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We have become a nation that ponders everything without resolution. No one is in charge of anything. Our lives are run by committee–or Roundtable. It is a nightmare of debates and discussions that go on endlessly. |
Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark known for running into a burning building to save a neighbor, has officially announced that he’ll seek New Jersey’s open seat in the US Senate. |
Mayor Booker is considered the clear favorite in the race. The Democratic mayor of New Jersey’s largest city had already been public about his aspirations to serve in the US Senate. But the death of Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D) Monday changed the timetable dramatically. |
Booker and his rivals for the seat face a two-month sprint for a special primary election, followed by an October special election to determine who goes to Washington. |
And although Booker represents a formidable presence in the race from the get-go, he’ll still have to seal the deal with voters – persuading them that he’ll be the best to represent them on issues that go beyond the scope of a big-city mayor, ranging from foreign policy to federal taxes. |
“I’m here today to officially announce my candidacy to be New Jersey’s next United Statessenator,” Booker said Saturday, flanked by former Sen. Bill Bradley at a Trenton news conference. |
He framed his candidacy as not about particular issues but about the nation’s need for civic renewal, with less cynicism and partisan bickering. |
He said his track record is to run toward problems, not away. |
He didn’t reference the burning building episode directly, but that’s one incident that backs up his pitch. |
While heading home from work on a spring night in 2012, Booker and his security detail saw a residence ablaze. After helping some fleeing residents, the mayor rushed back through smoke-filled corridors when he heard someone still inside – and helped a woman get safely out. |
Booker has also been known to help patrol city streets in an effort reduce crime. When a blizzard struck, he helped shovel out cars. |
He’s had his run-ins with other local politicians. And he appeared to unsettle Senator Lautenberg by laying out his Senate ambitions, at a time when the 89-year-old World War II vet had not formally announced whether he would seek reelection. |
Lautenberg announced earlier this year that he would not run in the 2014 election. In announcing his candidacy Saturday, Booker made a point of praising Lautenberg, as well as Mr. Bradley, as local role models. |
If Booker wins the 2013 special election, on a schedule announced this week by Gov. Chris Christie (R), he would have to run again in a year to retain the seat. |
Booker pledged that, if elected, he would “have the valor to reach out” across party lines in working on difficult challenges. |
At least once, an effort to speak out against partisanship has landed Booker in controversy. In one national TV appearance during the 2012 election campaign, he took presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Barack Obama to task for “nauseating” attacks on one another. |
Some Democrats pilloried Booker for distancing himself from President Obama in that way, amid what was perceived as a potentially tight presidential election. |
CAIRO (AFP) - More than 25,000 Egyptians have returned from neighbouring Libya since the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) posted a video earlier this month of the beheadings of Christian compatriots, the foreign ministry said Friday. |
Egypt carried out air strikes against extremist targets in Libya on February 16 in retaliation for the executions of the 21 Copts and urged its large expatriate workforce to head home for their own safety. |
The foreign ministry said 21,407 Egyptians had returned overland through the Sallum border crossing, while another 4,122 had crossed into Tunisia, from where they were flown home on government-chartered flights. |
There are no firm figures for the number of Egyptians working in Libya but estimates run into the hundreds of thousands. |
Before the Nato-backed uprising that toppled and killed dictator Muammar Gaddhafi in 2011, around 1.5 million Egyptians worked in the oil-rich country, mostly in construction and services. |
But hundreds of thousands fled that year's bloodshed and numbers have fallen further amid the turmoil that has gripped Libya ever since. |
The country is awash with weapons, and opposing militias are battling for control of its cities and oil wealth. |
Libya has two rival governments and parliaments, those recognised by the international community sitting in the far east of the country and the others with ties to Islamists in the capital Tripoli. |
Donations to the Wounded Warrior Project veterans' charity plummeted in the second half of the 2016 fiscal year, down $70 million, according to newly released financial records. The drop reflects a charity in crisis after last year's uproar that led to the ouster of the top two executives. |
But Chief Executive Officer Mike Linnington says the sharp decline in donor confidence has leveled out. WWP has a long, slow recovery ahead, he said, but it is no longer in freefall. |
"We have turned the corner, and donations over the last six months have exceeded the goal we set for ourselves," Linnington told Stars and Stripes, declining to release figures from the last seven months. Without the 2017 figures, it's difficult to assess the fiscal health of the charity. |
Linnington took the helm at WWP in August, six months after CBS News and The New York Times came out with reports that found lavish spending and a toxic organizational culture. The charity -- founded after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- had been growing exponentially for years and offered a myriad of programs... |
That assessment was later debunked by a forensic accounting of WWP's finances, an independent examination by an expert on nonprofits and an investigation by the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance. But with donations in a tailspin over spending perceptions in March 2016, the board fired CEO Steve Nardizzi and... |
Linnington came in last summer promising to right the ship and quickly announced a reorganization, cutting 85 of 600 employees and trimming excesses in event spending. The charity also cut a few programs and closed facilities in areas with smaller veterans' populations. |
The goal was to "cut deep, cut once, then restore whatever confidence was lost to quickly build programs," he said. |
"It was a tough time," Linnington said. "I get a little emotional just thinking about it. Folks were very uncertain." |
WWP's tax forms from fiscal 2016 reveal just how quickly the spigot stopped. |
Revenue fell $77 million, from $398.9 million in 2015 to $321.8 million -- a 19 percent decline in line with what leaders at WWP predicted. Donations during that period dropped nearly $70 million, from $372.6 million to $302.7 million. |
According to its Form 990 filing for charities, WWP spent $213 million on programming in 2016, a drop of $49.4 million from the prior year. |
The biggest cut to expenses was a $48 million decrease in grants to a trust for members of its Independence Program. With over 600 warriors enrolled, the Independence Program serves those with severe traumatic brain injury, spinal injury or other severely disabling permanent injuries, enabling them to receive needed se... |
The trust, which serves 278 veterans, ensures that they can remain at home even after their caregiver dies. Not funding the trust could harm the long-term viability of that effort, but did not impact anyone enrolled, WWP Chief Financial Officer Eric Miller said. |
Other cuts involved closing a transition training academy that Linnington said was having good impact but was only available in two locations, and tightening expenditures on alumni programs like Soldier Ride, a signature event in which wounded veterans cycle across the country and visit with the president at the White ... |
As the organization moved into fiscal 2017 in October, Linnington said it was not clear how deep the losses would go. They budgeted based on their assessments. WWP would not release its budget for 2017, but Linnington said donations are up and have surpassed their expectations. Support is now consistent, he said, and t... |
That's not to say Wounded Warrior Project is out of the woods. Linnington said it will take several years to get back to the $400 million in donations that the organization reported two years ago. |
After Nardizzi and Giordano were ousted, they strongly defended their spending methodology, arguing that they were pouring money into mass mailings and TV ads because the returns were huge. Donations were climbing year over year, and that was reflected in more programs and expanding reach. |
But the optics were a problem. WWP appeared to be spending lavishly on events for warriors and for staff -- something that didn't sit well with donors who wanted to see the value squeezed out of their dollar. The organization came under fire for spending only 74 percent on programming. |
In recent months, the BBB report cleared the organization of any wrongdoing and Charity Navigator and GuideStar raised its rating. |
The newly released financial documents show that WWP continued to invest in fundraising. In fiscal 2016, spending on programming dropped to 70 percent, down over 4 percent from the prior year, while fundraising increased 2 percent to 23 percent. |
"We know that at the end of the day, if you want to have the impact we want to have, you have to spend money to raise money," Linnington said. "If we didn't spend money on direct mailing and direct solicitation, we would be a $50 million organization. To be the one that has the biggest impact and support others, we hav... |
The allegations that led to the crisis were "either grossly exaggerated or incorrect," he said, although the organization learned some lessons about optics. |
WWP is now spending less on alumni activities, he said, by running them more humbly. It is partnering more with veterans organizations like Team Rubicon, Mission Continues and Team Red White and Blue to reduce engagement expenses. |
The crisis, he said, has forced everyone to devise ways "to do things better." |
Without a release of the 2017 figures, it's difficult to assess the fiscal health of the charity. But Linnington insists that WWP is on the mend. |
It just advertised to fill 50 new positions, Linnington said, and more than 2,000 people applied. |
Oct. 28, 2016, 12:29 a.m. |
TV syncs and organises subscriptions across multiple VOD platforms into a single app. |
Apple has unveiled a new app for Apple TV named- TV. The app sits in the Apple TV app library. |
The app lets you organise and consume your video content conveniently across multiple platforms. |
You can browse through TV content from multiple platform, be it from Netflix, HBO Now and others. |
You get the ‘Up Next’ section which shows you recently viewed episodes as well as the next episode to be seen from a specific show. |
You also get a store built right into the TV app where users can sign up and purchase or subscribe to different shows using the iTunes Store. This app is synced with the Apple account and will reflect with all the devices using the same account, be it on the iPad, Apple TV or even the iPhone. |
The app also uses Siri to search for content. You could ask Siri to look for Football matches on that day, and the app will show you schedule for all the Football matches highlighting the ones live right now. |
Apple TV getting a slight overhaul in terms of the applications. Minecraft is coming to Apple TV. Twitter is also available for TvOS. Moreover Twitter will be broadcasting NFL Games live on Apple TV. Also, Twitter has integrated its elements on Apple TV to deliver a more intuitive viewing experience. |
The viewer can get live responses on the live video content, from the user’s profile. This can be though people’s tweets as well as Periscopes. |
The all-new TV app will be available as a free update starting December 2016 in the US and will be compatible with Apple TV, iPad and iPhone. |
Sure, you may have lost interest in the seemingly endless procession of Halo 3 repaints, but have others? Nunh unh. They're still buyin' 'em, so McFarlane will keep sellin' em. These five figures - two Elites, a Brute Stalker and two Spartans - are the latest to roll off the factory line, and will be available only at ... |
Sadie Robertson recently had to switch partners on Dancing with the Stars, and the Duck Dynasty heiress seems thrilled to trade in Mark Ballas for Derek Hough this week. |
A new rule on the popular dancing series calls for partners to switch mid-season. |
There have been reports that the high school student was a little nervous while waiting to find out who her temporary Dancing with the Stars partner would be. Apparently, there was one pro she really didn’t want to be paired with — Val Chmerkovskiy. |
According to Wetpaint, the fan favorite said she was “intimidated” by Val. She shared her thoughts on the dancing pro during an episode of The Badie Show, a YouTube documentary she created with fellow competitor Bethany Mota to share their DWTS experience. |
Thanks for putting us together America we are having fun in Louisiana … Ps I got @derekhough to do #thequackpack move todaymissing @bethanynoelm & @markballas though! |
Chmerkovskiy has been paired with Pretty Little Liars star Janel Parrish, but he’ll dance with Back to the Future star Lea Thompson during the big switcharoo. |
Derek, a five-time Mirror Ball Trophy champion, has been staying with the Duck Dynasty clan in Louisiana, and he and Sadie are having a great time riding four-wheelers and getting in some shooting practice in between their practice sessions. |
In December 1989, a childhood friend and neighbor from Haifa posed a riddle to me that she had heard from her Bucharest-born mother. |
“What’s the fastest way to get a nine-foot crocodile?” Alegra asked me that year, when we were both 8 years old. |
The riddle was a political joke about rampant corruption under Romania’s communist dictator, whose lavish lifestyle ended that month in an execution and bloody revolution that served as the opening shot for the disintegration of the Soviet Empire. But in our childish minds, it was the recipe for the most awesome pet ev... |
We never did find Ceausescu’s magical palace (the telephone company’s information desk operator proved uncooperative), but that quest left me expecting splendor when a taxi brought me, 25 years later, to an interview with Romanian President Traian Basescu at his office in Cotroceni Palace — Ceausescu’s former guesthous... |
Waiting to speak with the president ahead of his visit to Israel this week, I experienced another disillusionment. The entrance was a humble, green metal door leading to a frugal complex whose simple design betrayed its original function — a monastery. As for Basescu, his down-to-earth and friendly style was the antith... |
He spoke about his childhood friends in Israel (a doctor, an electrician and an actress who recently passed away) and I found myself telling him my own memories from that winter of 1989, when it seemed like the whole of Israel was glued to the television screen for news from Romania. |
That’s not surprising considering that hundreds of protesters died in that historically significant revolution (and the fact that most Israelis had 1.5 channels to chose from). But for some 500,000 Romanian-speaking Israelis, including Alegra’s parents, the news was also personal. That personal connection, Basesecu sai... |
In Bucharest, Ceausescu’s name and shadow loom large this week — the revolution’s 25th anniversary — with constant reruns of footage from his ousting and execution. On Revolution Square, a heap of fresh wreaths stands shrouded in smoggy mist on the very spot where riots broke out on Dec. 21. |
When I mention the tyrant’s name, Basescu chuckles and grimaces as if to say: “Here we go again.” He had served under Ceausescu as the Romanian merchant fleet’s chief envoy to Antwerp — a position that required high-security clearance and a nod from the dictator’s dreaded Securitate secret police. Basescu has said that... |
But he relaxes when he sees that my question is not about his history but rather the Ceausescu regime’s role in brokering peace between Israel and Arab leaders. |
Ceausescu, in addition to being a corrupt despot, was also one of the Eastern Bloc’s most friendly leaders toward Israel. Steering his own course independent of Moscow’s anti-Israel line, Ceausescu helped facilitate the peace deal between Israel and Egypt and even hosted Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in Buchare... |
At the same time, Ceausescu cultivated strong pro-Palestinian and pro-Arab credentials. Under him, Romania pursued an intimate relationship and military cooperation with Arab regimes — relations that benefited the country’s burgeoning plastics and oil refining industries. Ceausescu was a strong supporter of recognizing... |
To this day, Romania has strong ties both in the Arab world and with Israel, Basescu confirms. But he interrupts me to note that his country took “a step back” from its support for Palestinian unilateral actions — a reference to Romania’s abstention at the U.N. vote in 2011 on upgrading the Palestinian Authority’s stat... |
As for resuming Ceausescu’s attempts to go down in history as a peacemaker, Basescu seems reluctant to pick up where Ceausescu left off. |
‘Toughest challenge yet’: Tim Cahill.. |
Australia’s all-time leading goal scorer Tim Cahill says the Socceroos face one of their toughest challenges yet as they get ready to travel to Honduras for the next round of the World Cup qualifiers. |
The star forward, still reeling from Wednesday’s unforgettable win over Syria, says it was a team effort. |
Cahill scored two goals to clinch the dramatic win and rescued Australia’s hopes of qualifying for a fourth World Cup in Russia. |
But he told Ross and John the Socceroos would have their work cut out for them. |
“We found out yesterday about Hondorus, and the shock of America not qualifying, now it’s getting the logistics in place,” he said. |
Cahill also reached a milestone he could only dream of – fifty goals for Australia. |
“Every time you get the chance to put on a jersey – it’s an absolute privilege,” he said. |
In a nod to coach Ange Postecoglou, who yesterday announced he would step down in November as coach even if the team qualify for the World Cup, Cahill says the team has some notable achievements. |
There also will be historic drinks; eggnog, wassail, and other popular beverages consumed as far back as the 1800s. Every 20 minutes, new holiday songs, activities, and beverages are unveiled to represent a new decade of seasonal celebrations. |
1. How did poinsettias get their name? |
2. Why are poinsettias tied to South Carolina? |
3. What was the first state to declare Christmas a legal holiday? |
4. What was the last state to declare Christmas a legal holiday? |
5. True or False: “Jingle Bells” wasn’t originally written to celebrate Christmas. |
6. What is the top-selling Christmas song of all time? |
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