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Be Careful What You Wish For, Bradlee Dean
Bradlee Dean writes in his March 24 WorldNetDaily column:
Just down the street in Williamsburg were the head and arm restraint stocks, which were located right outside of the local courthouse. A historian and re-enactment actor was outside educating the people who had questions.
One question asked was: "What is the head and arm restraint stocks for?" The actor said that before and after the revolution, the local magistrates would administrate Ecclesiastical Law (Romans 13).
She went on to tell us that crime was not tolerated in the least bit by the colonies because they understood the price paid to establish their freedoms (John 15:13). The stocks were used for those who would lie or commit the act of perjury (lie under oath, Revelation 21:8).
The criminal would be punished by being thrown in jail for up to six months (1 John 3:4). A fine would have to be paid, and this all took place after their head and hands were placed in the stocks as a means of public punishment.
First, they would bind them, take the criminal's ear and nail it with a long nail to the stock for one hour. After that hour was up, they would then go to the other side and nail the other ear to the stock for one hour.
When removing the nails, they would often slit the ear completely off, marking the offender so other colonies, as well as other cities or states, would understand that the person was not to be trusted. Thus, they fulfilled the true definition of "Earmark."
She ended with saying that it was to teach the person to repent before God so he would not end up in hell (Matthew 3:2; Leviticus 19:17).
Can you imagine the "earmarks" we would see today in the American church, government or in businesses if these laws were still enforced? How they loved their freedoms by demonstrating zero tolerance for crime (Deuteronomy 23:14).
Dean seems to be longing for such severe punishment for lying, but given his lengthy record of perjurious falsehoods, he'd better be praying for mercy if he were ever subjected to such a system.
MRC Transgender Freakout Watch
The mere idea of transgenders, for some reason, is a berzerk button at the Media Research Center, particular for MRC official Tim Graham. And Graham does his freakout thing once again in a March 25 NewsBustsers post:
The PBS NewsHour is nothing if not sensitive to the "LGBT community." A Thursday night segment drew the online headline "How North Carolina signed a bill dubbed the most anti-LGBT law in the U.S." Or, as the gay-left site Towleroad gushed over it, "PBS News Hour Takes Apart North Carolina's Anti-LGBT Law: WATCH".
The PBS anchor on this story was John Yang, an openly gay journalist who gave advice about being "Out on the Air" at last year's convention of the activist National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. The guests were Time Warner Cable reporter Loretta Boniti and Dominic Holden, "national LGBT reporter for BuzzFeed news."
Those opposed to say, letting men who "identify" as female use the ladies restroom, were barely noticed.
Notice how PBS uses all the usual leftist lingo. Their progressive groups are merely "legal rights groups" fighting for what Yang called an "anti-discrimination law" that "expanded protections for LGBTQ people, including letting transgender people choose which bathroom to use."
Yang kept the PC lingo going asking if this is the new frontier for "LGBTQ rights." The PC crowd may faint: He left out "Intersex" and "Asexual"! Why can't PBS go all the way to LGBTQIA?
Graham goes on to deny the discredited right-wing myth that sexual predators will exploit transgender non-discrimination laws to sneak into women's restrooms ... by citing alleged examples from an anti-abortion website and one he claims is "feminist-activist" but actually smears transgenders as "Transjacktivists." And actually, the anti-abortion website's example (involving a convicted sex offender who pretended to be transgender sexually assaulting women) is irrelevant to the issue at hand since it involved a homeless shelter, not a public restroom, and the incidents took place before a transgender accommodation law was passed. The anti-abortion website's article is strategically vague about the timing of the incident vis-a-vis the accommodation law.
Presumably, the kind of person Graham would like to voice the right wing's anti-transgender agenda on NPR and elsewhere is MRC intern Daniel Garza, who goes on the kind of anti-LGBT tirade that shows him to be prime MRC employment material in a March 28 post:
A time-tested, common-sense civic and cultural norm is currently under direct assault. Specifically, the inherent right to gender privacy, that fittingly separates men and women when it comes to access to public restrooms, has become the latest battlefield of the left.
Not surprisingly, Fusion, the hyper-left sister network of Univision, has gone off the deep end in support of this latest manifestation of the LGBTQRSTUVXYZ (so many letters it's impossible to keep up so we might as well just list them all) agenda that it's become a borderline obsession.
In recent days, Fusion has given favorable attention to subjects including but not limited to: a queer-friendly sex-ed guide, a celebration of a trans woman resisting police, San Francisco banning city employees from going to North Carolina and an article about a supermarket's gender-neutral restrooms.
Most prominently though, has been Fusion's constant push for acceptance of Trans people being able to decide what restroom they want to use.
Those who are trying to stand in the way of this latest offensive point out there is much at stake in the outcome of this battle. Not only is the right to privacy and decency for women and girls being threatened, but also a basic right to feel ostensibly safe in public areas, since the potential for more sexual assaults and sexual harassment would no doubt increase.
Where is such madness taking us, and where do we draw the line? For even more convoluted complexity you only need to take a look at nonbinary.org. Genders there include "faegender", which is "When an individual's gender changes with the seasons, equinoxes, and moon phases." As well as "kronosgender" described as "where you are a different gender at certain times of the day" and of course, "condigender", where you basically only feel like a boy or girl under specific circumstances.
On second thought, maybe you better just hold it next time you need to use a public restroom.
In addition to Garza's entire rant being hateful and silly -- anyone who spouts "LGBTQRSTUVXYZ" as a way to mock those who do not conform to right-wing gender norms is simply interested in having a serious conversation on the subject -- Garza's description of Fusion as "hyper-left" is just as meaningless; after all, the MRC thinks simply donating money to Democrats makes you "ultra-liberal," so its ideological scale is highly defective.
WND Repeats Fringe Right-Wing Group's Anti-LGBT Attack
Cheryl Chumley dutifully transcribes in her March 23 WorldNetDaily article:
The American College of Pediatricians has issued a statement entitled "Gender ideology harms children," pressing educators and lawmakers alike to resist embracing the agenda that's been advanced by the LGBT movement – that encouraging gender transitions among children is acceptable medical practice.
The organization said the trend toward gender transitioning is tantamount to "child abuse."
It wrote: "The [ACP] urges educators and legislators to reject all policies that condition children to accept as normal a life of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex. Facts – not ideology – determine reality."
The group then ran down a list of facts that have been confused or overlooked in the policy discussions on transgender issues.
As CNSNews.com's Penny Starr also failed to do in her article on the group's claims, Chumley fails to mention that the American College of Pediatricians is a fringe right-wing group with a couple hundred members at most and should not be confused with the much larger, more legitimate American Academy of Pediatrics.
Chumley, like Starr, also fails to include the view of the legitimate medical establishment of the fringe group's anti-LGBT views, despite her boss Joseph Farah's self-proclaimed insistence that "WND reporters and editors are always encouraged and required to seek out multiple sources and contrary viewpoints in news articles." Instead, Chumley quotes her other boss, David Kupelian, trying to boost the fringe medical organization's credibility by claiming that "It's great when an organization of medical professionals dares to defy political correctness and boldly stands up for truth and common sense" and ranting that "most of the medical associations in the U.S. have been infiltrated and taken over by the hard left."
Once again, WND's bid to add "real" reporters like Chumley and Douglas Ernst does not appear to be doing anything to help WND's subterranean levels of credibility.
MRC Denounces Media Coverage of Cruz 'Tabloid Smear' -- But Demanded Media Coverage of Tabloid Story on Edwards
In a March 25 NewsBusters item, Media Research Center research director Rich Noyes complained: "Despite the complete lack of any evidence, and only unequivocal denials from women named in the story, a story based on what even the National Enquirer itself labeled only as 'rumors' against GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz found its way onto both the ABC and NBC evening newscasts on Friday." Noyes followed up the next day with more complaints about coverage of thte story, for which he again pointed out "there is still no on-the-record source or any other supporting evidence."
That's a big change from 2008, when the MRC demanded coverage of another tabloid story when it was similarly unsubstantiated.
As we noted at the time, the MRC's Tim Graham huffed that the media was ignoring the story of John Edwards having an affair (at a time when only the Enquirer had advanced it, the current state of the Cruz story), complaining that the media more quickly jumped on the Larry Craig airport restroom toe-tapping scandal -- which, unlike the Edwards story, involved an actual guilty plea in court to an actual criminal charge. Other NewsBusters bloggers complained that one news outlet banned its bloggers from repeating the story, and another whined about the "MSM wall of silence."
And even when the Edwards story was proven to be true after all, MRC chief Brent Bozell still ranted that the story didn't get the play of Republican scandals.
So this is the MRC's chance to prove it doesn't have a double standard: It should promote the Cruz affair story as much as it demanded the so-called MSM promote the John Edwards affair story. Alas, at this writing the story is nowhere to be found on the front page of MRC's "news" outlet, CNSNews.com.
So, it appears the MRC is satisfied with hypocritical ranting instead of honesty.
A Right-Wing Conspiracy Theory So Nice, Cruz Says It (And MRC Quotes Him Saying It) Twice
Republican presidential candidate and Senator Ted Cruz (Tex.) sat for an interview with CBS's John Dickerson Friday afternoon in National Harbor, Maryland that aired on Face the Nation. Cruz lambasted the media for "hav[ing] a coronation" of Donald Trump as the GOP nominee so he could be viciously defeated by Hillary Clinton in November.
While discussing the possibility of a brokered Republican National Convention, Cruz pointed to how he's remained close to Trump in the delegate count but at the same time, "the media wants to just have a coronation" of Trump "because the media knows Donald can't win the general, that Hillary would wallop him."
-- Curtis Houck, March 6 MRC NewsBusters post
During his Super Tuesday election speech, Ted Cruz called out the media as Donald Trump surrogates, hitting them for the disparity in coverage given to Trump. Talking to supporters, Cruz denounced, "The mainstream media, the network suits who make the decisions, want Donald Trump as the Republican nominee."
He added, "That's why they've given him hundreds of millions in free advertising because they are partisan Democrats ready for Hillary and they know that Donald may be the one person on the face of the Earth that Hillary Clinton can beat in the general election."
-- Scott Whitlock, March 15 MRC NewsBusters post
The idea that the "liberal media" is deliberately colluding to make Trump the Republican nominee so he'll be beaten by Hillary in November is a conspiracy promulgated by the Media Research Center.
At NewsBusters, Donating to Dems Makes You 'Ultra Liberal'
The headline of P.J. Gladnick's Feb. 26 NewsBusters post blared, "New Republic Sold to Ultra Liberal Banking Heir Winthrop McCormack." In it, Gladnick ranted that "Winthrop McCormack is very reliably far left. A check of his political donations shows his money flows to far left causes and politicians with the safe (D) by their names."
As evidence of McCormack's "far left" leanings, Gladnick cites a newspaper article noting that he has "given at least $1.1 million to party candidates and groups associated with the Democrats since 2003, according to Open Secrets, the campaign finance watchdog site. On top of that, he also gave $1 million to an independent group in 2004 that sought to boost Democratic turnout."
No, really. That's it.
Apparently, simply donating money to Democrats makes you "ultra liberal" and "far left" as far as Gladnick and NewsBusters are concerned.
Mychal Massie Thesaurus Watch
Mychal Massie did some serious plundering of his thesaurus -- as he's wont to do -- for his March 21 WorldNetDaily column, letting loose with this bit of excess verbiage:
Today morally bankrupt calumniators controlled from the shadows by a camarilla of satanic marplots lead America. Diocletian was a more honorable man than those who are viewed as leaders today.
Massie even does a callback to this syllable dump later in the column: "In that I referenced Diocletian, I would be remiss if I omitted the lack of leadership in churches today as being synonymous with those in the church of Pergamum."
The other main feature of a Massie column aside from thesaurus-plundering is Obama derangement, and he delivers on that too: "Viewing Obama as anything other than "leader" in word only is akin to calling Idi Amin or Kim Jong-un generals because they plastered their chests with candy-machine medals."
Massie also claimed that "Obama gave his tacit stamp of approval when his then attorney general, Eric Holder, refused to indict members of the New Black Panther Party for one of the most flagrant acts of voter intimidation in over 40 years." In fact, as we've previously noted, nobody has ever come forward to say they were intimidated by the New Black Panthers standing outside a Philadelphia polling place in 2008, which makes Massie look rather lucricrous for calling it "one of the most flagrant acts of voter intimidation in over 40 years."
We don't recall Massie being similarly outraged over a different group of armed people standing outside a polling place. But then, this was a group of anti-immigration "Minutemen."
NewsBusters' Gwinn Thinks Plan B Equals 'Killing A Baby'
NewsBusters' Dylan Gwinn is not the sharpest knife in the media-criticism drawer -- he tends to let his right-wing talking points get ahead of the facts. This time, he gets medicine wrong in a March 21 post ranting about a TV show that broached the subject of the morning-after pill Plan B, which he declares is "killing a baby":
The lie, of course, is that Plan B is not killing a baby.
Despite what pro-Plan B/pro-abortion activists will claim, Plan B alters the endometrium, preventing the fertilized egg from attaching to the woman's womb. Thus, basically starving the egg from getting the vital nutrients it needs to survive.
Gwinn seems not to know the difference between a fertilized egg and a fully-formed baby, which he suggests is being "killed" by the taking of said pill.
Also, he doesn't know how Plan B typically works. As we've pointed out, the main way it works is by preventing fertilization in the first place. It's also unclear whether Plan B actually alters the endometrium, preventing a fertilized egg from implanting. Medical experts have noted if that actually occured, the pill's success rate would be higher.
Further, it's believed that between 60 and 80 percent of fertilized eggs never implant, meaning that a lot of "babies" are already being "killed" through natural processes (or by God, whichever you prefer).
Will Gwinn get similarly upset by that?
Carl Gallups Busted For Promoting Another Conspiracy Theory; WND In Cleanup Mode Again
Last year, WorldNetDaily had to clean up after right-wing pastor, WND author, Donald Trump supporter and birther Carl Gallups after his promulgating the idea that President Obama is the Antichrist became a liability. Now Gallups has gotten in trouble again, and it's time for another (unbylined) bailout article:
Pastor, former law enforcement officer and talk show host Carl Gallups is firing back at an international smear campaign by liberal media outlets around the world claiming he denied the Sandy Hook school shooting took place.
"I am not a Sandy Hook 'truther,'" Gallups told WND.
And he said people should consider the source and possible motive. After all, he's endorsed GOP presidential primary front-runner Donald Trump, and a condemn-by-association strategy could be in play.
So what did Gallups do? From the article:
Gallups explained the media was focusing on an interview he did with a man who claimed a picture of the father of one of the victims looked remarkably similar to a picture of one of the FBI agents at the scene. It was in that context, Gallups said, he referred to Sandy Hook as a "hoax," giving the perspective of his guest.
"I can state, right now, that not only have I never said categorically that the Sandy Hook tragedy is a complete fabrication or hoax, right now, I'm denying that it was a hoax," Gallups said.
"That doesn't prevent me from asking questions. That doesn't prevent me from saying, 'Here's a part of that whole scenario that is odd.' When I'm behind that microphone interviewing people, I'm a radio host and an investigative reporter and so I make no apologies for asking those questions."
As a former law enforcement officer, Gallups said he is used to examining all aspects of a case. He said several aspects of the case in Sandy Hook were unusual in his own professional experience. However, he does not deny the attacks took place, nor does he say it was simply made up.
"No one will find anywhere in writing or any audio clip taken in context, that I have ever claimed Sandy Hook is a complete hoax from top to bottom," Gallups told WND. "I have always said, from the beginning, as many people were saying, that there are many things about the case that are strange."
As he did with the Obama Antichrist claim, he's complaining because he got busted for promoting a crazy conspiracy theory.
The WND article is marvelously vague on what exactly Gallups did, since it fails to link to the interview in question. In fact, he did much more than conduct an interview; Gallup's PPSIMMONS website posted at least five articles by the pseudonymous "Barry Soetoro, Esq." claiming the Sandy Hook massacre was a "gun-grab HOAX." He followed that up with the interview with "Soetoro" in which he clearly agrees with with the conspiracy theory and doesn't challenge it. Media Matters points out that Gallups has also said that the evidence showing Sandy Hook was staged is "indisputable" and a "smoking gun" and that that the whole thing "stinks to high heaven."
So, yes, Gallups did say Sandy Hook was made up, making his denial a lie. If you are uncritically promoting the idea that Sandy Hook was a hoax, you are, in fact, a hoaxster.
Naturally, Gallups tries to build a conspiracy theory out of being busted for promoting a conspiracy theory:
"I'm a small cog in the wheel but I am a cog," Gallups said. "So they went after me. What they are trying to do now is put pressure on him [Trump] to denounce me, like I'm some David Duke kind of guy."
Gallups believes there is an agenda at work.
"As I said to the one reporter who bothered to interview me, 'Does you interviewing me make you a Sandy Hook truther?'" Gallups asked rhetorically.
Despite being the subject of a deeply hostile international media campaign, Gallups said he is undaunted.
"It truly doesn't bother me on a personal level and I won't back down," he said. "Consider the source – we are dealing with liberal media sources trying to marginalize an evangelical pastor and Donald Trump. Who can possibly say they are surprised?
"It's extremely disappointing because none of those people bothered to call me and ask me what I thought about Sandy Hook or whatever else they wanted to talk about. They just made up a narrative because they couldn't find anything else and they wanted it to stick."
There's also one more thing this article throws in that, while trying to build Gallups' credibility, actually does the opposite:
Gallups recently met with fellow lawman and Trump supporter Joe Arpaio, the Maricopa County, Arizona, sheriff. At the meeting, he was sworn in as a "Special Deputy for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office."
Gallups says he takes his past as a law enforcement officer very seriously and uses his experience to inform everything he says.
His experiences are part of the reason Gallups has endorsed Trump.
Huh? Actually, that "special deputy" designation is Arpaio's reward to Gallups for being a birther dead-ender. He regularly hosts birther "cold case posse" Mike Zullo on his little radio show to further the idea that the evidence proving once and for all that Obama is a Muslim from Kenya (or something) will be released any day now.
This deputization occured earlier this month, and coincided with a meeting with Arpaio, where he got just enough to keep the birther propaganda machine going. As Dr. Conspiracy notes, it's likely more of the same nothing that's been promulgated by Arpaio, Zullo and Gallups for years.
Now that WND has forsaken birtherism to support Ted Cruz, Gallups is, after Donald Trump, probably the most prominent active birther. Funny that WND doesn't want to tell its readers about that.
Updated: Friday, March 25, 2016 12:18 AM EDT
CNS Promotes Fringe, Foreign Medical Groups' Anti-Gay Attacks
Penny Starr writes in a March 16 CNSNews.com article:
The American College of Pediatricians issued a position statement last month entitled "Gender Ideology Harms Children," which will be followed by a peer-reviewed statement on the subject that's expected to be released by summer, the college told CNSNews.com.
"The American College of Pediatricians urges educators and legislators to reject all policies that condition children to accept as normal a life of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex," the statement issued on Feb. 2 stated. "Facts – not ideology – determine reality."
The statement – written by Dr. Michelle A. Cretella, president of the American College of Pediatricians, Dr. Quentin Van Meter, vice president of the American College of Pediatricians and a pediatric endocrinologist, and Dr. Paul McHugh, university distinguished service professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical School and the former psychiatrist in chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital – cites eight reasons why "gender ideology" instead of treatment based on biological facts is harmful to children.
The presence of non-pediatrictian McHugh in this statement is a huge red flag that this is more of a political statement than a medical one. McHugh -- whose anti-transgender rantings CNS managing editor Michael W. Chapman has promoted -- is an old man trading on his former affiliation with Johns Hopkins to create credibility on the right for his out-of-the-medical-mainstream anti-gay beliefs.
Starr waits until the end to quote the mission statement of the American College of Pediatricians, which also reveals it to be a political organization masquerading as a medical one, declaring that "we recognize the basic father-mother family unit, within the context of marriage, to be the optimal setting for childhood development."
But Starr doesn't mention that the group is a bit of a sham. Hemant Mehta writes that the group has maybe a couple hundred members and banks on confusion with the much larger -- and legitimate -- American Academy of Pediatrics.
Needless to say, Starr doesn't bother to talk with any actual peditricians who might offer an opposing view -- because balanced "news" articles are not what she's into writing.
This isn't even the only recent anti-gay attack on CNS invoking a so-called medical organization. A March 18 article by Chapman highlights how "The Indonesian Psychiatric Association (IPA) has officially announced that homosexuals and bisexuals are 'people with psychiatric problems,' and that transgender people have 'mental disorders,' conditions that can be treated."
'Chapman didn't explain why this group's alleged expertise should be trusted, but hetried to boost the group's credibility by claiming "The announcement was reported in several media outlets, including The Jakarta Post, The Guardian, and The Christian Post."
But Chapman made sure not to mention that the Guardian also pointed out that "For almost half a century, the global medical profession's consensus is that homosexuality is a healthy variation of sexual orientation. The medical community also rejects the idea that transgender people suffer from a mental health disorder."
Chapman also failed to mention that, according to the Guardian, Human Rights Watch "had documented arbitrary arrests, harassment, threats, and violence against LGBT people in Indonesia this year" and that it called on the Indonesian government to "take a leadership position by stating publicly that the rights of all Indonesians need to be respected, including those of LGBT people, and by committing to reforms that protect instead of persecute this marginalised minority."
The fact that CNS must resort to fringe and foreign "medical" groups to find backing for its anti-gay agenda show just how far out of the mainstream it has become.
Joseph Farah's Award Fail
Back in December, as part of its bid to create some semblence of credibility, WorldNetDaily promoted the then-upcoming Western Conservative Conference, which was not only to be graced by Donald Trump, but was also going to be the place where "WND founder and CEO Joseph Farah will receive the Western Center for Journalism's Hero of Freedom Award during a dinner gala celebrating the 25th anniversary of Farah's founding of the WCJ." Not only that, "Rush Limbaugh has been invited to present the award." The conference was to be co-hosted by Floyd Brown, who now heads the Farah-founded Western Journalism Center, making this award a total logrolling effort.
The conference was scheduled for last weekend, but we saw hide nor hair of Farah being given this sad little award at WND. We wondered what happened.
Turns out it didn't happen at all -- the award, or the conference itself.
The conference's website features a notification that "Due to an unfortunate medical issue we are not able to go forward with the Western Conservative Conference on March 18–19t, [sic] 2016." The website does not explain whose "unfortunate medical issue" caused the conference's cancellation, or how a single illness could derail a conference that promised not only the star power of Trump, Farah and Limbaugh but "former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., former NRA president Sandy Froman, and Scottie Nell Hughes of the Tea Party News Network."
The vagueness of the announcement suggests that the conference's cancellation was actually due to a lack of people signing up to take part and/or the backing out of one or more of the headliners. Farah probably isn't one of them since he likely really wanted that silly little award, no matter how incestuous.
Instead, Farah's hands are empty, and WND is as discredited as ever.
NEW ARTICLE: The Semi-Birthers At The MRC
Media Research Center writers didn't exactly support Obama birtherism, but they didn't exactly denounce it either. Only when eligibility questions popped up around Ted Cruz did the MRC get passionate on the subject. Read more >>
WND Strangely Trying to Shield Michele Bachmann From 'Obama Is The Antichrist' Claim
WND has renounced birtherism (albeit for politically expedient reasons). What deeply held belief will it renounce next (for politically expedient reasons)?
A March 17 WND article by Bob Unruh gives us the answer:
Multiple headlines on YouTube claim former Rep. Michele Bachmann believes Barack Obama is the Antichrist.
There's "Michele Bachmann warns Obama will reveal he's the Antichrist."
The popular (7,000 views) "Lunatic Bachmann Says Obama Is About To Reveal Himself As Anti-Christ."
And "Michele Bachmann WARNS The ANTICHRIST Will Take Over UN (OBAMA'S REAL AGENDA)."
However, the former lawmaker from Minnesota told WND, "I did not say President Obama is the Antichrist, nor did I infer that he is."
Bachmann said she's asked YouTube to take down the inaccurate statements but has not received a response.
Politicians expect criticism of their positions and statements, but now, as a former politician, Bachmann says she is just trying to get YouTube to halt the outright fabrications.
The claim that she identified Obama as the Antichrist, she said, is beyond the pale.
"I think President Obama has done more to hurt our nation than any other American president in our nation's history. He changed world history by enabling Iran, the world's chief sponsor of anti-Israel/anti-American terrorism, to quickly get a nuclear bomb and the means to deliver it to the U.S.," she said.
"Barack Obama's legacy is the establishment of lawlessness in the United States. He has deeply damaged both the American and global economies. He has deliberately stoked hatred between people based upon the color of their skin.
"In fact it is difficult to identify any positive legacy he will leave the American people. That being said, I do not believe Obama is the Antichrist," she told WND.
Unruh doesn't mention that the idea of Obama being the Antichrist was popularized by WND itself. It has promoted columnists Hal Lindsey and Joel Richardson llinking Obama with the Antichrist, as well as a video made by Carl Gallups (then hiding behind his PPSimmons pseudonym) claiming that the Bible actually tells us that Obama is the Antichrist.
Last August, WND gave Gallups a platform to walk things back -- he insists that he really doesn't believe Obama is the Antichrist, only an antichrist, and he again refused to apologize for making the video, calling it "thought-provoking."
Unruh doesn't explain why this particular accusation is now ideological poison at WND -- it's been trying to distance itself from the claim it once enthusiastically promoted for a while now. And he also doesn't explain why the statements Bachmann did make on the subject, while not explicitly claiming Obama is the Antichrist, should not be interpreted as suggesting that.
Unruh huffed that "One would have to make a number of unsupported assumptions to conclude that a statement by host Eric Barger indicated that." But he's fuzzy on the origin of the claim, and he fails to link to the Raw Story article on Bachmann's interview with radio hosts Barger and Jan Markell he blames for helping to forward the story.
In it, Bachmann talks with Barger and Markell about a questionable report claiming that Obama wants to become secretary-general of the United Nations after leaving office. Raw Story continues:
"Obama would only go into an empowered, powerful UN, powerful enough to see the United States come under the UN's authority," Bachmann said.
Markell found the reporting credible enough to form the basis of a wild conspiracy theory about Obama becoming "king of the world."
"The whole idea of Obama being able to extend his presidency, even enhance it and expand it, I don't think I need to say what I'm thinking because I think a lot of the listeners are thinking the same thing, and we all are too, and as you shake your head you wonder what's coming next," Barger added.
The implication, of course, is that Obama is the biblical Antichrist — a suggestion Bachmann herself has made before.
Unruh also quotes Markell vouching for Bachmann's non-Antichrist-ness -- but he apparently failed to ask he why discussion of Obama being "king of the world" should not be interpreted as veiled talk of Obama being the Antichrist.
(And Unruh waits until near the end of his article to obliquely note that Markell co-wrote a WND-published book.)
It seems like Unruh's article is just another effort to rebuild WND's credibility by tamping down its well-earned reputation for Obama-hate and conspiracy theories. And it's done as dishonestly as we've come to expect from WND.
MRC Mocks Idea That Transgenders For Cruz Is Like 'Jews For Hitler,' Ignores Cruz Hung Out With Pastor Who Wants To Kill Gays
The Media Research Center got a bit of mileage out of "The View's" Joy Behar declaring that "Transgenders for Cruz is like Jews for Hitler":
Kristine Marsh complained that "The media's attacks on presidential candidate Ted Cruz have been unprecedented, with comparisons to Nazis, the KKK, even a major newspaper using an image of a gun pointed towards his head."
The Washington Examiner's Paul Bedard promoted the clip in his weekly MRC-derived column, featuring this quote from MRC VP of research Brent Baker: "Classic example of excessive hyperbole exposing the prejudice of a media personality. So, since Ted Cruz is not an advocate for the specific rights and new laws transgender activists want imposed, that means he's planning a transgender Holocaust? Besides, I thought it was Trump who is the new Hitler according the media?"
But Marsh, Bedard and Baker all ignore evidence that Behar's statement might not be as hyperbolic as it seems. All they have to do is look at the anti-LGBT sentiments of the people who are supporting Cruz.
Last November, Cruz and other GOP presidential candidates attended a forum hosted by right-wing pastor Kevin Swanson who used said forum to advocate for executing gays. As we noted at the time, the MRC completely ignored Swanson's declaration, and it was not until three months later that Cruz bothered to try and distance himself from Swanson's remarks.
Cruz has aalso accumulated the endorsements of numerous anti-LGBT activists, including Sandy Rios and Linda Harvey.
Perhaps Marsh, Bedard and Baker can explain why an LGBT person would want to vote for someone who hangs out with such folks, at least one of whom has advocated their execution -- and why they shouldn't fear for their lives if Cruz is elected.
WND's Farah Offended Trump Being Likened To Hitler -- Then Smears MoveOn As Hitler-Like,
WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah spends his March 13 column complaining about MoveOn.org encouraging protests at donald Trump rallies. He writes:
While Trump's Republican opponents claim his campaign has invited chaos at his rallies with incendiary speech, they should remember this group used similar tactics against George W. Bush in 2004, also comparing the establishment GOP president with Adolf Hitler in media ads. If Trump's opponents think MoveOn.org would be any less brutish toward their campaigns if they were front-runners, they are hopelessly misguided.
You might recall that WND itself has spent notable time over the years comparing President Obama to Hitler and various Nazis -- heck, it even published an op-ed defending such comparisons. If likening Trump to Hitler is a "brutish" tactic now, it was brutish when WND was giving a platform to people likening Obama to Hitler.
Farah is once again being hypocritical --so much so, he goes on to make the very same "brutish" smear against MoveOn in this very same column. Apparently, being "brutish" is OK in Farah's eyes when it advances your agenda.
Farah then huffs that MoveOn's "thuggish tactics" are being "funded by tens of millions of dollars from Soros and a parade of other Democrat billionaires, including John Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, and her Tides Foundation." As we've pointed out in 2004, when WND was trying to smear Heinz Kerry because of her donations to the group, the Tides Foundation is not "her" foundation; she donated money to the group earmarked to support specific, non-controversial causes.
But Farah's not done ranting:
MoveOn.org is the new Ku Klux Klan – simply another age-old terrorist group that historically served as the military wing of the Democratic Party. Blaming Trump for their Gestapo tactics will only further their despicable ends.
These people hate America. They hate cops. They hate the military. They hate free enterprise. They hate liberty. They hate the Constitution.
This is not about Trump.
It's about winning elections, silencing opposition and using brown-shirt tactics we haven't seen since Mussolini and Hitler.
There's no middle ground here. Either you support fascist tactics like this or you oppose them.
But Farah can point to no act of "terrorism" MoveOn.org has engaged in -- unless you count organizing anti-Trump protests as "terrorism." Farah claims that "MoveOn.org hosted a petition calling on the U.S. government not to designate the jihadist organization Boko Haram as a terrorist group," but MoveOn has pointed out that the petition appeared on its "open petition platform" and gained only about 100 signatures during the two years it was active and ignored until WND friend and far-right former congressman Steve Stockman highlighted it (and worked through his WND buddy Garth Kant to make political hay out of it).
It's richly ironic that Farah is denouncing as "fascist" and "brownshirt" and Mussolini and Hitler-esque the very same tactics his organization has used against Obama for years -- and which have brought him only an utter lack of credibility.


Aetna is one of the few individual health insurance companies in Texas selling individual health insurance plans/ family health insurance plans for 2017. Aetna is also one of the even fewer companies offering an EPO provider network. An EPO provider network does not require referrals for specialist like other health insurance carrier's HMO provider networks do. For 2018 Aetna has just announced that they will be pulling out of Texas as well as many other states.
If you currently have an Aetna health insurance policy then your current coverage will not be impacted until December 31, 2017. You will be unable to renew your policy for 2018. You will need to select another health insurance plan during the annual open enrollment period.
The open enrollment period for 2018 will begin November 1, 2017. Aetna is notifying their members that they will qualify for a special enrollment period due to "loss of coverage" which will allow them until December 31, 2017 to select another individual health insurance carrier. We at Texas Medical Plans do not recommend waiting until then to secure new health insurance coverage for 2018.
Our recommendation is that Aetna members contact their health insurance agent no later than December 15,2017 to ensure they have new coverage effective January 1, 2018. If you are an Aetna member without a trusted health insurance agent please contact our office, Texas Medical Plans, for assistance at (512)847-3164.
Aetna has also recently been in the news for their data breach that has impacted 522 Texas residents. Please read more here.


text:
The corporation of A. Schaaffhausen'scher Bank Association () was a bank based in Cologne and was the first joint stock company legally recognised as a bank in Germany.

Company history
In 1791 Abraham Schaaffhausen founded his private bank, one of the first and most important financial resources for the growing Rhineland-Westphalia area and its involvement in heavy industry.  In 1848, the bank, seriously affected by the Revolutions of 1848, found itself facing solvency issues, and on March 29, 1848, they were forced to cease payment.  Under national guarantees, and acting upon the advice of the Prussian Finance Minister (and later founder of the Disconto-Association), David Hansemann, the bank was allowed to be salvaged by other bankers under the leadership of Gustav Mevissen, Wilhelm Ludwig Deichmann, Schaaffhausen's son-in law, and Victor Wendelstadt.  To this end, the Prussian government first sanctioned a bank in the form of a joint stock company - the A. Schaaffhausen'schen Bank Association. By 1852, the bank was able to pay back the aid it had received from the state.

Its banking philosophy may be inferred from an excerpt from the annual report for 1852 — "the function of a great banking institution is not so much to start new branches of industry . . ., as to induce the capitalists of the country, by recommendations based on exhaustive investigations, to turn idle capital toward such enterprises, which, when properly launched in response to existing requirements, and offering the guarantee of expert management, bid fair to yield reasonable profits." Industrial in purpose, current account business was secondary, and deposits were received only on condition of three, six and 12 months' notice being given for their withdrawal, and then only at a low rate of interest. The close identification from the first with the prosperous and flourishing Rhineland-Westphalia industry, and the strict adherence to its original purpose, lent strength to the Bankverein to weather the financial crisis of 1857 without the necessity of canceling any of its outstanding credits — a strong factor in extending its influence during succeeding years. One after another it nurtured industrial enterprises within its banking zone, each becoming an added source of strength for the Bankverein.

In competition with both of the other big banks in the Rhineland, the Essener Credit-Institute and the  Bergisch-Märkischen Bank, the Bank Association was able to augment itself with branches in western Germany. In 1891 a branch was opened at Berlin — a branch in fact as well as name — the parent institution remaining the only one of the five German "great" banks having its headquarters outside of Berlin. In 1904 it was able to take over the Westdeutsche Bank (located in Bonn). Between 1904 and 1909 the Bank Association was involved in a joint venture with the Dresdner Bank. In 1908 the number of branches was 10, with one silent partnership, or "commandite," and 15 deposit offices.

Six subsidiary banking companies were founded wholly or in part by the Bankverein (largely in co-operation with the Dresdner Bank), giving foreign banking and exchange facilities, a small incident in the general scheme of the Bankverein. Four German banks, with 13 branches, were absorbed wholly and another jointly with the Dresdner Bank. In addition, through ownership of shares, it maintained community of interest relations with three important banks, having 21 branches and numerous agencies, deposit offices and subsidiary connections. Most important, however, is the community of interest, mutual in terms, between the Dresdner Bank and the Bankverein, beginning 1 January 1904.

In 1908, it maintained representation on the boards of 94 other industrial and financial institutions. The capital of the Bankverein that year was 145,000,000 marks; and 34,157,125 marks surplus. The total capital power of the A. Schaaffhausen'scher Bankverein group was (1908) 278,538,001 marks, of which 231,000,000 marks constituted the capital, and 47,538,001 marks the surplus.  In 1913 the A. Schaaffhausen'sche Bank Association was the largest German regional bank.

In 1914 the Bank Association was taken over by the Disconto-Association, although it remained a stand-alone credit institute until 1929. Not until the fusion of the Disconto-Association with the Deutsche Bank in 1929 was the Bank Association completely merged with the Disconto-Association and then became a part of Deutsche Bank.

People Associated with the Bank
Well-known bankers of the Bank Association were:
 Gustav von Mevissen (Manager from 1848–1857)
 Karl Mathy (Director from 1854–1855)
 Carl Klönne (Manager from 1879–1900)
 Hermann Fischer (Manager from 1912–1919)

External links
  Company history from the site for the Institute of History of German Banks

References
 This article contains translations from the article on the German Wikipedia on December 7, 2005.

Banks established in 1848
1929 disestablishments in Germany
Defunct banks of Germany
Defunct companies of Germany
Companies based in Cologne
Companies of Prussia
Deutsche Bank
1848 establishments in Germany
Dresdner Bank

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Opinion-Editorial / Views / Marriage as 'heroism'
Opinion-Editorial, Views
Marriage as 'heroism'
Published November 28, 2020, 11:56 PM
by Dr. Jun Ynares
THE VIEW FROM RIZAL
Dr. Jun Ynares
A few years ago, a friend from high school texted me this message:
"How did you manage to survive?"
That friend of mine had always been a jokester. His text message was intended to greet me and my wife Andeng and to wish us well as we marked our wedding anniversary.
"I more than survived," I remembered replying.
"I succeeded," I added, putting in a smiley after my reply just to make sure my buddy did not think his joke had offended me.
My wife Andeng and I have now been married for 15 years.
I realize that, to many, this could be quite an achievement. In today's hurried, high-pressure world, many marriages break up before this milestone is reached. Others just attempt or do their best to "survive" the marriage, as my friend puts it. That would, of course, imply that marriage is an "ordeal" that married couples may just have to go through.
Andeng and I decided early in our marriage that we would make it work.
Making it work during the past 15 years has not been easy. The fact is making it work has been harder for us. We are a couple who are in the public limelight. Isolating ourselves and our children from the caring eyes of loved ones, and the prying eyes of avowed haters is a major task.
Andeng and I face the daily battles of competing demands from family and our roles in the community we serve.
This has become a bigger challenge now that Andeng is the chief executive of our famous city.
She is now putting into public service use her vast experience in managing her family's longtime business – a production enterprise that demands a lot of her talent for organizing and mobilizing creative people and resources.
Today, she plays the main role. I am now part of the supporting cast.
Still, our roles are exhausting, particularly during this time of a pandemic. They entail meeting a lot of people every day, solving complex problems, dealing with relationship and human behavior issues. There are times when almost nothing is left from our vast reservoir of physical and emotional energies.
During such times, married couples could get into each other's nerves. Both husbands and wives have to be conscious that they could be using each other as an outlet for the frustration and pressure other people give them. That would be unfair, but that does happen.
Given our respective situations, Andeng and I knew a long time ago that we will have to make the marriage work. We agreed and made a commitment to make sure that we are able to balance the demands of marriage, parenthood and the demands of work and public service.
That is easier said than done. Just like other couples, we may have compromised that principle on many occasions and have had to quickly get back on track.
Marriage, therefore, may require some degree of "heroism." The "heroic" part of it is sacrificing – giving way to each other's preferences, shelving our separate dreams to work for the aspiration we share in common.
Marriage also requires teamwork. So, my wife and I have gone through the same process that teams go through to become exactly that – a team.
Dr. Michael Hall, the internationally renowned author presents a clear process of how individuals become a team. There are four stages, he says: form, norm, storm, perform.
Here's how he explains the stages. First, the members of the potential team are enlisted. It is formed. Then, the members agree on how things are to be done and how they are to behave and relate to each other. That's how they "norm."
Then, they allow themselves to go through intense testing to see how the norms survive trials. That's going through the "storm." Dr. Hall says "storms" are essential because they guarantee that the team can eventually "perform."
Andeng and I formed that team on November 19, 2005. That was when we exchanged wedding vows at the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Manila Metropolitan Cathedral in Intramuros, Manila. It must have been 4 o'clock in the afternoon when I said "I do" to become part of that team.
Andeng and I started "norming" as soon as we realized that our circumstances would not allow us to have a "quiet" family life.
We have gone through many "storms." These storms tested our commitment to our norms: election campaigns, controversies, political conflicts, disagreements and the task of raising up two beautiful daughters in a high-pressure environment.
The "storms" tested our individual capacity for "heroism."
We have weathered these storms. Overcoming them have made sure that we can perform our roles in our family and community.
Our parents, relatives, friends, and colleagues in our profession and in public service walked with us during our "storms." They have helped us make sure that our team norms pass the test with flying colors. We thank them for the valuable moral support.
I would like to thank my wife Andeng for 15 years of teamwork.
Here's to many more years of working on the same team with you, Andeng.
But who's counting?
*For feedback, please email it to [email protected] or send it to #4 Horse Shoe Drive, Beverly Hills Subdivision, Bgy. Beverly Hills, Antipolo City, Rizal.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


On WiSE Girl Guide Badge Days, Girl Guides from the Kingston area come to Queen's campus for a day to take part in hands-on engineering and science activities, while learning about the important role women have in STEM. At the end of the day, the girls will have met their badge requirements to earn a Girl Guides badge related to science and/or engineering.
All of the volunteers in this program are women currently studying different areas of science or engineering. It is a great opportunity for the girls to gain some exposure to various different fields.
In addition to registering, please fill out the permission form for each child being registered for the event. Please email the completed form to wise.girlguides@engsoc.queensu.ca or bring a printed copy to the event.
Lunch and snacks will be provided on the day of the event and allergies will be considered but your child MUST bring their EpiPen to the event.
Please email the Girl Guides coordinators if you have any questions.


E1694 tested GM2-KLH-QS21 vaccine versus high-dose interferon-α2b (HDI) as adjuvant therapy for operable stage IIB-III melanoma. We tested banked serum specimens from patients in the vaccine arm of E1694 for prognostic biomarkers.
Aushon Multiplex Platform was used to quantitate baseline serum levels of 115 analytes from 40 patients. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator proportional hazard regression (Lasso PH) was used to select markers that are most informative for relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS). Regular Cox PH models were then fit with the markers selected by the Lasso PH. Survival receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to evaluate the ability of the models to predict 1-year RFS and 5-year OS.
Four markers that include Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha Receptor II (TNF-RII), Transforming Growth Factor alpha (TGF-α), Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinases 1 (TIMP-1), and C-reactive protein (CRP) were found to be most informative for the prediction of OS (high levels correlate with worse prognosis). The dichotomized risk score based on the four markers could significantly separate the OS curves (p = 0.0005). When using the four-marker PH model to predict 5-year OS, we achieved an area under the curve (AUC) of 89% (cross validated AUC = 72%). High baseline TNF-RII was also significantly associated with worse RFS. The RFS with high (above median) TNF-RII was significantly lower than low TNF-RII (p = 0.01).
The biomarker signature consisting of TNFR-II, TGF-α, TIMP-1 and CRP is significantly prognostic of survival in patients with high-risk melanoma and warrants further investigation.
The immune system plays a critical role in surveillance, suppression, and ultimately the host inflammatory response to cancer. The fine balance between inflammation and immunosuppression in the tumor microenvironment has been shown to be critical to the balance between ultimate tumor resistance or tumor tolerance, especially in hosts with solid tumors . Recruitment of immune effectors, especially proinflammatory mediators, predicts durable responses and cancer progression free survival . Melanoma is a solid tumor that is well known to elicit a strong immune response and as such, has been the focus of multiple therapies designed to improve the antitumor immune response through vaccines, adoptive transfer of tumor-reactive lymphocytes , cytokines and monoclonal antibodies designed to manipulate immune checkpoints [4, 5]. The role of vaccination with proteins and peptides has been an area of intense interest [6–8], however many of these studies have been hampered by modest clinical benefits despite initially promising results [7, 9, 10]. One of the mechanisms involved in immune escape by melanoma cells involves down regulation of the proinflammatory microenvironment by regulatory T cells (Treg) via the release of immunosuppressive cytokines such as IL-10 and TGF-β, among several other immune suppressive mechanisms [9, 11]. Type II cytokines such as IL-6, TNF-α, IFN-γ and IL-10 have also been shown to be important regulators of melanoma immune tolerance and escape . Recent studies implicate myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSC) in the induction of CD8+ T cell tolerance in tumor-bearing hosts and that appear to be recruited by tumor-derived soluble factors such as TGF-ß1, IL-10, VEGF, GM-CSF, IL-6 and prostaglandin E2 . Evaluation of such biomarkers in the peripheral blood for their disease prognostic value is particularly desirable, given the accessibility and the ability to perform highly standardized assessments that may have future clinical applications.
High risk melanoma is defined as surgically resectable AJCC stage IIB-III disease comprising primary tumors between 2 and 4 mm in Breslow thickness with ulceration, greater than 4 mm with or without ulceration or primary tumors with associated evidence of regional lymphatic metastases. For stages IIB-IIC, the 10-year mortality rate could be as high as 40-60% and for stage III it ranges from 30-70%, depending on the degree of locoregional involvement . The current standard of care management involves definitive surgical resection followed by adjuvant interferon-α2b (IFN-α) therapy. Studies of high dose IFN-α (HDI) have yielded significant improvements in overall survival (OS) and relapse free survival (RFS) but were also associated with clinically significant adverse events . Identification of significant prognostic markers in this patient population is a critical area of need that may have clinical applications and may guide future adjuvant trials. This may eventually allow us to focus clinical follow up and adjuvant therapy upon those patients with the highest mortality risk sparing lower risk patients from unwanted follow up, treatment toxicity and cost.
The ganglioside GM2-KLH-QS21 (GMK) vaccine is composed of a highly antigenic molecule expressed on melanoma cells (GM2), coupled to an adjuvant (QS21) to promote a robust and lasting inflammatory response . Early studies demonstrated consistent immunogenicity of the ganglioside vaccine GM2 given with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) as an adjuvant and a trend towards improved RFS when compared to patients vaccinated with BCG alone. Patients with high titer GM2 antibodies showed increased survival . To increase immunogenicity, GM2 was covalently conjugated with keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) and the saponin adjuvant QS-21 was included, significantly increasing the immunogenicity , and supporting the testing of GMK as adjuvant therapy in high risk surgically resected melanoma patients as was performed in the E1694 trial as compared to HDI . This study showed that patients treated with HDI had 33% reduction in relapse risk compared to those receiving the GMK vaccine, with a 28% reduction in the risk of death. Further, another phase III study (EORTC 18961) confirmed the ineffectiveness of GMK vaccine as adjuvant therapy versus observation in high risk AJCC stage II melanoma [19, 20]. Taken together, the two studies support the current view of GMK vaccine as a neutral control with no significant impact upon either endpoints of survival or relapse.
In this study nested within the E1694 GMK trial arm, we identify four markers: C-reactive protein (CRP), Tissue inhibitor of Metalloproteinases 1 (TIMP-1), Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha Receptor II (TNF-RII) and Transforming Growth Factor alpha (TGF-α) where the linear combination in the analysis of our model generates a risk score that has a significant prognostic value for high risk melanoma patients. We show that baseline levels of this panel of biomarkers have implications in terms of OS and RFS.
Banked baseline serum samples from 40 patients participating in the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group–led intergroup E1694 trial and treated with the GMK vaccine were utilized for this analysis . E1694 was a phase III randomized study of vaccination with GMK (GM2-KLH/QS-21, Progenics, Inc., Tarrytown, NY) versus HDI for resected high-risk cutaneous melanoma patients (defined as T4 > 4 mm primary lesions, or any primary lesion accompanied by regional lymph node metastasis). Patients who were assigned to the vaccine group received GMK vaccination up to 12 times over a 2-year period. All patients had an Institutional Review Board approved written informed consent obtained.
Using standardized phlebotomy procedures, up to 30 ml of peripheral blood was drawn from each of the patients. Samples utilized in this study were obtained from subjects after study enrollment but prior to treatment initiation (baseline). Blood samples were collected without anticoagulant into red top vacutainers and allowed to coagulate for 20-30 minutes at room temperature. Sera were separated by centrifugation, and all specimens were immediately aliquoted, frozen and stored in a dedicated-80°C freezer. No more than 2 freeze-thaw cycles were allowed before testing for each sample .
The Aushon Multiplex Platform (Aushon Biosystems, Billerica, MA) was used to simultaneously quantitate the serum levels of 115 candidate analytes. The assay comprises a multiplex sandwich ELISA of monoclonal capture antibodies spotted in custom planar arrays in 96-well micro-titer plates. After serum incubation and washing, a second biotinylated monoclonal antibody to a different site from the capture epitope was introduced and streptavidin-horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was subsequently bound to the biotin site. Luminol Enhancer/Peroxidase solution was added and the HRP catalyzed the oxidation of luminol to 3-aminophthalate resulting in light emission at 428 nm. A chemiluminescent image was acquired and processed using a 4-parameter curve fit program (SearchLight Array Analyst Software) to compare the experimental sample values to a recombinant calibration curve run in parallel wells to derive absolute concentrations adjusted for dilution and quality values.
The analystes tested were human IL-6, IL-7, IL-10, IL-16, TNF alpha trimer, IL-1 beta, IFN alpha, IL-4R, IL-18, RANK-L, IL-1 alpha, IL-2R, IL-6R, MPIF-1, Leptin, MIG, GDNF, MIP-1 alpha, MIP-1 beta, MIP-1 delta, ITAC, GM-CSF, MCP-4, MIP-3 alpha, MIP-3 beta, MMP-1, SP-C, Amphiregulin, RANK, MCP-2, IP-10, OPG, FGF basic, KGF, HGH, GCSF, MMP-8, MMP-13, TGF alpha, TGF beta 1, TGF beta 2, TRAIL, TARC, MDC, Eotaxin-2, Beta Defensin 2, GRO gamma, TPO, HGF Beta, NGF, ErbB2, EGF, E-Selectin, P-Selectin, E-Cadherin, PAPP-A, VEGF-R1, VEGF- R2, PECAM-1, MCP-1, c peptide, CD40L, TSP-2, H-CC4, BDNF, RAGE, sAPPb, Thrombomodulin, ENA-78, GRO alpha, CD30, ICAM-3, MMP-7, CG alpha, IL-1RII, TNF-RII, IGFBP-3, EGFR, Human Resistin, MMP-9, ICAM-1, VCAM-1, PAI-1 total, IgE, MPO, TIMP-1, TIMP-2, PDGF-AA, NGAL, Acrp-30, MIP-4/PARC, SHBG, CD14, Clusterin, CRP, NAP-2, Fibronectin, PDGF-BB, VEGF-D, VEGF, TWEAK, PDGF-AB, M-CSF, SDF-1 beta, OPN, Ang-2, IL-17A, RBP4, alpha-2 macroglobulin, Apo-A1, Von Willebrand Factor, A-SAA, IL-23, Visfatin, Fibrinogen.
Univariate proportional hazard (PH) models were used to assess the association between each marker and OS or RFS. The Benjamini and Hochberg's method was used to adjust for multiple testing. Markers with detection rate < 70% were dichotomized as detected versus not detected. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator proportional hazard regression (Lasso PH) was used to select markers that are most informative for RFS and OS . Markers with fitted coefficients ≥ 0.1 were selected. We then fitted the regular PH models using the markers selected by the Lasso PH. The survival receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to evaluate the ability of the models to predict 1-year RFS and 5-year OS . Leave-one-out cross validations (LOOCVs) were used to avoid over fitting.
A panel of four markers that include Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha Receptor II (TNF-RII), Transforming Growth Factor alpha (TGF-α), Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinases 1 (TIMP-1), and C-reactive protein (CRP), at baseline was found to be most informative for OS (high serum levels correlate with worse prognosis). While only TNF-RII was significantly associated with RFS.
TNF-RII was selected as the only main contributor for RFS among the markers tested. We used the Cox PH model with TNF-RII as a predictor for 1 year RFS using survival ROC analysis . We achieved an area under the curve (AUC) of 76% with the full dataset; however, the cross-validated AUC was 66%. High baseline levels of TNF-RII, dichotomized at the median, were significantly associated with worse RFS (log rank test p–value = 0.01). Figure 1 shows the Kaplan-Meier (K-M) plot of RFS by baseline TNF-RII.
Kaplan-Meier plot of relapse free survival (RFS) by baseline TNF-RII. High baseline levels of TNF-RII, dichotomized at the median, are significantly associated with worse RFS (p = 0.01).
Markers with Lasso coefficients >0.1 were included in the final model. The panel of markers that were selected included TGF-α, TNF-RII, TIMP-1 and CRP. The three markers that were most reliable were TNF-RII, TIMP-1 and CRP (being selected by the model most of the time during the cross validation). The survival ROC analysis demonstrated that the Cox PH model using these four markers predicts the 5 year OS well with an AUC for the full dataset of 88% and a cross-validated AUC of 72%. Dichotomizing the linear score by the Cox PH model, at the median, was significantly predictive of OS (log rank test p-value = 0.0005). The K-M plot for the dichotomized score by the Cox PH model is shown in Figure 2.
Kaplan-Meier plot of overall survival by baseline TGF-α, TNF-RII, TIMP-1, CRP (Cox PH model score). High serum levels correlate with worse prognosis.
Among populations of patients with melanoma at high risk after surgical resection, efforts to identify subsets of patients at relatively higher risk for melanoma recurrence and mortality are warranted. These may have clinical prognostic implications, and may drive the design of future adjuvant trials by enabling us to stratify treatment according to risk groups where higher risk patients may be more likely to benefit from adjuvant interventions. Patients treated on the GMK vaccine arm of E1694 are ideal candidates for studies of baseline prognostic biomarkers given the lack of any demonstrable impact this vaccine has shown in terms of either RFS or OS in large randomized controlled multicenter cooperative group trials [6, 18, 19]. In E1694, the ganglioside GMK vaccine is now therefore considered a control arm of this study, where the clinical outcome showed significant advantage in favor of HDI in an intent-to-treat analysis analysis of both RFS and OS . The GMK vaccine was also evaluated as an arm of the E2696 study which was a randomized phase II trial that enrolled patients with resected stage IIB, stage III, and stage IV disease . Here again, GMK appeared to have no impact on RFS or OS of patients treated on the trial, whether administered as monotherapy or in combination with HDI . Most recently, the EORTC 18961 trial tested the post-operative adjuvant benefit of ganglioside GM2-KLH21 vaccination treatment versus observation in stage II (T3-T4N0M0) melanoma patients, demonstrating the absence of any significant effect of this vaccination upon either of the primary outcomes of RFS or OS .
We have therefore conducted a multiplex analysis of 115 candidate serum analytes in patients treated with the GMK vaccine in E1694. Our modeling analysis has shown that the four-marker panel consisting of TNF-RII, TGF-α, TIMP-1, and CRP, at baseline was found to be most informative in regard to OS where high serum levels correlate with worse prognosis. In addition, high baseline TNF-RII was also identified as the most informative marker in relation to worsened RFS. The RFS of patients with high (above median) baseline levels of TNF-RII was significantly lower than that of patients with low (below median) baseline TNF-RII (log rank test p-value = 0.01).
TNF-α is a proinflammatory cytokine that plays a central role in inflammation . It mediates its activities through two cell surface receptors, TNF-RI and TNF-RII that are active in soluble and in membrane-bound forms, and TNF-RII has been shown to have a higher affinity for TNF-α . TNF-RI is constitutively expressed in most tissues while TNF-RII is expressed predominantly on immune cells and endothelial cells . The soluble forms of the receptors have been reported to act as physiological attenuators of TNF-α activity , where the shedding of TNF-Rs leads to diminished surface receptors and this process has been proposed to reduce the clinical activity resulting from TNF-α in rheumatoid arthritis . Therefore, it is reasonable to hypothesize that high circulating levels of TNF-RII may attenuate the proinflammatory effects of TNF-α in patients with cancer as part of an overall state of immune tolerance. Further testing of TNF-RII as a potential prognostic marker in patients with high risk melanoma is warranted.
TGF-α is upregulated in several human cancers , including melanoma . It is a polypeptide growth-stimulating factor that has been implicated in the progression of gastrointestinal cancers. In addition, serum TGF-α was found to be significantly elevated in patients with gastric, pancreatic, colon, rectal and esophageal cancers as compared with healthy controls . In melanoma, transcriptional upregulation of TGF-α has been associated with differentiation of human melanoma cells . TGF-α belongs to the epidermal growth factor (EGF) family of mitogens . EGF and TGF-α have closely related tertiary structures and they compete for binding to the EGF-receptor which has been shown to be overexpressed in melanoma cells . The potential prognostic value of high serum levels of TGF-α in high risk melanoma patients at poorer prognosis should therefore be further evaluated as supported by our findings.
TIMPs are encoded by four genes designated TIMP-1, TIMP-2, TIMP-3, and TIMP-4 . They are potent regulators of the proteolytic activity of matrix metalloproteinases . TIMP-1 was shown to have cell growth promoting properties in a variety of cancer cell lines including breast carcinoma cells and leukemic cell lines . In addition, TIMP-1 was reported to have anti-apoptotic properties , and to have a role as a promotor of cell differentiation . Significantly increased serum TIMP-1 levels and a potential poor prognostic role have been reported in patients with melanoma , and patients with a variety of cancer types including breast [36, 37], prostate , gastric , colorectal carcinoma , glioblastoma , and multiple myeloma [42, 43]. In patients with melanoma, levels of TIMP-1 were found to be significantly higher in patients with unresected stage IV disease than in patients with resected stage I/II . In patients with non-small cell lung cancer who underwent surgical resection with curative intent, postoperative TIMP-1 has been reported as an independent predictor of prognosis .
Data support a role for high serum CRP as a marker of poor prognosis and of immune tolerance in advanced melanoma . For first detection of melanoma stage IV disease, serum CRP has been reported to be potentially superior to serum LDH measurement . As interesting, is a potential role for CRP in mediating immune tolerance: CRP is synthesized by hepatocytes in response to interleukin-6 during inflammation in concentrations that vary between non-tolerogenic and tolerogenic levels. There is a physiological role of "ectopic" thymic expression in tolerance induction by CRP (and other acute-phase proteins) and possibly other inducible self-antigens [47, 48]. CRP binds to phosphocholine (PC) and related molecules on microorganisms and plays an important role in host defense. Further, an important effect may relate to the binding of CRP to PC in damaged membranes. CRP increases clearance of apoptotic cells, binds to nuclear antigens and by masking autoantigens from the immune system or enhancing their clearance, CRP has been hypothesized to prevent autoimmunity . Baseline (pre-treatment) serum CRP was reported to have a potential therapeutic predictive value in melanoma patients treated with the anti-CTLA4 antibody tremelimumab [49, 50].
Our systematic modeling analysis starting with the 115 markers tested utilizing baseline biospecimens identified the signature of four markers discussed (TNF-RII, TGF-α, TIMP-1, and CRP) where the linear combination generates a risk score that is significantly prognostic of worse survival in this patient population. The ROC analysis has further supported the survival predictive ability of the model. Further characterization and validation of this association for the individual markers as well as the four markers signature is indicated both in terms of clinical applications as markers of poor prognosis in patients with high risk melanoma after surgical resection and in the design of future adjuvant trials as stratification factors once validated.
The four serum biomarker signature consisting of TNF-RII, TGF-α, TIMP-1, and CRP as measured at baseline is significantly prognostic of worse survival in high risk melanoma patients and warrants further investigation as a marker of poor prognosis that my guide patient follow up and the design of future adjuvant studies.
This study was supported by NIH award P50CA121973. UPCI shared resources that are supported in part by NIH award P30CA047904 were used for this project. This study was coordinated by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (Robert L. Comis, M.D., Chair) and supported in part by Public Health Service Grants CA23318, CA66636, CA21115, CA16116, CA39229 and from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Cancer Institute.
AAT and JMK were responsible for study design, study conduct, data analysis, and manuscript writing. YL conducted data analysis and contributed to manuscript writing. OY participated in study conduct and in manuscript writing. WAL participated in study conduct and in manuscript writing. MA participated in the study conduct and manuscript writing. SL participated in data analysis and manuscript writing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.


text:
Q: Created pages/subpages in Django I am currently learning Django and I am trying to create a few pages and subpages on my site.
project
urls.py:
from django.conf.urls import patterns, include, url
urlpatterns = patterns('',
    url(r'home/', include('home.urls', namespace = 'home')),
    url(r'about/', include('about.views', namespace = 'About_page')),
)
I first create a home page:
urls.py:
from django.conf.urls import patterns, url
from home import views

urlpatterns = patterns('',
    url(r'^$', views.index, name = 'index'),

views.py:
from django.http import HttpResponse
from django.template import RequestContext, loader
from django.shortcuts import render, render_to_response

def index(request):
    return render(request,'homepage_template/home.html')

Next I tried to create an about page but I get this error:
Exception Type: ImproperlyConfigured
Exception Value:
The included urlconf <module 'about.views' from '/home/bradford/Development/Django/pub_pic/about/views.pyc'> doesn't have any patterns in it

This is what my about app looks like:
from django.http import HttpResponse
from django.template import RequestContext, loader
from django.shortcuts import render, render_to_response

def index(request):
    return render(request,'About_template/about.html')

I don't have a urls.py but I thought the line
url(r'about/', include('about.views', namespace = 'About_page')),

would directly include the about.views. However I was wrong because this never called my index() function in about/views.py
I later changed the url() in pub_pic/urls.py to:
url(r'about/', include('about.views.index', namespace = 'About_page')),

But I got this error:
Exception Value:
No module named index

I think this caused due to the fact that only about.views is a module, not index()
I'm not quite sure how to create pages or subpages and best practices for a well structured project. Could someone give me some suggestions please? Thank you!

A: In your project urls.py, you cannot include an application's view files in urlpatterns.
url(r'about/', include('about.urls', namespace = 'About_page')), )

And in about/urls.py
from django.conf.urls import patterns, url
from about import views

urlpatterns = patterns('',
    url(r'^$', views.index, name = 'index'),)

If there is only one url in about/urls.py, then you can directly put it in urls.py of project.
from django.conf.urls import patterns, include, url

urlpatterns = patterns('',
    url(r'home/', include('home.urls', namespace = 'home')),
    url(r'^about/$', 'about.views.index', name="About_page_index"),
)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
2022 Chase Plastics Giving Card Campaign winners announced
Posted December 21, 2022 by group55
Chase Plastics has awarded donations totaling $10,000 to four different charities as part of their annual Chase Plastics Giving Card Campaign. Now in its seventh year, the much-anticipated campaign is awarding $2,500 to four winning charities. This year's winners were all nominated by customers of Chase Plastics. They include:
Twenty-Two Until None: This nonprofit is focused on ending suicide in the veteran and military community by providing emergency financial assistance, benefits advocacy and referrals to necessary resources and peer support. https://www.22untilnone.org/home
Benjamin's Hope: Benjamin's Hope is a non-profit leader in creating innovative options for adults affected by autism and developmental disability, ensuring individuals of every ability can live, learn, play and worship in the ways that fit them best. https://www.benjaminshope.net/
K9s for Warriors: Determined to end veteran suicide, K9s For Warriors provides highly trained Service Dogs to military veterans suffering from PTSD, traumatic brain injury and/or military sexual trauma. With the majority of dogs coming from high-kill rescue shelters, this innovative program allows the K9/Warrior team to build an unwavering bond that facilitates their collective healing and recovery. https://k9sforwarriors.org/
Tails of Hope: Tails of Hope provides service dog training for disabled individuals, special needs children, wounded veterans, and first responders. They also provide hope, fellowship, and a lifetime of support and resources for individuals and families that need it most. https://tailsofhope.com/
The Chase Giving Campaign started in 2016 to highlight charities that Chase Plastics' customers and suppliers were most passionate about. Their generosity has not only led to a total of $47,000 being donated to charities across the country through the campaign, but
it has also perpetuated the spirit of giving — something in which Chase Plastics strongly believes. Chase Plastics has made it an initiative to encourage volunteerism and increase awareness of charitable organizations by spotlighting various nominated charities on their Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn pages throughout the campaign. As a result, they hope to inspire others to donate time or money to the featured charities or use them as a resource themselves.
This year, the Chase Plastics Giving Card received a record number of nominations and used its social media channels to spotlight several charities. The added exposure of some lesser-known charities was met with appreciation from those who had submitted. "Every year, I'm blown away by the generosity of the plastics industry, our customers, and suppliers" said Chase Plastics' President, Kevin Chase. "It's an honor to support these organizations that do so much."
Past winners include: Rising Stars Academy (Center Line, MI), Penrickton Center for Blind Children (Taylor, MI), Battin Farms Equine & Soldier Sanctuary (Olivet, MI), See Me Home – Senior Dog Sanctuary (Sturgis, MI), Party for a Purpose (Monticello, MN), LifeCenter Northwest (Bellevue, WA), Children's Oncology Group Foundation (Philadelphia, PA), Home of the Innocents (Louisville, KY), Malachi House Hospice (Cleveland, OH), Gleaners Community Food Bank (Detroit, MI), Operation Underground Railroad (Anaheim, CA), Thumb Area Helping Hands (Bad Axe, MI), Folds of Honor (Owasso, OK), Hero Dogs, Inc. (Brookeville, MD), Because There Is Hope (Spokane, WA), Toms River Field of Dreams (Township of Toms River, NJ), Agape Safe Haven (Longmont, CO), Paws With a Cause (Wayland, MI) and Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank (Akron, OH).
Chase gives back with funds, volunteer hours
FRANK ESPOSITO
Materials distributor Chase Plastic Services Inc. is doing its part to spread holiday cheer.
Clarkston, Mich.-based Chase wrapped up its annual Giving Card campaign on Dec. 13. Nominations opened in early November and will be selected on Dec. 21. Those chosen each will receive a $1,000 donation from Chase.
More than 500 charities have been nominated since Chase started the program in 2016, with almost $40,000 distributed.
Chase Plastics partners with global thermoplastic elastomer company Elastron
Posted December 1, 2022 by group55
Chase Plastics announced today the formation of a new supplier partnership with global thermoplastic elastomer company Elastron. Effective December 1, 2022, Chase Plastics will distribute the Elastron V product portfolio of thermoplastic vulcanizates. "We are thrilled about our new Elastron partnership and the customer-focused synergies that our two companies share," said Chase Plastics' President, Adam Paulson. "Our core values are aligned with a passion for customer satisfaction and delivering outrageous service. As a leading North American distributor of thermoplastic elastomers, the Elastron V comprehensive product line rounds out our extensive TPE product offering with a high-quality thermoplastic vulcanizate."
Headquartered in Gebze, Turkey, with offices around the world, Elastron serves the North American market from its production facility in Gainesville, GA. Elastron General Manager for the US Operation, Dr. Zev Gurion, spoke of the company's new relationship with Chase Plastics. "We are very excited to cooperate with Chase Plastics as our new distributor for our Elastron V product line. Our excellent quality and customer focus will match well with Chase Plastics' outstanding distribution system and best-in-class customer service, and we expect that the strong synergy between our companies will result in very strong growth."
Elastron V is a cross-linked EPDM-based thermoplastic elastomer vulcanizates. Elastron V (TPV) grades have excellent mechanical properties, quality sustainability, flexibility, and low compression set. They are used in several market segments, including automotive, medical, consumer, construction, and other industrial applications.
About Elastron TPE
Elastron USA was formed in 2010 and started production in 2018, in Gainesville, Georgia. Elastron USA serves the North American market with warehouses in the East and the West Coasts. It's parent company, Elastron, is a global supplier of thermoplastic elastomers. It is one of the premier thermoplastic elastomers suppliers in Europe and does business in over 55 countries.
Elastron's main production facility in Gebze, Turkey, is at the intersection of the East and the West. Elastron has offices in China, Taiwan, and Japan for the Asia Pacific market. It also uses a Germany office to provide solutions to the European market.
Since 1980, Elastron provides TPE solutions to its global business partners in different sectors and supports them in preparing products that touch daily life and takes pride in providing industry leading customer service and support.
With TPV, SEBS and SBS based series; Elastron TPE is the key player in automotive, consumer goods, construction, medical and industrial applications from beginning to the end. Elastron R&D center develops customer-oriented and sustainable solutions in addition to its high-quality general product line. Learn more about Elastron at www.elastron.com
Chase Plastics sponsors STEM camp this summer by providing catered lunches to STEM camp middle-school students
Celebrating 30 Years of Outrageous Customer Service


Your Thumb Says Something About You! - Find Riddles?
Your thumb can reveal your personality to others! Try it, it's true!
Ever thought fingers can sometimes decide your fate or help others determine the actual you. This might sound wierd and freakish to some of you but at times, our thumb can tell others and us about out personality traits. It is also true in vice-versa cases.


Perlite is a versatile and sustainable mineral that is mined and processed with a negligible impact on the environment. The green community recognizes perlite-enhanced products as a high-performance solution drawn from a natural material of nearly unlimited supply throughout the world.
When perlite ore is expanded by exposure to rapid, controlled heating, it grows up to 20 times its original volume and takes on a foam-like cellular internal structure — essentially clusters of microscopic glass bubbles. (For a detailed explanation of perlite expansion, see: Why Perlite Works).
Over half of all the perlite expanded in the United States annually is used to make "formed products." These products include ceiling tiles, pipe insulation, roofing board and fire-rated door cores, and are manufactured with a variety of binders.
Pelite can safely be used over a wide range of temperatures. Being lightweight, non-combustable, and insulating, perlite has been found to be useful in a wide variety of industrial applications, e.g., refractory brick, high temperature insulation, molten metal topping, cryogenic insulation, filtration, and lightweight fillers.
Perlite has application as a high-temperature insulation in foundry cores, molds, and ovens, and as a crucible topping.


This course has been written and designed especially for us, to give the Student total skills in the field of Herbalism. Here you will find the ancient art of Herbalism brought into the 21st Century. The course writer has incorporated many of 'The Ancient Theories and Formulas' explored within this subject, several of which have been more recently updated in the writings of Dr John R. Christopher (1909 ~ 1983).
Through this extremely informative home study course, with its 'encyclopaedic coverage' of 'herbal preparations' and 'basic health' principals of natural healing, students will acquire an extensive knowledge and understanding of herbs and their uses in therapy treatments fully preparing them for a role as a Professional Herbalist.
This course also aims to encourage everyone to take a broad and continuing interest in medicinal plants, understanding the issues surrounding their conservation and sustainability.
Intend to Study Herbalism to the Advanced Level?
Herbalism 2 for 1 – If you choose to order the Herbalism & Advanced Herbalism Courses at the same time we will give you the non-advanced Course for Free (Offer does not apply to payments made by instalments).
Students wishing to enrol on this course must hold a Practitioner/Therapist level qualification, in Herbalism. Those who have achieved these qualifications from training establishments, other than the School of Natural Health Sciences, are also very welcome to enrol on this course.
Be able to recognise and identify the more common herbs used in modern treatments, both growing and dried.
Be able to classify plants according to their actions, e.g. as stimulants, astringents, and so forth, and to be able to relate the action of an individual herb to its indications in treatment.
Understand the pharmacological actions of medicinal plants on the body in health and disease and know which specific tissues, organs and physiological systems are affected by administration of a given medicinal plant.
Be aware of the influence of plant remedies on the psychosocial and spiritual aspects of a patient's being.
Understand and appreciate the relative merits of whole plant preparations, standardised extracts and isolated plant constituents for application in holistic treatments.
Know the safe dosage range of the medicinal plants studied.
Know the contraindications and incompatibilities of the medicinal plants studied.
Have developed reading and research skills so that he/she will be able to continue to learn more about the materia medica of herbs throughout their professional careers.
After retiring from a successful career as a Consulting Naval Architect and Structural Engineer, Tony Edwards devoted his energies to the study and practice of complementary medicine. He holds professional qualifications in a wide range of therapies including Naturopathy, Nutrition, Psychotherapy, and Clinical Hypnotherapy.
Tony is the author of, and also tutors, several of the internationally respected School of Natural Health Sciences distance learning courses. These professional courses cover a range of well-established complementary therapy subjects such as Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy, Meridian Psychotherapy, Nutrition, and Herbalism.
Tony is a Member of the Association of Natural Medicine, a Member of the Nutrition Society, a Member of the British Herbal Medicine Association, and a Fellow of the British Institute of Hypnotherapy and NLP. He is a Life Fellow of Medicina Alternativa.
or £95 deposit followed by 6 monthly payments of £67.
or £48.75 deposit followed by 3 monthly payments of £48.75.


text:
Charles Sangster and His Works
W.D. Hamilton
Ecw Press
Charles Sangster is a pre-confederation poet who is considered to be one of the first to use Canadian subjects in his poetical works. This analysis of his poetry, written by W. D. Hamilton, explores his sense of nationalism and failed attempt to break free of colonial attitudes.
W.D. Hamilton is a Canadian writer and literary critic.
Other Titles from Ecw Press
Best Seat in the House
Heavy Metal Fun Time Activity Book
Death of WCW
Punk Rock Fun Time Activity Book
Feast of Science


Seeking Redemption Again (Fees) | Efficient Wealth Management Inc.
I have been getting multiple inquiries about redemption fees so I thought this month I would take the time to look at this issue again.
The possibility of redemption fees arise when you purchase a mutual fund with a deferred sales charge (DSC). Like no load funds, the mutual fund company does invest 100% of your deposit with them BUT if the fund is sold within a specified amount of time it will trigger redemption fees. This is due to the fund company not having sufficient time to recover the investment it made in obtaining the sale. Remember, these mutual funds have annual charges deducted (included in the management expenses or MER) each year and the fund company is counting on making money on you annually for enough years to satisfy their business plan. The redemption fees are usually a sliding scale, from about 6% to 0%, over a seven or eight year period.
If you are unhappy with the fund you are in, you may usually transfer it to another fund within the same class of funds at the same company without triggering the fee. It is usually required to move to a similar class of funds because the management fees are set differently on DSC funds than other classes. The mutual fund company is happy to be able to continue to charge you as planned, albeit in a different fund. With many mutual fund companies having large offerings of funds, this is very commonly the route used to get out of a fund you are unhappy with. Interestingly, the most common sliding scale is a seven year period and the average holding period for a mutual fund in the Canadian marketplace has always hovered around seven years. Huh! I guess Canadians as a group do not like to pay redemption fees.
If you decide that you would like to change fund companies before the expiry of the set time, you will confront these redemption fees. Now the fee is there because the fund company remunerated a sales person when the fund was sold to you (some companies will try to characterize it otherwise). This means you likely do have an advisor involved with your account. Before doing anything else stop and evaluate whether you need or desire an ongoing advisor. An advisor costs money, (between upfront commissions and annual trailer fees the advisor is earning 1% a year on average) and if you need one, you will pay in some form. If you are about to transfer your funds to another advisor that is also compensated by the fund company, either through DSC funds, Front Load funds or no load funds (ironic name) with a large trailer, think again. You will trigger the redemption fee AND still have a high MER (management expense ratio). You have made your situation worse, not better. So maybe we need to also think about the advisor, not just the fund company. For new or small investors, mutual funds do provide a wonderful way to enter the markets beyond GICs. However, a high percentage of mutual funds are sold by commissioned advisors, many for whom the key word is commission, NOT advisors. This unfortunately often includes the banks, who are also product driven distributors. Additionally, the problem is not always only the advisor, but the timid investor, who is afraid to ask to get what they are paying for. Demand a good, complete financial plan of your advisor or financial planner. Expect it and ask for it. That is what you are paying the high MERs for. If your advisor is unable to provide it, then you have a clear answer and it is time to move on. As always, do be vigilant in understanding the advisor`s motivation for any recommendations they make at this time.
If you can find an advisor that specializes in lower cost funds or you are going to manage your own account, you can now evaluate the decision to dump your existing fund company on a return on investment basis. If your current funds have an MER of 2.5% and you can reduce the MER to 1.5% with another comparable fund with an advisor attached, then you have a basis for saving 1% per year. It may take you five or six years to reap the savings, so not much pay back for making the change. You will need other reasons like lack of confidence or poor service or inability to provide a good financial plan, etc. to trigger a change. However, if the current cost is over 4%, like I saw just last week, very different story with lots of opportunity to save. Before we leave that thought, just like in all your other shopping experiences, there are comparable products at very different price points, you just need to know where to shop. Few funds in Canada are completely unique regardless of the marketing materials that say otherwise, so lowering your costs is always an option.
Now if you have decided to abandon the use of a company paid advisor altogether, for doing it yourself or using a fee only advisor, you can get a much different result. If much of your holdings are in very large funds that tend to track the index, move to an index fund or ETF. MER costs will fall below 0.5% and now with a 2% yearly savings you will have your money back in just a few years. If you seek out a fee only planner, set your expectations correctly. It is difficult to provide any worthwhile detailed plan for under $800, which is a high percentage cost when you only have a few dollars to invest. With additional fees each year for review, you may save some, but if you need or desire an advisor, it will be an ongoing cost. The average fee only planner is charging $200 to $250 per hour, but many do have discounts and lower rates to help out small or new investors, we do. Best of all, find a Portfolio Manager that also offers financial planning.


text:
School bond elections reflect local priorities
Deming's "Desert Sage" columnist makes a case for school bond elections in three New Mexico districts.
School bond elections reflect local priorities Deming's "Desert Sage" columnist makes a case for school bond elections in three New Mexico districts. Check out this story on demingheadlight.com: http://www.demingheadlight.com/story/opinion/columnists/2018/02/01/school-bond-elections-send-message-our-youth/1084434001/
Algernon D'Ammassa, The Deming Headlight Published 9:16 a.m. MT Feb. 1, 2018 | Updated 5:25 p.m. MT Feb. 1, 2018
The public was seated by the front entrance to the new Deming High School on S. Iron Street, with the marching band ready to play as soon as the ribbon was cut.(Photo: Algernon D'Ammassa/Deming Headlight)Buy Photo
In a few days, voters in Doña Ana and Luna counties will decide the fate of three school district bonds.
In comparison to the $50 million bond sought by the Las Cruces Public Schools and $38 million by the Gadsden Independent School District, the Deming Public Schools seeks $10 million. None would lead to an increase in taxes. Voters are simply being asked to authorize these agencies to issue general obligation bonds, repaid from existing taxes, to raise money to improve existing facilities.
General obligation bonds are a routine source of revenue for public facilities and infrastructure, but in Luna County passage is not assured. Prior to 2018, the city of Deming has never asked voters to authorize bonds. Although our $27 million school bond passed in 2014, securing funding for two new school buildings, voters here have also rejected school bonds in recent cycles.
(Photo: Courtesy photo)
My conversations in the community over the past decade reflect a recurring desire by some voters to "send a message" or punish the school district for its performance. This year, some have brought up the previous DPS administration's accounting scandal – but the sentiment is older than that and goes deeper.
There is a mistaken view that money for maintenance and upgrades of physical facilities is some sort of reward for school administrators. If any district has improved student achievement by allowing buildings to deteriorate, I have yet to see the evidence. If saving $100 today to pay for a $1,000 emergency later is a wise use of public funds, I have yet to hear a compelling case.
The state of a community's schools is not only a test of money management. It is also a measure of how we regard some of the most vulnerable members of the community.
The gymnasium at Deming's Chaparral Elementary is an example to consider.
This building, erected a quarter-century prior to the Americans with Disabilities Act, designed its gymnasium to sit in a bowl in the ground. It can only be accessed by navigating stairs – including the emergency exit. It is the only space that can accommodate school assemblies as well as physical education. It does not provide for safe evacuation of students, much less an inclusive environment for students requiring mobility devices. Not only does it fail to comply with the ADA, it scoffs at it.
After nearly 28 years as law, the ADA is perhaps better known as a bureaucratic hurdle and expense than as a measure of social progress and integration. In 1990, it was a political victory affirming the right of people who require accommodation to participate fully in community life without being segregated.
Rebuilding a gym, installing ramps, widening doorways or bathroom stalls – these projects may not appear to be as exciting as, say, building a shiny new high school. Yet for a student to join her peers in all school activities, a thing the majority take for granted, as an affirmation of her dignity and full membership in the community, it is a fine edifice indeed.
All three districts are asking permission to raise money, without raising taxes, to improve existing houses of learning. If we expect teachers to be effective and for our students to achieve (two complicated notions we can explore at another time), we must permit public investment in up-to-date, safe, comfortable facilities that do not ostracize some students – or even one – because of special needs.
Algernon D'Ammassa is Desert Sage. Share your thoughts at adammassa@demingheadlight.com.
Read or Share this story: http://www.demingheadlight.com/story/opinion/columnists/2018/02/01/school-bond-elections-send-message-our-youth/1084434001/
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