Split (1)

train · 2.6M rows

text stringlengths 12 27.8k
What Gosar describes as a “commonsense bill” would require federal candidates who accept political donations by credit card to verify the donor’s identity by obtaining the credit card verification code (the three- or four-digit number that most commercial vendors already insist on having with a purchase), as well as the card’s billing address.
Because that information currently is not required, “it leaves the door wide open” to violations of campaign law, including illegal contributions from foreign donors, according to John Pudner, a former Republican political consultant whose last gig was managing the Brat campaign that unseated Cantor. He has since started a conservative campaign finance reform group called Take Back Our Republic.
At a forum this summer sponsored by Federal Election Commissioner Ellen Weintraub, Pudner described a scenario that would enable donors to violate both the federal limits on campaign donations and the prohibition on foreign donors by using the same credit card over and over to make contributions under the $200 limit above which the FEC requires names and addresses of the donors.
“If I was an unscrupulous political consultant and didn’t care about foreign law, I’d set up a room full of people, retype over and over the credit card number, $200 a pop,” Pudner said. “That avenue is there and so easy.” Does Pudner actually believe it’s happening? “The longer you have a loophole like this, the more likely it is to be abused,” he said.
Part of the appeal of Gosar’s bill for some Republicans is that it can be cast as a poke at President Barack Obama, whose 2008 and 2012 campaigns pulled in millions in small donations, some from unverified credit cards. Pudner, who says he has spoken with Obama campaign veterans about the measure, doesn’t think the president’s team was trying to violate the law, calling the loophole an “unintended consequence” of Obama’s aggressive fundraising strategy.
This year, Pudner said, both Hillary Clinton’s and Donald Trump’s campaigns are verifying the identities of credit card donors but Bernie Sanders — whose spokesman scoffed at Gosar’s bill as “a solution in search of a problem” — did not. A 2012 report by the conservative Government Accountability Institute found nearly half the members of Congress are not verifying credit card donations.
Longtime campaign finance advocates have pointed out that there are many other ways for illegal foreign contributions to find their ways into the political system, either through the “dark money” groups that, because of their 501(c)4 status, don’t report donors, or legally, through the U.S. subsidiaries of foreign-owned companies.
But Pudner — who says his group gets financial backing from both conservative activists and foundations, such as the Stuart Family Fund, as well as more traditional campaign finance reform funders such as the Rockefeller Brothers and the Democracy Fund — argues that the Gosar measure represents an important first step to recognizing that, as he said at the FEC forum, “there’s real grounds for agreement” between conservatives and liberals on some campaign finance reform measures.
Though Gosar hardly sounds ready to jump aboard the get-big-money-out-of-politics bandwagon (“a well-educated electorate is very important,” he said), the congressman doesn’t disagree.
The Chairman of the Church of Pentecost, Apostle Eric Nyamekye, has pledged the church’s continuous partnership with the government to contribute meaningfully to the socio-economic development of the nation.
Apostle Nyamekye made the pledge last Saturday, August 25, 2018 at his induction service which was held at the Pentecost International Worship Centre (PIWC) at Atomic in Accra.
He was inducted together with the incoming General Secretary, Apostle Alexander Nana Yaw Kumi-Larbi, and four other Executive Council members, Apostle Azabre Patinde Ousmane, Dr Daniel Okyere Walker, Prophet David Kwasi Kankam Beditor and Apostle Samuel Yaw Antwi.
“Building on a solid foundation, in the next five years, we shall focus on the overarching theme: ‘Possessing The Nations’. In this direction, we shall concentrate on equipping the church to transform every sphere of society with the plannings of the principles of the kingdom of God,” he said.
“I believe that the destiny of our nation lies in the hand of the churches. The size of our church and the resources we have been blessed with should become the means by which we take all nations and influence them through values and principles of the kingdom of God. In doing this as a church, we shall continue to partner with the government at all levels in order to contribute towards the nation’s socio-economic development as we have always done. We shall seek to double our efforts in this regard,” he stressed.
Delivering the sermon on the topic: “Acknowledging The Glorified Jesus,” the immediate past Chairman, Apostle Prof. Opoku Onyinah, urged the church to collaborate with his successor for the benefit of the church.
The ceremony brought together many dignitaries, including the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei Owusu; the Paramount Chief of Asokore-Ashanti and member of the National Peace Council, Nana Dr Susubribi Krobea Asante; Dr Joyce Aryee of the Salt and Light Ministries, Reverend Charles Agyin Asare, Perez Chapel International, and Reverend Clement Acheba, Fountain Gate Chapel.
The rest were Apostle Jude Hama, Scripture Union of Ghana; Dr David Daniels, McCormick, and Dr Eric Williams both of McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, USA; Reverend Lionel and Mrs Ruth Currie, Elim Pentecostal, UK; Apostle Traore Sidiki, Cote d’Ivoire, and Prof. Alan Anderson, Mission and Religion, University of Birmingham.
Last May, the Church of Pentecost elected Apostle Eric Nyamekye as the new chairman to lead it for the next five years.
He replaces Apostle Prof. Onyinah who has served as the chairman for 10 years and retires in August.
Apostle Nyamekye is the sixth National Chairman of the Church.
Apostle Eric Kwabena Nyamekye holds a diploma in Human Resource Management from the Institute of Commercial Management, UK, a post-graduate Diploma in Applied Theology from the University of Manchester, UK, and a Master of Arts Degree in Religious Studies from the University of Ghana, Legon.
He is currently a PhD student at the Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
He became the Resident Minister of the Atomic branch of the Pentecost International Worship Centre (PIWC) from 2008 to 2011. He was later called into the Office of Apostle and transferred to Tamale as Area Head from 2011 to 2015. Apostle Nyamekye has been the Area Head of Koforidua Area since 2015 when was elected into the Executive Council of The Church of Pentecost.
JERUSALEM (JTA) — With Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu about to establish a new government, early signs of strain in Israel’s relations with Europe are showing.
The main sticking point seems to be the prime minister-designate’s refusal to explicitly reaffirm Israel’s support for the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Widespread popular anger in Europe over Israel’s actions during the recent military operation in Gaza has not helped.
"Let me say very clearly that the way the European Union will relate with a government that is not committed to the two-state solution will be very, very different,” European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana warned after a meeting earlier this month with the Egyptian and Palestinian Authority foreign ministers in Brussels.
But after Tuesday’s dramatic decision by the left-of-center Labor Party to join the Netanyahu government, the two-state issue could become less critical.
Labor leader Ehud Barak insisted that Netanyahu include two key points in the government guidelines: acceptance of all previous international agreements and a commitment to work for full regional peace. Both imply acceptance of the two-state formula.
Indeed, in his first public statement after Labor’s decision to join him, Netanyahu indicated a degree of flexibility. He not only called on the international community to invest in the Palestinian areas, but assured the Palestinians that in Israel they would find a partner for peace.
What actually happens on the Palestinian track could depend on the outcome of infighting in the Netanyahu government between Barak and Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman, who has been named foreign minister. Netanyahu already is talking about appointing the relatively dovish Silvan Shalom as a special roving ambassador — a move that could be construed as a ploy to circumvent the hard-line Lieberman.
Still, Israel is likely to face friction with Europe.
The appointment of the controversial Lieberman has raised a lot of diplomatic eyebrows and drawn persistent criticism from media outlets. In Europe, the media tend to portray Leiberman as a dangerous right-wing rabble-rouser. The French Le Figaro called him an "anti-diplomat"; the Munich-based Suddeutsche Zeitung described his party as "anti-Arab"; and the London Times quoted Lieberman critics who accuse him of being "an anti-Arab racist."
The looming PR problem for Israel stems from the potent mix of Lieberman in the Foreign Ministry and the strongly negative fallout from the Gaza operation in European public opinion.
Fortunately for Israel, there is a huge discrepancy between the way European governments perceived the fighting in Gaza and European public opinion.
In mid-January, the day after Israel declared a cease-fire in Gaza, six European leaders — France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, Germany’s Angela Merkel, Britain’s Gordon Brown, Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, Spain’s Jose Louis Rodriguez Zapatero and the Czech Republic’s Mirik Topolanek — paid an unprecedented solidarity visit to Jerusalem.
They offered troops and technological assistance to prevent Hamas from smuggling new weapons into Gaza, Merkel declared that Israel had a right to live in peace and Sarkozy vowed that Europe would never do anything to harm Israel’s security.
The European governments generally accept the Israeli narrative on the Gaza war: It was legitimate self-defense against an Iranian-backed outpost of anti-Western jihadism. By contrast, the European media and public opinion sympathized more with the Palestinian narrative: that Israel used disproportionate force, causing the deaths of large numbers of innocent civilians.
The question now is, could a combination of fundamentally hostile European public opinion and a recalcitrant Israeli leadership have an effect on European leaders?
Britain offers the first sign. Last week, British officials informed outgoing Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni that their government would not be keeping its promise to change laws that allow private British citizens to arrest visiting Israeli army officers on war crimes charges. In an unofficial message to Livni, British diplomats suggested that because of the harm to Israel’s public image in the wake of the Gaza war, the government would not be able to pass the amendment to the legislation before next year’s scheduled election.
In other words, given the current public climate in Britain, pro-Israeli legislation could cost the governing Labor Party several seats.
As it stands, British law permits private citizens to press charges against anyone for war crimes anywhere. Successive British governments promised a significant amendment: Anyone wishing to press charges first would have to get the approval of the chief prosecutor. Now, in the face of widespread anti-Israel sentiment, the British government seems to be backtracking.
Britain also has taken the lead in Europe in expressing readiness for dialogue with the "political wing" of Hezbollah. Until now, Europe and the United States have boycotted the Lebanon-based Shiite militia group on the grounds that it is a terrorist organization. The British initiative could pave the way for similar dialogue with Hamas and the dropping of the current EU demand that Hamas first recognize Israel.
Most worrying for Israel, however, are moves in Britain to boycott Israeli goods. The British government itself is encouraging the boycott of Israeli goods that originate in the West Bank by insisting that they be labeled "Made in the West Bank." Israeli diplomats in London fear this could spread to a boycott of all Israeli goods.
Israel’s position in Europe is further exacerbated by the presence of large Muslim populations in countries such as Britain, France, Spain and Sweden, where Muslim activists have initiated violent protests.
In France this week, dozens of supporters of the pro-Palestinian Euro-Palestine Party descended on supermarkets in the Paris area and forcibly removed Israeli goods from shelves, calling for a boycott. Last month in Malmo, Sweden, Israel was forced to play a Davis Cup tennis match in an empty stadium because of Muslim threats against Israeli players. And in Spain, Israeli basketball players were harassed.
If relations with European governments decline, Israel stands to lose a great deal.
Last year, in recognition of Israel’s 60th anniversary, ties with Europe were upgraded in several fields, including trade, science, environment, youth, academia, participation in European plans and agencies, and possible full integration into a European single market. Israel also has a strategic dialogue with the EU, participates in European research and development programs, and holds a high-level business dialogue with Europe.
Most important, Europe is Israel’s biggest trading partner, with an annual volume of $36.7 billion in 2007, compared with $33.8 billion in trade with the United States that year.
Clearly concerned about the growing danger of isolation in Europe and elsewhere, outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert took a potshot at Barak for joining the Netanyahu government.
"History will not forgive" anyone who joins a government that leads to Israel’s isolation, Olmert declared. That, however, anticipates an outcome that has yet to be determined.
Only time will tell whether Labor’s decision to join the Netanyahu government complicated Israel’s difficult situation overseas or, on the contrary, helped turn it around.
Aleksander Barkov scored a third-period goal and added the winner in the shootout as the Florida Panthers beat the Rangers, 4-3, at Madison Square Garden on Friday night.
Jaromir Jagr had two assists and passed Gordie Howe for the most points after turning 40, with 269.
Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and an assist, and Jussi Jokinen also scored for Florida. James Reimer made 29 saves for the Panthers, who are trying to stay in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Reimer made his seventh straight start with Roberto Luongo out because of a lower-body injury.
Mats Zuccarello scored two goals, and J. T. Miller also had a goal for the Rangers, who were unable to hold an early 2-0 lead. Brendan Smith added two assists.
Antti Raanta made his fourth consecutive start in place of the injured Henrik Lundqvist and finished with 34 saves.
The Rangers have lost six straight home games (0-5-1) since beating the Washington Capitals, 2-1, on Feb. 19.
With the score tied at 2-2 after two periods, Barkov put the Panthers ahead at 7 minutes 23 seconds of the third. Huberdeau entered the zone and sent a pass to Jagr, who passed to Barkov and scored his 19th goal of the season.
Zuccarello tied the score a little more than four minutes later with his 14th goal of the season at 11:45.
Trailing by 2-0 after the first period, the Panthers tied the score in the second.
Alex Petrovic launched a shot from the point, and Huberdeau swept in the rebound past Raanta at 1:25 for his sixth goal of the season. A little more than five minutes later, the Panthers took advantage on the power play. Jokinen made a pass to Jason Demers, who sent a pass to Thomas Vanek. He sent a cross-ice pass to Jokinen, who shot into a wide-open net to make the score 2-2 at 6:41.
The Rangers took an early lead with two goals in a 97-second span in the first period.
Michael Grabner used his speed on a scoring chance and drew a hooking penalty. With the Rangers on the power play, Chris Kreider skated up the left wing and centered a pass to Zuccarello, who one-timed it past Reimer at 2:34 for his 13th goal.
Smith then forced a turnover and passed the puck to Miller, who wristed a shot past Reimer from the face-off circle at 4:11 for his 20th.
Reimer allowed two goals on his first three shots. He rebounded later in the period to make a nice glove save on Derek Stepan to keep the game at a two-goal deficit.
MANCHESTER City are plotting a world record-breaking transfer move for German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
City boss Manuel Pellegrini feels his side can secure Neuer – seen as the best keeper in world football.
City owners would have to part with a minimum of £40million to secure the 6ft 4in Bayern Munich star. Insiders say he will be offered a weekly wage of £105,000, which would make him the highest-paid stopper in football. It is likely City will make their move in the next 12 months as Neuer, 28, will be examining his deal with Bayern.
The move would be a blow to England No.1 Joe Hart, who has had a turbulent few months between the sticks. He had hoped that he could secure a long-term spot for City.
Meanwhile Pellegrini has confirmed that Hart WILL be in goal for the Champions League trip to Bayern Munich on Tuesday.
She often gets rude messages about her sculptures of deformed babies and innards, but artist Lim Qixuan says she enjoys reading the comments about her art pieces.
Artist Lim Qixuan may have a 107,000-strong following on Instagram and heaps of praise from fans all over the world, but she regularly gets comments like the above, from people reviled by her work.
Lim, who goes by the online moniker Qimmyshimmy, has made a name for herself fashioning baby heads, organs, eyeballs and other body parts out of clay, and placing them in everyday objects such as sweet wrappers, gumball machines, pies and sardines cans. The juxtaposition of deformity and decapitation against the mundane in a signature pastel-pink hue is meant to provoke a reaction.
The 27-year-old told Channel NewsAsia she “would rather people really love it or really hate it” than create forgettable works.
"I get a lot of very, very rude comments about my work, but it’s okay. It’s fine with me because when I create my art, I don't really make it to please anyone," she said. “I enjoy reading comments ... just because. I don’t get offended when people don't like my art. I think that's one of the reasons why I don't really get that affected when people don't like it or like it.
As she spoke her fingers moved deftly, pinching and pulling till a nose materialised on a cherubic face which she laid down on a plate.
The self-described “accidental sculptor” first began creating oven-baked clay sculptures six years ago on the advice of her mentor from Noise Singapore – a youth arts platform organised by the National Arts Council.
It challenged the graphic designer to step out of her comfort zone and to start experimenting with sculptures of futuristic animals. She moved to her current aesthetic, inspired by the sight of discarded pistachio shells one Chinese New Year and imagining baby heads cocooned in them.
Qimmyshimmy’s pieces command between €800 (S$1,400) to €1,200 (S$2,100) but she doesn’t sell her art to everyone – only to people who understand and appreciate her work, she said.
“I do not want them to become some sort of mass-manufactured item. That’s not how I see my art practice to be, even though that may help my work last longer and also make it more collectable,” Lim stated.
Aside from Singapore, her work has gone on show in places like New York, Melbourne, Milan, Prague and recently, London.
Having just completed a two-year masters programme in information design in the Netherlands, Lim returned to Singapore, but not without a lot of deliberation.
The attitudes and slower pace of life in the Netherlands spoke to her as a creative professional.
"Whether you're a designer or an artist, or some kind of cyborg or scientist, they're not so quick in wanting to place you in a box and put a label on you.
"So in a way, it opens a lot of doors for hybrid roles and quirkier creations. And there isn't much pressure to be able to explain your art completely," she said.
Still, she decided to stick with design in Singapore, with art on the side.
Lim’s biggest fans of her art might be her parents, although it took them some getting used to.
“When I started to sculpt things that looked a little bit creepy or a little bit scary, they were a little hesitant about what I was doing and questioned what I was making. My dad sometimes outright tells me, ‘Don’t do such scary things!’” she said.
She also once alarmed her mother accidentally by forgetting to remove some babies’ heads that had been baking in the kitchen oven. Uncomfortable as they are, they make the effort to attend all her show openings, she said.
When Hippo Campus pick up the phone to Clash the band are somewhere in Belgium, their tour van racing from show to show.
It’s a helter skelter existence, but the Minnesota four-piece wouldn’t have it any other way – building a fan-base gig by electrifying gig, their second album ‘Bambi’ landed at the end of last year, and it surpassed even their wildest expectations.
That innate connection between band and fans has been there right from the start – Clash caught Hippo Campus at London’s Dingwalls venue some time back, and despite it being one of their first shows in the capital the sweat-drenched atmosphere was remarkable.
New album ‘Bambi’ emerged at the end of last year, a terrific return that saw the four-piece step beyond the confines of their debut. Garnering their own equipment, each musician was able to pursue their own ideas, before returning to the fold – a neat balance between individual passions and the requirements of the group.
Throwing themselves into the touring schedule, Hippo Campus’ unrelenting work ethic has literally taken them around the world. Developing their own routines within this, the band recently bought an array of Nintendo Switch consoles, while their reading lists have gone through the roof: Zach for example has just devoured fantasy novel Name Of The Wind, while Nathan has finished Norwegian Wood by Murakami.
When on tour in the States the band expand their merch table, throwing their weight behind progressive causes and selling limited edition tees to raise money for charity. It’s something they feel compelled to do, using whatever platform they have to help prompt new conversations.
Racing across the flat Belgian countryside, Hippo Campus seem ready to meet any challenge in their path.
Almost 20 years ago, Oregon voters put my right to be in a union into the state constitution. Today, on Labor Day, I'm reflecting about what that's meant for my family.
I've been a caregiver in Oregon for almost 18 years. I started out when my mom was injured at work. She was a waitress and won accolades for her excellent work, even being celebrated once for saving a customer's life. After years of faithful service, she was fired when a fall at work left her seriously disabled.
We lost everything. I was only 16 years old and my mother could no longer work. We had to go on public assistance. Our lights were shut off more than once, and I was almost put into the foster care system.
Thankfully, a friend told my mother about training for an in-home care program. At 18, I became her home care provider. It happened to be the same time that home care became a union represented job. Since then, I've seen my wages steadily increase with each contract. Year after year we gain more respect for our work: a living wage, paid time off, workers compensation, health coverage, paid trainings... The list goes on.

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.