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Sunday, January 31, 2016

Obama uses executive power to require companies to report wage info by race, gender and ethnicity | BizPac Review

Obama uses executive power to require companies to report wage info by race, gender and ethnicity | BizPac Review

Obama uses executive power to require companies to report wage info by race, gender and ethnicity

Do as I say, not as I do.
Exercising his executive power to penalize companies that engage in discriminatory pay practices, President Barack Obama announced a new rule Friday that will require companieswith more than 100 employees to report to the federal government what they pay employees by race, gender and ethnicity.
The proposal is “part of his push to crack down on firms that pay women less for doing the same work as men,” The New York Times reported.
“Women are not getting the fair shot that we believe every single American deserves,” Obama said. “What kind of example does paying women less set for our sons and daughters?”
The president made the announcement on the seventh anniversary of his signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which makes it easier for folks to sue for unequal pay. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will work with the Department of Labor to publish the proposed regulation by September.
According to The Times, the new rule “would expand on an executive order Mr. Obama issued nearly two years ago that called for federal contractors to submit salary information for women and men.”
“Social change never happens overnight,” the president said. “It is a slog and there are times when you just have to chip away and chip away. … It’s reliant on all of us to keep pushing that boulder up the hill.”
Except there hasn’t been much chipping away going on in the president’s own back yard.
The Washington Post reported in July 2014 that after more than five years in office, Obama had failed to narrow the gap between the average pay of male and female employees at the White House.
The average male White House employee earned about $88,600 in 2014, while the average female White House employee earned about $78,400, according to the Post. That is a gap of 13 percent, same as it was in 2009 when he first took office.
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Tom Tillison

Tom Tillison

Tom is a grassroots activist who distinguished himself as one of the top conservative bloggers in Florida before joining BizPac Review.

Texas Supreme Court Rules 8-0 in Favor of Cheerleaders' Biblical Banners

Texas Supreme Court Rules 8-0 in Favor of Cheerleaders' Biblical Banners

Texas Supreme Court Rules 8-0 in Favor of Cheerleaders' Biblical Banners

By Mark Judge | January 29, 2016 | 3:18 PM EST
Cheerleaders painting banners before a game in Kountze, TX. (AP)
The Texas Supreme Court has ruled 8-0 infavor of a group of cheerleaders who paint Biblical verses and Christian messages on banners used before football games.
In 2012, after a group of high school cheerleaders from Kountze, TX painted the messages - one read "I Can Do All Things Through Christ Who Strengthens Me" - on the run-through banners, the Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a complaint with Kountze Independent School District (KISD). In response, the school district banned the cheerleaders' signs.
The school district later reversed their decision, leading to an appeals court declaring the lawsuit moot - or not worth deciding, as the issue seemed to have been resolved.
The cheerleaders' attorneys were not satisfied. “I don’t think it provides any protection for the religious liberties of Kountze cheerleaders in the future,” said Hiram Sasser, a lead attorney for the Liberty Institute, a Plano-based nonprofit law firm that represents the cheerleaders.
Attorneys asked the Texas Supreme Court to allow them to reinstate the case. On January 29 the  Texas Supreme Court ruled in favor of the cheerleaders: “In fact, while the District has indicated it does not have any current ‘intent’ or ‘plan’ to reinstate that prohibition, the District has never expressed the position that it could not, and unconditionally would not, reinstate it,” the court’s opinion reads.
Kelly Shackelford, President and CEO of Liberty Institute, said, "This is an 8-0 victory for the free speech and religious liberty rights of all Texas students. We are delighted that the court considered this case so straightforward that it did not even require oral argument. In light of today's Supreme Court ruling, we hope the Court of Appeals will resolve this case permanently in the cheerleaders' favor." 
The case now returns to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth District in Beaumont, Texas.

Sweden's Multicultural Center Expert on Islamophobia Joins ISIS | Frontpage Mag

Sweden's Multicultural Center Expert on Islamophobia Joins ISIS | Frontpage Mag

SWEDEN'S MULTICULTURAL CENTER EXPERT ON ISLAMOPHOBIA JOINS ISIS

And if the whole ISIS thing doesn't work out, he can always go back to the Islamophobia racket

  
AbdulSamadAlSwediSyrien3
Michael Nikolai Skråmo aka Abo Ibrahim Al Swedi probably didn't need a job. He was trained as a chef before he converted to Islam.
The 29-year-old Swede, who today calls himself "Abdul Samad al Swedi", grew up in Gothenburg. He converted to Islam during a field trip to Egypt about ten years ago and has since been engaged in a series of tax-funded Muslim organizations.
In 2009 he was invited to SVT, where he told Swedish viewers how Muslim phobia (Islamophobia) and hatred was spread around Europe.
Previously, the Swede have been heavily involved to counter what he described as a misleading picture of Muslims as violent fanatics. In an episode of SVT debate, which can be seen on Youtube, he attacked the malicious picture of Muslims spread in Europe.
"This fear is based on ignorance of Islam," Michael Skråmo said.
Obviously. If only people truly knew what Islam was.
MKUCAffisch
As a lecturer Abdul Samad has mainly been active in the radical Bellevue Mosque in Gothenburg. There he held a series of sermons on the association Multicultural Youth Center (MKUC), notorious for four youth leaders of the Association, including president of the association , once armed with knives attempted to attack Lars Vilks in an art event at Red Rock in Gothenburg. It is worth noting that sermons should have been co-arranged with the wide Muslim educational association Ibn Rushd. Abdul Samad has also been linked to the Swedish Federation of Muslims , also a compound of radical preachers, located at the Bellevue Mosque.
And then he took the inevitable next step.
 Michael Skråmo, 29, took the whole family - his little four children and wife - to the IS-controlled area inside Syria. Now Skråmo filmed a propaganda video outside the Syrian city Kobane where he preaches jihad and calls Swedish jihadists to leave Sweden and join the "holy war".
“My brothers, ‘hijra’ (migration) and ‘jihad’ are so simple. It only costs a few thousand ‘lapp’ [Swedish kronor],” he says in Swedish. “Do you not wish in in your heart to fight and show God what you have to offer him? The door to jihad is standing there waiting for you. It’s the fastest way to Jannah [Paradise]."
According to Sweden's Expressen newspaper, he converted to Islam in 2005, after which he travelled widely in the Islamic world, learning Arabic and studying the religion.
At the end of the video, Skråmo becomes more emotional.
"I want you to be here with me. I want us to hang out in Jannah. My wonderful brothers, take this decision, trust in Allah, sacrificing your money and your life for Allah, and you will receive the highest from Allah ".
And if the whole ISIS thing doesn't work out, he can always go back to Sweden and lecture the natives on how they're Islamophobes for associating Islam with terrorism.

Friday, January 29, 2016

Zika Outbreak Epicenter In Same Area Genetically-Modified Mosquitoes Released In 2015 | Zero Hedge

Zika Outbreak Epicenter In Same Area Genetically-Modified Mosquitoes Released In 2015 | Zero Hedge

Zika Outbreak Epicenter In Same Area Genetically-Modified Mosquitoes Released In 2015

Tyler Durden's picture




 
The World Health Organization announced it will convene an Emergency Committee under International Health Regulations on Monday, February 1, concerning the Zika virus ‘explosive’ spread throughout the Americas. The virus reportedly has the potential to reach pandemic proportions — possibly around the globe. But understandingwhy this outbreak happened is vital to curbing it. As the WHO statement said:
“A causal relationship between Zika virus infection and birth malformations and neurological syndromes … is strongly suspected. [These links] have rapidly changed the risk profile of Zika, from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions.

“WHO is deeply concerned about this rapidly evolving situation for 4 main reasons: the possible association of infection with birth malformations and neurological syndromes; the potential for further international spread given the wide geographical distribution of the mosquito vector; the lack of population immunity in newly affected areas; and the absence of vaccines, specific treatments, and rapid diagnostic tests […]

“The level of concern is high, as is the level of uncertainty.”
Zika seemingly exploded out of nowhere. Though it was first discovered in 1947, cases only sporadically occurred throughout Africa and southern Asia. In 2007, the first case was reported in the Pacific. In 2013, a smattering of small outbreaks and individual cases were officially documented in Africa and the western Pacific. They also began showing up in the Americas. In May 2015, Brazil reported its first case of Zika virus — and the situation changed dramatically.
Brazil is now considered the epicenter of the Zika outbreak, which coincides with at least 4,000 reports of babies born with microcephaly just since October.
zika-microcephaly
When examining a rapidly expanding potential pandemic, it’s necessary to leave no stone unturned so possible solutions, as well as future prevention, will be as effective as possible. In that vein, there was another significant development in 2015.
Oxitec first unveiled its large-scale, genetically-modified mosquito farm in Brazil in July 2012, with the goal of reducing “the incidence of dengue fever,”as The Disease Daily reported. Dengue fever is spread by the same Aedes mosquitoes which spread the Zika virus — and though they “cannot fly more than 400 meters,” WHO stated, “it may inadvertently be transported by humans from one place to another.” By July 2015, shortly after the GM mosquitoes were first released into the wild in Juazeiro, Brazil, Oxitec proudly announced they had “successfully controlled the Aedes aegypti mosquito that spreads dengue fever, chikungunya and zika virus, by reducing the target population by more than 90%.”
Though that might sound like an astounding success — and, arguably, it was — there is an alarming possibility to consider.
Nature, as one Redditor keenly pointed out, finds a way — and the effort to control dengue, zika, and other viruses, appears to have backfired dramatically.
zika
Juazeiro, Brazil — the location where genetically-modified mosquitoes were first released into the wild.
zika
Map showing the concentration of suspected Zika-related cases of microcephaly in Brazil.
The particular strain of Oxitec GM mosquitoes, OX513A, are genetically altered so the vast majority of their offspring will die before they mature — though Dr. Ricarda Steinbrecher published concerns in areport in September 2010 that a known survival rate of 3-4 percent warranted further study before the release of the GM insects. Her concerns, which were echoed by several other scientists both at the time and since, appear to have been ignored — though they should not have been.
Those genetically-modified mosquitoes work to control wild, potentially disease-carrying populations in a very specific manner. Only the male modified Aedes mosquitoes are supposed to be released into the wild — as they will mate with their unaltered female counterparts. Once offspring are produced, the modified, scientific facet is supposed to ‘kick in’ and kill that larvae before it reaches breeding age — if tetracycline is not present during its development. But there is a problem.
zika-mosquito
Aedes aegypti mosquito. Image credit:Muhammad Mahdi Karim
According to an unclassified document from the Trade and Agriculture Directorate Committee for Agriculture dated February 2015, Brazil is the third largest in “global antimicrobial consumption in food animal production” — meaning, Brazil is third in the world for its use of tetracycline in its food animals. As a study by the American Society of Agronomy, et. al., explained“It is estimated that approximately 75% of antibiotics are not absorbed by animals and are excreted in waste.” One of the antibiotics (or antimicrobials) specifically named in that report for its environmental persistence is tetracycline.
In fact, as a confidential internal Oxitec documentdivulged in 2012, that survival rate could be as high as 15% — even with low levels of tetracycline present.“Even small amounts of tetracycline can repress” the engineered lethality. Indeed, that 15% survival rate was described by Oxitec:
“After a lot of testing and comparing experimental design, it was found that [researchers] had used a cat food to feed the [OX513A] larvae and this cat food contained chicken. It is known that tetracycline is routinely used to prevent infections in chickens, especially in the cheap, mass produced, chicken used for animal food. The chicken is heat-treated before being used, but this does not remove all the tetracycline. This meant that a small amount of tetracycline was being added from the food to the larvae and repressing the [designed] lethal system.”

Even absent this tetracycline, as Steinbrecher explained, a “sub-population” of genetically-modified Aedes mosquitoes could theoretically develop and thrive, in theory, “capable of surviving and flourishing despite any further”releases of ‘pure’ GM mosquitoes which still have that gene intact. She added, “the effectiveness of the system also depends on the [genetically-designed] late onset of the lethality. If the time of onset is altered due to environmental conditions … then a 3-4% [survival rate] represents a much bigger problem…”

As the WHO stated in its press release,“conditions associated with this year’s El Nino weather pattern are expected to increase mosquito populations greatly in many areas.”
Incidentally, President Obama called for a massive research effort to develop a vaccine for the Zika virus, as one does not currently exist. Brazil has now called in 200,000 soldiers to somehow help combat the virus’ spread. Aedes mosquitoes have reportedly been spotted in the U.K. But perhaps the most ironic — or not — proposition was proffered on January 19, by the MIT Technology Review:
“An outbreak in the Western Hemisphere could give countries including the United States new reasons to try wiping out mosquitoes with genetic engineering.

“Yesterday, the Brazilian city of Piracicaba said it would expand the use of genetically modified mosquitoes …

“The GM mosquitoes were created by Oxitec, a British company recently purchased by Intrexon, a synthetic biology company based in Maryland. The company said it has released bugs in parts of Brazil and the Cayman Islands to battle dengue fever.”

Zika Pandemic Spreads: WHO predicts 4 million infections in Americas TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles

Zika Pandemic Spreads: WHO predicts 4 million infections in Americas TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles

Zika Pandemic Spreads: WHO predicts 4 million infections in Americas

Hilda Venancio bathes her son Matheus, who has microcephaly, in Recife, Brazil, January 27, 2016. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
The Zika virus, linked to severe birth defects in thousands of babies in Brazil, is “spreading explosively” and could infect as many as 4 million people in the Americas, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
Director-General Margaret Chan told members of the U.N. health agency’s executive board the spread of the mosquito-borne disease had gone from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions. The WHO would convene an emergency meeting on Monday to help determine its response, she said.
“The level of alarm is extremely high,” Chan told the Geneva gathering.
“Last year, the virus was detected in the Americas, where it is now spreading explosively. As of today, cases have been reported in 23 countries and territories in the region,” Chan said, promising quick action from the WHO.
The agency was criticized last year for reacting too slowly to West Africa’s Ebola epidemic, which killed more than 10,000 people, and it promised to cut its response time.
“We are not going to wait for the science to tell us there is a link (with birth defects). We need to take actions now,” Chan said, referring to the condition called microcephaly in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and brains that have not developed properly.
There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, which is like dengue and causes mild fever, rash and red eyes. An estimated 80 percent of people infected have no symptoms. Much of the effort against the illness focuses on protecting people from mosquitoes and reducing mosquito populations.
Developing a safe and effective vaccine could take a year, WHO Assistant Director Bruce Aylward said, and it would take six to nine months just to confirm whether Zika is the actual cause of the birth defects, or if the two are just associated.
“In the area of vaccines, I do know that there has been some work done by some groups looking at the feasibility of a Zika virus vaccine. Now something like that, as people know, is going to be a 12-month-plus time frame,” he said.
U.S. health officials said the United States has two potential candidates for a Zika vaccine and may begin human clinical trials by the end of this year, but there will not be a widely available vaccine for several years.
Marcos Espinal, head of communicable diseases at the Pan American Health Organization, the WHO’s Americas arm, forecast 3 to 4 million Zika cases in the Americas.
As the virus spreads from Brazil, other countries in the Americas are likely to see cases of babies with Zika-linked birth defects, according to Carissa Etienne, regional director for the Pan American Health Organization.
Brazil has reported around 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly, vastly more than in an average year and equivalent to 1 to 2 percent of all newborns in the state of Pernambuco, one of the worst-hit areas.
The WHO’s Chan said that while a direct causal relationship between Zika virus infection and birth malformations has not yet been established, it is strongly suspected.
“The possible links, only recently suspected, have rapidly changed the risk profile of Zika from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions,” she said.
Health and law expert Lawrence Gostin of Georgetown University in Washington, who had urged the WHO to act, welcomed Chan’s decision to convene an expert meeting, calling it “a critical first step in recognizing the seriousness of an emerging epidemic.”
OLYMPICS CONCERNS
With Rio de Janeiro set to host the Olympics from Aug. 5 to Aug. 21, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said the IOC will issue guidelines this week concerning Zika.
“We will do everything to ensure the health of the athletes and all the visitors,” Bach told reporters in Athens.
Dr. Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said there have been 31 cases of Zika infection among U.S. citizens who traveled to areas affected by the virus.
“It’s possible and even likely that we will see limited outbreaks in the United States,” Schuchat said.
In Washington, U.S. Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts called on the WHO and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to explain how they were tackling the virus because many Americans visit the affected region and more are expected to attend the Olympics.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama’s administration’s concern was focused mostly on pregnant women or women who could become pregnant, given the link to microcephaly.
Lufthansa (LHAG.DE), British Airways (ICAG.L) and JetBlue (JBLU.O) became the latest international carriers to offer rebookings or refunds for tickets to areas impacted by the virus.
Lufthansa and British Airways said they would offer pregnant women the opportunity to change their reservations to another destination or delay travel. They stopped short of offering complete refunds as several U.S. airlines have.

Proposal would require gun insurance, firearm renewals every 5 y - Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL

Proposal would require gun insurance, firearm renewals every 5 y - Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL

Proposal would require gun insurance, firearm renewals every 5 years

Posted: Jan 27, 2016 7:33 PM PSTUpdated: Jan 27, 2016 8:43 PM PST
 
Firearms Registration
Firearms Registration
 
Bill proposing gun insurance, firearm renewals every 5 years
Bill proposing gun insurance, firearm renewals every 5 years
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) -
Hawaii gun owners would be required to have insurance for their firearms and renew their gun registrations every five years under a bill introduced Wednesday at the State Legislature, proposals that gun advocates said are unneeded and would have a chilling effect on constitutional gun rights.
The proposal, introduced by State Sen. Josh Green (D – Kona, Ka’u) would require gun owners to obtain firearms liability insurance from private insurance companies.  Hawaii would be the first state in the country to enact such a requirement, if lawmakers and the governor approve of the law.
"I don't want to take people's guns away from them but I want people to take full responsibility," said Green, an emergency room physician at Kohala Hospital on the Big Island.
Green likens the requirement to car insurance.
"They have to pay insurance so that if they're in a collision and they hurt someone else who's an innocent bystander, it's covered. Just like with guns, if a gun falls into the wrong hands or if there's an accident, just an accident, it makes a lot of sense to me that we have that extra level of responsibility," Green said.
Bill Richter, secretary of the Hawaii Rifle Association, said, "Any time you mandate something on a core constitutional, fundamental right, it has the effect of chilling that right and the exercise thereof, so we really don't think it's a good idea."
Richter and insurance experts said homeowners and renters insurance would already cover accidents involving someone's firearms, even if gun incidents happen outside their home. Purposeful criminal activity would not be covered by liability insurance of any kind, Richter said.
Green's proposal would also require gun owners to renew their registrations every five years. Right now, that gun registration is good for life without taking into consideration changing medical or mental conditions of gun owners.
"Imagine if someone has become blind over the years, should they have a gun? Imagine if someone's had psychiatric illness from drug addiction," Green said.
The five-year renewal requirement would require 200,000 guns being re-registered in Hawaii each year, about ten times more registrations than are processed annually now.
"The workload is going to be incredibly high, it's going to be difficult to maintain and how are we going to pay for it?" Richter said.
Green admitted the proposal won’t be easy to get through the legislature and could take years to be approved.
"A bill this controversial and this unique usually does take a few years.  But I want people talking about it now so that if we have to do something we don't do it on the fly. That we've had good dialogue," Green said.
But Richter said Hawaii already has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country and very low instances of gun violence, so further restrictions are not needed.
"Hawaii requires everybody to get a permit to acquire.  Requires training, 8-hour training course in order to purchase a handgun. Every transfer has to go through HPD. (Honolulu Police Department)  So there are more than enough controls," Richter said.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Town imposes essay-writing for gun permit

Town imposes essay-writing for gun permit

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(Photo: Twitter)
(Photo: Twitter)
Residents of Lowell, Massachusetts, face a new requirement for obtaining unrestricted right-to-carry gun permits – submitting a written essay to the chief of police that explains just why they want that particular right.
And applicants must receive a passing grade in order to receive the go-ahead on the permit.
But as Fox News pointed: Critics say the requirement is arbitrary, at best; downright unconstitutional, at worst.
Lowell Police Chief William Taylor actually brought the essay idea to the city council, where it was ultimately approved. Taylor will be the one to decide if the applicant’s essay justifies his or her right to carry, Inquisitr reported.
Residents of Lowell are also required to pay up to $1,100 for firearms training in order to obtain their permits.
“I will never write an essay to get my rights as an American citizen,” said one angry Lowell resident, Dan Gannon, Inquistr reported.
And Jim Wallace with the Gun Owners Action League of Massachusetts released this statement: “It is absurd that people should have to write an essay to the town to explain why they should be able to exercise their constitutional rights. We already have a very strict set of gun laws in the state, but this is way over the top. It’s like having a college professor say, ‘I’m going to read your essay and if I don’t like it, I’m going to give it back to you.'”
Lowell Police Captain Timothy Crowley said otherwise.
“If you want a license to carry a firearm unrestricted wherever you want and whenever you want, the superintendent is just looking for some documentation as to why,” he said, Inquisitr reported. “That is not unreasonable to most people.”
The news site reported the criteria for judging the essay is not yet known.
City Manager Kevin Murphy said it was simply a way to give Taylor “more time” to judge each concealed carry application.
“We’re no longer taking a cookie-cutter approach to issuing firearms licenses,” he said, in the Lowell Sun.

Yair Lapid: US helped Iran fund its next war against Israel

Yair Lapid: US helped Iran fund its next war against Israel

January 26, 2016
Yair Lapid: US helped Iran fund its next war against Israel