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সোমবার, ২৪ ডিসেম্বর, ২০১২

LaPierre refuses to back new gun curbs

After a controversial press conference last week, NRA head Wayne LaPierre made an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" saying the American people would be "crazy" to not put armed guards in schools. Meanwhile, Newtown, Conn., continues coping with the death of 26 people during the tragic shooting. NBC's Ron Mott report.

By Tom Curry, NBC News national affairs writer

Updated 10:50 a.m. ET:?On NBC?s Meet the Press, National Rifle Association chief Wayne LaPierre on Sunday refused to support new gun control legislation and maintained his support for putting armed guards and police in schools in response to the Dec. 14 school shootings in Newtown, Conn.

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?If it?s crazy to call for putting police in and securing our schools to protect our children, then call me crazy,? LaPierre told NBC?s David Gregory. ?I think the American people think it?s crazy not to do it. It?s the one thing that would keep people safe and the NRA is going try to do that.?

He added that the United States is now spending $2 billion to train police officers in Iraq and asked why federal funds could not be spent to train school guards to protect schools in the United States.

Asked about restricting the size of ammunition magazine or clips, LaPierre said, ?I don?t believe that?s going to make one difference. There are so many different ways to evade that, even if you had that. You had that for 10 years when (Sen.) Dianne Feinstein passed that ban in ?94. It was on the books. Columbine occurred right in the middle of it ? it didn?t make any difference.?

For the first time since the Connecticut shootings, NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre answers questions from NBC's David Gregory about his organization's stance on gun violence in America.

Feinstein, D-Calif., was the author of the 1994 ban on certain types of semiautomatic firearms which expired in 2004. She has announced that she will introduce new legislation early next year. Semiautomatic firearms, including semiautomatic weapons sometimes called ?assault weapons,? fire one round per pull of the trigger.

?I know there?s a media machine in this country that wants to blame guns every time something happens,? LaPierre said, but he insisted that an armed guard might have been able to stop Adam Lanza, the killer in Connecticut.

?If I?m a mom or a dad and I?m dropping my child off at school I?d feel a whole lot safer? if there were trained armed security guards or police protecting the school from people such as Lanza, LaPierre said, although he conceded that ?nothing is perfect? as a deterrent against crime.

LaPierre also said, ?We have a mental health system in this country that has completely and totally collapsed. We have no national database of these lunatics? and complained that de-institutionalization of the mentally ill had put too many dangerous people on the streets of America. ?We have a completely cracked mentally ill system that?s got these monsters walking the streets,? LaPierre said.

And he said many states do not put their records of those adjudicated to be mentally ill into the national instant check system that is designed to screen out convicted criminals and the mentally ill from buying guns.

The NRA CEO also argued that the federal government had invested far too little effort into enforcing the longstanding federal law that makes it illegal for convicted felons to possess guns. The federal effort to enforce existing restrictions on gun possession, he said, is ?pitiful.?

On Meet the Press, NRA chief Wayne LaPierre forcefully defended his call for armed officers in every school. NBC's Peter Alexander reports.

He said, ?If you want to control violent criminals, take them off the street.?

But he firmly opposed curbs on private gun sales and contended that the advocates of stringent restrictions on such sales want to put ?every gun sale under the thumb of the federal government.?

LaPierre called Feinstein?s bill ?a phony piece of legislation? which he predicted would not become law.

After a week of silence following the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School the NRA responded, saying armed guns in schools is the answer. "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," said Wayne LaPierre, NRA's executive vice president. NBC's John Harwood reports.

President Barack Obama has tasked Vice President Joe Biden with the job of consulting with members of the Cabinet and outside organizations to come up with legislative proposals by next month.

When asked about this initiative, LaPierre said, ?if it?s a panel that?s just going to be made up of a bunch of people that for the past 20 years has been trying to destroy the Second Amendment, I?m not interested in sitting on that panel?. The NRA is not going to let people lose the Second Amendment in this country.?

Following LaPierre on Meet the Press, Sen. Charles Schumer, D- N.Y., said that the NRA leader is ?so extreme and so tone deaf that he actually helps the cause of us passing sensible gun legislation in the Congress?. He is so doctrinaire and so adamant that I believe gun owners turn against him as well.?

Schumer said that LaPierre believes ?the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is good gun with a gun. What about trying to stop the bad guy from getting the gun in the first place? That?s common sense. Most Americans agree with it.?

But Sen. Lindsey Graham, R- S.C., said killers such as Lanza were ?non-traditional criminals? people who are not wired right for some reason. And I don?t know if there?s anything Lindsey Graham can do in the Senate to stop mass murder from somebody that?s hell bent on doing crazy things? -- apart from better security in schools. The South Carolina Republican also called for getting ?mass murders off the streets before they act, by better mental health detection.?

After a week of calls for tighter gun restrictions, the National Rifle Association called for putting more armed security officers in the nation's schools and expressed concerns about violence portrayed in video games, movies and music. NBC's Pete Williams reports.

Graham said that while he was out Christmas shopping in South Carolina this weekend, people ?have come up to me (and said) ?Please don?t let the government take my guns away.? And I?m going to stand against the assault (weapons) ban because it didn?t work before and it won?t work in the future.?

LaPierre?s appearance on Meet the Press followed the strong reaction over his defiant stand during a Friday press briefing about the NRA?s response to the Connecticut school shootings.

Amid a national debate over what security measures school administrators should take to ensure the safety of students, gun-control advocates reacted with disbelief Friday to LaPierre?s call for armed guards in every school and his blaming of Hollywood films, video games, and popular music for school shootings such as the one in Connecticut.

How firmly the NRA?s allies in Congress will oppose any new legislative initiatives from Obama, Feinstein or others remains an open question.

In a test of the NRA?s legislative influence, the House of Representatives late last year passed the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act, which has not yet been acted on by the Senate.

In the House vote, 229 Republicans and 43 Democrats voted for the NRA-backed bill.

The House bill allows a person with a photo identification card and a valid permit to carry a concealed firearm in one state to carry a concealed handgun in another state in accordance with the restrictions of that second state.

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Source: http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/23/16101856-after-reaction-to-its-defiant-stance-nra-prepares-for-2013-battles?lite

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End of the world on 12/21/12? Not just yet, says the Vatican's top astronomer. (+video)

The director of the Vatican Observatory dismissed talk of a Mayan doomsday on Dec. 21, 2012, saying that the end of the Earth, if it happens, is billions of years away.

By Nick Squires,?Correspondent / December 20, 2012

A Mayan dancer performs at the Xcaret Eco Theme Park on the outskirts of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, on Wednesday. Although some say the Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world on Dec. 21, 2012, the Vatican's top astronomer is rather dubious.

Israel Leal/AP

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A Mayan prophecy that the world will end this week may have the more credulous stocking up on supplies and fleeing to "sacred" mountains in the hope of miraculous last-minute salvation by aliens.

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রবিবার, ২৩ ডিসেম্বর, ২০১২

Gun lobby defends call for armed guards at schools

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The leader of the gun lobby on Sunday defended his call for placing armed guards in all American schools despite withering criticism of the group's response to the massacre of 20 first-graders in Newtown, Connecticut.

"If it's crazy to call for putting police and armed security in our schools to protect our children, then call me crazy," National Rifle Association Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre told NBC's "Meet the Press."

The NRA waited a week before issuing a statement on the December 14 killings of the children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School by a gunman who opened fire with a semi-automatic assault rifle.

LaPierre's speech on Friday in Washington drew protesters and stoked the fierce debate over U.S. gun laws in a nation with a culture of gun ownership and a history of school shootings and other gun violence.

The proposal to place armed guards in every school, an idea the NRA has long supported, drew the most criticism.

The congressman from Newtown's district, Chris Murphy, tweeted: "Walking out of another funeral and was handed the NRA transcript, the most revolting, tone deaf statement I've ever seen."

The New York tabloids skewered LaPierre's speech. The Daily News labeled him "Craziest Man on Earth" in a front-page headline on Saturday. The New York Post piled on with "Gun Nut! NRA loon in bizarre rant over Newtown."

The NRA's proposal was also attacked by politicians including New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the nation's largest teachers union and Mark Kelly, the husband of former U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who was hurt last year in a mall shooting by a gunman in Tucson, Arizona.

But LaPierre was undaunted.

"I think that is the one thing that we can do immediately that will immediately make our children safe," he said.

'GONNA BE A BATTLE'

LaPierre scoffed at the idea that reinstating the federal assault weapons ban that lapsed in 2004 would prevent more massacres, citing shootings that took place when the ban was in effect, including the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado.

"It's not going to make any kid safer," he said.

Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham made the same point earlier on Sunday in a tweet: "The assault weapons ban didn't work then and it won't work now."

On NBC, Graham said he himself owns an AR-15, the type of assault rifle used by 20-year-old Adam Lanza in Newtown.

"I own an AR-15. I've got it at my house. The question is if you deny me the right to buy another one, have you made America safer?" he asked. "I don't suggest you take my right to buy an AR-15 away from me because I don't think it will work, and I do believe better security in schools is a good place to start."

Other gun rights advocates in Congress showed a willingness to consider new gun restrictions immediately after the Newtown shooting. U.S. lawmakers have not approved a major new federal gun law since 1994.

"It's gonna be a battle," Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut told CNN's "State of the Union."

He and Senator Charles Schumer of New York criticized the NRA for blaming gun violence on everything but guns.

An attempt to prevent shootings in schools without talking about guns "is like trying to prevent lung cancer without talking about cigarettes," Democrat Schumer said on NBC.

Also receiving scrutiny is a ban high-capacity magazines that allow shooters to fire multiple rounds in a short amount of time. They have been used in several mass slayings.

Graham, of South Carolina, said on NBC he opposes that move as well.

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, said on ABC's "This week" that "putting some limits" on high-capacity magazines "could be part of the solution, but not the only solution." A former prosecutor, she also called for more stringent background checks of gun buyers.

The Obama administration was expected to propose steps next month to tighten gun laws.

(Editing by Doina Chiacu)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gun-lobby-defends-call-armed-guards-schools-202042338--finance.html

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Tools & Home Improvement - Lawn Mowers | ahmedrazu505

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Source: http://ahmedrazu505.blogspot.com/2012/12/tools-home-improvement-lawn-mowers.html

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Deep emotions run beneath Russia's adoption ban

You usually can judge Vladimir Putin?s dislike of a reporter's question by the intensity of his expression. Such was the case this week at his annual news conference, when he greeted with a hard scowl the subject of pending Russian legislation that would ban Americans from adopting orphaned children. Mr. Putin unleashed invective on the fact that consular representatives aren?t allowed to visit adopted Russian children in the United States.

?I believe that is unacceptable. Do you think this is normal? How can it be normal when you are humiliated? Do you like it? Are you a sadomasochist or something? They shouldn?t humiliate our country,? he told reporters in Moscow.

As is often the case in Russia, there is the issue of what is going on versus what is really going on. And as is often the case in Russia, it?s complicated.

Recommended: Do you know anything about Russia? A quiz.

There is very little doubt as to the goal of the legislation, which passed its third and final reading in the lower house of parliament Friday and must still be signed by Putin. The bill is named after Dima Yakovlev, the toddler who died of heat stroke in 2007 after his adopted father forgot him in a locked car in Virginia for nine hours. The father, Miles Harrison, was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Dima, whose adopted name was Chase. His acquittal in 2008 sparked banner newspaper headlines, incendiary TV news reports, and howls of outrage in Russia.

Lawmakers in the State Duma made it clear that today's legislation is a direct response to the US ?Magnitsky Act,? a law designed to sanction a particular group of Russian officials connected to the death of a whistle-blowing lawyer in a Moscow prison.

Get our FREE 2013 Global Security Forecast now

In other words, a law designed to punish people tied to a lawyer?s prison death has been answered with a law to prevent people from adopting orphaned children, many of whom have have developmental or other disabilities and will otherwise end up living much of their lives in orphanages that often resemble state mental hospitals of a bygone era.

Adoption is a searingly emotional issue for Russians, and one easily manipulated by the Kremlin. The institution of adoption is relatively uncommon in Russia, for cultural and other reasons. And judging by headlines in the Moscow tabloids, and the rhetoric of some state lawmakers, you?d think that Americans adopt Russian children to eat them.

Bolstering those who are suspicious of adoption is a smattering of abuse cases in Russian orphanages that have seized the public attention. In one notorious case, a nurse in a southern Russian children?s home was accused of taping pacifiers to the mouths of children to keep them from crying. And cases like that of Dima and of Artyem Savelyev, whose adoptive American mother sent the then-7-year-old boy home to Russia with a "to whom it may concern" note of rejection in 2010, give Russians fair reason for pause over foreign adoptions.

But for many Russians, the adoption of children by foreigners is a polite way of saying ?foreigners are purchasing our children for export.? Some 60,000 Russian children have been adopted by Americans in the past two decades, and Russia trails only China and Ethiopia in popularity for Americans seeking to adopt foreign children, according to the US State Department.

Many also see it as ironic that Russia is being sanctioned for human rights violations by a country whose policies over the past decade have seared ?Guantanamo? into the English language lexicon ? an irony that Putin, who like many Russians has a nose for hypocrisy, clearly relished in pointing out.

?Not only are those prisoners detained without charge, they walk around shackled, like in the Middle Ages. They?ve legalized torture in their own country. Can you imagine if we had anything like this here? They would have eaten us alive a long time ago,? he said.

But regardless of the moralities involved, the fact of the matter is that there will be clear winners and losers from this ordeal.

The winners will be the middlemen, the orphanage directors, the bureaucrats, and the administrators all of whose signatures or stamps, essential to the adoption process, can yield a lucrative stream under-the-table revenues ? revenues from well-meaning, would-be foreign parents with the means to pay thousands of dollars for the right to adopt a Russian orphan.

And the losers will be orphaned children who remain institutionalized. That was the point of US Ambassador Michael McFaul?s statement released Friday after the Duma vote: ?The welfare of children is simply too important to be linked to others issues in our bilateral relationship.?

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, a man not known for pulling his punches when it comes to US policy, has voiced his doubts, suggesting that more moderate voices might stop the bill's passage. Perhaps Putin, having made his point with his press conference performance and with the performance of the malleable State Duma, will relax his rhetoric and soften the bill to open the door to foreign adoptions again, thus portraying himself as doing the best for the children.

Mike Eckel reported from Moscow for five years.

শনিবার, ২২ ডিসেম্বর, ২০১২

Midwest blizzard leaves some stranded

Blizzard conditions in the midwest on Thursday delayed holiday travelers and caused hazardous conditions on the roads. Despite the inconvenience, some were glad to see the snow.?

By David Pitt,?Associated Press, Margery Beck,?Associated Press / December 20, 2012

A man walks his dogs down the middle of a deserted street in the middle of a blizzard on Thursday in Madison, Wis.

AP Photo/Scott Bauer

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The first widespread snowstorm of the season plodded across the Midwest on Thursday, as whiteout conditions sent drivers sliding over slick roads and some travelers were forced to scramble for alternate ways to get to their holiday destinations.

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The storm, which dumped a foot of?snow?in parts of Iowa and more than 19 inches in Wisconsin's state capital, was part of a system that began in the Rockies earlier in the week before trekking into the Midwest. It was expected to move across the Great Lakes overnight before moving into Canada.

The storm led airlines to cancel about 1,000 flights ahead of the Christmas holiday ? relatively few compared to past big storms, though the number was climbing.

Most of the canceled flights were at Chicago's O'Hare and Midway international airports. At O'Hare, many people were taking the cancellations in stride and the normally busy airport was much quieter than normal Thursday evening.

Aprielle Kugler said she was considering taking a bus to Des Moines on Friday morning to visit her boyfriend after she had two flights canceled out of O'Hare. Sitting on top of her luggage, the 18-year-old from Wisconsin said her mom shoveled more than a foot of?snow?out of the family's driveway that morning to drive her to Chicago for her flight.

"It's so ridiculous, it's funny now," Kugler said.

The storm made travel difficult from Kansas to Wisconsin, forcing road closures, including a 120-mile stretch of Interstate 35 from Ames, Iowa through Albert Lea, Minn. Iowa and Wisconsin activated National Guard troops to help rescue stranded drivers.

In Iowa, two people were killed and seven injured in a 25-vehicle pileup. Drivers were blinded by blowing snow?and didn't see vehicles that had slowed or stopped on Interstate 35 about 60 miles north of Des Moines, state police said. A chain reaction of crashes involving semitrailers and passenger cars closed down a section of the highway.

"It's time to listen to warnings and get off the road," said Iowa State Patrol Col. David Garrison.

Thomas Shubert, a clerk at a store in Gretna near Omaha, Neb., said his brother drove him to work in his truck, but some of his neighbors weren't so fortunate.

"I saw some people in my neighborhood trying to get out. They made it a few feet, and that was about it," Shubert said.

Along with Thursday's fatal accident in Iowa, the storm was blamed for traffic deaths in Nebraska, Kansas and Wisconsin. In southeastern Utah, a woman who tried to walk for help after her car became stuck in?snow?died Tuesday night.

On the southern edge of the storm system, tornadoes destroyed several homes in Arkansas and peeled the roofs from buildings, toppled trucks and blew down oak trees and limbs Alabama.

The heavy, wet?snow?made some unplowed streets in Des Moines nearly impossible to navigate in anything other than a four-wheel drive vehicle. Even streets that had been plowed were snow-packed and slippery.

In Chicago, commuters began Thursday with heavy fog and cold, driving rain. By early evening, high winds and sleet that was expected to turn to?snow?were making visibility difficult on roadways.

Airlines were waiving fees for customers impacted by the storm who wanted to change their flights. They were monitoring the storm throughout the night to determine if more cancellations would be necessary on Friday.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/uWB11hjbuR8/Midwest-blizzard-leaves-some-stranded

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Titan Advisors withdraws funds from SAC Capital - WSJ

(Reuters) - Titan Advisors LLC has decided to withdraw all of its money from the hedge fund firm SAC Capital Advisors LP, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, as SAC faces scrutiny because of several employees linked to insider-trading charges.

It's unclear how much money Titan, an asset-management firm based in New York, had invested with SAC for its clients, although it has $3 billion invested in hedge funds overall, according to a March securities filing.

In its article, the Journal cited clients who said they were told that Titan would withdraw investments in SAC. The withdrawal is notable because Titan Advisors founder George Fox was one of the early investors in SAC Capital, the Journal said.

Fox did not respond to a voicemail message. A spokesman for SAC Capital said the firm did not have a comment.

SAC is run by billionaire Steven A. Cohen, and came to prominence in the late 1990s for its outsized returns. The firm has posted returns of roughly 30 percent a year since its inception.

But more recently, SAC Capital has garnered attention for employees' run-ins with regulators and criminal authorities investigating insider-trading on Wall Street.

On Friday, ex-SAC fund manager Mathew Martoma was indicted by a grand jury in New York, becoming the seventh former SAC employee to be charged or implicated in insider-trading schemes.

(Reporting By Lauren Tara LaCapra; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/titan-advisors-withdraws-funds-sac-capital-wsj-002711205--sector.html

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