Wednesday, October 28, 2015

2013 Infosys and Tata, two leading offshoring firms, paid computer-systems analysts on H-1B visas $20,000 less than the average annual wage ($91,990) for analysts in Los Angeles that year — despite the legal requirement to pay H-1B employees the “prevailing wage” in an area for their given occupation.

But is there really a dearth of STEM-proficient American workers? (click here) Qualcomm, the San Diego-based cellphone smart-chip producer, announced last week that it plans to lay off 4,500 employees. But just four months ago, Qualcomm was “scrambling” to hire H-1B applicants. Likewise with Microsoft, which announced last year that it would be laying off 18,000 workers and introduced plans for another 7,800 cuts three weeks ago, even as it remains an enthusiastic supporter of the resurrected I-Squared bill co-authored by Marco Rubio earlier this year. That bill would triple the number of H-1B visas to 195,000.


It’s not hard to imagine that Qualcomm, Microsoft, and others hope to follow the Disney model. Late last year, Disney, a company with significant IT interests, laid off 250 workers. They were replaced by H-1B recipients. And, like some 400 workers laid off from Southern California Edison last year, the Disney employees were required to participate in a “knowledge transfer” — i.e., they were forced to train the foreign workers who took their jobs....

...2013 Infosys and Tata, two leading offshoring firms, paid computer-systems analysts on H-1B visas $20,000 less than the average annual wage ($91,990) for analysts in Los Angeles that year — despite the legal requirement to pay H-1B employees the “prevailing wage” in an area for their given occupation....


What the heck is this?

It wasn't enough to sell the USA to drug dealers in Columbia, Rubio is now pandering to Silicon Valley and Americans are losing jobs.

October 28, 2015
By Ian Tuttle


...The report rightly notes (click here) that Marco Rubio is an enthusiastic supporter of the H-1B program. His 2013 immigration bill would have increased the annual H-1B quota by 45,000 slots, “to fill jobs Americans can’t do.” (“Can’t”?) Although that effort failed, Rubio has resurrected the H-1B component with his “I-Squared” bill — and expanded it: The current bill would triple the number of H-1B visas to 195,000. Earlier this month, Wired magazine announced: “Marco Rubio Wants to Be the Tech Industry’s Savior.” Reporting on an address he gave to tech start-ups in New York City, Wired wrote: “Both Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush have made visits to Silicon Valley. But it’s Rubio perhaps more than any other candidate who’s been telling them precisely what they want to hear, from his thoughts on deregulating the sharing economy to his stance on immigration.”...

No word of a lie; Marco Rubio knows the US-Columiba Free Trade Agreement was dealing with one of the most violent drug cartels on Earth. The trade agreement is suppose to result in a peace agreement. Amazing. Rubio put a US free trade agreement in the middle of a drug war to hold it hostage to a peace agreement.


DOES Marco Rubio have Ruby Red Slippers, too? Because he ain't in Kansas anymore. I want to know if Rubio is meeting with FARC.

...Second, we must build on the success of Plan Colombia, (click here) one of history’s most successful counter-insurgency programs.
Until this week’s FARC kidnapping of a senior Colombian general, the government sat at the negotiating table with the FARC's leadership because its military has decimated this terrorist group. Especially in light of this kidnapping, now is not the time to ease up pressure. The FARC must be defeated. The U.S. role must be clearly defined as one of helping the Colombian government force the best possible outcome from any future dealings with the FARC. This outcome must ensure the best chance for the Colombian people to no longer be threatened by improvised explosive devices, grenade attacks, land mines, kidnappings and other terrorist acts....

FARC is one of the most deadly and corrupt organized crime drug networks on Earth and Rubio put the USA right in the middle of a drug war. How many H1B Visas are going to FARC? 

This is what Marco Rubio does with US power? He deals with organized drug crime networks?


Reuters

The government and leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have waded through a five-point agenda during negotiations to end 51 years of war. So far three items have been agreed since talks began in Havana in late 2012.
The FARC called a unilateral ceasefire in July, but the government has kept up ground attacks even while stopping air raids. Santos has refused to reciprocate on the ceasefire because in past negotiations the rebels have taken advantage of peaceful conditions to build up their forces and re-arm....


I thought the USA doesn't negotiate with terrorists.

...While most Colombians are anxious for an end to a war that has killed more than 220,000 people and forced millions from their homes, many fear former FARC rebels will join organized crime gangs.

H1B Visas are an legitiamte issue with American labor.

Zuckerberg (click here) is one of the leading tech executives who has called for a more open immigration policy. Specifically, he wants to make more H-1B visas available to tech employers so they can hire foreign skilled workers.

Trump said he wants to require employers to pay H-1B workers much more money, which he said would discourage companies from hiring them and boost job prospects for Americans. He also wants to have tech jobs offered to unemployed Americans before they can be filled by workers with H-1B visas.

"This will improve the number of black, Hispanic and female workers in Silicon Valley who have been passed over in favor of the H-1B program. Mark Zuckerberg's personal Senator, Marco Rubio, has a bill to triple H-1Bs that would decimate women and minorities," Trump wrote in his immigration plan. Rubio is also seeking the Republican nomination for president.... 

Mark Zuckerberg might be an interesting study in H1B Visas, but, his focus is on foreign workers for some reason. I doubt he is focused on asking for influence in a criminal way. 

Mark Zuckerberg (click here) made a donation of $5 million to a college fund for undocumented immigrants.
The Facebook CEO and his wife, Priscilla Chan, gave the money to the "I'm In" campaign launched by TheDream.us, a national scholarship fund for undocumented immigrants...

It is my guess Marco Rubio's bill to H1B Visas is more about CAFTA.  Wow, there is a lot of 'stuff' going on with CAFTA-DR (Dominican Republic). There was a study done in 2013 about the abuses that have occurred because abuses of the law. There is no enforcement.

This is a picture of a sugar worker in the Dominican Republic. If the USA is going to have trade laws that rob wages from the American people, they need to know it isn't just the American people that are victims to trade laws.

Andrés Michel, 75, (click here) lost an eye cultivating cane meant for the sugar company Central Romana. He still works the fields.

This report responds to U.S. Submission 2011-03 (click here) (Dominican Republic), filed by Father Christopher Hartley on December 22, 2011, with the Office of Trade and Labor Affairs (OTLA) of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs. The submission alleges violations of the Labor Chapter of the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), which has been in force between the United States and the Dominican Republic since March 2007....

Rubio pushed through US - Columbia Free Trade Agreement (click here) almost from the first day as a US Senator. I am sure his H1B Visa bill is more of the same.

This can start a conversation . Republican electorate needs help with the multiple tax issues presented by their candidates.

$2000 off a person's tax sounds interesting, but, for the working poor with an income of less than $50,000 zero tax is a better option.

Any annimosity about wealth inequality is politics and not fact.

The facts are known.

Wealth inequality in the US is at near record levels (click here) according to a new study by academics. Over the past three decades, the share of household wealth owned by the top 0.1% has increased from 7% to 22%. For the bottom 90% of families, a combination of rising debt, the collapse of the value of their assets during the financial crisis, and stagnant real wages have led to the erosion of wealth....

Mannatech is an international company.

"glyconutrients"

I think the states from Memorial Sloan Kettering relays the position of main stream medicine. 

...Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (click here) makes no warranties nor express or implied representations whatsoever regarding the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, comparative or controversial nature, or usefulness of any information contained or referenced on this Web site. Memorial Sloan Kettering does not assume any risk whatsoever for your use of this website or the information contained herein. Health-related information changes frequently and therefore information contained on this Web site may be outdated, incomplete or incorrect. Statements made about products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Use of this Web site does not create an expressed or implied physician-patient relationship....

Herbs and alternative therapies within diets, etc. are usually not recommended by physicians, surgeons and health institutions because there are no GUARANTEES to the outcome of Chemo and other treatments. Frequently, physicians will steer their patients from any supplements during treatment of cancer because they cannot predict the effectiveness of the treatments. Usually, if patients decide to take these supplements it is at thier own risk.

I don't want to simply be political here, but, I find it a concern a pediatric physician would endorse this product UNLESS it was not available to his patients in the USA. I don't know exactly how the company markets their products and where their largest markets exist.  

Sometimes, when impoverished folks can't afford treatment they use supplements as if they are just as good as treatment. I simply don't know enough about the customer base and their 'ideas' for using the product. 
Bushes claims for fiscal improvements in Florida was due to tax cuts. Those tax cuts were federal in the Estate Tax. It didn't have anything to do with Florida.

October 7, 2015


...Twenty other states (click here) either imposed inheritance taxes separate from the estate tax credit, or “decoupled” from the federal law (meaning they enacted new state estate taxes to make up for lost federal tax credit). Five other states repealed their state estate taxes completely.
Norton Francis, senior research associate at Urban Institute State and Local Finance Initiative who studied how states reacted to the credit phase-out, said “dormant states [like Florida] didn’t impose a new tax on taxpayers, but they can’t really take credit for cutting taxes on taxpayers.”
In the $19.3 billion figure, the campaign included the reductions in state estate tax revenues as a result of the phase-out. Bush supported the phase-out, saying he supports Congress’s efforts to “alleviate the tax burden on all Americans, even when those reductions directly affect our state budget.” His campaign said Bush should get credit for supporting the repeal of the estate tax and refraining from circumventing the cut, like some other states did.

Does Bush know his facts reflect an Estate Tax cut from the federal level? If he does then he is deceiving everyone. I really do believe Bush is an empty suit. He probably doesn't even realize what he is saying, he is just saying it.



Fiorina treated her CEO job as if it were a private equity firm.

The time to buy companies is when they are under economic stress and that is what she did. The industry was going through change and she took advantage of it. She then did the very same thing a private equity firm would do and removed jobs. 30,000 jobs. She claimed those lay offs saved HP in a difficult market. The merger would have brought downsizing of the two companies anyway. She didn't do anything to save HP, it happened because the liquid assets of Compaq provided a better fiscal environment for HP. 

...Fiorina's involvement in politics (click here) includes an advisory role for Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. She lost a Senate race in California in 2010 to incumbent Barbara Boxer.
But, it is Fiorina's tenure as the head of HP that gets the most attention. While holding the company's top job from 1999-2005, she oversaw a merger between HP and rival company Compaq that cut jobs. HP's board later fired Fiorina in 2005.
A website, CarlyFiorina.org, attacks Fiorina's record at HP, alleging she laid off 30,000 workers. Fiorina said that while "there's nothing worse than laying someone off," many technology companies went by the wayside in that era.
"What people fail to comment on is the fact that we doubled the size of the company ... We went from lagging behind in every product category to leading in every product category. And yes, in fact, we grew jobs here in the U.S. and all over the world," she said. "You can't just leave those facts out. Because they are as vital to the record to the fact that yes, indeed, I had to make some tough calls during some tough times."...

There are continued criticisms about the loss of Compaq from the Industry. 

October 26, 2015
By Rob Enderler

Why do some big mergers succeed while others fail? (click here) This seems to be a common question, and some of the research I've read about the Dell-EMC merger tries to connect it to the HP-Compaq merger, which apparently cost Carly Fiorina her job.

I'll close with my product of the week: the Surface Pro 4 -- my current favorite 2-in-1 since Microsoft fixed every problem I had with the Surface 3.... 

She cut corners until the Board found out she cut corners. There was a lot of concern by the Board the merger would fail. I can see why. When a major merger instruments is circumvented I'd be worried, too.

...The irony was that when I did the post mortem, I found out some interesting things. One was that nobody had done an initial merger plan. That alone would have meant disaster, regardless of the board's position. However, the proxy fight that resulted between Carly Fiorina and Walter Hewlett forced her to commission one of the best merger plans ever seen at the time....

She isn't a good communicator. A CEO (similar circumstance electronic company Steve Jobs). That matters.

...Michael Capellas, who had been a high-level management consultant before taking the CEO Job at Compaq, and he sold the deal. The reason I knew this is I had these big investors as clients, and I typically followed those traveling executives because the investors wanted our opinion of the deal. 

Carly later forced Capellas out of the company, and she was fired largely because she sucked at what he did but she refused to let someone like Capellas work for her....

The Sun Sentinal has a right to complain.

When the newspaper endorsed Senator Rubio in the past I am sure the editorial staff didn't expect Marco Rubio to be a candidate for President and simply abandon the needs of Florida.

October 27, 2015

After five years in the U.S. Senate, Marco Rubio (click here) does not like his job. A long-time friend told The Washington Post "he hates it." Rubio says hate might be too strong a word, but he sure acts like he hates his job.
Rubio has missed more votes than any other senator this year. His seat is regularly empty for floor votes, committee meetings and intelligence briefings. He says he's MIA from his J-O-B because he finds it frustrating and wants to be president, instead.
"I'm not missing votes because I'm on vacation," he told CNN on Sunday. "I'm running for president so that the votes they take in the Senate are actually meaningful again."
Sorry, senator, but Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job. We've got serious problems with clogged highways, eroding beaches, flat Social Security checks and people who want to shut down the government....

There are other candidates running for President while governing today and have not missed votes in their capacity, including that of Democrats.
Federal agencies are spread across this entire country and frequently the only authority in a city or town. They are vital to the American people and to remove them as if they were all in Washington, DC is a frivolous statement.

There has been successful programs to eliminate unused federal buildings. There is no pork in the federal agencies across the country.

This map visualizes a sampling of about 14,000 buildings and structures currently designated as excess. These properties range from sheds to underutilized office buildings and empty warehouses. Many of these assets will be disposed through demolition and transfers. Every excess asset taken off the books represents progress in the form of reduced operating and maintenance expenses, which cost the taxpayers almost $190 million a year.

Carson doesn't know what he is talking about.

The assault against minority citizens in the USA is unprecedented.


Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article41627619.html#storylink=cpy

This should be interesting, a neurosurgeon economist.

Donald Trump should know Ben Carson has simply assimilated Trumps message into a 'soft spoken tone.' So this should be an interesting debate. Hopefully the record can be set straight.

That is Ben Carson, by the way. Since the beginning of his candidacy he has done little else by wandering among right wing popularity and assimilating the message to his particular delivery style.

For Ben Carson, Donald Trump has been a great mentor. 

October 28, 2015
By Rebecca Shabad

Tensions (click here) between Ben Carson and Donald Trump will be on full display Wednesday night at the third GOP presidential debate where issues like the economy, jobs and taxes will be the center of attention.
At 8 p.m. ET, the top tier of Republican candidates will face off on CNBC. They are Trump, Carson, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, John Kasich, Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Mike Huckabee.
CNBC says the moderators -- Carl Quintanilla, Becky Quick and John Harwood -- are planning to ask contenders about Americans' financial freedom, the health of the economy as well as jobs, taxes and the deficit.... 

Ben Carson on Abortion has been an evolution: 

Ban abortion more than 20 weeks after fertilization. (May 20) (click here)
No abortion for convenience. (Jan 2014)  

I love that one. Pregnancy is an inconvenience that has to change. Amazing. Let's see, "I was drunk and went to bed with an unknown tool and now I'm pregnant." Oh, yeah, it is all about convenience. There is also a strong socioeconomic correlation to abortion. Poor women seek it out more often than any other economic group of women who do not have equal wages with men doing the same job.

'The thought of abortion for convenience is repugnant. (Jan 2014)
Persuaded mother of hydrocephalic baby to cancel abortion. (Jan 2012) 

Oh, yeah it is all about the inconvenience of pregnancy.

It isn't about inconvenience, it is about lifestyle and all too frequently teen pregnancy. Abortion is important for women, it has to stay that way. Women also need contraception.

These are Carson's economic genius.

Let the economy work the way it's supposed to. (Jan 2014) 
The free market works. (Jan 2014) 

Standard Republican dialogue.

1990s deregulation paved way for 2008 economic meltdown. (Jan 2012) 

Evidently, Carson believed the regulation destroyed by Congress caused 2008 global economic collapse. Interesting.

Cut every agency spending by 10%, with no exceptions. (Jan 2012) (The Sequester)

Tithing teaches about not hoarding as capitalist greed. (Jan 2012)

What the heck? Tithing to churches teaches the moral use of money? Wow. A profound lesson to Wall Street.
 
Highest corporate tax rate causes highest national debt. (Jan 2012) 

Carson disagrees with Warren Buffet. It is biblical. God is a capitalist. It must be expensive to run heaven.

Is it acceptable to pause tithing in tough financial times? (click here)

The Bible does not mention anything about "pausing" tithing. Neither does it say that we will go to Hell if we do not tithe.
The tithe, which is a scriptural mandate, was not instituted for God's benefit because He already has all the money He needs. He does not need our money.
So why does He ask us to give 10% to Him? Tithing was created for our benefit. It is to teach us how to keep God first in our lives and how to be unselfish people. Unselfish people make better husbands, wives, friends, relatives, employees and employers. God is trying to teach us how to prosper over time.
Many people have observed that after they stopped tithing, their finances seemed to get worse. In the Book of Malachi, God promises that if you do not rob Him of your tithing, He will rebuke your devourers and protect you....

On children and families
  
I'm a pediatrician and concerned about children's future. (Sep 2015) 

That is not a policy. That statement stops discussion. Someone Carson sees himself as an omnipotent god without reproach. This statement requires a mind reader.

The Republican "Goldilocks" candidate promises more cuts as an economic policy.

Nothing is going to change. Be it Boehner or Ryan the same deadlock will take place. Stating cuts was the right path for the USA automatically sets up Congress to fail. This is a Congress that added $80 billion US to the last budget. Ryan is lying from the start. Rhetoric, that is all the Republicans know and understand. This is a good race for Ryan, he can actually stop lying about having fiscal answers for the USA. Ryan is an austerity guy. He doesn't know why he is an austerity guy except it makes Grover Norquist happy.

Washington — Paul Ryan's election as House speaker (click here) was all but assured Wednesday as the GOP conference voted in a closed-door meeting to nominate the 45-year-old Wisconsin Republican as their top leader.
The nine-term congressman still must be elected Thursday in a public vote by the full House. But he cleared the biggest hurdle Wednesday when the fractious, 247-member Republican conference largely united behind him. If he is elected, Ryan will be one of the youngest speakers in history.
"This begins a new day in the House of Representatives," Ryan said after the vote. "(Speaker) John Boehner served with humility and distinction and we owe him a debt of gratitude. But tomorrow we are turning the page...Our party has lost its vision and we're going to replace it with a vision."
Ryan said the country is "on the wrong track."...

Europe is a target for impoverished peoples.

The USA HAS TO be end their OCCUPATION of Afghanistan. It is estimated there are 5.7 million Afghan refugees since 2002. That would be about a one sixth of the population of Afghanistan. The populations of Afghanistan and Iraq are about 30 million.

Report from Brown University.

Before the recent upsurge in violence in Syria and Iraq, (click here) the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that Afghanistan remained the world’s top producer of refugees for the 32nd year in a row. As of July 2014, the UNHCR estimated there are approximately 700,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Afghanistan. Violence has been the major factor in involuntary population movements among Afghans. 

There is a reason there is an Iranian Taliban. They are seeking out the refugee migration. The migration into Europe is since the war began in 2002.

The vast majority of Afghan refugees reside in Pakistan and Iran, where they face an uncertain political situation, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). Iranian officials, for example, deport thousands of undocumented Afghans without allowing them the opportunity to demonstrate a legal right to remain in Iran, or to lodge an asylum application....

October 28, 2015

A refugee from Afghanistan waits outside the State Office of Health and Social Affairs in Berlin on September 29, 2015

Berlin (AFP) - Germany's Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere (click here) said Wednesday the rising number of Afghan asylum seekers was "unacceptable", as he urged young citizens of the south Asian nation to stay at home and rebuild their homeland.
"Afghanistan is in the second place of (asylum seekers') origin countries in the current month and also for the whole year. That is unacceptable. We are in agreement with the Afghan government that we don't want that," De Maiziere said.
"There is an increasing number of citizens from the middle class, also from Kabul, and we are in agreement with the Afghan government that young Afghans from middle-class families should stay in their country and rebuild it," said De Maiziere.
German soldiers and police had been sent to Afghanistan to help "make the country safer", said the interior minister, adding that "large amounts of development funds" have been sent to the country.
"So we can expect the Afghans to remain in their country," he said.
"I'm therefore saying clearly today that those who come from Afghanistan as refugees cannot all expect to stay in Germany," he said....

It is a danger to aircraft, especially private and small aircraft. Hopefully the weather is keeping small aircraft on the ground.

Unknown to most Americans, the Pentagon has spent $2.7 billion developing a system of giant radar-equipped blimps to provide an early warning if the country were ever attacked with cruise missiles, drones or other low-flying weapons. 

After nearly two decades of disappointment and delay, the system — known as JLENS — had a chance to prove its worth on April 15....

Three years my eye. It is amazing how much lousy information the media carries that can be easily called LIES.

These blimps area  "Duck and Cover" danger to national security. Could it be the US military wants to  cut some programs that Congress does not?

An article by the LA Times: "How a $2.7 billion air-defense system became a "zombie" program. (click here) 

The people of the USA should get a good look at the very same technology used with the F35. Hackers probably turned ? technical balloon' loose.

October 28, 2015

Baltimore (WJZ)–A major blow for American taxpayers. (click here)
The military blimps floating over the Baltimore area since December are being labeled a “failure,” according to a newly released investigation by The Tribune.
WJZ’s Rick Ritter has the details.
In Baltimore, it’s a sense of safety above the city skyline, but some are now calling it a complete waste of taxpayer money.
“This is a completely expensive white elephant,” said Michael Greenberger, University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security.
The blimps are known as an aerostat–tethered to the ground–they carry radar designed to pick up threats from the air, specifically cruise missiles or drones.
At 10,000 feet above Aberdeen, radar can scan from Boston to North Carolina....

I want to know how many more premium members were registered today.

October 28, 2015

Were you cursing at the TV (click here) in the fourth inning of Mets-Royals when it went all black?
This couldn’t be happening, right? This was the World Series after all. The picture is not supposed to disappear during a huge event with millions of eyeballs tuned into Fox.
Well, how do you think Mike Davies was feeling? He is Fox Sports’ senior VP/Field and Technical Operations. This was all happening on his watch....

There needs to be a secondary TV/cable network standing by to deliver coverage when the providing network fails.

I would expect contracts with FOX to be different into the future to reflect reassurances against failure. There has to be a second provider involved somewhere. Perhaps even two contracted carriers providing services are better than one. It is proving 'exclusive sports contracts for media carriers' are a very bad idea. 

Viewers should be tuning into their favorite Sports Commentator and not settling for broadcast failure. It compromises "the business" of the game, player popularity and a critical play for MVP. This lack of service is nonsense. Americans can't watch their favorite game uninterrupted? That is Wall Street and not Main Street.

According to Kaiser Health the opinions regarding the Affordiable Care Act are completely equally split.

Note: The margin of sampling error (click here) including the design effect for the full tracking poll sample is typically plus or minus 3 percentage points. For results based on subgroups, the margin of sampling error may be higher.
* July, 2015 fielded in late June

I find it more interesting there is a large number of people that hold no opinion about the law. 

I expect South Carolina to repeal this very dangerous laws from their schools.

There should be no exception to either public or private schools. Violence against a student is criminal. I firmly believe the abused student was safer because her peers in that room recorded the assault and another young woman spoke out to stop the abuse.

October 28, 2015
By Meghan Keneally
The school resource officer (click here) at a South Carolina high school who was filmed tossing a teen from her desk and dragging her during an arrest has been fired, officials announced today.
That officer, identified by the Richland County Sheriff's office as Ben Fields, was initially put on unpaid leave after the video surfaced this week. 
Today's announcement comes after Sheriff Leon Lott said on Tuesday that an internal investigation would determine whether Fields would be fired. He said that the internal investigation determined that he was not wrong to try and remove the student from the classroom, after being asked to do so from the teacher and a school administrator, but the problem came in how he attempted to do that.
"I do not feel that the proper procedures were used at that point," Lott said today of how Fields tried to remove the student....

The arrests need to be investigated and completely expunged from any students record even if that student has graduated from the schools.

These infractions are law developed by codifying the role of a principal in any school. While the sheriff acted appropriately in terminating Ben Field's employment there needs to be reforms in these ridiculous laws. 

I find the students being scrutinized to modify behavior and not educated. The teacher's focus was completely wrong. The young lade glanced at a cell phone and nothing more. There was no cheating and I noted another student had a laptop opened. Computers are commonly used during education by students. There is not a college or university classroom that does not have laptops open HOPEFULLY to take notes. 

The behavior of the teacher was overbearing. Why is the teacher so distracted by discipline issues. It was the teacher that disrupted the class and not the student. Either all forms of electronic transmissions are welcome in the school room or none are permitted. I might note taking such electronic property is owned by the student or parent or significant other and confiscating it has consequences. If the computer/cell phone is examined for private content that is also illegal. Such search of a student's computer can lead to more and greater disciplines.

Police are at schools to insure student safety and not to add to their injury in any way, including a criminal record. Most states in the country don't seek to victimize a student over behavior. Discipline is up to principals and parents when a student is under the age of 18 years old.

I look forward to the ongoing investigations of the transactions of Lobbyis Hastert by the FBI,

October 28, 2015
By Michael Tarm

...The Associated Press and other media, (click here) citing anonymous sources, have reported that the payments were meant to conceal claims of sexual misconduct decades ago.
The plea helped seal the downfall of a man who rose from obscurity in rural Illinois to the nation's third-highest political office.
Hastert was speaker for eight years — longer than any other Republican. He also parlayed his connections into a lucrative lobbying career after leaving Congress in 2007. That career is almost certainly over.
As a convicted felon, "no congressman will want to meet with him about anything. His influence and power will be gone," said Dick Simpson, a co-author of "Corrupt Illinois: Patronage, Cronyism, and Criminality."
Known as a savvy deal maker in Congress, Hastert and his attorneys negotiated the plea deal in recent weeks, avoiding a trial that could have divulged embarrassing secrets dating back to his days as a high-school wrestling coach.
Hastert allegedly made 15 withdrawals of $50,000 from 2010 to 2012. It's what he allegedly did later in 2012 that would make his actions criminal. After learning withdrawals over $10,000 are flagged, he supposedly began taking out smaller increments, eventually withdrawing $952,000 from 2012 to 2014.
The withdrawals stopped after FBI agents questioned Hastert on Dec. 8, 2014, according to the indictment.

2011-2015; China's twelfth 5 year plan.

2015-10- 27

1. Environmental Protection law (click here)

China's revised Environmental Protection Law came into effect on Jan 1 this year, bringing with it heavier punishments.
The revision, adopted and approved by the National People's Congress on April 24, 2014, is the first revision in 25 years.
It increased the responsibility of local governments to deal with environmental problems and gives them unprecedented power.
Polluters will also be made to pay accumulating fines if they fail to rectify violations, making the revised law stricter than previous versions. In the past, enterprises received a one-off fine.
The policy takes a zero tolerance approach. Local officials may be demoted or sacked for misconduct, including hiding offenses, falsifying data, failing to publicize environmental data, and not giving closure orders to enterprises that illegally discharge pollutants....

China will find depending on whether the polluter is wealthy or not will determine the compliance to China's regulation. China will have to place a prison requirement sooner or later because the wealthy sees fines for bad behavior as another operating expense. In order to get the wealthy to take laws seriously there has to be a prison component to any law.

ie: The USA banks created tragedy for the people of the USA and the globe. There were some historic fines charges to the banks that conducted the ruthless scheme against the American people. No one went to prison and the fines were substantial but not even one billion dollars US. It was a slap on the wrist and basically the banks consider their fines a matter of operating costs.

That is why income inequality is a huge issue for the USA in 2016. There is nothing that stops the corruption or crime. The lack of real deterrents to the corruption only provides more wealth to fewer and fewer people.


Chai Jing, former presenter and journalist with China Central Television, presents a self-funded documentary about smog in Beijing, Feb 28, 2015. [Photo/CFP]

...2. Air
China's environment watchdog issued its most comprehensive and toughest plan in July 2013 to control and in some regions reduce air pollution by the year 2017, setting stricter limits on the levels of PM 2.5 particles.
The Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan (2013-17) is backed by 1,700 billion yuan ($277 billion) in total investments from the central government.
The plan specifically targets North China, particularly Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province. The plan's goal by 2017 is for a 25 percent reduction in air emissions from 2012 levels in that region.
The smog problem has never received so much attention.
In March a privately sponsored documentary on smog, Under the Dome, went viral online in China. It was viewed more than 300 million times within five days....

China should consider letting the artist bring her work to global film festivals. The world hears about the air pollution, but, it is still a bit of a mystery. By allowing the artist to show the film in international venues the issue can be understood in China and perhaps insight can be provided to encourage strict regulations that work for the people of China. I'd love to see the documentary and would like it released to international film festivals. A CD should be provided for sale as well. But, the film festivals will provide recognition for the documentary and raise the awareness and esteem of the filmmaker. The filmmaker should receive international appreciation.

...3. Water
China released an Action Plan for Water Pollution Prevention and Control on April 16 this year, with a 2 trillion yuan ($320 billion) package in place, to tackle serious water pollution, aiming to intensify government efforts to reduce emissions of pollutants and to protect drinking water safety... 

That is a lot of spending. I hope China is seeking consultation with scientists at the US EPA who are responsible for water quality. Why make mistakes when others have already experienced all the short falls of programs. China needs clean water now and expediency in bringing safe water to the Chinese people can rely on actual proven reforms. China can get it right the first time with some outreach to the USA or Europe. Actually, I think Europe have better water standards than the USA.

... 4. Soil
China is developing an action plan for soil pollution prevention and control, which may be released next year. The Ministry of Environmental Protection is also close to issuing a new soil environmental monitoring standard to replace a 20-year-old outdated version....

Magnificent. This will eventually bring China's products to international standards. Soil conservation to prevent erosion and contaminated rivers by over land flow of water also helps end pollution. But, the land has to be cleaned up. In the USA it is called "Brownfield Sites."

EPA’s Brownfields program (click here) provides grants and technical assistance to communities, states, tribes, and other stakeholders, giving them the resources they need to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties protects the environment, reduces blight, and takes development pressures off greenspaces and working lands. EPA’s Land Revitalization program works with communities, states, non-profits and other stakeholders to develop and test sustainable approaches for the reuse of formerly contaminated properties....'

The practice in the USA of cleaning up and protecting land is decades old. This practice allows lands to be reused over time. If it weren't for the practice in the Brownfields program, land use would be difficult for cities. China will be delighted when it sees the returns of responsible land policies. 

5. Clean energy
China's spending on renewable energy during the current 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) will reach 1.8 trillion yuan ($294 billion) in addition to a further 2.3 trillion yuan being spent on energy saving and reducing emissions, according to Xie Zhenhua, then deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission in 2013.
China vows it will reduce its carbon emissions per unit of GDP by about 40 to 45 percent by 2020 from the 2005 level and raise its non-fossil energy consumption percentage to 15 percent of the primary energy mix....

To good to be true. China is becoming a leader in alternative energies and setting example for the global community. 

Thank you!