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Just days before my inauguration, the previous administration cut short the promised mid-term review in an 11th-hour executive action. Today, I am announcing that we are going to cancel that executive action. (Applause.) We are going to restore the originally scheduled mid-term review, and we are going to ensure that any regulations we have protect and defend your jobs, your factories. We’re going to be fair. We’re going to be fair.
This is an issue of deep importance to me. For decades, I have raised the alarm over unfair foreign trade practices that have robbed communities of their wealth and robbed our people of their ability to provide for their families. They’ve stolen our jobs, they’ve stolen our companies, and our politicians sat back and watched, hopeless. Not anymore.
But no friendship is strengthened through economic abuse — because we have been abused. And no country can long lead the free world if it does not protect its industries and care for its people and protect its borders. (Applause.) America will be respected again, and you, as workers, will be respected again. Believe me, you will be respected again. Soon. Now. I think it’s already happened.
Our great Presidents, from Washington to Jefferson to Jackson to Lincoln, all understood that a great nation must protect its manufacturing, must protect itself from the outside. Today, I will be visiting the home of Andrew Jackson on the 250th anniversary of his birth. And they say my election was most similar to his — 1828. That’s a long time ago. Usually they go back like to this one, or that one, 12 years ago, 16. I mean, 1828, that’s a long way. That’s a long time ago.
In supporting tariffs, Jackson said, “I look at the tariff with an eye to the proper distribution of labor, and to revenue, and with a view to discharge our national debt.” We owe $20 trillion — $20 trillion with our policies. America cannot be a wealthy country if special interests game the system to profit from the exodus of our companies and from the exodus of our jobs.
Great Americans of all backgrounds built the Arsenal of Democracy — including the legendary Rosie the Riveter, who worked here at Willow Run. You know that. (Applause.) Seventy-five years ago, during the Second World War, thousands of American workers filled this very building to build the great new airplanes — the B-24 Liberator. At peak production — listen to this — it’s not the country that we’ve been watching over the last 20 years — they were building one B-24 every single hour. (Applause.) We don’t hear that. We don’t hear that anymore, do we? We’ll be back. We’ll be back soon. Most amazing people.
And while that’s incredible, it’s a tribute really to the teamwork, determination, and patriotism that lives on today in each and every one of you. Great people. You’re great people.
I’m asking all of the companies here today to join us in this new Industrial Revolution. Let us put American workers, American families, and American dreams first once again.
May God bless the American worker. May God bless the Motor City. And may God bless the United States of America. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you, everybody.
Wal-Mart has a reputation to protect: its legendary, bare-knuckled labor tactics.
That's why the world's largest retailer has threatened to scrap at least three of six stores planned for the nation's capital if the city signs into law a bill requiring big-box stores to pay workers at least $12.50 an hour. Six other retailers have jumped on board, sending a letter to Mayor Vincent Gray that warned, "Any future plans for retail expansion in the city must be revisited."
It's a showdown labor experts predict will be repeated in other cities, as cash-strapped municipalities try to pare back public assistance for the working poor and large retailers look to America's cities for future growth.
Proponents of the wage bill, formally called the Large Retailer Accountability Act, call Wal-Mart a bully.
"They are known to be quite resolute, willing to take local losses in order to maintain a reputation," said Gary Burtless, labor economist at the Brookings Institution. "It would be a huge blow to that negotiating stance if they ceded to demands from the District of Columbia."
Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, agreed: "If they're seen to just be making idle threats after they've built up such a reputation, that would be a huge cost to them."
Robin Sherk, Kantar Retail's director of Retail Insights, offered an alternative for Wal-Mart—that it offer grocery delivery service operating out of a suburban base, or downsize its planned Supercenters so its store footprints fall below the 75,000-square-foot threshold stipulated by the bill. Walmart Neighborhood Markets average about 38,000 square feet.
"Wal-Mart definitely views the urban environment as a growth area," Sherk said. "I don't think they'll give up on D.C. ... They'll evaluate other options."
Retail and labor experts agree that the chain will walk away, taking a loss if necessary, on some or all of its planned stores if the wage bill prevails.
This prospect strikes fear in the heart of local developers, who were counting on Wal-Mart's draw as an anchor tenant to attract other stores and financing.
Developer Gary Rappaport told The Washington Post, "If there's not a Wal-Mart at Skyland (Town Center), then Skyland is not able to go forward at this time."
Wal-Mart said that in addition to abandoning the three projects still in the planning stage, it "will start to review the financial and legal implications on the three stores already under construction."
Typically, a store would be locked into a lease agreement once lenders come on board and construction begins. Getting out of that could be expensive for Wal-Mart at this stage—two of the stores were scheduled to open this fall—but developers could be left holding the bag if they were so eager to get Wal-Mart on board that they wrote an option to terminate into their contracts.
"When you're trying to attract a retailer like Wal-Mart, you do a lot of unconventional things," said Greg Maloney, president and CEO of Jones Lang LaSalle Retail. "You will need to stretch a bit."
City administrators have been trying to get Skyland off the ground for more than two decades now, and the prospect of another setback frustrates Victor Hoskins, deputy mayor for planning and economic development. The district has invested between $25 million and $30 million in the project.
Hoskins said other big-box chains were considering abandoning D.C. for the suburbs if the mayor signs the bill. "We've heard from a couple of large format retailers," he said. "They're concerned."
Hoskins argued that the jobs and sales tax revenue big-box retailers would bring are something the city can't afford to lose, but supporters of the wage bill charge that big-box stores like Wal-Mart inflict hidden costs on taxpayers and municipalities.
"We want to make sure we don't allow large retailers to come in and pay poverty wages … which basically is going to compel this government to pick up all the social costs," said Vincent Orange, D.C. council member at large. "I know that the wage Wal-Mart wants to pay will continue to have D.C. residents seeking public assistance in a number of ways."
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Wal-Mart says its average nonsupervisory worker pay is nearly $12 an hour, but since that doesn't include part-time or temp workers, critics call the number inflated. In 2011, research company IBISWorld estimated that Walmart sales associates earned an average of $8.81 an hour and department managers earned an average of $11.22 an hour.
Orange pointed to a report issued in May by the Democratic staff of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, which said every Wal-Mart Supercenter "may cost taxpayers about one million dollars in higher usage of public-assistance programs" by workers and their families.
Burtless, the Brookings labor economist, concurred: "As a nation, we've expanded programs that provide income supplements to low-wage workers. ... It does work to the benefit of Wal-Mart as well as other low-wage companies in the U.S."
Despite retailers' protestations, experts predict that the pull of the market will eventually be too much to resist.
For [Wal-Mart] to continue to grow in America, it needs to grow in urban areas," including Northeastern and Midwestern cities with strong pro-union roots, said Paul Osterman, professor of human resources and management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "That's why these fights are so bitter."
—By Martha C. White, NBC News contributor.
Our propensity for blaming social media for the ills of the world is boundless, and the emergence of fake news is no exception. While it is true that social media has added to the challenge with respect to bots, newsfeed algorithms, and an augmented reach, the spread of misinformation cannot be blamed entirely on technology. Human motivation and error are at the origin of the intentional and unintentional deception, as well as our inability and indifference towards separating fact from fiction.
This is further exacerbated by indolent and unethical journalism: inadequate fact-checking and corroboration of sources; perfunctory investigative attempts; and flagrant plagiarism. When media houses fail to do their due diligence, the facts become more elusive making it all the more easy for misinformation to spread. If unchecked, content found online can even bleed into traditional broadcast and print media further perpetuating disinformation.
The truth of the matter is that we, as consumers of news, are all susceptible to believing and sharing false information despite our best intentions. This is due to inherent and often unchecked biases present in all of us.
The first of these is the confirmation bias which is the tendency to seek out, accept, and remember information that supports our pre-existing opinions. We pay more attention to the content that reinforces our beliefs and tend to ignore and discount the type that offers alternative explanations. This heuristic is magnified when there is an emotionally driven subject as is often the case with sensational fake news stories.
Controversial and often misleading news spreads rapidly and assails its audience from different sources, making it seem as though it is widely accepted as the truth. This bandwagon effect deludes us into equating repetition with credibility which allows media inaccuracy to proliferate unchallenged. This is particularly potent with the dissemination of information on the messaging application WhatsApp in Pakistan. When a message is forwarded by a personal contact, the underlying implication is that they are personally vouching for that particular content — with the assumption that they have read and verified the information, which is seldom the case.
If none of this has proven convincing as it does not seem relatable, it might be due to a bias blind spot. This is the proclivity to believe that we are free from bias, and thus cannot be fooled or mislead. This is dangerous because it affects our ability to see how our personal biases interact with the way we process information.
Recognizing these biases, and accepting that these vulnerabilities are targeted by fake news creators, is the foundation to combating the rise of disinformation from our side. Once this is accepted, there are five basic measures we should all take to verify the trustworthiness of news stories.
First, investigate the source to determine its credibility: check website URLs for imposter sources; verify the qualifications of the author; and ensure the accreditation of the publication itself. Second, confirm that the information is dated correctly. Old and irrelevant information often circulates under the guise of current news (there can only be so many super moons and meteor showers in a year).
Reading beyond the headline is the third step: examine the content to determine if the story is clickbait or whether it matches up with the title. Claims made in the article should be backed up by experts in the relevant field and other news sources, although this can be problematic in the aforementioned cases of plagiarism. The fourth marker of unreliable or deceptive journalism is awkward formatting, punctuation, and language. If the news source does not look or sound professional, it should cast doubt on the content it displays.
Finally, social commentary in the form of satire can be confused with real news. Although the primary purpose of satire is to entertain, it can unintentionally misinform and be circulated by those caught unawares.
These tips are a good starting point to help in the short term, but they do not address the root of the problem. From a consumer’s perspective, this should ultimately be tackled by introducing media literacy training with an emphasis on critical thinking, and by lobbying for social media platforms to develop reporting and filtering mechanisms to neutralize the threat of misinformation.
In an attempt to rein in the rampant dissemination of disinformation, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting launched a Twitter account in October to verify content circulating on social media. This effort raises some questions about the interpretation, identification, and verification of fake news as well as the biases of those running the account. ‘Fake news’ has become a politically charged phrase, but is actually an umbrella term including varying definitions and layers of misinformation which should not instigate a one-size-fits-all response.
Furthermore, when addressing news of a political nature, there is always a possibility of using such a channel to further the state narrative and silence opposing viewpoints. According to tweets by the account, some cases of fake news have been reported to NR3C — the FIA law enforcement agency dedicated to fighting cybercrime.
The concern here is whether the action taken against people sharing misinformation will be proportional.
While this step from the government signals the introduction of more proactive measures, there is still some trepidation as to how effective and fair a mechanism this will be to dispel disinformation. Recommendations going forward include tweeting resources and tips for news readers on how to recognize misleading content. Additionally, there should be greater transparency into the ministry’s methods of verification of fake news, as well as their response and follow through to ensure that it is justified. Ideally, fact-checking should be conducted by independent organizations to avoid partisan bias and influence. As for now, we should all remember to be vigilant with our skepticism, especially in our own biases and capacity to believe mistruths.
The writer is the communications and outreach officer at Bolo Bhi, an advocacy forum for digital rights.
Political veterans in Colchester, including a former first selectman, are forming a new party with an eye toward challenging Democrats and Republicans in this year’s elections.
The Colchester Independent Party’s goal, according to a press release, is to give voters more choice.
Its key organizers include Linda Hodge, who was first selectman of Colchester from 2007 to 2009, and James D. McNair III, who ran in 2011 against incumbent First Selectman Gregg Schuster.
Hodge said Monday that the group quickly gathered enough signatures at the May 7 budget referendum to start the process of forming the new party, which also requires approval from the Secretary of the State’s office.
“There’s a lot of interest from a lot of people,” Hodge said.
The group plans to have a full slate of candidates announced by July 1.
Hodge did not rule out a repeat run for first selectman.
“It’s fair to say that I’m putting my name in the hat,” she said.
Hodge ran for re-election in 2009, but a party split caused her to lose the Democratic caucus to Glenn Morron. Hodge chose not to challenge Morron in a primary.
McNair said last month that he was in the “exploratory stages” of deciding whether to run. He challenged Schuster in 2011 as a petitioning candidate.
“The results from the last election showed there is a call for alternative candidates,” McNair said. He said that 1,000 people cast votes in 2011 for three petitioning candidates, including McNair and Hodge, who ran for Board of Finance.
“This sent a clear message that the time has come for greater choice in Colchester,” he said.
Schuster has announced plans to run for a third term as first selectman on the GOP ticket. Fellow Board of Selectman member Jim Ford, a Democrat, announced earlier this month he is challenging Schuster and plans to seek the local Democratic Party’s nomination.
Schuster had a positive outlook on word of the potential new political party.
“I welcome any person or organization who wishes to participate in town government and look forward to hearing their ideas,” he said.
The Colchester Independent Party plans to launch both a Facebook page and its own website, Hodge said.
Image from the scene of the Bus crash at Sainsbury's in Coventry in 2015. Picture courtesy of West Midlands Ambulance Service.
Bus company Midland Red has been fined £2.35 million for health and safety breaches after an elderly employee caused a fatal crash in Coventry city centre.
In 2015 and at the age of 77 Kailash Chander, now 80 and a former Leamington mayor who lives in the town, was driving one of the company's double decker buses in the city centre when he mistook the vehicle's accelerator pedal for the brake and crashed it into a Sainsbury's supermarket.
Seven-year-old passenger Rowan Fitzgerald, from Sydenham, was killed by sustaining a head injury in the incident as was pedestrian Dora Hancox, 76, who was hit by the bus and a falling lamppost.
Chander was found to have been driving dangerously at a fact finding trial in September.
He could not be found guilty as he was deemed mentally unfit to stand trial.
The bus company, which is part of the Stagecoach group, was sentenced alongside Chander, who was diagnosed with dementia after the crash, at a two-day hearing at Birmingham Crown Court.
Judge Paul Farrer said "the failings of the company were a significant cause" of the crash.
Warnings about Chander were "not enforced, and almost immediately ignored," he said.
Chander was handed a two-year supervision order, meaning he will be monitored by a doctor.
Rowan's mother, Natasha Wilson, has said Rowan "had a heart of gold" and that he was "his family's sunshine on hard days".
Phil Medlicott, managing director of Midland Red (South) Ltd said the company is "deeply sorry" and "bears the weight of our responsibility for this tragedy".
"We deeply regret the opportunities that were missed to act decisively on emerging warning signs," he said.
The bus company admitted failings including allowing Chander to work in excess of 70-hours a week and allowing him to continue working despite warnings about his driving.
The trial in September found Chander had been warned about his "erratic" driving by the company after four crashes in three years.
Matt Western, MP for Warwick and Leamington, is now calling for changes to the law to limit the hours bus drivers can work.
He said: “Midland Red are clearly at least partly culpable for the death of 7- year-old Rowan Fitzgerald, from my constituency, as well as Nuneaton resident Dora Hancox.
"A fine is not enough.
"Someone at Stagecoach should have been held account for this tragedy.
"In the four weeks leading up to the accident the driver worked 62 hours, 76 hours, 76 hours and 75 hours.
"This is entirely legal under UK law, as local bus drivers are not subject to the same working hour regulations as long-distance bus drivers or HGV drivers.
"I believe this tragedy could have been avoided if working hours for local bus drivers were capped at 56 hours a week, as it already is for long distance bus drivers and HGV drivers.
"It is now time for the Government to help change the law to make sure long working hours don’t lead to such tragic consequences again.
Amin Toufani is an economist who discussed that there will be exponential winners and losers. He discusses what it takes for individuals and companies to be future winners.
Amin gave parts of the SU Summit 2018 at two other events. Amin has updated and expanded his thesis.
There are more powerful business models with more pricing power.
Content has the least pricing power.
Emails are a form of collaboration system. As systems become more complex they need to shift to coordination.
76% prefer to work in by themselves.
BLAIQ-NET (BLockchain, AI, Quantum) is the world we are heading.
Adding certainty to an uncertain world.
Absolute Poverty is going down but Relative poverty is going up.
Relative poverty is a problem. When people board a plane and have to walk past business class to economy then Air Rage incident went up 218%.
There used to be lots of options for building decks and outdoor furniture; one could use teak, redwood, or a few other rainforest timbers that are rot resistant. but we chopped them all down, and were pretty much left with cedar and the horrid pressure treated lumber, where a sliver in your foot was an injection of chromated copper arsenate. But now Eastman Chemicals (who also gave us Tritan, the BPA free substitute for polycarbonate) brings us Perennial Wood, a new long lasting wood that has gone through a process of " acetylation". For the year's round of furniture shows including ICFF, Eastman worked with Appalachian State University to design furniture out of the wood. I particularly liked Eugene Duclos' combo bench and bike rack.