| Marines commandant protests US border deployments, wall Posted: 21 Mar 2019 04:20 PM PDT  America's top marine warned that deployments to the US-Mexico border and President Donald Trump's plan for a wall pose an "unacceptable risk" to the force, according to documents revealed Thursday by The Los Angeles Times. In memos addressed to acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan and Navy secretary Richard Spencer, General Robert Neller wrote that he had been forced to cancel or reduce exercises in five countries. Marines will miss exercises in Indonesia, Scotland and Mongolia, and their participation in joint exercises in Australia and South Korea will be reduced, Neller said in the documents dated March 18 and 19.
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| The Latest: Nebraska puts flood damage at more than $640 mln Posted: 21 Mar 2019 06:33 PM PDT  KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Latest on flooding in the Midwest (all times local):
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| Report: Sydney Aiello, who survived the Parkland high school shooting, dies by suicide Posted: 23 Mar 2019 07:41 AM PDT  Reports say Sydney Aiello was 19 and was at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the Parkland school shooting.
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| Democratic Socialists of America back Bernie: 'The best chance to beat Trump' Posted: 21 Mar 2019 07:35 PM PDT  The group helped leftwing candidates Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib win long-shot elections to Congress in 2018Bernie Sanders waves to workers at a rally at the University of California Los Angeles, on Wednesday 20 March 2019. Photograph: Richard Vogel/APThe Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has officially endorsed Bernie Sanders for president, with the organization throwing its growing political clout behind the Vermont senator ahead of the 2020 election.The DSA's National Political Committee leadership team voted to back Sanders during a meeting on Thursday night, after the rank-and-file membership had earlier overwhelmingly pledged their support.The backing of the DSA will provide a further fillip to Sanders, who quickly outraised most of his rivals for the Democratic nomination. The DSA endorsed Sanders in 2016 and helped the leftwing candidates Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib win long-shot elections to Congress in 2018."He has the best possible chance of the Democratic field to beat Trump," said Jeremy Gong, a member of the NPC who voted to endorse Sanders."Specifically because he has a working-class political agenda, as opposed to an elite, or moderate, or corporate-friendly agenda that is not exciting to anyone electorally – except a very small number of either Democratic party diehards or upper middle class or wealthy people."Sanders announced his run for president on 19 February and raised $5.9m in the first 24 hours of his campaign, second only to Texas's Beto O'Rourke among Democratic candidates. Sanders is running second, behind Joe Biden, in most polling of Democratic candidates – although the pair are probably benefitting from superior name recognition at this point in the election cycle.The DSA has seen a dramatic increase in membership since the 2016 election, rising from 5,000 members to more than 55,000. Ocasio-Cortez is the highest-profile beneficiary of the DSA's political heft, her victory in New York's 14th congressional district aided by the wealth of volunteers DSA can offer access to.Gong said the DSA was still working on its strategy to support Sanders, who is advocating for Medicare for All, a $15 minimum wage and a Green New Deal climate policy. There are more than 100 chapters in the US and each will decide how to promote Sanders. But Gong said the DSA was looking beyond just electing Sanders as president."Sanders alone, once in office, is not capable of pushing through these reforms," Gong said."We need to have a mass movement of ordinary people building organizations like the DSA, building their union, going on strike, demonstrating in the streets, pushing for his radical reform agenda."The DSA also aims to elect progressive candidates to local government across the country. Six democratic socialists are running for election to the Chicago city council this year, and despite Republicans seeking to use the term "democratic socialist" to denigrate Democrats, the DSA is continuing to grow.Sanders, 77, has been criticized in some quarters for entering what promises to be the most diverse race for the Democratic nomination in history, but Gong pointed to some polling which shows Sanders is popular among black and Latino voters, and said there is "not a deep bench" of candidates who have the politics and reach of the veteran senator."It'd be better and preferable if Sanders was not an old white man, and that there be someone who has the same track record, and the same politics and the same potential to transform our society that Sanders does," Gong said."[But] there is no one else who is advancing the Sanders agenda and building a movement in the way that Sanders is who could also be elected president."
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| JetBlue pilots who drugged and raped flight attendants continued working for airline without repercussion, lawsuit says Posted: 22 Mar 2019 10:20 AM PDT  Three female flight attendants claim they were drugged and two of them raped by two JetBlue pilots during a layover in Puerto Rico, a new lawsuit filed this week in New York federal court has claimed. At least one of the female flight attendants said she was forced to work with one of the accused pilots after the alleged rape. After making their way to a beach in Puerto Rico near the hotel they were staying during their layover in May of last year, the women were offered sips from one of the flight attendant's alcoholic beverages.
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| IRS Loosens Tax Penalty for Millions Posted: 23 Mar 2019 08:22 AM PDT  The IRS said today that because of changes and confusion caused by the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, it will penalize fewer taxpayers who didn't withhold enough federal taxes in 2018. Before the rul...
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| The Real Reasons American Evangelicals Support Israel Posted: 22 Mar 2019 11:54 AM PDT  It never fails. Whenever a Republican president makes a controversial or contentious move to support Israel -- such as moving the American embassy to Jerusalem, or yesterday's decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights -- you'll see various "explainers" and other stories that purport to inform progressives why the American Evangelical community is so devoted to the nation of Israel.The explanation goes something like this -- Evangelicals believe that the rebirth of Israel is hastening not just the second coming of Christ, but a particular kind of second coming, one that includes fire, fury, and war that will consume the Jewish people. The pithy, tweet-length version of this analysis comes from progressive Young Turks host Cenk Uygur:> You know what's REAL anti-semitism? Right-wing Evangelical Christians supporting Israel because they think it will bring about the End Times where all of the Jews die. Worst anti-Semitism in the world!> > -- Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) March 7, 2019Thus, the political marriage between American Evangelicals and Israelis represents a cynical form of mutual exploitation. Evangelicals support Israel to hasten the apocalypse, while Israelis (who obviously don't believe Christian eschatology) are happy to humor the Evangelical community and milk that support for tourist dollars and political power.But the true narrative of American Christian support for Israel is substantially different. The intellectual and theological roots of Christian Zionism do not rest in end-times prophesies but rather in Old Testament promises. Last month Samuel Goldman at Tablet wrote an outstanding piece explaining the centuries-old history and legacy of Christian support for Jewish claims to the Holy Land. After tracing Christian support for a Jewish Israel to the Reformation, he writes this:> These arguments were products of the emphases on the plain meaning of Scripture and the theological significance of covenants that characterized Calvinism. Before the Reformation, most Christians read prophecies like Ezekiel's as allegories for the transformation of the "carnal" Israel descended from the patriarchs into the "spiritual Israel" represented by the Church. Calvin and his followers, by contrast, insisted that allegorical interpretations were permitted only when literal ones made no sense. But why was it nonsensical to believe that the Jews might be reconstituted as a nation and return to their own land?In addition, I'd argue that Romans 11 has enduring significance in the American Christian mind. It begins, "I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means!" Paul declares that God "has not rejected his people whom he foreknew." The chapter continues with the assertion that Gentiles have now been "grafted in" to the same spiritual tree, and it concludes with the promise not that all Israel will be burned up in the apocalypse, but rather with the statement that "all Israel will be saved."Now, the precise theological meaning of these verses has been and will be debated for some time, but the practical impact in contemporary American Christian culture has been to create a bond between American Christians and Jews that would be utterly mystifying to the vicious Christian persecutors of Jews in the not-so-distant European past.The end result is a community -- including a political community -- that believes two things with firm conviction. First, God has reserved Israel as the Jewish homeland, and second, that the creation of modern Israel was an act of divine providence. While there are many Christians who believe this act of divine providence may be a prelude to the Second Coming (whenever that may be), that is miles and miles away from the belief that Jews will burn in a fiery apocalypse.These beliefs are then reinforced by experience and basic morality. It's difficult to overstate the profound impact that a visit to the Holy Land has on a believing Christian. I'll never forget my time in Israel. Not only was it moving to stand where Jesus stood and to walk where Jesus walked, other aspects of the visit bring the miracle of Israel's rebirth into sharp focus. How can you visit the ruins of the fortress of Masada and not grasp the improbability of the journey from total destruction to diaspora to renaissance?Then there's basic morality. As I've written before, from the very moment of its founding, Israel has been subject to repeated, genocidal threats to its existence. It has defended itself in the face of overwhelming odds, faced enduring terrorist threats that we in the United States can't imagine, and built an imperfect but well-functioning democracy that grants all its citizens (Jewish and Arab) a greater degree of individual liberty than the citizens of any other Middle Eastern nation.The pernicious persistence of anti-Semitism heightens the moral case for supporting Israel. There is zero justification for the U.N.'s obsessive focus on alleged Israeli crimes. Actual genocidal tyrants face less condemnation by the U.N. Human Rights Council than does the state of Israel. The Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) movement proudly holds Israel to higher standards than it holds the entire rest of the Middle East and most of the rest of the world. Some of its founders and leaders hope to eradicate Israel as a Jewish state.Finally, the fact that Evangelical support for Israel is rooted in part in Christian biblical interpretation does not mean that it is somehow less legitimate than purely secular support. In a nation full of believers, religious arguments have always been a part of our national life, and they always will be. They should be weighed and measured just like any other belief. Nor are religious arguments a right-wing phenomenon. There are liberal religious arguments for gun control, for laxer immigration policies, and for welcoming refugees, to take just a few, easy examples. And who can forget the mighty power of the Christian argument in the American civil-rights movement?Yes, you can find Christians who obsessively focus on the end times and try to match each and every significant news story in Israel with biblical prophecies. Those people are out there, no question. But the vast bulk of Evangelical support for Israel rests on faith in ancient promises, wonder at modern miracles, and a deep conviction that evil forces must not prevail against the Middle East's most vibrant democracy.
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| Crashed Boeing jets lacked two safety features that would have cost extra Posted: 21 Mar 2019 01:53 PM PDT  Two Boeing jets that crashed in Ethiopia and Indonesia each lacked a pair of cockpit safety features that the plane manufacturer charged extra for. The systems might have helped the pilots as they struggled to control their planes, aviation experts said. Lion Air Flight 610 crashed in October killing 189 people, and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 went down on March 10, shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa, with the loss of 157 lives. Both Boeing 737 Max aircraft were new but did not have an angle of attack indicator, which shows how much the nose is tilted. They also did not have an angle of attack disagree light, which is triggered if other sensors are giving conflicting information, the New York Times reported. Such safety features were not required on new planes by the US Federal Aviation Administration, and Boeing charged a fee to have them put in if an airline requested them. Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines had opted not to. Boeing has now announced the angle of attack disagree light will be free on new 737 Max planes. Ethiopia Airlines crash Bjorn Fehrm, an aviation analyst, told the New York Times: "They're critical and cost almost nothing for the airlines to install. Boeing charges for them because it can. But they're vital for safety." The various extra customised features offered by plane manufacturers can be expensive, with airlines paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for them. Many low-cost airlines opt not to do so if regulators have not made them mandatory. Airlines with Boeing 737 Max 8s in their fleet The US Justice Department has reportedly issued a number of subpoenas as part of an investigation, which is in its early stages, looking at Boeing's safety procedures. In a statement Ethiopian Airlines said its pilots went through all the extra training required by Boeing and the FAA to fly the 737 Max. As investigators look into the crashes attention has turned to a new software in the planes that can push the nose down in some circumstances, for example when the sensors suggest the plane may be stalling. The FAA has said satellite-based tracking data showed the movements of both flights were similar before they crashed. It has emerged that the Lion Air pilots frantically scrambled through a handbook to understand why the jet was lurching downwards.
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| Venezuela detains top aide to Guaido in move U.S. calls 'big mistake' Posted: 21 Mar 2019 04:15 PM PDT  U.S. President Donald Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, called for the immediate release of Marrero and warned that "Maduro has made another big mistake," adding that the arrest "will not go unanswered." Guaido invoked the constitution in January to assume the interim presidency after declaring Maduro's 2018 re-election a fraud. Maduro, who has overseen a dramatic collapse of the OPEC nation's economy, has called Guaido a puppet of the United States and said he should "face justice," but has not explicitly called for his arrest. Top U.S. officials have repeatedly warned Maduro not to touch Guaido and his inner circle, but it is unclear what more they can do.
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| Correction: Southern Flood Threat story Posted: 22 Mar 2019 01:07 PM PDT  In a story March 21 about the U.S. flooding outlook, The Associated Press misspelled the last name of a weather forecaster. He is Kevin Low, not Lao.
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| Lori Loughlin chose acting roles her children wouldn't 'have to pay the price for' Posted: 22 Mar 2019 02:51 PM PDT  In a 2014 interview, Lori Loughlin, now embroiled in the college admissions scandal, explained how she didn't want her kids to suffer for her choices.
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| Strengthen Your Retirement Security in 7 Steps Posted: 22 Mar 2019 11:47 AM PDT ![Strengthen Your Retirement Security in 7 Steps]( "Strengthen Your Retirement Security in 7 Steps") Retirement security is the ability to live a comfortable retirement without the burden of financial stress. Early planning is the best way to ensure a financially secure retirement, but not everyone has the luxury of time to prepare. The financial decisions you make in the years approaching retirement will have a significant impact on your retirement security.
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| Video Shows 78-Year-Old Woman Being Kicked Multiple Times on NYC Subway Posted: 22 Mar 2019 02:19 PM PDT  Authorities are searching for a man seen in cellphone video kicking a woman`s face and body several times on a train in the Bronx, police said Friday.
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| May Now Open to No-Deal Brexit If Parliament Rejects Her Deal Posted: 21 Mar 2019 12:45 PM PDT  British prime minister Theresa May, after repeatedly warning the public of the dangers associated with a so-called no-deal Brexit -- in which the country leaves the European Union absent a formal agreement with the EU -- is now reportedly open to that option if Parliament continues to reject the deal she has negotiated with Brussels.After announcing Wednesday that she had formally requested that the EU extend the Brexit deadline from March 29 to June 30, May came to accept the possibility that the U.K. will crash out of the body if Parliament refuses to approve the terms of her deal, The Financial Times reported."The mood has hardened on no deal," one person close to the prime minister told the Times. "She didn't seem concerned about leaving with no deal," said another source described as a "Eurosceptic conservative MP."The EU convened in Brussels on Thursday to discuss May's deadline-extension request, which she was forced to resort to after parliament twice rejected the deal she negotiated with EU leaders. May was barred by parliamentary procedure from putting the deal up for a third vote during the same legislative session.Speaking from Downing Street on Wednesday evening, May said it was a "matter of great personal regret" that she was forced to ask European Council president Donald Tusk to delay Britain's departure, but placed blame for the delay squarely on Parliament."Of this, I am absolutely sure: You the public have had enough. You are tired of the infighting, you're tired of the political games and the arcane procedural rows, tired of MPs talking about nothing else but Brexit when you have real concerns about our children's schools, our National Health Service, knife crime," she said. "You want this stage of the Brexit process to be over and done with. I agree. I am on your side. It is now time for MPs to decide."Tusk said Wednesday that the deadline extension "should be possible" but reiterated the EU's long-held position that any delay cannot be used as a pretext to renegotiate the deal May negotiated months ago.Update 3:51p.m.: EU officials have agreed to extend the Brexit deadline until May 22, CNN reported.
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| Donald Trump announces US should recognise Israeli annexation of Golan Heights Posted: 21 Mar 2019 11:16 AM PDT  Donald Trump has announced it is time for the US to recognise Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights, handing Benjamin Netanyahu a major diplomatic victory less than three weeks before the Israeli elections. The US and all other Western nations have always refused to recognise Israeli sovereignty in the Golan, the strategic high ground which Israel captured from Syria in 1967 and annexed in 1981. Mr Trump cast that policy aside on Thursday with an announcement on Twitter. "After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel's Sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability!" The Israeli prime minister responded minutes later with a Twitter post of his own. "At a time when Iran seeks to use Syria as a platform to destroy Israel, President Trump boldly recognizes Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Thank you President Trump!" Like the decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, Mr Trump's announcement puts US policy at odds with the UK and other European allies, who consider the Golan Heights to be under Israeli occupation. After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel's Sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 21, 2019 The move will enrage the Syrian regime but also puts America's Arab allies in an awkward diplomatic position, where they must be seen to oppose Israel's annexation of Arab territory while avoiding directly criticising Mr Trump. There was no formal announcement from the White House and it was not clear if US policy was changing immediately or at a future date. Mr Netanyahu's opponents in Blue & White, a centrist coalition, have feared for weeks that Mr Trump would try to tilt the election in the prime minister's favour by announcing the Golan decision shortly before voters head to the polls. Mr Netanyahu has made his close relationship with Mr Trump a centrepiece of his campaign for a fifth term in office. One of his campaign posters shows the two men grinning and shaking hands. An election campaign billboard shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, and US President Donald Trump in Jerusalem Credit: AP Photo/Oded Balilty Mr Trump posted a picture of the poster on his own Instagram account in what was widely seen as an endorsement of Mr Netanyahu's re-election bid. The two leaders will meet at the White House next week where Mr Trump is expected to further lavish praise of the Israeli leader. Polls show Mr Netanyahu's Likud Party running even with Blue & White, with both forecast to win around 30 seats in the 120-member Israeli parliament. Israel captured the Golan Heights after defeating Syrian forces during the Six Day War in 1967. In 1999, Israel came close to returning the high ground to Syria during negotiations with Hafez al-Assad, the father of Bashar al-Assad, but the talks collapsed. Since the Syrian war broke out in 2011, public opinion in Israel has hardened on the issue and there is a broad political consensus in Israel that the Golan should never be returned to Syria. The Golan Heights is a strategic highground captured from Syria in 1967 Credit: BAZ RATNER/AFP/Getty Images The Israeli occupation of the Golan has been less controversial than the occupation of the West Bank partly because the Golan is sparsely populated. Around 27,000 members of the Druze sect, a small Arabic speaking minority, live in the Golan. Most are residents of Israel but not full citizens. Many of the Golan Druze continue to swear loyalty to Syria, partly out of fear that if the Golan were ever returned to Damascus they could face reprisals from the Assad regime if they were seen to have collaborated with Israel. But some younger Druze have accepted they are likely to live forever under Israeli control and have taken steps to learn Hebrew and integrate into Israeli society. Roughly 20,000 Israelis now also live in the Golan, enjoying dramatic mountain views and plentiful vineyards but also enduring occasional rocket fire from Syria or Lebanon. The US had offered several hints that a decision on the Golan may be coming. Last week, the State Department dropped a reference to the Golan being under Israeli occupation. The US ambassador also recently accompanied Mr Netanyahu on a visit to the area. Mr Trump made the announcement while Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, was in Jerusalem for meetings with the Israeli prime minister. Despite taking a series of pro-Israel moves, the White House insists that it is still able to broker peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The White House is expected to unveil a peace plan after Israel's elections. Expectations for success are low, partly because the Palestinians have cut off all political contact with the US in protest at Mr Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
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| Explainer: Road to Mueller report paved by Watergate, Iran-Contra, Lewinsky, Waco Posted: 22 Mar 2019 11:10 AM PDT  The release of the findings by previous investigators analogous to Mueller has been handled differently, sometimes with voluminous reports and other times with no reports or with key elements kept under wraps for months and even years. Mueller is preparing to submit a report to U.S. Attorney General William Barr on his findings, including Russia's role in the election and whether Trump unlawfully sought to obstruct the probe. The Republican president has denied collusion and obstruction.
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| The Latest: Ethiopian airline defends pilots' training Posted: 21 Mar 2019 08:47 PM PDT  NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Latest on the Ethiopian plane crash (all times local):
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| 'Inland Oceans' from One of Southern Hemisphere's Worst Storms Seen from Space Posted: 22 Mar 2019 06:46 AM PDT  A deadly cyclone that hit southern Africa left extensive flooding that looked like "inland oceans" in images from space taken just days after the storm made landfall.Sentinel-1, a satellite mission that's part of the European Union's Earth-observation program, Copernicus, captured imagery on March 19 that showed far-reaching floodwaters around Mozambique's town of Beira on the coast of the Indian Ocean.Cyclone Idai could turn out to be "one of the worst weather-related disasters" in the Southern Hemisphere, said Clare Nullis, spokesperson for the World Meteorological Organization.In Mozambique, at least 1,000 people are feared dead and tens of thousands have lost their homes, according to the United Nations, after the cyclone made landfall on March 14, bringing heavy rainfall, a storm surge and strong winds of up to 105 mph (170 km/h). Malawi and Zimbabwe were also severely affected as Idai continued traveling west as a tropical storm. [Earth from Above: 101 Stunning Images from Orbit]Cyclone Idai seen from space on March 13, 2019, west of Madagascar and heading for Mozambique. ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGOHerve Verhoosel of the U.N. World Food Program said that the flooding in Mozambique from above looks like "inland oceans extending for miles and miles."This is a major humanitarian emergency that is getting bigger by the hour," Verhoosel said Tuesday (March 19). According to the Red Cross, 90 percent of Beira, which has a population of about 600,000, has been damaged or destroyed.With communication lines and roads wrecked, rescue efforts have been slow and many people remain cut off from aid.Sentinel-1 is tasked with, in part, mapping flooded areas -- like the recent flooding in the Midwest -- to help relief efforts in such situations.According to the European Space Agency, the images acquired before and after the storm offer immediate information to first responders on the extent of flooding and the location of the affected areas; eventually, that satellite data could also be used to assess environmental and property damage.The first Sentinel-1 satellite launched in 2014, and the second launched in 2016. The pair of polar-orbiting satellites have radar instruments that can "see" in the dark, as well as through clouds and rain.Sentinel-1 has also provided imagery to map flash floods in Laos and to show that an island where the Bangladesh government wants to house Rohingya Muslims is vulnerable to frequent flooding and cyclones. * Rainbow Rivers: See Gorgeous Maps of the World's Waterways * The Strangest Places on Earth (Photos) * Earth's 8 Biggest MysteriesOriginally published on Live Science.
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| Midwest flood victims begin cleaning up Posted: 21 Mar 2019 10:16 AM PDT  Residents in parts of the Midwest are trying to pick up after their homes and belongings were damaged by flood waters. (March 21)
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| $625M Powerball drawing would be US' 7th-largest jackpot Posted: 23 Mar 2019 08:23 AM PDT ![$625M Powerball drawing would be US' 7th-largest jackpot]( "$625M Powerball drawing would be US' 7th-largest jackpot") Lottery officials say the Powerball jackpot for Saturday's drawing has climbed to an estimated $625 million, which would be the seventh-largest lottery grand prize in U.S. history.
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| Toxicologist denies manipulating studies in Monsanto damages proceedings Posted: 22 Mar 2019 07:35 PM PDT  A toxicologist from Roundup weedkiller manufacturer Monsanto denied Friday that she had influenced scientific studies to hide the dangers of the product, in the damages phase of a trial in California. One of the lawyers for the plaintiff -- a 70-year-old retiree with cancer -- asked Dr Donna Farmer to explain internal documents from Monsanto made public in 2017. Among other documents, a February 2015 email sent to Farmer by another senior Monsanto scientist refers to the technique of writing scientific articles and then paying recognized scientists -- presented as independent -- to sign them.
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| New Zealand women wear headscarves in solidarity with Muslims after Christchurch mosque shootings Posted: 22 Mar 2019 08:03 AM PDT  A week after a gunman opened fire at two mosques that left 50 people dead, women across New Zealand showed solidarity with Muslims Friday by wearing headscarves.
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| More Misconceptions about College Posted: 22 Mar 2019 03:30 AM PDT  Now that we've all had a good airing of grievances about elite colleges and their attendant injustices, let's get some perspective.While the numbers of high-school graduates heading off to college have increased in recent years, the percentages graduating with a four-year degree have not increased much. Many students, especially those who are the first in their families to attend college, drop out before receiving a degree. (They cannot drop out of student-loan payments, though.)Data from the Lumina Foundation show that among Americans aged 25–64, 52.4 percent have no more than a high-school diploma (though 15.4 percent of them attended college for a while). An additional 5.2 percent received a certificate of some kind, and 9.2 percent obtained an associate's degree. What most people think of when you say "college" is a four-year institution. Only 21.1 percent received bachelor's degrees, and another 12.2 percent also earned graduate degrees. Adding the last two categories brings the fraction of Americans with college or graduate degrees to just over one-third.While most of the conversation in the past week has focused on highly selective colleges such as Yale and Penn, it's important to remember that only a small number of America's colleges are selective. As FiveThirtyEight has reported, more than 75 percent of undergrads attend colleges that accept at least half of all applicants. The number who attend selective colleges -- i.e., schools that accept 25 percent or fewer — is just 4 percent. And the number who attend schools in the very top tier, colleges that reject 90 percent or more, can be counted on your fingers and toes. You can probably guess most of them. (Though not all. On this U.S. News list, Pomona College came in at No. 11, and the Minerva Schools at Keck Graduate Institute came in first.) Less than 1 percent of college students attend these elite schools.Most students attend commuter schools, which tend to be community colleges. Even among those at four-year institutions, almost 25 percent attend part-time. Half of college students are also working, not getting plastered at frat parties.There's a healthy debate in policy circles about whether our current cultural preoccupation with college for all is a good thing. Some people who are funneled toward college might be a better fit for vocational training, apprenticeships, or other life paths; and while there is no doubt about the association between college completion and higher income, there is uncertainty about the causal relationship.Rather than gnash our collective teeth about whether Jason or Jessica can get into MIT, we might want to focus on all students, those who are headed for college and those who are not. Every student in elementary and high school should be learning about the "success sequence." The phrase was introduced by Isabel Sawhill and Ron Haskins of the Brookings Institution and has lately been reinforced with a study by W. Bradford Wilcox and Wendy Wang of the Institute for Family Studies.What they've found is that students have it within their power to virtually guarantee a middle- or upper-class income if they follow three steps. Those three basics are 1) finish high school, 2) get a full-time job, and 3) get married before having children. Young people who follow all three steps have only a 3 percent likelihood of living in poverty when they reach young adulthood. Eighty-six percent of Millennials who put marriage first had incomes in the middle or upper third, compared with 53 percent who had children before marriage. The success sequence works for those born into poverty, too. Seventy-one percent of Millennials who grew up in the bottom third of the income distribution were in the middle or upper third by young adulthood if they followed the three steps. Among African Americans, 76 percent who followed the success sequence achieved the middle class or above, and among Hispanics, the percentage was 81 percent.With all of the emphasis on a tiny sliver of the top 1 percent of students, most young people can get the impression that they are doomed to a lesser life. In fact, avoiding a few pitfalls like dropping out of high school, having a baby out of wedlock, and failing to find employment is a ticket to success.There's a bias among writer types to pay attention to Princeton and Columbia. But that's not really where the action is in helping most Americans.© 2019 Creators.com
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| North Korea Withdraws From Liaison Office Set Up During Koreas Summit Posted: 22 Mar 2019 03:23 AM PDT  North Korea informed South Korea on Friday that it would stop participating in the liaison office north of the border in Gaeseong city, Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung told reporters. The North Koreans said they were "pulling out with instructions from the superior authority," Chun said. North Korea has in recent days expressed irritation toward Seoul after leader Kim Jong Un's nuclear summit with President Donald Trump broke down last month over U.S.-backed sanctions squeezing the country's economy.
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| Hezbollah sanctions harming Lebanon, says President Aoun Posted: 21 Mar 2019 09:56 AM PDT  U.S. sanctions on Hezbollah are harming Lebanon as a whole, President Michel Aoun said on Thursday ahead of a visit to the country by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The United States deems the heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah group a terrorist organization and has been steadily increasing financial sanctions against it as part of efforts to counter Iran. Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah has a large armed militia that has helped Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his eight-year war against rebels, but it is also a political party in Lebanon with seats in the parliament and cabinet.
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| Tour the 2019 AD Apartment Posted: 22 Mar 2019 04:33 PM PDT |
| Ex-cop says he thought he saw a gun when he shot black teen Posted: 21 Mar 2019 07:38 PM PDT  PITTSBURGH (AP) — A white former police officer said Thursday he thought a weapon was pointed at him when he shot and killed an unarmed black teenager outside Pittsburgh last summer.
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| Markets Right Now: Stocks, yields drop on growth worries Posted: 22 Mar 2019 01:08 PM PDT  NEW YORK (AP) — The latest on developments in financial markets (all times local):
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| Ram Rebel TRX Pickup Spied, Likely to Get the Supercharged Hellcat V-8 Posted: 22 Mar 2019 11:11 AM PDT  Looks like the Ford F-150 Raptor isn't going to have the sandbox to itself anymore.
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| Firearm deaths of US school-age children at 'epidemic' levels, study says Posted: 21 Mar 2019 01:24 PM PDT  A new study announced an alarming increase in the number of firearm deaths of school-age children in the United States: 38,942 in those 5 to 18 years old from 1999 to 2017.
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| Nobody knows if NASA’s OSIRIS-REx can pull off its daring asteroid-sampling maneuver Posted: 22 Mar 2019 04:05 PM PDT  NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft first arrived at the large space rock known as Bennu late last year, and it's spent the first few months of 2019 observing its new space companion and teaching NASA more about the rock's surface. Unfortunately for NASA engineers, the asteroid's surface is nothing like what they assumed it would be, and that poses a serious challenge going forward.The OSIRIS-REx mission includes multiple objectives, with the first being the successful insertion of the spacecraft into orbit around the rock itself. NASA nailed it and things seemed to be great, or at least until scientists got a good look at Bennu's surface. As Sky & Telescope reports, it has complicated matters greatly.With limited capability to observe the asteroid from Earth or in-flight towards the rock, scientists believed the asteroid would be fairly smooth. A smooth surface would make the spacecraft's final maneuver -- and up-close-and-personal sample retrieval -- a lot less risky, but that's not what Bennu had in store.Bennu is, to put it simply, an absolute mess. The asteroid is covered in debris of all sizes, ranging from dust and small rocks to massive boulders and everything in between. This poses a massive challenge for sample collection since the spacecraft will have to avoid obstacles as it inches its way towards the space rock's surface.The plan has always been for OSIRIS-REx to remain in orbit around Bennu for around a year, making observations of its surface and relaying data and images back to its handlers on Earth. However, with its rubble-covered surface now posing a threat to its most anticipated action, NASA will need to work diligently to find a safe place on the asteroid for the spacecraft to gather a sample before leaving Bennu and returning home. It they can pull it off, it'll be a monumental achievement.
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| Trump Courts American Jews With Bid to Secure Netanyahu’s Re-Election Posted: 21 Mar 2019 01:49 PM PDT  Trump has made naked appeals to U.S. Jewish voters to abandon any allegiance to the Democratic Party, calling his opposition anti-Semitic while promoting his unprecedented decisions to expand U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty at the expense of the Palestinians. The president moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem in 2018, recognizing the divided city as Israel's capital.
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| Democrats push financial inclusion as 2020 election race heats up Posted: 22 Mar 2019 04:13 AM PDT  Following the 2008 financial crisis, many banks pulled back from their poorest customers. The shift has had lasting costs for millions of Americans now struggling to access mainstream financial services such as checking accounts and credit cards. The three Democrats, along with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, have advocated for the U.S. Postal Service to provide banking services.
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| The Latest: New Zealanders to observe Muslim call to prayer Posted: 21 Mar 2019 02:34 PM PDT  CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — The Latest on the mosque attacks in New Zealand (all times local):
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| Energy giants spent $1bn on climate lobbying, PR since Paris: watchdog Posted: 21 Mar 2019 06:26 PM PDT  The five largest publicly listed oil and gas majors have spent $1 billion since the 2015 Paris climate deal on public relations or lobbying that is "overwhelmingly in conflict" with the landmark accord's goals, a watchdog said Friday. Despite outwardly committing to support the Paris agreement and its aim to limit global temperature rises, ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, BP and Total spend a total of $200 million a year on efforts "to operate and expand fossil fuel operations," according to InfluenceMap, a pro-transparency monitor. Two of the companies -- Shell and Chevron -- said they rejected the watchdog's findings.
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| Home loan applications rise as wealthier shoppers hunt for more expensive houses Posted: 21 Mar 2019 12:56 PM PDT  Mortgage interest rates are now lower than a year ago, and home shoppers are buying in, but most are wealthier and purchasing more expensive homes.
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| Pompeo at odds with Lebanese officials over Hezbollah Posted: 22 Mar 2019 10:47 AM PDT  BEIRUT (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday called on the Lebanese people to stand up to Hezbollah's "criminality, terror and threats," and claimed U.S. sanctions on Iran and its Lebanese Shiite ally were working and that more pressure on them was forthcoming.
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| It Looks Like the Dodge Charger Is Getting a Widebody Variant Posted: 22 Mar 2019 08:00 PM PDT  Dodge shows off a "concept" version of its muscle sedan with a widebody setup like its Challenger sibling.
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| Report claims Boeing has been forced to delay first Starliner launch by months Posted: 21 Mar 2019 02:02 PM PDT  NASA needs a way to get astronauts to the International Space Station that doesn't involve paying Russia heaps of money, so it struck deals with both SpaceX and Boeing to build crew capsules capable of fulfilling that need. Earlier this month, SpaceX successfully sent its Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station, paving the way for crew tests to be conducted within months, but what about Boeing?A new report from Reuters suggests that Boeing is having a much, much harder time getting its Starliner spacecraft ready for its first big test. Boeing, which analysts thought would beat SpaceX's Crew Dragon to delivery by a significant margin, has now reportedly pushed back its maiden flight to the space station by several months, and the first crewed flights won't happen until close to the end of the year, if they happen in 2019 at all.The report, which cites unnamed sources, claims that the first unmanned test flight of Starliner has been delayed by three months. Adjusting the timeline based on that new information, Boeing's first crewed flight of the spacecraft wouldn't be ready until November, and that's assuming everything goes perfectly from here on out.Both Crew Dragon and Starliner have been plagued by delays over the past couple of years, forcing NASA to strike new deals with Russian space agency Roscosmos to fly NASA crew members to the ISS and back. The clock is ticking, and right now it's clear that SpaceX is much closer to delivering NASA much-needed crew-capable spacecraft than Boeing is.In the meantime, NASA is doing its best to prepare for a worst-case scenario in which one or potentially both programs fail to deliver before the end of 2019. The agency is mulling the decision to throw more money at Russia to ensure its astronauts can make it to the ISS throughout 2019 and into 2020, but no decisions have been finalized as of yet.
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| 'Humiliated and ashamed': Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign chairman, sentenced to nearly 4 years in prison Posted: 21 Mar 2019 05:52 PM PDT  Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman, must pay more than $24 million in fines and restitution. He faces more prison time next week.
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| U.S. senators call on Venezuela to release jailed Citgo executives Posted: 21 Mar 2019 12:12 PM PDT ![U.S. senators call on Venezuela to release jailed Citgo executives]( "U.S. senators call on Venezuela to release jailed Citgo executives") U.S. Republican Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn on Thursday pressed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to release six executives from Houston-based oil company Citgo Petroleum that have been in jail in the country since 2017. The former top employees of Venezuelan PDVSA's refining subsidiary, most of whom are U.S. citizens, were arrested in late 2017 and accused of embezzlement and money laundering linked to talks to refinance Citgo's debt. Family members of Jose Luis Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano, Jorge Toledo, Tomeu Vadell, Gustavo Cardenas and Jose Pereira have asked the U.S. government to intervene, citing health concerns for the men.
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| 1969 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 428 Cobra Jet Posted: 22 Mar 2019 06:00 AM PDT  With 355-horsepower from a 428 cubic-inch, 7.0-liter V8, a four-on-the-floor manual transmission, and this brilliant red paint with gold side stripes, this 1969 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 is a must-have car for any die-hard American muscle collector. The 1969 Ford Mustang was the third and final evolution of the original pony car.
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| 'My heart fell' says New Zealand surgeon who treated girl, 4 Posted: 22 Mar 2019 08:10 PM PDT  CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — As soon as vascular surgeon Adib Khanafer received the call March 15, he started running toward the operating theater at Christchurch Hospital. At that point, he had no idea a white supremacist had slaughtered 50 people. But he could hear an urgency in the request for help.
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| Wallenda high-wire plunge video released Posted: 22 Mar 2019 05:11 AM PDT  The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office has released video showing a 2017 high-wire accident that left five members of the famous Wallenda family injured. The performers were practicing an eight-person pyramid when they lost theIr balance. The accident is reportedly the subject of litigation by one of those who fell. Rough cut (no reporter narration).
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