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johnsonma23

Geography of Poverty | msnbc - 0 views

www.msnbc.com/...index.html

US poverty culture

shared by johnsonma23 on 23 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • vulnerable Americans are being crushed by the grip of poverty, from the deserts of the Southwest through the black belt in the South
  • high-poverty rates have crippled entire communities, leaving bellies burning with hunger and hope of better days dwindlin
  • Income inequality has widened in recent decades while upward mobility has declined
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • like a lack of access to a quality education or a good job, what prospects do people in this group have for overcoming these hurdles?
  • Geography of Poverty A journey through forgotten America
johnsonma23

Pro-Donald Trump super PAC shutters - CNNPolitics.com - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

politics history US policy

shared by johnsonma23 on 23 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • The main super PAC supporting Donald Trump's presidential bid is ending its operations,
  • The Make America Great Again PAC is shutting down amid a flurry of scrutiny centered on the group and its ties to the Trump campaign,
  • Trump's campaign has repeatedly insisted that it never sanctioned the establishment or operations of any super PAC, including Make America Great Again.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Washington Post revealed ties between Ciletti and the Trump campaign -- notably that Ciletti reportedly met with Trump's soon-to-be campaign officials in the lead-up to Trump's official campaign launch in June
  • rump has denied any involvement or knowledge of the super PAC and in his stump speech, the mogul often highlights a claim that he rejected a $5 million donation from a lobbyist
johnsonma23

Pentagon Seeks Easing of Ban on Russian Rockets for U.S. Space Missions - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...ets-for-us-space-missions.html

nytimes com US politics policy culture obama

shared by johnsonma23 on 03 Jun 15 - No Cached
  • Pentagon Seeks Easing of Ban on Russian Rockets for U.S. Space Missions
  • Congress passed legislation that forced the Pentagon to stop buying Russian rocket engines that have been used since 2000 to help launch American military and intelligence satellites into space.
  • Only five months after the ban became law, the Pentagon is pressing Congress to ease it
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • The ban applies only to national security missions, but the Pentagon’s request has also frustrated those who have pressed to end American reliance on Russia for NASA and commercial spaceflights, at a time when relations between the two countries have become tenser than in any other period since the Cold War.
  • “I don’t know what the Pentagon’s position can be, except for them and the Obama administration trying to placate Putin,
  • The Pentagon’s position, however, has powerful support from the nation’s intelligence chief and two of the most influential defense contractors, Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
  • When the House passed its annual defense authorization bill, it approved language that would ease the ban.
  • The debate is an example of the seismic shift in relations between the United States and Russia, ending a quarter century of tentative and sometimes strained efforts to cooperate.
  • The arrangement attracted opposition because of Energomash’s majority state ownership and, according to an article by Reuters last year, a minority share tied to one of Mr. Putin’s closest friends, the billionaire Yuri V.
  • “Certainly we cannot have Vladimir Putin and his cronies profit from the sale of rocket engines,”
  • The debate over the Russian engines has become entangled in an emerging rivalry among the companies vying for the lucrative business of space launches, amounting to $70 billion in contracts for military and intelligence missions alone
johnsonma23

Assad's Forces May Be Aiding New ISIS Surge - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...ppo-syria-insurgents-isis.html

politics crisis policy nytimes

shared by johnsonma23 on 03 Jun 15 - No Cached
  • Assad’s Forces May Be Aiding New ISIS Surge
  • Islamic State fighters fought rival Syrian insurgents amid fears that the Islamic State was positioning itself to make Aleppo its next big prize. Syrian opposition leaders accused the Syri
  • an government of essentially collaborating with the Islamic State, leaving the militants unmolested as they pressed a surprise offensive against other insurgent groups
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • rebels complained that the United States has refrained from contributing air support to help them fend off simultaneous attacks by the government and the Islamic State.
  • Western officials have sought to play down the significance of the militant group’s recent gains, including Palmyra, the strategically placed World Heritage site in Syria, and Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s Anbar Province.
  • Neither American officials nor Syrian insurgents have provided proof of such direct coordination, though it has long been alleged by the insurgents.
  • The latest attacks are part of a pattern, he said, in which Islamic State fighters have taken advantage of opportunities to attack rival insurgents when they are weak and under government bombardment.
johnsonma23

Peace Activists Cross Demilitarized Zone Separating Koreas - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...ed-zone-separating-koreas.html

history crisis policy nytimes peace

shared by johnsonma23 on 25 May 15 - No Cached
  • It was rare for the two rival Korean governments to agree to allow a group of peace activists to pass through the border area, known as the DMZ.
  • symbolism the activists had hoped to generate with their Women Cross DMZ campaign was lost when South Korea denied them permission to walk through Panmunjom
  • women, who had traveled from Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, were detoured to a checkpoint southwest of Panmunjom
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • “We have accomplished what no one said can be done, which is to be a trip for peace, for reconciliation, for human rights and a trip to which both governments agreed,”
  • Some rights activists in the United States and South Korea opposed the women’s trip, saying that it would be used as propaganda by North Korea.
johnsonma23

One family, trying to keep food on the table | MSNBC - 0 views

www.msnbc.com/...ying-to-keep-food-on-the-table

food msnbc US obama crisis

shared by johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • One family, trying to keep food on the table
  • Over the past five years, America has quietly slipped into a hunger crisis.
  • hunger and food insecurity spiked across the country as a result of the financial collapse
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Congress authorized tens of billions of dollars for food stamps and other nutrition programs to slow the rise of hunger, but not enough to bring it back down to pre-recession levels.
  • 49 million Americans suffered from food insecurity. Food stamp use has risen to historic levels
johnsonma23

House GOP intensifies immigration standoff | MSNBC - 0 views

www.msnbc.com/...tensifies-immigration-standoff

immigration msnbc US politics obama

shared by johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • House GOP intensifies immigration standoff
  • the task before Congress is quite simple: fund the Department of Homeland Security.
  • either President Obama accepts GOP demands to effectively dismantle his entire approach to immigration policy or Congress will gut Homeland Security funding when it expires at the end of February.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • the far-right plan isn’t going to work.
  • either fold and pass a clean bill before the deadline or force a partial DHS shutdown next month. The latter wouldn’t derail Obama’s policy, but it would undermine domestic border security, which the right claims to care deeply about.
  • johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15
     
    Mass immigrations in the US 
johnsonma23

Protests continue as Holder pushes new steps on police shootings | MSNBC - 0 views

www.msnbc.com/...hes-new-steps-police-shootings

police msnbc US culture

shared by johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • Protests continue as Holder pushes new steps on police shootings
  • As protesters from Boston to south Florida sought Thursday to keep attention focused on the fight for police and criminal justice reform, the Obama administration continued to signal its openness to the movement’s concerns.
  • highlighted the need for better data on police shooting
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • threatened mass civil disobedience and demanded a meeting with state leaders.
  • activists behind the Black Lives Matter movement, who have mostly been out of the headlines since the start of the year, have no intention of easing up. And that those in charge are eager to show they’re listening.
  • “The troubling reality is that we lack the ability right now to comprehensively track the number of incidents of either uses of force directed at police officers or uses of force by police,
  • The news that neither of the police officers responsible for those deaths would be charged added fuel to the fire and set off nationwide protests in recent months
  • johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15
     
    Protests supporting 'Black lives matter' 
johnsonma23

America and the Torture Debate - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...ca-and-the-torture-debate.html

america torture nytimes com US

shared by johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • America and the Torture Debate
  • history shows that governments tend to overreact or act badly when they are attacked or threatened
  • It kept citizens perpetually in fear of known and unknown threats, and so in blind awe of the ever-expanding security state within a state.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • key protections of individual rights were also suspended or violated. A brave few sought the truth and spoke out about the dangers and abuses of a system that became a law unto itself. The abuses of Abu Ghraib, so often excused as the work of a few sadists,
  • Citizens must know what is being implemented in their name
  • it has taken the United States over a decade to come clean.
  • The torture debate in the United States is focused on the efficacy of the practice: Does it work? Can the results help save lives? Can torture, however terrible, give rise to a greater good? Is torture ever justified or justifiable?
  • seems that in the post-9/11 age of hysterical fear-mongering, many Americans are in danger of losing their moral compass.
  • The torturer and those who give succor to the torturer are debased utterly. They defile their country. They cease to be free men. That is their tragedy and the tragedy of their kin. And that is the lesson of history.
  • johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15
     
    Allegations of CIA torturing KMS
johnsonma23

BBC News - 'Not safe': French Jews mull Israel emigration - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-middle-east-30790407

bbc french jews israel emigration

shared by johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • 'Not safe': French Jews mull Israel emigration
  • The grim and violent climax to the Paris hostage crisis was followed with horror wherever the news is watched. Israel's community of French-speaking Jews followed the unfolding drama with particular sadness but without surprise.
  • Israel's Channel 10 interviewed one of the survivors of the siege at the kosher supermarket who had hidden in a basement cold room
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • "We're not waiting around here to die."
  • Not many French Jews make the decision to emigrate here in such public or such painful circumstances
  • renewed force in the aftermath of the Holocaust
  • the idea that a history of persecution and statelessness gave the Jewish people the right to a place of safety.
  • About 7,000 Jews came to Israel from France in 2014
  • Now clearly all sorts of factors will lie behind every one of those individual decisions, but in Israel the rising numbers of French migrants will be seen by many as a kind of rough and ready measure of the level of anti-Semitism in French society.
  • Israel is in the middle of an election campaign, and several party leaders - including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - have travelled to France in the aftermath of last week's attacks.
  • Israel stands ready to welcome them with open arms if they decide to come.
  • johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15
     
    Anti-semitism in France following the Paris hostage crisis.
johnsonma23

BBC News - Islamic State 'beheads guerrilla' in eastern Syria - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-middle-east-30838173

bbc guerrilla syria

shared by johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • Islamic State 'beheads guerrilla' in eastern Syria
  • Islamic State (IS) is reported to have beheaded a man who they accused of setting up a guerrilla cell in eastern Syria that attacked its fighters.
  • His decapitated body was crucified in the town of Mayadin, in Deir al-Zour province, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • having links with the Syrian government,
  • four men were reportedly killed by IS in the city of Deir al-Zou
  • IS claimed the man had set off an explosion at a restaurant and booby-trapped vehicles used by the group.
  • This is not the first time that there have been reports of resistance to IS in Mayadin.
  • The group's religious police forc
  • has been targeted recently by armed men.
  • Egyptian deputy commander in the area had been abducted, tortured and beheaded.
  • johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15
     
    This article disscusses IS beheading men in Syria
johnsonma23

BBC News - Romney 2016: The 'definition of insanity'? - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...blogs-echochambers-30824803

bbc US politics Obama Romney

shared by johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • Romney 2016: The 'definition of insanity'?
  • Kentucky Senator Rand Paul probably captured the sentiment of most of Mr Romney's potential presidential adversaries when he said the prospect of the 2012 Republican nominee running again and expecting a different result is the "definition of insanity".
  • "I think he's had his chance, and I think it's time for some fresh blood,"
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • "If Mitt Romney is the answer, what is the question?"
  • "Beyond his enthusiasts - a formidable constituency given that many are donors - opinions range from indifference to open hostility."
  • "Interviews with more than two dozen Republican activists, elected officials and contributors around the country reveal little appetite for another Romney candidacy,"
  • one that doesn't come immediately to mind is who would be the best Republican presidential nominee in 2016."
  • "Mr Romney is a man of admirable personal character, but his political profile is, well, protean,
  • "But I know lots of honourable, capable and decent people. I don't want them to run for president either."
  • He predicts Mr Romney's campaign won't gain traction, and the former governor will have to withdraw sometime between the first caucus in Iowa and New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary.
  • "If Romney runs now and finishes as an afterthought, it'll be one more sign that the whiz kid couldn't read the tea leaves placed before him despite 20 years of practice in electoral politics
  • johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15
     
    Opinions of Romney running for President for a second time
johnsonma23

BBC News - US-Cuba travel and trade: New rules start on Friday - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-latin-america-30836679

bbc travel policy Obama US

shared by johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • US-Cuba travel and trade: New rules start on Friday
  • New travel and trade rules between the US and Cuba are to take effect on Friday, US officials say.
  • allowing US citizens to use credit cards in Cuba and for US businesses to export some technologies.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • $100 (£66) in alcohol and tobacco from Cuba. Correspondents say it means the US ban on Cuban cigars is over.
  • The move implements last month's agreement to re-establish ties severed since 1961.
  • release of 53 political prisoners agreed as part of the historic deal.
  • large dent in the US trade embargo against Cuba, only Congress can lift it completely.
  • "immediately enable the American people to provide more resources to empower the Cuban population to become less dependent upon the state-driven economy".
  • new regulations will allow US citizens to travel to Cuba for any of a dozen specific reasons
  • A change in the regulations will also allow US investments in some small businesses and agricultural operations.
  • johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15
     
    Cuba and US travel and trade new regulations, and changes
johnsonma23

BBC News - Paris attacks: Pope Francis says freedom of speech has limits - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-europe-30835625

history crisis culture paris bbc attacks

shared by johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • Pope Francis has defended freedom of expression following last week's attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo - but also stressed its limits.
  • religions had to be treated with respect, so that people's faiths were not insulted or ridiculed.
  • The magazine was targeted for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. It printed another cartoon of the Prophet on its front page after the attacks, angering some Muslims who say all depictions of the Prophet should be forbidden.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • France has deployed thousands of troops and police to boost security in the wake of last week's attacks
  • the creator of the "Je suis Charlie" slogan, which became a symbol of support for Charlie Hebdo, has applied for a patent, saying that he wants to prevent the commercial exploitation of the design and keep its original message intact.
  • "You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others. There is a limit."
  • vowed to protect Muslims who, he said, were the main victims of fanaticism, along with people of other religions.
  • johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15
     
    The pope agreeing/supporting the Paris attacks due to criticism of religion by the cartoonists
johnsonma23

Suspect in Paris Attacks Trained With Al Qaeda in Yemen, U.S. Official Says - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...is-terror-attack-suspects.html

politics crisis culture al qaeda paris

shared by johnsonma23 on 08 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • A United States intelligence official said on Thursday that both brothers were in the United States database of known or suspected terrorists, and were on an American no-fly list for years.
  • American intelligence and counterterrorism officials on Thursday were still trying to determine whether the Qaeda affiliate in Yemen had explicitly ordered the attack, although there was no indication so far that the brothers had received direct orders from the group
  • encouraged its followers to attack Westerners who have insulted the Muslim faith
johnsonma23

BBC News - Republicans savage Obama immigration executive order - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-us-canada-30150391

US policy crisis culture obama

shared by johnsonma23 on 21 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • Mr Obama's plan means more than 4m illegal immigrants in the US will be allowed to apply for work permits.
  • "We have a broken immigration system and the American people expect us to work together to fix it,
  • The Republican leader added Mr Obama's actions make it impossible to work together on a host of issues, and fail to to take into account the wishes of the American people.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • "The action by the president yesterday will only encourage more people to come here illegally,"
johnsonma23

Egyptian terrorists tied to ISIS, YouTube message says - CNN.com - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

egyptian terrorists crisis

shared by johnsonma23 on 12 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • the Sinai-based militant group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, or ABM, allegedly announces its allegiance to ISIS, which calls itself the Islamic State.
  • blames tyrants and their "Jewish agents and their allies" for decades of Muslim suffering. The message also calls ISIS "the emergence of a new dawn."
  • The group has killed hundreds of Egyptian police officers and soldiers. The largest attack was last month in the Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 31 soldiers.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • ABM's attacks
  • Officials in Egypt blame Hamas in Gaza for aiding the militant group, an accusation Hamas denies
  • targeted the Egyptian government, there is growing fear that an association with ISIS could expand the threat to civilian and tourist sites.
  • threat to security forces operating in this area is so severe that at times, a shoot-on-sight curfew goes into effect between Arish, the largest city in northern Sinai, and the Rafah border crossing with Gaza
  • checkpoints dot northern Sinai to prevent the movement of weapons and fighters
  • government relocated more than a thousand families away from the border in a move to eliminate cover for any tunnels between Egypt and Gaza
  • ABM was often associated with al Qaeda. Similar messages on social media proclaimed the group's allegiance
  • ssociation with ISIS could also further damage ABM's image with most Egyptians. Egypt relies heavily on tourism and any organization that threatens this source of income risks loss of support.
johnsonma23

Obama announces groundbreaking US-China climate agreement | MSNBC - 0 views

www.msnbc.com/...a-announces-us-china-agreement

obama US politics msnbc

shared by johnsonma23 on 12 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • Tuesday that the two nations – which together account for over one third of all greenhouse gas pollution – have reached a groundbreaking deal to reduce carbon emissions and tackle the growing crisis of global climate change.
  • The U.S. would double its pace of carbon reduction from 1.2% a year through 2020 to 2.3-2.8% a year afterward, ultimately cutting its total greenhouse gas emissions by 26% to 28% from 2005 levels by 2025.
  • “This is a major milestone,” President Obama said at a joint press conference with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “This is an ambitious goal, but this is an achievable goal.”
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • “We have a special responsibility to lead the world effort to combat global climate change,” Obama added. “We hope to encourage all major economies to be ambitious.”
  • The new actions are likely to reinvigorate the domestic debate over environmental regulations, which have come under attack by Republicans in the wake of their electoral victories in last Tuesday’s midterm elections.
  • Our economy can’t take the president’s ideological war on coal,” Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell
  • This unrealistic plan, that the president would dump on his successor, would ensure higher utility rates and far fewer jobs.”
johnsonma23

E.U. Members May Limit Welfare Benefits to Immigrants, Court Rules - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...re-benefits-to-immigrants.html

nytimes com welfare immigrants history policy

shared by johnsonma23 on 12 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • Countries in the European Union can limit access to welfare benefits for citizens from poorer countries in the 28-nation bloc, Europe’s top court ruled on Tuesday.
  • t the woman was not entitled to the benefits, and Tuesday’s ruling was the final word in the case.
  • is limited in scope but is likely to be seized on by leaders in Britain and Germany seeking to tamp down populist furor fed by the belief that poorer Europeans are moving to richer countries to tap into their generous welfare systems
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • The European Court of Justice ruled that a Romanian woman who migrated to Germany was not entitled to unemployment benefits because she had made no effort to find a job. The woman had sued a German employment center in Leipzig for refusing to grant unemployment benefits for her and her son.
  • The ruling provides “a little bit of legal cover” for communities throughout Germany struggling with an influx of refugees and immigrants,
  • Most of the popular anger at perceived “welfare tourism” has centered on Romanians and Bulgarians, who this year became eligible for full freedom of movement throughout the 28 nations of the European Union.
  • “This court case and this ruling show quite clearly that the U.K. is not alone in its concerns about restoring free movement to its core principle: free movement of labor,”
johnsonma23

Europe Honors Armistice Day, 100 Years After World War I's Beginning - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...e-armistice-day-world-war.html

europe history nytimes com world war i

shared by johnsonma23 on 11 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • On Tuesday, Europeans paused for a just a moment, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, to remember the moment the guns fell silent to end World War I in 1918. In London, the clock of Big Ben signaled the beginning of two minutes’ silent reflection that stopped traffic as crowds gathered in Trafalgar Square.
  • remembrance was particularly poignant, culminating in months of preparation, exhibits and re-examination of a murderous conflict that redefined the very notion of mechanized carnage that killed millions.
  • magnified by more recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a familiar debate over the nature of remembrance and the place of the past and of patriotism itself in modern society seemed mo
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • World War I drew in combatants from the United States to the farthest reaches of empires.
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