Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Time For Divorce

Consider this my filing:

"GE’s shares tumble again as investors pass on turnaround" by Jon Chesto Globe Staff  November 14, 2017

General Electric Co. chief executive John Flannery indicated that it would take at least a year for his turnaround plan to start paying off. Many investors are deciding not to stick around.

GE’s stock fell almost 6 percent on Tuesday, adding to the more than 7 percent drop on Monday that occurred after Flannery laid out a plan to streamline the Boston-based company and cut its dividend in half.

“Today, you just had a lot of investors react as though they didn’t need to be here, it’s too hard to figure out, or they didn’t see enough to make them believe,” said Nick Heymann, an equity analyst with investment bank William Blair & Co.

GE’s stock closed at $17.90, its lowest price in nearly six years, and is down 43 percent for 2017, compared to a 15 percent increase in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. The 125-year-old company, the last original member of the Dow Jones industrials, has shed $119 billion in market value this year. That is about the same as the market capitalizations of Biogen and Raytheon combined.

The flailing stock price underscores the challenges that Flannery faces as he tries to restore GE’s luster. He took over from Jeff Immelt in August and immediately embarked on an effort to simplify the sprawling conglomerate.....

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What is lost in shadow is this next piece of crap:

"With GE’s financial woes, was Boston sold a lemon?" by Shirley Leung Globe Columnist  November 14, 2017

Feeling nervous about the future of General Electric?

Me, too — ever since new chief executive John Flannery decided to delay by two years the completion of a $200 million headquarters in Fort Point.

The other shoe dropped Monday when Flannery unveiled a dramatic restructuring of the conglomerate, including cutting some jobs in Boston and getting out of key business lines such as lighting and transportation.

It feels like we enjoyed about three seconds of good headlines when GE uprooted its headquarters and headed to Boston last year from suburban Connecticut.

WHAT? 

It was day after day leads to get them here! 

She needs to get her memory checked.

We were supposed to be where GE could complete its reinvention as an Apple for modern industry, bringing smarts and power of the Internet to hulking products like jet engines and MRIs.

Oh, that all sounded so good as Charlie Baker and Marty Walsh forked over an ultra-rich incentive package worth about $150 million to lure GE here.

What a piece of work is she!

Now, I can’t help but wonder, did we get sold a lemon? Instead of Boston being the place where GE rose from the ashes, will we be known as the site of its final resting place?

The business community here loved Jeff Immelt, who as chief executive pushed for the company’s fresh start in Boston. He was the anti-Jack Welch, the Midwestern math major partial to sweater vests, the guy who liked to drive his own car to work and park in a public garage at night.

Now she is hissing at us!

But since Immelt abruptly stepped down as chief executive in August, we’ve been seeing a different side. Perhaps he was not immune to big company excesses, most devastatingly the practice of having an empty plane trail him on occasion in case his jet broke down. That won’t happen under Flannery, the new guy, because he decided to sell GE’s corporate air force to save money.

Thanks for helping with the greenhouse gas emissions.

Maybe now the people of Connecticut don’t feel so bad that GE is gone.

They are “relieved.”

Is it too soon to sour on our GE deal? Of course, the cynical Bostonian in me wants to say I told you so. This all seemed too good to be true anyway.

OMFG!!!

Yeah, she told you so. Leung the liar!

But I’m not ready to give up on GE and what it could mean to our economy. If GE can pull off its transformation, Boston will be better off with a front row seat to a wave of innovation known as the Internet of Things.

When the city and state officials wooed GE here, it was very much like a marriage — for better or worse, in sickness and in health. This relationship is just over a year old. We have a long way to go, but so far GE has shown its commitment with its wallet — pledging $50 million in local philanthropy (half to Boston Public Schools) — and its time — with executives sitting on two dozen boards of universities, hospitals, and other nonprofits.

We call that a tax loot kickback chump change.

How can anyone take pride in this pos? 

They should be ashamed of themselves!!!!!!

Also take heart in this: GE might be shrinking, but with about 295,000 employees globally and a stock market capitalization of $165 billion, the company remains gargantuan by Massachusetts standards, about twice the value of the second biggest public company in the state, and if taxpayers feel like we might be holding the bag on GE, know this: The company pledged to create 800 jobs at its headquarters by 2024, and hitting that number is tied to receiving $25 million in property tax breaks from Boston. If GE falls short, it won’t get the full benefit. But please — I’m talking to you, Governor Charlie Baker and Mayor Marty Walsh — don’t give the company another dime no matter how much it begs. 

Problem is, they get all the loot up front and won't have to give it back until 20 years have passed if they fail.

I predict GE will be around for a long time. It is the last of the original stocks left in the Dow Jones industrial index, which began tracking the performance of large public companies in 1896. The company has ridden the highs and lows from the Great Depression to the Great Recession.

And I predict losers on Sundays, what of it? 

Her "prediction" regarding GE is just as worthless.

“Change is part of our history and tradition. It’s also part of our survival,” said Ann Klee, the GE executive who is overseeing the buildout of the Boston headquarters.

When I told her some people in town are wagering on whether GE will go through with its new building, Klee assures me it will get done.

“You can tell them you talked to me, and we’re committed,” she said. 

She just did. 

Btw, any sexual harassment in those offices?

We’ve got a lot of taxpayer money riding on GE. We’re learning that big companies can come with big problems. The honeymoon is over, but this relationship is worth saving.....

No, it is not, and that must be why the Globe buried that piece of crap.

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They loom over everything.

RelatedEx-Fidelity employee loses 10-year whistle-blower case

The case offered a rare window into the inner workings of Fidelity, which is why I never heard of her until just yesterday. 

Must be a problem with perception, huh?

***********

Thought I would endow you with today's top feature:

"Elite colleges with fat endowments are on the defensive as the GOP drags them into a D.C. tax fight" by Astead W. Herndon Globe Staff  November 15, 2017

There will be a quiz later so pay attention.

WASHINGTON — America’s elite private colleges would rather talk about anything other than their own vast wealth, but Republicans have put the institutions they have long criticized as liberal bastions on the defensive by dragging them into Washington’s messy tax fight.

Tax overhauls drafted in the House and Senate have zeroed in on the billions of dollars that top private schools have tucked away in endowments. The lawmakers want to impose a new 1.4 percent tax on annual income spun off by these vast funds, limiting the tax to the approximately 60 schools where the endowments are worth more than $250,000 per full-time student.

That has thrust the nation’s most prestigious institutions of higher learning — including Harvard, Dartmouth, and a dozen other New England schools — squarely into an intense lobbying battle over money.

Playing out in the shadow of the noisier debate over corporate tax cuts, it pits Republicans against the colleges and universities that produce the type of highly educated voters and leaders who often oppose Republican policies. And it forces the colleges into the awkward position of publicly defending their enormous wealth at a time of rising student debt and soaring tuitions.

A lot of things get lost in shadow.

Harvard leads the pack of total endowment with more than $36 billion, more than the entire gross domestic product of the state of Vermont. Princeton University has the top per-student endowment ratio, with more than $2.5 million for every full-time student. Even smaller schools in New England, such as Middlebury College and Bowdoin College, have endowments worth more than $1 billion.

Is there no middle ground?

Some of the schools “simply want to have a tax-free investment,” said Republican Representative Darrell Issa, who represents a swing district in southern California and supports taxing endowments.

“We can all talk about the poor kid who gets a scholarship, but sometimes this is about the professors and the people running the endowment and their salaries.”

Harvard president Drew Faust has pushed back against such characterizations, and in a recent statement said the tax is unnecessary because the school’s endowment “is not locked away in some chest” but “at work in the world.”

Harvard officials turned down a request to be interviewed for this story.

Though many of the wealthy schools remain tight-lipped about the Republican tax plan in public, some New England colleges are lobbying lawmakers behind the scenes as well as rallying their alumni.

Institutions used to being heard, such as Harvard, are at a disadvantage with this White House because, unlike past administrations, President Trump has largely shunned the school’s graduates for top posts. Most of the wealthiest schools in the country are also clustered in blue states on the coasts, where Trump saw little support during his 2016 campaign.

You do have to give him the little things. 

I mean, if the Bushes hate him he must have some redeeming quality.

“These schools use endowments to build buildings, which employ our workers, and use it to subsidize student financial aid,” said Representative Michael Capuano, whose Cambridge district includes Harvard.

“If Harvard has a smaller endowment, they are less likely to build a building. And that hurts my construction industry, that hurts my financial services industry,” Capuano said.

And the kids, Mike?

Recently, even some Republicans have expressed reservations about the tax, but for conservative hard-liners, there will be no tears shed about increasing taxes on institutions that many believe socialize students to leftist values and are silos for the elite. Breitbart News, Fox News, and other conservative media outlets have often referred to Harvard as a “hedge fund with a university attached,” and have pressed lawmakers to tax the endowments.

The “taxpayer gravy train” to elite colleges “needs to end,” said Adam Andrzejewski, an open government activist who led a segment on Fox News this year.

In response, school administrators are telling supporters and lawmakers that the institutions use endowment funds to kickstart local economies and help low-income students with opportunities for economic advancement.

They talked to Wellesley and Smith, two women's colleges!

A July poll by Pew Research Center found 58 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents now feel that colleges and universities have had “a negative effect on the way things are going in the country.” This number is up 10 percentage points in the last year, and is now on par with other polarizing institutions such as labor unions, churches, and the national news media.....

Welcome aboard the USS Discredited. We will see if we can find you a seat.

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One week ago the battle was joined, and it has gone from top to bottom.

"Senate GOP to add repeal of health insurance mandate into tax bill" by Mike DeBonis Washington Post  November 14, 2017

WASHINGTON — Senate Republican leaders are altering their tax bill to include a repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, a major change as they now try to accomplish two of their top domestic priorities in a single piece of legislation.

They need that money for the tax cuts! 

And the pre$$ made you believe the fight was over and it was safe!

Party leaders said Tuesday their tax bill will include a provision that would repeal the individual mandate, a part of the health care law that creates penalties for Americans who don’t have insurance.

‘‘We’re optimistic that inserting the individual mandate repeal would be helpful,’’ Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said Tuesday after meeting with fellow Republicans.

Party members had resisted making the change, worried that injecting health care politics would imperil the tax bill. But many have supported adding the repeal, a move President Trump has pushed repeatedly as well.

Repealing the mandate would free up more than $300 billion in government funding over the next decade, according to projections from the Congressional Budget Office, but the change could unnerve less conservative Republican senators, who voted against previous Senate efforts to repeal large parts of the Affordable Care Act.

Republicans appeared to give differing explanations for what they would do with the extra money generated by repealing the individual mandate.

McConnell, speaking later at an event hosted by The Wall Street Journal, said the repeal would allow them to ensure corporate tax cuts remain permanent while lowering taxes for middle-class families....

That is the health of which they are concerned, not you!

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Had to close down the maternity ward.

They may have one less vote, too:

"‘Why do you think they’re giving me this trouble?’ Moore asks Alabama church audience" by Alan Fram and Kimberly Chandler Associated Press  November 15, 2017

WASHINGTON — Washington Republicans tightened pressure Tuesday on Alabama’s GOP to keep a defiant Roy Moore from being elected to the Senate next month, with many voicing hope that President Donald Trump could use his clout to resolve a problem that Republicans say leaves them with no easy options. 

Pretty powerful for such a week president poll-wise! Or we are being constantly lied to, take your pick.

With Alabama Republicans reluctant to block Moore and enrage his legions of loyal conservative supporters, national GOP leaders were turning to Trump as their best chance of somehow turning the tide. 

So now TRUMP is the GREAT DEFENDER of WOMEN? 

Actually, the last month's worth of slimy and sleazy revelations regarding the perversions of the elite ruling class make Trump seem tame by comparison.

And these are the same guys he is allegedly warring with, right? 

Yeah, thought so!!!!!!!!!!! 

You be the judge!

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in all-out warfare with Moore, said there’d be conversations about the anti-establishment firebrand after Trump returns Tuesday night from Asia. He said he’d already spoken about Moore to the president, Vice President Mike Pence and White House chief of staff John Kelly.

‘‘He’s obviously not fit to be in the United States Senate and we’ve looked at all the options to try to prevent that from happening,’’ said McConnell, who Monday said he believed Moore’s accusers. ‘‘This close to election, it’s a complicated matter.”

Yes, thwarting democracy and the will of the people always is!! 

And if Moore is not fit, better start impeachment proceedings against Trump right away. 

More on that later.

Twice removed from his post as state Supreme Court chief Justice, Moore’s candidacy in the Dec. 12 special election confronts Republicans with two damaging potential outcomes. A victory saddles GOP senators with a colleague accused of abusing and harassing teen-agers, a troubling liability heading into next year’s congressional elections, while an upset victory by Democrat Doug Jones would slice the already narrow GOP Senate majority to an unwieldy 51-49. 

The Dem is leading in the polls, according to the pre$$.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions told Congress he has ‘‘no reason to doubt’’ the women. Sessions, a former Alabama senator and still one of the GOP’s most influential voices in the state, didn’t rule out a Justice Department probe of the allegations. 

Only problem is you have a reason to doubt Sessions, right?

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., joined the pile of congressional Republicans saying Moore should drop out, saying, ‘‘If he cares about the values and people he claims to care about, then he should step aside.’’ 

So should you!

Two Washington Republicans, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe private conversations, said they didn’t know what Trump would do, but said the White House shares McConnell’s concerns about Moore. While few think Trump could persuade Moore to step aside, several are hoping he can convince the Alabama state party to take some action. 

Then he's a fraud and the so-called feud is a steaming swirly for you to consume.

At a forum Tuesday organized by The Wall Street Journal, McConnell said Trump is discussing what to do in the Alabama race ‘‘in great detail.’’

With a political brand as an unrepentant outsider, Moore has signaled no intention of dropping out. Underscoring his defiance, he tweeted Tuesday, "Alabamians will not be fooled by this #InsideHitJob. Mitch McConnell's days as Majority Leader are coming to an end very soon. The fight has just begun." 

Yup. McConnell will be in the minority this time next year.

Despite the building pressure from national Republicans, state GOP office holders have taken a measured response. It’s already too late to remove his name from the ballot. That leaves the state party with limited options.

The 21-member party steering committee could vote to revoke Moore’s GOP nomination and ask election officials to ignore ballots cast for him Election Day, but that would risk a lawsuit and backlash from Moore supporters. The party has little interest in alienating Moore’s followers a year before elections in which the governor’s office and entire state legislature will be in play, but it remains possible.

In an interview, Moore campaign chairman Bill Armistead said he’d seen no indication the state party will ‘‘back off in any way.’’ He said some in the party want it to pass a resolution embracing Moore.

A spokesman for GOP Gov. Kay Ivey reiterated that she would not postpone the election to give Moore’s opponents more time to organize. That would spark a legal challenge, but a possible delay remains an option, Republicans say.

Also possible is a write-in campaign, but national and Alabama Republicans consider that a longshot to succeed. Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill said no write-in candidate has ever won a statewide election in the state.

McConnell praised Sessions Tuesday as a possible contender who is ‘‘totally well-known and is extremely popular in Alabama,’’ but conceded Sessions might not run.

Sessions held the Senate seat before joining Trump’s administration this year. Some Republicans said they believe Sessions is reluctant to run but expressed hope that Trump — who’s soured on him after he appointed a special prosecutor to investigate Trump’s 2016 campaign’s ties to Russia — might urge him to enter the race. 

And give up his dream job of being Attorney General?

Republicans think GOP Sen. Luther Strange, whom Moore defeated in a September party primary, would have little chance against Moore. Strange has called such a move unlikely.

If Moore is elected, top Senate Republicans already are threatening to vote to expel him as soon as he’s elected. That risks leaving the seat unfilled for a period of time.

The best of bad options?

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Also see:

The place to stop Roy Moore? The ballot box

Results have already been rigged.

Moore trouble for Senate Republicans

But not for pedophile Democrats:

Jury in Menendez bribery case again doesn’t reach a verdict

So WHY HASN'T the Senate expelled him?

Maybe there should be a harsher penalty for official perverts.

Meanwhile, over in the House:

"House to adopt mandatory sexual harassment training" by Juliet Linderman Associated Press  November 14, 2017

WASHINGTON — Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday announced the House will require anti-harassment and anti-discrimination training for all members and their staffs, just hours after a hearing in which two female lawmakers spoke about incidents of sexual misconduct involving sitting members of Congress. 

Then KICK 'EM OUT!

‘‘Our goal is not only to raise awareness, but also make abundantly clear that harassment in any form has no place in this institution,’’ Ryan said. ‘‘As we work with the Administration, Ethics, and Rules committees to implement mandatory training, we will continue our review to make sure the right policies and resources are in place to prevent and report harassment.’’

The policy change will happen through legislation. 

Or not, and even if it does I'm sure it will be sweet nothings that leave the appearance of action (like Dodd-Frank).

The move comes days after the Senate unanimously approved a measure requiring all senators, staff, and interns to be trained on preventing sexual harassment.

During a House Administration hearing Tuesday on sexual harassment prevention, Representative Barbara Comstock, Republican of Virginia, said she was recently told about a staffer who quit her job after a lawmaker asked her to bring work material to his house, then exposed himself.

‘‘That kind of situation, what are we doing here for women, right now, who are dealing with someone like that?’’ Comstock asked. Comstock said there should be clear-cut rules about the kinds of relationships and behaviors that are off-limits and create a hostile work environment.

Comstock said the name of the lawmaker she mentioned wasn’t disclosed to her, but emphasized that naming names is an important step in promoting accountability and encouraging victims to come forward. 

Well, I'm waiting.

At the same hearing, Representative Jackie Speier said there are two current lawmakers who have been involved in sexual harassment.

‘‘In fact there are two members of Congress, Republican and Democrat, who serve right now who have been subject to review, or not been subject to review, that have engaged in sexual harassment,’’ said Speier. 

And they are?

The Democrat from California recently introduced legislation to make training to prevent sexual harassment mandatory for members of Congress after sharing her own story of being sexually assaulted by a male chief of staff. Her bill also includes a survey of the current situation in Congress and an overhaul of the processes by which members and staffers file harassment complaints.

The bill gained support from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

Representative Gregg Harper, Republican of Mississippi, who chairs the House Administration Committee, said in his opening remarks, ‘‘I believe we need mandatory training, and probably everyone here would agree.’’

Speier said since coming forward with her story she’s been inundated with phone calls from staffers eager to share their own accounts of harassment and abuse. A petition calling for Congress to make training mandatory has gained more than 1,500 signatures from former Hill staffers.

She did not name the lawmakers mentioned in her testimony, citing the non-disclosure agreements she wants to eliminate.

‘‘I’m not at liberty to discuss those cases,’’ she said, adding that increased transparency is crucial to combatting harassment.

UNREAL!

One Republican lawmaker, Rodney Davis of Illinois, said addressing the issue of sexual harassment on the Hill is ‘‘long overdue’’ and that Congress must ‘‘lead by example.’’ But he expressed concern that the increasing focus on gender hostility in the workplace could create unintended consequences, including ‘‘that some offices may just take a short cut and not hire women as a way to avoid these issues.’’

Gloria Lett, counsel for the Office of House Employment Counsel, replied that such discrimination is illegal. 

Prove it.

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I think we have in fact reached a tipping point on sexual misconduct, and the problem is it has spiraled out of control. It was intended to advance an agenda and for use as a political cudgel, but now it has gone too far. The people are waking up to the fact that the entire ruling cla$$ is full of sick and psychopathic perverts and pedophiles.

Related


Kind of ironic, isn't it? 

The criminals are inside the building!


(Blog editor snorts)

"Actor Kevin Spacey, who’s accused of sexually assaulting, among others, the teenage son of former WCVB-TV anchor Heather Unruh, is apparently doing yoga while in rehab in Arizona. The “House of Cards” star has been photographed holding a yoga mat while strolling the manicured grounds of The Meadows, which describes itself as one of the country’s premier drug rehab and psychological trauma treatment centers. “I want to see Kevin Spacey go to jail,” said Unruh, who’s enlisted attorney Mitchell Garabedian to represent her son. “I want to see Kevin Spacey have the hand of justice come down on him, not just for my son, but for the many others who have yet to speak their truth.” The Meadows, which is where Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein is also believed to be holed up in the wake of his own sexual harassment scandal, sits on 14 acres in the Sonoran Desert. It costs about $36,000 a month and offers horse riding, tai chi, and acupuncture." 

The pedophile is hiding out at a spa called a treatment center. 

I wonder when they will let him go.

"Ben Affleck was in good [spirits] at last night's Justice League premiere. "I'm doing great. I love this movie. I had so much fun with all these actors and I'm just excited for the fans to get a chance to finally see it," the actor raved. "That means a lot. There's so much enthusiasm. People are geared up." Next week, Ben will celebrate Thanksgiving with his brother, Casey Affleck, his best friend, Matt Damon, and his ex-wife, Jennifer Garner. "My mom's coming out, and I think my brother will come over. We'll go down the street and see Matt's family. Thanksgiving's a nice holiday," he said....." 

Yup, everything is back to normal. Forget the groping, the ignorance regarding Weinstein, and all the rest. They are amongst friends.

"N.H. police wanted to charge Phillips Exeter deans for failing to report abuse" by Laura Crimaldi Globe Staff  November 14, 2017

A New Hampshire State Police investigator who was looking into allegations that a 17-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by another student at Phillips Exeter Academy found probable cause to charge two deans for failing to report the suspected abuse — but was overruled by prosecutors.

The investigator, Trooper Mallory S. Littman, drafted arrest warrants to charge Arthur J. Cosgrove, the dean of residential life, and Melissa Mischke, dean of students, with failing to report the incident to state authorities, according to a police report obtained by the Globe. The crime is a misdemeanor.

But Rockingham County Attorney Patricia Conway said Tuesday there wasn’t enough evidence to convict the deans at trial.

“After looking at everything, we didn’t think we could prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, and we decided not to charge the folks involved with the investigation,” Conway said in a telephone interview. 

Why don't you let us decide that? 

Looks to me like the authorities protect important people from their own cla$$, period.

Problems with potential witnesses and evidence were among the reasons prosecutors did not charge the deans, according to Conway, though she declined to go into further detail about the weaknesses in the case. 

Are you really interested in the latest lame ass excuses?

She said it is common for investigators to draft arrest warrants when they submit a case to prosecutors for review. The legal threshold for issuing a warrant is much lower than what a prosecutor would have to prove at trial, Conway said. 

Then you could at least bring them in for questioning.

Cosgrove and Mischke continue to work at the private school, she said. The police document was first reported Tuesday by The New York Times. 

Not the Globe? 

SIGH!

The allegations involved Chukwudi “Chudi” Ikpeazu, a student who was accused of groping another student, Michaella Henry, under her shirt on the Exeter, N.H., campus and squeezing her backside as she said “no” over and over again in fall 2015. 

Honestly, that seems tame compared to so many of the lurid allegations over the past month. 

At least it is student on student and doesn't involve professors or administrators.

Henry described her encounter with Ikpeazu for a Globe story published last year.

In a statement issued Tuesday evening by Phillips Exeter, the deans said that they didn’t believe “that a reportable offence [sic] had occurred” when the encounter was reported to them.

“If we had, we would have reported it as we had always done and continue to do to this day,” Cosgrove and Mischke said.

The school also shared a letter sent to parents and alumni in which principal Lisa MacFarlane said the academy found Cosgrove and Mischke acted appropriately.

“We concluded that based on the information Deans Mischke and Cosgrove had been presented with at the time, their good faith belief that no reportable offense had occurred was justified,” MacFarlane wrote.

Henry, now 19, initially didn’t approach police about the incident, the Globe reported in 2016, under an agreement brokered by the school’s minister in which Ikpeazu delivered bread to her as an “act of penance.”

Mischke, the dean of students, later criticized the arrangement in an e-mail to Henry’s mother, saying that she and Cosgrove were disappointed in the deal, the Globe reported. But school administrators also classified the incident as sexual harassment and not sexual assault, which must be reported to local law enforcement under the academy’s handbook, the Globe reported.

In spring 2016, Henry contacted Exeter police. She also spoke to an investigator for Phillips Exeter, who determined Ikpeazu had violated school policies on sexual harassment and sexual misconduct. The finding meant the school had to report the incident to local law enforcement, the Globe reported.

Henry’s lawyer, Carmen Durso, declined to comment Tuesday.

Ikpeazu was scheduled to go to trial last summer on a charge of misdemeanor sexual assault, but his case didn’t go forward after he reached a deal with prosecutors. Details of the agreement are confidential, Conway said.

The police investigation into the case lasted more than a year, Conway said.

As a result, the school has entered into an agreement to report allegations of sexual assault to state child welfare authorities and police, Conway said. Notifying police goes beyond the reporting requirements spelled out in state law, she said. That agreement also calls on Phillips Exeter to report suspected incidents to law enforcement even if there are questions about whether the encounters meet the legal definition of sexual assault.....

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At least it was done out of love, not hate.


So when do they declare a health emergency?

I'd say stay home from school, kids, no matter what time it is.

Related

"A Yelp review critical of a Cambridge restaurant and its staff posted last week by a Boston University professor sparked a backlash and was denounced by a school dean. The restaurant, known for its experimental cuisine and a favorite of the Kendall Square crowd, was at capacity when the professor came in, and after being seated at the bar, Dirk Hackbarth, a professor at BU’s Questrom School of Business, proceeded to become hostile, according to staffers....." 

He was angry because a student turned down his dinner date?

He shouldn't even be looking at them after what has happened, even though he denies it and had a prior domestic violence arrest. Nothing left but the vigil and funeral before the indictment for first-degree murder

And if there is a conviction.....

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Speaking of addictions:


He wants to allow doctors to commit unwilling patients to 72 hours in a treatment facility.

He must not have seen yesterday's Globe.

Any one see the irony in what is immediately below that article? 


I would criticize the double standard, but booze helps solve crimes.

Oh, Doerr.


Makes the lying and cover up okay, and I'd watch my back if I were those cops suing. Check your cars, carry gun at all times, etc, etc, etc.

*********


His story is so absurd!





Globe used a silencer on all three.

Then they dropped a bomb on you:

"Senators scrutinize Trump’s power to launch nuclear strike" by Julia Jacobs Globe Correspondent  November 14, 2017

WASHINGTON — Jitters over President Trump’s proposals to beef up America’s atomic arsenal and his repeated Twitter threats about attacking North Korea have spread to Congress, where some lawmakers Tuesday discussed curbing presidential power to launch a first strike with nuclear weapons. 

They weren't too worried when Obama proposed it.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on legislation that would restrict a president’s ability to launch a preemptive nuclear strike without a declaration of war from Congress. The bill was first introduced by Senator Ed Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat, in September 2016, when Trump was only the Republican nominee and had not yet threatened “fire and fury” against a nuclear North Korea. 

I suppose it is about time that they did their job regarding war.

“Donald Trump can launch nuclear codes just as easily as he can use his Twitter account, without the check and balance of the United States Congress,” Markey warned at the hearing.

After months of silence about a hearing on the bill, Republican Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the committee and an outspoken Trump critic, granted it. The hearing came one month after Corker told The New York Times that Trump’s threats toward other countries could set the United States “on the path toward World War III.”

A president’s order to initiate a nuclear strike begins with opening a black briefcase, containing the country’s nuclear plans, that is kept by a military aide who is near the president at all times. The order then travels down a chain of military command.

“The president has the sole authority to give that order, whether we are responding to a nuclear attack or not . . . There is no way to revoke it,” Corker said, referring to the president’s directive. The Tennessee senator told reporters after the hearing that he does not see a legislative solution now but is open to further discussion, according to media reports.

For months, Trump has made personal jabs at North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, derisively calling him “rocket man” on and off Twitter. In September, Trump ratcheted up his rhetoric by threatening to “totally destroy” the country in his speech to the United Nations General Assembly.

Two former military officials invited to testify at the hearing tried to reassure the senators by citing a system of trusted legal advisers and level-headed generals, who they said would be ready to question a president’s decision-making if necessary. 

That is not only treason, it's an admission that the United States is nothing more than a military dictatorship with the fancy trappings of "democracy."

“If there is an illegal order presented to the military, the military is obligated to refuse to follow it,” said retired General C. Robert Kehler, former commander of the US Strategic Command. 

OMFG! 

When Obama was in office and generals were threatening this they were excoriated! We were told it would invalidate civilian government! 

My, how times have changed!

What was less clear from their testimony, however, was whether those checks would apply when the country was presented with an imminent threat from a foreign country, said Hans Kristensen, the director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, in a phone interview.

Last month, Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told the committee that based on the president’s constitutional authority, he would only be able to employ military force in North Korea in the face of an imminent threat.

Senators on the committee were divided in whether they saw the hearing as a practical step in the legislative process, or simply an academic exercise.

Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat, tried to highlight what he views as a grave situation in the Oval Office.

“We are concerned that the president of the United States is so unstable, is so volatile, has a decision-making process that is so quixotic that he might order a nuclear weapons strike that is wildly out of the step with US national security interests,” Murphy said. 

What if he dropped one on Iran like Israel wants? 

What would he say then?

But Republican Senator Marco Rubio urged his colleagues to “tread lightly,” warning that if lawmakers questioned the system, military officers could feel emboldened to defy the president’s commands. 

Marco who?

--more--" 

Globe is also sounding the alarm.

Now imagine the fireball.

How terrifying!

"Trump’s mixed messages fail to reassure Asian allies" by Mark Landler New York Times  November 15, 2017 

Look who is talking about mixed messages! Jesus!

MANILA — President Trump vowed this week to reclaim the United States’ role as a Pacific power. But as he wrapped up a marathon tour of Asia on Tuesday, Trump’s mixed messages left allies unsure of the United States’ staying power and fed a growing sense that China, not the United States, drives the agenda in the region.

Whether embracing China’s Communist leader at the same time that he promoted a “free and open Indo-Pacific,” or rallying partners to confront North Korea even as he warned that he was putting America first on trade, Trump was an often bewildering figure to countries that had already viewed this new president with anxiety.

“He’s seen as more personable than the figure on Twitter, but these internal contradictions have not been worked out,” said John Delury, an associate professor of Chinese studies at Yonsei University in South Korea. “Contrast that with the Chinese, who have this incredible consistency of message and are rising inexorably.”

In Manila, the final stop on his punishing 12-day tour of the region, Trump declared his visit a success.

“This has been a very fruitful trip for us and, also, in all fairness, for a lot of other nations,” Trump said on Monday, at a meeting with the leaders of Japan and Australia.

By some measures, he was right. Trump made no major gaffes. The closest he came was calling the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “short and fat” in a tweet.

He also faced criticism for failing to challenge Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who is accused of ordering thousands of extrajudicial killings, on human rights, but Trump’s energy did not flag and he was accorded a lavish reception at every stop, and yet there were subtler signs of tension, which spoke to the conflicting messages Trump brought to Asia and suggested a level of disarray in the White House’s policy toward the region.

Trump made trade a major part of his message in Asia, and his tone grew more bluntly nationalistic as the trip wore on.

After declaring in Beijing that he did not blame the Chinese for chronic imbalances with the United States, he delivered a withering denunciation in Vietnam of regional trade pacts, like the Trans-Pacific Partnership..... 

They can't let go of that.

--more--"

"Duterte’s spokesman says Trump offered to return Philippine fugitive during bilateral talks" by Emily Rauhala and David Nakamura The Washington Post  November 14, 2017

MANILA — Spokesman Harry Roque’s account of the meeting in an interview with The Washington Post appears to contradict White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. 

Must be the place. Whoever lives there lies.

Duterte believed former president Barack Obama was ‘‘oblivious to the actual threat presented by drugs in the Philippines,’’ the spokesman declared. During the meeting, Trump agreed the Philippines has one of the worst drug problems in the world. Later, Trump asked if it was as bad as in Latin America. Roque said Duterte believes that it is. 

Obama wasn't oblivious, he just wanted the CIA smuggling pipeline to continue.

At one point, Trump offered to extradite a Philippine fugitive in the United States. ‘‘Do you want him back?’’ Trump asked, according to Roque. Trump added: ‘‘I will send him back because I know you follow the rule of law.’’

Before boarding Air Force One en route back to Washington on Tuesday, Trump spoke briefly with reporters. He said the Obama administration had a ‘‘a lot of problems’’ in terms of its relationship with the Philippines, calling it ‘‘horrible.’’

‘‘It is very important that we get along with the Philippines and we do,’’ he said, calling it a ‘‘strategic location.’’

Roque, in the interview, said he believes Sanders was interested in making it appear that Trump had raised human rights in a bid to placate Trump’s ‘‘domestic constituency.’’ 

Like they care about that?

He said he decided not to challenge Sanders’ statement immediately after it was distributed to reporters in an e-mail as a way of compromising with her. 

Let the lie stand, sure. 

He said that a charitable reading of the meeting would be that Duterte was alluding to human rights issues when he said the drug war was important as an issue of ‘‘human development.’’

‘‘It’s not as if we are trigger happy,’’ Duterte apparently told Trump. ‘‘It’s not as if we kill people who are kneeling down and shooting them in the head.’’

Trump told reporters during his two days here that he has a ‘‘great relationship’’ with Duterte. In a phone conversation in April, Trump praised the Philippines leader for doing ‘‘an incredible job’’ in the drug war.....

--more--"

Related

"A North Korean soldier was fighting for his life Tuesday in a South Korean hospital as new details emerged from his brazen dash for freedom across the Demilitarized Zone. The blitz across one of the world’s most closely patrolled borders — the first such military defection in a decade — has riveted the region with elements that read like a scene from a movie....." 

Which means it was probably just that, a staged and scripted fiction for the obvious reasons. I smelled it right away.

Also see

"A 25-year-old Chinese citizen is facing federal charges in Massachusetts after officials say she took the GRE graduate school entry exam for other people. Federal prosecutors say Yinyan Wang was arrested Monday in Pennsylvania on visa and passport fraud charges. The U.S. attorney's office for Massachusetts says Wang will be brought to Boston later this week....."

**********

"US hires company with KGB link to guard Moscow embassy" by Andrew Higgins New York Times  November 14, 2017

MOSCOW — Under a $2.8 million no-bid contract awarded by the Office of Acquisitions in Washington, security guards at the US Embassy in Moscow and at consulates in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, and Vladivostok will be provided by Elite Security Holdings, a company closely linked to the former top KGB figure, Viktor G. Budanov, a retired general who rose through the ranks to become head of Soviet counterintelligence.

A State Department official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with the department’s rules, said that Elite Security and individuals associated with it had been “vetted” with “relevant national and local agencies” and would not increase the threat risk.

“US missions around the world work constantly under intelligence and physical security threats,” the official said. “This contract does not change that fact.”

Russian company records show that Budanov, who, upset by Russia’s direction under its first post-Soviet leader, Boris Yeltsin, retired from espionage in 1992, is a former minority owner of at least three of Elite’s branches — in Moscow, in the Volga region, and in eastern Russia. Records indicate that he no longer holds any ownership stake, but Kommersant, a Russian business newspaper, has reported that the company’s head office in Moscow is run by his son, Dimitry. 

Don't let that spoil the propaganda in any way!

Elite Security, reached by telephone in Moscow, declined to comment on the role in the company of Budanov and his son.

Marines will continue to guard US diplomatic missions, but tasks previously handled by local guards hired directly by the embassy in Moscow, like screening visitors, will be taken over by Elite Security employees. Direct hiring of guards allowed closer monitoring of their backgrounds, but any Russian working for a US diplomatic mission, no matter how closely screened, is vulnerable to pressure from Russia’s state security apparatus

It's like looking into a mirror, isn't it, American?

Local guards are mostly restricted to the perimeter of diplomatic compounds and do not generally have access to secure areas.

An official note about the no-bid contract posted on a US government website says that US companies had been contacted about taking on the security job in Russia but that “no US firm has been located with the requisite licensing or desire to operate in-country.” It added that, among Russian companies that could do such work, only Elite Security had established operations and licenses to operate in the four cities where US missions needed guards.

The note said that Russia’s decision to insist on personnel cuts at US diplomatic missions in Moscow and elsewhere had created a “compelling urgency” to find new guards, and that doing so through a commercial contract was “the only available option.”

“This is very good for us,” said Mikhail Lyubimov, a former KGB spy who knew Budanov from their time together in the Soviet intelligence service. “If I were the chief there, I would never do this for a very clear reason,” he said, adding that the Russian Embassy in Washington would not put security in the hands of a US company known to have ties to the CIA.

Like many former Soviet security officers, Budanov went into the private sector after the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union in 1991. He formed a joint venture with Gerard P. Burke, who was once assistant director of the National Security Agency, and headed the Moscow office of Parvus International, a business intelligence firm in Silver Spring, Md., founded by Burke, that employed former CIA, KGB, and Soviet-bloc agents. 

Globe kept that in shadow, too!

In interviews with Russian news media, Budanov declined to discuss his time working with Putin but has voiced great admiration for his former colleague’s subsequent role as president, crediting him with saving Russia from the chaos of Yeltsin’s rule. 

He did, and he won back the world's respect, too.

--more--"

Related

"Russian lawmakers submitted legal amendments Tuesday that would allow the government to register international media outlets as foreign agents, a retaliatory move to a demand the United States made to a Russian television network. The amendments, which could be voted on Wednesday, came after the Russian state-funded RT network registered with the US Justice Department as a foreign agent following pressure from the US government. US intelligence agencies have alleged that RT served as a tool that the Kremlin used to meddle in the 2016 US presidential election. Russia has denied any interference....."

They are downplaying the propaganda.

Still fighting the last war:

"Taliban units with night vision kill dozens of Afghan police" by Taimoor Shah and Rod Nordland   November 14, 2017

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The newest additions to the Afghan battlefield are fighters sporting Star Wars-like headgear containing Russian-built night goggles, US-made M-4 automatic rifles with laser pointers, and bulky telescopic sights made in Iran or Pakistan. 

Yeah, the Russians, Iranians, and Pakistanis are responsible for AmeriKan failures in Afghanistan.

Where did they get the guns again?

They wear baggy shalwar kameez clothing and turbans — and fight for the Taliban.

Members of an elite outfit called the Red Unit, they may even ride into battle aboard a Ford Ranger police pickup truck or an armored army Humvee.

The red dots from their laser pointers shine on police officers and soldiers from the Afghan government, which has benefited from billions of dollars in Western aid to the Afghan security forces.

In five nighttime attacks in a 36-hour period Monday and Tuesday, fighters who appeared to be from such Taliban units killed scores of Afghan security personnel, mostly police officers, in two provinces in southern and western Afghanistan.

Afghan authorities said that the insurgents in these and similar recent attacks are proving to be better equipped than government forces, particularly those in police units, which have suffered most of the casualties.

The Red Unit has carried out many of these attacks, Afghan officials said, often using stolen military or police vehicles as Trojan horses to get close to bases they plan to attack. 

Or maybe..... the U.S. is arming them like they do ISIS and we are being fed this NYT BS!!

“The Taliban now are using different tactics,” said Qudratullah Khushbakht, spokesman for the governor of Kandahar province. “They have their own mobile special forces unit which is equipped with lasers and night vision gear, and they are attacking check posts and bases and then leaving the area as quickly as possible to avoid airstrikes.” 

That is why civilians were hit (and quickly buried by my war pre$$).

That was the case in attacks into the early hours of Tuesday in two districts in Kandahar province, in which Khushbakht said 23 police officers were killed and 16 injured in rolling attacks on 15 police posts. Other officials, however, put the death toll in those incidents in the Zahre and Maiwand districts at 70 officers.

Khushbakht said that attacks began when insurgents drove a stolen police Ford Ranger pickup truck into a police post and detonated explosives, then moved on to attack nearby bases.

Similar tactics were described in a Taliban attack early Monday morning in the western province of Farah, in which eight police officers were killed. The Taliban fighters used night vision goggles, officials said.

Two Taliban units attacked other targets in Farah on Monday night and Tuesday morning, killing three police officers at one post and 15 Afghan National Army soldiers at another, according to government officials.

In the Kandahar attacks, none of the police posts were captured and the police inflicted heavy casualties on the Taliban, said Matiullah Hellal, a spokesman for police in Kandahar province.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, contended in a telephone interview that the insurgents had lost only one fighter.

“In face-to-face fighting the number of our casualties is very low,” he said, “because the mujahedeen are only doing face-to-face fighting with the enemy when they are stronger than the enemy.” 

Like in Vietnam!

A police official in the area, speaking on condition of anonymity because his account contradicted the official version, confirmed that losses by the Afghan police were far worse than announced, with five police commanders among 70 dead officers and many of the police posts completely overrun by the insurgents. 

Can't do that!

When police reinforcements were sent to the aid of those posts, the official said, “the Taliban were using night vision goggles and the police who were sent were shot by laser-guided weapons against which they could not defend themselves. The police have no night vision goggles at all.”

The official’s account was corroborated by several other police figures, who also declined to comment on the record.

US military officials say they suspect both Russia and Iran are aiding the Taliban, in addition to its traditional patrons in Pakistan. During a visit in September to Kabul, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said both countries should know better than to support the Taliban, as they had suffered themselves from terrorist groups.  

Why would Iran want to aid a group they went to war with in the 1990s, one that considers Shi'ites heretics (or so I've been told by my Jewi$h war pre$$)?

--more--"

Meanwhile, in France:

"Macron unveils plan to boost French youth, fight extremism" Associated Press  November 15, 2017

PARIS — President Emmanuel Macron says the French government itself fueled homegrown Islamic extremism by abandoning its poorest neighborhoods — and he’s promising tough and ‘‘sometimes authoritarian’’ new measures to combat radicalization

Get your intelligence agencies to stop creating, directing, and funding them then.

Macron unveiled a multi-billion-euro plan Tuesday to help France’s troubled banlieues — suburban regions where crime flourishes and job opportunities are scant, especially for minorities with origins in former French colonies.

More than 5 million people live in France’s poorest neighborhoods, where unemployment is 25 percent, well above the nearly 10 percent national average. For those under 30, the prospects are even worse. More than a third are unemployed.

Macron’s answer is to provide grants for poor youths to launch startups, double the funding for public housing, expand child care, improve public transport in isolated or poor neighborhoods, offer subsidies for companies that hire disadvantaged youth, and hire more local police officers.

Macron’s predecessors also spent billions to try to fix the banlieues, and failed. But he’s undeterred, and he says the stakes are increasingly high. 

That is insane! Doing the same thing and expecting a different result.

‘‘Radicalization took root because the state checked out’’ and abdicated its responsibilities in impoverished neighborhoods, Macron said.

Radical recruiters argued: ‘‘I will take care of your children, I will take care of your parents. I will propose the help that the nation is no longer offering,’’ Macron said.

Several extremist attackers who have targeted France in recent years were raised in French social housing. 

Then why are French troops in Africa? 

--more--"


Sorry for the language, but that is absolutely fucking ill.

What it tells you is the PEDOPHILES ARE IN CHARGE and they are going to MAKE PEDOPHILIA LEGAL!

I'm wondering how many mothers and fathers of 13-year-old French girls are for this.

The sad part is the campaign is being led by a woman (although she looks like only a 13-year-old would f*** her, sorry).


He was 15 and she was his 40-year-old teacher, and she went down under.

Viva la Libertines, 'eh!

Maybe you can rent a room in Paris if it is not too expensive.

***********

"Lebanon’s prime minister says he will return in next 2 days" Associated Press  November 15, 2017

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s foreign minister said during a trip to Paris that his country may resort to international law to determine Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s condition, suggesting he is being held against his will.

His surprise resignation and then his scarce communication led many Lebanese to speculate that he was being held against his will and stripped of his phone despite Saudi denials. A live interview Sunday with a Lebanese TV station affiliated with his political party did little to dispel such fears.

On Tuesday, Hariri met with the Lebanese Maronite Patriarch, who visited Saudi Arabia, the first publicized meeting with a Lebanese official. But there were no TV cameras allowed into the meeting, and only photos of the encounter were released.

President Michel Aoun has refused to accept Hariri’s resignation and urged him to come home. Hezbollah and other rivals have suggested that Hariri’s Saudi patrons forced him to resign to wreck the coalition government, which includes the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Speaking from Paris, Lebanon’s foreign minister said he hoped to resolve the ‘‘ambiguous’’ Hariri situation with Saudi Arabia. Gibran Bassil said if Hariri doesn’t return, then it will prove he is not free.....

Even if he returns "his family will remain in the kingdom," meaning they are being held hostage!

--more--"



*********

You can keep the car:

"6.3 million Americans are 90 days late on their auto loan payments" by Heather Long Washington Post  November 15, 2017

The rise in auto loan delinquencies is a reminder that millions are still struggling to make ends meet.

Many of the people don’t have many options and often end up getting a subprime auto loan that comes with an interest rate of 15 to 20 percent. 

It's called usury, and Islam forbids it. Hmmm.

Some have started to compare what’s happening in the auto loan market to the home mortgage crisis that helped trigger the Great Recession and financial crisis of 2008-09. Many of the same issues are back: Lenders appear to have lowered their standards to give people car loans who probably should not qualify or should not be getting such a large loan. A man in Alabama was able to use his shotgun to cover most of the down payment.

Stringent regulations put in place after the crisis have made it harder to get a home mortgage, but most of the rules don’t apply to auto finance companies. It’s telling that delinquency rates for home mortgages and credit cards have been steadily falling since 2010, while auto loans and student loan rates have been rising. 

The next bubbles to pop! 

Better be ready to pony up some serious cash for the banks and lenders, taxpayers.

The problems with car loans are unlikely to cause another financial crash. The auto loan market is much smaller than the mortgage market. Still, economists and Wall Street bankers have been keeping watch on how many people are having trouble paying their car loans because they believe it’s an early warning sign of economic distress. 

WTF are you talking about? 

It's been days and days of record stock prices and low unemployment! 

Of course, if the job market is so great people would be paying the loans, 'eh?

‘‘Although the impact on the larger financial sector may be muted, there are over 23 million consumers who hold subprime auto loans,’’ the Fed wrote in its blog post Tuesday.....

Yup, nothing to worry about.

--more--"

Related


Well, almost.

"Even the parent company of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls is feeling some retail pain. Framingham-based TJX Cos., which also operates HomeGoods stores, said Tuesday that revenue at established stores was flat in the third quarter compared to a year ago — the first time it didn’t post an increase since 2009. Analysts were expecting a gain, and the company’s shares fell 4 percent. Chief executive and president Ernie L. Herrman blamed the sluggish performance on the severe hurricanes that struck Florida and Texas, as well as some fashion misses. The company, known for its discounts on name-brand merchandise, has been a bright spot in retail since the Great Recession and has attracted shoppers away from mall-based stores as it expands and offers more up-to-date products." 

UH-OH!


You win some, you lose some.

"The beleaguered US Postal Service reported a financial loss Tuesday for the 11th straight year, citing declining mail volume and costs of its pension and health care obligations even as it predicted another strong holiday season of package deliveries. It pleaded for more freedom to raise stamp prices to help keep pace with consumer demand for ever-quicker deliveries from online shopping. The Postal Service reported a loss of $2.7 billion for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. That was better than a $5.6 billion loss in the prior year but was mainly due to fluctuations in interest rates that reduced workers’ compensation expenses. The 2017 loss came after a double-digit increase in package delivery was unable to offset drop-offs in letter mail, which makes up more than 70 percent of total postal revenue." 

What they don't tell you is Congre$$ made the funding requirements so outrageous, a 75-year window that no other company must abide by, in order to destroy the best thing government ever gave us.

"The Trump administration is seeking a two-year delay of an upcoming deadline to determine whether a family of widely used pesticides is harmful to endangered species. The request filed with a federal judge comes after Dow Chemical and two other pesticide makers asked the government to set aside research by federal scientists that shows chlorpyrifos, diazinon, and malathion are harmful to about 1,800 critically threatened or endangered species. Midland, Mich.-based Dow Chemical contends the studies are flawed. It is the latest example of the Trump administration seeking to block or delay environmental rules at the industry’s behest."

He is at their beck and call, while the consumer safety groups are toying around!

Didn't they merge?

"Cambridge-based ImmusanT said Tuesday it has raised another $40 million in venture capital to bankroll the biotech startup’s efforts to treat and diagnose celiac disease, a genetic autoimmune disorder that makes 3 million Americans intolerant of gluten in their diet. The money, which comes on top of $32 million in venture capital raised by ImmusanT since 2011, will help finance a phase two study next year of an experimental therapeutic vaccine. Patients would give themselves the vaccine periodically to boost their tolerance to gluten in wheat, barley, and rye. Although gluten-free diets have become popular with many Americans, people with celiac disease can suffer serious long-term health problems from accidental exposure to gluten, including damage to the digestive tract, anemia, osteoporosis, infertility, even cancer. Currently, there is no treatment. ImmusanT has tested Nexvax2, an experimental vaccine, on about 150 celiac patients in four early studies in the hopes of boosting tolerance to gluten proteins, said Leslie Williams, president and chief executive of ImmusanT. If the therapy works, celiac patients would still need to maintain gluten-free diets, but they would be protected if they accidentally eat them. ImmusanT is also trying to develop better ways to identify people with celiac disease. Although many people have a genetic predisposition to the disorder, most don’t develop it, leading some researchers to theorize that something triggers the disease, possibly a virus. The third round of financing was led by ARCH Venture Partners, which joins Vatera Healthcare Partners, as investors in the company."

I'd rather just avoid the food than get a shot in the arm (is that what gave you the allergy?), sorry. 

Maybe EpiPen could scam the government out of more money, eh?

Time to clear out the cobwebs and close this down:

"Cobwebs closing its doors for good" by Emily Sweeney Globe Staff  November 14, 2017

Cobwebs, a well-known antiques and jewelry shop in Jamaica Plain, is closing down for good next month.

The owner announced the news on Facebook.

“After 26 years of wonderful business and joy we are closing our store,” the Facebook post states. “We are having a 50% [sale] off the entire store.”

Patrick Byrne, who was born and raised in Galway, Ireland, opened Cobwebs more than two decades ago. Located at 703 Centre St., the shop sells an array of vintage treasures, including furniture, rugs, jewelry, watches, pottery, artwork, mirrors, and chandeliers, among other things.

Byrne said he’s enjoyed running his business on Centre Street and being a part of the Jamaica Plain community.

“It’s been amazing,” Byrne said. “The wonderful thing about JP is . . . JP really supports JP.”

People in the neighborhood go out of their way to shop locally, he said.

So why is he closing up shop? Byrne said his husband recently turned 60, and they’re planning to semiretire.

After he shuts the door on his brick-and-mortar store, Byrne said he will continue to run his appraisal business and sell items through the Cobwebs website.

“It’s been a good 26 years,” he said.

Byrne said he was originally going to close the store Dec. 15 but has decided to keep it open through Dec. 24, so people can shop on Christmas Eve.

--more--"

So much for getting ‘good stuff cheap.’