LANSING, Mich. (WILX) Its a tough crime to measure and a tough crime to prosecute. But Ingham Countys prosecutor says rape cases can be prevented with the right kind of education. Carol Siemon said, I think its huge, unless we change public perception, about what sexual assault looks like, cause I want to prevent it. Im not looking for successful prosecutions.

Just weeks into her new reign as prosecutor, Siemon was handed two cases involving MSU football players. No charges have been issued in the first case, alleged in January. Charges in the second case, alleged in early April, were announced 2 weeks later. This has many people casting doubt about the first case, asking why its taking so long for the prosecutor to investigate.

Prosecutor Siemon says its nothing new to her. She has years of experience prosecuting sexual assault. I think that we focus way too much on the victim, our laws do, our public perceptions do, on the victim's responsibility, and not on the person who is initiating the sexual activity.

Siemon sits down with News 10s Ann Emmerich to talk about her philosophy on prosecuting sexual assault cases, and what she thinks can help prevent the crime. Watch Anatomy of a Rape Tuesday on News 10 at 6.

Link:
Special Report Preview: Anatomy of a Rape - WILX-TV

It takes courage not to be discouraged. That was Benjamin Ferencz, the last surviving Nazi war crimes prosecutor who, at the age of 27, prosecuted two dozen death camp supervisors and who, now age 97, was interviewed on 60 Minutes. He was responding to questions as to how and why his experience had not left him bitter.

But it is also a message for those of us watching a lifetime of effort to move our nation forward, to improve the lives of those left behind, to leave a healthier environment for our children, to control weapons of mass destruction, and many other standards of progress being swept away.

There are many reasons to be discouraged. Energy policy is being turned over to the energy industry. Environmental programs are being dismantled by climate change deniers and anti-science zealots. Public education is being privatized. Affordable health insurance now finances tax cuts for the wealthy. Federal judges are selected for ideological purity.

Most discouraging of all is the commercialization of the presidency. The extended first family blatantly sells White House (or Mar-a-Lago) access to powerful interests around the world. Heads of state are entertained at a private resort, not the White House. The presidents family promotes its hotels, casinos, and beauty products in foreign capitals. Foreign leaders are learning to trade access to their markets in exchange for the U.S. supporting their policy objectives.

It is too bad William Faulkner is not still living. His trilogy The Hamlet, The Town, and The Mansion chronicled the rise of the Snopes family in Southern politics. Corrupt and self-serving to the core. He would now have to add The White House. Looking back, it now seems almost inevitable that corruption on a monumental scale would eventually make it to the top.

A few of us disagree with the pundits who have settled on the last election as a class conflict. Certainly some Trump voters were angry at various elites, liberal and otherwise. But what about the Wall Street elites now running our economy and the corporate elites dismantling worker safety and environmental regulations and helping themselves to public lands. And the conservative dark money elites dismantling anything having Obamas name on it. You will search in vain for any step taken so far or for the next three years that directly and immediately helps low income white people who are, instead, being taken to the cleaners by the Trump elites.

Since few young people today would call themselves idealists, it is left to aging idealists from the 1960s to keep that flickering and archaic torch alive. But Mr. Ferencz is right. It does take courage. Not battlefield courage. But the courage that comes from believing in an American ideal that is far better than what we see today. The courage that believes we are not witnessing a modern day version of the fall of the Roman Empire. The courage that insists when this grim un-American detour is over we will return to our ideal as a nation of principles, political morality, and Constitutional standards.

In the meantime, it takes courage. Courage to persevere. Courage to see farther down the road. Courage to believe a large majority of Americans, including many who voted for this administration and are now experiencing shock at what they got, will return to our traditional beliefs, the faith of our fathers. The courage to know that we will not only endure, we will prevail.

The rest is here:
The Anatomy Of Courage - Huffington post (press release) (blog)

On 10th December 2015, over a year ago, Macri assumed office as President of Argentina from the complicated Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Kirchner and her late husband who was President for almost four years preceding his wife had many successes and failures during their time at the helm, but it was clear that things were heading down a dangerous path in Argentina.

During Kirchners tenure, inequality, as defined by the GINI coefficient declined by 20% (see figure below), this was laudable as it was also matched by an increase in median household income from ~$1,300 annually to ~$2,700 in 2015, that is annual growth of 6.2% which is commendable, but what this statistic conceals is that median household income reached a peak of ~$5,700 in 2013 and fell -47% since. This is largely caused by currency problems, as the Argentinean Peso during the Kirchners time fell -70%. This was in spite of hard-fought efforts by Christina Kirchner to control the value of the currency.

The Kirchners mix of socialism, populism, and authoritarianism detrimentally impacted Argentinas image abroad. Image is not simply a branding exercise but also resulted in poor levels of foreign investment. One of the major reasons for a sharp drop in foreign investment in the latter part of Christina Kirchners presidency was her erratic decision to nationalize YPF, Argentinas national oil producer which had been privatized in 1993. This was done without any negotiations with Repsol, the other owner of YPF. YPFs performance declined substantially and forced Argentina to import energy, creating an inflation spike.

Areas of improvement where the Kirchners did do well, include an improvement in education and access to healthcare. However, this was balanced by targeting farmers with excessive taxes, particularly on soybeans and currency controls which had a very material negative impact on the average Argentinean. In the Kirchners worldview, the economy was a system where certain parties exploited other groups. There was no vision or infrastructure to allow the economy to grow where all segments of the population could improve their lives.

In this environment, Macri took over, the former Mayor of Buenos Aires and a sharp capitalist who was ready for shifting Argentina away from disastrous policies which favored present consumption at the expense of future growth. One of Macris first steps was to remove all currency controls and allow the currency to freely float. The result was a 1-day drop of the currency by -30% causing significant pain to the economy. Important to keep in mind though, that most Argentines were never able to transact FX at the official rate, and this drop after Macri removed controls is more reflective of the actual effective FX rate. Controls are impossible to maintain when there is limited confidence in your currency and you lack any firepower in terms of FX reserves to maintain your controls.

Macri cut export taxes on several commodities including major cash crops such as beef, wheat, and corn. Macri also reduced export taxes for soybeans by 5%. This was done in his first week in office. The impact of this was significant, for example, corn exports increased 21% in 2016, and beef by 13%. He could have certainly done more, but this was useful in placating angry farmers, and nobody wants angry farmers.

Related Article Local Versus Foreign: Who Will Endure to Win The E-Commerce Battle In India?

In April 2016, Macri ended a 15-year saga that Kirchner had made a farce, by agreeing to pay $9.3 billion to holders of Argentinas notes that the country defaulted on[7]. In one action, Macri won the respect of international investors and built credibility for the new government, allowing Argentina to borrow $16.5bn and later another $20bn from international markets.

During the Kirchner years, there was a lot of tension between the Central Bank and her office. She removed two heads of the Central Bank and completely comprised the independence of the Central Bank. Macri has reasserted the independence of the Central Bank and a noticeable pivot has been made to inflation targeting. The Central Bank recently maintained its benchmark interest rate at 24.75% to target inflation between 12 17% in 2017.

Macri has been fortunate with a victory for Trump. Trump and the Macri family go way back to a real estate deal in New York which is outlined in Art of the Deal. We can expect materially better relations between the two countries and foreign investment from the United States over the next 4 8 years. The two met last week and by both accounts, the meeting went well. Exports to the US in 2016, under Macri were up 30%, primarily due to biodiesel sales.

Macris work is just getting started and he does not wield a tremendous amount of power, given lackluster economic performance last year from the economy turning around and limited control for his party. However, indications are that inflation is now under control and we can expect up to 2.2% GDP growth in 2017.

Argentina has a material amount of natural resources, including significant gold, copper, oil and natural gas. Major projects have long been delayed such as Pascua Lama, and shale field Vaca Muerta. Macri needs to ensure that major energy companies are secure and that investments will be respected within the laws of Argentina.

Macri would like to reorient the economy towards technology, this will be a significant challenge. Within Latin America, Brazil, Mexico, and Chile are eons ahead of Argentina. They have developed a strong ecosystem for startups, innovation, and education. Argentina has languished for more than a decade under Kirchner and suffered a significant brain drain with Argentines going abroad for education and often staying there.

The reception for Macri has been largely positive from the international community because Argentina was being operated so terribly. Someone halfway decent who is sane is very welcome. To draw an extreme parallel, if Maduro in Venezuela or Kim in North Korea are replaced by a sane person, no matter how they err, they will be heroes internationally.

Macri has his share of corruption, such as the debt forgiveness of his own company.He may also ignore the needs of those hoping to remove barriers towards upward mobility in Argentinian society and weaken the advances that Argentinas indigenous population have made. These failures are what we worry the most about. The stock market in Argentina is up 80% since he took office and the currency has stabilized. We remain very optimistic about the future of Argentina for now.

This article was written by Investment Frontier.

Continued here:
The Anatomy Of Change Argentina's Macri Undoing Years Of Damage - Frontera News

It wasnt as if he hadnt tried to warn them.

For weeks, House Speaker Tim Armstead, R-Kanawha, had been telling anyone who would listen that the Republican majority in the House of Delegates would not go along with any state revenue or budget plan that included tax increases for the citizens of West Virginia.

Our families are struggling to make ends meet, and this is absolutely the wrong time to burden them with hundreds of millions of dollars in additional taxes Armstead said.

Apparently, neither Democratic Gov. Jim Justice nor Senate President Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, was listening. On Thursday, May 4, Justice called the Legislature into special session to consider revenue and tax reform measures aimed at passing a state budget. That revenue plan included raising the state sales tax from 6 to 7 percent, raising gasoline taxes and fees for services at the Division of Motor Vehicles and raising taxes on corporations and the very wealthy.

When the special session began at 11 a.m. May 4, the revenue bill was not ready. But by mid-afternoon, a copy of the legislation had been filed. When the House of Delegates reconvened shortly after 5 p.m. following an afternoon break, delegates took up the bill, read it a first time, then took an unexpected move they quickly rejected the proposal on its first reading by a vote of 59-36.

Three bills introduced in the Senate earlier in the day were still in play, however. Those measures would provide for a 2 percent teacher pay raise, raise gasoline taxes and DMV fees and allow for increasing tolls on the West Virginia Turnpike. But the House move to reject Justices tax reform and revenue bill effectively scuttled any attempt to reach a budget agreement on the first day of the special session. The House and Senate were set to reconvene Friday, but Armstead and others said there was little point in trying to continue business until another budget deal can be reached.

For now, I think its best we take a break and get everyone in a room and try to work out our differences, Armstead said on May 4. I encourage Gov. Justice to listen to the message the House sent tonight and work with our leadership team and our colleagues in the Senate to find a path forward that will truly work for the people of West Virginia.

Justices Plan

Justice vetoed the budget the Legislature passed in the waning hours of the regular legislative session. That bill would have made cuts to higher education and the state Department of Health and Human Resources and would have required taking about $90 million from the state rainy-day fund, a move that would have brought the balance in the fund below recommended levels and likely would have resulted in a lowering of the states bond ratings.The revenue proposals Justice presented for the special session call did not differ significantly in principle from the plan the governor presented before the regular session began in February. Justices plan included a 1 percent increase in the sales tax, temporary tax increases on the most wealthy West Virginians, a tiered severance tax system for the coal and natural gas industries that would allow company owners to pay less tax when times are bad but pay more when times are good, increasing corporate taxes and raising tolls, DMV fees and gasoline taxes to fund a massive road construction program Justice has said would create 48,000 jobs.But in a compromise negotiated between members of Justices administration and Republican leadership in the Senate, the proposal killed by the House of Delegates May 4 also included a statewide tax reform plan similar to one that had been studied in the Senate.That proposal would have allowed for lower personal income tax rates for state residents, with the possibility of eliminating personal income taxes completely. Carmichael said phasing out the personal income tax even with the hike in the sales tax would mean an aggregate $100 million tax cut for the citizens of the Mountain State.Its a win-win, Carmichael said.

Revenue projections prepared by the state Department of Revenue showed phasing out the income tax would end up costing the state more than $100 million a year in revenue following the first couple of years. Carmichael, however, is convinced doing away with personal income taxes would spur economic growth, give West Virginians an incentive to go back to work and more than make up for any short-term loss in revenue.

Opposition Builds

Armstead and other House Republicans were against the governors revenue and budget plans even before the special session was announced.On the final day of the regular session, Justice called a news conference to announce he had worked out a compromise deal with leaders in the Senate, two hours before the end of the session, to pass a budget bill containing most of the governors original proposals. A budget amendment sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Ryan Fern, R-Ohio, contained most of Justices revenue proposals except the tiered severance tax.The Ferns amendment was not the budget bill ultimately passed by the Legislature and vetoed by the governor, but served as the basis for the revenue and budget proposals planned for the special session.House of Delegates spokesman Jared Hunt said the budget negotiations between Justice and the Senate were made without the participation or knowledge of members of the House. Armstead criticized the governor several times for leaving House Republicans out of budget talks.Armstead also issued a series of statements warning Justice and the Senate that House Republicans would not go along with any tax increase. He was joined by other members of the House of Delegates.

Members of the Libertarian-leaning Liberty Caucus came out publicly against the governors revenue and budget proposals.

For years we have fought efforts to raise taxes and grow government, and the plan the governor and Senate are trying to push would do just that, said Delegate Pat McGeehan, R-Hancock. While we like the idea of lowering the income tax, the idea of offsetting it with even higher sales and business taxes will only hurt our economy particularly in border areas.

Republican delegates from many of the states border counties also opposed raising the sales tax, fearing it would hurt business.

Politicians in Charleston do not understand how easy it is for people in the panhandles to cross the border to shop, said Delegate Jill Upson, R-Jefferson. Pushing our sales tax significantly higher than our neighboring states will put our retailers at a disadvantage and drive more business out of our state.

Delegates from southern coal-producing counties also opposed the plan because of Justices severance tax proposals.

Just as President Donald Trump begins to fulfill his promise to put the miners back to work, our governor wants to shove through a tax plan thats going to put some coal mines and coal miners out of business, said Delegate Zack Maynard, R-Lincoln. The industry and our region are just now starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and Im going to fight any proposal that could halt that recovery and cost us coal jobs.

Some outside observers also thought Justices revenue and budget plans were a bad idea. Sean OLeary, a policy analyst for the left-of-center West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy, said the changes in income tax brackets under the revenue proposal would end up being a tax increase for 80 percent of state residents, while creating a tax cut for those in the upper 20 percent of wage-earners.

OLeary also said eliminating personal income taxes would not lead to economic growth or put people back to work.

He said states that dont have an income tax make up for the lack of revenue in other areas, such as higher property taxes or sales taxes.

The idea that somehow West Virginia is going to be different from all these other states that have tried this and failed is not borne out by evidence, OLeary said.

House opposition to Justices revenue and budget proposals ended in a scathing criticism of his handling of the special session.

The governor knew the votes were not there to pass his tax increases and that calling this special session today was premature, Armstead said May 4. Now were here in Charleston wasting $35,000 a day and dont even have the key bill we need to consider.

If theres one thing we know taxpayers hate, its seeing the Legislature sitting around wasting time in special session, agreed Majority Leader Daryl Cowles, R-Morgan. This governor campaigned on limiting the time we could spend in special session, and now were here in Charleston sitting on our hands because he hasnt even submitted the key bill were supposed to consider.

Strategic Miscalculation?

While it is not unusual for the governor to call a special legislative session to finish work on the budget, former state Revenue Secretary Bob Kiss also a former speaker of the House of Delegates said the governor typically has a basic agreement in place with the House and Senate before calling lawmakers into session. House Minority Leader Tim Miley, D-Harrison, who also spent time as House speaker, said last year was the first time in his memory the Legislature went into special session to work on the budget without an agreement already in place.Last year was also the first time in more than 80 years that West Virginia had a Democratic governor and a Republican-controlled Legislature. But given the massive budget deficits and financial problems the state faces, Kiss isnt sure the trouble reaching a budget agreement can be pinned solely on political differences.Up until 2006, some of the minutia of funding state agencies was taken care of in the state Budget Digest, worked out after the Legislature passed the budget. To some extent, that arrangement allowed lawmakers to make general appropriations for state agencies, but leave divvying up the money to the Budget Digest.But, as complicated as the Mountain States financial situation is today, neither Miley nor Kiss thinks the continued existence of the Budget Digest would have made passing a budget any easier.A number of observers in the state Capitol believe Justice may have miscalculated his strategy for passing a budget. While they support the governors proposals, some Democrats have quietly said Justice may have picked the wrong method to get his messages across.

Some Democrats wondered if Justice, used to getting his way, may have thought he could cut a budget deal with the Senate and either shame or bully the House of Delegates into going along with the plan.

Justice spokesman Grant Herring did not respond to a request for comment.

Justices management style apparently did not win him much support with House Republicans for this round.

This is what happens when you dont listen to people or consider all sides in a negotiation, said House Finance Committee Chairman Eric Nelson, R-Kanawha. Weve wanted to talk about these items over the last couple of weeks, but the governor shut the door in our faces. Now hes called us back into session, and we learn there are still issues to work out. This is a colossal waste of time and taxpayer money.

See more here:
Anatomy of a Budget Breakdown - The Exponent Telegram (press release) (registration)

San Diego police are investigating after two officers fatally shot a 15-year-old boy Saturday morning as he stood in front of Torrey Pines High School. Police say he was holding a BB gun.

Heres how the shooting went down:

AN EARLY MORNING DISPATCH

Police received a 911 call at 3:27 a.m. asking for a welfare check, said police homicide Lt. Mike Holden. The caller said there was a kid in front of the school who someone should probably check on and stated the person was not armed, the lieutenant said.

Police believe the caller was the boy himself, Holden said.

According to police radio traffic, a dispatcher asked two officers to check the welfare of someone at the school. The person was described as a white male, 15, of medium build, wearing a gray shirt and black pants. Officers said they were there about a minute later.

THE CONFRONTATION

The two officers arrived at the school on Del Mar Heights Road about the same time and saw the teen. As they got out of their patrol cars to speak with him, he pulled a handgun that was concealed in his waistband and pointed it at one of the officers, Holden said.

Both officers drew their weapons and told the boy to drop the gun, but he continued to point the gun and walk toward the one officer, Holden said.

The teen ignored additional commands, and the officers, fearing for their safety, both fired, the lieutenant said.

The teen was struck several times.

A dispatcher acknowledged shots fired and asked if any officers were injured. One officer answered negative but said paramedics are needed now. He said he and another officer were doing CPR. Another two or three minutes passed and an officer noted that CPR was still in progress.

THE DISCOVERY

The officers immediately began life-saving measures, and the boy was taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, where he died, Holden said.

The boys gun remained at the scene to be processed as evidence. Police later determined that the gun was a semi-automatic BB air pistol, Holden said.

A small memorial of flowers and notes began to grow at the scene by Saturday afternoon.

The teen was a freshman at the Carmel Valley school and lived in the neighborhood. Police officials are declining to name him because he was a juvenile.

THE INVESTIGATION

Police are now investigating the shooting, and the community is in mourning.

Both officers had activated their body-worn cameras at some point and there is video of the incident for investigators to review.

The names of the officers involved are expected to be released in the next few days, per department protocol.

The officers have been on the force for 28 years and four years. One of the officers is on the departments Juvenile Services Team, Holden said.

Davis and Littlefield write for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

See the original post:
Anatomy of a tragedy: Police say boy with BB gun fatally shot by officers at high school - Los Angeles Times