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Chicago and New York in worst financial shape among large US cities

Marc Joffe
The Fiscal Times
Mon, 09 Jan 2017 22:27 UTC
New York city
© Allen McGregor/Wikimedia Commons
Chicago and New York rank at the bottom of a new analysis of fiscal strength based primarily on data from 2015 financial reports issued by the cities themselves. The analysis includes 116 U.S. cities with populations greater than 200,000. See the full rankings here.

Chicago's position at the bottom of the ranking is no surprise to anyone who follows municipal finance. The Windy City has become a poster child for financial mismanagement, having suffered a series of ratings downgrades in recent years. Aside from having thin reserves and large volumes of outstanding debt, Chicago is notorious for its underfunded pension plans.

For example, the city's Municipal Employees' Annuity and Benefit Fund (MEABF) reported $4.7 billion in assets and $14.7 billion of actuarially accrued liabilities at the end of 2015, representing a funded ratio of just 33 percent. The actuarial calculations rely on a controversial practice of discounting future benefits at a rate of 7.5 percent, which is the assumed return on the fund's portfolio return. If a more conservative assumption was employed, MEABF's liabilities would be higher and its funded ratio lower.
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Bandaid

Fox News settles sexual harassment claims by former host

Anya George Tharakan
Reuters
Tue, 10 Jan 2017 15:39 UTC
Bill O'Reilly
© Reuters
Bill O'Reilly
Fox News reached a financial settlement several months ago with former host Juliet Huddy, who claimed she was sexually harassed by two top figures at the cable news network, the WSJ reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.

In a letter from her attorney to Fox News, Huddy claimed she had been harassed by "The O'Reilly Factor" host Bill O'Reilly and Fox News co-President Jack Abernethy, the Journal reported.

Fox News, a unit of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc, paid a six-figure settlement to Huddy, but believes the claims are false, the Journal reported.

The settlement came when Fox News was dealing with sexual harassment claims against former network chief Roger Ailes, the Journal said.

Wigdor LLP, which is representing Huddy, declined to comment. Fox News did not respond to a request for comment.
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Map

Five injured in Ohio power plant explosion; second plant explosion in Tri-State area


RT
Tue, 10 Jan 2017 19:48 UTC
Ohio plant explosion
© WLWT
Five people have been reportedly injured in an explosion at a power plant in Adams County, Ohio.

The blast took place at JM Stuart Generating Station, a four-unit coal-fired power plant, at around 1pm local time, WDNT.com reported the Environmental Protection Agency as saying.

Five people were hurt in the explosion, according to WCPO.com.

None of the injuries are life-threatening, Adams County Sheriff Kimmy Rogers said, WLWT.com reported. However, medical helicopters have been dispatched to the area.

There are at least 300 employees at the plant. The explosion reportedly occurred in Unit 1 of the plant, which stores equipment. It also has a turbine generator which could be one of the possible sources of the explosion, officials say.

This is the second explosion at a plant in the Tri-State area today. At around 11am local time a sugar silo exploded at a Perfetti Van Melle plant in Erlanger, Kentucky.

There were no reports of injuries.
Ohio plant explosion
© Google Maps

Comment: A local news outlet also reported that witnesses heard the explosion followed by black smoke coming from one of the stacks of the generating plant.

A couple of days ago, two unexplained house explosions occurred about 250 miles north, in Toledo, Ohio.

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People 2

Over 60% of Swedes see US as major threat to world peace


RT
Tue, 10 Jan 2017 19:48 UTC
shop window stockholm
© Arnd Wiegmann / Reuters
The number of Swedes who believe the US is one of the major threats to world peace and security has jumped to 60 percent, an annual poll has shown, with officials noting a 6 percentage points jump since last year.

The biggest changes in the way the Swedes see the world's civil preparedness, security policy and defense have occurred in their attitude towards the United States, the recent poll carried out by the Sweden's Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) suggests.

The MSB poll was conducted from December 9-14, after Donald Trump's win in the US presidential elections in November.

"That is a significant change," MSB general director Helena Lindberg said of the jump from 54 percent in 2015 to 60 percent in 2016, according to Swedish daily Sydsvenska.
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Propaganda

Abby Martin responds to New York Times propaganda outlet

Abby Martin
teleSUR
Sun, 08 Jan 2017 00:00 UTC
Abby Martin falsely portrayed by the NYT
© teleSUR
Abby Martin, the host of teleSUR's "Empire Files," issued the following response to the Jan. 7 New York Times article falsely representing her work at RT America.

The long-awaited report by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), allegedly proving Russian "interference" in the US election, includes a section solely dedicated to bashing RT, and specifically calls out my former show Breaking the Set, which ended two years ago, as a propaganda vector marking the beginning of the Kremlin attempt to subvert American democracy.

Desperate to push this US intelligence narrative, The New York Times called the report "damning and surprisingly detailed," while adding that it includes no actual evidence.

The very next day, on Jan. 7, the Times published another piece titled "Russia's RT, The Network Implicated in U.S. Election Meddling."

In the article, NYT journalist Russell Goldman used two blatantly false statements about my work at RT to support the argument that the network is simply a Putin-dictated propaganda outlet.


Comment: See also: 'Insane, ridiculous, embarrassing': Abby Martin blasts ODNI report and NYT for bashing RT and misrepresenting facts

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Eye 2

Female Psychopath: Wife of US marshal arrested for attempting to frame his ex-girlfriend in Craigslist rape fantasy plot

Christopher Goffard
LA Times
Mon, 09 Jan 2017 17:38 UTC
Angela Maria Diaz Michelle Hadley
© Maricopa County Sheriff's Office / Orange County district attorney's office
Angela Maria Diaz, left, is accused of trying to frame Michelle Suzanne Hadley, right, seen in a booking photo from June
When officers arrived at Angela Diaz's condo last June in response to her 911 call, police say, they found her in tears, with a ripped shirt and red marks on her neck. A man had just tried to rape her in her garage, she said.

Anaheim police believed this was the gruesome result of a recent Craigslist ad, in which someone had posed as Diaz and invited men to visit her condo to participate in her "rape fantasy" encounters, even if she screamed and fought back.

Detectives became convinced the electronic trail led to her husband's ex-fiancee, Michelle Hadley, who soon faced 10 felony charges and the possibility of life in prison.

It was a bizarre enough case, but on Monday it took an even stranger turn: Authorities say they were fooled.
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Palette

Many artists ignored by liberal elite

Tim Newark
Express
Thu, 08 Dec 2016 15:54 UTC
Last year's Turner Prize winner is a perfect metaphor for the fact that the liberal Left has run out of ideas.

Helen Martin
© PA
2016 Turner Prize winner Helen Marten in front of her installation
Long past its sell-by date, the kind of art created by Helen Marten only survives because the taxpayer-funded gallery elite insist on foisting it on us year after year, despite the fact that if this stood in a commercial gallery few people would buy it.

If we dare to criticise it, it is because we are simply too dumb to understand the beauty of it. It is much like their esoteric faith in the EU or globalisation.

Comment:

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Pistol

Bank robber holding hostages at Alabama bank


RT
Tue, 10 Jan 2017 16:14 UTC
bank robbery tuscaloosa alabama
What seemed like a bank robbery at the Alabama Credit Union in Tuscaloosa turned into a hostage situation, with one suspect barricaded inside the building near the University of Alabama campus.

A gunman entered the building and took the employees inside hostage, Lieutenant Teena Richardson of the Tuscaloosa PD told AL.com.

"It didn't come in as a robbery,'' Richardson said. "We don't know what the issue is."

The FBI is on the scene and assisting Tuscaloosa police, local media have reported.
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Magnify

IBSF reverses suspension of Russian athletes due to lack of evidence in McLaren report


RT
Tue, 10 Jan 2017 16:16 UTC
luge
© Vladimir Astapkovich / Sputnik
The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) originally accepted the McLaren Report, until it asked to see the evidence. And that evidence has not been forthcoming, Ellis Cashmore, professor of sociology at Aston University, told RT.

The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation has announced a reversal on the provisional suspension of four Russian skeleton athletes.

"There is not (yet) sufficient evidence against the athletes that would justify the provisional suspension," IBSF announced in a statement.

The ruling gives the green light for the four Russian athletes to compete at the skeleton European Cup to be held in Winterberg, Germany on January 14-15.

Two of the Russian athletes won medals at the Sochi Olympics in 2014.

RT: This latest decision to overturn the suspension of four Russian athletes because the evidence isn't sufficient, feels similar to the ban right before the Olympic Games in Rio, where there seemed to be a lack of evidence too. This keeps repeating, doesn't it?

Ellis Cashmore: It does. This insufficient evidence is actually quite damning when you think about it. There is an implicit critique of the credibility of the McLaren report. The international Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation originally accepted the McLaren Report, like anybody else in the world - apart from Russia, of course - and now it seems to have said: "We will ask the IOC: could we see the evidence?" And that evidence has not been forthcoming. Thus they feel that in the interests of natural law and justice they cannot sustain the suspension on the athletes. So they have said: "Ok, we'll take away the suspension and we'll see how we get on from this point. Let's see if the evidence turns up." My guess is that it probably won't.
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Stormtrooper

Useful idiot? George Clooney pushes ahead with film on terrorist group The White Helmets

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Tue, 10 Jan 2017 05:56 UTC
The White Helmets documentary
© NetFlix
George Clooney pushes ahead with his feature film glorifying Al Qaeda-ISIS terrorist group The White Helmets

Liberal, Hollywood love for Al Qaeda and ISIS wrapped up in a featured film.

In December, Variety reported that George Clooney is in early development on a feature film of Netflix's "The White Helmets" documentary, about "first responders" in Syria's war.
Clooney and producing partner Grant Heslov are seeking a writer through their Smokehouse Pictures production company. CAA is representing the rights to the documentary.

"The White Helmets," directed by Orlando von Einsiedel and produced by Joanna Natasegara, is on the documentary shorts Oscar shortlist.

The Syrian Civil Defense, better known as the White Helmets, consists of about 3,000 volunteers. The organization has has been credited with saving more than 60,000 people from the bombed buildings in war-torn Syria. The group has lost about 150 members during the war.

"In the White Helmets, we have a motto: to save one life is to save humanity," one volunteer says in the documentary.
Netflix released "The White Helmets" in September. Here is the trailer:


Comment: What a shill.

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