Palace: Arrest order vs De Lima a ‘fulfillment’ of war on drugs – Inquirer.net

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Malacaang welcomed Thursday the issuance of an arrest order against Sen. Leila de Lima as a fulfillment of President Rodrigo Dutertes war on drugs.

The issuance of a warrant for the arrest of Senator De Lima is a major step forward in the administrations anti-drug war, presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said in a statement.

It is a fulfillment of the campaign promise of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to rid Philippine society of drugs, crime and corruption, Abella added.

The Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) issued on Thursday de Limas arrest warrant over charges of illegal drugs filed aginst her.

Abella said the arrest of de Lima demonstrates the Presidents strong resolve to fight pushers, peddlers and their protectors and that his government will not yield until the last pusher and trader are out of the streets victimizing the Filipino youth.

This we owe to the Filipino youth and the future generations for whom we build a nation worthy of Filipinos; and Filipinos worthy of the nation, he said.

De Lima is facing drug charges in connection with her alleged involvement in illegal drugs when she was still a justice secretary. /atm

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Palace: Arrest order vs De Lima a 'fulfillment' of war on drugs - Inquirer.net

Hidden victims of war on drugs – The Phnom Penh Post

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Cambodia's war on drugs is in full swing, routinely grabbing headlines as ever-growing numbers of suspects more than 4,000 so far, most of them users swell the Kingdoms jails.

But behind the high-profile raids, the campaign is having an alarming, albeit hidden, side effect, observers say: With the crackdown multiplying risks for drug users, many are shunning health and substitution therapy services offered by NGOs and clinics, thereby increasing the likelihood they will overdose or contract and transmit HIV, AIDS, and tuberculosis.

Data collected by the Khmer HIV/AIDS NGO Alliance (KHANA), a national NGO specialising in HIV prevention, shows that during the first month of Cambodias drug crackdown, the organisation saw a 15 percent reduction in the number of drug users receiving harm reduction services across the board, from 425 people to 359.

These services include needle exchanges, condom and hygiene product distribution, counselling, access to antiretroviral treatment, and HIV education sessions. KHANA also provides transportation for recovering drug addicts to receive methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) at Phnom Penhs Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital.

Individual KHANA programs have been even harder hit than a 15 percent total drop would suggest. Participation in its needle-exchange program, for instance, decreased from 138 people to 75 a 46 percent drop.

The reason we supply them with needles is because if we are not supplying them, they continue to share needles, explained KHANAs executive director Chob Sok Chamreun. They inject every day, so to ensure they have enough, we supply them.

KHANA supplies needles at 11 locations, three times a week. However, since the crackdown began, many drug users fear being stopped by police while carrying evidence of their drug use.

Within a month of the crackdowns initiation in January, 21 out of 112 individuals receiving help from KHANA to access MMT stopped reporting for their treatments. Sok Chamreun believes they stopped coming because they feared that police would follow them.

Still, Sok Chamreun cannot be sure if the 21 people stopped MMT because they feared arrest or because they were actually arrested. We dont know where they are; we could not find them, he said.

If those people lost daily doses, it means that they go back to injection and can have very bad withdrawal.

To deal with withdrawal symptoms, he adds, some may ultimately overdose, and an overdose can kill them if they do not have Naloxone, an antidote for opioid overdoses.

Sok Chamreun is particularly concerned about his organisations clients who suffer from tuberculosis (TB) and HIV co-infection.

If those people have TB and stop treatment, that will lead to drug resistance he said. They have to take medicine for six months, but lets say within that period, they just start with one month and they stop receiving it this could lead to drug resistance, and it could weaken the health.

KHANA is still collecting data on the number of its TB-affected clients who have stopped receiving treatment. We dont know who is lost, Sok Chamreun said. We still want to see if these people are arrested or if they have gone somewhere [else].

In separate interviews this week, two drug users, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed Sok Chamreuns concerns about the crackdown dissuading addicts from seeking treatment, while voicing a general sense of hopelessness about their condition.

Now I dont care about any treatment. I live day-to-day with this, said one 32-year-old woman who, in addition to being addicted to heroin, suffers from HIV. The drug campaign has not changed my life because Im still addicted to drugs, she said.

I dont want to abandon it because it is difficult to stop; every day since the campaign, I always find a quiet place to inject, to escape from the police.

After the crackdown began, the woman spent one week in the Prey Speu detention centre after being caught in a drug raid. Sometimes I want to die, she said, but I still make an effort to live with this problem.

One 28-year-old man said that since the crackdown began in January, he has contended with two fears at once: arrest and heroin withdrawal. Every day since the beginning of the drug campaign I am afraid of arrest, he said, and when I see someone new, I always escape.

Last month, the man who is also HIV-positive was arrested and sent to the notorious Orgkas Khnom involuntary rehabilitation centre, where he remained for a week without access to heroin.

Despite fearing arrest, the man said that when it came to his addiction he could not come back. I have been addicted for 10 years, he said, and if I dont use each day, I get sick.

The man said that he once underwent MMT, but is now too lazy to take the medicine. Instead of making a trip to the clinic, he said he continued to buy needles or borrow someones to use.

Another reason providing essential health, hygiene, and addiction recovery treatment services for drug users has become exceedingly difficult during the crackdown has to do with the sudden mobility of drug traffickers.

What you generally have is dealers being quite static, in places where they can be reached easily, says David Harding, an independent drug expert with a decade of experience in Cambodia. To avoid heightened police attention, however, they move to less accessible places, they stay shorter periods of time.

Making drug users, particularly heroin addicts, hunt for their drugs makes life particularly difficult, and risks causing potentially dangerous variations in dosage and quality, says Harding.

Tik Vuthy, a field officer for Korsang an NGO that provides HIV testing, needle exchange and counselling to drug users said on Wednesday that his daily experiences reflect this analysis.

[Drug users] move around a lot more, they follow the dealers, Vuthy said. By the time we find out where they are, weve missed them.

As they move, he continued, the drug users find themselves further away from the services they need. We are trying to persuade them to receive methadone, Vuthy said. [To receive methadone] they must go to the clinic; we cant take the methadone to them.

For those drug users migrating to increasingly remote parts of Phnom Penh to buy drugs, going to receive methadone treatment can appear too costly.

Theres a lot of dropping out [of treatment], said Vuthy.

Multiple calls to the Interior Ministry and the National Police seeking comment for this story were not returned.

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Hidden victims of war on drugs - The Phnom Penh Post

Philippines to defend Duterte’s drug war at UN rights body – Reuters

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MANILA The Philippine foreign minister on Thursday said he would tell a United Nations rights body that the killings in President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs were not state-sponsored.

More than 7,700 people have been killed since Duterte unleashed the drugs war in June, about 2,500 in what police say are shootouts during raids and sting operations.

Most of the rest are under investigation and activists believe many were extrajudicial killings. Police blame the killings on vigilante groups over which they have no control.

Perfecto Yasay said he would address the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council, comprised of 47 nations, during a session set to run from Monday until March 24.

"Our justice system does not tolerate violations of human rights, does not tolerate any state-sponsored extrajudicial killings," Yasay told reporters. "That's the truth."

Last month, Duterte dismantled police anti-drug units after a South Korean businessman was killed inside the national police headquarters, but vowed to forge ahead with his war on drugs until the last day of his term.

"Divisive fear-mongering" has become a dangerous force in the world, the secretary general of rights group Amnesty International, Salil Shetty, said in a statement this week.

He described leaders like Duterte, U.S. President Donald Trump, and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan as "wielding a toxic agenda that hounds, scapegoats and dehumanizes entire groups of people".

(Reporting by Manuel Mogato; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

MEXICO CITY Mexico on Thursday expressed "worry and irritation" about U.S. policies to two of President Donald Trump's top envoys, giving a chilly reply to the new administration's hard line on immigration, trade and security.

OTTAWA Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came under increasing pressure on Thursday to deal with asylum seekers illegally crossing into Canada from the United States to avoid a crackdown by the administration of President Donald Trump.

MANILA A Philippine senator and staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs was in police custody on Friday following her high-profile arrest for drugs offences that she described as a vendetta that would fail to silence her.

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Philippines to defend Duterte's drug war at UN rights body - Reuters

Brent Musburger writes fantastic debut column for Las Vegas-based sports gambling website – SECcountry.com

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Brent Musburger is back.

He might be retired from announcing, but that doesnt mean Musburger hasdropped from public view. On Thursday,he dropped a link to his debut column for Vegas Stats & Information Network, which offers sports gambling news, analysis and data.

The column is titled, New-look Pelicans bring NBA back in style, and it touches on former Kentucky stars DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis joining forces in New Orleans.

Heres part of the piece:

LAS VEGAS We have not seen any NBA basketball in nearly one week and yes, I am counting that All-Star Game that was not basketball at all. The drought ends tonight.

It looked like the headline game of the night would be the Clippers at the Warriors, with Golden State a 12-point favorite. But that was before Sundays eye-opening trade that sent DeMarcus Cousins from Sacramento to New Orleans, turning two games that were of no interest into the games that carry some intrigue tonight.

Now all eyes are going to be back on the same arena where Sundays defense-less exhibition gives way to tonights matchup of the Houston Rockets and the new-look Pelicans. In New Orleans they are calling the big, new pairing of Cousins and Anthony Davis Boogie and Brow. As NOLA.com put it, they could be New Orleanss best combo since red beans and rice.

In one sense Cousins and Davis bring the game closer to the baseline than teams are used to playing, so that will create a challenge on defense for the Rockets. But Cousins and Davis are very similar in style, and it may take a while for them to mesh and find their comfort zones.

In addition to the NBA buzz, Musburgeraddresses a bit ofNASCAR news in his column. (Sorry, theres nothing about college football yet.)

Its cool to see him be so versatile. That shouldnt be a surprise, given that he had experience as a play-by-play announcer or a host for the Super Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl, in addition to the MLB playoffs, NBA Finals, FIFA World Cup and NCAA tournament. He worked for ABC and ESPN since 1990. He called college football and basketball games for the SEC Network since 2014. Earlier in his career, he worked for CBS Sports from 1973-1990.

It will be fun to see what kind of thoughts Musburger drops in the future. The college football opinions, if there are any,should be amazing.

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Brent Musburger writes fantastic debut column for Las Vegas-based sports gambling website - SECcountry.com

Florida lawmakers headed for showdown over dueling gambling bills – Miami Herald

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Miami Herald
Florida lawmakers headed for showdown over dueling gambling bills
Miami Herald
Florida House and Senate committees on Thursday approved vastly different approaches to the future of gambling in Florida, with the Senate opening the door to massive expansion of slot machines and Indian gaming, while the House attempts to retract ...
House, Senate At Odds On Gambling PlansCBS Local
House And Senate Gambling Bills At OddsWFSU
Legislators on collision course over gamblingGainesville Sun
Naples Daily News -Casino.Org News -SaintPetersBlog (blog)
all 16 news articles »

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Florida lawmakers headed for showdown over dueling gambling bills - Miami Herald

Panel kills bill banning video gambling at tribal casinos – Idaho Statesman

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Panel kills bill banning video gambling at tribal casinos
Idaho Statesman
An Idaho House panel has killed a bill aimed at banning lucrative video gambling at tribal casinos in Idaho. The Spokesman-Review reports (http://bit.ly/2ldFf3k) that the House State Affairs Committee on Thursday voted 8-7 to kill the bill concerning ...

and more »

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Panel kills bill banning video gambling at tribal casinos - Idaho Statesman

Gambling Commission Investigates British Goalie After Pie Eating Prop Bet – CardPlayer.com

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This prop bet backfired for one soccer player and a British online gambling company.

According to reports, a sports betting site called Sun Bets decided to offer 8-1 odds against goalie Wayne Shaw eating a pie during a Monday soccer game. It was an F.A. Cup fifth-round match, pitting the heavy favorite Arsenal against Shaws Sutton United.

Shaw is a fan favorite. Hes 46 years old and weighs more than 320 pounds, but still has some game left in the tank. His weight and popularity were the reasons for the humorous prop bet. Also, the online betting industry is highly competitive and smaller sites look for ways to stand out.

The problem was that Shaw learned of the prop bet, knew some of his friends had bet on it, and then he decided to actually bring out a meat-and-potato pie and eat it on the sidelines. And then to top it off, he admitted all of that to reporters after the game.

I thought I would give [the fans] a bit of banter and lets do it, Shaw said, according to the Financial Times. "All the subs were on and we were 2-0 down. I went and got [the pie] at half-time from the kitchen; I had it all prepared and ready to go.

The match was aired live on the BBC.

Now football league gambling officials are in the middle of a full-blown investigation and Shaw has been forced to leave the team. According to the New York Times, Shaw was not only the teams backup goalie, he was also a coach and community liaison.

Shaw said he didnt directly profit from the prop bet. Sun Bets reportedly lost a five-figure sum.

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Gambling Commission Investigates British Goalie After Pie Eating Prop Bet - CardPlayer.com

Dying man gathers his family together for final hours before … – 9Honey

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A man suffering from terminal cancer gathered his family and friends together for one final celebration of his life before taking the medication that would kill him.

TJ Mutchler was living in constant pain as his pancreatic cancer worsened, and doctors gave him just weeks to live.

"If you can think of the worst flu youve ever had and you get the cold sweats and then have someone stab a hot poker in your insides and just twist it around," Mutchler said in a video by euthanasia advocacy group Compassion and Choices.

"Looking at it, man, I am going to die. I dont want to."

Knowing he was on the verge of death, Mutchler's friends and family threw him two "going away" parties in his hometown of Billings, Montana.

Hundreds of people came to the first party in November, with his mother Leslie saying everybody "got together and laughed".

"His friends are all young people and its hard to wrap yourself around death at that age," she told People.

"Some people felt a little awkward, saying, I dont know what to do. Ive never done this before and it was like, Well, I want you guys to come and see him while you can.

"It was, Lets not get together for his funeral. Lets get together to celebrate his life while hes still alive.'"

By last week, Mutchler's condition had deteriorated so much that he was in constant pain and was frequently vomiting.

He weighed just 57kg towards the end, devastatingly thin for a 195cm-tall man.

He set the date of his death as February 19, and gathered his family together.

"My mother, his dad, his brother, me, his best friend and Keri, his girlfriend, were all with him at the end," his mother said.

"We all gave him a hug and said goodbye and he administered his medication.

"He fell asleep within 10minutes of taking the medication and three hours later he was gone."

Euthanasia is legal in Montana thanks to a successful lawsuit filed by his own grandfather Bob Baxter.

Suffering from terminal lymphoma, Baxter died hours after a district court ruled in his favour in 2008.

Montana's Supreme Court upheld the decision.

But the day after Mutchler's death, Republican state legislator Brad Tschida introduced a bill that would make doctors who prescribe euthanasia drugs liable to be charged with homicide.

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Dying man gathers his family together for final hours before ... - 9Honey

Lessons from indigenous wisdom in the euthanasia debate – MercatorNet

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Lessons from indigenous wisdom in the euthanasia debate
MercatorNet
George's words came to mind as wise advice for those of us engaging in the legalization of euthanasia debate currently raging in Australia. They struck me as especially apropos in light of the fact that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island and First ...

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Lessons from indigenous wisdom in the euthanasia debate - MercatorNet

WA election: Euthanasia, Safe Schools hot topics as Liberal, Labor leaders face Christian voters – ABC Online

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Posted February 24, 2017 09:56:22

Colin Barnett and Mark McGowan have clashed over voluntary euthanasia and the Safe Schools program during a public question and answer session organised by the Australian Christian Lobby in the lead-up to the state election.

More than 500 people attended the event in Wangara on Thursday night to hear the WA Premier and Opposition Leader's stance on issues ranging from Aboriginal youth suicide and prostitution reform to babies surviving abortions.

Unlike Wednesday night's televised leaders' debate that focused on debt, deficit and unemployment, neither leader took aim at the other's credibility instead focusing on the social issues facing WA and drawing from personal experiences and anecdotes to help sell their case.

Two of the questions that raised a vocal reaction from the crowd were centred on euthanasia and the Safe Schools program.

Mr Barnett said while he had sympathy for people who had "painful and long deaths", he did not support euthanasia.

"I think it is an issue that is left to the family at the time and to the doctors," he told the crowd.

"I think palliative care and relying on professional moral ethics and religious standards and ethics is the way to go."

He was at odds with his opponent Mr McGowan, who used his personal experience of the death of a relative to explain why he backed assisted dying.

"He should have been able to make his own decision in those circumstances on the time of his passing," he said.

"Voluntary euthanasia, with appropriate safeguards, is something I personally support.

"My party has a position whereby it's a conscience vote, so every member of my caucus gets to vote according to their own point of view if a bill came before the Parliament."

Mr Barnett and Mr McGowan were also left at odds after being questioned about Safe Schools, a federally funded anti-bullying program designed to help educate students about sexual and gender diversity.

"Will your party commit to removing this highly controversial and sexualised program from all Western Australian schools?" a church leader asked.

Mr McGowan backed Safe Schools.

"A lot of young people who identify as gay are very likely to commit suicide. There are also problems with young people identifying as gay with being bullied at school," he said.

"My understanding of the program is that it provides advice to teachers and assistance to teachers in dealing with children or young people who might identify as gay.

"A public high school in Western Australia that wants to access that program on the advice of their school board and school community, I think is reasonable, and they should be able to access that program."

However, Mr Barnett disagreed.

"From my knowledge of it and I've never read the material but I've heard fellow members of Parliament describing it to me it encourages experimentation, promiscuity, to very young children," Mr Barnett said.

"I don't think that is any way what should happen in our school, and I don't think you should have situations where boys' could think ... they've got the right to use the girls' toilets.

"My view, and it's not a directive, but my view to schools [is] I do not want to see that program in our schools."

Mr Barnett said he believed fewer than 30 WA schools had incorporated the program into the curriculum.

Topics: elections, religion-and-beliefs, government-and-politics, schools, euthanasia, wa

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WA election: Euthanasia, Safe Schools hot topics as Liberal, Labor leaders face Christian voters - ABC Online

A Map of Corruption in France – Big Think

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Corruption is as invisible as it is pervasive. Public trust is easily professed on public forums, and just as easily betrayed in back rooms. Money and favours influence decisions without leaving a trace. Pecunia non olet.

Yet corruption is not a victimless crime. Cutting corners on good governance costs money, endangers lives and erodes the public trust that oils the machinery of state in modern democracies.

So how to fight it? Corruption feeds off apathy and thrives in the shadows. It abhors the full glare of public attention. It is not a coincidence that the global organisation dedicated to its demise is called Transparency International.

TI produces annual reports, scorecards and a heat map of corruption around the world. The least corrupt countries, in the organisation's 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index, were New Zealand and Denmark, followed closely by the other Nordic countries. Most corrupt? Somalia, with South Sudan and North Korea not far behind.

The French subsidiary of TI went one step further, and visualised the corruption in France on a map. Linking corruption to specific locations suddenly gives the various crimes caught under that term a certain weight and heft and increases its visibility.

This Cartographie des affaires de corruption immediately points to a number of corruption hot spots: two concentrated zones in Paris and the North (near the Belgian border), and in and around Bordeaux in the southwest. There is a string of malfeasance stretching along the Mediterranean coast, and the heavily dotted island of Corsica seems particularly prone to corruption.

Conversely, the interior of France is largely corruption-free, some departments even entirely so. Of course, the incidence of corruption varies with the density of population, and perhaps declines disproportionately in the almost-empty interior because there are so few people to be corrupted by.

Each of the location markers is clickable, and provides a summary of the court case to which it refers. All parties mentioned are anonymised, but some are relatively easy to find out.

And so you can hop from one case of embezzlement to the next case one of abuse of power or trust, or you could use the search window to look for cases within specific frames of time or money.

Click on the logos in the top left corner to send a message to Transparency International France (Did we miss anything?), leaf through a lexicon of corruption, a FAQ file and a word on the maps methodology. There is also a This just in section, with the latest court rulings.

And finally, there is a full geographic overview of France, per region and per department. The most public-spirited departments of France are: Ardennes, Cantal, Cher, Creuse, Gers, Loir-et-Cher, Nivre, Sarthe not a single case of corruption in any of these. Paris, with 61 cases, is the most corrupt. Not surprising, considering the concentration of money and power in the capital.

There is another interesting measure of corruptness: the number of affaires (*10) divided by the Gross Domestic Product for each department. By that token, the French overseas territory of Saint-Martin (95.16) is light years ahead of even Paris (3.07).

Mapping corruption at country level brings home the pervasiveness of the problem. Does this map indicate that France is corrupt? The French could do better, but also a lot worse. According to TI's aforementioned 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index, France ranks #23 on the global list, just ahead of the Bahamas but behind Estonia. The U.S. is at #18.

This corruption map of France seems to be a local initiative. Similar maps of other countries would make for equally compelling reading. Except of course the corruption maps of Somalia, South Sudan and North Korea they would be totally blank.

Map found at visualiserlacorruption.fr, produced byTransparency International France.

Strange Maps #824

Got a strange map? Let me know at strangemaps@gmail.com.

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A Map of Corruption in France - Big Think

The Golden Rule of Social Selling: Solve Your Customer’s Problem – Business 2 Community

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The world of B2B selling is changing, fast. And if your team doesnt keep up, you wont just lose opportunities you stand to lose your entire business.

Outbound selling relies too heavily on outdated tactics, like telling customers what they need instead of listening to what they tell you. In fact, Forrester predicts that one million US B2B salespeople will lose their job to self-service eCommerce by 2020 if these tactics dont change.

A big part of the reason why outbound selling is losing its effectiveness is because B2B buyers are turning to websites, social media, their own networks and other research channels before reaching out to a salesperson. They come fully armed with knowledge especially the knowledge of what their problems are.

Webcast, February 28th: Sales Automation Made Easy

This means that your salespeople wont find any footing by telling prospects how great your product is. Instead, they need to focus their efforts on explaining how your product can solve a prospects problems.

Social selling makes this possible, as it enables salespeople to build relationships with buyers via the channels they prefer. It also acts as a fantastic research tool, as salespeople can explore public posts on networks like LinkedIn and Twitter to see what issues their prospect has recently been facing.

For example, lets say you are targeting CMOs at medium-sized businesses. Outbound tactics would have your sales team cold calling them from a list, and reading a sales-pitch script that praises the many amazing features your product has to offer. They might be able to generalize a problem that CMO might be facing like low conversion rates, for instance but they cant know for sure that thats even an issue for them. Within a few seconds, the prospect knows that the salesperson theyre talking to doesnt have a clue about their particular situation, and politely hangs up the phone.

Social selling changes all aspects of the above scenario, from the channel of outreach to the script used to sell. Rather than cold calling, your salesperson develops a relationship with the prospect using social media. She has shared their content on Twitter a few times, and connected via a mutual acquaintance on LinkedIn. When she gets the CMO on the phone, she brings up his social profiles and sees that he has recently been talking about struggling to build solid communication channels between sales and marketing internally. So rather than talk about the product, she talks about his problem: sales-marketing alignment. She asks pointed questions about the struggles he faces, and only when the time is right mentions that her product has helped past customers address this very problem. He is impressed, and asks to see a demo.

By following the golden rule of social selling, solving your customers problem, you and your sales team will not only make more sales, you will develop better relationships with customers who will be more loyal, and more likely to recommend you to others in their network.

Tapajyoti Das (Tukan) is the co-founder of LeadSift. LeadSift is a social intelligence platform to help brands identify, understand and reach in-market consumers with the right message at the right time.At LeadSift, he is the hacker, hustler and the dreamer where he is working with histeam to make social Viewfullprofile

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The Golden Rule of Social Selling: Solve Your Customer's Problem - Business 2 Community

Pence to CPAC: Obamacare Will Fall Despite ‘Liberal Activists’ – NBCNews.com

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Vice President Mike Pence speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Oxon Hill, Maryland, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017. Susan Walsh / AP

The comments were red meat to conservatives but varied only slightly from Pence's usual stump speech.

Pence echoed campaign trail promises from then-candidate Donald Trump that the replacement to Obamacare would allow Americans to buy healthcare over state lines. Congressional Republicans released a broad outline of a

The vice president also pushed for a states' rights approach to health care that allows local governments "to take care of the least fortunate in the best way that will work in their state and their community."

Related:

The vice president also spoke passionately about Israel, promising that "under President Trump, America will stand with Israel." He did not elaborate on the Trump administration's vision for an end to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

Pence mixed comedy with conservative bluster in his remarks and used part of the speech to whet the audience's appetite for Trump's speech at the conference Friday morning.

Contrasting himself with the president, Pence quipped that Trump was "known for his bigger than life personality, charm, and charisma. And I'm, like, not."

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Pence to CPAC: Obamacare Will Fall Despite 'Liberal Activists' - NBCNews.com

Alan Colmes, liberal voice at Fox News, dead at 66 – CBS News

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Last Updated Feb 23, 2017 11:26 AM EST

NEW YORK -- Alan Colmes, the radio and television host and commentator best known as the amiable liberal foil to the hard-right Sean Hannity on the Fox News Channel, has died. He was 66.

Fox spokeswoman Dana Klinghoffer confirmed his death Thursday. Fox also aired a tribute to Colmes, narrated by Hannity, and a statement from his family saying that he died Thursday morning after a brief illness.

Colmes is survived by his wife, Jocelyn Elise Crowley, the sister of longtime Fox contributor Monica Crowley.

He was a great guy, brilliant, hysterical, and moral, the family statement said. He was fiercely loyal, and the only thing he loved more than his work was his life with Jocelyn. He will be missed.

In a statement issued through Fox, Hannity called Colmes one of lifes most decent, kind and wonderful people.

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Fox News Correspondents Alan Colmes and Sean Hannity attend the Fox News Channels 10th anniversary celebration on Oct. 4, 2006, in New York City.

Peter Kramer/Getty Images

Colmes was a New York City native and Hofstra University graduate who worked for years in radio, notably on WABC and WNBC, and standup comedy before joining Fox in 1996.

That same year he and the conservative Hannity began a 12-year run as co-hosts of the popular Hannity & Colmes program, which brought Colmes both fame and ridicule.

Admittedly a minority voice on the conservative channel, Colmes was often mocked as too nice and easily overshadowed by the ever-aggressive Hannity. The liberal media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Media likened him to the hapless Washington Generals, the dependable losers to basketballs Harlem Globetrotters.

Al Franken, in his best-selling Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, imagined Colmes earning his salary by adding toner to the copiers and printers, loofah-ing Roger Ailes in his personal steam room, and ordering Chinese food for editors working on misleading video packages.

Colmes was aware of the criticism, but said that getting mean was not his style.

People say to me, Why dont you fight fire with fire? he told The Associated Press in 2003. You fight fire with water, not fire.

Colmes continued to appear as a commentator on Fox after his show with Hannity ended. He also was an author, his books including Thank the Liberals and Red, White & Liberal.

Former Fox anchor Megyn Kelly, conservative commentator Ann Coulter and Fox personalities were among those who took to social media following news of Colmes death.

2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Alan Colmes, Sean Hannity’s Liberal Foil on Fox News, Dies at 66 – NBCNews.com

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Alan Colmes promoting his book 'Thank The Liberals ... For Saving America' in New York in October 2012. Ilya S. Savenok / Getty Images, file

In his best-selling book "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them," Sen. Al Franken, D-Minnesota, imagined Colmes' earning his salary by "adding toner to the copiers and printers, loofah-ing Roger Ailes in his personal steam room, and ordering Chinese food for editors working on misleading video packages."

Colmes was aware of the criticism, but he said getting mean wasn't his style.

"People say to me, 'Why don't you fight fire with fire?'" he said in 2003. "You fight fire with water, not fire."

Pundits and colleagues on both sides of the aisle remembered Colmes on social media on Thursday, among them Republican political consultant Karl Rove, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and conservative author Ann Coulter.

"Sad. We had some great times on Hannity & Colmes. Alan Colmes was fair & funny while hewing to his core beliefs. Condolences to Jocelyn," wrote Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Donald Trump.

NBC News' Megyn Kelly, a Fox News host and contributor for 12 years, called Colmes a "positive force."

"Heartbroken my friend Alan Colmes has died. He lit up the FNC halls w/his kindness & humor. Incredibly positive force. Prayers 4 his family," she wrote.

Colmes continued to appear as a commentator on Fox after his show with Hannity ended. He also was an author of books like "Thank the Liberals" and "Red, White & Liberal."

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Alan Colmes, Sean Hannity's Liberal Foil on Fox News, Dies at 66 - NBCNews.com

Emmanuel Macron: a populist eruption from the liberal centre – New Statesman

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The French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron came to town this week to meet Theresa May and address the London French community, whose votes he was chasing. In our age of extremes, Macron, who is 39, is that rare thing a populist eruption from the liberal centre. A former merchant banker and economy minister in the failing Hollande Socialiste administration, he represents En Marche! (Forward!), which is less a party than a movement. His sudden rise would not have been possible in Britain, which is part of the stability and attraction of the parliamentary system but also its frustration.

I met Macron on Tuesday afternoon when he took questions from a small group of journalists at Central Hall Westminster. He is small and dapper, with short hair and a strong, straight nose. Because of the collapse of the Socialistes and the struggles of the discredited conservative contender Franois Fillon, Macron has emerged as the great hope of liberals and perhaps as the candidate to stop Marine Le Pen seizing the presidency. Unlike the Front National leader, Macron is an unashamed liberal globaliser in the model of Nick Clegg or a younger, less tormented Tony Blair. He is a passionate advocate of the EU and of the eurozone and, as a result, is under attack from the Russian media. He has been accused of leading a double life his wife, whom he met when she was his schoolteacher, is 20 years older than Macron and of being unwilling to admit that he is gay, or at least bisexual. His response to the Russian attacks was, he said, to disclose the manipulation and kill the rumours.

The far right in France has caricatured Macron as being globalisation personified, about which he is relaxed. In conversation, he criticised David Camerons referendum campaign. His message was Yes but . . . That is not the answer to No. I defend Europe and the four freedoms of the EU. If you are shy, you are dead.

On Sunday, I received a text from one of my cousins. The Lincoln City manager and his brother, the assistant, are called Cowley, he wrote. His father looks a bit like your father. Any relation? They are from Essex. I am also from Essex, born and brought up in Harlow new town, which turned 70 this year. But I had to disappoint my cousin. My father was an only child, as was his father, so its highly unlikely that these Cowley brothers are even distant relations of mine.

I already knew about the brothers, having been alerted to them by my seven-year-old son, who is a sports data enthusiast. Last season, Danny Cowley and his younger brother, Nicky, were working as teachers in Essex while coaching Braintree Town at weekends. This season, they have led Lincoln to an FA Cup quarter-final against Arsenal, making them the first non-League team to reach the last eight in more than a century. Lincoln are also at the top of the National League (English footballs semi-professional fifth division) and in the quarter-final of the FA Trophy, the premier non-League cup competition. The Cowleys are reported to be subsisting on a diet of toast and Marmite as they rise early each morning obsessively to study videos and analytics and prepare for the next match. They have introduced a new spirit of openness at the previously moribund club: fans watch training sessions and attend press conferences.

Its nonsense to believe, as some do, that only those who have performed at the highest level have the authority to coach the best. Wenger, Mourinho, Sven-Gran Eriksson, Roy Hodgson, Andr Villas-Boas: none of them were even remotely successful players. Asked once to explain his accomplishments, Mourinho said: Ive had more time to study. More English coaches so few of whom are working in the Premier League would do well to follow his example.

It will be fascinating to see how far the Cowley brothers progress in the game. Whatever happens next, they have reanimated interest in the FA Cup and given the resilient yeomen of Essex a small boost.

Boris Johnson accused Tony Blair of bare-faced effrontery for having the temerity last week to deliver an anti-Brexit speech, which itself was an act of bare-faced effrontery. Johnson is a huckster and narcissist whose vanities have been grotesquely indulged for far too long by his cheerleaders and paymasters in the media. (A standard question to Johnson when he was mayor of London: You do want to be prime minister, dont you?) No one should take anything Johnson says remotely seriously. Should the same be said of Blair?

Yes, of course he is the author of his own misfortunes and many will never forgive the former Labour prime minister for the Iraq catastrophe. Yet of all the politicians I have spoken to in recent times, Blair was the most intellectually nimble and the most alert to the defining complexities of the present moment. As he demonstrated in his speech, he also understands better than most why, in an age of intensifying ethnic nationalism, the parties of the left are failing across Europe, none more so than the British Labour Party, which looks as far away from power as it did after the 1931 election.

As an energetic and charismatic liberal, Macron has been likened to the young Tony Blair. Can he seize the progressive centre, as Blair did, and destabilise the old binary divisions of left and right? The anti-European and anti-globalisation extremes are winning elections, he said, in a veiled reference to Donald Trump and the vote for Brexit. But we dont have the same political cycles as the others. Its time for France to do the opposite. With that said, he thanked his interlocutors and was hurried off for a meeting with another Essex man, Philip Hammond, pursued not by a bear but by the journalist Robert Peston.

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Emmanuel Macron: a populist eruption from the liberal centre - New Statesman

Liberal candidates revealed as pre-selection closes for South Australia election – ABC Online

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Updated February 24, 2017 18:27:34

Liberal pre-selection nominations for 18 South Australian state seats have closed, and among the candidate is a former Liberal minister, who retired from politics more than 10 years ago.

Wayne Matthew was the member for Bright from 1989 to 2006, and held ministerial portfolios including police and emergency services in the Brown and Olsen governments.

He has nominated for the seat of Davenport and is one of many candidates who are taking a tilt at pre-selection, as boundary redistributions appear to have made a Liberal election win more likely.

Alex Brown, the son of former premier Dean Brown, has nominated for Colton, while six candidates are vying for retiring MP Isobel Redmond's seat of Heysen.

There is also strong interest in two Labor held seats, with five nominees for both Transport Minister Stephen Mullighan's seat of Lee, and Sports Minister Leon Bignell's Mawson electorate.

Both electorates have become more marginal under boundary redistributions.

"It is fantastic to see such a high calibre of people nominating for preselection to represent the Liberal Party at the next state election," Liberal state director Sascha Meldrum said.

"The party is calling for hard-working candidates committed to representing their local communities as part of a newly-elected Liberal State Government that will provide responsible leadership and deliver a clear pathway for the state's recovery and success."

Sitting MPs Rachel Sanderson, Corey Wingard, Vickie Chapman, David Spiers, Vince Tarzia and Dan van Holst Pellekaan have all been pre-selected unopposed.

The names of the other candidates remain confidential until they are endorsed by the party's review committee next week.

Topics: government-and-politics, states-and-territories, liberals, sa

First posted February 24, 2017 18:22:49

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Liberal candidates revealed as pre-selection closes for South Australia election - ABC Online

Read Scott Walker’s Advice on How Republicans Should Handle Protests – TIME

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WALKER: Morning.

(APPLAUSE)

One Walker beats 14 runners.

(APPLAUSE)

That was one of my favorite bumper stickers years ago after we won our battle against the big government union bosses.

(APPLAUSE)

You might remember at the time there were 14 state senate Democrats in our state who fled the state and went to Illinois to help the special interest groups organize, and then eventually ship in thousands of protesters from across the country.

In fact, at one point, there were over 1,000 people occupying our state capitol. If you remember, the occupy moment didn't start on Wall Street. It started on my street in Madison, Wisconsin.

(LAUGHTER)

At the time, they didn't just limit themselves to our state capitol. They actually went to the executive residence, and eventually they found their way to our family home in Wauwatosa, which is more than an hour away from our state capital. I had death threats. My wife, Tonette, had threatening messages. My sons, Matt and Alex, who were in high school at the time, literally were targeted on Facebook.

They didn't limit it just to us. They went around events around the state. In fact, they disrupted and interrupted, I should say, the dedication of a new welcome center on our state line. They interrupted a ceremony for the 100-year celebration of one of our great state parks. They even interrupted the anniversary of one of our historic technical colleges.

But the tipping point was probably -- probably more than anything was the day when a bunch of protesters, ironically enough, dressed as zombies. Don't ask me why, but that particular day they were the walking dead, I guess. They were -- they were zombies. They were protesters who showed up and interrupted -- no, wait, I should say it differently. They disrupted a law enforcement torch run for the Special Olympics.

At that time, it was a turning point indeed, because the people in our state, no matter where they stood on the issues, could see that the protesters were not like them. I mean, who would mess up an event for Special Olympic athletes? It was just remarkable.

But as I thought about that, thinking about speaking here, today I'm reminded of many of the stories I see these days around the country where protesters come en masse to try and disrupt public meetings; where angry mobs come to college campuses and try to stop people from speaking; where defenders of the status quo try to stop people who ran on an agenda from doing what they said they did -- would do during the campaign.

WALKER: And as I hear these stories, I think to myself, been there, seen that.

(LAUGHTER)

You know, from our standpoint it's exactly why we've been talking, not only here today, but to people over the last few months all across this great country, reminding our leaders about what happened in Wisconsin. About why we did what we did. And most importantly, about what's happened since.

So let me share it with you a little bit here. In fact, I was reminded of late about that -- just two weeks ago tomorrow -- so less than two weeks ago, it was two weeks ago tomorrow that I saw the video of protesters trying to stop the new U.S. Secretary of Education from going into a public school, just up the way here in the District of Columbia.

And so I called Betsy DeVos, who's a good friend of mine, and I said, you know what, been there, done that.

(LAUGHTER)

You don't happen to remember in the midst of our protest the protesters as outrageous and radical as they were, they literally glued the door shut to an elementary school where I was going to come and read to the children.

Now the good news is that school was not to be deterred. They actually took the doors off the hinges and we were able to read to the kids.

(APPLAUSE)

But it was a vivid reminder about what we learned in Wisconsin. And that is, to do what you said you were going to do, to go big, to go bold, to actually follow through on the promises you made throughout a campaign.

(APPLAUSE)

You know, it's not only conservatives and Republicans who like that. What we found in Wisconsin is that independent and, yes, even some discerning Democrats like it when you do the things you say you were going to do.

(APPLAUSE)

And so we -- we've tried to apply that going forward. It's kind of interesting; it works on both political and on policy fronts. Politically, even though, it's not just a fact that I've won three elections for governor, although I did...

(APPLAUSE)

... in our state we not only won the three elections, but our Republicans in the legislature have actually gained seats in '12, in '14 and again in '16.

(APPLAUSE)

Why? It's because common sense conservative reforms work, they actually work and the people responded to them.

In our state we've seen over the last year -- more people were employed in my state than ever before, ever. We have the lowest unemployment rate since January of 2001. We have one of the highest percentages of people overall in the workforce.

But beyond that, on economic and fiscal policy, we see that even though we inherited a $3.6 billion budget deficit, our state now has budget surpluses and we have one of the few state systems that has fully funded pension systems. And we have one of the lowest outstanding overall long term debt.

And so now, because of those economic and fiscal reforms actually working, the successes have lead to a positive budget and, in turn, we have what we call, a reform dividend. Remember the peace dividend under Reagan? We have a reform dividend.

So I want to spend just a couple minutes telling you about what we're doing with that. First off, we're reinvesting it -- like a good company would, in the things that got us there in the first place. So, top of the list, taxpayers. We're going to help lower the burden on the hardworking taxpayers.

In fact, so much so with this budget, the total amount -- cumulative impact of our tax relief over eight years will be exceeded $8 billion. That's cutting taxes by over $8 billion.

(APPLAUSE)

As we promise, property and income taxes will be lower in 2018 than they were in 2010 and -- you'll like this, we're actually eliminating an entire tax for the first time since 1931 there will be no state tax on our property tax bills in Wisconsin.

(APPLAUSE)

WALKER: Beyond tax though, we're investing in our workforce, probably like a lot of employers here. I hear from people all across my state that say, "We've got jobs; we just don't have enough people to fill them." So we're investing in our workforce and we're doing it in a way that demands better performance and more credibility and -- and transparency from education and higher education.

In fact, how many college students do we have here today? Let's see your hands and hear from you, all right.

(APPLAUSE)

How many -- how many of those college students are from Wisconsin? Do I hear any of the...

(APPLAUSE)

OK, the Wisconsin students will appreciate this, because we've frozen tuition in our state four years in a row. And in this budget we're actually going to lower tuition by 5 percent at all of our campuses.

(APPLAUSE)

Lower tuition, higher standards and actual free speech for everyone, including conservative students, faculty and speakers, at all of our University of Wisconsin campuses.

(APPLAUSE)

And the third big thing we're doing is about helping people transition from government dependence to true independence through work.

You know, more than 20 years ago, my state, Wisconsin, led the way with welfare reform with a -- a great leader by the name of Tommy Thompson. He was our governor back then.

(APPLAUSE)

Today we're taking it another giant step forward, something we call Wisconsin Works for Everyone.

It's a simple concept: Everyone who is able to work has to be enroll -- employed at least 80 hours a month if they wanna get benefits like food stamps and housing vouchers. And for those that can't find work, we require them to be employed in job training.

And now with a -- a new president and a new Congress, we can actually go forward with a plan to ensure that anyone seeking welfare can actually pass a drug test.

(APPLAUSE)

You see, it's simple: We want to help our fellow citizen, but we -- we understand that -- that public assistance should be a trampoline, not a hammock.

We ensure that everyone who is able to work is empowered to work and required to work, because true freedom and prosperity don't come from the clumsy hand of the government. They come from empowering people to live their own lives and control their own destinies through the dignity that's born of work.

And all those things show that conservative reforms work. But I just want to end with this.

I want to make a challenge to each of you here today to keep moving forward. Don't stand still; keep moving forward.

Six years ago, I remember a reporter asked us -- in the midst of all the protests in our capital, a reporter asked me, "Don't the -- don't the protesters have a right to be heard?"

I said, "Absolutely. They absolutely have a right to be heard. This is America. Anybody can say or do what they want about the government. They can challenge the government no matter who's in power."

But I then said to that same reporter that I wasn't going to let the noise of the protesters drown out the voices of the majority of people who had elected us to do the things that we were gonna do.

(APPLAUSE)

Sadly, in Washington it is common practice to ignore the will of the voters. For too long the -- the media and the status quo defenders spend their time listening to the noise of the protests and the rhetoric of the pundits. That's why I call Washington 68 square miles surrounded by reality.

(LAUGHTER)

My plea to you here today is to not get caught up in Washington, to not forget the voters, to not ignore the people who live in reality all across this country every single day. Don't forget them. Don't forget their families. Don't forget their neighbors. Fight for them. Fight for liberty. Fight for freedom. Fight for America. Let's keep it up.

(APPLAUSE) Thank you so much. God bless you. God bless this country. Have a great day.

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Read Scott Walker's Advice on How Republicans Should Handle Protests - TIME

PH leaps 12 places in 2017 Economic Freedom Index – Filipino Reporter

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Tuesday, 21 February 2017 14:10

WASHINGTON Despite the challenging global economic environment, the Philippines has achieved notable economic expansion, driven by the economys strong export performance and inflows of remittances that have bolstered private consumption, noted the Heritage Foundation in its 2017 Index of Economic Freedom released this week here.

The Philippines improved to 58th place in 2017 from 70th in 2016 in the annual survey of 180 countries published since 1995 by the Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based think-tank.

The 2017 Index graded economies based on 12 independent factors called Economic Freedoms, with the addition of Judicial Effectiveness and Fiscal Health this year.

The Philippines showed improvements in property rights (+19.2); monetary freedom (+2.9); and labor freedom (+.1).

While noting the problems posed by absent entrepreneurial dynamism, still needed institutional reforms, and a weak judicial system in the Philippines, the Heritage Foundation also highlighted positive developments.

It recognized that the Government is pursuing a series of legislative reforms to enhance the overall entrepreneurial environment and developa stronger private sector in order to generate broader-based job growth.

It also said that some fiscal reforms have been accomplished.

The Philippines achieved an Economic Freedom Score of 65.6 out of a possible 100, which is significantly better than the global and regional averages.

The Philippines ranked 14th among the countries in the Asia-Pacific that were surveyed.

This improvement in the ranking brings the Philippines into the first-third of the countries evaluated by the index.

Since 2010, the Philippine rank has increased fifty-one (51) spots from its rank at 109 and when the country was identified as Mostly Unfree in its economic competitiveness.

Today, the Philippines firmly registers as a Moderately Free country.

The Philippines welcomes the release of the 2017 Index of Economic Freedom. It clearly indicates the sustainability of the robust and excellent Philippine economic performance of the last few years. We hope that this underpins continued business and investor confidence in one of Asias most dynamic economies, said Minister Patrick A. Chuasoto, Charge dAffaires, a.i. of the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C.

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PH leaps 12 places in 2017 Economic Freedom Index - Filipino Reporter

Retiring in their 30s. Yep, they’re doing it. – Crain’s Chicago Business

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Crain's Chicago Business
Retiring in their 30s. Yep, they're doing it.
Crain's Chicago Business
... company that produces automotive design software. "It's in line with what I was interested in, but working in a cubicle isn't very desirable," he says. "The best course of action is to reach financial independence so I can do whatever I choose in ...

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Retiring in their 30s. Yep, they're doing it. - Crain's Chicago Business