Sunday, February 15, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/copenhagen-shootings-danish-police-believe-they-got-terror-suspect/

Danish police believe they got terror suspect
CBS/AP
February 15, 2015

Photograph – Police presence is seen next to damaged glass at the site of a deadly shooting in Copenhagen, Denmark, Feb. 14, 2015, with an inset picture of the suspect released by Copenhagen police. MATHIAS OEGENDAL/SCANPIX DENMARK/COPENHAGEN POLICE HANDOUT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Danish police shot and killed a man early Sunday suspected of carrying out shooting attacks at a free speech event and then at a Copenhagen synagogue, killing two men, including a member of Denmark's Jewish community. Five police officers were also wounded in the attacks.

Officials have not identified the perpetrator but say it is possible he was imitatingthe terror attacks last month in Paris in which Islamic radicals carried out a massacre at the Charlie Hebdo newsroom followed by an attack on Jews at a kosher grocery store.

"Denmark has been hit by terror," Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said on Sunday. "We do not know the motive for the alleged perpetrator's actions, but we know that there are forces that want to hurt Denmark. They want to rebuke our freedom of speech."

Denmark's Chief Rabbi, Jair Melchior, identified the Jewish victim as Dan Uzan, 37, a longtime security guard for the Danish Jewish community. He was guarding a building behind the synagogue during a bat mitzvah when he was shot in the head. Two police officers who were there were slightly wounded.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decried the attack and said his government plans to encourage a "massive immigration" of Jews from Europe.

"Again, Jews were murdered on European soil just because they were Jews," Netanyahu said at the start of his Cabinet meeting Sunday. "This wave of attacks is expected to continue, as well as murderous anti-Semitic attacks. Jews deserve security in every country, but we say to our Jewish brothers and sisters, Israel is your home."

The first shooting happened before 4 p.m. Saturday when the gunman used an automatic weapon to shoot through the windows of the Krudttoenden cultural center during a panel discussion on freedom of expression featuring a Swedish artist who had caricatured the Prophet Muhammad. The artist, Lars Vilks, was whisked away unharmed by his bodyguards but a 55-year-old man attending the event was killed, while three police officers were wounded, authorities said.

The attack at the synagogue occurred hours later, shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday.

Later, the shooter was confronted by police as he returned to an address that they were keeping under surveillance. Investigators described him as 25 to 30 years old with an athletic build and carrying a black automatic weapon. They released a blurred photograph of the suspect wearing dark clothes and a scarf covering part of his face.

Vilks, a 68-year-old artist who has faced numerous death threats for depicting Muhammad as a dog in 2007, told The Associated Press he believed he was the intended target of the first shooting, which happened at a panel discussion titled "Art, blasphemy and freedom of expression."

"What other motive could there be? It's possible it was inspired by Charlie Hebdo," he said, referring to the Jan. 7 attack by Islamic extremists on the French newspaper that had angered Muslims by lampooning Muhammad.

Police said it was possible the gunman had planned the "same scenario" as in the Charlie Hebdo massacre.

The attacks took place two days after Denmark and its partners in the European Union agreed to dramatically boost cooperation in the counter-terrorism field as a result of the January attacks in Paris, which claimed the lives of 17 victims.

The EU's law enforcement agency, Europol, said Sunday it was in contact with Danish authorities and proposing its help to find out as much as possible about the Copenhagen gunman and whether he was acting alone or in concert with others.

"We are offering our expertise and capabilities from our anti-terrorist unit including access to our databases," said Europol spokesman Soren Pedersen.

EU President Donald Tusk predicted the latest acts of violence would only strengthen Europeans' resolve to fight all kinds of extremism and terrorism.

"We will press forward with our new agreed priorities in the fight against terrorism," Tusk said in a statement late Saturday. "We will face this threat together."

Leaders across Europe also condemned the violence and expressed support for Denmark. Sweden's security service said it was sharing information with its Danish counterpart, while U.S. National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said U.S. officials were ready to help with the investigation and have been in touch with their Danish counterparts.

In an interview to be broadcast Sunday on "Face The Nation," White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said, "We abhor this and will not let these kinds of attacks stand."

"We're scheduling a summit late in the week... a three-day summit at the State Department on countering violent extremism," McDonough said. "Because we know AQAP, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has plans to do things like this around the world. So we have to make sure that we're staying one step ahead of them."

The depiction of the prophet is deemed insulting to many followers of Islam. According to mainstream Islamic tradition, any physical depiction of the Prophet Muhammad - even a respectful one - is considered blasphemous.

While many Muslims have expressed disgust at the deadly assault on the Charlie Hebdo employees, many were also deeply offended by its cartoons lampooning Muhammad.




“Danish police shot and killed a man early Sunday suspected of carrying out shooting attacks at a free speech event and then at a Copenhagen synagogue, killing two men, including a member of Denmark's Jewish community. Five police officers were also wounded in the attacks.... Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decried the attack and said his government plans to encourage a "massive immigration" of Jews from Europe. "Again, Jews were murdered on European soil just because they were Jews," Netanyahu said at the start of his Cabinet meeting Sunday. "This wave of attacks is expected to continue, as well as murderous anti-Semitic attacks. Jews deserve security in every country, but we say to our Jewish brothers and sisters, Israel is your home."... The artist, Lars Vilks, was whisked away unharmed by his bodyguards but a 55-year-old man attending the event was killed, while three police officers were wounded, authorities said. The attack at the synagogue occurred hours later, shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday. Later, the shooter was confronted by police as he returned to an address that they were keeping under surveillance.” .... The attacks took place two days after Denmark and its partners in the European Union agreed to dramatically boost cooperation in the counter-terrorism field as a result of the January attacks in Paris, which claimed the lives of 17 victims. The EU's law enforcement agency, Europol, said Sunday it was in contact with Danish authorities and proposing its help to find out as much as possible about the Copenhagen gunman and whether he was acting alone or in concert with others.... In an interview to be broadcast Sunday on "Face The Nation," White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said, "We abhor this and will not let these kinds of attacks stand." "We're scheduling a summit late in the week... a three-day summit at the State Department on countering violent extremism," McDonough said. "Because we know AQAP, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has plans to do things like this around the world. So we have to make sure that we're staying one step ahead of them."

If the authorities knew what his address was, and presumably had him under surveillance before the attack, why did they let him do the killings? I suppose they were watching the place from a distance and didn't have a “bug” planted on the premises. The article doesn't say whether others were under suspicion as well. Probably he was a lone attacker rather than a part of a terrorist cell. Lots of people are getting their inspiration from the Internet lately. There was a correspondent on my G+ account whose script is in some Middle Eastern language. I have blocked it and haven't seen it in a couple of weeks. I have no way of knowing who those people are and what they are involved in.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-bird-goo-removed-but-researchers-still-stuck/

Scientists start to uncover mystery goo killing birds
CBS NEWS
February 14, 2015

Last month, a mysterious gooey substance coated the feathers of hundreds of birds in the San Francisco Bay and killed more than 300.

On Friday, state and federal scientists announced they are closing in on the identity of the thick compound. And as CBS News correspondent John Blackstone reports, they have not ruled out the possibility that it was intentionally dumped into the water.

When birds started showing up covered in something oily along the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay last month, both rescuers and researchers went into action.

Nobody had seen anything quite like the substance that was sticking to feathers, making it impossible for the birds to stay warm and dry.

"This is a true mystery. What we know is it's not petroleum, which is good news. What we don't know is what it is," said Andrew Hughan, information officer at the California Fish and Wildlife Department. "It has the consistency of rubber cement like out of the jar that we did as kids."

The birds were taken for cleaning to International Bird Rescue, an organization that has saved birds at oil spills and other environmental disasters around the world. They were puzzled too.

"We don't [know what it is]," said International Bird Rescue member Barbara Callahan. "We are very much waiting to hear if the state labs have determined what the product is and, you know, once they determine the product hopefully they'll be able to find a source."

The state researchers from the Department of Fish and Wildlife were joined by others from the California Public Health Department, the Federal Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Together the four agencies have determined the mystery goo is still sort of a mystery.

In a news release it's described as a "mixture of non-petroleum-based fats or oils," which may include "silicone fluids," "wood derivative oils," "animal fats and oil" and "edible and inedible seed oils."

"We're going to keep going until we can identify the material exactly or we hit a brick wall -- a wall," said California Fish and Wildlife Department member Steve Gonzalez.

Whatever it is, it still isn't known where it came from.

"We don't know if it was intentional or unintentional," Gonzalez said. "Maybe it was an accident. We don't know. If it was intentional, yes we'll pursue criminal charges."

Fortunately for the birds, the rescuers figured out how to get it off.

"We're having to soften it, if you will, with first baking soda into the feathers and then taking that off with some household vinegar," Callahan said. The recipe also includes Dawn and "toothbrushes," Callahan added. "We do use the toothbrushes just around the eyes and the mouth and the very delicate area."

More than 100 of the birds that were saved have now been released. The birds that survived are back where they belong in San Francisco Bay. The mystery goo appears to be gone.



"On Friday, state and federal scientists announced they are closing in on the identity of the thick compound. And as CBS News correspondent John Blackstone reports, they have not ruled out the possibility that it was intentionally dumped into the water.... "This is a true mystery. What we know is it's not petroleum, which is good news. What we don't know is what it is," said Andrew Hughan, information officer at the California Fish and Wildlife Department. "It has the consistency of rubber cement like out of the jar that we did as kids." The birds were taken for cleaning to International Bird Rescue, an organization that has saved birds at oil spills and other environmental disasters around the world. They were puzzled too.... "We don't [know what it is]," said International Bird Rescue member Barbara Callahan. "We are very much waiting to hear if the state labs have determined what the product is and, you know, once they determine the product hopefully they'll be able to find a source."... In a news release it's described as a "mixture of non-petroleum-based fats or oils," which may include "silicone fluids," "wood derivative oils," "animal fats and oil" and "edible and inedible seed oils."... "We don't know if it was intentional or unintentional," Gonzalez said. "Maybe it was an accident. We don't know. If it was intentional, yes we'll pursue criminal charges.".... "We're having to soften it, if you will, with first baking soda into the feathers and then taking that off with some household vinegar," Callahan said. The recipe also includes Dawn and "toothbrushes," Callahan added. "We do use the toothbrushes just around the eyes and the mouth and the very delicate area." More than 100 of the birds that were saved have now been released. The birds that survived are back where they belong in San Francisco Bay. The mystery goo appears to be gone.”

Well, the good news is that it has mysteriously disappeared just as it appeared. Dawn dish detergent, which I always buy for home use, has been showing up as the cleaner in these cases for years now, even when the pollutant is petroleum. It's a really strong detergent, and if I pour a bit of it onto the oil stain or spot and rub it in it does miraculously get rid of the oil. I've used it on clothing as often as dishes. I wouldn't have thought baking soda and vinegar would take something like that off, however, but I use both for ordinary household cleaning. They do kill many germs. The good thing about baking soda, vinegar and Dawn is that they won't poison the bird, and they are all water soluble.

It's sad that so many birds were soaked in the substance, however. Living in nature has become dangerous too frequently lately. Even “biodegradable plastic” isn't really biodegradable, one report said, but rather it breaks up into smaller and smaller particles which are eaten by everything from small ocean life to birds or fish, and can fill up their stomachs with non-nutritive material, so that they stop eating and die. This is our food chain that is disappearing, and like any other form of pollution it will gradually kill species as surely as a hunting rifle will an elephant.





http://www.infowars.com/obama-giving-immigrants-amnesty-bonuses-despite-economic-woes/

OBAMA GIVING IMMIGRANTS ‘AMNESTY BONUSES’ DESPITE ECONOMIC WOES
"I think these amnesty rewards, and that's what they are, need to be stopped"
Alex Jones Infowars.com
by STEPHEN OHLEMACHER | MY WAY
FEBRUARY 14, 2015

Millions of immigrants benefiting from President Barack Obama’s executive actions could get a windfall from the IRS, a reversal of fortune after years of paying taxes to help fund government programs they were banned from receiving.

Armed with new Social Security numbers, many of these immigrants who were living in the U.S. illegally will now be able to claim up to four years’ worth of tax credits designed to benefit the working poor. For big families, that’s a maximum of nearly $24,000, as long as they can document their earnings during those years.

Some Republicans are labeling the payments “amnesty bonuses,” one more reason they oppose Obama’s program shielding millions of immigrants from deportation.

“I represent hard working, law-biding Texans,” said Rep. Sam Johnson, a senior Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee. “I think these amnesty rewards, and that’s what they are, need to be stopped.”

Advocates argue that many of these immigrants pay taxes, so they should be able to claim the same tax credits as anybody else. Over the past decade, immigrants in the U.S. illegally have paid an estimated $100 billion in Social Security payroll taxes, even though few will ever be able to collect benefits, said Stephen Goss, Social Security's chief actuary.

Obama has issued executive orders shielding about 4 million immigrants from deportation. Some were brought to the U.S. as children; others are parents of children who are either U.S. citizens or legal residents.

Republicans in Congress oppose Obama's actions and are trying to use a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security to overturn them. Democrats are resisting, resulting in a stalemate that is threatening to shut down the department.

Funding for the department, which oversees immigration enforcement, runs out Feb. 27.

The dispute over tax credits illustrates the complicated relationship that many immigrants have with the U.S. tax system. Social Security estimates that immigrants living in the country illegally work at about the same rate as the rest of the population, even though federal law bars them from employment.

In general, they are less likely to pay federal taxes. Those who do have been boosting Social Security's finances for years.

There are an estimated 11 million to 12 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally. At least half are paying income and payroll taxes, even though few have valid Social Security numbers, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

By law, you must have a Social Security number to work in the U.S. But millions of people work without them.

Some work in the underground economy and do not report their income to the government. For those who work and pay taxes, the IRS provides them with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN).

Since 1996, the IRS has issued 21 million of these numbers. About one-quarter of them are still in use, the agency says.

The IRS accepts these tax returns without reporting the taxpayers to immigration authorities, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said. That encourages the workers to pay taxes.

"We don't enforce the Social Security laws, we don't enforce the immigration laws," Koskinen said of his agency. "In fact, the reason illegal immigrants file taxes with us is they know we aren't sharing that data with anybody. We treat it as taxpayer-protected information."

Even if these immigrants pay taxes, they are ineligible for most federal programs. They cannot legally get food stamps, unemployment benefits, Pell grants or federal student loans. They cannot get Medicaid, except for emergency medical services, and are ineligible for subsidies under Obama's health law.

They can claim some federal tax breaks, if they file tax returns.
But until now, they were not eligible for Social Security, Medicare or the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), one of the government's largest anti-poverty programs.

Obama's executive actions will offer Social Security numbers to these immigrants, something that eventually could make them eligible for Social Security and Medicare. For Social Security, you generally have to work and pay payroll taxes for 10 years before you qualify for retirement benefits.

More immediately, they can take advantage of the EITC. Last year, the credit provided low-income workers with about $70 billion.

This credit is popular among conservatives because it rewards work — the more you work, the bigger your credit, as long as your income does not exceed certain limits. It is popular among liberals because it provides cash payments to low-wage workers, even if they do not make enough money to pay federal income tax.

It is, however, a complicated program to administer that generates a significant amount of improper payments, according to the IRS's own estimates.

Once the immigrants in Obama's program get Social Security numbers, they can file tax returns claiming the EITC, as long as they meet the income requirements and can document their earnings.

There's more.

They also can file amended tax returns for up to three years after they were due, which means these immigrants can claim tax credits going back as far as 2011. (Tax returns for 2011 were due in April 2012).

The maximum credit for families with three or more children is about $6,000, so some families could get as much as $24,000 in credits.

Koskinen said these tax returns would be processed just like any other.

"You have to do the same thing any taxpayer would do, which is you're going to file a return, say this is what I earned, these are my expenses, deductions, whatever it might be," Koskinen said. "You have to have the supporting documentation."

Some in Congress are outraged.

"The administration may have blown open the doors for fraud with amnesty bonuses of more than $24,000 to those who receive deferred action," said Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb. "This program severely undermines the White House's lip-service to enforcing the law and would increase the burden on law-abiding taxpayers."

Advocates for immigrants say that if these workers are paying taxes, they should get the same benefits as other taxpayers.

"Let's not forget that these workers receive the lowest wages for what they contribute to their communities and local economies," said Ellen Sittenfeld Battistelli, policy analyst at the National Immigration Law Center. "What do we as a nation gain by further impoverishing them?"




“It is, however, a complicated program to administer that generates a significant amount of improper payments, according to the IRS's own estimates. Once the immigrants in Obama's program get Social Security numbers, they can file tax returns claiming the EITC, as long as they meet the income requirements and can document their earnings. There's more. They also can file amended tax returns for up to three years after they were due, which means these immigrants can claim tax credits going back as far as 2011. (Tax returns for 2011 were due in April 2012). The maximum credit for families with three or more children is about $6,000, so some families could get as much as $24,000 in credits.... Some in Congress are outraged. "The administration may have blown open the doors for fraud with amnesty bonuses of more than $24,000 to those who receive deferred action," said Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb. "This program severely undermines the White House's lip-service to enforcing the law and would increase the burden on law-abiding taxpayers." Advocates for immigrants say that if these workers are paying taxes, they should get the same benefits as other taxpayers.... "Let's not forget that these workers receive the lowest wages for what they contribute to their communities and local economies," said Ellen Sittenfeld Battistelli, policy analyst at the National Immigration Law Center. "What do we as a nation gain by further impoverishing them?"

This article, though written by a conservative pundit, is a detailed description of the relationship of the undocumented workers to our economic system and it includes the liberal arguments. It doesn't appear to me that the undocumented aliens are a drain on the rest of us as long as they pay taxes. Following that logic, it is only fair that if they pay into Social Security they should be allowed to get benefits. I have often wondered, and sometimes worried about those people who come here with nothing and take our lowest paid jobs, living in crowded and decrepit housing. There is so much hard core poverty in this country alongside the very wealthy that if we help them out a little, I think it's a good thing. $6,000 a year isn't a lot of money, but it may mean the difference between starvation and three meals a day.





http://www.npr.org/2015/02/14/386199926/west-coast-port-closures-are-hitting-several-industries-hard

West Coast Port Closures Are Hitting Several Industries Hard
Kirk Siegler
February 14, 2015

Photograph – A few trucks move along the docks at the Port of Los Angeles on Thursday. Seaports in major West Coast cities that normally are abuzz with the sound of commerce are falling unusually quiet due to an ongoing labor dispute.
Nick Ut/AP

No cargo will go in or out of 29 West Coast ports this weekend.

It's the third partial shutdown in operations at these ports in a week, the result of a bitter labor dispute between shipping lines and the union representing 20,000 dock workers. The dispute has been dragging on for eight months, and now the economic impacts of the shutdown are starting to be felt.

Even before the labor dispute between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, there was a major congestion crisis brewing at West Coast ports, and the shutdowns this weekend are only making things worse.

Standing on a bluff overlooking the Port of Los Angeles, one can see a half-dozen huge container ships sitting idle; there are at least six more on the horizon.

"If you think about being on a tarmac for a couple of hours at an airport, some of these people have been waiting off-shore for weeks to get in," says Phillip Sanfield, a spokesman with the Port of Los Angeles. He's standing on the docks inside the port, where things are eerily quiet. Two massive container ships look like someone abandoned them in a hurry, and the cranes towering above them are just hanging there.

"We need to get back on schedule and we're hearing from customers throughout the country and beyond that it is affecting their businesses," Sanfield says. "So we need to get this cargo moving."

Even a partial shutdown of operations is a big deal here. At the combined ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, about $1 billion worth of cargo comes through every day. Most of it is from Asia: electronics, clothes, toys and car parts.

And then there's the export side of things. One industry especially caught in the middle of all this is agriculture. California's citrus industry is blaming the port shutdowns and congestion for a 25 percent drop in export business.

"Season to date it's estimated that this has impacted the California citrus industry by the reduction of about $500 million in export sales," says Dusty Ference, director of grower services at the industry trade group California Citrus Mutual.

Ference says this is all coming at a really bad time because this is the industry's peak export season ahead of the Chinese New Year.

"We're getting reports now that, not including trucking time, these containers are sitting on the docks for 10 days, and in some cases, longer," he says.

Some industries are now turning to the air to ship freight. Some of Ference's growers are trucking cargo down to the Port of Houston, but going the long way through the Panama Canal is expensive and not always practical.

Mostly they're waiting and hoping things get resolved quickly. The Pacific Maritime Association's president has warned of an all-out "meltdown" on West Coast ports if the union doesn't accept what he called its "generous contract offer."

"You know the truth. We want to go to work and they're blaming us," ILWU President Robert McEllrath said in a video to membership. "There's space on the docks to unload vessels. There's cargo to be delivered and we're here to do it."

On Saturday, the White House said President Obama has directed Labor Secretary Tom Perez to travel to California to see if he can help settle the negotiations.

For now, unless a deal is reached, the Pacific Maritime Association's enforced closure of most major operations up and down the West Coast is scheduled to last through the President's Day holiday.



http://www.pmanet.org/

Pacific Maritime Association
What We Do –

The principal business of the PMA is to negotiate and administer maritime labor agreements with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). This includes a coast-wide contract covering roughly 13,600 longshore, clerk and foreman workers at 29 ports along the West Coast, from Southern California to the Pacific Northwest. These ports drive nearly half of all maritime trade in the United States, including more than 70 percent of all imports from Asia. We work on behalf of 72 member companies who are among the world’s leading shipping lines and terminal operators.



http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/232864-obama-sending-labor-chief-into-port-dispute

Obama sends Labor chief into port dispute
By Keith Laing 

At issue is a labor contract between the port operators and the ILWU that was supposed to expire in July. 

Negotiators have been unable to agree to anything more than temporary extensions, and a federal mediator brought in resolve the issues has also been unable to forge a deal. 

The decision by the administration to send Perez to California will be widely seen as a response to the calls for greater involvement from Washington. 

The Pacific Maritime Association, which handles labor negotiations for port managers, said this week that it is closing ports in Washington, Oregon and California that normally process 340 million tons of cargo from Feb. 12-16 due to allegedly unfair contract demands and work slowdowns that it says are being conducted by the dockworkers union. 

“What they’re doing amounts to a strike with pay, and we will reduce the extent to which we pay premium rates for such a strike,” PMA spokesman Wade Gates said in a statement. 

The dockworkers union has offered a starkly different take, arguing that managers are needlessly closing the West Coast ports “to divide us.”

President Obama is sending Labor Secretary Tom Perez to negotiate a resolution to a labor standoff that has shut down 29 ports along the West Coast. 

White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz said Saturday that Perez is reaching out to port managers and leaders of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), which represents dock workers, to facilitate a deal to resolve the long-running port standoff. 

"The negotiations over the functioning of the West Coast Ports have been taking place for months with the Administration urging the parties to resolve their differences," Schultz said.  

"Out of concern for the economic consequences of further delay, the President has directed his Secretary of Labor Tom Perez travel to California to meet with the parties to urge them to resolve their dispute quickly at the bargaining table," he continued. "Secretary Perez is already in contact with the parties and will keep the president fully updated." 

The White House has been facing pressure to intervene in the dispute, which is threatening the flow of cargo packages to cities as far away as Chicago. 

At issue is a labor contract between the port operators and the ILWU that was supposed to expire in July. 

Negotiators have been unable to agree to anything more than temporary extensions, and a federal mediator brought in resolve the issues has also been unable to forge a deal. 

The decision by the administration to send Perez to California will be widely seen as a response to the calls for greater involvement from Washington. 

The Pacific Maritime Association, which handles labor negotiations for port managers, said this week that it is closing ports in Washington, Oregon and California that normally process 340 million tons of cargo from Feb. 12-16 due to allegedly unfair contract demands and work slowdowns that it says are being conducted by the dockworkers union. 

“What they’re doing amounts to a strike with pay, and we will reduce the extent to which we pay premium rates for such a strike,” PMA spokesman Wade Gates said in a statement. 

The dockworkers union has offered a starkly different take, arguing that managers are needlessly closing the West Coast ports “to divide us.”

“They’re using lies and tactics to turn the public against and town locals against the negotiating committee, and the rank-and-file against each other,” ILWU President Robert McEllrath said in a video that was posted on the union’s website.

“We want to go to work, and they’re blaming us,” he continued. “There’s space on the docks to unload vessels, there’s cargo to be delivered, and we’re here to do it.”

Lawmakers who represent districts near ports on the West Coast applauded the White House's decision to get involved in the labor fight. 

"President Obama has just announced that he is sending Labor Secretary Tom Perez to negotiate a much-needed agreement between ILWU and PMA," Rep. Janice Hahn (D-Calif.) said in a statement that was provided to The Hill.

"I spoke to Secretary Perez on Thursday about the negotiations at our port and the need for a quick resolution," Hahn continued. "I am encouraged by this development and I hope that Secretary Perez will work to keep both sides at the table and help them find a resolution that keeps our ports open and our workers on the job."

Business groups in Washington also praised Obama's decision to send Perez in to try to negotiate a settlement to the port labor standoff. 

"We welcome the administration's increased attention to the West Coast ports dispute and are hopeful Secretary Perez will be able to bring the parties together to end this growing crisis as soon as possible," U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue said in a statement. "The U.S. Chamber stands ready to help in any way It can."

The National Retail Federation also reacted positively to the announcement that Perez was being sent to California.

"We welcome the administration's attention to this important national and international economic and supply chain issue and hope it recommits the two sides to reaching a deal," said Jonathan Gold, the organization's VP for supply chain. "The slowdowns, congestion and suspensions at the West Coast ports need to end now."

The port labor strife has worried retail groups, who say a prolonged shutdown could be catastrophic for the nation’s economy, for months. 

The National Association of Manufacturers and the retail federation said in a study conducted in 2014 that a prolonged shutdown of ports in cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle would cost the U.S. economy almost $2 billion per day. 

With that figure in mind, business groups and congressional leaders have called on the White House for weeks to step up its involvement and push harder for a settlement to get the 29 ports back up and running at full speed. 

“The Chamber is increasingly hearing from companies and industries whose business operations are being adversely affected by the serious slowdown surrounding the labor contract negotiations at the West Coast ports,” Donohue said earlier this week. 

“This is now a growing crisis that is impacting farmers, retailers and manufacturers throughout the country, as well as trucking and railroad companies who have far less cargo to move,” he said.



http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2015/02/kurt_schrader_west_coast_legis.html

Kurt Schrader, West Coast legislators push for Barack Obama to invoke Taft-Hartley Act if labor dispute continues
By Molly Harbarger | The Oregonian/OregonLive 
February 12, 2015



Photograph – U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., called for President Barack Obama to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act soon if longshore workers and West Coast port operators can't reach a resolution on a new contract. (Michael Lloyd/The Oregonian)

“.... In labor disputes involving unions, there is not much legislators can do at a state or Congressional level. The Taft-Hartley Act is usually used as a last-ditch effort when the U.S. economy is lagging because of the strife.

Taft-Hartley was a Republican-led response to New Deal legislation that conferred a range of bargaining rights to unions. Taft-Hartley added provisions that tipped the scale back in the direction of employers, adding right-to-work provisions and permitting employers to oppose the unionization of a workplace.

The act gave the president the right to intervene in labor disputes that threatened the national interest, requiring employers and employees to reach agreement within 80 days.

The act was passed in 1947 over the veto of President Harry Truman. Presidents have invoked the emergency injunction 35 times, but only three times in the last 35 years. Before President Bush in 2002, President Carter used it in in 1978 in an unsuccessful attempt to end a strike by coal miners and President Reagan used it in 1981 to break the air traffic controllers union.

Port of Portland Executive Director Bill Wyatt said Wednesday that he expects a lockout in the next few days if the ILWU doesn't accept the Pacific Maritime Association's most recent offer, laid out earlier this month.

Already, the West Coast operators announced four days of canceled work at the 29 ports, starting Thursday and ending Tuesday.

Rep. Janice Hahn, D-California, said the suspension of work is as unproductive as some allege the union's actions of slowing down or stopping work. Hahn's district includes many longshoremen who work at the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports -- the biggest on the West Coast.




NPR – “It's the third partial shutdown in operations at these ports in a week, the result of a bitter labor dispute between shipping lines and the union representing 20,000 dock workers. The dispute has been dragging on for eight months, and now the economic impacts of the shutdown are starting to be felt. Even before the labor dispute between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, there was a major congestion crisis brewing at West Coast ports, and the shutdowns this weekend are only making things worse.... Even a partial shutdown of operations is a big deal here. At the combined ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, about $1 billion worth of cargo comes through every day. Most of it is from Asia: electronics, clothes, toys and car parts. And then there's the export side of things. One industry especially caught in the middle of all this is agriculture. California's citrus industry is blaming the port shutdowns and congestion for a 25 percent drop in export business.... Mostly they're waiting and hoping things get resolved quickly. The Pacific Maritime Association's president has warned of an all-out "meltdown" on West Coast ports if the union doesn't accept what he called its "generous contract offer." "You know the truth. We want to go to work and they're blaming us," ILWU President Robert McEllrath said in a video to membership. "There's space on the docks to unload vessels. There's cargo to be delivered and we're here to do it." On Saturday, the White House said President Obama has directed Labor Secretary Tom Perez to travel to California to see if he can help settle the negotiations.”

TheHill – At issue is a labor contract between the port operators and the ILWU that was supposed to expire in July. Negotiators have been unable to agree to anything more than temporary extensions, and a federal mediator brought in resolve the issues has also been unable to forge a deal. The decision by the administration to send Perez to California will be widely seen as a response to the calls for greater involvement from Washington. The Pacific Maritime Association, which handles labor negotiations for port managers, said this week that it is closing ports in Washington, Oregon and California that normally process 340 million tons of cargo from Feb. 12-16 due to allegedly unfair contract demands and work slowdowns that it says are being conducted by the dockworkers union. “What they’re doing amounts to a strike with pay, and we will reduce the extent to which we pay premium rates for such a strike,” PMA spokesman Wade Gates said in a statement. The dockworkers union has offered a starkly different take, arguing that managers are needlessly closing the West Coast ports “to divide us.”

So here we are with a really big labor dispute, and some members of both political parties are asking for the Taft Hartley Act to be invoked. Obama has instead sent in the Labor Secretary to try to bring both parties to a reconciliation. I would like to see what wages and other agreements the workers have actually been offered. The PMA has described their proposed terms as “generous.” Maybe and maybe not. The cost of living on the West Coast is very high, I understand, and they haven't had a new agreement since 2008. I wish the union well, because without unions workers wages get squeezed constantly. I tend to distrust business more than the workers, of course. I'll clip any further articles I see on this story.





http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/02/13/385988208/boko-haram-ventures-out-of-nigeria-hitting-village-in-chad

Boko Haram Ventures Out Of Nigeria, Hitting Village In Chad
Scott Neuman
February 13, 2015

Photograph – An armored vehicle used by Boko Haram militants captured by the Nigerian military in Maiduguri, Borno state, late last month. The extremist group appears to be expanding its operations into neighboring countries in an effort to establish an independent Islamic state.

Suspected Boko Haram militants have conducted their first-ever raid in Chad, attacking a village just across the border from the extremist group's stronghold in northeast Nigeria.

Reuters says the assault took place about 12 miles east of the border at the village of Ngouboua inside Chad, which, like Nigeria, is a Muslim-majority country with a substantial Christian minority.

The news agency says dozens of militants arrived by motorized canoe at the village on the shores of Lake Chad, which straddles the border. The assailants set houses ablaze and attacked a police station.

"They came on board three pirogues and succeeded in killing about 10 people before being pushed back by the army," a resident of Ngouboua was quoted by Reuters as saying. The town has become a veritable refugee camp for thousands fleeing the fighting in Nigeria.

Reuters says: "Militants from the Sunni jihadist group, based in northern Nigeria less than [60 miles] from the Chadian capital, have stepped up cross-border attacks in recent weeks in their campaign to carve out an Islamist emirate [around Lake Chad], which borders Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger." Last month, Boko Haram made a similar raid on a village in northern Cameroon.

According to The New York Times, Chad, Cameroon and Benin have agreed to contribute troops to an 8,700-strong force to fight Boko Haram, as fighting has "increasingly spilled across borders in the region."

The Times writes:

"Nigeria's war has spread to its smaller, poorer neighbor,Niger. In Diffa, the main city in the country's far east, just across the border from Nigeria, 'people are in a panic,' the head of the Red Cross in Diffa, Abdullai Adah, said by phone on Tuesday, after a bombing at a vegetable market and an attack on the city's prison the day before. At least eight were killed, Mr. Adah said."

Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama, who is president of the Nigerian Bishops Conference, is warning that the extremists, who kidnapped hundreds of schoolgirls last year and reportedly sold them into marriage, could affect the wider continent.

"I'm not sure [the West understands] the magnitude of what is happening and how, gradually, this is capable of destabilizing the entire nation, the surrounding countries and, eventually, all of Africa," Kaigama said in an interview by phone with The Huffington Post. "When Africa is affected in such a manner, you can be sure that the West will feel the heat also."




“Reuters says: "Militants from the Sunni jihadist group, based in northern Nigeria less than [60 miles] from the Chadian capital, have stepped up cross-border attacks in recent weeks in their campaign to carve out an Islamist emirate [around Lake Chad], which borders Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger." Last month, Boko Haram made a similar raid on a village in northern Cameroon. According to The New York Times, Chad, Cameroon and Benin have agreed to contribute troops to an 8,700-strong force to fight Boko Haram, as fighting has "increasingly spilled across borders in the region.".... 'm not sure [the West understands] the magnitude of what is happening and how, gradually, this is capable of destabilizing the entire nation, the surrounding countries and, eventually, all of Africa," Kaigama said in an interview by phone with The Huffington Post. "When Africa is affected in such a manner, you can be sure that the West will feel the heat also."

I'm glad to see that an army is being formed to fight the group that seems to be Africa's ISIS. I wonder if the UN has been asked to intervene. If only the national governments across Africa were stronger so that they could defeat these groups soundly, it wouldn't be so frightening. I don't want Western powers to end up in what amounts to a world war on fundamentalist Islamic groups, so many of whom seem to be completely ruthless and greedy for conquered land. A religious war is so hate filled and completely unfair to peaceful peoples that it could destroy democracy and literally civilization as we know them.





http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2015/02/12/385459778/gardeners-twofer-first-ketchup-n-fries-plant-hits-u-s-market

Gardener's Twofer: First Ketchup 'N' Fries Plant Hits U.S. Market
SÁŠA WOODRUFF
FEBRUARY 12, 2015

Photograph – The plant is an early tomato grafted to a late-producing potato. The two can be harvested throughout the season.... SuperNaturals

Love growing potatoes and tomatoes? This spring, gardeners in the U.S. (and Europe) will be able to get both tuber and fruit from a single plant.

It even has a catchy name: Ketchup 'n' Fries.

"It's like a science project," says Alice Doyle of SuperNaturals Grafted Vegetables, the company that's licensing the variety for U.S. markets from the U.K. company that developed it. "It's something that is really bizarre, but it's going to be fun [for gardeners] to measure and see how it grows."

This isn't a genetically modified organism but a plant of two different nightshades: the top of a cherry tomato grafted onto a white potato.

"Tomatoes and potatoes are in the same family, and that makes it feasible," says John Bagnasco, also of SuperNaturals.

Grafting, the technique of taking two different plants in the same family and fusing them together, has been around since ancient times. Today, fruit trees, grape vines and roses are still grafted onto well-established rootstocks. (A New York artist is even attempting to graft branches from 40 different kinds of stone fruit onto a single tree, as The Salt reported in August.)

Grafting is advantageous for higher yields and disease resistance. For example, a tree that is genetically resistant to soil diseases might not produce a juicy peach or a perfectly tart apple. So plant breeders can take branches from trees with tastier fruit and graft them onto the hardy rootstocks.

Over the past century, botanists have discovered vegetable or soft-tissue grafting. Grafters will take two separate seedlings — with stems of the same size and shape — and cut them in half. The top of one is then matched with the wound of the bottom. They are fused with a tiny plastic clip and taken into a special greenhouse while they grow into one plant. If the combination is correct, the whole organism should be stronger.

This idea of the tomato-potato twofer isn't actually new either. In the early 1900s, botanist Luther Burbanksuccessfully grafted a potato top onto a tomato root, creating a viable plant — except that it was, shall we say, fruitless. He even experimented with a tomato-potato hybrid, affectionately named a "pomato." Since then, home gardeners have experimented with these chimera-esque grafted plants to varying success.

Finding the right partners is tricky at best. You have to find two plants that work well together to produce a balanced harvest of fruit and tubers.

"If you're growing a potato from a seed, as the potato germinates, the stem is much thinner than a tomato when it germinates," says Bagnasco. "You have to start the seeds at separate times and try to get the potatoes' stem up to size."

After five years of experimenting, SuperNaturals decided to license an already successful variety developed for Thomas & Morgan, a U.K.-based plant company. About 40,000 TomTatoes were sold last year in the U.K., says Michael Perry, a product development manager for Thomas & Morgan who worked on TomTato. He says the goal was to make a combination that was more than a novelty plant.

"It's not just any old tomato or any old potato. It's actually a really good, all-around potato at the base," Perry says. "Then on the top you've got the potential to have up to 500 super-sweet fruit."

They also had to find an early tomato and late-producing potato, so the two could be harvested throughout the season. It took 15 years to develop the winning combination.

The TomTato is being released as Ketchup 'n' Fries in the U.S. this spring, and the producers say the plant is sparking new interest in gardening. Perry says it wasn't just his usual customers who were interested in this last year in the U.K.

"It was also teenagers and kids — people who wouldn't have been interested before, so it kind of opened it to a wider audience," he says.

SuperNaturals says garden centers across the country will be stocking Ketchup 'n' Fries in the spring. It's also available online at Garden America and at the Territorial Seed Co.




"It's like a science project," says Alice Doyle of SuperNaturals Grafted Vegetables, the company that's licensing the variety for U.S. markets from the U.K. company that developed it. "It's something that is really bizarre, but it's going to be fun [for gardeners] to measure and see how it grows." This isn't a genetically modified organism but a plant of two different nightshades: the top of a cherry tomato grafted onto a white potato.... Grafting, the technique of taking two different plants in the same family and fusing them together, has been around since ancient times. Today, fruit trees, grape vines and roses are still grafted onto well-established rootstocks. (A New York artist is even attempting to graft branches from 40 different kinds of stone fruit onto a single tree, as The Salt reported in August.).... Over the past century, botanists have discovered vegetable or soft-tissue grafting. Grafters will take two separate seedlings — with stems of the same size and shape — and cut them in half. The top of one is then matched with the wound of the bottom. They are fused with a tiny plastic clip and taken into a special greenhouse while they grow into one plant. If the combination is correct, the whole organism should be stronger. This idea of the tomato-potato twofer isn't actually new either. In the early 1900s, botanist Luther Burbanksuccessfully grafted a potato top onto a tomato root, creating a viable plant — except that it was, shall we say, fruitless. He even experimented with a tomato-potato hybrid, affectionately named a "pomato." Since then, home gardeners have experimented with these chimera-esque grafted plants to varying success.... After five years of experimenting, SuperNaturals decided to license an already successful variety developed for Thomas & Morgan, a U.K.-based plant company. About 40,000 TomTatoes were sold last year in the U.K., says Michael Perry, a product development manager for Thomas & Morgan who worked on TomTato. … SuperNaturals says garden centers across the country will be stocking Ketchup 'n' Fries in the spring. It's also available online at Garden America and at the Territorial Seed Co.”

I've always enjoyed gardening, and tomatoes are my favorite plant. I also bought tomatillo plants one year, which made a large harvest for the five or six plants that I had. They're kind of expensive in the grocery stores, and tasted fine out of the garden. I let them ripen into a mellow deep yellow, until they were sweet and wonderful. This double plant will make the land use much more productive. I expect Ketchup 'n' Fries to be a big hit in the Home Depot as novelty seekers descend on the stores. It will also be taken up by professional farmers, I expect, and in city gardens which have become popular in the last twenty years or so. Neighborhood gardens are a creative way to bring vegetables into the “food deserts” in poverty stricken neighborhoods, where residents have to travel long distances to get to a full size super market or farmers' vegetable stand. Planting gardens produces considerably cheaper vegetables than can be found in super markets, too.