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Daily Archives: June 29, 2017
"Death threats every day" for woman behind new liberal mosque – CBS News
Posted: June 29, 2017 at 11:47 am
BERLIN -- The opening of a new mosque this month in Berlin further strained already-tense relations between Germany and Turkey, and has caused outrage in various corners of the Muslim world -- even prompting religious authorities in Egypt to issue a decree condemning the mosque as un-Islamic.
But despite recieving hundreds of death threats, the mosque's founder, Seyran Ate, says she'll continue to fight for her cause.
That cause, and the principle behind the Ibn-Rushd-Goethe mosque, is that Muslims from all of the religion's many sects are welcome to worship. Named after medieval Islamic scholar Ibn Rushd and German writer Johann Wolfgang Goethe, the mosque holds prayers every Friday in space rented inside a Lutheran church.
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Most people have no idea what the actual differences are between the two main sects of Islam, the Sunnis and the Shiites. CBS News correspondent ...
Ate wanted to create a place where Sunni and Shiite, Alawite and Sufi Muslims, men and women -- and members of the LGBTQ community -- could pray side by side. The 54-year-old lawyer and women's rights activist of Turkish origin has a long history of challenging conservative interpretations of her religion, which she believes are no longer compatible with modern-day life.
The progressive house of prayer offers a platform for female imams like Ani Zonneveld, from the U.S., who gave the call to prayer for the mosque's inauguration. House rules state that female visitors not wear full-body garments like the burka or niqab, as it "would only send a political statement."
While liberal Muslims who feel restricted by mainstream Islam cherish Ate' project, conservative worshippers have expressed outrage, calling it "disgusting and sinful," as it "disrespects the key elements of Islamic faith." Egypt's Dar al-Ifta al-Masriyyah, a state-run religious authority, issued a "fatwa" or official decree labelling the Ibn-Rushd-Goethe mosque an "attack on Islam."
The Egypt-based Al-Azhar, the most prestigious Sunni institution in the world, called the mosque, "religious innovation that is not approved by Islamic Sharia".
Muslims attend Friday prayers during the opening of the Ibn-Rushd-Goethe Mosque, June 16, 2017, in Berlin, Germany.
Getty
"I receive hundreds of death threats every day. I rely on personal protection, but I will continue to stand up for my organisation. Islam needs a change, and together with our supporters across the world we can make a difference," Ate told CBS News.
After Turkey's religious affairs agency Diyanet commented on the new mosque, the case became yet another point of contention between the German and Turkish governments.
The mosque's practices "do not align with Islam's fundamental resources, principles of worship, methodology or experience of more than 14 centuries, and are experiments aimed at nothing more than depraving and ruining religion. We are convinced that all fellow believers will keep their distance from such provocations," said Diyanet in a statement.
German officials were "very surprised" by Diyanet's stance. German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schfer defended one of Germany's fundamental rights; "I want to be very clear in rejecting all comments that clearly intend to deprive people in Germany of their right to freely exercise their religion and to limit the right to free expression of opinion."
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Turkish President Erdogan says the exiled cleric is responsible for this summer's coup. In 2012, 60 Minutes examined why Gulen is in the U.S.
Diyanet and a number of pro-government newspapers in Turkey went further, linking the Ibn-Rush-Goethe mosque to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen and his supporters, whom theTurkish government blames for a failed military coupin July 2016 and wants sent to Turkey to face prosection.
Ate told CBS News that she never expected to be accused of working alongside Gulen.
"It's getting more and more ridiculous. It's no longer a religious matter, it's about Erdogan and his aim to oppress progressive, liberal Turks," she said, referring to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Ate, who is training to become an imam, sought talks with the conservative Ditib organisation which manages a few hundred mosques throughout Germany.
Human-rights activist Seyran Ates, left, chats with colleagues prior to Friday prayers during the opening of the Ibn-Rushd-Goethe Mosque that she helped found on June 16, 2017 in Berlin, Germany.
Getty
"Over the past few years I would approach conservative Islamic organisations with the aim to cooperate, but instead of a peaceful dialogue they accuse me of being a member of the Gulen movement," she told CBS News.
Germany, which has a Turkish population so large it represents Erdogan's 4th biggest constituency, was already on bad terms with the Turkish government over a number of diplomatic disputes, including the arrest of a German-Turkish journalist, Turkey's barring of German politicians from visiting an air force base hosting German planes, and Germany's refusal to allow Turkish election campaigning in German cities.
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Liberal Impeachment Fantasies Have to Stop – The Daily Beast – Daily Beast
Posted: at 11:47 am
In times of unexpected strife, the aggrieved seek comfort anywhere they can find it, like trees trying to grow on the side of cliffs. Since Donald Trumps election, dejected liberals have sought catharsis in tears, in marches, in late-night comedy, in essays about reasons that marches occurred. But none of those things have changed the fact that Trump is the president.
Were now entering a new phase in liberal self-soothing: the calming Nixon-expert-with-a-crystal-ball phase.
This weeks New York magazine cover story, written by Frank Rich, lays hard into the Trump-Nixon tie, offering history as balm. The resistance neednt worry just yet. Just wait, Rich urges. Watergate auto-da-f wasnt built in a day.
Rich isnt alone in his Trump-Watergate fantasy. Its hard to avoid drawing some parallels between Tricky Dick and Teflon Don.
Like Trump, Richard Nixons Congress was stocked with allies. Nixon taped people (Trump, thus far, only lies about it). Nixon had Deep Throat, an aggrieved FBI guy, and Trump has James Comey, an aggrieved FBI guy. Nixon, like Trump, hated the press and loved his daughters and had a strange relationship with his wife.
The next part of the story, the fantasy goes, ends happily for the opposition. In Nixons case, journalists grabbed a thread and kept pulling. And within two years of his election, a president who had logged a record popular vote was quite literally peacing out of the White House.
Rich argues that Trumps TBD-gate is unfolding at a comparable rate to Watergate. You will find reason to hope that the 45th presidents path through scandal may wind up at the same destination as the 37thsa premature exit from the White House in disgraceon a comparable timeline.
Is it possible that Trumps presidency will end in Nixonian disgrace? Sure. But theres a much greater likelihood that it wont, that Richs prediction will age about as well as Van Jones March 1 proclamation that Donald Trump became president last night, or Fareed Zakarias proclamation on April 7 that Donald Trump became president last night. If Trump somehow lurches through four or eight years, history will view the lefts starry-eyed Watergate dreams as in the same genre of smug as Clinton acolytes cockiness going into the final stretch of the 2016 presidential campaign. Litanies of Trump-Nixon comparisons amount to little more than fantasy, wastes of precious time that could have been better used on reality.
Donald Trump is not Richard Nixon, and 1973 is not 2017.
During Nixons time, Americans could only get their news from a few outlets; if they wanted anything less mainstream than the NBC Nightly News, they had to seek out the Whole Earth catalog or their local Ron Paul-esque kook and his facsimiled newsletter. The internet has democratized information, but it has also muddied the waters. In 2017, we are all denizens of a customizable media reality that has never felt more subjective. Pre-web, a person at odds with the mainstream opinion about what the truth is would be pushed to the margins. Now, the president himself has endorsed a fringe news outlet that denies that the murder of dozens of children in Sandy Hook ever happened. We no longer agree what the definition of is is. The margins have gone mainstream.
Watergate fantasy porn neglects to realistically establish that Watergate was a series of freakish lightning strikes. Its hard to imagine how they could replicate themselves in 2017. Even if the public trusted the press as they did in the early 1970s (they dont), or if Trump is actually guilty of prosecutable wrongdoing as recognized by those in a position to prosecute (we dont know, but are acting as though we do), or if Congress, given Trumps theoretical wrongdoing, would move to impeach (also unknown), theres the not-small problem of Trumps supporters. Theyre not going anywhere, and the reasons they were drawn to Trump arent going anywhere.
In the 2016 election, Polk County, Wisconsin, went about 2-1 for Donald Trump. The 956 square-mile grid of field and forest hugging the states western border is home to only 43,400 residents. I was born in the now-shuttered hospital in one of its towns, a village with a population that barely cracks four digits, and lived there until I was 18 years old.
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Alan Walker has been the head of Polk Countys Republican Party for over a decade. To hear him tell it, nothing has happened since the inauguration to make him second guess his vote.
The same goes for most of the people Alan Walker knows who are active in local politics. They arent ready to abandon President Trump. In Walkers view, Trump is following through on what he promised hed do. Investigations into Trump are nothing more than media agitating designed to derail a true conservative agenda.
Many here in Polk County think the liberal elite were looking down on them, Walker wrote in a post-election op-ed in a local newspaper. The people in Polk County are good, honest, down-to-earth people, good citizens. People here are not racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic people, but are labeled that way by the liberals. If people had been talking to the people of Polk County, the notion of a Trump victory wouldnt have seemed farfetched in October before the election.
In April, Trump supporters in the area held two Trump-less Trump rallies in the area, one in Turtle Lake, and one a short drive south in Hudson. Walker estimates that a few dozen gathered in Turtle Lake; about 120 in Hudson. Local politicians and activists spoke. At one gathering, Walker led a prayer.
I dont know if youre old enough to remember Reagan, Walker tells me, via phone. When Reagan was president, it was constantly people against him. Its much worse with Trump than it was with President Bush or Bush Jr.
People who want Donald Trump to be president for as little time as possible are in the market for good news right now, but theres not much good news to be had. Trump already has installed one Supreme Court justice and will probably get to nominate another, a feat that hasnt gone unnoticed by his supporters like Alan Walker. Trump has already pulled out of the Paris climate agreement, another victory for his base. Hes got part of his travel ban enacted, for the time being. His party has the House and the Senate, and most statehouses. Sure, hes faced setbacks due to his seeming lack of knowledge of how to navigate the Washington jungle gym, but the longer hes in charge, the more accidental wins hes likely to stumble into. The people who already liked Trump are always going to like him; the people who never liked him never will.
Hoping for the best is sustaining. But the other half of that adage is prepare for the worst. For too long, liberals have clung to the former and ignored the latter. In order to survive the Trump era intact, they must resist the urge to look for the future in the 1970s. They must stop wasting their time reading fan fiction and deal with the reality that we are probably stuck with Trump. And then what?
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Liberal Impeachment Fantasies Have to Stop - The Daily Beast - Daily Beast
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Can Trump make friends with South Korea’s liberal president? Because he has to. – The Week Magazine
Posted: at 11:47 am
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In the debate swirling about how to handle North Korea, one important aspect maybe the most important aspect seems to always get lost: Anything the United States might want to do to rein in the so-called "hermit kingdom" needs to be agreed to by the nation that would be affected most: South Korea.
With President Trump meeting today with liberal South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the stage is set to build a relationship that must not only stand the test of time, but could very well be tested in the most strenuous of ways possible: war.
Consider where things stand with Pyongyang for a moment.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are running so high that one false move, like an errant North Korea missile landing in South Korea, for example, could start a crisis taking all three nations down a path to conflict that is clearly in no one's interests. And with North Korea in possession of nuclear weapons, millions of people could die once the bombs start falling.
To make matters even worse, Pyongyang also seems intent to make sure its military might only grows with each passing day. North Korea seems close to not only testing another nuclear weapon in the coming days, but it's also on the cusp of testing an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM. In the months and years to come, Kim Jong Un will likely be able to pair these two technologies together to produce a weapon that can land an atomic payload on U.S. soil, something President Trump has committed to stopping.
From here things get even worse.
North Korea has already murdered an American student, Otto Wambier, and is holding captive several other Americans as pawns. With their fate uncertain, the stage is set for a potential showdown and where it could end up is anybody's guess.
Then there is poor South Korea. Not only does Seoul have to somehow deal with the North's constant threats of annihilation Kim Jong Un just threatened to assassinate South Korea's former president, for instance they must also deal with the constant pain of seeing their Korean brothers and sisters abused behind one of the last iron curtains on the planet.
The South also faces a reality that very few nations must deal with: thousands of pieces of artillery and missiles pointed at its capital city, ready to strike at any moment. Even though North Korea would be wiped out in any sort of military conflict with South Korea and America, it stands to reason that Seoul and large sections of the South would be turned to rubble.
Considering all of this, Trump and Moon must not only have a successful meeting, but also work to ensure they are on the same page and quickly develop a comprehensive strategy to deal with North Korea.
First and foremost, both sides need to establish a friendly, working relationship with each other. This sounds obvious, but due to domestic politics in both nations, it might actually be difficult. Trump was very harsh towards South Korea during his presidential run calling the U.S.-Korea free trade agreement a "job-killing deal" so he probably has some fence-mending to do. At the same time, the recently elected Moon is a dove on North Korea and had some tough words about America on the campaign trail, so he will also need to reassure his American counterparts. Indeed, today's meeting must move past the talk of both campaigns and reaffirm the alliance for the world to see especially North Korea.
Next, Trump needs to convince his South Korean colleagues to end any challenges to the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system. While there's been recent talk in South Korea of removing this vital system, which could help shield the South from the North's missiles, it seems such concerns have eased. Still, President Trump must make it clear that such a system is in both nations' interests (keep in mind, the U.S. has 28,000 troops in South Korea that also would benefit). He must also pledge not to charge them for the system either, as he suggested months back.
Finally, both nations need to agree to a common strategy and framework when it comes to dealing with Pyongyang one that goes beyond the obvious military questions of missiles and nuclear weapons. How would the alliance, for example, deal with a North Korean cyber attack on South Korea's nuclear reactors or electricity grid? Or, how would both nations jointly respond if Pyongyang was serious about talks to ease tensions? Clearly both sides need to know each other's redlines when it comes to the Kim regime, but also where they could work cooperatively to ease tensions.
To be fair, most first meetings of heads of state tend to feature both sides just feeling each other out, trying to get a sense of each other's motives and aspirations. But neither side has the luxury of time. One can only hope Trump and Moon can become the best of friends and fast.
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Can Trump make friends with South Korea's liberal president? Because he has to. - The Week Magazine
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Liberal magazine editor says Trump will incite conservative violence against liberal journalists – TheBlaze.com
Posted: at 11:47 am
The editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, told Katie Couric during the Aspen Ideas conference on Wednesday that he worries that President Donald Trump is turning the American public against liberal journalists to the point of violence.
He said that if violence against journalists were to occur, Trump would solely shoulder the blame.
After Couric asked Goldberg his thoughts on Trump continually blasting fake news outlets i.e., CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times, to name a few Goldberg claimed that his biggest concern for the media at large is a physical, violent attack on liberal journalists.
Couric said, When the president constantly tweets that different newspapers are examples of fake news and accuses reporters of being fake news at White House briefings or when he appears before reporters there, whats your reaction?
Goldberg responded, Part of my reaction is that were all engaged in a reality TV show, that this is a reality TV version of a war between a president and the press.
He continued, The problem is, and this is what I worry about more than anything else, is that there are people in the country who dont understand that [Trumps war on the media] is a cynical reality TV game and are going to hear over and over again from the president that reporters, journalists are enemies of the state.
He added, And someone, I mean God forbid, someone is going to do something violent against journalists in a large way, and then I know where the fault lies. And were heading in this direction, and its quite frightening.
See the segment in the video below.
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States Need Freedom From Washington To Transform Their Medicaid Programs – The Federalist
Posted: at 11:47 am
Theres often a disconnect between Washington and the rest of the country, and Medicaid reform is no exception. The House of Representatives last month passed a bill including major Medicaid reformseither a per capita spending cap or a block grant for states. The new presidential administration has pledged its support for added state flexibility for running Medicaid programs.
All that sounds nice, you might be thinking, but what does it meanboth for states, and for Medicaid recipients themselves? A recent paper I compiled for the Wyoming Liberty Group provides some sense of what a reformed Medicaid program might look like. The overhaul being contemplated in Washingtonthe largest in more than half a centurywould, if done correctly, give states flexibility to modernize Medicaid and provide better care to patients, which could end up saving taxpayers money.
Medicaid reform means better care for patients. It means states can choose the best care options for beneficiaries without worrying about checking bureaucratic boxes. That freedom will allow more elderly and disabled beneficiaries to stay in their homes, rather than moving to nursing institutionsthe preferred option for most seniors, and a more economical one.
A series of reforms in Rhode Island begun nearly a decade ago provide some sense of what Medicaid transformation can accomplish. Nonpartisan analysts found that Rhode Islands reforms saved tens of millions of dollars, while improving members access to more appropriate services. Providing better care not only represents good policyit can also save taxpayers money.
Medicaid reform could mean new efforts to coordinate care. Recent innovations from the private sectorsuch as payment bundles for all the costs of a procedurewould give providers more incentives to provide effective care the first time, while publicly releasing de-identified patient data would give providers the analytic tools they need to become more efficient.
Medicaid reform also means more consumer-oriented options for patients. It involves giving patients the tools to save money for taxpayers, then sharing some of those savings with them. Whether providing incentives for healthy behaviorssimilar to the Safeway model popular with many large employersor encouraging patients to shop around for non-emergency procedures like MRIs, these incentives can present a win-win proposition to both patients and taxpayers.
A reformed Medicaid program means providing links to employment, and employment-based health insurance, for eligible beneficiaries. Work requirements and job training programs will encourage individuals to develop translatable skills that will improve their employment prospects, and ultimately benefit the economy. Encouraging patients to accept employment-based insurance wherever offered, and transforming Medicaid so it more closely resembles employer plans, will create smoother transitions for beneficiaries.
Finally, a reformed Medicaid program would serve as a wise steward of taxpayer dollars. Enhanced eligibility checks and increased asset recovery efforts would preserve scarce taxpayer resources for the vulnerable patients who need them most. With improper payments in the program having risen by nearly 25 percent to more than $36 billion last fiscal year, state Medicaid programs need the resources and incentives to ferret out this waste and fraud and return it to taxpayers.
While Medicaid serves an important purpose for the needy populations for which it was designed, the program needs updating to respond to twenty-first-century medicine. Moreover, with the size of Medicaid nearly tripling as a percentage of state budgets over the past three decades, an unreformed Medicaid program will continue to crowd out other important state spending priorities like law enforcement, education, and transportation.
Medicaid reform may well take different forms in different states. Wyomings large rural population impacts its health system in numerous ways. Managed care has yet to come to Medicaid, and social isolation in rural communities helps explain why Wyoming has an above-average percentage of aged beneficiaries in nursing homes. These unique characteristics mean that the solutions that work for Medicaid recipients in Cheyenne may not work for those in Charlotte, and vice versa.
But given freedom from Washingtonfreedom that should be forthcoming under the new administrationevery state can transform its Medicaid program. All it takes is federal flexibility, and for policy-makers to embrace a vision for a modern Medicaid system. With a comprehensive waiver, Wyomingand every other statecan transform and revitalize Medicaid. Its time to embrace the opportunity and do just that.
Jacobs is founder and CEO of Juniper Research Group, a policy consulting firm based in Washington. He's on Twitter @chrisjacobshc.
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House Republicans struggle to pass budget – Press Herald
Posted: at 11:47 am
WASHINGTON As their counterparts in the Senate struggled Tuesday to advance a high-profile health-care bill, House Republicans confronted their own critical failure to agree on a fiscal 2018 budget resolution.
Passing a budget is about much more than next years spending for Republican lawmakers. It also sets the stage for special budget procedures known as reconciliation instructions that will allow Republicans to pass major legislation without a filibuster from Senate Democrats.
But even the promise of tax reform and long-term spending cuts has not yet been enough to bring a fractious group of House Republicans together. A scheduled Thursday meeting of the House Budget Committee to prepare a budget resolution for a floor vote was canceled Tuesday amid continued infighting.
Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., a Budget Committee member, lamented Tuesday that the budget should have been put to bed a long time ago.
Its almost like were serving in the minority right now, he said. We just simply dont know how to govern.
House leaders struck an optimistic note last week after Republican defense hawks and deficit hawks appeared to agree on a compromise figure of $621 billion for defense spending in fiscal 2018. But another thorny issue has derailed the talks: how much entitlement spending to trim from the federal budget over the coming decade.
Most Budget Committee Republicans are prepared to trim $200 billion from the federal budget over 10 years, but hard-line conservatives are pushing for even more cuts to federal spending that now totals roughly $4 trillion a year.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said he has personally identified $300 billion of potential cuts to mandatory spending programs such as Medicare and Medicaid that are not appropriated on a regular basis by Congress. In particular, he said, conservatives want cuts to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food stamps as well as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the main welfare program.
To suggest that theres no waste or inefficiencies in those areas would defy history, he said.
But the chairmen of the House committees that would be charged with wringing out those inefficiencies are balking at being essentially ordered around by the Budget Committee, and that has talks in a fresh stalemate as a week-long July 4 holiday recess approaches. Under the typical yearly budget cycle, the House and Senate pass a budget resolution by April 15.
Budget Committee spokesman Will Allison said the panels chairman, Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., is 100 percent committed to getting a budget done and plans to keep this process moving after the July 4th recess.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Tuesday attacked what she described as the Republicans fiscal irresponsibility.
Almost five months into the Trump Administration, House Republicans still havent met their most basic responsibility to pass a budget, she said in a statement. Time is quickly running out to avert a catastrophic default on the debt.
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District to pay Richards’ health insurance for next three fiscal years — Cost to district next school year is over $22K – Morning Times
Posted: at 11:47 am
WAVERLY -- As part of Superintendent Randy Richards' amended contract with the Waverly Central School District, the district will pay the retiring school official's health insurance in full until 2020.
A copy of Richards' amended contract was provided to the Morning Times following the filing of a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request.
The new language calls for the district to "provide to the superintendent family health insurance for the 2017-2018, 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 fiscal years."
The amendment notes that the benefits will match those offered to the district's other administrators in active service.
The health insurance plan offered by the district is the "MVP Option A" offered by the NY44 Health Benefits Plan Trust.
According to the original contract between Richards and the district, the superintendent would be responsible for 15 percent of the health insurance premium, while the district picked up the remaining 85 percent.
However, the amended contract calls for the district to cover 100 percent of insurance's premium for the next three years, according to school board President Parvin Mensch.
According to district Business Manager Kathy Rote, that translates to a cost of $22,584 for the next school year.
"That's the only solid number we have right now," she said Tuesday.
If the cost of health insurance were to rise 7 percent in each of the following two fiscal years -- which Rote stressed was only a guess -- it would translate to a cost of approximately $24,000 and nearly $26,000 for those respective school years.
Richards will not receive any other benefits, such as salary, as part of his retirement, Mensch added.
The superintendent's retirement, which is set to go into effect on June 30, was announced June 15 after a lengthy executive session by the school board.
Richards still had a year remaining on his original contract after being awarded a one-year extension in November 2016.
Mensch stated that Richards' decision to retire came after it was unexpectedly discovered that the superintendent was eligible for an early retirement due to his past military service.
GST BOCES is currently searching for the district's new superintendent.
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Sen. Chuck Morse: A real ‘Live free or die’ session – Concord Monitor
Posted: at 11:47 am
New Hampshire continues to hold true to its motto, first coined by Revolutionary War General John Stark, Live free or die. As we gather together next week to celebrate our nations enduring freedom on the Fourth of July, we are reminded that this motto can take on many different meanings.
During the legislative session that recently came to a close, we looked to our Live free or die New Hampshire sensibilities of freedom teamed with practicality in all that we did, supporting a healthy balance of fiscal conservatism, need to grow our economy, yet we also provided our communities with the resources they need for a strong future.
Providing steadfast leadership in conjunction with our ability to work together with members of the House, Senate and with our governor, we have produced a number of major accomplishments on behalf of our state.
Growing our economy and creating jobs continues to be one of our top priorities this session through maintaining a business-friendly environment. As part of an ongoing effort to grow our economy and create jobs, we noted the success previous tax cuts have had, as our unemployment is among the lowest in the country, New Hampshire has the fourth fastest growing economy in the country and business tax revenues were well over projections. With the support of the House and governor, we worked together to take further steps to provide additional tax relief for businesses again this year. We also increased the deduction for capital investments to $500,000 to encourage businesses to grow and create jobs. These policies are part of a comprehensive push to drive our economy while sending a clear message that New Hampshire is open for business.
We also took an important step toward reducing our states high energy costs by eliminating the electric consumption tax. This is a move in the right direction to reduce energy costs that are 40 percent higher in New Hampshire than the rest of the nation and the top reason major employers have moved out of state. It is clear that we need to do more to cut energy costs.
It is essential that we also focus on building a well-educated and skilled workforce to fill the high-tech industry jobs in our state. I honestly believe that should begin with our students, which is why we provided funding in this budget for FIRST robotics programs in schools in addition to establishing full-day kindergarten programs in every community in our state.
We also included a new scholarship program introduced by Gov. Sununu, which would assist New Hampshire students who attend colleges and universities, public or private, in state. The goal is to keep these individuals in state after college working in the jobs available here. We know that providing opportunities for early education and emphasizing engagement in STEM programs early on, and introducing scholarship programs for New Hampshire students will better prepare them for their future and for the great opportunities available to them in our state.
Improving our states infrastructure, including roads and bridges, as well as protecting our water resources, are also key components to our future. We sent $36 million back to taxpayers in our communities to make critical road and bridge infrastructure repairs that support small businesses and our citizens. In addition, weve revamped the drinking water and ground water commission so they are entrusted with providing communities access to funding for essential drinking water remediation. Modeled after LCHIP, we made changes to allow for public-private partnerships and ensure that communities are also invested in the solution. Maintaining modern and safe road infrastructure and water resources are essential to attracting businesses and families to our state, ensuring that New Hampshire remains one of the best places to live and work in the country.
Weve also taken steps to launch the Lakeshore Redevelopment Planning Commission in Laconia to bring in new ideas for the Laconia State School property. Weve used the same framework as the Pease Development Authority to provide a platform for realizing development opportunities to benefit the Laconia region and the state. I believe the sky is the limit for the type of economic growth the city of Laconia could see in the future. This is just one example of how we are able to make progress growing our local economy through smart, tested programs that will benefit our communities.
Our state motto takes on so many different meanings, but ultimately emphasizes the importance of our freedom from oppression and perhaps overstates the need for consistent, measured practicality.
If only Gen. Stark could see New Hampshire today not only can we celebrate our independence with now-legal firecrackers, but Id like to think he would be proud of our ability to balance the need to maintain our freedoms while serving our communities on this 241st Fourth of July.
(Chuck Morse, a Salem Republican, is the New Hampshire Senate president.)
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Sen. Chuck Morse: A real 'Live free or die' session - Concord Monitor
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These 5% dividend yields could help you win financial independence – AOL UK
Posted: at 11:46 am
Investing in companies with the ability to deliver rising dividends over many years can be a powerful way to build wealth. Share price gains often follow dividend growth, creating impressive total returns.
What's more difficult is to find companies with high yields that still have growth potential. In today's articleI'm going to take a look at two very different dividend growth stocks, each of which offers a dividend yield of about 5%.
Pub group Greene King (LSE: GNK) appears to be making a decent job of running a fairly traditional business. Sales rose by 6.9% to 2,073m last year, while the group's underlying operating profit climbed 4.9% to 392.2m.
Adjusted earnings per share were 1.3% higher at 69.9p, while the dividend was lifted 3.6% to 32.05p per share for a yield of 4.7%. Return on capital employed, a useful measure of profit for a business with lots of fixed assets, was unchanged at 9.4%. That's respectable, if not spectacular.
Greene King shares have traded unchanged since the figures were released this morning, but there was some bad news. The group's operating margin fell by 0.3% to 18.6%, due to cost pressures and the brand conversion costs resulting from the acquisition of Spirit pubs.
The firm was also forced to book an impairment charge of 58.6m against the book value of its pubs, due to "changes in the local trading environment". A further 34.9m of impairment was recorded against sites that were closed or sold last year. These suggest to me that market conditions remain tough for pubs.
However, Greene King's underlying business appears to be trading well and delivering fairly stable profits. For investors seeking income, I think that the forecast P/E of 9.7 and prospective yield of 4.8% could be an attractive long-term entry point.
Air Partner (LSE: AIR) may not be a name you're familiar with. It's a specialist aviation services company which provides charter services to governments, corporate customers and high net worth individuals. The group also includes an aircraft re-marketing business and consultancy services.
The firm is listed in the FTSE Fledgling index and currently has a market cap of just 61m. But it's not a fly-by-night newcomer as it was founded in 1970 and has been public since 1989.
Recent performance has been strong. Underlying pre-tax profit rose by 17% to 5.1m last year, while underlying earnings rose by 10% to 6.5p per share. Shareholders enjoyed a 7.2% dividend hike last year, giving a total payout of 5.2p per share. That's equivalent to a 4.6% yield at the current share price of 114p.
Air Partner has made several acquisitions over the last few years. These are helping to broaden the range of related services it offers and may deliver more stable profit growth. Although the company's profits are likely to slump during recessions, its long history suggests to me that this business has staying power.
Analysts covering the stock expect underlying earnings to rise by 20% to 7.8p per share this year, putting the stock on a forecast P/E of 15 with a prospective yield of 4.7%. I believe this business could be a long-term growth story, and is worth a closer look.
Investing in stocks such as Air Partner and Greene King could help you build a stock portfolio to fund your retirement. But if you really want to beat the market and retire early, I believe you need a clear plan.
In The Foolish Guide To Financial Independence, our investment expert Mark Bishop explains how he believes you shouldinvest to maximise your chance of an early retirement. Mark's tips include stock suggestions and ideas to help boost your saving power.
This exclusive report is free and without obligation. To download your copy today, click here now.
Roland Head owns shares of Air Partner. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.
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These 5% dividend yields could help you win financial independence - AOL UK
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This chilling NRA ad calls on its members to save America by fighting liberals – Vox
Posted: at 11:43 am
Watch this recently released ad from the National Rifle Association, starring right-wing pundit Dana Loesch. It comes this close to calling for a civil war against liberals:
Heres a full transcription of Loeschs rant, in case you prefer text. Bear in mind that these words are overlaid over ominous images of protest and street violence:
They use their media to assassinate real news. They use their schools to teach children that their president is another Hitler. They use their movie stars and singers and comedy shows and award shows to repeat their narrative over and over again. And then they use their ex-president to endorse the resistance.
All to make them march. Make them protest. Make them scream racism and sexism and xenophobia and homophobia. To smash windows, burn cars, shut down interstates and airports, bully and terrorize the law-abiding until the only option left is for the police to do their jobs and stop the madness.
And when that happens, theyll use it as an excuse for their outrage. The only way we stop this, the only way we save our country and our freedom, is to fight this violence of lies with the clenched fist of truth.
Im the National Rifle Association of America. And Im freedoms safest place.
Its not hard to figure out what the narrative is here. A liberal insurgency is destroying American society. The only way to protect yourself from this surge in left-wing violence (a made-up threat, to be clear) is to donate to the NRA an organization that exists solely to help people buy guns.
The ad isnt an outright exhortation to violence. NRA ads never are. But the NRA has a very long history of using apocalyptic, paranoid rhetoric about the collapse of American society in order to sell people on the notion that they need to act now to preserve their gun rights.
In a 2013 op-ed, for example, NRA Vice President Wayne LaPierre argued that a lawless America was inevitable if the liberals succeeded in their nefarious plan to take your guns.
After Hurricane Sandy, we saw the hellish world that the gun prohibitionists see as their utopia. Looters ran wild in south Brooklyn. There was no food, water or electricity. And if you wanted to walk several miles to get supplies, you better get back before dark, or you might not get home at all, he wrote (New York was actually pretty calm after being hit by the hurricane in 2012).
The problem with this rhetoric isnt, again, that its telling people to use violence against others. Its that it functions as a kind of anti-politics casting the NRAs political opponents as devious enemies who cant be opposed through normal politics. Republicans control all three branches of government and a large majority of statehouses nationwide. There is literally zero chance that any kind of major gun control passes in America in the foreseeable future.
The threat, instead, is from a kind of liberal-cultural fifth column: People who are acting outside of legitimate political channels to upend American freedoms, through protest and violence. Its a paranoid vision of American life that encourages the NRAs fans to see liberals not as political opponents, but as monsters.
Loeschs ad has currently been viewed more than 2.4 million times on Facebook.
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This chilling NRA ad calls on its members to save America by fighting liberals - Vox
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