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"DHS plans to spend billions of dollars developing and deploying new barriers along the southwest border," the study said. "However, by proceeding without key information on cost, acquisition baselines, and the contributions of previous barrier and technology deployments, DHS faces an increased risk that the Border Wall System Program will cost more than projected, take longer than planned, or not fully perform as expected."
A spokeswoman for DHS said the risks, threats and costs were taken into account during "initial prioritization" for developing barriers.
"After years of investment in a border wall system, we experienced a roughly 90 percent reduction in apprehensions in the San Diego, El Paso and Yuma sectors," she said.
Steven Emerson is usually an American author who allows himself to be called "a leading authority on Islamic extremist networks." Emerson was on Judge Jeanine's show to sound the alarm of how England is becoming more Muslim, and that's when the magic happened. In his best teenage girl impression, Emerson called Birmingham, England -- the UK's second largest city -- "totally Muslim."
Steven Emerson is an American author who allows himself to be called “a leading authority on Islamic extremist networks” (according to his website).
When you have a salty title like that, you like to get out and discuss said networks from time-to-time, usually in exchange for currency and/or exposure. Emerson’s latest sojourn landed him at the desk of another TV judge gone network talking head: Jeanine Pirro.
Emerson was on Judge Jeanine’s show to sound the alarm about how England is becoming more Muslim, and that’s when the magic happened. In his best teenage girl impression, Emerson called Birmingham, England — the UK’s second largest city — “totally Muslim.” He was completely wrong and later ate a generous helping of crow, but not before social media responded by calling him an idiot.
The problem is that Emerson landed just a bit outside reality with his claim: according to the 2011 Census, 46 percent of Birmingham residents identify as Christian while only 22 percent call themselves Muslim. More than 1 million people live in Birmingham, and only 220,000 of them following the teachings of Islam.
A British Parliament member defended his reference to a “Jewish lobby” during a House of Commons debate on a symbolic motion to recognize Palestine statehood.
On Tuesday, Andrew Bridgen of the Conservative Party stood by his statement during discussion of the motion a day earlier that “the political system of the world’s superpower and our great ally the United States is very susceptible to well-funded powerful lobbying groups and the power of the Jewish lobby in America,” Britain’s Jewish News reported. The motion passed by a vote of 274 to 12.
“I had the pleasure of visiting the U.S. Congress and the Senate in the summer. I met with many congressmen and senators of both parties, and it was alleged to me that no American politician would be remotely critical publicly of anything Israel does because as they put it, if they do, their opponents in the elections or in the primaries would have millions of dollars dropped into their campaign fund, without even asking, to get rid of them,” Bridgen said.
The vote to recognize Palestinian statehood is nonbinding and thus has no impact on government policy.
This story "British Lawmaker Defends 'Jewish Lobby' Remark in Palestine State Debate" was written by JTA.
CHERRIES will find out whether they will be allowed to keep defender Martin Cranie for another month this weekend.
The versatile Southampton youngster, who impressed in Saturday's defeat at Hartlepool, completed his one-month loan spell with an assured display in the absence of the injured Warren Cummings.
Cummings' hamstring injury is improving quicker than expected giving him an outside chance of making the FA Cup clash with Carlisle on Saturday.
But with Shaun Maher also suffering a heavy cold, manager Sean O'Driscoll's defensive options are perilously thin on the ground.
The Cherries boss has been in contact with his Southampton counterpart Steve Wigley and assistant Denis Rofe about the prospect of keeping the England under-19 skipper for at least another month.
But the St Mary's club are still not prepared to let him become cup-tied so will make a decision on his immediate future after Cherries' clash with Carlisle in the FA Cup second round at Dean Court.
Cranie may even be drafted into the Southampton squad which travels to Old Trafford for their Premiership encounter with Manchester United the same day.
O'Driscoll told the Daily Echo: "Martin cannot play in the FA Cup so he will be involved with them on Saturday.
"He has done well for us and we are keen to have him for another month but they have said they will consider our request after the weekend. We are hopeful he may be back."
Although Cranie's immediate future is still to be resolved there was at least some good news about Cummings whose minor hamstring tear saw him substituted in the replay win over Forest Green Rovers last week.
O'Driscoll said: "Warren is coming on well. He is running again so there is an outside chance of him playing on Saturday. Whether we want to risk him though is another matter.
"If Warren isn't fit enough we could change the system if we need to because some of the players may be more comfortable doing that than a major reshuffle - but we will see who we have available."
The Cherries boss also revealed that the club are waiting to hear from Arsenal to discuss John Spicer's future. Neither O'Driscoll nor chairman Peter Phillips have been able to contact Highbury vice-chairman David Dein about the possibility of keeping the midfielder either for a season-long loan or even a permanent deal.
O'Driscoll said: "That is ongoing. It is difficult to get hold of people in the know at Arsenal. David Dein has been in Dubai all week with other priorities but he is aware of the situation and so are John and his representatives."
Your story, “Shoppers don’t want a stop to big retail", Mint, 13 December, shows what consumers prefer. What any government should be encouraging is a low-cost and efficient retail system, which keeps the consumer’s interest uppermost, and not bother who provides it. The small retailer has his own strengths. Both small and big retail must supplement and complement each other, giving a consumer choice to go to wherever he is best served. Estimates vary, but it is a well-known fact that more than 50% of fruits and vegetables in India are spoiled due to lack of proper storage. It is the consumer who eventually has to pay for such wastage. With fierce competition among big retail chains, only the efficient and cost-effective will survive—be they big or small.
This refers to your stories on how organized retail is eating into the business of small shopkeepers. This is an alarming situation and can get uglier if it is not checked in this initial stage. The term “alarming" is used here, instead of “dangerous", because we still have time to control it.
If big trading houses enter retailing and start to slowly kill small-time traders, all the wealth is bound to accumulate with the already wealthy corporate houses.
The distribution of wealth shall get more unequal, as the rich get richer and the poor poorer.
Another side effect of this process is unemployment, which will occur if small traders are forced out of business. And when this happens, the big players shall start dictating terms to suppliers and customers to maximize profits by increasing the prices of essential commodities as there shall be no competition to their ruthless trading tactics. Large companies should, instead of climbing up the trade and retail ladder, focus on turnkey projects and creating mass employment through industrial growth.
I don’t mean to offend or criticize any section of society and am concerned with the long-term prosperity of India.
Before you publish the survey results about what a thousand consumers said about big retail, let me tell you that I am one tax-paying customer who does not mourn the passing away of small shops and welcome the big, organized retail chains. I have been cheated, bullied and held to ransom by small shops for long.
They never sold at MRP (maximum retail price); in fact, often the MRP was not written on the goods. They never allowed me to return goods, they never accepted responsibility for defective goods.
Big retail gives me a pleasant experience, gives me the right to return goods I do not want and, above all, big retail pays taxes.
Small shops pay no taxes, issue no receipts. In fact, I wonder how many small shops are even registered under the departments of sales tax in various states. Many of them encroach on open and public space and do not pay the fair share of revenue and taxes.
They get away by bribing the authorities.
A prime example is a store right outside Mumbai’s Churchgate station. This shop set up a small “monsoon shelter" years ago, which morphed into a pucca structure and now occupies a large part of open area and pays no property taxes on the area it occupies.
Small shops also sell spurious or counterfeit products and the so-called “grey market" operates via these small shops.
So, if small shops want my sympathy, let them stick to their officially sanctioned areas, pay all their taxes, including value added tax, sales tax and the right property taxes, and then maybe I will buy from them and support their cause against big, organized retail.
Experiences in Genie in a Headset are unlocked after a series of tasks such as meditation exercises.
“It’s so amazing and it’s so wonderful how things happen exactly when you need them to,” says Jackie Carroll, founder of Genie in a Headset (GIAH), a visualisation tool which marries the practice of visualisation with the technology of virtual reality (VR).
“One of the things that coaches and mentors say to people is you have to visualise your perfect day, your perfect outcome, essentially – what does that look like? That was one thing that I really struggled with. I could daydream, which is like visualising, but when you really need to get crystal clear on all the deals I found it really hard and I thought to myself: ‘I obviously am not the only person that struggles,’” she says.
This eureka moment led to the concept of Genie in a Headset, software that is used through a VR headset enabling the user to clearly see and feel the situation that they want experience in.
Experiences will be unlocked after a series of tasks such as meditation exercises. Future versions of the software will allow the user to customise the experiences to what their own “perfect day” or “perfect life” would look like.
Carroll is very clear on one thing, the ethos behind her product, which is something she has maintained since her mother sadly passed away from ovarian cancer 20 years ago. A late diagnosis meant it was a short-lived illness and she was gone within a month.
“I want to give people hope and direction in their life and where this comes from was my Mum. She was like a honey pot, the bees always used to fly around her, she made people feel so amazing. She was always like an agony aunt. It was really sad because she died really unhappy. For somebody who had given so much happiness and joy to other people it was just really sad to see her die having lost that happiness and having lost hope and the dreams.
Being the only self-development company in the VR space at last year’s Web Summit opened up a lot of conversations with potential investors and tech specialists looking to join the growing team of five. It also gave GIAH a chance to hone in on its target market.
“I got first-round investment last year, which was a small enough investment for me to start up the company, pay the legal costs, do the branding, market research and market validation, and a very basic prototype. I knew that when I was looking to raise money that would be the first step and once I got to basic prototype it then took me to the Web Summit.
Seeking second-round funding is taking GIAH to pitch even further a field, at the Founders Games as part of Webit Festival Europe in Sofia, Bulgaria in May. With the latest market research proving that GIAH is a more valuable commodity if the licence is sold B2B, not only selling the product directly to the consumer, the company has finally set itself on the right track to tap into the double-digit billion-dollar industry.
You’d be forgiven for thinking with such a positive outlook on life, and business, that Carroll herself has always had the “perfect” experience she wishes for her customers but GIAH is being built on experiences from the past. Once having tasted success in the property market in Ireland and Abu Dhabi, she lost everything in a bad investment in South Africa just as the bubble burst. Carroll knows what it feels like to fail, giving her the tools to learn fast and grow.
Did Bunksy leave this street art on Southport road?
A furry unusual street artist has been leaving his tag on a Southport street - to make sure children can enjoy an egg-stra special day out this weekend, with the chance of winning an Easter hamper.
These paw marks were left on the road on Wesley Street in Southport town centre yesterday.
“We think he goes by the name Bunksy possibly taking inspiration from Banksy?
“From tomorrow (Saturday) there will be a trail to find the Bunnies!
“Take a stroll down our colourful street and you may find famous bunnies in some of the shop windows.
“Find all 12 names and post worksheets in the red dotty post box!
“Worksheets will be at the Tulketh Street end of the road.
“A winner of our competition will be selected by Saturday April 2 telephone.
The gig: Elizabeth Echols, 56, is director of the state Office of Ratepayer Advocates, the agency that represents consumers before the California Public Utilities Commission. She oversees 147 engineers, economists and financial experts who work for low utility rates for consumers. The Boston native who grew up in Berkeley was confirmed to the post March 13.
Heroes: Echols is nothing if not passionate about the causes she pursues. Her mother, Jean Echols, an artist and educator in Berkeley, was her first inspiration. Observing her mother's enduring focus on helping children served as an example. Then she found heroes in Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. "The reason for that is just their commitment and sacrifice for the goal of equality and equal opportunity. Both of them were prepared to die for the cause."
Elite education: After graduating from Berkeley High School, Echols attended Yale University, from which she graduated in 1982 with a degree in economics and political science. "I had decided at a very young age that I wanted to go back East," Echols said. But she eventually returned to the West Coast to earn her law degree from Stanford University in 1989.
Down under: For many years, Echols was never one to stay put too long. She loves to travel. That love carried her to Australia for a year on a Rotary Foundation Fellowship to study economics after Yale. She once took a train for three days from city to city. "Taking the train across Australia sounds boring, but it was fascinating. Crossing the desert for three days, it was beautiful because you just see the different times of day … all the little tiny towns."
Internet regulation: Echols joined the Clinton administration about four years after working for a private sector law firm in Washington, D.C. She first served in the Commerce Department and later at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which developed Internet policies under the direction of Vice President Al Gore, who popularized the term "information superhighway."
"We were working on what types of laws and regulations were needed for this new thing," Echols said of the period. She said Gore, an early critic of the digital divide, told them: "Let's not overregulate it. Let's encourage it to grow." She eventually joined Gore in the White House.
Bridging the divide: After working in the Clinton administration on digital issues, Echols moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area for nonprofit work that focused on teaching low-income consumers, women and people of color about Web design and programming. She described it as some of her most rewarding work.
As Google talked of organizing the world's information and making it accessible to everyone, she decided to join the Silicon Valley giant. She again connected with Gore, who at the time was talking about renewable energy and energy efficiency. That became her new focus. "I was there listening to him in the audience, and I said, 'I really need to turn my time and talent to that,'" she said.
A new day: With the hope and change touted by the Obama administration, Echols returned to work for the federal government, this time as the U.S. Small Business Administration administrator for Western states. "That was all about creating economic opportunity," Echols said. Eventually, the politics bug bit her and she made an unsuccessful run for the California Assembly to represent Berkeley, Oakland and other East Bay cities.
What's next: As it has been through much of her career, Echols' goal now is to ensure all people have equal access to services. "Now it's access to essential services, whether water or electricity," she said. "The thread that runs through all of these different pieces of my career — for me it's about creating opportunity and access for people, and particularly our underserved communities."
Echols knows the challenges of making ends meet first hand. She was one of four children raised by a mother who earned only a modest income as an artist. It's something she keeps in the forefront of her mind as she works to defend consumers against rate increases by utilities. "I learned growing up the value of a dollar," Echols said. "It's a dollar. It's important."
Personal: Echols lives in Berkeley with her husband of 12 years, Parviz Boozarpour. They have a 3-year-old daughter, Theresa. "She's a riot," Echols said. "I like to hike. I like to camp. I actually met my husband on a Sierra Club hike." Though they don't travel as much with a young child, it remains one of her passions. "There's so much to see and learn about other cultures," she said.
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While Google has published Street View imagery for an amazing collection of countries around the world, one they’ve never covered before is Greece. That is set to change, potentially tomorrow (June 5).
Thanks to a tip from GEB reader ‘Konstantinos’, we’ve learned that Google has invited select people to an event announcing the new imagery, where presumably details will be revealed and the imagery will be pushed live.
The story of Street View in Greece goes back for years. Street View cars first appeared in Athens in April of 2009 but the Greek Data Regulator rejected Google’s license application, demanding from Google more details. Four years letter (November 2013), they finally announced that they received all the necessary details from Google and they gave the final OK, with the license plates and faces to be erased from the maps.
You can read more on the Greek blog Insomnia (read it translated into English) to learn more.
Thanks for the tip, Konstantios!
At last! I’ve been waiting for years for this!
I am wating now Argentina !!!!!!!!! Street View!!!!!!!
Street View for Greece is now in Earth, at least when browsed from the UK. It looks good, and coverage of the mainland and Crete is extensive, though understandably sparser in rural and mountain areas, but there is little or nothing on the other islands.
They need to cover Central America. Was waiting for Greece a long time, I believe all of Europe is street viewed now.
The whole of Europe is not in Street View.
Among countries not covered are: Albania, Austria (in progress), Belarus, Bosnia, Cyprus, Luxembourg (in progress), Macedonia, Malta, Serbia, Moldova, and Turkey (part in Europe) for reasons which are usually self-evident. There is partial coverage of Germany (certain large cities only), Russia, Switzerland, and Ukraine. Some islands like Guernsey remain to be covered, and some countries such as France have main road coverage only in some rural areas, like the Google cars ran out of time.
What about Street View for Cyprus? When we will be able to see it?
#1 Superman fans, here is a keychain to safeguard your keys!
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#3 Are you a serious Hulk fan? This incredibly cool Hulk fist keychain is just for you!
#6 For those who are obsessed with Game of Thrones!
#7 Eagles do not mix with other birds and love to fly at higher altitudes. This keychain is for people who have similar characteristics.
THE terrorist bombing in Oklahoma City has breathed new life into proposals designed to make it easier for the police to eavesdrop on electronic communications.
Civil liberties groups have been fighting against the proposals for years, and succeeded in slowing them down. But increased fear of terrorism following last month’s bombing prompted President Clinton to throw his support behind the measures. The Senate Judiciary Committee, responding to the bombing, has begun hearings on the need for changes in the laws.
“A lot of civil liberties and industry groups are opposed. But President Clinton linked the proposal to his overall antiterrorism strategy. Yes, we’re concerned about this,” says Mike Godwin, a lawyer who works for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which lobbies for the right to electronic privacy.
In the legislative package proposed last week, Clinton urged Congress to approve funding for the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994, better known as the wiretap law. The law, which was passed last year, requires telephone companies to design their communications systems so that law enforcement agencies can carry on tapping phone calls and breaking into other forms of communication. Agents complain that the increased use of fibre optics, new computers, and cellular phones have made eavesdropping too hard.
Opponents of the wiretap law claim that the government overstepped its power when it introduced this legislation. But while they failed to stop the law with arguments about civil liberties, the budget cutters in Congress succeeded by refusing to approve the $500 million promised to phone companies to make the technological changes to allow eavesdropping.