the budget set aside for health was nothing different than the one presented last year by the SAD-BJP government.

The government allocated Rs 1,358 crore for medical and public health in this fiscal year, which is 14.21 per cent higher than the allocations made the previous year. The allocation had nothing for fighting drugs.

Punjabs Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, during his budget speech on Tuesday said to restore the health of all the citizens of Punjab, while some new initiatives are being taken, some of the existing would be reinforced and remodelled to address the problem in a focused manner.

The previous government, in the last budget, had allocated funds for the similar heads. Then, the government had allocated Rs 708 crore for providing affordable and accountable health care services to the community, Rs 36 crore for ambulance services, Rs 25 crore for treatment of cancer patients, Rs 100 crore for medical insurance for the poor people, and Rs 150 crore for creation of cancer and drug de-addiction treatment infrastructure.

And on Tuesday, when Manpreet Badal presented his budget, he had almost similar things in the health sector. Of the allocated Rs 1,358 crore, Rs 777 crore were allocated for providing affordable and accountable health care services to the community under National Health Mission Programme, Rs 38 crore for providing emergency response services (108-Ambulance Services), medical helpline (104) in the State, Rs 30 crore for treatment of cancer patients under CM Cancer Relief Fund, Rs 100 crore for Universal Health Insurance for the under privileged people, Rs 50 crore for the creation of cancer and drug de-addiction treatment infrastructure, Rs 50 crore for the establishment of primary rural rehabilitation & drug de-addiction centres in the state and Rs 50 crore for tertiary care cancer centre.

Badal said new tertiary-level infrastructure was being created in the field of cancer and drug de-addiction in the state medical colleges. For cancer patients, he said tertiary care centres were being set up at the cost of Rs 50 crore in Fazilka and Hoshiarpur districts.

Badal also said a new medical college would be set up at SAS Nagar (Mohali) with an additional outlay of Rs 10 crore in 2017-18. Rs 100 crore has been provided for upgradation of infrastructure in the Government Medical College and Hospital, Patiala.

The government has planned to transform approximately 3,000 centres in rural and urban areas as Health & Wellness Clinics which will ensure preventive as well as limited curative services, he said.

Reacting to the budget, States Health Minister Brahm Mohindra told The Indian Express that he will set the priority about funds usage in the health sector, as per the needs of the people of Punjab.

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No additional funds for war on drugs - The Indian Express

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