March 29, 2016


News Clips For The Day


http://usuncut.com/politics/trump-campaign-manager-charged-with-battery/

BREAKING: Trump’s Campaign Manager Who Assaulted Reporter Just Got What He Deserved Tom Cahill
March 29, 2016

Graphic images -- policereport2; Policereport


Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, has been arrested for assaulting a reporter.

Gawker reported earlier that Lewandowski was in the custody of Jupiter, Florida police for his attack on Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields, who resigned from the conservative media outlet in the wake of the assault. Jupiter Police Department spokesman Adam Brown told US Uncut that Lewandowski has since been released with a notice to appear in court. No mugshot is available.

Breitbart sided with both Lewandowski and Trump, endorsing their claim that Lewandowski never touched Fields. However, surveillance camera footage clearly shows Fields, near the bottom of the screen, walking with Donald Trump, being suddenly manhandled by Lewandowski after Trump makes his exit.

In the official police report filed, Fields made a complaint against Lewandowski on March 11, three days after the assault occurred. Police noted bruises on Fields’ forearm that appeared to be a “grabbing type injury.” Washington Post reporter Ben Terris corroborated Fields’ account of the events, having witnessed the assault.

During the audio portion immediately after the incident, Fields is heard saying, “Holy shit, I can’t believe he just did that… That was so hard, was that Corey? You should have felt how hard he just grabbed me.” Also, Ben Terris is heard saying “He just like threw you out of the way —like, what threat were you?”

Lewandowski, who was hired as Trump’s campaign manager in 2015, is a former New Hampshire police officer. He has also been filmed assaulting protesters at Trump’s campaign rallies. In one instance, Lewandowski grabbed the collar of one protester at a rally in Tucson, Arizona.

The Trump campaign released an official statement claiming that Lewandowski, who turned himself in on the morning of March 29, will plead not guilty to this particular charge.

According to his Twitter account, Lewandowski not only feels no remorse for committing the alleged attack caught on video, but he denies any attack ever occurred.

Calls to the Donald Trump campaign and the Jupiter Police Department have not been returned as of this writing.

Tom Cahill is a writer for US Uncut based in the Pacific Northwest. He specializes in coverage of political, economic, and environmental news. You can contact him via email at tom.v.cahill@gmail.com.

TWITTER: Corey Lewandowski ✔ ‎@CLewandowski_
@MichelleFields you are totally delusional. I never touched you. As a matter of fact, I have never even met you.
12:28 AM - 11 Mar 2016
1,707 1,707 Retweets 2,078 2,078 likes



“Gawker reported earlier that Lewandowski was in the custody of Jupiter, Florida police for his attack on Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields, who resigned from the conservative media outlet in the wake of the assault. Jupiter Police Department spokesman Adam Brown told US Uncut that Lewandowski has since been released with a notice to appear in court. No mugshot is available. …. Breitbart sided with both Lewandowski and Trump, endorsing their claim that Lewandowski never touched Fields. However, surveillance camera footage clearly shows Fields, near the bottom of the screen, walking with Donald Trump, being suddenly manhandled by Lewandowski after Trump makes his exit. …. . Police noted bruises on Fields’ forearm that appeared to be a “grabbing type injury.” Washington Post reporter Ben Terris corroborated Fields’ account of the events, having witnessed the assault. …. .” Also, Ben Terris is heard saying “He just like threw you out of the way —like, what threat were you?” Lewandowski, who was hired as Trump’s campaign manager in 2015, is a former New Hampshire police officer. He has also been filmed assaulting protesters at Trump’s campaign rallies. In one instance, Lewandowski grabbed the collar of one protester at a rally in Tucson, Arizona.”


TWITTER: Corey Lewandowski ✔ ‎@CLewandowski_
@MichelleFields you are totally delusional. I never touched you. As a matter of fact, I have never even met you.
12:28 AM - 11 Mar 2016


-- Next he’ll be saying it was mutual! It’s shameful that Breitbart sided with Trump and his campaign guy. Not surprisingly Lewandowski is an ex-policeman. Also not surprisingly, this is not the first video of his manhandling Trump protestors. See the following politico article on Lewandowski’s past escapades in other jobs. I didn’t find any charges of police brutality as I expected, but his tenure at the Koch operations was endangered due to inappropriate behavior. It just didn’t make the news. See the following detailed article on the misdeeds of Lewandowski.


http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/donald-trump-corey-lewandowski-220742

Trump campaign manager's behavior prompted staff concerns
Corey Lewandowski's temperament and inappropriate comments drew ire at his previous job, too.
By Kenneth P. Vogel, Ben Schreckinger and Hadas Gold
03/15/16 05:19 AM EDT

Donald Trump’s staff and advisers have expressed concerns about campaign manager Corey Lewandowski’s quick temper and heavy-handed leadership, and some even planned a coup against him last month, sources involved in the discussions told POLITICO.
A series of presidential primary victories ended the talk of deposing Lewandowski, the sources said. But now, Trump is facing external pressure to fire Lewandowski after he was accused last week of manhandling a reporter.
. . . .
But a POLITICO investigation reveals that the incident was far from the first time in Lewandowski’s political career ― or even during the 2016 campaign ― that the intense, Red Bull-chugging operative has been accused of bullying and other inappropriate behavior.
In interviews with more than 20 sources who have dealt with Lewandowski during his nearly year-long tenure with the Trump campaign and in his previous job with the Koch brothers-backed advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, complaints emerged about Lewandowski being rough with reporters and sexually suggestive with female journalists, while profanely berating conservative officials and co-workers he deemed to be challenging his authority.
. . . . Taken together, the controversies seem to represent the most serious existential threat to an expectation-defying candidacy that has survived all manner of self-inflicted set-backs that might have crippled more conventional campaigns.
. . . .
“I am concerned that the controversy will hurt Donald,” said Stone, who quit the campaign last year citing the candidate’s lewd attacks against another female journalist, Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly.
Multiple insiders say they detected Lewandowski’s fingerprints on the departures of Stone and another longtime Trump official, Sam Nunberg, asserting that Lewandowski seeks to shield Trump from receiving other advice.
That instinct concerns some in Trump’s inner circle who contend that Lewandowski is out of his depth when it comes to political strategy and should bring in more experienced advisers, according to sources close to the Trump campaign and family.
. . . .
His last campaign management experience before Trump was an utter failure ― he ran former New Hampshire Sen. Bob Smith’s reelection bid in 2002, when he became the first sitting senator in either party to lose a primary campaign in a decade. After taking a break from professional politics to work as a New Hampshire state police officer, Lewandowski, who sports a buzz cut, hooked up with the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity, which prides itself on being independent from the Republican establishment in Washington. . . .
Lewandowski mostly declined to discuss his employment with Americans for Prosperity, which is known for requiring strict non-disclosure agreements.
But half-a-dozen sources familiar with his tumultuous tenure at the group, known as AFP, said it now seems instructive as an instance in which his interpersonal style was seen as undermining his effectiveness as a manager.
. . . .
During his first five and a half years with AFP, Lewandowski rose from the director of the group’s New Hampshire chapter to its East Coast regional director, overseeing about 10 states, despite several fiery confrontations with other officials at the group.
“Corey was kind of a cowboy, and he was fun,” recalled someone who worked with him at the AFP. “He gave AFP a cool factor that we didn’t have, but there were some cultural problems.”
. . .
Lewandowski boasted about threatening to “blow up” the car of the organization’s chief financial officer over a late expense reimbursement check during the 2012 election cycle, according to multiple sources who are familiar with his claim. (Lewandowski in an email denied this account.)
But some of his most fiery clashes came with a female official who ran one of the states under Lewandowski’s control. The relationship ― and patience for Lewandowski within AFP ― reached a tipping point in October 2013. On the sidelines of a meeting of the group’s board in Manhattan, Lewandowski loudly berated the employee for challenging his authority, getting in her personal space and calling her a “c---” in front of a group of AFP employees, including some senior officials, according to three sources who either witnessed the exchange or dealt with its aftermath.
. . . .
Not long after the Manhattan incident, Lewandowski was shifted into a newly created role at AFP running a voter registration drive where most of his interactions were with vendors, according to the sources. But the effort drew unwanted attention when it sent incorrect voter registration forms to North Carolina residents, and ultimately it was judged not to justify the costs. It was shut down after the 2014 election, according to sources familiar with AFP and Lewandowski’s tenure. They said it became increasingly clear that Lewandowski didn’t have much of a future with the group.
. . . .
Additionally, reporters told POLITICO that Lewandowski has made sexually suggestive and at times vulgar comments to ― and about ― female journalists who have covered Trump’s presidential bid. One reporter who was on the receiving end of such comments described them as “completely inappropriate in a professional setting.”
Lewandowski said in an email that he’d never behaved inappropriately with female journalists.
While those incidents had not been revealed before now, Lewandowski and his campaign have been publicly called out by the media and rivals for trying to intimidate journalists and flouting accepted terms of engagement between campaigns and the press. Fox News accused Lewandowski of making threats related to its anchor Kelly, and of violating the rules at a debate by consulting with Trump and refusing to leave the stage during a commercial break.
The National Press Club issued a statement on Monday raising concerns "about the increasing attacks and threats against journalists covering the United States presidential campaign, particularly after multiple unsettling reports from Donald Trump events." Breitbart News called on Lewandowski to apologize for the incident involving Fields. She has since filed a complaint against Lewandowski with the Jupiter, Fla. police department, and also has resigned from Breitbart in protest of what she contended was the news outlet's failure to sufficiently stand by her.




GUN SHOP OWNER FOLLOWS HIS INSTINCTS


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ohio-gun-store-owner-john-downs-may-have-prevented-mass-shooting-by-refusing-sale/

Gun shop owner credited with foiling possible mass shooting
By CBS NEWS
March 29, 2016, 7:22 AM

53 PHOTOS -- How heavily armed is your state?


Plans for a possible mass shooting may have been foiled, thanks to an alert gun shop owner in Ohio.

John Downs makes his living selling guns, but he may have saved lives by turning down a customer, reports CBS News correspondent Adriana Diaz.

"He kind of had his finger on the trigger like he was going to, you know, use it," Downs said.

Last Monday, 25-year-old James Howard withdrew from his classes at Ohio University and allegedly assaulted an assistant hockey coach. Then he drove 30 minutes to Downs's Bait & Guns store. Although Howard had passed a background check, Downs refused to sell him a rifle.

"Just the look in his eye... there was something about him," Downs said. "I don't know. You really can't explain it. He was going to do something. He was going to do something."

Howard returned to the gun shop later that day, but Downs locked the door and asked a customer to call 911.

Hocking County Sheriff's deputies located Howard's car one mile away at a Walmart. A gun was found in the back seat.

"When we arrived, he had almost 50 rounds of 20-gauge shot gun shell ammunition ready to purchase," Sheriff Lanny North said.

According to the Athens County prosecutor, "Howard was found in possession of a firearm while allegedly being drug dependent or in danger of becoming drug dependent. The firearm was purchased after he allegedly made a false statement on his background check form."

North believes Downs probably saved lives.

"We don't know what he may have prevented," he said.

Downs doesn't think he's a hero. Nonetheless, dozens of Ohio University parents and students have thanked him, including the father of a student who was near Howard's alleged assault.

"His dad called me today, really emotional. Could make me emotional," Downs said. "That his son could have been shot."

Howard is currently being held at the Southeast Ohio Regional Jail on a $125,000 bond. Police say he has a known history of mental health issues. His arraignment is scheduled for April 6th.




"He kind of had his finger on the trigger like he was going to, you know, use it," Downs said. Last Monday, 25-year-old James Howard withdrew from his classes at Ohio University and allegedly assaulted an assistant hockey coach. Then he drove 30 minutes to Downs's Bait & Guns store. Although Howard had passed a background check, Downs refused to sell him a rifle. "Just the look in his eye... there was something about him," Downs said. "I don't know. You really can't explain it. He was going to do something. He was going to do something." …. Hocking County Sheriff's deputies located Howard's car one mile away at a Walmart. A gun was found in the back seat. "When we arrived, he had almost 50 rounds of 20-gauge shot gun shell ammunition ready to purchase," Sheriff Lanny North said. According to the Athens County prosecutor, "Howard was found in possession of a firearm while allegedly being drug dependent or in danger of becoming drug dependent. The firearm was purchased after he allegedly made a false statement on his background check form." …. Howard is currently being held at the Southeast Ohio Regional Jail on a $125,000 bond. Police say he has a known history of mental health issues. His arraignment is scheduled for April 6th.”


This is a great gun shop owner. He was alert, sensitive to intangible signals, and not too greedy or lazy to turn the man down on a sale. I must say, though, this man needs more than just to be imprisoned. He needs to be treated longterm in a mental hospital. Maybe he is, but the article doesn’t say so.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-deadlock-upholds-win-for-unions-in-fee-case/

Supreme Court deadlock upholds win for unions in fee case
CBS/AP
March 29, 2016, 10:31 AM

Photograph -- In this 2013, photo provided by Center for Individual Rights, Rebecca Friedrichs, a veteran Orange County, Calif., public school teacher, poses for a portrait. She said she resigned from the California Teachers Association over differences but was still required to pay about $650 a year to cover bargaining costs. GREG SCHNEIDER, AP


WASHINGTON-- A tie vote from the Supreme Court on Tuesday handed a win to labor unions in a high-profile dispute over their ability to collect fees.

The justices divided 4-4 in a case that considered whether public employees represented by a union can be required to pay "fair share" fees covering collective bargaining costs even if they are not members.

The split vote leaves in place an appeals court ruling that upheld the practice.

The result is an unlikely victory for organized labor after it seemed almost certain the high court would rule 5-4 to overturn a regime in place nearly 40 years. The court is operating with only eight justices after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, who had been expected to rule against the unions.

The Center for Individual Rights, which represented plaintiffs in the case, vowed to petition the high court to take up the case again once Scalia's replacement is in place. "We believe this case is too significant to let a split decision stand and we will file a petition for re-hearing with the Supreme Court," Terry Pell, president of the conservative group said in a statement. "A full court needs to decide this question and we expect this case will be re-heard when a new justice is confirmed."

Tuesday's one-sentence opinion does not set a national precedent and does not identify how each justice voted. It simply upholds a decision from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that applies to California and eight other Western states.

The union case is among a handful of high-profile disputes in which Scalia's vote was expected to tip the balance toward a result that favored the conservative justices.

Since Supreme Court decisions are not final until they are handed down, nothing Scalia did or said in connection with the case before his death mattered to the outcome.

Last month, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, which considered whether public school teachers must pay fees to unions, whether or not they are part of the union.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was the last to rule, upholding a 1977 case that allows public unions to collect dues from both members and non-members, as long as money is not used for political action.

A group of California teachers backed by a conservative group said being forced to pay union fees violated the free speech rights of nonmembers who disagree with the unions' positions. They had urged the justices to overturn a nearly 40-year-old Supreme Court decision that allows the unions to collect the fees.

The high court had raised doubts about the viability of the 1977 precedent, Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, but it stopped short of overturning it in two recent cases. In Abood, the court said public workers who choose not to join a union can be required to pay for bargaining costs if the fees don't go toward political purposes.

The lead plaintiff was Rebecca Friedrichs, a public school teacher from Orange County, California, who said she resigned from the California Teachers Association over differences but was still required to pay about $650 a year to cover bargaining costs.

The case affects more than 5 million workers in 23 states and Washington, D.C., who are represented at the bargaining table by public sector unions. Labor officials worried the potential loss of tens of millions of dollars in fees would reduce their power to bargain for higher wages and benefits for government employees.

Labor leaders called the lawsuit part of a coordinated effort by conservative groups to weaken labor rights. Union officials say the fees are necessary because it has a legal duty to represent all teachers at the bargaining table, even those who are not part of the union.

"California's educators will continue to work together to provide quality, safe and healthy schools as we continue to ensure our students get the quality public education they need and deserve," Eric Heins, president of the California Teachers Association, said in a statement. "It's time for senators to do their job and appoint a successor justice to the highest court in our land."

The Republican Senate majority leader has vowed that the Senate will refuse to consider any nominee before a new president is elected. With 11 months left in President Obama's second term, the court could be without a ninth justice until well into 2017.

Before Tuesday's decision, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) had expressed concern about the outcome in the wake of Scalia's death.



It does seem unfair for a worker who doesn’t want to join a union or pay union dues to be compelled to do so. The unions’ claim is that all workers benefit from union activities, which is also true, is a legitimate argument for their mandatory union membership. A company never raises the pay on just the union members, but on all workers. I think most laws against enforced union membership are coming from conservative people, who in their typical knee-jerk way, hate all unions. I took a labor relations course at UNC which opened my eyes to the type and history of the union vs business conflicts. I came away firmly believing in union activity. Before unions gained some power the work day could be many hours long with unlivable conditions and low pay. Unions have been as important to our nation as universal suffrage.



http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/03/29/472268519/n-y-governor-bans-most-state-travel-to-north-carolina-over-lgbt-law

N.Y. Governor Bans Most State Travel To North Carolina Over LGBT Law
MERRIT KENNEDY
March 29, 20162:42 PM ET

Photograph -- New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during a rally in March in Albany, N.Y., Mike Groll/AP


New York state has joined the cities of Seattle, San Francisco and New York in restricting non-essential public-employee travel to North Carolina. The moves are in response to a newly passed North Carolina law that critics say is discriminatory to the LGBT community.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's executive order bans "all taxpayer-funded trips trip to North Carolina, unless they're essential to public health or law enforcement," NPR's Hansi Lo Wang tells our Newscast unit.

"From Stonewall to marriage equality, our state has been a beacon of hope and equality for the LGBT community, and we will not stand idly by as misguided legislation replicates the discrimination of the past," Cuomo said in a statement. "As long as there is a law in North Carolina that creates the grounds for discrimination against LGBT people, I am barring non-essential travel to the state."

The North Carolina measure was passed last week in a special session by the state's Legislature and then immediately signed by Gov. Pat McCrory. It "blocks local governments from passing anti-discrimination rules to grant protections to gay and transgender people," as the Two-Way has reported.

It also bars transgender people from using the single-sex restrooms and changing rooms that correspond to their gender identity.

The New York state executive order, which took effect immediately, requires a review of all requests for state-funded or state-sponsored travel to North Carolina, and bars any such travel unless it is necessary for enforcing state law, meeting contractual obligations, or "for the protection of public health, welfare and safety."

Cuomo issued a similar order last year for travel to Indiana in response to a "religious freedom" measure in that state. He later reversed the order when the law was amended.

San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee announced Friday that he has barred publicly funded city-employee travel to North Carolina "that is not absolutely necessary to public health and safety."

On Monday, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray banned "official City of Seattle travel by employees to North Carolina." He threatened to issue new orders against travel to any state that passes similar legislation.

And New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters Monday that his office had "initiated a non-essential travel ban for North Carolina."



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots

Stonewall riots
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay (LGBT) community[note 1] against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. They are widely considered to constitute the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States.[2][3]

Gay Americans in the 1950s and 1960s faced an anti-gay legal system.[note 2][4] Early homophile groups in the U.S. sought to prove that gay people could be assimilated into society, and they favored non-confrontational education for homosexuals and heterosexuals alike. The last years of the 1960s, however, were very contentious, as many social movements were active, including the African American Civil Rights Movement, the Counterculture of the 1960s, and antiwar demonstrations. These influences, along with the liberal environment of Greenwich Village, served as catalysts for the Stonewall riots.

Very few establishments welcomed openly gay people in the 1950s and 1960s. Those that did were often bars, although bar owners and managers were rarely gay. At the time, the Stonewall Inn was owned by the Mafia.[5][6] It catered to an assortment of patrons and was known to be popular among the poorest and most marginalized people in the gay community: drag queens, transgender people, effeminate young men, butch lesbians, male prostitutes, and homeless youth. Police raids on gay bars were routine in the 1960s, but officers quickly lost control of the situation at the Stonewall Inn. They attracted a crowd that was incited to riot. Tensions between New York City police and gay residents of Greenwich Village erupted into more protests the next evening, and again several nights later. Within weeks, Village residents quickly organized into activist groups to concentrate efforts on establishing places for gays and lesbians to be open about their sexual orientation without fear of being arrested.

After the Stonewall riots, gays and lesbians in New York City faced gender, race, class, and generational obstacles to becoming a cohesive community. Within six months, two gay activist organizations were formed in New York, concentrating on confrontational tactics, and three newspapers were established to promote rights for gays and lesbians. Within a few years, gay rights organizations were founded across the U.S. and the world. On June 28, 1970, the first Gay Pride marches took place in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco[7] and Chicago commemorating the anniversary of the riots. Similar marches were organized in other cities. Today, Gay Pride events are held annually throughout the world toward the end of June to mark the Stonewall riots.[8]

. . . .

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and police departments kept lists of known homosexuals, their favored establishments, and friends; the U.S. Post Office kept track of addresses where material pertaining to homosexuality was mailed.[13] State and local governments followed suit: bars catering to homosexuals were shut down, and their customers were arrested and exposed in newspapers. Cities performed "sweeps" to rid neighborhoods, parks, bars, and beaches of gay people. They outlawed the wearing of opposite gender clothes, and universities expelled instructors suspected of being homosexual.[14] Thousands of gay men and women were publicly humiliated, physically harassed, fired, jailed, or institutionalized in mental hospitals. Many lived double lives, keeping their private lives secret from their professional ones.

In 1952, the American Psychiatric Association listed homosexuality in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) as a mental disorder. A large-scale study of homosexuality in 1962 was used to justify inclusion of the disorder as a supposed pathological hidden fear of the opposite sex caused by traumatic parent–child relationships. This view was widely influential in the medical profession.[15] In 1956, however, the psychologist Evelyn Hooker performed a study that compared the happiness and well-adjusted nature of self-identified homosexual men with heterosexual men and found no difference.[16] Her study stunned the medical community and made her a hero to many gay men and lesbians,[17] but homosexuality remained in the DSM until 1973.



“New York state has joined the cities of Seattle, San Francisco and New York in restricting non-essential public-employee travel to North Carolina. The moves are in response to a newly passed North Carolina law that critics say is discriminatory to the LGBT community. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's executive order bans "all taxpayer-funded trips trip to North Carolina, unless they're essential to public health or law enforcement," NPR's Hansi Lo Wang tells our Newscast unit."


Things have improved, certainly, but the war still goes on. I’m glad to see governmental groups stepping up to the bat. I’ve never been gay, but I have known quite a few gay people as friends. They are perfectly nice and intelligent people. Besides, I just disapprove of all discrimination on a group basis like this. There are lots of people in this country who just don’t believe in FREEDOM for anyone except their own particular groups. That’s to a large extent what “conservative” thinking consists of. It’s the product of a closed and too often ignorant mind. There are some things that while I consider them to be sickness, I still can’t condone their being allowed by law – child or wife abuse, animal abuse, any sexual abuse, racist behavior, religious persecution, all gender-based unfairness, etc. Interestingly “conservatives” tend to approve such things and want them codified into law. Oh, well….



http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/03/29/472129577/meet-a-tractor-that-can-plow-fields-and-talk-to-the-cloud

Meet A Tractor That Can Plow Fields And Talk To The Cloud
JOY DIAZ
March 29, 20163:19 PM ET

Photograph -- Hello Tractor's machine can plow and text.
courtesy of Hello Tractor


At the trendy South by Southwest conference in mid-March, there was buzz about music, movies, President Obama's keynote address ... and tractors.

Why? Because there's a new, low-cost (but pretty smart) mini-tractor that's part of a business start-up in Abuja, Nigeria, called "Hello Tractor." And it was part of a SxSW competition.

What makes the tractors smart? Each one comes with a GPS antenna. So when the tractor has been used enough to need maintenance, Hello Tractor will alert the owner. Even better, the company can use data on tractor location to play matchmaker. If a certain farmer needs a tractor, the company can contact the nearest tractor owner, who'll ride over and, for a fee, perform the services needed on the neighboring farm.

The idea is so bright that the company founders raised $3 million in seed money from USAID and other sources. And so far they've sold 1,000 tractors to farmers in Nigeria at $4,000 a machine.

The entrepreneur behind Hello Tractor is a city boy: founder and CEO Jehiel Oliver, 33, from Cleveland, Ohio. He's got a masters in economics from Cornell University.

His life story doesn't exactly scream "agriculture." But a couple of years ago he became interested in the problems of the global poor, who earn much of their income on the farm. And he noticed that "most banks didn't lend to farmers."

So the idea of a cheap tractor captivated him. It fit with his lifelong goal of wanting "to make a difference in the world."

When he talked to his wife and some friends, he thought they would probably dis the idea as some "kumbaya" thing. Instead, the group embraced it. They researched Nigeria and learned that it's the most populous country in Africa with agricultural lands as vast as Texas. They also learned that, yes, an inexpensive tractor can be life-changing. Tractors can plow in hours what a crew plows in days, so a farmer with a tractor can plant early enough to take full advantage of the rainy season, bringing better yields.

But first farmers have to be able to afford the tractor. So instead of thinking big, Oliver thought small. "A typical entry-level tractor in Nigeria is 55 horsepower," he says, "Ours is 15. [The] 55 horse power tractor [costs] around $40,000. [Hello Tractor] is $4,000."

Oliver shared those numbers at SXSW's Global Innovation Challenge, a pitch competition that he won. Part of the deal is that he now goes on to attend President Obama's Global Entrepreneurship Summit in June.

Why are tractors so important in Africa?

Calestous Juma is an expert.

Not just as a Harvard scholar. But as a native Kenyan. When he was growing up, his family rarely went grocery shopping. They fished and harvested their food by hand.

Now at Harvard's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs he leads the center's Agricultural Innovation Policy in Africa Project.

His research shows there's a huge tractor shortage in Africa. Worldwide you can find an average of 200 tractors every 100,000 square kilometers (roughly 70,000 square miles). In Africa the average is 13.

And tractors are very helpful, although they have their pitfalls.

"Tractors are very controversial in the developing world [in general] and in Africa [in particular]," Juma says. On the one hand, they can help small-scale farmers plant on time in an efficient, cost-effective way. And if the farmer doesn't have enough laborers, the tractor is invaluable. In places where there are laborers, however, tractors get the blame for taking workers' jobs.

Tractors also need maintenance and spare parts, which are not readily available in much of Africa.

So imagine you are a farmer who has saved, possibly for years to buy a tractor. What do you do when the tractor breaks down? Because it will break down. "It takes only one piece," Juma says "and then you can't use the rest of the tractor."

In some parts of Africa, it can take months to get your hands on a spare part.

Hello Tractor's Oliver says his company is trying to fix that. If a part breaks, farmers can use the tractor's Short Message Service and text message Abuja headquarters to buy a replacement.

If Hello Tractor gets some traction, its potential is huge. Last year the Tractor Owners and Hiring Facilities Association of Nigeria reported a shortage of 73,000 tractors for the country's agricultural activities.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_by_Southwest

South by Southwest
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual set of film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas, United States. It began in 1987, and has continued to grow in both scope and size every year. In 2011, the conference lasted for 10 days with SXSW Interactive lasting for 5 days, Music for 6 days, and Film running concurrently for 9 days.

South by Southwest is run by the company SXSW, Inc. which organizes conferences, trade shows, festivals, and other events.[1] In addition to the three main South by Southwest festivals, the company runs three other conferences, two in Austin: SXSWedu, a conference on educational innovation,[2] and SXSW Eco, an environmental conference;[3] and one in Las Vegas: SXSW V2V, a conference focused on innovative startups.[4]

Inception/1980s[edit]
In July 1986, the organizers of the New York City music festival New Music Seminar contacted Roland Swenson, a staffer at the alternative weekly The Austin Chronicle, about organizing an extension of that festival into Austin after having announced that they were going to hold a "New Music Seminar Southwest".[20] The plans did not materialize, so Swenson decided to instead co-organize a local music festival, with the help of two other people at the Chronicle: editor and co-founder Louis Black, and publisher Nick Barbaro. Louis Meyers, a booking agent and musician, was also brought on board.[21] Black came up with the name, as a play on the name of the Alfred Hitchcock film North by Northwest. The event was first held in March 1987. The organizers considered it a regional event and expected around 150 attendees to show up, but over 700 came, and according to Black "it was national almost immediately."[19]

Meyers left Austin and the festival in the early 1990s, but Black, Barbaro and Swenson remained the festival's key organizers as of 2010.[19]



Every week or more often I run into something entirely new to me when doing this blog. South By Southwest is one such subject. Likewise, a company called Hello Tractor, which sells a self-propelled tractor …. Like the self-driving cars, I assume. This is interesting and helpful to those who can’t hire laborers, according to the article, and the company even provides a way to order parts by text message. Nice!