Pompeo skewered after posting geography-challenged map of divided Turkey

This is the American "Secretary of State" ???? ....In charge of the entire State Department.

Published on Feb 10, 2019

Views: 3,249

US Secretary of State has tweeted a map showing all of the countries that have thrown their weight behind Venezuela's self-declared leader, Juan Guaido. And, it didn't take long for sharp-eyed social media users to realize something was amiss...

Arizona's 'In God We Trust' License Plates Fund Anti-LGBT Group

Now we know thanks to investigative reporter Rick Randazzo who uploaded his story online just 4 hours ago:
"When Arizonans buy a license plate displaying the words "In God We Trust," they are told the money promotes the motto, First Amendment rights "and the heritage of this state and nation."
What they may not know is the money supports Alliance Defending Freedom, a controversial group based in Scottsdale whose mission statement is "to keep the doors open for the Gospel by advocating for religious liberty, the sanctity of life, and marriage and family."
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How the plates fund ADF

The specialty "In God We Trust" license plates are among many in Arizona offered to drivers through the Department of Transportation. Like the others, the plates offer $17 of the $25 purchase price to particular causes. . .

Secular Coalition for Arizona, a group that opposes religion in government, requested state Sen. Juan Mendez, D-Tempe, obtain data regarding exactly where the money from the "In God We Trust" plates has been directed. 
ADOT only says on its website that money from the specialty plate promotes the national motto “In God We Trust,” First Amendment rights, "and the heritage of this state and nation."
A few other plates, among dozens offered by the state through ADOT, don't include explicit statements about what organization gets the money, though the recipient is noted in statute.
ADOT records that Alliance Defending Freedom has received more than $900,000 from the specialty plates since 2014.
. . . "We were appalled by it," said Tory Roberg, the director of government affairs for the Secular Coalition for Arizona. "People really need to know where their money is going."_________________________________________________________________________________
POINT:
“What do people not understand about the inappropriateness of this kind of fundamentalist-inspired, state-sanctioned discrimination?” said David Felten, a pastor at The Fountains, a United Methodist Church in Fountain Hills, in a press release from the coalition.
“This is not just an abstract violation of church-state separation. It’s a very real rejection of Arizona’s LGBTQ people by the very government that is supposed to impartially support and protect all of its citizens.”
COUNTER-POINT:
“State dollars should not be funding an organization that works to strip residents of our state of their human rights and human dignity. It’s appalling that we’ve already sent over a million dollars to this extremist hate group.”
Tedesco, from ADF, said the plates are appropriate.
"Arizona is well within its rights to offer its citizens an opportunity to voluntarily purchase license plates affirming the First Amendment and contributing to ADF's work on behalf of the freedom of all Americans to live and work according to their beliefs, . . "

Raunchy Reporting: "Bezos Exposes Pecker" > Tabloid Trash Take-Down by Kara Swisher

Funny how powerful words are > Spoiler Alert where this is going the fight to protect everyone’s privacy and digital dignity 

A female reporter working for "The Old Gray Lady" The New York Times, has the last name Swisher - that's an epithet used to describe some flamboyant gay people! Sashay-away, Kara Swisher!
She's managed to grab the front-page salacious headlines from trashy tabloids that all started with a dude named Anthony Weiner and use traditional media at the same time to frame her own opinion pieces.
The first one starts with "I can't quite believe I am writing about Jeff Bezos’ sex life for the second time in two weeks, let alone about his penis. . . "      OK (the first time was about his divorce and "an affair")
Her byline states that she covers technology
Mebbe too dull a subject for some, but then Swisher realizes sex gets more interest. No doubt about that some men are exhibitionists and so are some women.

Opinion

Jeff Bezos Isn’t Afraid of Total Exposure

Normally the web is a haven for the dark side. This time, the Amazon chief executive used it to let in the light.

By Kara Swisher

Ms. Swisher covers technology and is a contributing opinion writer.

A classic headline from The New York Post on Friday about Jeff Bezos' accusations that David Pecker, publisher of The National Enquirer, sought to blackmail him. CreditCreditStephanie Keith/Getty Images

"I cannot quite believe I am writing about Jeff Bezos’ sex life for the second time in two weeks, let alone about his penis. But Mr. Bezos brought all of himself back into the news on Thursday by writing a blockbuster post on Medium accusing American Media, which owns The National Enquirer, of blackmail. The post is addressed to David Pecker, the head of American Media, and titled, “No Thank You, Mr. Pecker.”

Pun presumably intended by Mr. Bezos, the Amazon founder and chief executive. It’s difficult to not descend into a minefield of them (Jeff Bezos’ Prime and Jeff Bezos’ package are popular jokes on Twitter today, and HuffPost and The New York Post ran with “Bezos Exposes Pecker”) and conclude that it is simply a field day for tabloids . . ."

Source: New York Times 08 Feb 2019

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More from the writer on this story.

Opinion | Kara Swisher

The Sexts of Jeff Bezos and the Death of Privacy

Jan. 18, 2019

"This is true on a superficial and titillating level, of course. Last month, The National Enquirer broke the story about Mr. Bezos’ affair and quoted awkward and somewhat sweet sexts he had sent his girlfriend. There were also insinuations about the existence of photos of his penis.

 

But now the news is about something bigger . . ."

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Kara Swisher: Bezos' next battle

@NatEnquirer "Rather than struggling with his media foes in the quiet back room of a law firm," Recode co-founder Kara Swisher writes in her N.Y Times column, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos "decided to do it the internet way," much as President Trump does, "and just say it all out loud on Medium and Twitter. . ." "Bypassing the traditional media, he wrote a highly personal post alleging a shakedown." "By pushing back, Mr. Bezos has taken a deeply embarrassing situation and turned it to his own advantage." "While jokes abound, he’s having a bit of a heroic moment here, as the guy who will not take it anymore." "Bezos is striking a blow for everyone. Regular people suffer data hacks and privacy violations daily, largely from having their information mined and manipulated in order to build enormous advertising businesses, as Facebook and Google do, or to sell us more stuff (hello, Amazon!)." His next battle? "Bezos clearly is winning here. He should use the opportunity to reflect on how he can lead the fight to protect everyone’s privacy and digital dignity, even as he takes back his own."

Public Pressure Here In Mesa To Address Affordable Housing Issues

That's one of the take-a-ways from a new analysis by CEO Pratima Damani of a locally-based SP Group featured in a report published by GlobeSt,com on 05 Feb 2019.
Taken together with other new data that the City of Mesa was #1 Year-over-Year for the highest percentage-increases in rents for mid-sized cities in the entire nation, there are good reasons pointed out in the report to realize the realities in The Opportunity Zones program where 11 OZones were qualified here in Mesa as areas that have been distressed or neglected in contiguous low-income census tracts to incentivize investors. Except for an area in northeast Mesa, an area in southeast Mesa, an area in southwest Mesa,most OZones are downtown.

Readers of this blog might want to note that 2 areas - one north and the largest in southeast Mesa - qualified because they were low-income areas, but because they are contiguous to census that meet that criteria. Those two areas are where most of the million$ in new investments are concentrated for infrastructure expansion and commercial/residential development.
One $200-million/40-acre Gateway Park is ten times more than what AZ State Senator Bob Worsley said he 'gambled' downtown.

Why Opportunity Zones Will Likely Increase Rents In Vulnerable Areas

Rents may increase when properties are “substantially improved” to meet OZ conditions in already rent burdened areas.

By Tanya Sterling | February 05, 2019 at 07:38 AM

WASHINGTON, DC—Opportunity Zones. The commercial real estate industry has been abuzz with the potential economic boom that comes with developing real estate or funding businesses in these new, designated zones located in distressed areas or blighted communities. Affordable housing advocates, though, have been concerned that these tax breaks may not trigger development in neighborhoods that really need it, but instead just spur plans and growth in communities that were already targeted for investments. They also worry that rents are going to increase when properties are “substantially improved” to meet the applicable Opportunity Zone conditions.Their fears, at least about the latter point, may be realized, according to an analysis by the locally-based SP Group.
“We analyzed the current state of rental affordability in the designated opportunity zones using the 30% rule—that a household that spends more than 30% of its income on housing cost is considered cost burdened,” says CEO Pratima Damani. “Using this threshold, our team compared the median gross rents to the median household incomes in the census tracts designated as Opportunity Zones.

> The SP Group anticipates that residential rents will increase for investments made in multifamily, single family and mixed-use properties. Preexisting properties, purchased under this program, have to be “substantially improved” so that construction costs and the renovation or expansion of the property exceeds 100% of the adjusted basis of the property, excluding the value of land

> Since the Opportunity Zone program does not come with any restrictions with respect to rents and/or people who live in the Opportunity Zone properties, investors who make substantial new investments or improvements to the properties, will set the rents at levels that provide them with adequate financial returns, Damani tells GlobeSt.com.

If current median gross rents rise by approximately 30% as a result of construction/renovation activity under the program, about 80% of the Opportunity Zone census tracts would become rent burdened, explains Damani.

Interestingly enough, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities believes that
The Opportunity Zone program could essentially amount to a “subsidy for gentrification” in many areas instead of providing the housing and jobs for low-income communities.

“Our models show that in order for investments to be financially viable, subsidies and incentives must be provided to developers to keep the rents affordable and prioritize affordable housing, . .

According to the SP Group, by mid to late 2019, relatively affluent areas designated as Opportunity Zones will be the first to get flooded with capital as soon as Treasury issues the pending guidance.

The truly disadvantaged communities will take more effort at the federal, state and local levels to attract investor funds. Hopefully, it says, there will be more focus on preserving affordable housing in the challenged areas included in the Opportunity Zone program.
“We anticipate that rents are not going to decrease when properties are “substantially improved” to meet the conditions necessary to be considered Opportunity Zone properties.
Upward pressure on rents will likely increase public pressure on local governments to address affordable housing issues,” says Damani.

 

Record-breaking money spent in the 2018 midterms - and the 2020 spending has already begun

Just retrieved this from the Center For Responsive Politics. It was send 15 hours ago:

Most expensive midterm ever: Cost of 2018 election surpasses $5.7 billion It’s official: the 2018 election was the most expensive midterm ever by a large margin, with total spending surpassing $5.7 billion. “Just as the 2018 elections brought historic wins for a more diverse group of candidates, they also saw greater spending than we’ve ever seen or anticipated for a midterm election, capitalizing on years of loosened campaign finance regulation and oversight,” said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics. Read More

_____________________________________________________________________________ OpenSecrets in the News This week, OpenSecrets data has been cited by national & local outlets including: The Center for Public Integrity (Did Billionaires Pay Off Republicans For Passing The Trump Tax Bill?)                                                                                          Forbes (The 'Socialism' Bugaboo The Right And Left Use To Distract From Problems)   Politico (Waters demands that Consumer Bureau pull new payday proposal)

New Report By A Window Coverings Company Ranks Mesa #1

#1 for what? ...and how did  Next Day Blinds measure up cities for "Early Birds"?     

Top US Cities for Morning People

Which U.S. city is made up of the most morning people?

The team at Next Day Blinds created this study to find out.

OK. Let's shed some light on the data a window coverings company used to create a study to determine the company's rankings of the Best-and-Worst cities for "morning people".
You might never believe this: Mesa ranked first place!
"The early bird gets the worm, or so they say, and this is never truer than when you’re talking about a fast-paced, metropolitan city. The faster pace of life encourages people to wake up, open their blinds, and get moving the moment the sun rises. . ."
HUH? Mesa is a fast-paced metropolitan city where the faster pace-of-life encourages people to wake up, open their blinds, and get moving the moments the sun rises?
Why Mesa ranks #1 so high on the list: The need to commute
39.5% of the population leave for work before 7 a.m.
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Posted By Next Day Blinds — February 01, 2019
The report was put together by window coverings company Next Day Blinds using research collected from Yelp and City-Data. To determine rankings of best and worst cities for morning people, Next Day Blinds looked at

• the percentage of the population who are early morning commuters
• the number of coffee shops per capita
• the number of breakfast restaurants per capita
• the number of gyms with early hours per capita

The best and worst cities for early risers are probably not what you’d expect
Alexandra Villarreal

But for those who assume metropolises with 24-hour restaurants and gyms with long hours are ideal, think again!
Here’s what Next Day Blinds found out:

Based on the weighted ranking, the best city for morning people is Mesa, Arizona. The number of coffee shops, breakfast restaurants, and early morning gyms per capita were the highest, so the early birds won’t have to worry about long lines for the treadmill or their caffeine fix.
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A New Study Doesn't Dig Far Enough

According to the Environmental Working Group, 85 utilities in Arizona have drinking water with nitrate levels above 5 ppm, affecting 403,910 Arizonans.

“Nitrate can be a marker for other contaminants,” Schaider said. “We’ve found public and private drinking-water wells with high levels of nitrates also have high levels of unregulated wastewater contaminants like pharmaceuticals and consumer product chemicals.”

The problem: if chemical contaminants in underground water sources are not regulation, they don't get measured or monitored.
The source: Nitrates and arsenic were used in vast tracts of former agricultural acreage that were converted to residential land-use.

Results of a new study state at the very start that
"More than 5.6 million Americans have possibly unsafe levels of nitrates in their drinking water, and Hispanic residents are the most affected."
For some reason the study's focus are Hispanic residents who were/are the majority of field workers. The study found that
"The most common source of nitrate contamination is agricultural fertilizer, and 57 percent of all farmworkers in the U.S. are Hispanic, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture."
Hispanic farmworkers are not the only people impacted >
“The vast majority, over 99 percent, of the systems that we studied do meet the federal drinking-water standard of 10 ppm, . . .But 5 ppm was chosen due to questions about whether the current drinking-water standard is adequately protective to everyone’s health.”
According to the Environmental Working Group, 85 utilities in Arizona  have drinking water with nitrate levels above 5 ppm, affecting 403,910 Arizonans.

This isn't the first time it’s been revealed that Hispanics may be exposed to dangerous drinking water at higher rates than other groups.

A 2005 study found Hispanic residents in Arizona were more likely to get their water from a system that exceeded safe arsenic levels.