Expressions of Daily Life

Weight Loss-- My Personal Story

2019-01-21T21:08:00.002-10:00

2017 marked the beginning of resetting my life after hitting rock bottom. I spontaneously decided to share my story, on New Year's Eve December 31st, 2018, despite being out of my comfort zone. I recently made revisions to the original story with additional details of what I've been doing to help lose the weight I've lost up to this point.The photo on the left was taken in January 2016, while the photo on the right is a current one. I've lost 170 pounds thus far; however, I'm hoping to shed an additional 80 or so pounds.

The decision to return home to Hawai’i was initially to fulfill a request by a childhood friend’s Mom who was dying from cancer, had requested to see me one final time. I was able to fulfill the request 24 hours before she passed away, which made me feel good.

In the meantime, I decided to finally take care of an issue that dogged me for a very long, which was my weight. Looking like Fat Albert or Fred Flintstone had taken its toll on me, so I decided to finally do something about it. I had no specific reason to return to California at that moment in time, decided to primarily focus on getting my weight down after many failed attempts.

Starting all over again has been quite a growing experience. Throughout the past year plus a few months, I've worked at shedding the excess weight off of my frame, with the love & support of my family. Rebuilding my self-esteem, self-confidence, self-worth proved quite the challenge, it’s startling how it affects you over the course of time when you don’t have them.

When my weight tipped the scales close to 480lbs, the scales enjoyed a laugh fest. Living in San Diego for 13 years, I was frequently asked how the hell you allowed yourself to get that freaking heavy. The finger could only be pointed at me for not doing something about the excess weight sooner. Losing weight needs to be done for the right reason and not for someone other than you.
Having the support of my family has been pivotal in remaining motivated to keep going.

The process of losing weight isn't a quick fix, regardless of what method works for you long-term.
There are countless well-known diet programs proclaiming using their specific program will help you lose weight. There are various weight loss surgeries available to help you lose weight; however, many risks come with doing any of those surgeries.

I personally have never believed in any diet programs as I couldn’t see the logic of spending so much money on the food each program uses each month. The weight loss surgeries cost a bundle of money regardless of which one an individual decides upon. Friends had tried persuading me to undergo weight loss surgery to help lose weight. The various surgeries do come with serious risks that could affect the individual for the rest of their life. I opted not to do use that procedure as something didn't feel right about doing it.

Part of my weight gain was due to medical issues I'd been having that I wasn’t aware that started in late 2005 lasted thru 2009. It wasn't until 2009 when my 3rd Kaiser doctor finally told me what caused my weight gain at such a rapid rate. My doctor mentioned that my adrenal gland had been overproducing insulin that caused my body to feel like it was on a sugar high for 5 years. My blood pressure was dangerously high because of that, the previous two other doctors hadn’t cared enough to find out why.

I felt a huge sense of relief that a doctor had finally taken the time to find out what was going on with me medically speaking. There were moments I felt I wasn’t going to be around too much longer. My doctor prescribed strong medicines that helped return my adrenal gland return to normal production levels while also bringing my blood pressure down.

The other medical issue was being diagnosed with sleep apnea in 2009. That diagnosis really startled me but after a while, it explained a lot. When your body doesn't get sufficient amounts of rest daily it catches up to you. I was reluctant initially to get a machine to help sleep well because the thought of sleeping having to use a machine each time you slept unnerved me. It wasn't until late 2011 when my Mum persuaded me to get the machine with no feet dragging allowed.

In January 2012 I was fitted with a Bi-pap machine that I use till this day. During the course of 7 years, I had forgotten what a good night sleep felt like until using the Bi-pap machine. I never realized how much it actually affected me not getting a good night’s sleep. Individuals with OSA are rarely aware of difficulty breathing, even upon awakening. It is often recognized as a problem by others who observe the individual during episodes or is suspected because of its effects on the body. OSA is commonly accompanied by snoring. Some use the terms obstructive sleep apnea syndrome or obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome to refer to OSA which is associated with symptoms during the daytime.

Some adults with OSA are obese. Obese adults show an increase in pharyngeal tissue which causes respiratory obstruction during sleep. Adults with normal body mass indices (BMIs) often have decreased muscle tone causing airway collapse and sleep apnea. Sleeping on the supine position is also a risk factor for OSA. The supine sleeping position generates mandibular retraction and tongue collapse which constitutes an anatomical basis for respiratory obstruction during sleep.

Symptoms may be present for years or even decades without identification, during which time the individual may become conditioned to the daytime sleepiness and fatigue associated with significant levels of sleep disturbance. Individuals who generally sleep alone are often unaware of the condition, without a regular bed-partner to notice and make them aware of their symptoms. For those of you with sleep apnea, I’m saying this from personal experience, those who have asked me about it. Getting sleep apnea under control is vitally important to your overall health and well being. There have been many stories of famous celebrities, sports figures, etc who were diagnosed with sleep apnea and did nothing about, ultimately ended up dying.

The biggest complaint shared with me from those who have sleep apnea or a loved one is using either a C-Pap or Bi-Pap machine. The C-Pap machine involves the use of a full mask going over your nose, generally for people who need higher air levels. The Bi-Pap machine used nasal pillows that fit under your nose, held on by headgear. The Bi-Pap machine is assigned to people who don’t require such high pressure, it’s a machine I’ve personally been using.

The last medical issue was my weight which ballooned faster than helium filling a birthday balloon. I told my best friend "I got myself into this mess, I'm going to get myself out of it" When I returned to Hawaii in Sept 2017, to attend the funeral of a beloved friends Mom, I decided to finally make the effort to become healthy again. Carrying around that much excess weight for so long had me missing out on so many things I couldn't do because of my weight.

The changes I’ve made that have helped me lose so much weight have been changing what I eat on a daily basis for breakfast, lunch, dinner. During the course of living in San Diego, I could often be seen eating out at any number of fast food restaurants. There were periods of eating home cooked meals; however, because of my job as a cab driver, those moments were few and far between. I had strayed away from eating healthy all those years; the end result is in the photo.

The other things I’ve been doing to lose weight have been walking 4 miles each morning, plus exercising without the use of any apparatus. I’m doing exercises that I had done while in high school to get back into shape and I’m having fun doing them. The exercises take a little longer to complete but I’m motivated never to give up.

People are welcome to ask questions in Private Messages and they'll be answered. This is a rare moment where photos of me are posted; I rarely post photos of myself on social media because of a bad experience that happened 20 years ago.

Update 2/17/2019

For the first time in 15 years, my weight is under the 300 pound level, with my latest weight coming in at 293 pounds. I'm hoping to lose an additional 70 pounds which would bring my weight to around 220-225.

Deputies Called to Florida Shooter's Home Weeks Before School Tragedy

2018-02-22T12:36:00.000-10:00

In the months leading up to the deadly shooting rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, sheriff's deputies were called three times to a South Florida mobile home where accused gunman Nikolas Cruz was living, WPTV in West Palm Beach is reporting.

Cruz lived briefly in a Lantana, Florida, trailer park after his adoptive mother had passed away. It is about a half-hour to the north of the school.

And now, WPTV is reporting Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies responded three times to the mobile home during his short stay.

According to the television station, deputies once came after a report of a fight. Another time they came for a welfare check and still another for a report of a weapon.

And the Palm Beach Post said logs provided by the sheriff's office portrays Cruz as "a disturbed and potentially violent 19-year-old."

According to the Post, a Nov. 28 sheriff's report noted a woman identified as Rocxanne Deschamps, who was helping out Cruz, said he told her he recently had bought a gun and was going out to get it and "tons of ammo."

The woman said Cruz "has used a gun against [people] before" and "has put the gun to others' heads in the past," the Post said quoting the log entry.

However, this is not believed to be the AR-15 rifle used in the Parkland slayings, the Post added. Cruz ended up calling 911 to say he had left the mobile home to go to a park after Deschamps's son, Rock, threatened to "gut him" if he returned home, the newspaper said.

The next day, Deschamps's son called 911 to say the two men had a fight and Cruz had punched a hole in the wall of the mobile home and was breaking things.

Cruz later told deputies he "was sorry for losing his temper." Deschamps told deputies he "did not want (Cruz) to go to jail," WPTV said. The two men later hugged.

A short time later, Cruz moved in with James and Kimberly Snead in Parkland in Broward County.

"We had this monster living under our roof and we didn't know," Kimberly Snead told the Sun Sentinel. "We didn't see this side of him."

Commentary: Everyone effected by this senseless tragedy still have raw emotions and are demanding lawmakers do something immediately. A Florida School Teacher who had recently been named teacher of the year, has had the best response to what changes need to be made and where it needs to start.
“Until we, as a country, are willing to get serious and talk about mental health issues, lack of available care for the mental health issues, lack of discipline in the home, horrendous lack of parental support when the schools are trying to control horrible behavior at school (oh no! Not MY KID. What did YOU do to cause my kid to react that way?), lack of moral values, and yes, I’ll say it-violent video games that take away all sensitivity to ANY compassion for others’ lives, as well as reality TV that makes it commonplace for people to constantly scream up in each others’ faces and not value any other person but themselves, we will have a gun problem in school,” she wrote.

Guns have been a constant in America, she wrote, arguing that what has changed in our society is that children no longer “understand the permanency of death.”

Though she “grew up with guns,” Raley wrote that healthy doses of fear and respect for authority kept her out of trouble.

“My parents NEVER supported any bad behavior from me,” she wrote. “I was terrified of doing something bad at school, as I would have not had a life until I corrected the problem and straightened my ass out. My parents invaded my life. They knew where I was ALL the time. They made me have a curfew. They made me wake them up when I got home. They made me respect their rules. They had full control of their house, and at any time could and would go through every inch of my bedroom, backpack, pockets, anything!”

She led up to a plea for parents to “STEP UP” and be “the parent that actually gives a crap” about their children’s lives.

Instead of attempting to be another friend, Raley said what kids really need is parental guidance.

“Being the ‘cool mom’ means not a d— thing when either your kid is dead or your kid kills other people because they were allowed to have their space and privacy in YOUR HOME,” she wrote.

The thought of shooting someone never crossed her mind, Raley argued, not because there were no guns in the home, which there were, but because she was “taught respect for human life, compassion, rules, common decency,” and most of all that her bedroom was subject to inspection at any time by her parents.

“And they were going to know what was happening because they loved me and wanted the best for me,” she wrote.

Her post gained widespread support across the ideological spectrum, as she conspicuously avoided the hot-button issue of gun control.

“I didn’t bring up gun control, and I will refuse to debate it with anyone,” she concluded. “This post wasn’t about gun control. This was me, loving the crap out of people and wanting the best for them. This was about my school babies and knowing that God created each one for greatness, and just wanting them to reach their futures.”

The real answer to a major problem we've been having too much of in schools lately. New gun control legislation isn't the answer so desperately needed to fix the problems with shooters using guns in schools to kill innocent lives.

Hawaii worker who sent false alert had problems but kept job

2018-01-30T20:37:00.000-10:00

HONOLULU — Hawaii emergency management officials knew for years that an employee had problems performing his job. Then, he sent a false alert warning of an imminent missile attack earlier this month.

The worker had mistakenly believed drills for tsunami and fire warnings were actual events, and colleagues were not comfortable working with him, the state said Tuesday. His supervisors counseled him but kept him for a decade in a position that had to be renewed each year.

The problems in the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency went beyond one troubled employee. The agency had a vague checklist for missile alerts, allowing workers to interpret the steps they should follow differently. Managers didn't require a second person to sign off on alerts before they were sent, and the agency lacked any preparation on how to correct a false warning.

Those details emerged Tuesday in federal and state reports investigating how the agency mistakenly blasted cellphones and broadcast stations Jan. 13 with a warning that led hundreds of thousands of people to believe they were about to die in a nuclear attack. It took nearly 40 minutes to retract it.

Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Administrator Vern Miyagi resigned as the reports were released. Officials revealed that the employee who sent the alert was fired Friday. His name has not been revealed. A second worker quit before disciplinary action was taken, and another was being suspended without pay, officials said.

"The protocols were not in place. It was a sense of urgency to put it in place as soon as possible. But those protocols were not developed to the point they should have," retired Brig. Gen. Bruce Oliveira, who wrote the report on Hawaii's internal investigation, said at a news conference.

A Federal Communications Commission report revealed Tuesday that the worker who pushed out the alert thought an actual attack was imminent. It was the first indication the alert was purposely sent, adding another level of confusion to the misstep that created panic at a time of fear over the threat of North Korean missiles.

The worker believed there was a real attack because of a mistake in how the drill was initiated during a shift change, according to the FCC, which regulates the nation's airwaves and sets standards for such emergency alerts. The employee said he didn't hear the word "exercise" repeated six times, though others clearly heard it.

There was no requirement to double-check with a colleague or get a supervisor's approval before sending the warning statewide, the federal agency said.

"There were no procedures in place to prevent a single person from mistakenly sending a missile alert" in Hawaii, said James Wiley, a cybersecurity and communications reliability staffer at the FCC.

Compounding the issue was that the state Emergency Management Agency had no prepared message for a false alarm. The FCC criticized the state's 38-minute delay in correcting it.

In addition, software at the Hawaii agency used the same prompts for both test and actual alerts, and it generally used prepared text that made it easy for a staffer to click through the alerting process without focusing enough on the text of the warning that would be sent.

"The reports from the FCC and the state of Hawaii demonstrate systems and judgment failures on multiple levels, and they reinforce my belief that missile alerts should be handled by the federal government," said U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, who plans legislation to give federal officials that sole responsibility.

The FCC said the state emergency agency has taken steps to try to avoid a repeat of the false alert, requiring more supervision of drills and alert and test-alert transmissions. It has created a correction template for false alerts and has stopped ballistic missile defense drills for now.

Earlier this month, the worker who sent the alert heard a recorded message that began by saying "exercise, exercise, exercise" — the script for a drill, the FCC said. Then the recording used language that is typically used for a real threat, not a drill: "This is not a drill." The recording ended by saying "exercise, exercise, exercise."

Once the employee sent the false alert, he was directed to send a cancel message but instead "just sat there and didn't respond," the state report said. Later, another employee took over the computer and sent the correction because the worker "seemed confused."

Gov. David Ige was asked why Hawaii didn't reveal details about the employee earlier, and he said it would have been irresponsible to release statements before the investigation was complete.

Ige has asked the Hawaii National Guard's deputy commander to prepare another report on what needs to be changed in the emergency management system overall. The first version of that report is due in two weeks, with a final version due in six weeks.

It's quite pathetic that the state worker who sent the false missile message unfortunately had possible mental issues, as far as his co-workers and boss were concerned. It's turning out that the procedure where this employee worked at wasn't properly set-up, as this recent incident proved. It's unfortunate that the administrator resigned as the official reports were released to the governor, etc.

Hopefully in the near future such an incident won't occur again, where the worker(s) don't know what to do or aren't properly prepared in case another false alarm occurs.

Minutes passed before Hawaii called feds about bogus missile alert

2018-01-18T15:06:00.000-10:00

It took Hawaii officials more than 20 minutes to contact federal authorities to seek guidance after realizing they had sent out a bogus alert saying there was a missile headed toward the islands.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency told The Associated Press Wednesday that it received the call from Hawaii at 8:30 a.m.

FEMA spokeswoman Jenny Burke says federal employees gave guidance during that call.

In the end, it took nearly 40 minutes after the first alert was sent for the state to send another mobile alert informing residents and tourists that there was no incoming missile.

A missile launched from North Korea would take about 20 minutes to hit Hawaii.

The state said part of the delay in sending the retraction was because they were awaiting FEMA approval. FEMA says the state did not require federal approval to cancel or retract the incorrect alert.

Should military be allowed access to state system for attack alerts, retractions?

U.S. Reps. Tulsi Gabbard and Colleen Hanabusa are asking the U.S. House Committee on Armed Services to look into giving U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) access to Hawaii Emergency Management Agency’s alert system.

Always Investigating was the first to report that HI-EMA’s alert system is one of only a handful in the country that does not allow access to other agencies, so any retraction would have to come from HI-EMA.
After a HI-EMA employee accidentally triggered a false missile alert that sent the entire state into a panic Saturday morning, it took the agency 38 minutes to send a follow-up alert that confirmed it was a false alarm.
Hanabusa says the military would know better than anyone if an attack is imminent, so why not have them issue any type of correction?
“If PACOM says it is or it isn’t, one or the other, that in fact that’s probably the best information that we have, and I think that’s what’s needed in this process,” she explained.
Hanabusa says it would only apply to alerts that involve the military, not natural disasters, and that this oversight will help restore public confidence in the system.

“I think the people of the state would feel a lot more confident if they knew there was a check on a check on a check,” Hanabusa said.

Other checks include the Federal Communications Commission. Hanabusa says investigators will be coming to Hawaii Wednesday, and will be looking into why some cell phones did not get the alert.

“The bottom line is this is the way we’re moving, to notification and alerts, so we have to be sure that it all works appropriately, and I think that’s what they’re coming in to find out,” she said.

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz is calling on the FCC to make its own recommendations while Sen. Mazie Hirono questioned Kirstjen Nielsen, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, on how to make the system better.

“Do you have the responsibility to convene state emergency managers to make sure that each state has an alert system that functions properly?” Hirono asked.

“We do request a variety of information from state locals on their alert warning systems as part of our threat assessments conducted by FEMA,” Nielsen replied.

On the state level, lawmakers will hold a hearing Friday. Gov. David Ige and HI-EMA administrator Vern Miyagi will be present.

Last Saturday's incident makes you wonder whether HI-EMA officials even knew what the heck was even going on during those uneasy 38 minutes, where neither local resident nor tourist knew what to expect, because HI-EMA officials were running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

Hopefully during a future event HI-EMA officials will actually have their act together, not have their respective heads up in the clouds. While a 10 year employee got transferred to another department, I wonder what the political fall-out will be from this incident.

Botched test of alert system leads to 38 minutes of terror

2018-01-14T12:09:00.001-10:00

After people across the state were told for months to prepare for a possible nuclear attack from North Korea, for 38 terrifying minutes on Saturday morning the deadly moment seemed to have arrived.

A state employee in a Diamond Head bunker clicked his mouse twice and informed a million and a half residents and tourists that the missile was on its way.

“THIS IS NOT A DRILL,” the warning stated.

No, it wasn’t a drill. It was a mistake. “Human error,” said Gov. David Ige.

A mistake that left many shaken, angry and questioning the credibility of their government.

Tourists in Waikiki were asked to go into the basement of their hotels, passengers at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport were not allowed to check in and were sent down to the baggage claim area, and families at parks ran to their cars for shelter.

Cellphones were jammed with people calling family and friends to find out what was going on or simply say a final goodbye.

“Today is a day most of us will never forget,” Ige said at a news conference in the same Diamond Head bunker from which the fake warning was sent. “A day when many in our community thought that our worst nightmare might actually be happening.”

He said he was angry about what happened, apologized for the pain and confusion it sowed, and promised to improve the emergency management systems. The confusion caused by the human error was compounded by a lack of procedures in place to revoke the false alarm, causing the 38-minute delay before the state sent out a text correction.

“We are doing everything we can immediately to ensure that it never happens again,” Ige said.

The trouble began about 8:05 a.m. when an employee was running through a routine test of the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alert System in the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency headquarters inside Diamond Head crater.

THE WRONG BUTTON

The employee clicked the wrong button on a computer screen, selecting the missile alert message rather than the test alert that would have sent a message that stayed within the building. The employee then clicked a second button to confirm he wanted to send out the erroneous alert.

The employees in the center did not know that they had issued an error until they got a phone call from officials looking for more information.

About three minutes after the alert went out, the head of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, state Adjutant Maj. Gen. Joe Logan, verified with U.S. Pacific Command that there was no launch and notified Honolulu police.

Thirteen minutes after the erroneous text, HEMA finally posted to Facebook and Twitter that it was a false alarm, but it would take another 25 minutes for a correction text alert to go out.

Vern Miyagi, administrator for HEMA, said the agency had to wait until it received authorization from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to send out a retraction. The correction was finally sent at 8:45 a.m.

Ige said part of the reason for the delay was the state didn’t have a process in place to issue a cancellation and the correction had to be done manually after receiving federal approval.

The Emergency Alert System is a national network with local access for disseminating civil defense and emergency messages. Correction alerts, however, are not authorized for the system, which was the reason the state needed federal approval before sending the retraction.

SOME SIRENS SOUND OFF

Adding to the panic, some military bases voluntarily activated their sirens due to the false alarm, said Richard Rapoza, spokesman for HEMA.

Windward Oahu resident Diane Pizarro said she was at home with her family when she received the alert and heard sirens start to go off.

“That gave more credibility to the text,” she said. “It was several scary minutes with our children, who were terrified, before we saw a tweet that it was a false alarm.”

Miyagi blamed himself for the error.

“I accept responsibility for this,” he said. “This is my team.”

He said he spent the last few months trying to prepare the state in the unlikely event of a nuclear attack from North Korea and set up a warning system.

Miyagi said while he regrets what happened, it brought awareness about what to do and expect in such an attack.

“Please keep in mind that again the threat is there,” he said. “If this comes out, you’re only going to have 12 to 13 minutes of warning for the actual event. Please take this to heart.”

Ige said the missile alert test has been suspended until procedures are reviewed and measures are taken to prevent a repeat of the error.

In the future, officials will require two people to confirm the activation of the notification system for tests and actual missile launches, he said. And a cancellation command has also been put in place.

Officials said a formal preliminary report of findings and corrective actions will be issued next week.

The Federal Communications Commission said it was launching a “full investigation into what happened.”

Jessica Rosenworcel, an FCC commissioner, said, “Emergency alerts are meant to keep us and our families safe, not to create false panic. We must investigate and we must do better.”

POLITICIANS SPEAK UP

Hawaii’s congressional delegation and state lawmakers were quick to add their voices to the growing chorus of officials calling Saturday’s mistake unacceptable, and pledged to investigate what went wrong.

U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard was among the first people to start alerting the public via Twitter that the emergency warning was a false alarm, saying at 8:19 a.m. that she had confirmed with officials there was no incoming missile.

She later tweeted, “Our leaders have failed us for decades, refused to take this threat seriously and prevent a nuclear North Korea, and the people of Hawaii are now paying the price.”

U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono said in an interview from Washington, D.C., that President Donald Trump has failed to ease tensions with North Korea, putting Hawaii in danger.

“The tensions between the United States and North Korea are not helping at all, which is one of the reasons that the state of Hawaii has to even attempt to do its best to be prepared for a potential missile strike,” Hirono said. “The goal should be to prevent these missile strikes from happening to begin with. That means that we need to strengthen our diplomatic route to creating stability in the Korean Peninsula.”

U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, a member of the House Armed Services Committee and candidate for governor, who was on Oahu on Saturday, said she plans to initiate the congressional inquiry process when she gets back to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, who was also in Honolulu when he got the alert, said what happened was “totally inexcusable.”

“This false alarm caused real harm across the state. People were in tears, people were sheltering in place, businesses were shuttered, nobody knew what to do. But more than that, we need to be able to rely on our emergency notification system so that when we see or hear ‘this is not a test,’ we need to be able to rely on that 100 percent,” he said.

Leadership in the state House and Senate pledged to investigate the incident. A joint informational briefing has been scheduled for Friday before the Senate Government Operations and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs committees, and the House Public Safety Committee.

Commentary: The false missile alert yesterday in Hawai'i caused unnecessary panic and anger amongst local residents and tourists visiting from around the country and the world. What made it extra frustrating was the Hawai'i Emergency Management Agency took way too long before sending the message out that it was a false alert. While officials tried explaining yesterday's events during various news briefs, it seemed the clearest explanation didn't come until much later in the day. Hopefully another incident like this doesn't occur anytime soon.

UPDATE ON THIS STORY!
Hawaii worker who pushed button reassigned after bungled missile alert.

A Hawaii emergency management employee was reassigned and the state agency he works for has received death threats amid fallout from the botched ballistic missile alert that triggered panic across the island paradise, officials said Monday.

The 10-year employee has been temporarily reassigned, pending an investigation into the incident, to a job that "does not provide access to the warning system," the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said in a statement.

The agency created to protect the lives of Hawaiians now must also deal with death threats. Emergency management spokesman Richard Rapoza confirmed to USA TODAY that the agency received the threats via anonymous telephone calls.

"We understand that members of our community are angry about Saturday's false alarm, and we are looking at these messages as individuals blowing off steam," Rapoza said in a statement. "While we take any threat against our personnel seriously, we are doing our best not to escalate the situation."

Hawaii is about 4,500 miles from Pyongyang, and the vocal military threats from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are taken seriously by state officials. The state has been working to upgrade the missile warning program.

The chaos began Saturday at 8:05 a.m. during a routine internal test involving the state's much ballyhooed Emergency Alert System. But the employee hit the live-alert button by mistake, and at 8:07 a.m. this alert was erroneously pushed to cell phones across the state: "Missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill."

Three minutes later, the agency had confirmed that there was in fact no missile threat. Police were quickly notified and social media announced the mistake. But the text explaining the error wasn't sent for 38 minutes, in part because no such text had been pre-scripted.

The result was controlled bedlam as Hawaiians dashed for cover, hid in their basements and reached out to friends and loved ones. In Manoa, the Durkin family huddled into an underground bunker built in their home after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

"We just started throwing supplies into the bomb shelter and closed the top and got on our phones to look for updates," Paraluman Stice-Durkin told Hawaii News Now.

Gov. David Ige quickly issued an apology for the alert.

"I am sorry for the pain and confusion it caused," he said. "I, too, am extremely upset about this and am doing everything I can do to immediately improve our emergency management systems, procedures and staffing."

Changes are already underway. Alerts now will require activation and verification by two people, the agency said. And a cancellation command has been written and can be issued within seconds of an error.

President Trump even weighed in, suggesting that federal officials will become more involved in Hawaii's notification program. And Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said his agency is investigating.

"Based on the information we have collected so far, it appears that the government of Hawaii did not have reasonable safeguards or process controls in place," Pai said. "Moving forward, we will focus on what steps need to be taken to prevent a similar incident from happening again."
What'll be interesting shall be when an actual alert is sent out, whether or not residents believe it's the real thing. H.E.M.A officials certainly have egg on their faces after Saturday's debacle, reassigning a 10 year veteran, makes you wonder why the incident even happened in the first place.

Hawaii has record-low unemployment and it’s not a frozen hellscape. Why are people leaving?

2018-01-07T20:36:00.000-10:00

Hawaii has the lowest unemployment rate of any state in recorded history, a good economic outlook, and — most attractive at this time of year — little chance of polar vortex or ‘bomb cyclones’. Yet in 2017 its population fell for just the third time since statehood in 1959.

It only dropped a tenth of a percent, but that's a worse showing than all but four states (Wyoming, West Virginia, Illinois and Alaska), according to a recent Census Bureau release.

Which brings us to the core conundrum: people are leaving Hawaii even though the labor market is stronger than on the mainland, and even though it’s the high 70s in Honolulu this week. What could possibly be driving them away?

Hawaii’s unemployment rate is exceptionally low. The preliminary seasonally adjusted reading for November was 2.0 percent — the lowest of any state since the Labor Department started keeping track in 1976, and less than half of the 4.1 percent national rate reported in November.

These state numbers are often revised, and the low rate can partly be explained by a labor force that shrank for most of 2017, an aging population, and peculiarities of the state's labor market. But "any way you cut it, 2.0 is extremely low," said Carl Bonham, economics professor and director of the University of Hawaii's economic research organization.

Even beyond the unemployment rate, the economy looks strong. A recent report from Bonham's organization projected continued growth for 2018, based on another record year of tourist arrivals, steady activity in the construction sector, and growth in health and tourism jobs.

So why is anyone leaving?

One answer trumps all others: home prices. Hawaii has the most expensive housing in the nation, according to the home value index from housing website Zillow. Rent costs trail only D.C. and (in some months) California. Overall, Hawaii had the highest cost of living of any state in 2017 (D.C. was higher), the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness found, and housing was the main driver.

It's always been expensive to live in Hawaii, but it's getting worse. There's just not enough housing on the islands, and Hawaii now has one of the worst rates of homelessness in the country.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development found that 51 out of every 10,000 people in Hawaii were homeless on the day they were counted in January 2017—that’s worse than 49 other states and ahead of only D.C. Hawaii had the fourth-fastest increase in homelessness over the past decade, the same study found.

How can homelessness and house prices be high even as the state's population is steady or falling? Some factors—tight zoning regulations, lack of land suitable for development, and not-in-my-back-yard-ism—have long been present on the islands, but there's one issue that has come to loom over all others: tourism.

Tourism has long been key to Hawaii's economy, but today it dominates. Tourists have arrived in all-time record numbers each of the past six years, and Bonham's organization predicts they will continue to do so for years to come.

But these record arrivals haven't come with record spending. Adjusted for inflation, today's tourists are more frugal than their predecessors.

Many are repeat visitors. They've already checked the big-ticket items off their bucket list and are just coming to relax and enjoy the absence of whatever apocalyptic winter storms and chores they left back home.

"They’re just not spending like they used to," Bonham said. "They’re probably shopping at Target and Kmart and probably staying in a condo or at an Airbnb."

That second part is the key.

All those extra visitors must be staying somewhere, and that somewhere is private residences. Bonham estimates there were 14,000 rooms on the vacation-rental market in 2016 (that's assuming full-time use, so the actual number is probably much higher), and every one of those is another unit that's not available for residents looking to buy.

The state granted about 4,100 residential housing permits in 2016, but Bonham estimated that they'd need about double that to accommodate demand and rein in prices.

The rise of the frugal tourist is also putting the squeeze on jobs and earnings. Residents who might have found work at higher-paying resorts in the past are now waiting on those same tourists at Target and Kmart instead. And they're not likely to afford Honolulu housing on retail wages.

Average hourly earnings for private-sector employees in Hawaii ranked 15th in the nation over the past year, and they consistently grow more slowly than home prices.

As the changing character of Hawaii's visitors squeeze residents on both ends, they may have no choice but to leave.

"There’s a connection there between that booming number of arrivals and that vacation-rental market and ... some of the exits of people from the state because of rising costs," Bonham said.

Military deployments are another factor. Bonham noted there was a net reduction of about 1,000 troops and dependents in 2016, when the state saw only 0.2 percent population growth. And the islands' fertility rate has fallen almost every year since 2008, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The high price of land and the shortage of affordable labor has also pushed sugar and pineapple plantations out of business, Brittany Lyte reported for The Washington Post in December.

“We have put all our eggs into one basket, and that is tourism. But not everybody who lives on this island wants to work in the hotel industry, and it’s almost impossible to feed a family here working as a farmer,” Lyte quoted Maui County Councilman Alika Atay as saying.

“We are now seeing drastic displacement of young people leaving Maui because of a lack of economic opportunity," Atay told Lyte.

Bonham agreed that heavy reliance on tourism had foreclosed other options.

"If you’re looking in manufacturing or you’re looking in certain areas of the sciences we simply don’t have some of those jobs," he said.

Preliminary data back up the notion that Hawaii residents are continuing to vote with their feet. Moving company Atlas Van Lines found that, among its customers in 2017 (through Dec. 15), there were three moves out of Hawaii for every two moves in. The state is clearly a very nice place to visit. But it's getting harder and harder to stay.

What makes living in Hawai'i so challenging for most families, is the cost of living, monthly rent or mortgages, health insurance costs, both parents working, etc. Both parents often work to help make ends meet, but, sometimes that isn't even enough.
I grew up in Hawai'i during the late 1970's early 1980's, graduating from high school here in Hilo in 1984. Many classmates, myself included joined different branches of the services right after high school, serving various lengths of service. When our respective service days came to an end, many of us remained on the mainland in different states.
The job markets, cost of living, housing costs, etc have always been less expensive on the U.S. mainland. Many employers here in Hawai'i haven't adjusted their employees wages to match the cost of living. Many professional workers from doctors, nurses, lawyers, news reporters, drivers, etc all make better wages on the U.S. mainland, which has been one of the key reasons so many local residents move to the mainland.

The Aloha spirit and the people of Hawai'i are amongst the most unique in the nation, however, not being able to provide for your family, would make anyone relocate to the mainland.
Employers making their employee wages match the cost of living costs in Hawai'i, would most likely see price increases in goods and services, from grocery, gas, restaurants, clothing, shoe stores.

Cleveland Browns become 2nd team in NFL history to finish season 0-16

2017-12-31T19:12:00.000-10:00

The Cleveland Browns ended its 2017 season Sunday with an embarrassing statistic to its name, becoming just the second team in NFL history to finish 0-16.

Cleveland had a chance late in the fourth quarter in Pittsburgh, but quarterback DeShone Kizer's fourth-down pass to Corey Coleman bounced off Coleman's hands and fell incomplete.

The Steelers ran out the clock to complete a 28-24 victory.

The Browns joined the 2008 Detroit Lions as the only teams to go 0-16.

Many fans of the team seemed to be good sports, taking their "honor" in stride. Thousands of people have pledged on Facebook to attend a "parade" to honor the Browns' so-called "perfect season." The shindig was set up before their season ended; it's unclear if it will actually go on as planned.

Before the Lions, three other teams had winless seasons. The 1960 Dallas Cowboys finished 0–11 with one tie, the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers ended with a 0–14 record, and the the 1982 Baltimore Colts went 0–8 with one tie in a season shortened by a strike.

"As we all know, the Cleveland Browns have had a magical season full of fun & utter embarrassment. Wikipedia defines embarrassment as, 'an emotional state that is associated with moderate to high levels of discomfort, and which is usually experienced when someone has a socially unacceptable or frowned-upon act or condition that was witnessed by or revealed to others.' This is the condition we deal with every Sunday as a Browns fan!" supporters of the "perfect season" parade wrote on a GoFundMe page to raise money for the event.

Head coach Hue Jackson is expected to return despite a 1-31 record and the Browns have two of the top four picks in 2018.

While Jackson, who will jump in Lake Erie at some point in the near future to fulfill his vow the Browns wouldn't go 1-15 as they did in 2016, may return to the team in 2018, another offseason filled with searching awaits.

Nearly four months removed from a taut 21-18 loss to Pittsburgh in the season opener -- a game that seemed to indicate the Browns were ready to take a significant step forward in Jackson's second year -- Cleveland walked onto frigid Heinz Field still looking for its first win in 372 days. The wait will continue for another eight months following three hours that symbolized Cleveland's historically miserable season.

Hue Jackson should've been given the chance to stay in Oakland after then owner Al Davis passed away, he's gone 1-31 since he's been head coach in Cleveland. The Raiders haven't had a decent head coach since Jon Gruden coached the team from 1998-2001.
This past season the NFL saw its ratings plummet like never before, because players were kneeling during the national anthem. NFL fans decided to respond in a huge way, did it ever show up in many different ways. It makes you wonder what the 2018 season will bring, whether players will continue to kneel during the national anthem.

Hillary Clinton backer paid $500G to fund women accusing Trump of sexual misconduct before Election Day, report says

2017-12-31T18:55:00.001-10:00

One of Hillary Clinton’s wealthy pals paid $500,000 in an unsuccessful effort to fund women willing to accuse President Trump of sexual misconduct before the 2016 election, The New York Times reported Sunday.

Susie Tompkins Buell, the founder of Esprit Clothing and a major Clinton campaign donor for many years, gave the money to celebrity lawyer Lisa Bloom who was working with a number of Trump accusers at the time, according to the paper’s bombshell report.

Bloom solicited donors by saying she was working with women who might “find the courage to speak out” against Trump if the donors would provide funds for security, relocation and possibly a “safe house,” the paper reported.

Former Clinton nemesis turned Clinton operative David Brock also donated $200,000 to the effort through a nonprofit group he founded, the paper reported in an article entitled, “Partisans, Wielding Money, Begin Seeking to Exploit Harassment Claims.”

Bloom told the Times that the effort was unproductive. One woman requested $2 million then decided not to come forward. Nor did any other women.

Bloom said she refunded most of the cash, keeping only some funds for out-of-pocket expenses accrued while working to vet and prepare cases.

The lawyer told the paper she did not communicate with Clinton or her campaign “on any of this.”

She also maintained that she represented only clients whose stories she had corroborated and disputed the premise that she offered money to coax clients to come forward, the paper reported.

“It doesn’t cost anything to publicly air allegations,” Bloom said. “Security and relocation are expensive and were sorely needed in a case of this magnitude, in a country filled with so much anger, hate and violence.”

The Times article said it learned of Buell and Brock's connection to Bloom from two Democrats familiar with the financial arrangements who also said Bloom’s law firm kept the money from Brock's nonprofit group but refunded the $500,000 that Buell contributed.

Brock declined comment, according to the paper.

Clinton campaign representatives said they were unaware of his work with Bloom.

Buell would not comment on the financial arrangement, according to the Times.

Still, she claimed she was frustrated that Trump had escaped the repercussions that have befallen many other powerful men accused of similar misconduct.

The Times article expanded on a report in The Hill two weeks ago that said that worked with campaign donors and tabloid media outlets during the final months of the presidential election to arrange compensation for the alleged Trump victims and a commission for herself, offering to sell their stories.

In one case Bloom reportedly arranged for a donor to pay off one Trump accuser’s mortgage and attempted to score a six-figure payout for another woman.

The woman with the mortgage ultimately declined to come forward after being offiered $750,000, The Hill reported.

The paper reported reviewing one email exchange between one woman and Bloom that suggested political action committees supporting Hillary Clinton were solicited, without naming which ones.

Bloom, who is the daughter of famous attorney Gloria Allred and, like her mother, specializes in representing women in sexual harassment cases, worked for four women who were considering accusing Trump. Two went public, and two declined.

It's quite pathetic when a political opponent can't accept the reality of the fact she lost the presidential election in 2016. While there are those who don't like President Trump, he's the current President of the United States, should be given an opportunity to succeed or fail while in office. Since being elected President, the stock market went on a 71 consecutive week streak of positive increases, which hadn't been seen since President Eisenhower. The unemployment rate of 4.1% is lowest in 17 years, the economy rate of growth has been 3 to 4%, something no president has had in quite some time.

It should have been a celebration for new $181 million train route. What went wrong?

2017-12-18T14:05:00.003-10:00

They were the first passengers to use a $181 million railroad project that paralleled Interstate 5. It should have been a celebration Monday for everyone on board Amtrak Cascades 501.

Instead, it became a disastrous derailment that has killed six people and hurt nearly everyone on board the train, along with several auto passengers on the freeway below.

How could the first run of a project 10 years in the making go so horribly wrong? Officials will be asking that question in the days, weeks and months to come.

“Obviously it could be an operator error, it could be an obstruction on the line itself or it could be a safety issue where the track was not able to handle the speed,” said state Rep. Jake Fey, D-Tacoma, the vice chairman of the House Transportation Committee. “All of those things are bad.

“You want to be sure when you build new projects like this that they’re going to be safe. This is not good for encouraging passenger traffic on Amtrak from Portland to Tacoma.”

Amtrak operates the Cascades regional trains for the Washington and Oregon departments of transportation. The trains run between Eugene, Oregon, and Seattle. Another route goes from Seattle to Vancouver, British Columbia.

On Sunday evening, Amtrak ran its last passenger trains along the old route that followed Puget Sound’s shoreline.

On Monday morning, a new Tacoma train station opened at Freighthouse Square and Cascades train No. 501 left about 7 a.m. on its way to Olympia using the new, inland route.

It never made it to the capital, derailing about a mile from where it would have rejoined the old route near the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge.

A total of 14 Cascades trains were intended to use the new passenger route each day. In addition, Amtrak’s signature West Coast train, the Coast Starlight, was to use the route twice daily, going south to Los Angeles and north to Seattle.

Transportation officials have long wanted to bypass the scenic route along Puget Sound for two main reasons: It would cut 10 minutes of travel time off the Tacoma to Olympia route, and it would ease congestion on the old route.

The old, shoreline route was intended to be used only by freight trains operated by BNSF Railway, starting Monday.

That route was the scene of another Amtrak Cascades derailment July 2 that injured some of the 267 passengers on board. That accident also occurred near a train bridge. The cause was attributed to excessive speed and outdated equipment.

The Point Defiance Bypass project was seven years in the making with planning and design before then.

The new route uses the same tracks Sound Transit Sounder trains use on their way to Lakewood from Tacoma. That route splits off from the mainline where Interstate 5 crosses the Puyallup River, east of Freighthouse Square.

From Lakewood, the new route takes only Amtrak trains south along Interstate 5 on completely rebuilt rails, track bed and crossings. However, the trestle and concrete abutments where the derailment occurred were decades old.

After crossing that bridge the route then connects with BNSF Railway’s main line just north of Nisqually.

For more than 100 years, passenger and freight trains have traveled along Tacoma’s waterfront, along Puget Sound and then headed inland just north of Nisqually.

Those trains used a train bridge over Interstate 5 about 4,000 feet south of the bridge that was the scene of Monday’s disaster. The two routes meet up and become one just south of there.

Amtrak planned to run its trains up to 79 miles per hour. It’s unknown how fast the derailed train was moving Monday.

Officials have been testing the new route but details on how extensive those tests have been were not available Monday.

As of late Monday morning, Amtrak Cascades and Starlight trains were once again using the shore route.

It'll be interesting seeing what the NTSB's final conclusion will be when all the facts become known about this unfortunate train accident. It's been foolish on some people's parts to presume what may have caused the accident without knowing what all the facts are.

Latest information about the Amtrak train derailment in Washington: http://nbcbay.com/ePuaKR8
- At least 6 killed; death count expected to rise, according to U.S. official
- Train may have struck something on the track- Positive train control technology was not implemented

Update on this story: Official: Train brake automatically activated in fatal wreck

DUPONT, Wash. — Investigators are looking into whether the Amtrak engineer whose speeding train plunged off an overpass, killing at least three people, was distracted by the presence of an employee-in-training next to him in the locomotive, a federal official said Tuesday.

The official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said investigators want to know whether the engineer lost "situational awareness" because of the second person in the cab.

Preliminary information indicated that the emergency brake on the Amtrak train that derailed in Washington state went off automatically and was not manually activated by the engineer, National Transportation Safety Board member Bella Dinh-Zarr said.

The train was hurtling at 80 mph (129 kph) in a 30 mph (48 kph) zone Monday morning when it ran off the rails along a curve south of Seattle, sending some of its cars plummeting onto an interstate highway below, Dinh-Zarr said, citing data from the locomotive's event recorder.

Skid marks — so-called "witness marks" — from the train's wheels show where it left the track, she added.

Dinh-Zarr said it is not yet known what caused the train to derail and that it was too early in the investigation to conclude why it was going so fast.

Investigators will talk to the engineer and other crew members and review the event data record from the lead locomotive as well as an identical device from the rear engine, which has already been studied. Investigators are also trying to get images from two on-board cameras that were damaged in the crash, she said.

There were two people in the cab of the train at the time of the crash, the engineer and an in-training conductor who familiarizing himself with the route, Dinh-Zarr said. A second conductor was in the passenger cabin at the time of the crash, which is also part of the job responsibility, she said.

In previous wrecks, investigators looked at whether the engineer was distracted or incapacitated. It is standard procedure in a crash investigation to test the engineer for alcohol or drugs and check to determine whether he or she was using a cellphone, something that is prohibited while the train is running.

The engineer, whose name was not released, was bleeding from the head after the crash and his eyes were swollen shut, according to radio transmissions from a crew member. The transmissions mentioned a second person in the front of the train who was also hurt.

The train, with 85 passengers and crew members, was making the inaugural run along a fast new bypass route that was created by refurbishing freight tracks alongside Interstate 5. The 15-mile, $180.7 million project was aimed at speeding up service by bypassing a route with a number of curves, single-track tunnels and freight traffic.

Investigators were also looking into what training was required of the engineer and other crew members to operate on the new route, said Ted Turpin, the lead NTSB investigator of the crash. That includes assessing the training process and how much time the workers were required to spend on the trains before they shuttled passengers, he said.

"Under Amtrak policy he couldn't run this train without being qualified and running this train previously," Turpin said of the engineer.

At least some of the crew had been doing runs on the route for two weeks prior to the crash, including a Friday ride-along for local dignitaries, Dinh-Zarr added.

The bypass underwent testing by Sound Transit and Amtrak beginning in January and at least until July, according to documents on the Washington Department of Transportation website.

Positive train control — technology that can automatically slow or stop a speeding train — was not in use on that stretch of track. Track sensors and other PTC components have been installed, but the system is not expected to be completed until the spring, transit officials said.

Regulators have been pressing railroads for years to install such technology, and some have done so, but the deadline has been extended repeatedly at the industry's request and is now set for the end of 2018.

Dinh-Zarr said it was too early in the investigation to say whether positive train control would have prevented Monday's tragedy.

The 7:34 a.m. accident left mangled train cars up on top of each other, with one hanging precariously over the freeway. The screech and clang of metal were followed by silence, then screams, as the injured cried out to rescuers and motorists pulled over and rushed to help.

In addition to those killed, more than 70 people were injured, 10 of them seriously.

Two of the dead were identified as train buffs and members of the rail advocacy group All Aboard Washington and were excited to be on board for the inaugural run: Jim Hamre, a retired civil engineer with the state Transportation Department, and Zack Willhoite, a customer service employee at a local transit agency.

"It's pretty devastating. We're having a tough time," said All Aboard Washington executive director Lloyd Flem.

In 2015, an Amtrak train traveling at twice the 50 mph (80 kph) speed limit derailed along a sharp curve in Philadelphia, killing eight people. Investigators concluded the engineer was distracted by reports over the radio of another train getting hit by a rock.

In September, a judge threw out charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment against the engineer, saying the crash did not appear to rise to a crime. Prosecutors are trying to get the case reinstated.

Amtrak agreed to pay $265 million to settle claims filed by the victims and their families. It has also installed positive train control on all its track between Boston and Washington.

Uber hires Dara Khosrowshahi as its New CEO

2017-08-31T16:54:00.001-10:00

Dara Khosrowshahi is officially the new CEO of Uber.

The company announced his hiring in a memo late on Tuesday to Uber's employees, which he will officially meet during an all-hands meeting on Wednesday.

"We’re really fortunate to gain a leader with Dara’s experience, talent and vision," the board wrote in its note to employees.

Uber's board voted on Sunday to offer the former Expedia CEO the position of chief executive of the $69 billion ride-hailing company, ending a contentious search for a new leader. Khosrowshahi, a surprise candidate among the finalists, will replace former CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick, who resigned more than two months ago amid a series of scandals and controversies that have rocked the ride-hailing company for much of this year.

Kalanick said in a statement that he was excited to welcome the experienced leader to Uber.

"With a deep passion for team building, Dara grew Expedia into one of the world’s most successful travel and technology platforms. Casting a vote for the next chief executive of Uber was a big moment for me and I couldn't be happier to pass the torch to such an inspiring leader," Kalanick said.

Since taking over Expedia as CEO in 2005, Khosrowshahi, who is 48, has battled economic recessions that cut into people's travel budgets and upstarts like Airbnb that have tried to take away its business.

As CEO of Uber, Khosrowshahi will be stepping into a minefield of battles, albeit many of them internal power struggles rather than global economic events. He will be dealing with a boardroom battle between two of the company's largest shareholders while also needing to hire most of his new executive team, including a new CFO and COO.

Then there's also a looming lawsuit with Google over Uber's self-driving car programs and a government investigation into Greyball, a tool Uber used to evade regulators.

The mountain of troubles deterred some candidates from the position, but those who know Khosrowshahi well say he's a "solid" leader capable of handling the baggage that will come with the CEO job.

"He’s the unflinching courage under fire," said Woody Marshall, a venture partner at TCV (which is not an Uber investor) and childhood friend of Khosrowshahi. "He’s worked for Barry Diller for 25 years. I don’t think there’s anything that can blow his hair back."

Here's Uber's full memo to its employees announcing his hiring:
Team,

We are delighted to announce that Uber’s Board has voted unanimously to appoint Dara Khosrowshahi to be our new CEO.

Dara came to America at nine years old when his family escaped Iran on the eve of the Iranian Revolution. He grew up in Tarrytown, N.Y., trained as an engineer at Brown, and spent many years at IAC serving as Chief Financial Officer and in various operational and strategic roles.

In 2005, he became CEO of Expedia, which he built into one of the world’s leading travel and technology companies, now operating in more than 60 countries. He has four children and not surprisingly loves to travel, one of his favorite trips being to the Angkor Wat temples in Cambodia where his wife Sydney said yes to marrying him.

We’re really fortunate to gain a leader with Dara’s experience, talent and vision. The Board and the Executive Leadership Team are confident that Dara is the best person to lead Uber into the future building world-class products, transforming cities, and adding value to the lives of drivers and riders around the world while continuously improving our culture and making Uber the best place to work.

Dara will be joining us tomorrow, August 30, for an All Hands. Add your questions for Dara here, and stay tuned for a calendar invite with more details. He’ll also be meeting with employees around the world in smaller groups over the next few weeks, and spending time with drivers.

Please join us in welcoming Dara on what promises to be an exciting ride!

Commentary:

It'll prove interesting seeing what Dara is able to do in possibly turning around the misfortunes of ride-sharing company Uber. Uber, whose reputation amongst drivers and customers alike has been fire and ice, new CEO Dara will have his work cut out for him. What shall be most intriguing to watch will be whether back ground checks and drug testing standards will be implemented.

As it stands presently, neither ride-sharing company Uber or Lyft require their drivers to undergo such checks like their taxi cab counterparts. Regaining the consumers trust will take some doing, especially with all the recent headlines, that have cast a huge dark cloud over the company.

One dead and 19 injured as car strikes crowds along route of white nationalist rally in Charlottesville; two police die in helicopter crash

2017-08-12T16:39:00.004-10:00

CHARLOTTESVILLE — Chaos and violence turned to tragedy Saturday as hundreds of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members — planning to stage what they described as their largest rally in decades to “take America back” — clashed with counterprotesters in the streets and a car plowed into crowds, leaving one person dead and 19 others injured.
Hours later, two state police officers died when their helicopter crashed at the outskirts of town. Officials identified them as Berke M.M. Bates of Quinton, Va., who was the pilot, and H. Jay Cullen of Midlothian, Va., who was a passenger. State police said their Bell 407 helicopter was assisting with the unrest in Charlottesville. Bates died one day before his 41st birthday; Cullen was 48.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who had declared a state of emergency in the morning, said at an evening news conference that he had a message for “all the white supremacists and the Nazis who came into Charlottesville today: Go home. You are not wanted in this great commonwealth.”
Maurice Jones, Charlottesville’s African American city manager, looked stricken as he spoke. “Hate came to our town today in a way that we had feared but we had never really let ourselves imagine would,” he said.

State and local officials declined to take reporters’ questions and abruptly left after making statements.

In an emergency meeting Saturday evening, the Charlottesville City Council voted unanimously to give police the power to enact a curfew or otherwise restrict assembly as necessary to protect public safety.

Video recorded at the scene of the car crash shows a 2010 gray Dodge Challenger accelerating into crowds on a pedestrian mall, sending bodies flying — and then reversing at high speed, hitting yet more people. Witnesses said the street was filled with people opposed to the white nationalists who had come to town bearing Confederate flags and anti-Semitic epithets.

A 32-year-old woman was killed, according to police, who said they were investigating the crash as a criminal homicide. The driver of the Challenger was taken into custody and charges were pending, said Al Thomas, the Charlottesville police chief.

The car is registered to 20-year-old James Alex Fields of Ohio, according to vehicle registration records reviewed by The Washington Post. Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail Superintendent Martin Kumer told The Post that a man with the same name and age was booked Saturday on suspicion of second-degree murder, malicious wounding, failure to stop for an accident involving a death, and hit-and-run. Kumer said Fields is being held without bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Charlottesville General District Court.

Records show Fields last lived in Maumee, Ohio, about 15 miles southwest of Toledo.
Angela Taylor, a spokeswoman for the University of Virginia Medical Center, said 19 others were brought to the hospital in the early afternoon after the car barreled through the pedestrian mall. Five were in critical condition as of Saturday evening. Another 14 people were hurt in street brawls, city officials said.

Earlier, police evacuated a downtown park as rallygoers and counterprotesters traded blows and hurled bottles and chemical irritants at one another, putting an end to the noon rally before it officially began.

Despite the decision to quash the rally, clashes continued on side streets and throughout downtown, including the pedestrian mall at Water and Fourth streets where the Challenger slammed into counterprotesters and two other cars in the early afternoon, sending bystanders running and screaming.

“I am heartbroken that a life has been lost here,” Charlottesville Mayor Michael Signer (D) said in a tweet. “I urge all people of good will — go home.”

Elected leaders in Virginia and elsewhere urged peace, blasting the white supremacist views on display in Charlottesville as ugly. U.S. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) called the display “repugnant.”

But President Trump, known for his rapid-fire tweets, remained silent throughout the morning. It was after 1 p.m. when he weighed in, writing on Twitter: “We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Lets come together as one!”

In brief remarks at a late-afternoon news conference in New Jersey to discuss veterans’ health care, Trump said he was following the events in Charlottesville closely. “The hate and the division must stop and must stop right now,” Trump said, without specifically mentioning white nationalists or their views. “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides. On many sides.”

Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, a Trump supporter who was in Charlottesville on Saturday, quickly replied. “I would recommend you take a good look in the mirror & remember it was White Americans who put you in the presidency, not radical leftists,” he wrote.

Dozens of the white nationalists in Charlottesville were wearing red Make America Great Again hats. Asked by a reporter in New Jersey whether he wanted the support of white nationalists, Trump did not respond.

Even as crowds began to thin Saturday afternoon, the town remained unsettled and on edge. Onlookers were deeply shaken at the pedestrian mall, where ambulances had arrived to treat those injured by the car.

Chan Williams, 22, was among the counterprotesters at the pedestrian mall, chanting “Black Lives Matter” and “Whose streets? Our streets!” The marchers blocked traffic, but Williams said drivers weren’t annoyed. Instead, she said, they waved or honked in support.

So when she heard a car engine rev up and saw the people in front of her dodging a moving car, she didn’t know what to think.

“I saw the car hit bodies, legs in the air,” she said. “You try to grab the people closest to you and take shelter.”

Williams and friend George Halliday ducked into a shop with an open door and called their mothers immediately. An hour later, the two were still visibly upset.

It's unbelievable that this sort of thing occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia earlier today. I wonder what organizers were expecting during a white nationalists gathering featuring neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members? The egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence cost 3 people their lives while injuring 26 others. A driver named James Alex Fields Jr, 20, of Maumee Ohio was arrested for plowing into the crowd of protesters. He's also charged with suspicion of 2nd degree murder, malicious wounding, and failure to stop in an accident that resulted in death.

The Nationalists rally was protesting plans by the city of Charlottesville to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Was the rally today worth the lives of 3 people and 26 others who were injured? Hopefully the aftermath of this can serve as a stepping stone, in the event another such rally is held, that areas would be closed off to prevent another tragedy such as this from happening again in the near future. There's no excuse for the behavior that was on display for the entire world to see.

Current and Former NFL Players, Coaches Discuss Latest CTE Brain Study Findings

2017-08-06T14:20:00.003-10:00

With NFL training camps opening up across the country, several current and former NFL players have been asked about the findings of a new study by Boston University researcher Dr. Ann McKee, who examined the brains of 202 deceased football players and found that 110 of the 111 brains of former NFL players had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

The brains were donated by families of former NFL players who showed signs of the disease. The study was not conducted on a set of random former NFL players, and Dr. McKee notes "tremendous selection bias" in the samples.

“It is no longer debatable whether or not there is a problem in football—there is a problem,” Dr. McKee said, according to the New York Times.

CTE was found in 177 of the 202 brains. Here's a look at how current and former players and coaches have responded so far to the new study.
• New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick deflected on commenting on the CTE study too much in his first press conference of training camp and would leave the discussion to the experts.

“I think the league addressed it,” Belichick said. “I don’t really have much to add to the statement that they released. Obviously it’s an important area that’s being given a lot of attention, as it should.”
He was also asked whether he was worried about the future of football and said, "“Again, there are a lot of studies out there. I’m not really a medical expert. That’s not really my field. So I think I’ll leave that to the people who are doing it.”

• Patriots safety Devin McCourty supports the NFL's efforts to get more information on brain research, according to WEEI.

"For all of us, technology has showed that we're getting more and more research," McCourty said. "I think the good thing as players is that the NFL and the NFLPA are finding ways to get all of that information to us and making us knowledgeable of the situation. But I think all of us decide to play football, and that's why we're back here in training camp ready to go and compete for another year. It's good to get that research and learn from it."

• Cleveland Browns offensive tackle revealed in April that he's experienced memory loss on occasion. He dismissed any concern regarding CTE at the moment, according to Cleveland.com.

"I'm not worried about it right now,' Thomas said.

"But for me, personally, I do monitor those things very closely,'' he added.

• Former Philadelphia Eagles star Brian Dawkins played 16 seasons in the NFL. He told reporters that he has no symptoms but will accept whatever comes from his decision to play as long as you did. (Les Bowens, Philly.com)

• Carolina Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis said, "I would be lying if I said I didn't get nervous about that stat. But this game, I just love it so much." (Jeff Darlington, ESPN)

• Former Vikings center Matt Birk tweeted, "What about the 15,000 or so deceased former NFL players who lived full lives and didn’t have CTE?”

Here's the list of former players, some of whom are deceased who had CTE;

Jovan Belcher^[4]

Forrest Blue^[5]

Bill Bryant^[6]

Lew Carpenter^[7]

Daniel Colchico^[6]

Lou Creekmur^[8]

Art DeCarlo^[6]

Shane Dronett^[9]

Dave Duerson^[10]^[11]

Pete Duranko^[6]

Ray Easterling^[11]^[12]^[13]

Frank Gifford^[11]^[14]

Cookie Gilchrist^[11]^[15]

John Grimsley^[16]

Chris Henry^[11]^[17]

Jim Hudson^[6]

Gerry Huth^[6]

Tom Keating^[6]

Terry Long^[1]

Rob Lytle^[18]

John Mackey^[11]^[19]

Ollie Matson^[11]^[20]

Tom McHale^[11]^[21]

Earl Morrall^[22]

Joe O'Malley^[6]

Mike Pyle^[6]

Adrian Robinson^[23]

Tyler Sash^[11]^[24]

Junior Seau^[11]^[25]

Bubba Smith^[11]^[26]

Robert Sowell^[6]

Ken Stabler^[11]^[27]

Justin Strzelczyk^[11]

Mosi Tatupu^[28]

Kevin Turner^[29]

Andre Waters^[11]

Mike Webster^[11]

Ralph Wenzel^[11]

John Wilbur^{[6]

The list of former players diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a who's who of great players of yesteryear. It seems that even high school football players are being diagnosed with CTE. That being said how long will it be before the game as we know it is changed forever?}

Coaches deserving a closer look from the NFL Hall Of Fame

2017-08-06T10:07:00.000-10:00

This was the ninth time in the past 11 years that no coaches earned enshrinement. Seventy-three of 75 inductees over that span were not coaches, and with Don Coryell falling short as a finalist 31 years after coaching his final game, the guys responsible for motivating grown men could use a pep talk themselves.

There is hope. John Madden waited 28 years, Hank Stram waited 26 and George Allen waited 25, which reflects the process as much as anything. Coaches compete in the same category as players on the theory both made their marks at field level, unlike contributors. It's a debatable premise and a problem for coaches whose candidacies require some deliberation.

Marty SchottenheimerRegular season: 200-126-1 (.613)
Playoffs: 5-13 (.278)
Super Bowls: none as a head coach

Coach Schottenheimer's failures during playoff games has certainly haunted him, despite not having an exceptional QB such as a Joe Montana to work with. His teams routinely turned the ball either by interception or fumble at the most inopportune times.

Schottenheimer wasn't just a compiler. He's also one of seven coaches with 300 games coached and a winning percentage of at least .600 (Andy Reid, who is becoming the Schottenheimer of this era unless he wins a title, has a chance to join the list this season).

Chuck KnoxRegular season: 186-147-1 (.558)
Playoffs: 7-11 (.389)
Super Bowls: none as a head coach

Knox was a four-time coach of the year who twice took over losing teams and brought them to the playoffs in his first season on the job.

Bill CowherRegular season: 149-90-1 (.623)
Playoffs: 12-9
Super Bowls: 1-1 as a head coach

Ben Roethlisberger became a top-tier quarterback, but he was not one when Cowher was coaching him. That means Cowher took the Steelers to two Super Bowls with two different below-top-tier quarterbacks. Cowher also took two very different teams to the biggest stage, with nine years in between those Super Bowl runs. His Steelers reached six AFC title games during his 15-year run as head coach.

George Seifert
Regular Season: 114-62 (.648)
Playoffs: 15-10
SuperBowls: 2-0 as a head coach

Seifert enjoyed his best success as head coach while coaching the San Francisco 49ers, where he accumulated a 98-30 coaching record, along with winning 2 SuperBowls with 2 Hall of Fame QBs, Joe Montana in 1989, Steve Young in 1994. His 3 year stint with the Carolina Panthers, where his coaching record was 16-32, may be the specific factor he's not in the hall of fame.
Other Coaches deserving honorable mention:

Don Coryell:
Career regular-season won-loss record of 111-83-1 (42-27-1 in St. Louis and 69-56 in San Diego)
Six seasons with 10 or more regular-season wins

Two-time NFC East Champion (St. Louis, 1974-75) and three-time AFC West Champion (San Diego, 1979-81)

Led NFL in total yards per game in 1980 (413.8), 1981 (429.9), 1982 (460.2) and 1985 (427.5)

Led NFL in total touchdowns scored in 1981 (60), 1982 (34) and 1985 (57)

Second in NFL in total yards per game in 1983 (401.7) and third in 1984 (411.4)

Led NFL in scrimmage yards per game (398.4) and touchdowns (416) during tenure in San Diego (1978-86)

Led NFL in passing yards per game (287.4) and second in touchdown passes (243) during tenure in San Diego

Led NFL in points per game (25.6) during tenure in San Diego

As an offensive innovator Don Coryell would deserve induction into Pro Football's Hall of Fame for making the passing game what it is today. Many former players and coaches are in the hall of fame because of Don Coryell. SuperBowl wins seem to be the standard whether or not a head coach gets inducted, George Allen, Bud Grant, Marv Levy are all inducted despite not winning a Super Bowl.

Tom Flores
Regular Season 97-87 (.527)
Playoffs 8-3 (.727)
SuperBowls 2-0 as a head coach

Greatest success as head coach came while coaching the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders from 1979- 1987, where his record was 83-53, along with 2 SuperBowl wins. The Oakland Raiders became the first team in NFL history to win the SuperBowl as a wild card team during the 1980 season. His coaching stint with the Seattle Seahawks from 1992-1994 proved to be miserable for him, his 14-34 record may have hindered his chances for induction.

Coaches with .600 and above winning percentages are all inducted, though Chuck Noll, Hank Stram, Bill Parcells, Marv Levy, Mike Ditka, Sid Gillman, all have winning percentages below .574 for their respective coaching careers.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame voters seem to have varying criteria for each former player or head coach.

Uber's Wrong Turn

2017-06-25T12:36:00.001-10:00

With CEO Travis Kalanick resigning earlier this week from the ride-sharing service he co-founded, it's another twist in an otherwise rough year for the company.Uber has faced scandals on multiple fronts. The company launched two investigations into allegations of harassment. Kalanick, who took an indefinite leave of absence last week Opens a New Window. , was at the center of controversy over a profanity-laced outburst with an Uber driver that was caught on video. There’s also a court battle stemming from allegations that Uber stole trade secrets from Waymo, Alphabet’s (GOOGL) self-driving car development company.

Here's a timeline of Uber's troubles so far this year.

- Jan. 28: After President Donald Trump releases his first executive order on immigration, New York taxi drivers protest by refusing to pick up passengers at Kennedy Airport for an hour. Some protesters say Uber tries to capitalize on the protest by picking up passengers anyway, prompting a Twitter protest urging people to delete Uber's app from their smartphones.

- Feb. 2: Uber CEO Travis Kalanick quits President Trump's council of business leaders amid mounting pressure from employees and customers over the immigration order.

- Feb. 19: A former Uber engineer, Susan Fowler, discloses sexual harassment and sexism claims in a blog post about her year at Uber. Fowler says her boss propositioned her and higher-ups ignored her complaints. Kalanick calls Fowler's accusations "abhorrent" and hires former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate.
- Feb. 23: Waymo, a self-driving car company spun off from Google, sues Uber. Waymo alleges that Anthony Levandowski - a former top manager for Google's self-driving car project - stole pivotal technology from Google before leaving to run Uber's self-driving car division.

- Feb. 28: A video emerges of Kalanick arguing with an Uber driver. It includes yelling and profanity and ends with a combative Kalanick dismissing the agitated driver's claims that sharp reductions in fares forced him into bankruptcy. In an email to employees, Kalanick admits he needs leadership help. "I must fundamentally change as a leader and grow up," he says.

- March 3: The New York Times reveals that Uber used a phony version of its app to thwart authorities in cities where it was operating illegally. Uber's so-called Greyball software identified regulators who were posing as riders and blocked access to them. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating Uber's use of the Greyball software.
- March 19: Uber's president, Jeff Jones, resigns less than a year after joining the company. He tells the tech blog Recode that his approach to leadership is at odds with what he experienced at Uber.

- April 18: Sherif Marakby, a global vice president who leads Uber's self-driving car program, leaves the company.

- April 27: Levandowski announces he is stepping aside while Uber defends itself against the allegations from Waymo.

- May 11: A federal judge in San Francisco rejects Uber's request for arbitration and refers Waymo's case to the U.S. Attorney's office for a possible criminal investigation. Days later the judge bans Uber from using technology taken from Waymo, but doesn't order Uber to halt its self-driving vehicle program, as Waymo requested. The case is set for trial in October.

- May 26: Kalanick's mother dies in a boating accident. His father is seriously injured.

- May 30: Uber fires Levandowski.

- May 31: Uber's finance chief Gautam Gupta says he plans to leave the company in July.

- June 6: Uber fires 20 people after a law firm, Perkins Coie, investigates complaints of harassment, bullying and retaliation. That investigation, which was separate from Holder's, checked into 215 complaints; 57 are still under investigation.

- June 11: Uber's board meets with Holder and adopts a series of recommendations based on his report.

- June 12: Emil Michael, Uber's senior vice president for business and a close ally of Kalanick, leaves the company.

- June 13: Kalanick tells Uber employees that he's taking a leave for an unspecified period, but will be available for "the most strategic decisions." Uber's board releases Holder's recommendations, which include removing some of Kalanick's responsibilities and replacing Uber's chairman and founder, Garrett Camp, with an independent chairman. Holder also recommends many cultural and policy changes, from establishing an effective complaint process to recruiting more diverse applicants to prohibiting alcohol and drug use during core work hours.

- June 20: Uber embarks on "180 days of change," seeking to persuade riders and investors that it is a company with a conscience and a heart. The first move was allowing riders the ability to give drivers tips through the Uber app, something that Kalanick had resisted. Details of the rest of the plan were not made public.

- June 21: CEO Travis Kalanick resigns under pressure from investors and the board. He will stay on as a board member.

Commentary: Ride-sharing companies such as Uber or Lyft have been popular amongst young people, including business travelers, families on vacation. Taxi companies have been hit hard by the decrease in business for their drivers, many of whom do this job full time. Driver's for both Uber & Lyft have never been subjected to the rigorous back-ground checks nor drug screenings as their Taxi counter-parts.

Were all ride-sharing companies held to the same standards as Taxi or Limo companies, this would be an entire different ball game. We realize why people select those services, primarily because they're less expensive than their Taxi counter-parts. When any infraction is found on any driver's record while they're applying for or renewing their Taxi permits, the permit is then denied, the driver no longer has a job.

People using ride-sharing services aren't aware of many of these things. It's only when something major occurs that the news is revealed, riders are left scratching their respective heads.

All counties in California ought to make it mandatory for ride-sharing drivers to undergo back-ground checks & drug testing. You'd be surprised how many drivers would depart both companies.

Are we wittnessing an ObamaCare exodus?

2016-07-31T19:19:00.001-10:00

It's been more than two years since the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as "Obamacare," was fully implemented, but the controversy surrounding the health law hasn't died down one iota.

In one corner, supporters of Obamacare can rightly point to the lowest uninsured rates on record. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that the uninsured rate as of the end of 2015 was just 9.1%, down 16% from the end of 2013, the year immediately preceding the implementation of Obamacare. Gallup's Q1 2016 data shows an uninsured rate of 11%, down more than six percentage points from Q4 2013. Don't forget that on top of the 11.1 million paying Obamacare customers enrolled in the marketplace exchanges as of March 31, 2016, there are nearly as many people who've gained access to medical care through the expansion of Medicaid programs in 31 states.

In the other corner are those who can be rightly critical of the program. Despite being told by President Obama that "you'll be able to keep your doctor," millions of Americans lost their primary care physicians and health plans because of beefed-up minimum benefit requirements. Additionally, many consumers aren't too keen on the penalty associated with not purchasing health insurance.

However, premium inflation is arguably what's drawing the most debate and ire surrounding Obamacare. A recent analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation of the lowest-cost silver plans in 14 major cities suggested that premium costs could rise by 11% in 2017.

And who do we find in the middle of this battle? Consumers and insurers.
It's been well-documented that consumer opinions of Obamacare tend to largely be driven by whether or not it has had a direct impact on them or their wallet. Some insurers, though, have also had a negative experience with the program thus far.

Insurers have mostly taken it on the chin

Initially, Obamacare was expected to enroll 21 million new people by the end of 2016, at least according to projections from the Congressional Budget Office in 2013. Currently, this figure is about 10 million shy of the CBO's projections from three years ago, and it could fall further as attrition due to non-payment continues. Having fewer enrollees than initially expected is certainly not an ideal picture for insurers when the margins associated with Obamacare enrollees are typically much narrower than through other forms of enrollment. The smaller scale will likely only hurt profitability.

Obamacare enrollees have also tended to be a costlier, sicker group of individuals. According to a large analysis conducted by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Obamacare enrollees cost, on average, 22% more per month than persons enrolled in an employer-sponsored health plan.

This probably isn't too much of a shock considering that prior to Obamacare there were rules in place that allowed insurers to turn away people with pre-existing conditions. Under Obamacare, insurers can't do this anymore, meaning sicker individuals have been among the first to enroll, leaving insurers with an adverse patient pool.

The risk corridor has also been an utter failure. The risk corridor was a risk-pooling program created among insurers to encourage new entrants into the marketplace. It was to be funded by overly profitable insurers, and it would pay out funds to insurers who lost excessive amounts of money from pricing their premiums too low. Unfortunately, of the $2.87 billion in funds requested by money-losing insurers, just 12.6% was paid out.

Has an Obamacare exodus begun?

The result of fewer and costlier enrollees, as well as the failure of the risk corridor, has been excessive losses for quite a few insurers.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH), the nation's largest health-benefits provider, has cautioned investors that it could lose around $500 million in 2016 from its Obamacare plans.

Thankfully for UnitedHealth, the vast majority of its income comes from commercial plans and underwriting Medicare Advantage policies, not Obamacare plans. Nonetheless, UnitedHealth Group doesn't foresee Obamacare's misfortunes turning around anytime soon.

Instead of operating in the 34 states it's in for 2016, UnitedHealth has chosen to exit 31 of those 34 states in 2017. This time next year, UnitedHealth will sell plans in only Nevada, New York, and Virginia.

And UnitedHealth isn't alone. Humana (NYSE:HUM), which is potentially losing even more money on the Obamacare exchanges than UnitedHealth, had previously warned that it would be paring back its coverage come 2017.

A little more than a week ago, Humana's management team announced that it would be participating in no more than 11 states in 2017, down from the 19 states it's operating in this year. This decision to scale back was made even easier when the Obama administration announced it would step in to block a proposed merger between Humana and Aetna.
This apparent "Obamacare exodus" isn't confined to national insurers, either. The failure of the risk corridor left many of Obamacare's approved healthcare cooperatives to fend for themselves. Designed as a low-cost option, most of these co-ops simply priced their plans far too low. In just over two years, 16 of 23 co-ops have gone out of business, with six of the remaining seven on corrective action plans, implying a very questionable financial situation for the remaining co-ops.
In order to counter these losses, insurers are faced with two tough choices: cut costs or raise prices. Since the Obama administration has generally opposed consolidation in the insurance sector, which insurers argue would reduce costs via synergies, hefty price increases are what remains as a solution. However, some insurers, like Humana and UnitedHealth, remain skeptical that massive price hikes will represent a cure-all for the program.

Spots of sunshine emerge, but plenty of clouds remain

There are, however, a few rays of sunshine interspersed throughout the health insurance industry. Perhaps the brightest stars of the bunch have been Anthem (NYSE:ANTM), best known for operating the Blue Cross Blue Shield brand in 14 states, and Centene (NYSE:CNC), which had predominantly been a government-sponsored care provider prior to Obamacare's implementation.

Image source: Getty Images.

The secret to success for both Anthem and Centene has been their focus on consumers either fully paid for through Medicaid or partially subsidized via the Advanced Premium Tax Credit, or APTC. The APTC is the subsidy available to persons making between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level.

Although government-sponsored care may mean lower margins than a patient without government-sponsored care would provide, money from the government is a guaranteed payment for insurers. Insurers are also less liable to see patients who are having some or all of their medical care subsidized drop their coverage.

Anthem's acquisition of Amerigroup and Centene's continued focus on cost-conscious consumers have really paid off, giving both insurers an opportunity to expand while UnitedHealth and its peers have failed.

Still, while early, it looks as if choices for the consumer could actually be narrower in 2017 than they were in 2016, which isn't a good omen for Obamacare's promise to promote competition and reduce premium inflation. If insurers do get their wish for dramatically higher premium prices, it could chase away millions of Americans who aren't receiving subsidies.

Conversely, if insurance commissioners push back against lofty increases, more insurers could reign in their coverage.
We could be nearing an inflection point for Obamacare in 2017 that could have a very dramatic effect on your wallet and health.

Government control over the healthcare system has proven to be disastrous. Many premiums have more than doubled, while many families were dropped from their respective health care providers.
Having government controlled healthcare shoved down your throat, was one of the worst things this administration could've done.

With a impending election looming, it'll be interesting to see whether the new administration makes changes to this disaster of a healthcare plan.

Four California students arrested for plotting mass shooting

2015-10-04T15:02:00.000-10:00

(Reuters) - Four northern California students have been arrested for plotting to carry out a shooting at a high school, authorities said.

Authorities took four unidentified students into custody after they uncovered their plan to shoot and kill faculty members and students at Summerville High School, the Tuolumne County Sheriff's Office said on Saturday.

"The suspects plan was very detailed in nature and included names of would be victims, locations and the methods in which the plan was to be carried out," the sheriff's department said in a Facebook post.

High school officials reported to authorities on Wednesday that three students were planning to carry out an attack. During their investigation, detectives learned that a fourth student was involved in the plot, the sheriff's office said.

The announcement of the arrests came two days after a heavily-armed gunman killed nine people at a community college in Oregon, ranking it among the deadliest of dozens of U.S. mass shootings in the past two years.

Summerville High School is located in Tuolumne, California, about 140 miles (225 km) east of San Francisco.

It seems students, somewhere, are plotting some sort of possible violent act of aggression towards fellow students and faculty. Is there some sort of rush that students get, when plotting a violent act? It's unbelievable that both students and parents are on edge, especially when parents send their kids to school. What once was a safe haven for school kids, has in recent years, become an episode of Ripley's Believe It or Not.

In the case of the Roseburg community college in Oregon, how long will it be before students, their parents feel a sense of normalcy again? What changes can realistically be made to possibly prevent another horrible blood bath from occurring at a public school?

In this story, thankfully local authorities were on top of this matter swiftly. Hope these students get a very stern warning about their stupidity. Whether any legal action is taken against these four high schoolers, is another matter.

Oregon shooting: Gunman Chris Harper Mercer had 13 guns

2015-10-03T07:51:00.001-10:00

The gunman who killed nine people in a shooting rampage at a college in Oregon had 13 weapons, federal agents said.

Dressed in a flak jacket, Chris Harper Mercer brought six guns to Umpqua Community College in Roseburg and opened fire on Thursday morning.

He was killed by police in a gun battle and another seven weapons were found at his home. All 13 were bought legally.

Police have released the names of the victims, who ranged in age from 18 to 67. The oldest was a teacher.

Survivors have been telling their stories.
Medicine student Sharon Kirkham told the BBC her friend Kim died in her arms after being shot three times.

"I heard her gasping for air, but I couldn't save her," she said.

President Obama reiterated his anger at gun violence at a press conference on Friday, calling on the public to press their politicians to support reform.

"You've got to be a single issue voter on this, because that's what happening on the other side," he said, referring to the National Rifle Association's lobbying power.

Mr Obama said the NRA were "effective but don't represent the American people".

Mercer enlisted in the army in 2008, but was discharged after less than a month in basic training, for reasons unknown.

It is unclear why he carried out the killings. Two victims have said religion was an issue - the gunman asked his victims to state their religion and shot dead the Christians.

His father, Ian Mercer, said he was "just as shocked as everybody" by his son's actions.
People in the tight-knit community of Roseburg have been lining up all day to give blood at a specially organised blood drive.

"My cousin Becky works in the science department and was in the building next door to where it happened.

"She was on lockdown for an hour and said it was terrifying. Giving blood is the least we can do," said 30-year-old Abby Watson.

Tanya Talbot, 22, felt similarly compelled.

"My best friend's sister is in surgery. She's expected to be OK, but I had to do something. It doesn't seem real," she said.

Everyone I've met so far in this small city knows someone affected by the tragedy.

In an online profile appearing to belong to the gunman, he listed hobbies including the internet and "killing zombies", described his politics as "conservative, Republican" and said he was spiritual but not religious.

His social media profiles also suggested he took a keen interest in other mass shootings.

"The more people you kill, the more you're in the limelight," he said in one post, referring to Vester Flanagan, who shot and killed two journalists during a live broadcast in Virginia in the summer.

Local police in Douglas, Oregon, have refused to say the gunman's name because they say it will only encourage others.

Many online discussions about the killings have preferred to focus on Chris Mintz, a student and army veteran who is recovering after taking seven bullets while trying to stop the gunman.

Guns are legal in America under the Second Amendment. But no legislation could've prevented the mass murder. There is no rational explanation for all the carnage, none. And no public policy will stop it.

We are living in a dangerous time where deranged human beings feel murder is an entitlement.

But the situation has now reached the crisis stage, as America desperately searches for some kind of solution.
The community of Roseburg will eventually recover from the horrific violence that occurred on the campus of Umpqua college. Hopefully the local residents affected by this tragedy can find a silver lining, to where something like this won't occur again.

At least 10-15 dead in shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon

2015-10-01T14:34:00.000-10:00

The following is known so far:

Authorities responded to reports of a shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, at 10:38 a.m. local time.
At least 10 people were killed and 10 others wounded, according to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office. Earlier, the Oregon attorney general put the number of fatalities at 13.
The shooter is among the dead, police said.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown identified the gunman as a 20-year-old male. It's unclear whether he was a student at the school.
According to a survivor's Facebook post, the suspect was carrying four guns.
President Obama angrily condemned the shootings and called for stricter gun control.
"Our thoughts and prayers are not enough," the president said. "It does not capture the heartache and grief and anger that we should feel."

At a late afternoon press briefing, Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said he could only confirm 10 fatalities in the shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon.

Ten others were injured, he said, including three critically-injured.

Hanlin would not say whether the deceased gunman was counted among the 10 dead.

The sheriff added that officials "don't anticipate releasing the names" of the victims for 24 to 48 hours.

"The shooting was lining up people and asking them whether they were Christian. If they said, then they were shot in the head. If they said no, or didn't answer, they were shot in the legs. My grandma just got to my house, and she was in the room. She wasn't shot, but she is very upset. She tried to perform CPR on her friend, but it was too late. I hope nothing like this ever happens again."

The grandson of a woman who survived today's shooting at Umpqua Community College relayed his grandmother's horror in a text message which was tweeted.

Update: Multiple law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation identified the gunman as 26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer. Investigators have interviewed members of his family and friends, they said.
Five facts about shooter Chris Harper Mercer: He Was Armed With 4 Guns & Was Killed After a Shootout With Police, He Asked Students to State Their Religion & Then Started Firing, He Says on a Dating Profile That He ‘Doesn’t Like Organized Religion’ & Is a ‘Conservative, Republican’, It’s Not Yet Known if He Was a Student or Connected to the School, A 4Chan User( message board) & Avid YouTube Poster Was Misidentified as the Suspect.

Update #2
NBC NEWS - The gunman who shot Christians in the head at a Oregon college after asking for his victims' faiths appeared to be sympathetic to the predominantly Catholic Irish Republican Army — but also posted online that he was "not religious."

Former acquaintances and social-media postings paint a picture of 26-year-old Christopher Harper Mercer — who was killed in a firefight with police at Umpqua Community College on Thursday — as a withdrawn young man who spent a lot of time on the Internet.

Public records show that one person of that name was born in Los Angeles County in 1989. Police declined to confirm the shooter's identity late Thursday, in an attempt to not "glorify"
the actions of the gunman behind a rampage that left 10 dead and seven others wounded.

Investigators said it was too soon to identify a motive, though Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin told NBC's TODAY he wasn't aware of any "specific red flags" for the shooter.

"He is a local resident and I know personally I haven't heard of any warning signs coming from this person," Hanlin said.

A Myspace page that appeared to be linked to the shooter featured Mercer holding what appeared to be a rifle while several other postings were sympathetic to the Irish Republican Army and featured masked gunmen and logos.

The IRA is a predominantly Catholic paramilitary group which waged a bloody three-decade campaign to make Northern Ireland an independent republic separate from Great Britain. It was responsible for terrorist attacks in Northern Ireland and England, including an attempt to assassinate British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher by bombing a hotel in 1984. More than 3,600 people were killed in the armed conflict.

The Myspace account — which is listed under Chris Harper-Mercer — also featured a formal photo with a caption reading "me in a tuxedo on the day of my sister's wedding."

A man listing the same birthday — and whose photo strongly resembles Mercer — also held a profile on a dating and penpal site for "spiritual singles" that listed Los Angeles as his location.

A sinister warning message purportedly from the shooter who opened fire at an Oregon college allegedly appeared on an internet forum on Wednesday night.

The message, which was posted anonymously on bulletin board 4chan, read: 'Some of you guys are alright. Don't go to school tomorrow if you are in the northwest.'

Less than 24 hours later a shooter opened fire at Umpqua Community College, leaving 13 people dead and dozens injured.

It is not clear if the post is a hoax and Dailymail.com can not verify the authenticity of the message - 4chan has been contacted for a response.

Before the actual name of the shooter was released, a different name, Toby Reynolds, also known as Egg Man, spread on social media and some websites as the shooter.

He called NBC News and told them he was alive and not the shooter.

Another day, another school shooting. It's simply stunning the effect these sort of events have on students, for some it may take awhile to deal with. Unfortunately after another tragedy involving guns, politicians are quick to jump on the stricter gun control band wagon. When an individual is intent on killing people, the gun control laws on the books, unfortunately don't mean a thing. It's 50/50 whether stricter gun laws really would've made a difference in this situation.

It'll be interesting when the facts of this case come out, what Chris Harper Mercer's motive was for carrying out such a senseless tragedy.
I pray God may guide the families affected by this senseless tragedy in Oregon, may each family have the strength and courage to make through this unfortunate matter.

S. Dakota high school principal shot, wounded; students safe

2015-09-30T18:40:00.002-10:00

HARRISBURG, S.D. (AP) — A shooting at a South Dakota high school that left the principal with a minor injury may have turned out far worse if not for an assistant principal who tackled the student who police say shot the administrator, authorities said Wednesday.

Harrisburg High School Principal Kevin Lein suffered a flesh wound in the arm before Assistant Principal Ryan Rollinger tackled the student and held him down with help from the athletic director, authorities said.

No students were reported hurt in the shooting that occurred around 10 a.m. The high school has about 635 students.

Officers quickly took the student into custody. Lincoln County State's Attorney Tom Wollman declined to confirm the name of the student, but expected charges to be filed within a day.

Authorities said Wednesday afternoon that the student pulled a gun following a dispute with the principal, but said they don't know what spurred the dispute.

Harrisburg, about 10 miles south of Sioux Falls, has a population of about 5,000.

Senior Aanna Okerlund, 18, said she was in college algebra when a classmates ran into the room to tell everyone he had seen a student near the principal's office with a gun.

Okerlund said Lein came onto the intercom shortly afterward to tell students there was a school-wide lockdown. She said Lein later told students by intercom that he had been shot, "but was fine."

"You could hear the franticness in his voice," she said. "It's just so surreal."

Okerlund said her classmates were crying and shaking in the corner of the classroom while they waited for news during the lockdown.

Nick Pohlmann, who lives just across the street and has a son who is a senior at the school, said he found out about the shooting through a friend who called him asking if his son was OK. Pohlmann said he immediately drove back to his home and ran over to the school to try to get some information.

"This is good ol' Harrisburg," Pohlmann said. "This doesn't happen here."

Associated Press writers Regina Garcia Cano and Kevin Burbach in Sioux Falls contributed to this report.

There seem to be more episodes of school shootings, either in colleges,or grade through high schools, across the nation. It seems quite alarming that young students are carrying an assortment of weapons to schools in order to carry their stored up rages. It's not easy to forget, that once upon a time, you didn't have to worry yourself sick about something like this occurring in schools.

In smaller towns across the fruited plain, hearing about such incidents is still quite disheartening. I hope the day doesn't arrive where all public schools reach the point where it seems like you're inside a maximum security prison. You'd figure with many schools having metal detectors, whether this school will end up getting one, possibly easing the fears of local parents.

Bluejays clinch AL East title, win first division crown since 1993

2015-09-30T14:36:00.000-10:00

Two months ago the Toronto Blue Jays were a .500 ball club a few games out of a wild-card spot in the American League and a few more out of the division.

How things have changed.

The Blue Jays clinched the AL East title Wednesday with a 15-2 win over Baltimore in the first game of a doubleheader after Tuesday's game was rained out, officially pushing the New York Yankees off to the AL wild-card game. The final score is absolutely representative of just how well Toronto's been playing lately. The Jays scored two in the second, two in the fourth, four in the fifth, two in the seventh and five in the ninth. Shortstop Ryan Goins had five hits while Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista and Justin Smoak each picked up home runs.

Over the first four months of the 2015 season, it was obvious that the Blue Jays were a talented team. High-profile offseason pick-ups Josh Donaldson, the front-runner for the AL MVP award, and Russell Martin produced at an All-Star level immediately. Bautista and Encarnacion, longtime Blue Jays players, were still two of the best middle-of-the-order bats in baseball.

But still, their mediocre record belied their magnificent run differential. And then suddenly, it all came together. As starting pitchers R.A. Dickey and Marco Estrada started to settle in, the pitching began to catch up to the dominant offense, and all their opponents could do was hope for an off day. Even the bullpen, once seen as a significant weakness, turned it around, anchored by 20-year-old closer Roberto Osuna.

Bolstered by the trade deadline acquisitions of All-Stars David Price and Troy Tulowitzki, as well as outfielder Ben Revere and relievers Mark Lowe and LaTroy Hawkins, the Blue Jays have become the most dangerous team in the league. Since July 29, Toronto's record is a blistering 42-14.

Price in particular has been terrific. The 30-year-old left-hander has gone 9-1 with a 2.30 ERA in 11 starts with the Jays, putting himself in a great position to be named the AL Cy Young.

They've also had some unexpected contributions down the stretch. Marcus Stroman, who earned the win in the clincher, completed an improbable six-month comeback from a torn ACL he suffered in spring training. The initial prognosis was that Stroman would be sidelined for the season. Now, the dynamic 24-year-old right-hander looks set to follow Price in the postseason rotation. That's quite the 1-2 punch.

The Blue Jays are also in line to beat out Kansas City for the best regular season record in the AL and thus secure home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

For a franchise that hadn't reached the postseason since 1993 – let alone won a division crown – all the fan base yearned for was meaningful September games.

These Blue Jays have far exceeded those expectations. Led by Donaldson, Bautista and Price, they will make their much-anticipated return to the October stage very much looking like the World Series favorite

The last time The Toronto Blue Jays won their division crown in 1993, Cito Gaston was manager, Juan Guzman, Pat Hentgen, Dave Stewart, Jack Morris, Todd Stottlemyre were the starting pitchers, while Danny Cox, Mark Eichhorn, Duane Ward closer, Mike Timlin, Tony Castillo were the relief pitchers. Pat Borders(catcher), Joe Carter, John Olerud, Roberto Alomar, Rickey Henderson, Tony Fernandez, Ed Sprague, DH Paul Molitor were the starting lineups.
Joe Carter connected on a 3-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning off Mitch Williams, sending the Blue Jays to their 2nd consecutive World Series Title. The Blue Jays weren't able to defend their title the following season, due to the baseball strike that shortened the season. Since last winning the World Series in 1993, the Blue Jays had managed 9 winning seasons, it'll be 10 upon conclusion of this season.

It'll be interesting seeing how this season's club does in the post season. With the way they're playing currently, they're a solid favorite to become 2015 World Series champions. Their logo below still remains my favorite from the all the different ones the team has had through the years.

A's hire Justine Siegal, making her the first female coach for an MLB team

2015-09-29T18:38:00.002-10:00

The Oakland Athletics, long one of baseball's most progressive organizations, have hired MLB's first female coach.

She's Justine Siegal, a 40-year-old who has coached collegiate and independent baseball, and will now be a part of the coaching staff for Oakland's Instructional League club in October.

Siegal has a history of barrier-breaking in baseball. She was the first woman to throw batting practice to MLB teams (she did so in 2011 for five teams, including the A's). She's also the first woman to coach pro baseball, when she was the first base coach for the independent Brockton Rox in 2009.

Additionally, she also has a PhD in sport and exercise psychology and founded Baseball For All, a non-profit that helps provide opportunities in baseball, particularly for girls.

But for Siegal herself this is a heck of an opportunity, one she's been chasing for years. It's a two-week gig for now, but it could turn into something bigger. Here's more on what Siegal's role will be, via Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, and what the A's think about keeping her around:

“As a rookie coach, I expect to hit a lot of fungos, throw a lot of batting practice and help out wherever they want me to help,” Siegal said. “And I do like talking about life skills - I like to help people achieve their life goals.”

There is a chance that the opportunity could turn into a full-time coaching job with the organization at some point. The A’s do not have their minor-league coaching assignments set for next season so do not have an idea yet about potential job availability.

“Justine knows that nothing has been promised, but we’re not ruling that out,” [A’s assistant general manager David] Forst said.

Women coaching men is becoming more common on in pro sports. The San Antonio Spurs hired Becky Hammon as an assistant coach in 2014. She led their summer league team to a championship in July, summoning talk that she's ready to be a head coach in the NBA. In the NFL, Jen Welter was hired as a preseason intern by the Arizona Cardinals in July to work with the team's inside linebackers.

Siegal believes, based on her previous tenures coaching baseball, that her gender won't be an issue with the young A's players. She told the Chronicle:

“I’ve found from experience that men are surprised to have a woman coach, but when they realize you know what you’re talking about and that you care, you fit right in with the rest of the staff,” Siegal said.

With various sports teams starting to hire female coaches, it'll be interesting to see how well they're able to perform in their jobs as coaches. Amy Trask, former Oakland Raiders CEO, was one of the first female executives while she worked for the Oakland Raiders. Trask was commonly referred to as the "Princess of Darkness" by Raiders fans. When a woman is able to perform a job as well as a man can do, why not give them an opportunity to see what they're capable of achieving.

N.F.L early season surprises, sports commentary

2015-09-28T15:01:00.002-10:00

Three games into the 2015 N.F.L. season, who would've expected the Arizona Cardinals to be leading the NFC western division, see the Oakland Raiders @2-1, while the Baltimore Ravens are 0-3. Is it possible that the once proud franchises are possibly starting to resurrect from countless years of losing, especially in the case of the Oakland Raiders. The Oakland Raiders, once the NFL's winningest franchise, had fallen on hard times during the previous 12 seasons, with a record of
56-136, with only two 8-8 records in 2010,2011, for a franchise once used to winning.

It seems lately, regardless of sport, that the once lowly teams of sports are starting to make a complete turn around. During the past N.B.A season, very few sports writers really expected the Golden State Warriors, of all teams, to end up winning the N.B.A title in 2015, ending a 40 year drought since their previous championship in 1975.

In baseball, the Chicago Cubs have made the playoffs for the first time since 2008. The once noticeable difference this season for the Cubs, has been that the players really believe in themselves.
The Toronto Blue Jays are another club that have seemingly turn their hard luck ways around, are on the verge of winning the AL East title, for the first time since 1993, the last year they won the world series.

It's exciting seeing sports franchises do well in all major sports, especially those who had been the laughing stock of their respective sport. Hopefully this trend will continue, who knows, maybe even the Chicago Cubs can finally put an end to their curse, winning a world series for the first time since 1908.

It used to be, you could see which times would do well during the course of a sports season, which ones wouldn't. With all the changes in sports, I certainly hope it never becomes to expensive for the fans to attend the games.

Volkswagen staff, supplier warned of emissions test cheating years ago - reports

2015-09-27T16:40:00.001-10:00

By Andreas Cremer and Steve Scherer

BERLIN/ROME (Reuters) - Volkswagen's own staff and one of its suppliers warned years ago about software designed to thwart emissions tests, two German newspapers reported on Sunday, as the automaker tries to uncover whether its executives knew about the cheating.

Europe's biggest automaker is adding up the cost of the biggest business scandal in its 78-year history, having acknowledged installing software in diesel engines designed to hide their emissions of toxic gasses.

Countries around the world have launched their own investigations after the company was caught cheating on tests in the United States. Volkswagen says the software affected engines in 11 million cars, most of which were sold in Europe. These are the VW cars involved in the "dieselgate" scandal
Jetta, Jetta Sportswagen, VW Bettle, Audi A3, VW Golf, Golf Sportswagen, and the VW Passat.

The company's internal investigation is likely to focus on how far up the chain of command were executives who were responsible for the cheating, and how long were they aware of it.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, citing a source on VW's supervisory board, said the board had received an internal report at its meeting on Friday showing VW technicians had warned about illegal emissions practices in 2011. No explanation was given as to why the matter was not addressed then.

Separately, Bild am Sonntag newspaper said VW's internal probe had turned up a letter from parts supplier Bosch written in 2007 that also warned against the possible illegal use of Bosch-supplied software technology. The paper did not cite a source for its report.

Volkswagen declined to comment on the details of either newspaper report.

"There are serious investigations underway and the focus is now also on technical solutions" for customers and dealers, a Volkswagen spokesman said. "As soon as we have reliable facts we will be able to give answers."

A spokesman for Bosch (ROBG.UL) said the company's dealings with VW were confidential.
Bild said Martin Winterkorn, who quit as Volkswagen CEO last week, was demanding his salary for the rest of his contract through the end of next year but the board did not want to pay it. It cited no source. Winterkorn was paid 16 million euros last year, the most of any CEO in Germany's blue chip DAX index.

New CEO Matthais Mueller sent a letter to staff promising "relentless" efforts to investigate the scandal and promote the "strongest compliance and governance standards in the industry".

SALES HALT IN ITALY
Volkswagen is still coming up with plans to deal with the 11 million cars that it built with the affected engines.

Its Italian unit has told its dealers to stop selling them, Italy's Corriera della Sera newspaper reported on Sunday. It said that would leave 40,000 cars stuck on Italian lots.

"As a precautionary measure, we ask that you suspend immediately the sale, registration and delivery only of vehicles carrying the Euro 5, EA 189 motor," the newspaper quoted Massimo Nordio, chief executive office of Volkswagen's Italian unit, as writing in a letter to dealers.

A Volkswagen spokesman said there had been no instructions from company headquarters in Germany to dealers to stop selling the affected cars, but sales units in individual countries had the right to take such decisions on their own.

Italy's Volkswagen headquarters in Verona did not immediately respond to calls.

In Volkswagen's home market Germany, where 2.8 million of the 11 million affected diesel cars are on the road, the government watchdog KBA has set an Oct. 7 deadline for the company to present a plan to bring diesel emissions into line with the law, Bild reported.

The transport ministry said the KBA had written to VW demanding it "commit to concrete steps and a timetable" to ensure its cars in Germany meet requirements.

A Volkswagen spokesman said: "It is in our strongest interest to provide clarification here as soon as possible. We will inform the KBA about what we are doing and the talks are occurring on the highest level."

POLITICAL PRESSURE
German politicians have been adding to the pressure on Volkswagen, worried about the reputation of German industry.

Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks said the scandal must not be allowed to tarnish "the made in Germany brand".

"If a global player from Germany violates environment protection rules that blatantly, this casts a shadow on the environment pledges of German companies,” she told Handelsblatt newspaper in an interview to be published on Monday.

She said the European Union was working on stricter emissions tests to focus more on normal road conditions, rather than rely on lab results.

Diesel engines use less fuel and emit less carbon - blamed for global warming - than standard gasoline engines. But they emit higher levels of toxic gasses known as nitrogen oxides, blamed for deaths from lung and heart disease.

In most of the world, including the United States, diesel engines in passenger cars are a niche product. But their fuel economy and low carbon emissions have made them popular in Europe, where they now account for half of vehicles sold.

Volkswagen and other European manufacturers have promoted "clean diesel" technology, benefiting from diesel's fuel economy but meeting stringent tests for emissions of toxins. But the suggestion that this was achieved by cheating on tests could affect the viability of the entire diesel sector and the fate of companies that have bet on it.

The fallout from VW's stupidity pertaining to their emissions coming from their diesel vehicles seems to keep on coming. How VW plans on regaining the trust of their loyal VW owners remains to be seen.

Veteran Accuses American Airlines of Stopping Him, Service Dog From Boarding Flight

2015-09-26T08:49:00.000-10:00

A Marine Corps veteran says he and his dog were stopped from boarding an American Airlines flight after gate agents accused the man of pretending the animal was a service dog.

Jason Haag, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, was wounded in action and later received service dog Axel to help him manage post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, he told ABC News today.

Haag, 35, said Axel "saved my life."

"He can take me out of anxiety attacks, he can pull me out of flashbacks ... my dog is my lifeline," he said.

Haag now tours the country explaining how service dogs help wounded veterans. Sunday's dispute with American Airlines occurred on Haag and Axel's way home from California, where Axel was named the winner in the Service Dog category at the 2015 American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards Saturday night, the American Humane Association said.

Haag said he, his wife and Axel made it through security in Los Angeles just fine Sunday. But later, a gate agent pointed to Haag and told him to come to the desk, he said.

"The first thing this guy asked me is, 'Is that a real service dog?'" Haag said. "I just find that question kind of odd because nobody at the airport has asked me that and I fly all the time. I said, 'Yes.'"

Haag said the agent then asked him to identify his disability, which Haag said, "Is the question that you're not allowed to ask ... The next thing out of his mouth is 'Where is your paperwork.' That's another thing they can't ask.

"The next thing they ask me is, ‘What does the dog do for you?' I tell him the dog does a bunch of stuff for me. He didn't really like that answer," Haag said. "I tried to start telling him the tasks; he starts to tell me that I'm noncompliant and my dog can't fly because I can't produce any paperwork.

“He didn't let me answer my questions. At that point I started to produce my ID that I have. He picks up the ID and says it's fake.”

"I then tell him I called eight days ago, registered him with your disabilities department. I flew out here three days prior on the same airline and I didn't have any issues," Haag said.

Haag said his wife was crying during the ordeal, which was in front of about 200 people at the American Airlines desk. He said a manager for the airlines told them to go home and come back with paperwork, so Haag and his wife spent another night in Los Angeles and took another flight Monday.

American Airlines spokesman Victoria Lupica confirmed to ABC News today that Haag, his wife and Axel did travel with American Airlines and ultimately reached their final destination in Virginia.

American Airlines said in a statement, "We are happy to say that Capt. Haag, Axel and his wife traveled with us earlier yesterday. We have apologized to both Capt. Haag and his family for the confusion with Sunday’s travel plans."

According to the American Humane Association, "Axel was denied entry on the American Airlines flight despite following the air carrier’s own requirements, which state that to show that an animal is a service animal, you must provide at least one of the following:

Animal ID card; Harness or tags; Written documentation to verify the service; psychiatric or emotional support status of your animal; Credible verbal assurance.

There have been several stories such as this where service veterans had been denied access to board an airline. American Airlines and United Airlines have both made headlines that were very unflattering throughout the year. It seems both airlines need a wake up call and more respect for all service members, regardless of whether they're disabled or not.

As a Navy veteran, it saddens me when ever I see stories such as these come across the newswires. The airline industry should improve their customer service, because it's certainly not what it once was. The only thing American Airlines did right was to provide the service member a flight home.

American Airlines- the same airline that whose pilots flew to Honolulu, Hawaii on a flight that wasn't even suppose to go there, was halfway there before even the air traffic controllers supposedly caught wind of it.

Scandal-hit Volkswagen names Porsche boss new CEO

2015-09-25T09:21:00.001-10:00

Wolfsburg (Germany) (AFP) - Embattled carmaker Volkswagen tapped Porsche chief Matthias Mueller Friday to steer it out of the wreckage of a widening scandal over pollution test rigging, as Washington said it would test all diesel cars for devices that fool emissions tests.

The 62-year-old Mueller replaces Martin Winterkorn, who was forced to resign Wednesday over the stunning revelations by US environmental authorities that the German carmaker had fitted some of its diesel cars with software capable of tricking environmental tests -- a scam that could lead to fines worth more than $18 billion.

The scale of VW's deception became clear when the company admitted that 11 million of its diesel cars are equipped with so-called defeat devices that covertly turn off pollution controls when the car is being driven and back on when tests are being conducted.

Calling the cheating a "moral and policy disaster," the company's supervisory board chief Berthold Huber said the group is now looking to Mueller, who "knows the company and its brands," to tackle the crisis.

Board member Bernd Osterloh added that "a small group had caused great damage to Volkswagen."

Mueller himself vowed that his "most pressing task will be to restore confidence in the Volkswagen Group -- through an unsparing investigation and maximum transparency, but also by drawing the right lessons from the current situation."

"We will overcome this crisis," he said, adding that the carmaker could "emerge stronger from the crisis in the long term" if it learned from its mistakes.

Mueller has a daunting task ahead given the global amplitude of the scandal.

Authorities from India to Norway have announced new probes, while the US environmental regulator said it would test all diesel car models.

"Today we are putting vehicle manufacturers on notice that our testing is going to include additional evaluation and tests designed to look for potential defeat devices," said Christopher Grundler, director of the EPA Office of Transportation & Air Quality.

"We're not going to tell them what these tests are, they don't need to know."

An hour before the group announced its new chief, VW shares closed 4.32 percent down Friday at 107.30 euros, after a week of haemorrhage which saw a third of its market capitalisation -- or over 20 billion euros -- wiped off.

- 'The imperturbable' -

Mueller, born in Chemnitz in the former communist East Germany, was appointed chief executive at Porsche in 2010 and enjoys the backing of the Volkswagen group's family shareholders.

Newspaper Die Welt dubbed him "the imperturbable" and said he is someone who knows "how to use his elbows."

"But I don't see it as playing foul, rather as a sign of perseverance and mettle," the daily quoted him as saying.

Mueller is a man "who loves cars and who loves people who love cars," added the newspaper.

He had already been tipped to take over VW during a bitter leadership struggle earlier this year between Winterkorn and his one-time mentor and former supervisory board chief Ferdinand Piech.

It was Winterkorn who eventually won that battle, only to fall this week over the scandal.

Winterkorn, who once famously said he knows "every screw in our cars," resigned Wednesday, saying he was "stunned that misconduct on such a scale was possible in the Volkswagen group."

The 68-year-old said he accepted responsibility as chief executive but was "not aware of any wrongdoing."

With the German car industry reeling, top-of-the-range automaker BMW suffered collateral damage on Thursday when its shares skidded after the weekly Auto Bild reported that emissions from one of its diesel models were 11 times higher than European Union norms.

While there was no indication that BMW had cheated in pollution tests -- something the company strongly denied having done -- the report nevertheless shook investors.

Daimler too issued a firm denial Friday that its vehicles were rigged, after an environmental group claimed that they too, were affected.
- Legal threats -

If there is any small comfort that Volkswagen could draw, it would be that its two main joint ventures in China confirmed that their products were not involved in the rigging scandal.
China -- the world's biggest auto market -- is crucial for VW, which delivered 3.67 million cars in the country last year, beating US rival General Motors' 3.54 million sold, figures from the companies showed.

Nevertheless, VW would still have to tackle a growing list of legal tangles.
Norway's economic crimes unit said Friday a fraud probe had been opened into the pollution cheating scandal, while India said it was doing likewise.

Australia too was seeking urgent clarification from the beleaguered company on whether cars in the country had also been fitted with the device that fools pollution tests.

France announced sample checks on diesel cars as soon as next week, after the European Union urged its 28 member states to investigate whether vehicles in their countries comply with European pollution rules.

In Britain, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said new checks would be carried out across the automobile industry and backed calls for a Europe-wide probe.

Private law firms are also lining up to take on the German company, with a class action suit already filed by a Seattle law firm.

VW has set aside 6.5 billion euros in provisions for the third quarter to cover the potential costs of the disclosures.

Standard & Poor's and Fitch have warned they may cut Volkswagen's credit rating over the pollution cheating scandal, which could increase the company's financing costs.

Newly installed VW CEO Matthias Mueller, has his work cut out for him as he valiantly tries to restore the VW brand back to respectability. With all the potential lawsuits likely to show on their desks, restoring VW's tarnished reputation from the above photo, will take lots of time. When consumers show up at a local VW auto store, they certainly don't want the image of Pinocchio's wandering through their minds, they'll be wary eyed on whether the sales people are actually telling them the truth.
Occasionally a smack up side the head can wake you up from a deep slumber, or in the case of VW, cause you to finally wake up and smell the coffee. Like everyone else, I'm left wondering how deep the fallout will amount to, once the guilty parties are found out and removed from their positions within the company.