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Congressman Meadows (R-NC), chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, prefers Senator Rand Pauls (R-KY) plan over Speaker Ryans plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. He said told Breitbart News, We support the 2015 Obamacare repeal bill, and we support Sen. Pauls bill to fully replace Obamacare.

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Senator Rand Paul, along with the House Freedom Caucus, unveiled their Obamacare repeal-and-replace plan that they argue will completely repeal Obamacare. Senator Paul said, We owe this to the conservatives across the country to repealto completely repeal Obamacare.

The House Freedom Caucus bill contrasts with Speaker Ryans plan that some congressmen, such as Raul Labrador (R-ID), decry as Obamacare-lite.

Meadows believes that the Ryan plan will only lead to higher prices and create new entitlements. Congressman Meadows said, The tax credits included in Ryans plan will create an entirely new entitlement program. He continued, We are concerned about a new federal plan that will only increase premiums and lead to higher prices. We are not going to fix healthcare by replacing Obamacare with another plan that wont work.

Congressman Meadows told Breitbart News, We need to expand health savings accounts (HSA), and allow health insurance companies to sell cheaper insurance. Allow states to sell insurance across state borders to drive down cost. For those without health insurance, we can allow small groups, companies, individuals and associations to create their insurance pools.

The House Freedom Caucus chairman added that a health reform package should create tax deductions for philanthropic care. Senator Rand Paul frequently offers free eye surgery for uninsured patients.

GOP leaders often decry there needs to be a transition to have after Obamacare repeal. Meadows said, A great transition period would be two years or less, and allow pre-existing conditions.

Republicans continue to disagree on how to dismantle Obamacares Medicaid expansion. The Ryan plan would phase out federal funds to expand Medicaid by 2020, while the Freedom Caucus plan would eliminate Medicaid expansion fully and then block grant Medicaid to the states.

Congressman Meadows told Breitbart News, We need to give states greater flexibility in handling their local needs. States that did not expand Medicaid like mine (North Carolina) should not have to pay for other states fiscal irresponsibility.

Congressman Meadowsheld that repealing Obamacare does not mean the end of reforming health care. He said, We need to remove the McCarren-Ferguson anti-trust exemption for health care companies and allow more competition. We also need to add more portability for your health care plan. There is no reason you have to leave your health care plan once if you lose or change your job.

The rest is here:

ExclusiveRep. Meadows: We Won't Fix Healthcare By Replacing Obamacare with Another Bad Plan - Breitbart News

SACRAMENTO Leaders of the state Assembly and Senate on Monday sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the federal government, asking for detailed information about recent raids in California as well as for Department of Homeland Security immigration policies, including the treatment of young immigrants who entered the country illegally with their families as children.

The letter the latest in what promises to be a prolonged battle between California and the feds comes less than a week after Homeland Security released draft memos revealing an expandedpool of people it might target for deportation. The memos began to translate into policyPresident Donald Trumps executive orders for stricterimmigration enforcement and fiscal consequences for local governments with sanctuary policies.

California, meanwhile, is considering a controversial proposal to limit communication between local law enforcement officers and federal immigration agents, as well as other bills to protect or assist undocumented immigrants.

The letter from Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount, and Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Len, D-Los Angeles, asks for the number of people deported to their home countries in recent weeks as well as the crimes that made them a target for deportation; whether detainees were given access to legal representation; and whether ICE agents conducted their activities near schools, hospitals, medical clinics, community centers, courts, government offices or churches.

Despite saying hed only target dangerous criminals, President Trumps executive orders target practically every undocumented person in California, said de Len in a statement. The lack of transparency by ICE is creating havoc and confusion in communities across the state and that has to change. Its time for ICE to come clean on what theyre doing and how they intend to operate going forward.

James Schwab, a spokesman for ICEs field office in San Francisco, said the agencys guidance for enforcement at so-called sensitive locations, such as churches and schools, has not changed since Trump took office. He pointed to an ICE memo from 2011 the latest directive that saysthat enforcement actions should not occur at such locations barring certain circumstances, such as imminent risk to human life or suspected terrorist activity.

Schwab said about 1,500 recipients of DACA Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals have had their status revoked as a result of criminal activity or gang affiliation since 2012. The policy, he said, is this: Aliens granted deferred action from deportation who are subsequently found to pose a threat to national security or public safety may have their deferred action terminated at any time and DHS may seek their removal from the United States.

Read more here:

California lawmakers press ICE for information about raids - The Mercury News

By CFO Innovation Asia Staff | Monday, February 27, 2017 - 10:58

The Philippines jumped 12 spots from 70th to 58th in the 2017 Index of Economic Freedom.

The index measures the effects of policy changes on the overall quality of life. The study attributes fiscal gains, monetary stability, consumption, and government spending for the rise in the rankings.

In spite of a weak global demand in 2016-17, Philippines grew at 6.8 percent driven by an increase in investment and consumer spending.

The country was rated their highest on fiscal health (97.2) followed by government spending (89.4) as it maintained its public debt levels at 37.1 percent of gross domestic product.

Financial freedom was ranked at 60, while monetary freedom was higher at 80.6 in line with the Central Banks policies for maintaining price stability, issuing new banking licenses, and maintaining low inflation.

Reduction in cost and time for managing licensing requirements led to a gradual improvement in the business climate rankings while investment freedom witnessed no change due to investment restrictions in several sectors.

Philippines scored low in property rights, judicial effectiveness, and government integrity due to a weak state of law. The government is pursuing tax and legislative reforms to facilitate entrepreneurship, eliminate corruption and improve the ease of doing investments to attract investments and achieve a growth of eight percent by 2022.

Global growth will pick up modestly in 2017

Opportunity knocks if regional challenges can be overcome

Presenting Budget 2017, Singapore Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat announced...

Despite a particularly challenging year on the global economic front, the...

Misaligned incentives between China's central and regional and local...

Hong Kong is again the worlds freest economy, according to the 2017 Index of...

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Philippines Improves in Economic Freedom ranking | CFO innovation - CFO innovation ASIA

ALBANY The lobby association for New York's newspapers is urging lawmakers to reject parts of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed $152 billion state budget, contending the package would make some state contracts less transparent and would give the administration "virtually unconstrained authority" over public works projects.

A memo released in late January by the New York News Publishers Associations to its members argues that the bundle of budget bills framed by the Cuomo administration would harm government transparency in New York.

Specifically, the association, in the memo authored by its director, Diane Kennedy, states that it would allow the governor's administration to bypass the review authority of the state comptroller's office the state's fiscal watchdog with proposed contracts for some public construction projects.

The proposed process being advanced by the Cuomo administration could result in newspapers and local contractors being kept unaware of public works projects being planned for their communities, Kennedy warned.

"The Governors proposal would make this new public works method permanent and expand its provisions to all state agencies, authorities, local governments outside New York City, the State University and City University of New York, as well as their affiliates and subsidiaries," Kennedy said in the memo. "It would apply to all projects expected to cost more than $1.2 million."

In response, a spokesman for Cuomo's Division of the Budget, Freeman Klopott, said the measures being advanced by the governor will equip the state "with tools that will keep public works projects on time and reduce taxpayer costs through a transparent, public bidding process.

Klopott noted that two major design and construction projects, the replacements of the Tappan Zee and Kosciuszko bridges, are proceeding smoothly and "remain on budget."

Kennedy said in an interview that the publishers "are not objecting to best-value contracting and we're not opposed to doing public works in innovative ways. We just want to make sure the public is adequately informed."

NYNPA's members in New York include theLockport Union-Sun & Journal,the Niagara Gazette and the Plattsburgh Press-Republican, all newspapers published by Community News Holdings Inc., the company that also owns The Daily Star in Oneonta.

Kennedy's contention that the public's ability to access state information would be weakened echoes concerns that good-government groups have been making regarding what they contend is the need for greater transparency in public works contracts.

The push for independent oversight over state spending has been led by Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. Cuomo and DiNapoli are Democrats, though their relationship has been rocky.

Lawmakers and Cuomo must be in accord on final budget bills by March 31 for the spending plan to be in place when the new state fiscal year begins April 1. The Senate and Assembly are expected to draft their own budget plans in March, after which negotiations aimed at achieving compromise will commence.

In an interview, DiNapoli said that he shares the concern that "the additional steps being proposed would certainly reduce some of the accountability that comes with oversight."

Of particular concern, he said, is a Cuomo push for "a very significant expansion of executive power without any real check on it. I think that is why the Legislature is taking a close look at it, as well they should."

While it remains unclear whether lawmakers will accept Cuomo's proposals or revise them, DiNapoli said he hopes that the final rush of horse-trading to produce a spending blueprint doesn't occur "at the expense of transparency and accountability."

Cuomo's administration was rocked last year by federal corruption charges against the governor's former top aide, Joseph Percoco, SUNY Polytechnic Institute leader Alain Kaloyeros, lobbyist Todd Howe and six upstate development executives on charges stemming from a probe into bid-rigging and bribery.

In January, Cuomo highlighted the need for ethics reforms, including a 10-point plan in one of State of the State speeches, calling for limits on the outside income of lawmakers as well as term limits for elected officials and an expansion of Freedom of Information Law requirements for the Legislature.

Kennedy's memo also called attention to the fact that the budget proposals would exempt records of complaints filed with the state against ride-hailing companies from being accessed with Freedom of Information Law requests. Cuomo and many lawmakers are calling for authorization for such companies as Uber and Lyft to offer their services in upstate communities. Such complaints are now public record in New York City, where the companies already operate

Joe Mahoney covers the New York Statehouse for CNHIs newspapers and websites. Reach him at jmahoney@cnhi.com.

See the rest here:

Newspaper lobby seeks Albany allies in fight for sunlight over state finances - Lockport Union-Sun & Journal

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Stop me if youve heard this story before. Governors and state legislators are pleading poverty again and they are demanding tax hikes of every imaginable kind.

More than half the states are facing big deficits this year and they are mostly blue states like California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois and New York and Oregon. (See chart.) These are the highest tax states with some of the deepest pools of red ink. Theres got to be a message here.

But many red states have money woes too, and we now have Republicans chomping at the bit to raise taxes. The biggest fight is in Kansas where the Republican-dominated legislature recently passed a massive income tax hike that would raise taxes on every small business in the state and every wage earner with income above $15,000. Fortunately, Gov. Sam Brownback vetoed the Republican tax hike but they will be back.

Republican governors Bill Haslam of Tennessee, Mary Fallin of Oklahoma and Eric Holcomb of Indiana want gas tax increases. Republicans in Alaska and Wyoming are considering enacting a state income tax to fill funding holes. These are two of the nine states without an income tax.

So what is the source of the budget crises from coast to coast? First, on the revenue side, tax receipts are down because states are front-line victims of the slow-growth era of the Obama years. When the U.S. economy sputters at only 1.6 percent as it did in 2016, state and local tax revenues barely trickle in. So much for the liberal spin that President Obama left behind a healthy economy.

Revenues are also way down in oil-producing states like Alaska, Kansas, Oklahoma, North Dakota, and Wyoming. Liberals are pushing big tax increases in each of these states that not so long ago gorged on new spending during the years of high prices. North Dakota had one year that the budget rose more than 50 percent.

The best thing Washington can do to help states is pass the Trump tax cuts so we get faster economic growth. Nothing heals state budgets quicker than a dose of prosperity.

The even bigger story is the eight-year state spending binge that almost no one is reporting on. Chris Edwards, a fiscal analyst at the Cato Institute, has run the numbers. He reports that state general fund spending has soared 32 percent since 2010. The National Association of State Budget Officers predicts a 4.3 percent hike in fiscal 2017 budgets.

One reason state budgets have spun out of control is Obamacare. Some 20 million Americans have been added to state Medicaid rolls. For now, the feds pay most of the costs. But in several years the patients will still be on Medicaid but the costs will be shifted to the states. All the more reason to repeal Obamacare as rapidly as possible before the Medicaid caseloads grow by millions more.

Its worth noting that many of the blue states that signed up for the Obamacare Medicaid expansions now face the biggest deficits.

Will tax hikes solve the problem? The answer can be found in Connecticut and Illinois. These two states passed multi-billion dollar income tax hikes on the rich. Both have seen their economies get crushed by the out-migration of tax filers to avoid the tax hikes. Today their deficits are still gigantic. Connecticut faces a near half-billion dollar deficit with Democratic Gov, Daniel Malloy calling for his third mega-tax increase to stop the red ink. Illinois has at least $6 billion in unpaid bills following its biggest tax increase in history.

Spending discipline and pro-growth tax reforms are the best formula for reviving state budgets. If Republicans who control 69 of the 99 state legislative chambers think they can tax their way back to prosperity, dont be surprised if they find themselves back in the minority after 2018.

Stephen Moore is an economic consultant with Freedom Works and a CNN senior economic analyst.

Read more:

Pleading poverty, demanding new taxes - Washington Times

Theres one thing budget experts can predict with confidence: This budget cycle and the next will be unlike any agencies and contractors have seen in the past.

President Donald Trump is expected to submit his fiscal 2018 budget to Congress in mid-March. The continuing resolution that lawmakers passed last yearexpires Apr. 28.Congress must still agree on a funding solution for the remainder of fiscal 2017. Meanwhile, Trump has indicated his desire to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act and implement a major overhaul to the tax code.

These circumstances, and the personalities behind these crucial budgetary decisions, could set up an unprecedented budgetary climate for agencies and contractors.

Some feds miss out on pay raise as salary compression worsens

Things that we thought were slam dunks are not,Stan Collender, budget expert and executive vice president of Qorvis MSLGROUP, said during a Feb. 24 Professional Services Council discussion.

This puts newly confirmed Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, a former member of the House Freedom Caucuswho has expressed his opposition against raising the defense spending caps, in a tricky position.

Hell either be the most influential member of Trumps cabinet or the first one out the door, Collender said.

The President has expressed his desire to boost military spending and raise defense spending caps, but Democrats have consistently said they wont budge without an increase to the domestic spending caps.

The administration isfacing the situation where they want to spend more on military programs but probably wont be able to do it through the caps, Collender said.

The Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) fund could once again be an option for the administration. ButMulvaney has called the OCO account a slush fund in the past and was one of four co-sponsors of an amendment to the 2017 Defense authorization bill that would have reined in its use for non-wartime spending.

Onescenario is that Congress could appropriate agency funding past the spending caps, which in theory would trigger sequestration, Collender said.

But the President couldask OMB not to issue sequestration guidance, he added.

The sequester isnt automatic, said David Berteau, CEO of the Professional Services Council. OMB has to actually issue guidance to sequester, a direction to sequester. Without that order, there is no sequestration.

Government shutdowns andcliffhangers over the debt ceiling, which will likelybe suspended by March 15, may be a possibility.

They cannot be dismissed outright just because one party is in control of the White House and both houses of Congress, Collender said of either option.

Both Berteau and Collender said they could ultimately see four years of continuing resolutions or omnibus packages, whichRepublicans may use to pass other policy priorities.

If you put it in one big bill its tough for members to vote against, because there will be something in there that they either cant do without or have to be in there.

Time is another factor, since its unlikely committees will have enough time to resolve full appropriations packages with the congressional schedule, which has most lawmakers on recess for two weeks in April.

Itsnot hard to see a scenario where you get to April 28th and you say, Oh, we just need another week here, so we get a one-week CR, Berteau said. And then you get to the next week, and you get another one-week CR. If you look at government contracting behavior, theyre already spending as if its a CR, and what that means is, dont spend all your money yet because youre not sure what youre going to get in the subsequent CR.

But in a changing environment Collender said the contracting community should tweak its operating principle and the strategy companies use to market them to the public.

You have to get a reputation as not just somebody who herds money from the government but provides value to the government, that the contracts you get, the work youre doing, actually improves the bottom-line, he said.

Read more:

Expect the unexpected with upcoming budget, appropriations cycle, experts say - FederalNewsRadio.com

The San Ysidro Port of Entry the largest land border crossing between Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego, California. Such crossings are gateways for trade, one of the economic freedoms that make Americans much richer. Unfortunately, a new measure of economic freedom shows the U.S. has become less economically free in recent years. (Howard Shen/UPI/Newscom)

A new report from the Heritage Foundation, the 2017 Index of Economic Freedom, shows advances worldwide in cutting regulations, curbing government spending, rooting out corruption, and increasing openness to international trade and investment. Lagging behind? The United States.

The Index is a comprehensive measure of economic freedom that compiles data from dozens of independent sources to measure the extent to which a government intervenes through economic policy to control the actions of its citizens and businesses. The latest edition reflects conditions in the world economy through the middle of 2016.

Since 1995, when the Index was first produced, there has been about a 5% increase in economic freedom around the world. That may sound small, but that modest increase has been accompanied by massive improvements in human well-being. Global poverty rates have dropped by two-thirds as economic freedom has grown.

Economic freedom matters for a lot of reasons beyond income and wealth. It's true that improvements in economic freedom correlate with increases in economic growth. And countries with higher levels of economic freedom have much higher average per capita incomes.

In addition, however, their citizens enjoy myriad other benefits. They are better educated, for example, and they enjoy better health and longer lives than those who lack economic freedom. Economic freedom even helps the environment: Economically free countries scored almost 30 points higher on the Yale University 2016 Environmental Performance Index than did countries where economic freedom is repressed.

This year, more than 100 countries recorded increases in their economic freedom. Those winners are found around the world, but the Asia-Pacific region had the highest number of countries recording major gains. Forty-nine countries recorded their highest economic freedom scores ever. This group included both China and Russia, though even with their improvements, both continue to lag far behind most western developed economies in economic freedom.

The U.S., regrettably, headlined the list of countries not only losing freedom, but recording their lowest scores ever. Driving the U.S. decline was a new category in the Index: fiscal health. That category measures fiscal deficits and government debt relative to the size of the economy. U.S. government spending has accounted for over 38% of total U.S. economic activity over the last three years, with deficits averaging above 4% of GDP and total government debt exceeding a full year's output of the economy.

U.S. business and labor freedom both also declined slightly over the last year, increasing concerns that the combination in recent years of expanding government, increased regulatory and tax burdens, and the loss of confidence that has accompanied perceptions of increased cronyism, elite privilege, and corruption is eroding U.S. international competitiveness.

The big question, of course, is whether the election of PresidentTrump will change the trajectory of economic freedom in America. He has promised a strong break with the policies of his predecessor, particularly in areas such financial and health care regulation, tax policy, and trade.

Regulatory and tax reform are clearly areas where even modest improvements could have a major positive impact on U.S. economic freedom and performance. The U.S. corporate income tax rate remains one of the highest in the world, and the explosive regulatory burden of mammoth laws such as the Affordable Care Act and the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory bill has stifled investment and slowed recovery. Policy fixes in these areas will pay big dividends.

Any increase in protectionism, by contrast, could have a devastating impact on U.S. economic growth and job creation. Though U.S. trade accounts for a relatively modest share of our overall economy (exports and imports together equaling roughly 28% of GDP), the jobs created by the international flows of goods, services, and investment capital are a vital factor in the productivity growth necessary to keep the U.S. on top in terms of economic performance and our standard of living.

One of the most interesting conclusions of the Index of Economic Freedom is that intentions matter. Policy changes that increase or retard economic freedom can have an immediate impact for good or ill on economic performance. The free market, now ascendant in much of the world, is an incredibly fast and accurate monitor of economic prospects, whether at the level of the household, the firm, or the national economy.

At the moment, most market indicators are pointing up for the U.S. Hope is high that policy changes are coming to restore American's economic freedom. We'll see if the politicians can deliver.

See the rest here:

Economic Freedom Up Again, But Not in the US - Investor's Business Daily

* He doesnt have an ownership stake in his law firm, he says his salary at the firm is less than his legislative pay and that his total compensation is less than the governors official salary and he doesnt work for or financially benefit from state-related clients. And yet

State Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, is one of the most powerful people in Springfield, talked about as a possible future president of the Illinois Senate.

Hes also a partner in a Chicago law firm thats been paid more than $9 million in the past five years for doing legal work for state agencies, government workers pension funds and local governments whose citizens he represents in the Senate, a Chicago Sun-Times examination has found.

That covers work done for more than 20 government bodies, including the city of Chicago, Cook County, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District and the agency that owns McCormick Place and Navy Pier.

The firm Burke Burns & Pinelli has done work for agencies whose budgets Harmon votes on, including the Illinois Department of Transportation, and government pension funds regulated by Harmon and his fellow legislators, as well as the village of Rosemont, one of the suburbs he represents in the Illinois Senate, according to records and interviews. []

Harmon who once worked as deputy legal counsel to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago was elected to the state Senate in 2002.

Theres a whole lot of sizzle and not a lot of steak in that piece, not unlike an eerily similar BGA story from 2012

Since bringing an influential state legislator on board as a partner in 2005, a small Chicago law firm has secured at least $6.3 million in legal work from state agencies that receive funding and oversight from the General Assembly, the Better Government Association has learned.

While that relationship smacks of a conflict of interest, its not the only curiosity involving the legislator, state Sen. Don Harmon, and the firm where hes a partner, Burke Burns & Pinelli Ltd.

The BGA also found that Harmon a Democrat from Oak Park who once served as deputy legal counsel to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan voted earlier this year on a casino bill that his firm helped craft on behalf of its client, the City of Des Plaines. []

A BGA review of state financial records shows Burke Burns, a firm of 10 or so attorneys, was paid more than $1 million in each of the past two fiscal years for state-related work.

Overall, the firm was paid more than $6.3 million or an average of $900,000 a year from 2006 to 2012 for state-related work, according to interviews, and documents obtained under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. (Fiscal year 2006 was Harmons first full year with the firm.)

By contrast, in the four years before Harmon joined the firm, annual payments exceeded $575,000 only once, topping out at $711,734, records show. However, those totals may be incomplete because several state agencies indicated they no longer had data for fiscal years 2001 and 2002. In addition, some records relating to bond work are not always tracked by state agencies.

Harmon says if all payments were included it would show the firms state work hasnt increased dramatically since his hiring, especially given the rate of inflation. But he declined to disclose actual payments or turn over financial records to the BGA.

* One of the reporters who wrote todays Sun-Times story was with the BGA when that 2012 story was published. An opinion piece above his name was also published back in 2012. It threw the kitchen sink at Harmon

Harmons street cred as a reformer or progressive has to be questioned.

Why does his law firm advise public-sector clients not to speak to the media?

Why did he vote to water down the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, which ensures journalists and regular citizens can access most government documents?

Why did he accept $300 in campaign donations just a couple months back from D & P Construction, a waste-hauling company thats repeatedly (and publicly) been linked to the Chicago mob?

Why did he introduce a piece of legislation that would allow office holders to double dip hold two elected positions at once?

Peter Silvestri, a Cook County commissioner and Elmwood Parks village president, told the BGA that Harmon fronted that bill at his request. After the BGA learned of the legislation, Harmon relayed that he changed his mind and was withdrawing his support.

But about a month later he quietly resurrected the bill in the form of an amendment to an unrelated piece of legislation. When we tried to ask him about the flip-flop, Harmon wouldnt return our calls. He later told the BGA he regretted getting involved in the matter. The legislation was never approved.

Lastly, although were not into branding people with guilt by association, its worth noting Harmon started out his career as an aide to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat who is the ultimate Machine guy one of the most powerful political figures in the state and one of the largest obstacles to reforming our troubled government system.

This isnt to say Harmon hasnt done good things. In fact, hes worked with the BGA on legislation, including a successful effort to kill the misused and abused legislative scholarship program.

But judged through a larger prism, Harmon isnt challenging the status quo. He is the status quo.

Ergo, todays piece.

See more here:

Dj vu all over again - The Capitol Fax Blog (blog)

County builders who have had projects on hold due to lack of technical review will finally be able to start construction.

Rowan County Fiscal Court unanimously hired Richie Newton, county surveyor, to a two-month contract as the official in charge of enforcing the countys subdivision regulations during Tuesdays monthly meeting.

Those technical reviews are necessary before the Morehead-Rowan County-Lakeview Heights Joint Planning Commission can approve design plans.

With the retirement of city planner and building inspector Joe Parson last month, those wishing to construct within subdivisions in the county havent been able to begin.

Parson would approve the technical review before it moved to the Commission.

We are just looking for answers on what needs to happen because we have been on hold for months, said Cliff Lewis, area developer.

Lewis said he and his partner Greg Blackburn submitted plans to the city in November, meeting the 21-day requirement of submitting before Decembers commission meeting.

The commission did not meet again until February due to lack of a quorum.

I hope you all understand how big of a bind that this puts us in, said Blackburn. We have put a lot of money into projects in this county and we are really wasting a lot of time, especially with this great weather we are having now.

County Attorney Cecil Watkins said the county was only made aware of the ramifications of Parsons retirement after he had left.

We didnt know this would be the case and my correspondence with Cliff earlier this month was the first time that we were made aware of this issue, Watkins said. Thats something that I believe we need to make a decision on during this meeting so these guys can get to work.

Newton now has the authority through the county to approve the technical reviews so they can be sent to the Planning Commission.

He will be compensated $500 a month for his services.

The county does not having any zoning laws in place; however, there are certain restrictions on how subdivisions are constructed.

After Parson announced his retirement, Mayor Jim Tom Trent said they would begin a search for a new building inspector and city planner with the hopes of hiring someone by March.

In the past, the county has paid the citys building inspector $500 a month to enforce those subdivision regulations.

In other business, Fiscal Court appointed Ashley Adkins and Joe Sartor to the Rowan County Arts Board.

The Court also changed Eagle Trace Road (CR 1459) to Ben Lowe Drive. They added an extension to Rosedale Road (CR 1114).

Fiscal Court also approved Danny Knipps request to insure Freedom Park at $675 a year.

Knipp thanked the court on behalf of the 3,500 veterans in Rowan County.

Also unanimously approved was for all Rowan County dogs at the Tri-County Animal Shelter to be taken to Rowan County Veterinary Clinic to be spayed and neutered.

Brad Stacy can be reached at bstacy@themoreheadnews.com or by telephone at 784-4116.

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Solution created for county builders - Morehead News

Published Feb 24, 2017 at 12:00pm

NEW YORK (AP) JCPenney said Friday that it will be closing anywhere from 130 to 140 stores as well as two distribution centers over the next several months as it aims to improve profitability in the era of online shopping.

The closures represent about 13 percent to 14 percent of the department store operators current store count, and less than 5 percent of total annual sales. The company said that it would also initiate a voluntary early retirement program for about 6,000 eligible employees.

The company stated it will not announce which stores are to be closed for a month. Locally, there are two locations in Oneida County. One is in Rome in the Freedom Plaza on Erie Boulevard West. The other is in Sangertown Square mall on Commercial Drive in New Hartford.

The news came as the Plano, Texas-based chain posted a profit in the fourth-quarter compared to a loss a year ago. But total sales were down slightly, and a key revenue metric declined slightly as well.

Penney is trying to recover from a catastrophic reinvention plan under former CEO Ron Johnson that sent sales and profits into a free-fall in 2012 and 2013. Business stabilized under Mike Ullman, who took the helm in 2013 after Johnson was pushed out. Under Marvin Ellison, who has been CEO since 2015, Penney is looking for new ways to increase sales while playing catch up in e-commerce. Like other department stores, JCPenney is trying to adjust to changing shopping patterns, and is joining other department stores like Macys, which are shrinking their store footprint. Consumers are shifting their spending away from clothing and toward experiences like beauty treatments or toward furnishing their home. And when they do pick up clothing, its more often at off-price stores or online as Amazon moves more into apparel.

Penneys results capped a week of weak fourth-quarter results from a string of department stores. Kohls Corp. reported Wednesday a drop in fiscal fourth-quarter profit as total sales declined. Revenue at stores opened at least a year dropped 2.2 percent in the quarter. Nordstrom Inc., the department store recently scolded by President Donald Trump, reported late Wednesday a better-than-expected quarterly profit with help from strong sales online and at Nordstrom Rack. But at the Nordstrom brand, comparable store sales decreased 2.7 percent. Macys, the nations largest department store chain, says its earnings for the quarter that includes the holiday period dropped nearly 13 percent as results were dragged down by lower sales, store closures and other costs.

Given the environment, Penney wants to be less dependent on clothing, and is focusing its efforts on its home area and rolling out major appliances in it stores. It has expanded the Sephora beauty shops and is updating its beauty salons, now branded Salon by InStyle. It is also beefing up its store label brands like St. Johns Bay. In the fourth quarter, top performing areas included home, Sephora, its salon business and fine jewelry.

The company is aiming to be more competitive in the digital arena. Penney is arming its store associates with mobile devices to help check out online shoppers who are picking up orders in the store.

For the fiscal fourth quarter, JCPenney reported net income of $192 million, or 61 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 64 cents per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. Analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research were calling for earnings of 61 cents per share.

Revenue totaled $3.96 billion in the period, down 0.9 percent from a year ago. Analysts polled by Zacks expected $3.97 billion in revenue.

Sales at stores opened at least a year, a key gauge of a retailers health, were down 0.7 percent. This figure excludes results from stores recently opened or closed.

Penney expects full-year earnings in a range of 40 cents to 65 cents per share.

Its shares fell more than 3 percent in premarket trading.

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JCPenney to close 13 to 14 percent of stores - Rome Sentinel

WALKER: Morning.

(APPLAUSE)

One Walker beats 14 runners.

(APPLAUSE)

That was one of my favorite bumper stickers years ago after we won our battle against the big government union bosses.

(APPLAUSE)

You might remember at the time there were 14 state senate Democrats in our state who fled the state and went to Illinois to help the special interest groups organize, and then eventually ship in thousands of protesters from across the country.

In fact, at one point, there were over 1,000 people occupying our state capitol. If you remember, the occupy moment didn't start on Wall Street. It started on my street in Madison, Wisconsin.

(LAUGHTER)

At the time, they didn't just limit themselves to our state capitol. They actually went to the executive residence, and eventually they found their way to our family home in Wauwatosa, which is more than an hour away from our state capital. I had death threats. My wife, Tonette, had threatening messages. My sons, Matt and Alex, who were in high school at the time, literally were targeted on Facebook.

They didn't limit it just to us. They went around events around the state. In fact, they disrupted and interrupted, I should say, the dedication of a new welcome center on our state line. They interrupted a ceremony for the 100-year celebration of one of our great state parks. They even interrupted the anniversary of one of our historic technical colleges.

But the tipping point was probably -- probably more than anything was the day when a bunch of protesters, ironically enough, dressed as zombies. Don't ask me why, but that particular day they were the walking dead, I guess. They were -- they were zombies. They were protesters who showed up and interrupted -- no, wait, I should say it differently. They disrupted a law enforcement torch run for the Special Olympics.

At that time, it was a turning point indeed, because the people in our state, no matter where they stood on the issues, could see that the protesters were not like them. I mean, who would mess up an event for Special Olympic athletes? It was just remarkable.

But as I thought about that, thinking about speaking here, today I'm reminded of many of the stories I see these days around the country where protesters come en masse to try and disrupt public meetings; where angry mobs come to college campuses and try to stop people from speaking; where defenders of the status quo try to stop people who ran on an agenda from doing what they said they did -- would do during the campaign.

WALKER: And as I hear these stories, I think to myself, been there, seen that.

(LAUGHTER)

You know, from our standpoint it's exactly why we've been talking, not only here today, but to people over the last few months all across this great country, reminding our leaders about what happened in Wisconsin. About why we did what we did. And most importantly, about what's happened since.

So let me share it with you a little bit here. In fact, I was reminded of late about that -- just two weeks ago tomorrow -- so less than two weeks ago, it was two weeks ago tomorrow that I saw the video of protesters trying to stop the new U.S. Secretary of Education from going into a public school, just up the way here in the District of Columbia.

And so I called Betsy DeVos, who's a good friend of mine, and I said, you know what, been there, done that.

(LAUGHTER)

You don't happen to remember in the midst of our protest the protesters as outrageous and radical as they were, they literally glued the door shut to an elementary school where I was going to come and read to the children.

Now the good news is that school was not to be deterred. They actually took the doors off the hinges and we were able to read to the kids.

(APPLAUSE)

But it was a vivid reminder about what we learned in Wisconsin. And that is, to do what you said you were going to do, to go big, to go bold, to actually follow through on the promises you made throughout a campaign.

(APPLAUSE)

You know, it's not only conservatives and Republicans who like that. What we found in Wisconsin is that independent and, yes, even some discerning Democrats like it when you do the things you say you were going to do.

(APPLAUSE)

And so we -- we've tried to apply that going forward. It's kind of interesting; it works on both political and on policy fronts. Politically, even though, it's not just a fact that I've won three elections for governor, although I did...

(APPLAUSE)

... in our state we not only won the three elections, but our Republicans in the legislature have actually gained seats in '12, in '14 and again in '16.

(APPLAUSE)

Why? It's because common sense conservative reforms work, they actually work and the people responded to them.

In our state we've seen over the last year -- more people were employed in my state than ever before, ever. We have the lowest unemployment rate since January of 2001. We have one of the highest percentages of people overall in the workforce.

But beyond that, on economic and fiscal policy, we see that even though we inherited a $3.6 billion budget deficit, our state now has budget surpluses and we have one of the few state systems that has fully funded pension systems. And we have one of the lowest outstanding overall long term debt.

And so now, because of those economic and fiscal reforms actually working, the successes have lead to a positive budget and, in turn, we have what we call, a reform dividend. Remember the peace dividend under Reagan? We have a reform dividend.

So I want to spend just a couple minutes telling you about what we're doing with that. First off, we're reinvesting it -- like a good company would, in the things that got us there in the first place. So, top of the list, taxpayers. We're going to help lower the burden on the hardworking taxpayers.

In fact, so much so with this budget, the total amount -- cumulative impact of our tax relief over eight years will be exceeded $8 billion. That's cutting taxes by over $8 billion.

(APPLAUSE)

As we promise, property and income taxes will be lower in 2018 than they were in 2010 and -- you'll like this, we're actually eliminating an entire tax for the first time since 1931 there will be no state tax on our property tax bills in Wisconsin.

(APPLAUSE)

WALKER: Beyond tax though, we're investing in our workforce, probably like a lot of employers here. I hear from people all across my state that say, "We've got jobs; we just don't have enough people to fill them." So we're investing in our workforce and we're doing it in a way that demands better performance and more credibility and -- and transparency from education and higher education.

In fact, how many college students do we have here today? Let's see your hands and hear from you, all right.

(APPLAUSE)

How many -- how many of those college students are from Wisconsin? Do I hear any of the...

(APPLAUSE)

OK, the Wisconsin students will appreciate this, because we've frozen tuition in our state four years in a row. And in this budget we're actually going to lower tuition by 5 percent at all of our campuses.

(APPLAUSE)

Lower tuition, higher standards and actual free speech for everyone, including conservative students, faculty and speakers, at all of our University of Wisconsin campuses.

(APPLAUSE)

And the third big thing we're doing is about helping people transition from government dependence to true independence through work.

You know, more than 20 years ago, my state, Wisconsin, led the way with welfare reform with a -- a great leader by the name of Tommy Thompson. He was our governor back then.

(APPLAUSE)

Today we're taking it another giant step forward, something we call Wisconsin Works for Everyone.

It's a simple concept: Everyone who is able to work has to be enroll -- employed at least 80 hours a month if they wanna get benefits like food stamps and housing vouchers. And for those that can't find work, we require them to be employed in job training.

And now with a -- a new president and a new Congress, we can actually go forward with a plan to ensure that anyone seeking welfare can actually pass a drug test.

(APPLAUSE)

You see, it's simple: We want to help our fellow citizen, but we -- we understand that -- that public assistance should be a trampoline, not a hammock.

We ensure that everyone who is able to work is empowered to work and required to work, because true freedom and prosperity don't come from the clumsy hand of the government. They come from empowering people to live their own lives and control their own destinies through the dignity that's born of work.

And all those things show that conservative reforms work. But I just want to end with this.

I want to make a challenge to each of you here today to keep moving forward. Don't stand still; keep moving forward.

Six years ago, I remember a reporter asked us -- in the midst of all the protests in our capital, a reporter asked me, "Don't the -- don't the protesters have a right to be heard?"

I said, "Absolutely. They absolutely have a right to be heard. This is America. Anybody can say or do what they want about the government. They can challenge the government no matter who's in power."

But I then said to that same reporter that I wasn't going to let the noise of the protesters drown out the voices of the majority of people who had elected us to do the things that we were gonna do.

(APPLAUSE)

Sadly, in Washington it is common practice to ignore the will of the voters. For too long the -- the media and the status quo defenders spend their time listening to the noise of the protests and the rhetoric of the pundits. That's why I call Washington 68 square miles surrounded by reality.

(LAUGHTER)

My plea to you here today is to not get caught up in Washington, to not forget the voters, to not ignore the people who live in reality all across this country every single day. Don't forget them. Don't forget their families. Don't forget their neighbors. Fight for them. Fight for liberty. Fight for freedom. Fight for America. Let's keep it up.

(APPLAUSE) Thank you so much. God bless you. God bless this country. Have a great day.

See the rest here:

Read Scott Walker's Advice on How Republicans Should Handle Protests - TIME

Tuesday, 21 February 2017 14:10

WASHINGTON Despite the challenging global economic environment, the Philippines has achieved notable economic expansion, driven by the economys strong export performance and inflows of remittances that have bolstered private consumption, noted the Heritage Foundation in its 2017 Index of Economic Freedom released this week here.

The Philippines improved to 58th place in 2017 from 70th in 2016 in the annual survey of 180 countries published since 1995 by the Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based think-tank.

The 2017 Index graded economies based on 12 independent factors called Economic Freedoms, with the addition of Judicial Effectiveness and Fiscal Health this year.

The Philippines showed improvements in property rights (+19.2); monetary freedom (+2.9); and labor freedom (+.1).

While noting the problems posed by absent entrepreneurial dynamism, still needed institutional reforms, and a weak judicial system in the Philippines, the Heritage Foundation also highlighted positive developments.

It recognized that the Government is pursuing a series of legislative reforms to enhance the overall entrepreneurial environment and developa stronger private sector in order to generate broader-based job growth.

It also said that some fiscal reforms have been accomplished.

The Philippines achieved an Economic Freedom Score of 65.6 out of a possible 100, which is significantly better than the global and regional averages.

The Philippines ranked 14th among the countries in the Asia-Pacific that were surveyed.

This improvement in the ranking brings the Philippines into the first-third of the countries evaluated by the index.

Since 2010, the Philippine rank has increased fifty-one (51) spots from its rank at 109 and when the country was identified as Mostly Unfree in its economic competitiveness.

Today, the Philippines firmly registers as a Moderately Free country.

The Philippines welcomes the release of the 2017 Index of Economic Freedom. It clearly indicates the sustainability of the robust and excellent Philippine economic performance of the last few years. We hope that this underpins continued business and investor confidence in one of Asias most dynamic economies, said Minister Patrick A. Chuasoto, Charge dAffaires, a.i. of the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C.

See more here:

PH leaps 12 places in 2017 Economic Freedom Index - Filipino Reporter

By Davies Iheamnachor

PORT HARCOURTTHE leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo has called on the Federal Government to give the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra,MASSOB and the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, due attention in their agitation.

The organization expressed worry that the treatment meted against the pro-Biafran groups are inappropriate, urging the FG to give them (MASSOB and IPOB) the same attention given to the Niger Delta Avengers and Boko Haram insurgents.

The President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief, John Nwodo, who spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt during his first visit to Igbo resident in the state, said members of MASSOB and IPOB were treated with hatred.

Nwodo wondered why the IPOB and MASSOB members would be arrested and killed at will by the security operatives, adding that no known member of Niger Delta Avengers or Boko Haram terrorists in the North-East has been prosecuted for felony.

He said that if the FG gives the pro-Biafran agitators the neede

d attention, the agitation would be laid to rest. He urged the FG to have a rethink to resolve the issue, even as he called the MASSOB and IPOB for cooperation.

Nwodo said,I extend my hand to the MASSOB and IPOB members to work with us. I understand your frustrations, your plights and impatience. Inspite of the reproach they have used to oppress you, you have remained calm.

Come home, your father has listening ears. I feel bad about how our youths are treated. I know of the Boko Haram terrorising the North-Eastern part of the country. They conquered and displaced community authorities and hoisted their flag, invariably announcing their own country but I have not heard of any of them that was arrested.

I know of the Niger Delta Avengers who are angry as the MASSOB and IPOB and are destroying oil facilities. I dont know any of them that has been arrested. What has IPOB done to be treated differently?

The fact that we have not joined them means that they have not received our cheers because we still believe that the FG can still handle the situation. I call on the Federal Government to have a rethink on how they handle the issues of IPOB and MASSOB. If they treat them as they have treated others, they will have a rethink.

Nwodo appealed to the Igbo to be united, noting that the region has been long neglected.

He said capital projects are not duly given to the states of the South-East and South-South and urged the FG to give the regions fiscal freedom

I am appealing to all Igbo to be united. I feel that dissipating our strength will not help any of us.

I am appreciative to the head of state, that after our election, he extended his hand that he would work with us. I regret that he is not well. Our people feel marginalized, they feel ill-treated.

Nwodo further said: In this country, the most sensitive position pertains to the national security, but there is already a vote of no confidence that the Igbo cannot be trusted with the security of the nation. No Igbo man heads the Nigerian police, no Igbo man heads the military, no Igbo man heads the Federal Road Safety Corps, no Igbo man heads the Department of State Services and others.

I looked at the capital allocation for capital projects in the South-East, I saw a total neglect. If I look into Rivers and Delta States, it is worse. The wealth derived from the South-East and South-South have not been used to develop the areas but are used to enrich individuals outside. but are used to enrich individuals outside.

I dont know why the federal Government does not want to give people fiscal freedom. We are calling for true federalism.

Here is the original post:

Ohanaeze Ndigbo decries violence against MASSOB, IPOB - Vanguard

Published February 21, 2017, 10:00 PM

By Fred Lobo

Fred M. Lobo

The Philippines has leapt 12 places to 58th from 70th in the annual Index of Economic Freedom, said the Washington-based Heritage Foundation.

Economic performance, sustainability and reforms are okay.

***

Meanwhile, the call for the resumption of peace talks between the government and communist rebels continue to draw support from various sectors.

Peace is more productive and better than war between Filipinos.

***

Despite the challenging global economic environment, the Philippines has achieved notable economic expansion, driven by the economys strong export performance and inflows of remittances that have bolstered private consumption, the Heritage Foundation said in its 2017 Index of Economic Freedom released this week.

Translation: PH economic indicators are healthy and encouraging.

***

The HF said the Philippines achieved an Economic Freedom Score of 65.6 out of a possible 100, which is significantly better than the global and regional averages.

PH also ranked 14th among the countries in the Asia-Pacific that were surveyed, it added.

***

HF noted that the improvement in the prosperity ranking brings the Philippines into the first-third of the countries evaluated by the index, adding that since 2010, the Philippine rank has increased fifty-one (51) spots from its rank at 109 and when the country was identified as Mostly Unfree in its economic competitiveness.

PH standing improving among 180 countries surveyed.

***

The 2017 survey which focused on 12 independent factors called Economic Freedoms, with the addition of Judicial Effectiveness and Fiscal Health this year, noted Philippine improvements in property rights (+19.2); monetary freedom (+2.9); and labor freedom (+.1).

Freedoms thrive in PH.

***

HF, while noting some problems in the absence of entrepreneurial dynamism, still needed institutional reforms and a weak judicial system, said it recognized that the Government is pursuing a series of legislative reforms to enhance the overall entrepreneurial environment and develop a stronger private sector in order to generate broader-based job growth.

Some fiscal reforms have been accomplished, too, it said.

***

The Philippines firmly registers today as a Moderately Free country, said Patrick A. Chuasoto, Charge dAffaires of the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C.

This apparently jibes with Pinoys love for the song Born Free.

***

It clearly indicates the sustainability of the robust and excellent Philippine economic performance of the last few years. We hope that this underpins continued business and investor confidence in one of Asias most dynamic economies, Chuasoto added.

So let it be. Let it be.

***

Meanwhile, various sectors welcomed the Communist Party of the Philippines call on President Duterte to reverse his previous order calling off peace talks with the communist insurgents.

Yes to return to the negotiation table, they said.

***

The communist bloc said in a statement (the CPP) and the New Peoples Army (NPA) reiterate their support for efforts to forge a bilateral ceasefire agreement.

So let the Philippine Government (GRP) and the National Democratic Front (NDF) meet again in Utrecht, Netherlands to discuss the proposal, it added.

***

Government Chief Peace Negotiator Jesus Dureza and GRP Peace Panel Chairman Silvestre Bello III welcomed the CPPs call, saying we share the same commitment to work for just and lasting peace in the land.

It is now up to the President, whatever he orders, we will follow, Bello said.

***

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff General Eduardo Ao said the military was not totally closing its door on peace negotiations with the communists.

The Armed Forcesthe soldiers want the peace talks to succeed he said.

***

National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon said that he is also in favor for the peace negotiations to get back on track.

While we are doing war, we cannot attain (or) have a modicum of progress he lamented.

So let us all stop the war! And exert greater efforts toward lasting peace!

Tags: Economic performance, Fred Lobo, Heritage Foundation, Index of Economic Freedom, Manila Bulletin, mb.com.ph, PH leaps in economic freedom; yes to calls for lasting peace

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PH leaps in economic freedom; 'yes' to calls for lasting peace - Manila Bulletin

Twenty-nine states have now legalized the therapeutic use of cannabis. In nearly all of these states, legislative provisions authorize state-licensed entities to grow and dispense marijuana or marijuana-infused products. In addition, eight states have legalized the adult use of cannabis, and retailers and sellers must possess a state-issued license in order to engage in commercial activity. For the past few years, two important federal actionsthe Cole Memorandum and the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment have assured that these activities can take place largely free from federal interference. But it may be up to the incoming Trump administration to decide whether or not these protections survive.

Voters in Colorado and Washington shocked the world in November 2012 when majorities in both states decided in favor of legalizing the retail sale of cannabis to anyone aged 21 or older. The votes placed regulators in both states in uncharted territory. Up to that point, no state had ever licensed businesses to legally grow and sell pot to adultsactivity that runs afoul of federal laws. The obvious question at the time was, what, if anything, would the Obama administration do about it?

On Aug. 29, 2013, then-Deputy Attorney General James Cole issued a Justice Department memorandum to U.S. attorneys outlining the administrations position on adult-use legalization, which directs prosecutors to permit state-licensed marijuana facilities to operate without federal interference unless it can be established that theyre engaging in behavior that clearly violates certain enforcement priorities that are of particular importance to the federal government, such as the distribution of cannabis to minors or to non-legal states. Since issuing the Cole Memo, the Feds have taken virtually no prosecutorial action against state-recognized producers or retailers.

In 2014, after nearly a decade, cannabis advocates convinced a majority of Congress to enact legislationthe Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment, sponsored by California Reps. Dana Rohrabacher and Sam Farrprotecting the rights and activities of medical marijuana patients and providers. (Since Farr recently retired, its now known as the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Ammendment.)

The amendment, codified into law by President Obama that December as part of the Fiscal Year 2015 Commerce, Justice and Appropriations Bill, states: None of the funds made available in this act to the Department of Justice may be used to prevent states from implementing their own state laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana. Congress re-approved the amendment in 2015, and this past August, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Justice Department efforts to sidestep the law. The three-judge panel ruled unanimously that the amendments language should be interpreted in the broadest manner possible, and that those who are engaged in state-compliant activities are no longer fair game for federal prosecutors. In December 2016, Congress re-authorized the amendment as part of a short-term spending bill that expires on Apr. 28, 2017.

The outlook for each of these measures in the Trump administration is uncertain. Because the Cole Memo is intended as a set of guidelines for U.S. Attorneys and does not carry the weight of law, it can readily be ignored or even rescinded by the new administration. And thats likely to happen if the President Trump pick for Attorney General, militant prohibitionist Sen. Jeff Sessions, is confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

The Alabama politician has a long and outspoken history as Congress leading anti-pot zealot. He criticized the Obama administration for failing to enforce federal prohibitions in legal marijuana states, and once infamously stated, Good people dont smoke marijuana. Absent the explicit assurances of the Cole Memo, its unclear whether state lawmakers and regulators will continue to move forward with licensing and taxing adult-use marijuana salesactivities that potentially place both cannabis businesses and state officials at risk of federal prosecution.

The ultimate fate of the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment is also murky although congressional support for the measure has grown in recent years (it passed by a 242-186 margin in 2015), some have speculated that House Speaker Paul Ryan will no longer permit marijuana-related budgetary amendments to be debated on the House floor. Nonetheless, those closely involved in the process remain confident: Rep. Rohrabacher told Politico in December that he expects the amendment to be reauthorized for a third year by Congress, and that he believes that a Sessions-run Justice Department will abide by its provisions.

Hes a strict constitutionalist who believes in the rule of law, Rep. Rohrabacher commented. I would expect that hell respect the prerogative of individual states to determine their own laws involving strictly intrastate commerce.

NORML is urging people to tell their senators that they oppose Sessions as the next AG, and that Congress should reauthorize the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment, and is issuing updates and action alerts at norml.org/act.

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Gauging the Trump Effect on Congress and the DOJ - Freedom Leaf (press release) (blog)

PRESS RELEASE ON THE STATE OF THE GAMBIAN ECONOMY AND SOME FRAUDULENT ACTIVITIES OF THE FORMER PRESIDENT YAYA JAMMEH AND HIS APRC GOVERNMENT.

With the new dispensation, The Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs is pleased to inform the general Public concerning the state of the economy at the exit point of the presidency of the former president Yahya Jammeh and the APRC Government.

The Real GDP growth of The Gambia bas rebounded to 4.3 per cent in 2015 from 0.9per cent in 2014. The improved economic activities continued in 2016 with growth be expected to be within the long-term trend growth rant of 4-6 per cent.

Total Revenue and grants in 201 7 is estimated at 14.34 billion from D 12.99 billion budgeted, representing a growth of 10.4 per cent. Domestic revenue is estimated at D8.5 in 2017. Conversely, Total Expenditure and net Lending is projected at D19.1 billion in 2017 from 16.9 billion budgeted in 2016. Of Ibis, interest payments are estimated to be over D 3 billion.

Fiscal deficit in 20 I 7 is anticipated to increase to D4. 7 billion (I 0 per cent of GD P) from D3.9 billion budgeted in 2016, representing a growth of 20.5 per cent. The estimated Net Domestic borrowing for the fiscal year is expected to be 10% of GDP.

Public debt ratio is II 5% of G D P as at end Dec 2016. Total debt stock stood at D48. 3 billion comprising D20.3 billion external and D28 billion domestic. Tbe domestic debt increases from 54% to 67% of GDP from 2015 to 2016 respectively, compared with a marginal increase of the external debt from 46% to 48% of GDP from 2015 to 2016 respectively.

Consumer price inflation measured by the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) rose to 7.9 per cent in December 2016 compared to 6.9 per cent in the corresponding period in 2015. Both food and nonfood inflation increased to 8.7 and 6.S per cent in Dec 2016 from 7.6 and 5.3 per cent in 2015 respectively.

Th monetary policy rate has remained constant at 23 percent since April 2015.

Gross official reserves are US$68.75 million as at Feb 3rd 2017, while the net international reserves are at US$20.81. This is approximately less than 2 months of import cover.

From the above information, it could be clear that the Economy of The Gambia had been completely destroyed and part of the stories are related to the action of the then President Exiled Yaya Jammeh and his enablers. From the little investigations, the Ministry conducted, some alarming and gross mismanagement of public funds were discovered that requires the attention of the Public.

GAMTEL GATE WAY REVENUE

It was discovered that theGAMTEL Ltd Gateway Termination Revenue had been siphoned by the president.

The Gambia Gateway Project is being managed by Gambia Telecommunications Company Ltd, GAMTEL LTD, on behalf of the Government of the Gambia. Incomes emanating from international incoming and outgoing traffic are generated through this gateway and initially used by Gamtel to offset its costs and loans. However, the management of the gateway was contracted to third parties over the years, Spectrum, System1, Tel. and MGl. Currently, the Government through Gamtel Ltd is having a 5 year contract with MGI from 2014 to 2019.

Fellow Gambians, the incomes generated by this project were diverted from Gamtel to an account International Gateway Account at the Central Bank of the Gambia from 13 th September 2013 to 4th July 2014. This account had an accumulated deposit for this period of US$5,421,732.98 of which US$5,421,440.61 was withdrawn leaving a balance of only US$292.37.

On 10th July 2014, another account was opened called the Special Projects Fund. A total US$45,194,083.24 was deposited over the period and US$45,171,420.05 was withdrawn over the same period leaving a balance of only 110,630.42 as at 23rd January 2017.

A sample of the withdrawals include:

Vll. 16/9/15 Cash withdrawal of US$400,000 through Sulayman Badgie, Office of the President.

V111. 16/9/15 Cash withdrawal of US$800,000 through Sulayman Badgie, Office of the President.

Xl. 16/9/15 Cash withdrawal of US$704,721.63 through Nuha Williams, Office of the President.

According to our preliminary findings, these amounts have been withdrawn in cash US dollars or Gambian dalasis withdrawn and US dollars bought in the foreign exchange market thus creating undue pressure on both our reserves and the exchange rates. These two accounts totaling US$50,615,816-22 in deposits of our international call terminating revenue have been withdrawn mainly in cash foreign currency and dalsis converted into foreign currency.

2.1 Carnegie Mining Project

The Gambia has not discovered huge mineral resources but Elminite has been discovered and mined over the years. Carnegie Mining Project account was opened at CBG from 24th January 2012 to 30th December 2015 receiving D139.423 million as deposits and D139.312 million as expenditure. This leaves a balance of only D 11 0,630 as at this date today.

This account was operated outside the Central Government budgetary system and not accounted for in the Consolidated Revenue Fund. The account has been managed by the Office of the President and Yaya Jammeh and all expenditures were done at his directive or will. A sample of these expenditures include:

From 30th December 2015 there was no deposit into this account and we are now investigating were the revenues due to the Government from the mining contract. The Government is paying for the services of lawyers retained for the legal case with Carnegie with retainer fees totaling D59.28 million to date and claims of monthly payments of 50,000 per month still running. The Attorney General and Minister of Justice will look into these payments and the legal issues with Carnegie with a view to bringing this bizarre drama indicative of the selfish interest of the Jammeh APRC regime.

We are verifying the current contract that exists between the Mining operators and a company said to have the mining rights Alhamdulilahi Petroleum and Mineral Company. From our initial investigations of this company, there was no trace of its registration with the Registrar of Companies and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice is assisting us on this matter.

2.2 Social Security Housing and Finance Corporation (SSHFC)

The Jammeh APRC administration has dipped its long arm into workers pension funds through rampant Executive Directives to the management of SSHFC. A total of D2,094,891,000 was withdrawn by Executive Directives to a multitude of expenditures including:

All these expenditures were out of the ordinary workers accumulated pensions fund and out of a total of D2,094,891,000, the sum of D1.71 billion remains non-performing without any payment made to it.

Our preliminary review of GP A found that the Authority made some questionable and wanon expenditure in its Business Development Expenses/Corporate Social Responsibilities account for 2015 and 2016:

AJJ Jammeh for D25,000.

V11. Printing of green T-Shirts for D255,750.

Vlll. Payment sponsoring of a table for D375,000 for APRC Peace and Love Gala dinner.

For the year 2016, GPA made the following expenditures out of its Business Development Expenses/Corporate Social Responsibilities account, the resources of the Gambian people:

VlI. Payment fo D 11 0,000 for 500 T-Shirts for July 22nd celebrations.

Vlll. Payment of 105,000 T-Shirts for July 22nd celebrations.

In 2016, the investigations discovered with shock that the GP A bought a new vehicle budgeted at D3,000,000 for D7,527,392.16. This is more than double the budget for thisitem.

These sample Public Enterprise accounts of SSHFC and Gamtel, The Carnegie mmmg project is a reflection of the gross mismanagement of our economy by Yaya AJJ Jammenh and his APRC Government. There conduct amounts to a total betrayal of the Gambian people leaving them with monstrous debts of D48.3 billion, net international reserves of only US$27.4 million or 0.7 months of import of goods and services. The Central Bank of The Gambia has short term borrowings (SWAPS) from commercial banks of US$32.7 million to enable it meet the Governments loan repayment obligations.

Fellow Gambians, this brief is to show you what His Excellency, Adama Barrow and his Government have found left of our country. A truly APRC disaster in human rights, socially, politically, fiscally and monetarily, economically and financially.

We, in the Government of The New Gambia, under your New President, Adama Barrow and the strong goodwill of our international partners and the urgency with which they have come forth to assist and support a New Gambia that if full of freedom, democracy, human rights, rule of law and with sound fiscal and monetary policies, will strive and work and play to achieve the development aspirations of the people of The New Gambia.

His Excellency, the President and his Government will take all steps and measures to ensure that all lost, stolen and misappropriated assets are returned to the Gambian people. The Honourable Minister of Interior and Attorney General and Minister of Justice will have all the information on these preliminary findings to take appropriate actions. The Ministry will continue to come up with more press releases as and when more information are gathered.

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Gambia: Gambian Man Living In The United States; Former Jammeh Aide Sanna Jarju Named In A Multi million dollars ... - Freedom Newspaper

Biafra agitators

Ohanaeze President, John Nwodo has frowned at what he described as oppression to pro-Biafran supporters.

He said the Federal Government treats supporters of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) with disdain.

Nwodo stated in Port Harcourt yesterday during a tour, that if the MASSOB and IPOB members were treated like the Niger Delta Avengers and the Boko Haram in the North East, the agitations would be tamed.

He said, Our people feel marginalized, they feel ill-treated. In this country the most sensitive position pertains to the national security, but there is already a vote of no confidence that the Ibos cannot be trusted with the security of the nation. No Igbo man heads the Nigerians police, no Igbo man heads the military, no Igbo man heads the Federal Road Safety Corps, no Igbo man head the Department of State Service and others. We are not the Minister of Defense despite the zoning policy of the federal government.

I dont know why the Federal Government does not want to give people fiscal freedom. We are calling for true federalism.

I know of the Niger Delta Avengers who are angry as the MASSOB and IPOB and are destroying oil facilities. I dont know any of them that have been arrested. What has the IPOB done to be treated differently?

The fact that we have not joined them means that they have not received our cheers because we still believe that the FG can still handle the situation. I call on the Federal Government to have a rethink on how they handle the issues of IPOB and MASSOB. If they treat them as they have treated others they will have a rethink.

2 hours ago Nigeria

2 hours ago Nigeria

2 hours ago News

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Ohanaeze president worried about maltreatment of pro-Biafran members worries - Guardian

Dear Editor,

Article 26 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) asserts that everyone has the right to education. Subsection 3 declares, Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

The public schools offer their brand of education and most parents avail themselves of it. Some parents prefer different kinds of education (that are also approved by the Ministry of Education). They believe strongly enough to pay for their choice. Even though my brothers and I qualified for free places to attend the top public schools of our choice in the then colony, our parents had sufficient religious belief to pay for our education elsewhere. They paid their taxes and exercised their right as citizen parents. They were not taxed by the British Guiana government for their choice. They were not affluent, and we all had to make sacrifices, but we learnt to depend on the God we believed in.

The private school that I attended later became free for candidates like me. In 1976 such schools were fully taken over by the government. The original brand of education offered by that school continued for a while, but over the years the public school brand took over, and the great traditions and examples of earlier eras faded.

After the restoration of democracy in 1992, there arose again the possibility of parents choosing the kind of systematic education they could bestow on their children, and private schools lived again officially, but by no means easily. Now that choice still exists, but it is being made harder by at least 14%. If Guyana is a land of the free, as we sing so often in our National Anthem, why should this freedom to exercise a right enshrined in the UDHR be impeded?

The tax base that pays for public schools and teacher education has already been broadened in other taxes. Parents who pay for private education are already taxed for being able to afford it. If the government is claiming they are not collecting it and that, As of 2016, there were fifty-four private educational institutions registered with the Guyana Revenue Authority, few of whom were tax compliant, including submission of yearly income and corporate tax returns, then they must learn to fix it according to the law and constitution their predecessors imposed on us. Wasnt there a ministry of governance and highly paid advisors appointed to tell them what is obvious to right-thinking citizens?

I should also not have to be the one to tell the Minister of Finance that money is the legally allowed currency of exchange used by the Guyanese society and that therefore any fiscal policy has social effects. It is like trying to say that raising the temperature (tax) in a closed system (society) will not increase the pressure (stress). Every engineer knows there could be a damaging explosion. Perhaps the social scientists can find a better analogy.

Yours faithfully,

Alfred Bhulai

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Why is a freedom enshrined in the UN declaration of human rights ... - Stabroek News

For a government so devoted to rankings and ratings, India dropping 20 places to 143 in the 2017 Index of Economic Freedom must have been a bummer. If Prime Minister Narendra Modi felt it worthwhile to approvingly cite Indias 19-place improvement in the World Banks Logistics Performance Index, surely such a dramatic fall in economic freedom should send alarm bells ringing? Compiled by the conservative Washington DC-based Heritage Foundation, the Index of Economic Freedom has an unambiguous free-market tilt. It ranks countries based on 12 factors:

And on the face of it, India seems to have taken quite a hit:

Now you might say that these indices are arbitrary, opaque or irrelevant, and you would have a point. Heritage doesnt tell us how these scores are calculated, and only five of the 12 variables are drawn from concrete data, as opposed to more subjective surveys by the World Economic Forum, the World Bank, Transparency International etc. The way the index is calculated, modest changes in one or two variables can send a country up or down five to 10 places.

Since many of these appear to be subjective measures (e.g. property rights, judicial effectiveness, government integrity), small rank changes could simply reflect random measurement error. Furthermore, its debatable whether saying that India ranks three spots higher than Brazil under property rights is truly meaningful.

There are conceptual issues too. If you give Sudan, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo top billing under government spending and code the welfare states of Finland, France and Denmark as low in this case, are you not implausibly suggesting that weak government capacity produces prosperity?

More broadly, a 2012 paper by economists Aleksander Keeljevi? and Rok Spruk finds that country rankings can change once you account for endogeneity the fact that richer countries will already tend to be freer economically as well as for how various components of the index affect prosperity differently (e.g. fiscal and monetary variables have a bigger impact than rule-of-law variables).

Amitabh Dubey | Chunauti.org

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India's economic freedom plunge | Business Standard News - Business Standard

Making America great again requires changing the dependent culture that has been cultivated in the United States. Since the founding, the federal government has expanded beyond constitutional limits at the expense of our liberty, prosperity and values. We must return to the principles of federalism, freedom and fiscal responsibility. That will take development of new leaders with the skills and habits to change our culture from within.

The Constitution of the United States instituted the principle of federalism to preserve the liberty of the people. Constitutional powers of the federal government are few and enumerated, predominantly in Article 1, Section 8.

Most governing authority was intended for the states, other than certain powers expressly prohibited by Article 1, Section 10. Beyond that, Amendment 10 in the Bill of Rights stipulates, The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

James Madison, the father of the Constitution, wrote, The public good is the supreme object to be pursued; and no form of government whatever has any other value than as it may be fitted for the attainment of this object. Originally, this was borne out with limited government and prominent character-forming institutions of families, churches and schools that cultivated the virtues of our society. Free citizens and these institutions were interdependent, and government provided security.

Unfortunately, the federal government incrementally expanded at the expense of citizens and the states. This began in earnest in 1913. The 16th Amendment was ratified to give Congress the new power to assess a federal income tax on citizens. That same year, the 17th Amendment stipulated direct election of U.S. senators instead of appointment by the state legislatures. Senators effectively became agents of the federal government instead of their home states.

In 1913 the Federal Reserve (the Fed), a group of private banks with no reserves, was created to assert control over our monetary system. The federal government began writing rubber checks to the Fed in exchange for newly minted dollars not backed by gold. Much of this conjured cash was injected into the national banks. Thanks to fractional reserve banking, these banks were authorized to lend 10 times more money than they had in reserve. The free money enticed Americans into adopting a culture independent of our character-forming institutions.

This new false sense of financial security ushered in the Great Depression. Thanks to the Fed, the federal government had free money to come to the rescue with new social programs. Income tax levied on citizens was used to pay interest to the Fed for manufactured money lent to the government. To enable the scheme, President Franklin Roosevelt took our currency off the gold standard in 1933. Meanwhile, Social Security and the New Deal expanded government into every part of society. America entered a new era with citizens increasingly dependent on government.

President Lyndon Johnson capitalized on this dependent mindset with his Great Society. Federal government expansion included the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, the Food Stamp Act of 1964, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, and the Social Security Amendments of 1965 (Medicare and Medicaid). Since all this federal control was over-reaching and unaffordable, the next president, Richard Nixon, unilaterally canceled the direct convertibility of the U.S. dollar to gold in 1971.

In just 60 years, the federal government grew into a monster that swallowed federalism, individual liberty and fiscal responsibility. The states became subservient administrative arms of national government. A significant fraction of American citizens (and now non-citizens) were transformed into dependents. We are servants of centralized government, living in a society burdened by taxes, regulations and debt. Americans accept dependency because government has conditioned us to seek comfort instead of change.

The only way to make America great again is by developing a new corps of leaders who can change our culture from within. This starts by re-establishing the roles of families, churches and schools in building the character of our culture. These institutions are critical to instill the purpose, knowledge and habits of true leaders. Our journey back from dependent stagnation to interdependent liberty will not be easy. Read Right Angles next month to learn how we can develop the leaders to guide us.

James D. Kellogg is an engineering consultant and the author of Radical Action: A Colt Kelley Thriller. Look for the novel on amazon.com and visit JamesDKellogg.com or email james@jamesdkellogg.com.

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Kellogg column: Our culture must shift from dependent to interdependent - Glenwood Springs Post Independent