Donations to the troubled Wounded Warrior Project veterans' charity dropped precipitously in the last half of the 2016 fiscal year, down nearly $70 million, Stars and Stripes reported.Citing newly released financial records, the military news outlet reported the charity's...
Reported by Newsmax 1 hour ago.
Wounded Warrior Project's Donations Down $70M in 2016
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JobTech(TM) Records 40% Increase in Singapore Banking & Finance Sector Online Job Postings in 1Q 2017
- In addition, JobTech^TM provides analysis of the top skills sought by Singapore's Banking & Finance sector.
SINGAPORE, May 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- JobTech^TM's job monitoring technology recorded *an increase of more than 800* unique^1 online job postings in the Singapore Banking & Finance sector in 1Q 2017; over the 2,000 unique Banking & Finance sector online job postings captured in 4Q 2016. This represents a more than 40% increase^2 in online job postings when 1Q 2017 is compared with 4Q 2016.
Looking at the average number of unique job postings per month, 1Q 2017 recorded slightly over 950 online job postings per month while 4Q 2016 recorded slightly over 650 online job postings per month, on average. While there is a possible seasonal effect due to hiring patterns in the beginning of the calendar year over the end of the calendar year; a negative signal was also observed from the number of online job postings from January to March 2017 for the Banking & Finance sector, with March recording the lowest number of online job postings in the first quarter of 2017.
In addition, JobTech^TM has identified the most sought-after skills by employers in the Banking & Finance sector in Singapore. Refer to Annex I for details of skill mentions in the job descriptions.
*TOP SKILLS SOUGHT BY ALL*^3* ONLINE JOB POSTINGS IN THE SINGAPORE BANKING & FINANCE SECTOR IN 1Q 2017*
*Rank*
*Technical skills*
*Rank*
*Soft Skills/ Traits*
*Rank*
*Domain Knowledge*^4**
1
Microsoft Office
1
Communication
1
Protocols
2
Sales
2
Interpersonal
2
IT and Business
3
Planning
3
Responsible
3
Science and Technology
4
Analysis
4
Team Player
4
Finance
5
Liaison
5
Meticulous
5
Investment
In general, across the entire Banking & Finance sector, we see at least 20% of the online job postings seeking candidates with skills such as: *proficiency in Microsoft Office, Sales, Communication Skills, Interpersonal Skills, Understanding of Technical Protocols *and* Good Practices*.
In addition, JobTech also noted the emergence of 10 additional domain knowledge areas and 16 additional technical skills that showed up in the 1Q 2017 listing. Some of the emerging domain knowledge areas sought by employers included: *Robot Operating System, Relational Database, Safety Compliance, Business Operations, *and* System Engineering*. For the emerging technical skills sought-after by technology jobs in the Banking and Finance sector, the list included: *VSphere, Eclipse, RedHat, Apache Struts, *and* Phishing*. Refer to Annex II for the top skills sought-after by technology jobs in the Banking & Finance sector.
JobTech^TM will continue to provide flash reports covering different sectors in Singapore, with a focus on highly sought-after skills and labor market trends. In this regard, JobTech^TM is using its Big Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence capabilities to provide visibility and analysis of the online jobs market in Singapore to support companies and decision makers there.
For more information on the full version of JobTech^TM Analytics Reports (Quarterly Sector Reports), please visit http://analytics.jobtech.sg/ for more information.
*For further information, please contact: *
Ms. Charlotte Lim
JobTech^TM Co-founder
Tel: +65 6908-7642
Email: charlotte@jobtech.sg
*About JobTech^TM *
JobTech^TM is an Artificial Intelligence, Deep Machine Learning technology platform that was developed to provide complete and accurate visibility of any online jobs market around the world. In Singapore, the technology is able to track and analyse more than 90% of the online jobs in Singapore. The platform is built on deep technology that was developed by the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R) from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
JobTech^TM is a 6-month old start-up incubated by Economic Development Innovations Singapore (EDIS) Pte Ltd, a privately-owned international economic development company that is headquartered in Singapore, with overseas offices in the US and Germany. EDIS provides strategic advice and undertakes the development and management of integrated industrial parks. The EDIS management team comprises veterans who led more than 15 successful township and industrial park developments in Asia -- cumulatively creating 1 million high value jobs and attracting more than US$20 billion of dollars of foreign direct investment to the selected locations. EDIS works with governments and global investors to leverage Singapore's development experience for the benefit of other countries.
*ANNEX I*
*TOP SKILLS SOUGHT BY ALL* *ONLINE JOB POSTINGS IN THE SINGAPORE BANKING & FINANCE SECTOR IN 1Q 2017*
*Rank*
*Technical skills*
*Rank*
*Soft Skills/ Traits*
*Rank*
*Domain Knowledge*
1
Microsoft Office
1
Communication
1
Protocols
2
Sales
2
Interpersonal
2
IT and Business
3
Planning
3
Responsible
3
Science and Technology
4
Analysis
4
Team Player
4
Finance
5
Liaison
5
Meticulous
5
Investment
Examples of skill mentions in job descriptions:
*Skills*
*Job Title*
*Job Description*
Microsoft Office
Finance Officer
…Good computer skills, in particular with *Microsoft Office*…
Sales
Chief Marketing Officer
…Having *sales* background and the ability to oversee *sales strategy* and deliverables is an added advantage…
Analysis
Executive Assistant
…Outstanding organizational, multitasking and *analytical skills* with the ability to prioritize and handle multiple projects simultaneously…
Planning
HR Specialist
…Execute the performance management process, which includes objective setting, *development planning* and quarterly/annual performance reviews…
Liaison
Account Manager
…Assist with project management, site meetings, and *client liaison* whenever necessary…
Communication
Account Manager
…Excellent *communication*, presentation and negotiation skills…
Responsible
Native translator
… Loving in language work, strong sense of *responsibility*, self-motivated, strong teamwork skills…
Team Player
Customer Service Officer
…A *team player* who thrives in a fast paced…
Interpersonal
Global Procurement Officer
…Strong *interpersonal skills* with ability to influence strategic direction…
Independent
Presales Consultant
…Excellent communication and presentation skills. Innovative and *independent*…
Meticulous
Sales Support Manager
…A *meticulous* person with an eye of accuracy Possess a strong sense of responsibilities…
IT and Business
Account Manager
…Strong professional relationships with key *IT and business* executives…
Science and Technology
IT Specialist
…Passionate for *Information Technology* and have the drive to work…
Finance
Solution Architect
…Experience in Implementing *Finance*, Supply Chain Management module…
Investment
Presales Manager
…Assist the growth of the clients' business through ensuring continuous *investment*…
Protocols
Corporate Solution Operations Manager
…Good knowledge of DNS troubleshooting and Internet email *protocols* (MTA, POP, IMAP, SMTP), web services including Apache, Tomcat and Secure remote access *protocol*…
*ANNEX II*
The top 5 most sought-after *technical skills*, *soft skills/ traits* and *domain knowledge* in the Banking & Finance sector were identified and ranked based on the number of unique online job postings that employers were seeking during the period from 1^st January 2017 -- 31^stMarch 2017, 1Q 2017.
With the increasing role and application of technology in the workplace, JobTech^TM offers a deeper analysis of skill requirements for technology jobs in the Singapore Banking & Finance sector.
*TOP SKILLS SOUGHT BY TECHNOLOGY JOBS IN THE SINGAPORE Banking & Finance SECTOR IN 1Q 2017*
*Rank*
*Technical skills*
*Change in Demand^5 (% of All Unique Online Job Postings In Banking & Finance)*
1
Computer Skills
*0.57%*
2
Technical Design
*1.62%*
3
Package
*0.52%*
4
Programming
*1.23%*
5
Agile
*0.79%*
*Rank*
*Soft Skills/ Traits*
*Change in Demand (% of All Unique Job Online Postings In Banking & Finance)*
1
Communication
*1.17%*
2
Strategic
*0.83%*
3
Dynamic
*0.32%*
4
Competitive
*0.46%*
5
Resilient
*0.70%*
*Rank*
*Domain Knowledge*
*Change in Demand (% of All Unique Online Job Postings In Banking & Finance)*
1
Science and Technology
*1.39%*
2
Infrastructure
*0.79%*
3
IT and Business
*0.69%*
4
Software
*0.52%*
5
Computer Science
*1.00%*
For domain knowledge areas, the collective average change in demand is *0.88%.* The relative ranking of the top 5 domain knowledge areas required remains largely the same, with the exception of Protocols, previously ranked 5^th in the 4Q 2016 list, being replaced by Computer Science according to the 1Q 2017 data.
Overall the Banking and Finance sector is seeing an increase in both the total number of online job postings and the number of online job postings which demand the skills in the top 5 skills lists for 1Q 2017. There are nonetheless a total of *16 additions to the technical skills* and *10 additions to the domain knowledge* lists.
Some of the emerging technical skills sought-after by employers included: *VSphere*, *Eclipse*, *RedHat*, *Apache Struts*, *Phishing* and more. For the emerging domain knowledge sought-after by technology jobs in the Banking & Finance sector, the list included: *Robot Operating System*, *Relational Database*, *Safety Compliance*, Business *Operations*, *System Engineering* and more.
More detailed information can be found in JobTech^TM's Quarterly Sector Reports.
^1 Duplicate online job postings are detected and sifted out by JobTech^TM's proprietary natural language and text analytics technology which analyses the text in online job postings across multiple portals with over 95% accuracy.
^2 The percentage reported here has *not* been adjusted for seasonality, the computation here is done based on consecutive quarterly data (4Q 2016 versus 1Q 2017).
^3 This refers to online job postings in JobTech^TM's database for the Banking & Finance sector.
^4 Domain Knowledge refers to knowledge of a certain subject/specialized field that allows an individual to be proficient at applying their understanding to accomplish work-related tasks.
^5 Change in demand reported here reflects quarter-on-quarter change in the number of online job postings that demand for a particular skill which fall within the top 5 lists of each skill category (technical skills, soft skills/ traits, domain knowledge). Reported by PR Newswire Asia 1 hour ago.
SINGAPORE, May 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- JobTech^TM's job monitoring technology recorded *an increase of more than 800* unique^1 online job postings in the Singapore Banking & Finance sector in 1Q 2017; over the 2,000 unique Banking & Finance sector online job postings captured in 4Q 2016. This represents a more than 40% increase^2 in online job postings when 1Q 2017 is compared with 4Q 2016.
Looking at the average number of unique job postings per month, 1Q 2017 recorded slightly over 950 online job postings per month while 4Q 2016 recorded slightly over 650 online job postings per month, on average. While there is a possible seasonal effect due to hiring patterns in the beginning of the calendar year over the end of the calendar year; a negative signal was also observed from the number of online job postings from January to March 2017 for the Banking & Finance sector, with March recording the lowest number of online job postings in the first quarter of 2017.
In addition, JobTech^TM has identified the most sought-after skills by employers in the Banking & Finance sector in Singapore. Refer to Annex I for details of skill mentions in the job descriptions.
*TOP SKILLS SOUGHT BY ALL*^3* ONLINE JOB POSTINGS IN THE SINGAPORE BANKING & FINANCE SECTOR IN 1Q 2017*
*Rank*
*Technical skills*
*Rank*
*Soft Skills/ Traits*
*Rank*
*Domain Knowledge*^4**
1
Microsoft Office
1
Communication
1
Protocols
2
Sales
2
Interpersonal
2
IT and Business
3
Planning
3
Responsible
3
Science and Technology
4
Analysis
4
Team Player
4
Finance
5
Liaison
5
Meticulous
5
Investment
In general, across the entire Banking & Finance sector, we see at least 20% of the online job postings seeking candidates with skills such as: *proficiency in Microsoft Office, Sales, Communication Skills, Interpersonal Skills, Understanding of Technical Protocols *and* Good Practices*.
In addition, JobTech also noted the emergence of 10 additional domain knowledge areas and 16 additional technical skills that showed up in the 1Q 2017 listing. Some of the emerging domain knowledge areas sought by employers included: *Robot Operating System, Relational Database, Safety Compliance, Business Operations, *and* System Engineering*. For the emerging technical skills sought-after by technology jobs in the Banking and Finance sector, the list included: *VSphere, Eclipse, RedHat, Apache Struts, *and* Phishing*. Refer to Annex II for the top skills sought-after by technology jobs in the Banking & Finance sector.
JobTech^TM will continue to provide flash reports covering different sectors in Singapore, with a focus on highly sought-after skills and labor market trends. In this regard, JobTech^TM is using its Big Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence capabilities to provide visibility and analysis of the online jobs market in Singapore to support companies and decision makers there.
For more information on the full version of JobTech^TM Analytics Reports (Quarterly Sector Reports), please visit http://analytics.jobtech.sg/ for more information.
*For further information, please contact: *
Ms. Charlotte Lim
JobTech^TM Co-founder
Tel: +65 6908-7642
Email: charlotte@jobtech.sg
*About JobTech^TM *
JobTech^TM is an Artificial Intelligence, Deep Machine Learning technology platform that was developed to provide complete and accurate visibility of any online jobs market around the world. In Singapore, the technology is able to track and analyse more than 90% of the online jobs in Singapore. The platform is built on deep technology that was developed by the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R) from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
JobTech^TM is a 6-month old start-up incubated by Economic Development Innovations Singapore (EDIS) Pte Ltd, a privately-owned international economic development company that is headquartered in Singapore, with overseas offices in the US and Germany. EDIS provides strategic advice and undertakes the development and management of integrated industrial parks. The EDIS management team comprises veterans who led more than 15 successful township and industrial park developments in Asia -- cumulatively creating 1 million high value jobs and attracting more than US$20 billion of dollars of foreign direct investment to the selected locations. EDIS works with governments and global investors to leverage Singapore's development experience for the benefit of other countries.
*ANNEX I*
*TOP SKILLS SOUGHT BY ALL* *ONLINE JOB POSTINGS IN THE SINGAPORE BANKING & FINANCE SECTOR IN 1Q 2017*
*Rank*
*Technical skills*
*Rank*
*Soft Skills/ Traits*
*Rank*
*Domain Knowledge*
1
Microsoft Office
1
Communication
1
Protocols
2
Sales
2
Interpersonal
2
IT and Business
3
Planning
3
Responsible
3
Science and Technology
4
Analysis
4
Team Player
4
Finance
5
Liaison
5
Meticulous
5
Investment
Examples of skill mentions in job descriptions:
*Skills*
*Job Title*
*Job Description*
Microsoft Office
Finance Officer
…Good computer skills, in particular with *Microsoft Office*…
Sales
Chief Marketing Officer
…Having *sales* background and the ability to oversee *sales strategy* and deliverables is an added advantage…
Analysis
Executive Assistant
…Outstanding organizational, multitasking and *analytical skills* with the ability to prioritize and handle multiple projects simultaneously…
Planning
HR Specialist
…Execute the performance management process, which includes objective setting, *development planning* and quarterly/annual performance reviews…
Liaison
Account Manager
…Assist with project management, site meetings, and *client liaison* whenever necessary…
Communication
Account Manager
…Excellent *communication*, presentation and negotiation skills…
Responsible
Native translator
… Loving in language work, strong sense of *responsibility*, self-motivated, strong teamwork skills…
Team Player
Customer Service Officer
…A *team player* who thrives in a fast paced…
Interpersonal
Global Procurement Officer
…Strong *interpersonal skills* with ability to influence strategic direction…
Independent
Presales Consultant
…Excellent communication and presentation skills. Innovative and *independent*…
Meticulous
Sales Support Manager
…A *meticulous* person with an eye of accuracy Possess a strong sense of responsibilities…
IT and Business
Account Manager
…Strong professional relationships with key *IT and business* executives…
Science and Technology
IT Specialist
…Passionate for *Information Technology* and have the drive to work…
Finance
Solution Architect
…Experience in Implementing *Finance*, Supply Chain Management module…
Investment
Presales Manager
…Assist the growth of the clients' business through ensuring continuous *investment*…
Protocols
Corporate Solution Operations Manager
…Good knowledge of DNS troubleshooting and Internet email *protocols* (MTA, POP, IMAP, SMTP), web services including Apache, Tomcat and Secure remote access *protocol*…
*ANNEX II*
The top 5 most sought-after *technical skills*, *soft skills/ traits* and *domain knowledge* in the Banking & Finance sector were identified and ranked based on the number of unique online job postings that employers were seeking during the period from 1^st January 2017 -- 31^stMarch 2017, 1Q 2017.
With the increasing role and application of technology in the workplace, JobTech^TM offers a deeper analysis of skill requirements for technology jobs in the Singapore Banking & Finance sector.
*TOP SKILLS SOUGHT BY TECHNOLOGY JOBS IN THE SINGAPORE Banking & Finance SECTOR IN 1Q 2017*
*Rank*
*Technical skills*
*Change in Demand^5 (% of All Unique Online Job Postings In Banking & Finance)*
1
Computer Skills
*0.57%*
2
Technical Design
*1.62%*
3
Package
*0.52%*
4
Programming
*1.23%*
5
Agile
*0.79%*
*Rank*
*Soft Skills/ Traits*
*Change in Demand (% of All Unique Job Online Postings In Banking & Finance)*
1
Communication
*1.17%*
2
Strategic
*0.83%*
3
Dynamic
*0.32%*
4
Competitive
*0.46%*
5
Resilient
*0.70%*
*Rank*
*Domain Knowledge*
*Change in Demand (% of All Unique Online Job Postings In Banking & Finance)*
1
Science and Technology
*1.39%*
2
Infrastructure
*0.79%*
3
IT and Business
*0.69%*
4
Software
*0.52%*
5
Computer Science
*1.00%*
For domain knowledge areas, the collective average change in demand is *0.88%.* The relative ranking of the top 5 domain knowledge areas required remains largely the same, with the exception of Protocols, previously ranked 5^th in the 4Q 2016 list, being replaced by Computer Science according to the 1Q 2017 data.
Overall the Banking and Finance sector is seeing an increase in both the total number of online job postings and the number of online job postings which demand the skills in the top 5 skills lists for 1Q 2017. There are nonetheless a total of *16 additions to the technical skills* and *10 additions to the domain knowledge* lists.
Some of the emerging technical skills sought-after by employers included: *VSphere*, *Eclipse*, *RedHat*, *Apache Struts*, *Phishing* and more. For the emerging domain knowledge sought-after by technology jobs in the Banking & Finance sector, the list included: *Robot Operating System*, *Relational Database*, *Safety Compliance*, Business *Operations*, *System Engineering* and more.
More detailed information can be found in JobTech^TM's Quarterly Sector Reports.
^1 Duplicate online job postings are detected and sifted out by JobTech^TM's proprietary natural language and text analytics technology which analyses the text in online job postings across multiple portals with over 95% accuracy.
^2 The percentage reported here has *not* been adjusted for seasonality, the computation here is done based on consecutive quarterly data (4Q 2016 versus 1Q 2017).
^3 This refers to online job postings in JobTech^TM's database for the Banking & Finance sector.
^4 Domain Knowledge refers to knowledge of a certain subject/specialized field that allows an individual to be proficient at applying their understanding to accomplish work-related tasks.
^5 Change in demand reported here reflects quarter-on-quarter change in the number of online job postings that demand for a particular skill which fall within the top 5 lists of each skill category (technical skills, soft skills/ traits, domain knowledge). Reported by PR Newswire Asia 1 hour ago.
↧
Israeli Cybersecurity Think Tank, Team8, Partners with Temasek, Singtel, SGX and CIO Academy to Bring its Global Thought Leadership Event Series, Rethink Cyber, for the First Time to Singapore
TEL AVIV, Israel, May 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Team8 , Israel's leading cybersecurity think tank and venture creation foundry, announced today it is co-hosting with Temasek, Singtel, CIO Academy and SGX its groundbreaking thought leadership series in Singapore. The global series currently held in four cities worldwide (New York, San Francisco, Tel Aviv and London) will gather prominent CIOs and CISOs to explore the rapidly evolving cyber technology arena.
Team8, established in 2014, combines strategic thinking with cutting-edge interdisciplinary technological and go-to market capabilities, all run by Israel's brightest talent from the IDF's elite intelligence unit, 8200 (Israel's NSA). Bringing decades of collective experience in cyber intelligence, Team8 was founded by veterans of Unit 8200; Nadav Zafrir (former Brig. Gen. of Unit 8200), Israel Grimberg (former head of its cyber division) and Liran Grinberg (former distinguished officer) who have first access to an evergreen flow of top Unit 8200 alumni, many of whom independently are responsible for Israel's startup nation and flourishing technology ecosystem.
Since its launch in 2014, Team8 has announced the launch of two companies, illusive networks and Claroty, with several more companies currently operating in stealth. illusive networks specializes in deception technology used to detect targeted attacks, while Claroty's industrial security platform secures and optimizes critical industrial infrastructure sites such as power grids, steel mills, chemical, food and beverage sites and oil refineries.
The lineup of speakers for Rethink Cyber Singapore includes Jacqueline Poh, Chief Executive of the Government Technology Agency (GovTech), Nadav Zafrir, Co-founder and CEO of Team8, William Woo, Managing Director, Enterprise Data and Managed Services at Singtel, Tal Zamir, founder of Hysolate, Chun Meng Tee, Head of Information Security at SGX, Assaf Mischari, Head of Research at Team8, Ofer Israeli, Co-founder and CEO of illusive networks, Dr. Alex Lin, Head of SGInnovate, opening remarks by Tan Kiat How, CEO of Infocomm Media Development Authority and Glen Francis, President of CIO Academy Asia and special guest, Oren Blitzblau, Social Responsibility Mentor at Team8 Consulting.
The Singapore government's efforts to boost innovation and be a smart nation is supported by their extremely robust and holistic view of cybersecurity," said *Nadav Zafir, CEO of Team8 and former Head of 8200 (Israel**'**s NSA)*. "We are honored to bring Rethink Cyber, our thought-provoking cyber series, to Singapore and be a part of their important innovation strategy."
Rethink Cyber Singapore is an exclusive forum that will be held on May 12 from 2pm-6pm at the ParkRoyal on 3 Upper Pickering St. For more information, please visit: https://rethinkcybersingapore2017.splashthat.com
*About Team8:*
Team8, Israel's most prestigious cybersecurity think tank and venture creation foundry, develops disruptive companies that challenge the biggest problems in cybersecurity today. The Team8 innovation process combines a research team with intimate knowledge of both offensive and defensive aspects of cybersecurity, access to the best cyber talent, and a global syndicate that provides access to customers, partners and key influencers. Team8 was founded by leading cybersecurity experts Nadav Zafrir, Israel Grimberg and Liran Grinberg, all with deep ties to Israel's famous IDF Technology & Intelligence Unit 8200. It is backed by Microsoft Ventures, Cisco, AT&T, Accenture, Qualcomm, Nokia, Citigroup, Temasek, Mitsui, Bessemer Venture Partners, Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors and Marker LLC. For more information on Team8, please visit http://www.team8.vc
*Media Contact:*
Matthew Krieger, GKPR for Team8
Matthew@gkpr.com
+972-54-467-6950 Reported by PR Newswire Asia 42 minutes ago.
Team8, established in 2014, combines strategic thinking with cutting-edge interdisciplinary technological and go-to market capabilities, all run by Israel's brightest talent from the IDF's elite intelligence unit, 8200 (Israel's NSA). Bringing decades of collective experience in cyber intelligence, Team8 was founded by veterans of Unit 8200; Nadav Zafrir (former Brig. Gen. of Unit 8200), Israel Grimberg (former head of its cyber division) and Liran Grinberg (former distinguished officer) who have first access to an evergreen flow of top Unit 8200 alumni, many of whom independently are responsible for Israel's startup nation and flourishing technology ecosystem.
Since its launch in 2014, Team8 has announced the launch of two companies, illusive networks and Claroty, with several more companies currently operating in stealth. illusive networks specializes in deception technology used to detect targeted attacks, while Claroty's industrial security platform secures and optimizes critical industrial infrastructure sites such as power grids, steel mills, chemical, food and beverage sites and oil refineries.
The lineup of speakers for Rethink Cyber Singapore includes Jacqueline Poh, Chief Executive of the Government Technology Agency (GovTech), Nadav Zafrir, Co-founder and CEO of Team8, William Woo, Managing Director, Enterprise Data and Managed Services at Singtel, Tal Zamir, founder of Hysolate, Chun Meng Tee, Head of Information Security at SGX, Assaf Mischari, Head of Research at Team8, Ofer Israeli, Co-founder and CEO of illusive networks, Dr. Alex Lin, Head of SGInnovate, opening remarks by Tan Kiat How, CEO of Infocomm Media Development Authority and Glen Francis, President of CIO Academy Asia and special guest, Oren Blitzblau, Social Responsibility Mentor at Team8 Consulting.
The Singapore government's efforts to boost innovation and be a smart nation is supported by their extremely robust and holistic view of cybersecurity," said *Nadav Zafir, CEO of Team8 and former Head of 8200 (Israel**'**s NSA)*. "We are honored to bring Rethink Cyber, our thought-provoking cyber series, to Singapore and be a part of their important innovation strategy."
Rethink Cyber Singapore is an exclusive forum that will be held on May 12 from 2pm-6pm at the ParkRoyal on 3 Upper Pickering St. For more information, please visit: https://rethinkcybersingapore2017.splashthat.com
*About Team8:*
Team8, Israel's most prestigious cybersecurity think tank and venture creation foundry, develops disruptive companies that challenge the biggest problems in cybersecurity today. The Team8 innovation process combines a research team with intimate knowledge of both offensive and defensive aspects of cybersecurity, access to the best cyber talent, and a global syndicate that provides access to customers, partners and key influencers. Team8 was founded by leading cybersecurity experts Nadav Zafrir, Israel Grimberg and Liran Grinberg, all with deep ties to Israel's famous IDF Technology & Intelligence Unit 8200. It is backed by Microsoft Ventures, Cisco, AT&T, Accenture, Qualcomm, Nokia, Citigroup, Temasek, Mitsui, Bessemer Venture Partners, Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors and Marker LLC. For more information on Team8, please visit http://www.team8.vc
*Media Contact:*
Matthew Krieger, GKPR for Team8
Matthew@gkpr.com
+972-54-467-6950 Reported by PR Newswire Asia 42 minutes ago.
↧
Tom’s Insurance and Financial Services Initiates Fundraising Campaign for Praying Hands Ranch to Provide Horse-Based Therapy for Local People in Need
Tom’s Insurance and Financial Services announces a collaboration with nonprofit Praying Hands Ranch to provide therapeutic equine services to those in need. The ranch works with handicapped children and adults, troubled youth and disabled veterans in a 40-acre ranch environment to promote healing and help clients grow physically and emotionally stronger and more independent.
Parker, CO (PRWEB) May 09, 2017
Tom’s Insurance and Financial Services has unveiled a new charity campaign in their ongoing community involvement program serving the families of Parker and surrounding areas. Praying Hands Ranch is a nonprofit organization which has been using horses to heal for 30 years. Compassionate community members who wish to join the campaign to help provide therapy for local people in need may visit https://www.crowdrise.com/the-simplest-touch-from-a-horse-can-cure-a-lifetime-of-pain.
Serving over 80 special needs children and adults each week at their Therapeutic Riding Center, Praying Hands works with handicapped children, adults, troubled youth and disabled veterans in a therapeutic 40-acre ranch environment. It’s medically proven that the power, warmth and movement of the horse strengthens and tones muscles, as well as improving balance, head control and coordination. Riding and maneuvering a horse results in a feeling of achievement, freedom and self-esteem for the rider, allowing them to grow emotionally and physically strong and independent. Praying Hands Ranch has something for every need, including indoor and outdoor riding arenas, a stable and hay barn, small animal paddocks, greenhouse, sensory gardens, vegetable and perennial gardens and more.
“We hope everyone marks their calendars for our Rally benefitting Praying Hands Ranch on May 17th,” said Tom Wohrley, owner of Tom’s Insurance and Financial Services. “Our new community enrichment program is all about local people pitching in to help others experiencing challenges and we feel honored to aid the ranch in their mission to heal.”
Utilizing its own resources and seeking the help of its vast network of customers and business partners, Tom’s Insurance marches on to ensure customers, friends, family and neighbors are always in good hands. Social media and an email awareness campaign will be used to help the agency’s caring team to spread the word about the campaign for Praying Hands Ranch. They have also featured the cause in their monthly magazine, Our Hometown, which is delivered to thousands of households in the greater Parker area. The electronic Flipbook version of the current issue may be viewed at http://tomsinsurance.com/magazines/.
Supporting their latest Community Cause has never been easier, as Tom’s Insurance has pledged to donate $10 to Praying Hands Ranch for each and every referral they receive for an insurance quote, with no purchase necessary. Readers who would like to view the campaign, refer a friend or make a personal donation may do so at http://tomsinsurance.com/causes/simplest-touch-horse-can-cure-lifetime-pain/, and by visiting the agency for their Rally on Wednesday, May 17th.
The agency recently launched their master charity program, promising to choose a new local organization, family or person every few months to receive support. To learn about past campaigns, please see http://tomsinsurance.com/community/.
About Tom’s Insurance and Financial Services
Serving families and businesses from offices in Parker, CO, Tom’s Insurance & Financial Services is committed to bringing local people an agency which understands their needs. Tom Wohrley and his team of dedicated professionals have worked with carriers to assemble a variety of products and services to ensure clients’ peace of mind. From all of the insurance products a typical consumer needs (auto, home, business, boat, ATV, etc.), to developing long-term financial planning strategies, Tom’s Insurance & Financial Services delivers consistently superior service. To speak with one of their caring experts, call 303-841-9000. For more information on the agency, please visit http://tomsinsurance.com/. Reported by PRWeb 9 hours ago.
Parker, CO (PRWEB) May 09, 2017
Tom’s Insurance and Financial Services has unveiled a new charity campaign in their ongoing community involvement program serving the families of Parker and surrounding areas. Praying Hands Ranch is a nonprofit organization which has been using horses to heal for 30 years. Compassionate community members who wish to join the campaign to help provide therapy for local people in need may visit https://www.crowdrise.com/the-simplest-touch-from-a-horse-can-cure-a-lifetime-of-pain.
Serving over 80 special needs children and adults each week at their Therapeutic Riding Center, Praying Hands works with handicapped children, adults, troubled youth and disabled veterans in a therapeutic 40-acre ranch environment. It’s medically proven that the power, warmth and movement of the horse strengthens and tones muscles, as well as improving balance, head control and coordination. Riding and maneuvering a horse results in a feeling of achievement, freedom and self-esteem for the rider, allowing them to grow emotionally and physically strong and independent. Praying Hands Ranch has something for every need, including indoor and outdoor riding arenas, a stable and hay barn, small animal paddocks, greenhouse, sensory gardens, vegetable and perennial gardens and more.
“We hope everyone marks their calendars for our Rally benefitting Praying Hands Ranch on May 17th,” said Tom Wohrley, owner of Tom’s Insurance and Financial Services. “Our new community enrichment program is all about local people pitching in to help others experiencing challenges and we feel honored to aid the ranch in their mission to heal.”
Utilizing its own resources and seeking the help of its vast network of customers and business partners, Tom’s Insurance marches on to ensure customers, friends, family and neighbors are always in good hands. Social media and an email awareness campaign will be used to help the agency’s caring team to spread the word about the campaign for Praying Hands Ranch. They have also featured the cause in their monthly magazine, Our Hometown, which is delivered to thousands of households in the greater Parker area. The electronic Flipbook version of the current issue may be viewed at http://tomsinsurance.com/magazines/.
Supporting their latest Community Cause has never been easier, as Tom’s Insurance has pledged to donate $10 to Praying Hands Ranch for each and every referral they receive for an insurance quote, with no purchase necessary. Readers who would like to view the campaign, refer a friend or make a personal donation may do so at http://tomsinsurance.com/causes/simplest-touch-horse-can-cure-lifetime-pain/, and by visiting the agency for their Rally on Wednesday, May 17th.
The agency recently launched their master charity program, promising to choose a new local organization, family or person every few months to receive support. To learn about past campaigns, please see http://tomsinsurance.com/community/.
About Tom’s Insurance and Financial Services
Serving families and businesses from offices in Parker, CO, Tom’s Insurance & Financial Services is committed to bringing local people an agency which understands their needs. Tom Wohrley and his team of dedicated professionals have worked with carriers to assemble a variety of products and services to ensure clients’ peace of mind. From all of the insurance products a typical consumer needs (auto, home, business, boat, ATV, etc.), to developing long-term financial planning strategies, Tom’s Insurance & Financial Services delivers consistently superior service. To speak with one of their caring experts, call 303-841-9000. For more information on the agency, please visit http://tomsinsurance.com/. Reported by PRWeb 9 hours ago.
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5 veterans who could start first All-Star Game
Let's examine five players who haven't had the honor of starting an All-Star Game yet in their careers, but who have presented an especially appealing case here in the early stages of 2017.
Reported by MLB.com 8 hours ago.
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WATCH: WWII veterans march through Jerusalem to commemorate VE Day
"I admire you all greatly, and the Jewish people owe you an immense debt of gratitude," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the veterans.
Reported by Jerusalem Post 10 hours ago.
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SLEEP IS A PRE-EXISTING CONDITION; New Sleep Products Company Offers Better Sleep While Crusading Against Business + Political Injustice on Kickstarter
Indigo, a new sleep products company, wants you to sleep better; and Donald Trump and the right-wing, a little less so. Indigo is an ecommerce brand with a radically different mattress design that begins shipping in June, and just posted a Kickstarter last week.
New York, NY (PRWEB) May 09, 2017
Indigo, a new sleep products company, wants you to sleep better; and Donald Trump and the right-wing, a little less so. Indigo is an ecommerce brand with a radically different mattress design that begins shipping in June, and just posted a Kickstarter last week. Indigo envisions a better world through conscious commerce.
Indigo Sleep was founded by tech and startup veterans Gene DeRose and David Funk, with seed funding from a Democratic-leaning private investment group that was motivated as much by the startup’s values and activist commitment as by a conviction that the traditional mattress industry is in for a lot more disruption.
Buying a new mattress at a retail store is confusing, exhausting and expensive. Traditional mattresses are overpriced, wasteful and potentially hazardous to your health. The industry is dominated by players who seek to maximize profit through planned obsolescence and a commission-driven sales model.
Indigo has designed their Comfort Always® mattress around a set of exclusive patents. “The mattress design is modular and enables enhancement rather than replacement,” said COO David Funk. “That means Indigo’s products won’t clog landfills after the 6-year lifespan typical to most mattresses. With Indigo, you can pop the cover off and get inside your mattress and adjust your comfort ‘feel’ to your specification—softer, firmer, cooler: you choose.”
Getting inside also enables easy rotation or replacement of the crucial comfort layer when it wears out, delivering a “like-new” feel when needed at a fraction of the cost of buying a new mattress—and protecting the planet in the process.
“We’re launching a new mattress company so you can sleep better, while @realdonaldtrump and the Alt Right tosses and turns,” said CEO Gene DeRose. “Money talks and consumers have infinite choices in today’s world. We wanted to start a company that offers an amazing product—better than anything in the marketplace—and one that’s aligned with progressive values.”
The unique design of Indigo’s product is grounded in intensive research and supported by several patents around how to create a better mattress that matches consumer values and is friendlier to the environment.
Indigo’s radically different approach to beds is based on:
Thoughtful design
A refreshable comfort layer: “Like having a new bed all the time”
Customization, for sleeping partners on opposite sides of the soft/firm divide: “Like two beds for the price of one”
A commitment to clean ingredients: Indigo products contain no dirty chemistry.
Activism: Indigo is a company that’s transparent about production and committed to its values—which extend beyond the production of their superior mattresses.
For every mattress sold, Indigo will donate $50 to Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, or the Southern Poverty Law Center. Indigo believes it’s time for companies to take a stand.
“These are important causes and not as far removed from our business as you’d think. A pro-business political environment does not have to be anti-consumer,” said DeRose. “But that’s exactly what is transpiring in the current climate: Threats to civil liberties, deregulation, and lowering of environmental standards translate directly into an invitation for companies—especially large entrenched ones—to maximize profits with disregard for their own customers. Bad executive behavior and a take-no-prisoners corporate culture become inevitable. It’s all connected.”
Check out Indigo’s Kickstarter and join us on a mission to make bedding, corporations, and Washington more accountable: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1051646910/indigo-radical-mattress-radical-comfort-radical-co?token=cb5d2705
About Indigo Sleep
Indigo Sleep is a sleep solutions company that makes superior mattresses, more comfortable for the consumer and with an approach that is friendlier for the environment. Indigo’s modular design allows sleepers to adjust the experience and replace worn-out parts without trashing a whole mattress. Transparency is key to Indigo’s ethos, and its integrity is apparent in every aspect of its work, from selection of materials to company activism. The brand seeks to make people healthier and happier through better sleep, and is grounded in principles that are advantageous to sleepers and to the planet. Indigo Sleep: Superior comfort, better choices, healthier living.
###
Press Contact:
Andy Morris
Code Morris for Indigo Sleep
andy.morris(at)codemorris(dot)com
917.710.1802 Reported by PRWeb 9 hours ago.
New York, NY (PRWEB) May 09, 2017
Indigo, a new sleep products company, wants you to sleep better; and Donald Trump and the right-wing, a little less so. Indigo is an ecommerce brand with a radically different mattress design that begins shipping in June, and just posted a Kickstarter last week. Indigo envisions a better world through conscious commerce.
Indigo Sleep was founded by tech and startup veterans Gene DeRose and David Funk, with seed funding from a Democratic-leaning private investment group that was motivated as much by the startup’s values and activist commitment as by a conviction that the traditional mattress industry is in for a lot more disruption.
Buying a new mattress at a retail store is confusing, exhausting and expensive. Traditional mattresses are overpriced, wasteful and potentially hazardous to your health. The industry is dominated by players who seek to maximize profit through planned obsolescence and a commission-driven sales model.
Indigo has designed their Comfort Always® mattress around a set of exclusive patents. “The mattress design is modular and enables enhancement rather than replacement,” said COO David Funk. “That means Indigo’s products won’t clog landfills after the 6-year lifespan typical to most mattresses. With Indigo, you can pop the cover off and get inside your mattress and adjust your comfort ‘feel’ to your specification—softer, firmer, cooler: you choose.”
Getting inside also enables easy rotation or replacement of the crucial comfort layer when it wears out, delivering a “like-new” feel when needed at a fraction of the cost of buying a new mattress—and protecting the planet in the process.
“We’re launching a new mattress company so you can sleep better, while @realdonaldtrump and the Alt Right tosses and turns,” said CEO Gene DeRose. “Money talks and consumers have infinite choices in today’s world. We wanted to start a company that offers an amazing product—better than anything in the marketplace—and one that’s aligned with progressive values.”
The unique design of Indigo’s product is grounded in intensive research and supported by several patents around how to create a better mattress that matches consumer values and is friendlier to the environment.
Indigo’s radically different approach to beds is based on:
Thoughtful design
A refreshable comfort layer: “Like having a new bed all the time”
Customization, for sleeping partners on opposite sides of the soft/firm divide: “Like two beds for the price of one”
A commitment to clean ingredients: Indigo products contain no dirty chemistry.
Activism: Indigo is a company that’s transparent about production and committed to its values—which extend beyond the production of their superior mattresses.
For every mattress sold, Indigo will donate $50 to Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, or the Southern Poverty Law Center. Indigo believes it’s time for companies to take a stand.
“These are important causes and not as far removed from our business as you’d think. A pro-business political environment does not have to be anti-consumer,” said DeRose. “But that’s exactly what is transpiring in the current climate: Threats to civil liberties, deregulation, and lowering of environmental standards translate directly into an invitation for companies—especially large entrenched ones—to maximize profits with disregard for their own customers. Bad executive behavior and a take-no-prisoners corporate culture become inevitable. It’s all connected.”
Check out Indigo’s Kickstarter and join us on a mission to make bedding, corporations, and Washington more accountable: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1051646910/indigo-radical-mattress-radical-comfort-radical-co?token=cb5d2705
About Indigo Sleep
Indigo Sleep is a sleep solutions company that makes superior mattresses, more comfortable for the consumer and with an approach that is friendlier for the environment. Indigo’s modular design allows sleepers to adjust the experience and replace worn-out parts without trashing a whole mattress. Transparency is key to Indigo’s ethos, and its integrity is apparent in every aspect of its work, from selection of materials to company activism. The brand seeks to make people healthier and happier through better sleep, and is grounded in principles that are advantageous to sleepers and to the planet. Indigo Sleep: Superior comfort, better choices, healthier living.
###
Press Contact:
Andy Morris
Code Morris for Indigo Sleep
andy.morris(at)codemorris(dot)com
917.710.1802 Reported by PRWeb 9 hours ago.
↧
North West 200: Alastair Seeley tops superbike and supersport qualifying but Michael Rutter takes superstock plaudits
The two North West veterans topped all three timesheets but it was Rutter's superstock time that stood out on the first day of practice
Reported by Independent 9 hours ago.
↧
The American Way Of War Is A Budget-Breaker
*Never Has a Society Spent More for Less*
*Cross-posted by TomDispatch.com*
When Donald Trump wanted to “do something” about the use of chemical weapons on civilians in Syria, he had the U.S. Navy lob 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian airfield (cost: $89 million). The strike was symbolic at best, as the Assad regime ran bombing missions from the same airfield the very next day, but it did underscore one thing: the immense costs of military action of just about any sort in our era.
While $89 million is a rounding error in the Pentagon’s $600 billion budget, it represents real money for other agencies. It’s more than twice the $38 million annual budget of the U.S. Institute of Peace and more than half the $149 million budget of the National Endowment of the Arts, both slated for elimination under Trump’s budget blueprint. If the strikes had somehow made us ― or anyone ― safer, perhaps they would have been worth it, but they did not.
In this century of nonstop military conflict, the American public has never fully confronted the immense costs of the wars being waged in its name. The human costs ― including an estimated 370,000 deaths, more than half of them civilians, and the millions who have been uprooted from their homes and sent into flight, often across national borders ― are surely the most devastating consequences of these conflicts. But the economic costs of our recent wars should not be ignored, both because they are so massive in their own right and because of the many peaceable opportunities foregone to pay for them.
Even on the rare occasions when the costs of American war preparations and war-making are actually covered in the media, they never receive the sort of attention that would be commensurate with their importance. Last September, for example, the Costs of War Project at Brown University’s Watson Institute released a paper demonstrating that, since 2001, the U.S. had racked up $4.79 trillion in current and future costs from its wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Syria, as well as in the war at home being waged by the Department of Homeland Security. That report was certainly covered in a number of major outlets, including the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, the Atlantic, and U.S. News and World Report. Given its importance, however, it should have been on the front page of every newspaper in America, gone viral on social media, and been the subject of scores of editorials. Not a chance.
Yet the figures should stagger the imagination. Direct war spending accounted for “only” $1.7 trillion of that sum, or less than half of the total costs. The Pentagon disbursed those funds not through its regular budget but via a separate war account called Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). Then there were the more than $900 billion in indirect war costs paid for from the regular budget and the budget of the Department of Veterans Affairs. And don’t forget to add in the more than half-trillion dollars for the budget of the Department of Homeland Security since 2001, as well as an expected $1 trillion in future costs for taking care of the veterans of this century’s wars throughout their lifetimes. If anyone were truly paying attention, what could more effectively bring home just how perpetual Washington’s post-9/11 war policies are likely to be?
Preparations for and the pursuit of war will ensure that any future America is dirtier, sicker, poorer, more rickety, and less safe.
That cost, in fact, deserves special attention. The Veterans Administration has chronic problems in delivering adequate care and paying out benefits in a timely fashion. Its biggest challenge: the sheer volume of veterans generated by Washington’s recent wars. An additional two million former military personnel have entered the VA system since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began. Fully half of them have already been awarded lifetime disability benefits. More than one in seven ― 327,000 ― suffer from traumatic brain injury. Not surprisingly, spending for the Veterans Administration has tripled since 2001. It has now reached more than $180 billion annually and yet the VA still can’t catch up with its backlog of cases or hire doctors and nurses fast enough to meet the need.
Now imagine another 15 years of such failing, yet endless wars and the flood of veterans they will produce and then imagine what a Cost of War Project report might look like in 2032. Given all this, you would think that the long-term price tag for caring for veterans would be taken into account when a president decides whether or not to continue to pursue America’s never-ending wars in the Greater Middle East and Africa, but that, of course, is never the case.
*What a Military-First World Means in Budgetary Terms*
Enter Donald Trump. Even before he launches a major war of his own ― if he does ― he’s loosed his generals to pursue with renewed energy just about all the wars that have been started in the last 15 years. In addition, he’s made it strikingly clear that he’s ready to throw hundreds of billions (eventually, of course, trillions) of additional tax dollars at the Pentagon in the years to come. As he put it in a September 2016 interview on Meet the Press, “I’m gonna build a military that’s so strong... nobody’s gonna mess with us.” As he makes plans to hike the Pentagon budget once more, however, here’s what he seems blissfully unaware of: at roughly $600 billion per year, current Pentagon spending is already close to its post-World War II peak and higher than it was at the height of the massive 1980s military buildup initiated by President Ronald Reagan.
On the dubious theory that more is always better when it comes to Pentagon spending (even if that means less is worse elsewhere in America), Trump is requesting a $54 billion increase in military spending for 2018. No small sum, it’s roughly equal to the entire annual military budget of France, larger than the defense budgets of the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan, and only $12 billion less than the entire Russian military budget of 2015.
Trump and his budget director, Mick Mulvaney, have pledged to offset this sharp increase in Pentagon funding with corresponding cuts in domestic and State Department spending. (In a military-first world, who even cares about the ancient art of diplomacy?) If the president gets his way, that will mean, for instance, a 31% cut in the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget and a 29% cut in the State Department’s. Eliminated would also be $8 billion worth of block grants that provide services to low-income communities, including subsidies for seniors who can’t afford to heat their homes, as well as any support for 19 separate agencies engaged in purely peaceable activities, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, Legal Services, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, AmeriCorps, and the Appalachian Regional Commission, which invests in economic development, education, and infrastructure projects in one of the nation’s poorest regions.
Overall, as presently imagined, the Trump budget would hike the Pentagon’s cut of the pie, and related spending on veterans’ affairs, homeland security, and nuclear weapons to an astounding 68% of federal discretionary spending. And keep in mind that the discretionary budget includes virtually everything the government does outside of entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. You undoubtedly won’t be surprised to learn that perpetual war and the urge to perpetuate yet more of it leaves little room for spending on the environment, diplomacy, alternative energy, housing, or other domestic investments, not to speak of infrastructure repair.
Put another way, preparations for and the pursuit of war will ensure that any future America is dirtier, sicker, poorer, more rickety, and less safe.
If the president gets his way, that will mean... a 31% cut in the [EPA]’s budget and a 29% cut in the State Department’s.
*Taking the Gloves Off When It Comes to the Costs of War*
The biggest beneficiaries of Pentagon largesse will, as always, be the major defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, which received more than $36 billion in defense-related contracts in fiscal 2015 (the most recent year for which full statistics are available). To put that figure in perspective, Lockheed Martin’s federal contracts are now larger than the budgets of 22 of the 50 states. The top 100 defense contractors received $175 billion from the Pentagon in fiscal year 2015, nearly one-third of the Department of Defense’s entire budget. These numbers will only grow if Trump gets the money he wants to build more ships, planes, tanks, and nuclear weapons.
The Trump administration has yet to reveal precisely what it plans to spend all that new Pentagon money it’s requesting, but the president’s past statements offer some clues. He has called for building up the Navy from its current level of 272 ships to 350 or more. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the construction costs alone of such an effort would be $800 billion over the next three decades at an annual cost of $26.6 billion, which is 40% higher than the Navy’s present shipbuilding budget.
To put this in perspective, even before Trump’s proposed increases, the Navy was planning major expenditures on items like 12 new ballistic-missile-firing submarines at a development and building cost of more than $10 billion each. As for new surface ships, Trump wants to add two more aircraft carriers to the 10 already in active service. He made this clear in a speech on board the USS Gerald Ford, a new $13 billion carrier that, as with so much Pentagon weaponry, has been plagued with cost overruns and performance problems.
President Trump also wants to double down on the Pentagon’s preexisting program to spend $1 trillion over the next 30 years on a new generation of nuclear-armed bombers, submarines, and land-based missiles. While that plan is politely referred to as a “modernization” of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, it already essentially represents Washington’s bid to launch a new global arms race. So among a host of ill-considered plans for yet more expenditures, this one is a particular ringer, given that the United States already possesses massive nuclear overkill and that current nuclear delivery systems can last decades more with upgrades. To give all of this a sense of scale, two Air Force strategists determined that the United States needs just 311 nuclear warheads to dissuade any other country from ever attacking it with nuclear weapons. At 4,000 nuclear warheads, the current U.S. stockpile is already more than 13 times that figure ― enough, that is, to destroy several planet Earths.
If we learned anything from the Iraq experience, it’s that politicians and military leaders routinely underestimate the costs of war.
And don’t forget that Trump also wants to add tens of thousands more soldiers and Marines to the military’s ranks. By the most conservative estimate, the cost of equipping, training, paying, and deploying a single soldier annually is now close to $1 million (even leaving aside those future VA outlays), so every 10,000 additional troops means at least $10 billion more per year.
And don’t forget that the staggering potential costs already mentioned represent just the baseline for military spending ― the costs President Trump will set in motion even if he doesn’t get us into a major war. Not that we’re not at war already. After all, he inherited no less than seven conflicts from Barack Obama: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen. Each of them involves a different mix of tools, including combat troops, trainers, Special Operations forces, conventional bombing, drone strikes, and the arming of surrogate forces ― but conflicts they already are.
Based on his first 100-plus days in office, the real question isn’t whether Donald Trump will escalate these conflicts ― he will ― but how much more he will do. He’s already allowed his military commanders to “take the gloves off” by loosening the criteria for air attacks in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Somalia, with an almost instant increase in civilian casualties as a result. He has also ceded to his commanders decision-making when it comes to how many troops to deploy in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere, making it a reasonable probability that more U.S. personnel will be sent into action in the months and years to come.
It still seems unlikely that what must now be considered Trump’s wars will ever blow up into the kind of large-scale conflicts that the Bush administration sparked in Iraq. At the height of that disaster, more than 160,000 U.S. troops and a comparable number of U.S.-funded private contractors were deployed to Iraq (compared to 7,000 troops and more than 7,800 contractors there now). Nor does the talk of increasing the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan by 3,000 to 5,000 suggest that the 8,400 troops now there will ever be returned to the level of roughly 100,000 of the Obama “surge” era of 2010 and 2011.
But don’t breathe a sigh of relief just yet. Given Trump’s pattern of erratic behavior so far ― one week threatening a preemptive strike on North Korea and the next suggesting talks to curb Pyongyang’s nuclear program ― anything is possible. For example, there could still be a sharp uptick in U.S. military personnel sent into Iraq and Syria when his pledge to “bomb the shit” out of ISIS doesn’t vanquish the group.
And if we learned anything from the Iraq experience (aside from the fact that attempting to use military force to remake another country is a formula for a humanitarian and security disaster), it’s that politicians and military leaders routinely underestimate the costs of war. Before the invasion of Iraq, Bush officials were, for instance, citing figures as low as $50 billion for the entire upcoming operation, beginning to end. According to figures compiled by the Congressional Research Service, however, direct budgetary costs for the Iraq intervention have been at least 16 times larger than that ― well over $800 billion ― and still counting.
One decision that could drive Trump’s already expansive military spending plans through the roof would be an incident that escalated into a full-scale conflict with Iran. If the Trump team ― a remarkable crew of Iranophobes ― were to attack that country, there’s no telling where things might end, or how high the costs might mount. As analyst Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group has noted, a war with Iran could “make the Afghan and Iraqi conflicts look like a walk in the park.”
So before Congress and the public acquiesce in another military intervention or a sharp escalation of one of the U.S. wars already under way, perhaps it’s time to finally consider the true costs of war, American-style ― in lives lost, dollars spent, and opportunities squandered. It’s a reasonable bet that never in history has a society spent more on war and gotten less bang for its copious bucks.
William D. Hartung, a TomDispatch regular, is the director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy and the author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex (Nation Books).
Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, John Dower’s The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II, as well as John Feffer’s dystopian novel Splinterlands, Nick Turse’s Next Time They’ll Come to Count the Dead, and Tom Engelhardt’s Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 9 hours ago.
*Cross-posted by TomDispatch.com*
When Donald Trump wanted to “do something” about the use of chemical weapons on civilians in Syria, he had the U.S. Navy lob 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian airfield (cost: $89 million). The strike was symbolic at best, as the Assad regime ran bombing missions from the same airfield the very next day, but it did underscore one thing: the immense costs of military action of just about any sort in our era.
While $89 million is a rounding error in the Pentagon’s $600 billion budget, it represents real money for other agencies. It’s more than twice the $38 million annual budget of the U.S. Institute of Peace and more than half the $149 million budget of the National Endowment of the Arts, both slated for elimination under Trump’s budget blueprint. If the strikes had somehow made us ― or anyone ― safer, perhaps they would have been worth it, but they did not.
In this century of nonstop military conflict, the American public has never fully confronted the immense costs of the wars being waged in its name. The human costs ― including an estimated 370,000 deaths, more than half of them civilians, and the millions who have been uprooted from their homes and sent into flight, often across national borders ― are surely the most devastating consequences of these conflicts. But the economic costs of our recent wars should not be ignored, both because they are so massive in their own right and because of the many peaceable opportunities foregone to pay for them.
Even on the rare occasions when the costs of American war preparations and war-making are actually covered in the media, they never receive the sort of attention that would be commensurate with their importance. Last September, for example, the Costs of War Project at Brown University’s Watson Institute released a paper demonstrating that, since 2001, the U.S. had racked up $4.79 trillion in current and future costs from its wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Syria, as well as in the war at home being waged by the Department of Homeland Security. That report was certainly covered in a number of major outlets, including the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, the Atlantic, and U.S. News and World Report. Given its importance, however, it should have been on the front page of every newspaper in America, gone viral on social media, and been the subject of scores of editorials. Not a chance.
Yet the figures should stagger the imagination. Direct war spending accounted for “only” $1.7 trillion of that sum, or less than half of the total costs. The Pentagon disbursed those funds not through its regular budget but via a separate war account called Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). Then there were the more than $900 billion in indirect war costs paid for from the regular budget and the budget of the Department of Veterans Affairs. And don’t forget to add in the more than half-trillion dollars for the budget of the Department of Homeland Security since 2001, as well as an expected $1 trillion in future costs for taking care of the veterans of this century’s wars throughout their lifetimes. If anyone were truly paying attention, what could more effectively bring home just how perpetual Washington’s post-9/11 war policies are likely to be?
Preparations for and the pursuit of war will ensure that any future America is dirtier, sicker, poorer, more rickety, and less safe.
That cost, in fact, deserves special attention. The Veterans Administration has chronic problems in delivering adequate care and paying out benefits in a timely fashion. Its biggest challenge: the sheer volume of veterans generated by Washington’s recent wars. An additional two million former military personnel have entered the VA system since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began. Fully half of them have already been awarded lifetime disability benefits. More than one in seven ― 327,000 ― suffer from traumatic brain injury. Not surprisingly, spending for the Veterans Administration has tripled since 2001. It has now reached more than $180 billion annually and yet the VA still can’t catch up with its backlog of cases or hire doctors and nurses fast enough to meet the need.
Now imagine another 15 years of such failing, yet endless wars and the flood of veterans they will produce and then imagine what a Cost of War Project report might look like in 2032. Given all this, you would think that the long-term price tag for caring for veterans would be taken into account when a president decides whether or not to continue to pursue America’s never-ending wars in the Greater Middle East and Africa, but that, of course, is never the case.
*What a Military-First World Means in Budgetary Terms*
Enter Donald Trump. Even before he launches a major war of his own ― if he does ― he’s loosed his generals to pursue with renewed energy just about all the wars that have been started in the last 15 years. In addition, he’s made it strikingly clear that he’s ready to throw hundreds of billions (eventually, of course, trillions) of additional tax dollars at the Pentagon in the years to come. As he put it in a September 2016 interview on Meet the Press, “I’m gonna build a military that’s so strong... nobody’s gonna mess with us.” As he makes plans to hike the Pentagon budget once more, however, here’s what he seems blissfully unaware of: at roughly $600 billion per year, current Pentagon spending is already close to its post-World War II peak and higher than it was at the height of the massive 1980s military buildup initiated by President Ronald Reagan.
On the dubious theory that more is always better when it comes to Pentagon spending (even if that means less is worse elsewhere in America), Trump is requesting a $54 billion increase in military spending for 2018. No small sum, it’s roughly equal to the entire annual military budget of France, larger than the defense budgets of the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan, and only $12 billion less than the entire Russian military budget of 2015.
Trump and his budget director, Mick Mulvaney, have pledged to offset this sharp increase in Pentagon funding with corresponding cuts in domestic and State Department spending. (In a military-first world, who even cares about the ancient art of diplomacy?) If the president gets his way, that will mean, for instance, a 31% cut in the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget and a 29% cut in the State Department’s. Eliminated would also be $8 billion worth of block grants that provide services to low-income communities, including subsidies for seniors who can’t afford to heat their homes, as well as any support for 19 separate agencies engaged in purely peaceable activities, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, Legal Services, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, AmeriCorps, and the Appalachian Regional Commission, which invests in economic development, education, and infrastructure projects in one of the nation’s poorest regions.
Overall, as presently imagined, the Trump budget would hike the Pentagon’s cut of the pie, and related spending on veterans’ affairs, homeland security, and nuclear weapons to an astounding 68% of federal discretionary spending. And keep in mind that the discretionary budget includes virtually everything the government does outside of entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. You undoubtedly won’t be surprised to learn that perpetual war and the urge to perpetuate yet more of it leaves little room for spending on the environment, diplomacy, alternative energy, housing, or other domestic investments, not to speak of infrastructure repair.
Put another way, preparations for and the pursuit of war will ensure that any future America is dirtier, sicker, poorer, more rickety, and less safe.
If the president gets his way, that will mean... a 31% cut in the [EPA]’s budget and a 29% cut in the State Department’s.
*Taking the Gloves Off When It Comes to the Costs of War*
The biggest beneficiaries of Pentagon largesse will, as always, be the major defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, which received more than $36 billion in defense-related contracts in fiscal 2015 (the most recent year for which full statistics are available). To put that figure in perspective, Lockheed Martin’s federal contracts are now larger than the budgets of 22 of the 50 states. The top 100 defense contractors received $175 billion from the Pentagon in fiscal year 2015, nearly one-third of the Department of Defense’s entire budget. These numbers will only grow if Trump gets the money he wants to build more ships, planes, tanks, and nuclear weapons.
The Trump administration has yet to reveal precisely what it plans to spend all that new Pentagon money it’s requesting, but the president’s past statements offer some clues. He has called for building up the Navy from its current level of 272 ships to 350 or more. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the construction costs alone of such an effort would be $800 billion over the next three decades at an annual cost of $26.6 billion, which is 40% higher than the Navy’s present shipbuilding budget.
To put this in perspective, even before Trump’s proposed increases, the Navy was planning major expenditures on items like 12 new ballistic-missile-firing submarines at a development and building cost of more than $10 billion each. As for new surface ships, Trump wants to add two more aircraft carriers to the 10 already in active service. He made this clear in a speech on board the USS Gerald Ford, a new $13 billion carrier that, as with so much Pentagon weaponry, has been plagued with cost overruns and performance problems.
President Trump also wants to double down on the Pentagon’s preexisting program to spend $1 trillion over the next 30 years on a new generation of nuclear-armed bombers, submarines, and land-based missiles. While that plan is politely referred to as a “modernization” of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, it already essentially represents Washington’s bid to launch a new global arms race. So among a host of ill-considered plans for yet more expenditures, this one is a particular ringer, given that the United States already possesses massive nuclear overkill and that current nuclear delivery systems can last decades more with upgrades. To give all of this a sense of scale, two Air Force strategists determined that the United States needs just 311 nuclear warheads to dissuade any other country from ever attacking it with nuclear weapons. At 4,000 nuclear warheads, the current U.S. stockpile is already more than 13 times that figure ― enough, that is, to destroy several planet Earths.
If we learned anything from the Iraq experience, it’s that politicians and military leaders routinely underestimate the costs of war.
And don’t forget that Trump also wants to add tens of thousands more soldiers and Marines to the military’s ranks. By the most conservative estimate, the cost of equipping, training, paying, and deploying a single soldier annually is now close to $1 million (even leaving aside those future VA outlays), so every 10,000 additional troops means at least $10 billion more per year.
And don’t forget that the staggering potential costs already mentioned represent just the baseline for military spending ― the costs President Trump will set in motion even if he doesn’t get us into a major war. Not that we’re not at war already. After all, he inherited no less than seven conflicts from Barack Obama: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen. Each of them involves a different mix of tools, including combat troops, trainers, Special Operations forces, conventional bombing, drone strikes, and the arming of surrogate forces ― but conflicts they already are.
Based on his first 100-plus days in office, the real question isn’t whether Donald Trump will escalate these conflicts ― he will ― but how much more he will do. He’s already allowed his military commanders to “take the gloves off” by loosening the criteria for air attacks in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Somalia, with an almost instant increase in civilian casualties as a result. He has also ceded to his commanders decision-making when it comes to how many troops to deploy in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere, making it a reasonable probability that more U.S. personnel will be sent into action in the months and years to come.
It still seems unlikely that what must now be considered Trump’s wars will ever blow up into the kind of large-scale conflicts that the Bush administration sparked in Iraq. At the height of that disaster, more than 160,000 U.S. troops and a comparable number of U.S.-funded private contractors were deployed to Iraq (compared to 7,000 troops and more than 7,800 contractors there now). Nor does the talk of increasing the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan by 3,000 to 5,000 suggest that the 8,400 troops now there will ever be returned to the level of roughly 100,000 of the Obama “surge” era of 2010 and 2011.
But don’t breathe a sigh of relief just yet. Given Trump’s pattern of erratic behavior so far ― one week threatening a preemptive strike on North Korea and the next suggesting talks to curb Pyongyang’s nuclear program ― anything is possible. For example, there could still be a sharp uptick in U.S. military personnel sent into Iraq and Syria when his pledge to “bomb the shit” out of ISIS doesn’t vanquish the group.
And if we learned anything from the Iraq experience (aside from the fact that attempting to use military force to remake another country is a formula for a humanitarian and security disaster), it’s that politicians and military leaders routinely underestimate the costs of war. Before the invasion of Iraq, Bush officials were, for instance, citing figures as low as $50 billion for the entire upcoming operation, beginning to end. According to figures compiled by the Congressional Research Service, however, direct budgetary costs for the Iraq intervention have been at least 16 times larger than that ― well over $800 billion ― and still counting.
One decision that could drive Trump’s already expansive military spending plans through the roof would be an incident that escalated into a full-scale conflict with Iran. If the Trump team ― a remarkable crew of Iranophobes ― were to attack that country, there’s no telling where things might end, or how high the costs might mount. As analyst Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group has noted, a war with Iran could “make the Afghan and Iraqi conflicts look like a walk in the park.”
So before Congress and the public acquiesce in another military intervention or a sharp escalation of one of the U.S. wars already under way, perhaps it’s time to finally consider the true costs of war, American-style ― in lives lost, dollars spent, and opportunities squandered. It’s a reasonable bet that never in history has a society spent more on war and gotten less bang for its copious bucks.
William D. Hartung, a TomDispatch regular, is the director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy and the author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex (Nation Books).
Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, John Dower’s The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II, as well as John Feffer’s dystopian novel Splinterlands, Nick Turse’s Next Time They’ll Come to Count the Dead, and Tom Engelhardt’s Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 9 hours ago.
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ONGC outwit BPCL for men's crown
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) trumped Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) 3-1 in the final of the men's team championship at the 38th PSPB inter-unit badminton tournament here at the Karnataka Badminton Association courts on Tuesday.
Results: Team championship: Mens: Final: ONGC bt BPCL: 3-1 (Saurabh Verma lt to R M V Gurusai Dutt 21-17, 21-13; H S Prannoy bt Sameer Verma 21-14, 15-21, 21-19; Satwick Sairaj/Krishna Prasad bt Aditya Joshi/Sameer Verma 17-21, 21-9, 21-10; Sai Praneeth bt Harsheel Dani 21-12, 21-16)
Third-place: GAIL India Ltd bt Indian Oil Corporation Ltd: 3-1 (Siril Verma bt Ajay Jayaram 21-14, 21-12; Arsalan Naqvi lt to K Srikanth 21-13, 21-10; Siril Verma/Shreyansh Jaiswal bt Sri Krishna/Vishnu Goud 22-24, 21-12, 21-18; Shreyansh Jaiswal bt Arintap Dasgupta 21-17, 21-16)
Semifinal: BPCL bt GAIL India Ltd: 3-0 (Harsheel Dani bt Shreyansh Jaiswal 21-10, 21-17; Sameer Verma bt Arshalan Naqvi 21-12, 21-16; Harsheel Dani/Aditya Joshi bt Shreyansh Jaiswal/Siril Verma 21-17, 19-21, 21-18)
ONGC bt IOCL: 3-1 (H S Prannoy lt to K Srikanth 15-21, 21-13, 21-17; B Sai Praneeth bt Ajay Jayaram 21-15, 21-14; B Sai Praneeth/Pranav J Chopra bt K Srikanth/Arun Vishnu 19-21, 21-7, 21-14; Saurabh Verma bt Arintap Dasgupta 21-15, 21-15)
Womens: Final: BPCL bt ONGC: 2-1 (P V Sindhu bt Rituparna Das 21-10, 21-8; Saina Nehwal/P V Sindhu lt to Ashwini Ponnappa/Rituparna Das 21-10, 21-14; Saina Nehwal bt Arundhati Pantawane 21-18, 21-16).
Veterans: Final: BPCL A bt GAIL India Limited: 2-0 (Bhushan Akut bt Capt Rajkumar 18-21, 21-15, 21-14; Bhushan Akut/George Thomas bt Capt Rajkumar/Ajay Jindal 21-17, 21-11)
Third-place: HPCL bt ONGC: 2-0 (J P Chowdary bt R K Mishra 24-22, 21-17; J P Chowdary/R V Deshmukh bt R K Mishra/Dileep Sukhtankar 14-21, 21-16, 21-15)
Semifinal: GAIL India Ltd bt ONGC: 2-0 (Captain Rajkumar bt R K Mishra 22-20, 21-9; Ajay Jindal/Raj Kumar bt R K Mishra/Sukhtankar 21-15, 21-17)
BPCL A bt HPCL: 2-0 (George Thomas bt B Gurung 21-15, 21-12; Bhushan Akut/Milind Ghate bt J P Choudhary/R V Deshmukh 21-16, 21-12) Reported by Deccan Herald 5 hours ago.
Results: Team championship: Mens: Final: ONGC bt BPCL: 3-1 (Saurabh Verma lt to R M V Gurusai Dutt 21-17, 21-13; H S Prannoy bt Sameer Verma 21-14, 15-21, 21-19; Satwick Sairaj/Krishna Prasad bt Aditya Joshi/Sameer Verma 17-21, 21-9, 21-10; Sai Praneeth bt Harsheel Dani 21-12, 21-16)
Third-place: GAIL India Ltd bt Indian Oil Corporation Ltd: 3-1 (Siril Verma bt Ajay Jayaram 21-14, 21-12; Arsalan Naqvi lt to K Srikanth 21-13, 21-10; Siril Verma/Shreyansh Jaiswal bt Sri Krishna/Vishnu Goud 22-24, 21-12, 21-18; Shreyansh Jaiswal bt Arintap Dasgupta 21-17, 21-16)
Semifinal: BPCL bt GAIL India Ltd: 3-0 (Harsheel Dani bt Shreyansh Jaiswal 21-10, 21-17; Sameer Verma bt Arshalan Naqvi 21-12, 21-16; Harsheel Dani/Aditya Joshi bt Shreyansh Jaiswal/Siril Verma 21-17, 19-21, 21-18)
ONGC bt IOCL: 3-1 (H S Prannoy lt to K Srikanth 15-21, 21-13, 21-17; B Sai Praneeth bt Ajay Jayaram 21-15, 21-14; B Sai Praneeth/Pranav J Chopra bt K Srikanth/Arun Vishnu 19-21, 21-7, 21-14; Saurabh Verma bt Arintap Dasgupta 21-15, 21-15)
Womens: Final: BPCL bt ONGC: 2-1 (P V Sindhu bt Rituparna Das 21-10, 21-8; Saina Nehwal/P V Sindhu lt to Ashwini Ponnappa/Rituparna Das 21-10, 21-14; Saina Nehwal bt Arundhati Pantawane 21-18, 21-16).
Veterans: Final: BPCL A bt GAIL India Limited: 2-0 (Bhushan Akut bt Capt Rajkumar 18-21, 21-15, 21-14; Bhushan Akut/George Thomas bt Capt Rajkumar/Ajay Jindal 21-17, 21-11)
Third-place: HPCL bt ONGC: 2-0 (J P Chowdary bt R K Mishra 24-22, 21-17; J P Chowdary/R V Deshmukh bt R K Mishra/Dileep Sukhtankar 14-21, 21-16, 21-15)
Semifinal: GAIL India Ltd bt ONGC: 2-0 (Captain Rajkumar bt R K Mishra 22-20, 21-9; Ajay Jindal/Raj Kumar bt R K Mishra/Sukhtankar 21-15, 21-17)
BPCL A bt HPCL: 2-0 (George Thomas bt B Gurung 21-15, 21-12; Bhushan Akut/Milind Ghate bt J P Choudhary/R V Deshmukh 21-16, 21-12) Reported by Deccan Herald 5 hours ago.
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Core banking veterans raise $12m for new cloud-based venture
Frank and Mike Sanchez, the men behind the Profile core banking platform, have raised $12 million in...
Reported by Finextra 9 hours ago.
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Italy names 31-men squad for summer tour against Scotland, Fiji and Australia
The Irish coach said he wanted to give Parisse and three other veterans - hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini, flanker Simone Favaro and prop Lorenzo Cittadini - time to recover from the 2016-17 season before the November internationals.
Reported by SBS 9 hours ago.
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Israel Marks Victory Day by 'Immortal Regiment', Veterans Marches in Jerusalem
Reported by RIA Nov. 8 hours ago.
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VA to Meet With Whistleblowers About Their Treatment
An office within the Department of Veterans Affairs that protects the rights of whistleblowers will hold a meeting with two of them this week in order to gauge how they're being treated at the troubled agency.
Reported by Newsmax 9 hours ago.
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Schumer Pushes FTC Nominee, Signaling Aggressive Approach To Corporate Power
WASHINGTON ― Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has recommended consumer advocate Rohit Chopra to serve as commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission ― one of the top regulatory posts available to Democrats under President Donald Trump.
Chopra, a senior fellow at the Consumer Federation of America, is a regarded as one of the top antitrust watchdogs in the country. His appointment to the FTC would give the commission a strong voice in support of consumer protections at a time when advocates worry it is heading in the opposite direction. It also signals a newfound Democratic Party focus on curbing concentrations of economic power as a strategy to assuage inequality and unemployment.
“The Federal Trade Commission should be led by people who put the interests of consumers above all else, and that’s what Rohit Chopra has done his entire life,” Schumer said upon making the recommendation. “Whether it was fighting on behalf of students borrowers with loan issues at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or working to protect the finances of our nation’s veterans, Rohit has been a thoughtful and effective advocate for consumers. He would make an excellent addition to the FTC. I strongly urge the President to nominate him and will push for his swift confirmation in the Senate.”
Although he comes with Schumer’s recommendation, Chopra’s ascension to the FTC is not guaranteed. Trump is required to appoint non-Republican members to the commission and custom dictates that the opposition party gets to fill those specific slots. But advocates have worried that the White House would maneuver around those norms by stacking the commissions with registered independents who are, ostensibly, conservatives ― but that specific fear has dissipated recently, aides say.
“There is hope that the traditional process will proceed as it has,” one Senate Democratic aide said.
The FTC has five commissioner positions, only two of which are currently filled.
Prior to accepting his post at the CFA, Chopra oversaw the student lending industry for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where he detailed widespread misconduct by schools and lenders while championing the interests of students. He often clashed with the Obama administration over what was seen as its largely apathetic response to the student debt crisis. Nearly every significant move the bureau made on student debt had Chopra’s fingerprints on it, including its crackdown on shoddy loan servicers like Navient and the predatory for-profit college chain Corinthian.
Chopra went from the CFPB to the Department of Education, serving as special adviser to the secretary. He is considered an ally of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the intellectual godmother of the CFPB and an oft-discussed potential 2020 presidential candidate.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 8 hours ago.
Chopra, a senior fellow at the Consumer Federation of America, is a regarded as one of the top antitrust watchdogs in the country. His appointment to the FTC would give the commission a strong voice in support of consumer protections at a time when advocates worry it is heading in the opposite direction. It also signals a newfound Democratic Party focus on curbing concentrations of economic power as a strategy to assuage inequality and unemployment.
“The Federal Trade Commission should be led by people who put the interests of consumers above all else, and that’s what Rohit Chopra has done his entire life,” Schumer said upon making the recommendation. “Whether it was fighting on behalf of students borrowers with loan issues at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or working to protect the finances of our nation’s veterans, Rohit has been a thoughtful and effective advocate for consumers. He would make an excellent addition to the FTC. I strongly urge the President to nominate him and will push for his swift confirmation in the Senate.”
Although he comes with Schumer’s recommendation, Chopra’s ascension to the FTC is not guaranteed. Trump is required to appoint non-Republican members to the commission and custom dictates that the opposition party gets to fill those specific slots. But advocates have worried that the White House would maneuver around those norms by stacking the commissions with registered independents who are, ostensibly, conservatives ― but that specific fear has dissipated recently, aides say.
“There is hope that the traditional process will proceed as it has,” one Senate Democratic aide said.
The FTC has five commissioner positions, only two of which are currently filled.
Prior to accepting his post at the CFA, Chopra oversaw the student lending industry for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where he detailed widespread misconduct by schools and lenders while championing the interests of students. He often clashed with the Obama administration over what was seen as its largely apathetic response to the student debt crisis. Nearly every significant move the bureau made on student debt had Chopra’s fingerprints on it, including its crackdown on shoddy loan servicers like Navient and the predatory for-profit college chain Corinthian.
Chopra went from the CFPB to the Department of Education, serving as special adviser to the secretary. He is considered an ally of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the intellectual godmother of the CFPB and an oft-discussed potential 2020 presidential candidate.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 8 hours ago.
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Pathway for Veterans into the Biotech Industry
Swords to Plowshares, Genentech Foundation, and Genomic Health have launched the Veterans Biotech Hiring Initiative. This employment initiative is committed to supporting sustainable career pathways in biotech.
San Francisco, California (PRWEB) May 09, 2017
Swords to Plowshares, a San Francisco-based veteran service agency, has launched an employment initiative program to place veterans in careers within the emerging field of biotech.
Employment partnerships play an essential role in Swords to Plowshares' ability to increase employment opportunities for veterans. Through the program, Swords to Plowshares is working with Genentech and Genomic Health to provide veterans with a pathway of employment for careers in the growing field of biotech. The Swords to Plowshares Employment & Training team provides job brokering services to include: outreach and recruitment, screening and matching all qualified candidates with positions that best fit a veteran’s aptitude, experience, and geographic proximity to work, and assist with on-boarding services. These services streamline the process of hiring and provide employers with high quality veteran talent in their workforce.
“The Genentech Foundation is committed to supporting sustainable career pathways in biotech for the underserved. We are pleased to be working with leading veteran service agency, Swords to Plowshares, to increase employment opportunities for veterans in the biotech sector,” said Lakshmi Karan, executive director of the Genentech Foundation.
“Genomic Health Inc is proud to partner with Swords to Plowshares and the Genentech Foundation on the Veterans Biotech Hiring Initiative. Genomic Health values the service of our veterans and we want to ensure access to this group of talented individuals.” Kim McEachron, Chief People Officer at Genomic Health Inc.
Veterans will be hired to fill positions as Lab Service Technicians and Sample Accession Technicians. “These positions are intended to be stepping stones, with the ability to gain experience and move into other roles with greater responsibility within the field of biotech,” said Erica Trejo, Swords to Plowshares Employment and Training Director. “We are proud to partner with impactful community employers who recognize the benefits of hiring veterans for their workforce.”
About Swords to Plowshares:
Founded in 1974, Swords to Plowshares is a community-based not-for-profit organization that provides case management, mental health assessment and referral, rapid re-housing and eviction prevention services, employment and training, supportive housing, and legal benefits assistance for low-income, homeless and at-risk veterans in the San Francisco Bay Area. Swords to Plowshares promotes and protects the rights of veterans through advocacy, public education, and partnerships with local, state and national entities. Learn more about the work of Swords to Plowshares, and ways in which you can help, by visiting our website at http://www.stp-sf.org. Reported by PRWeb 10 hours ago.
San Francisco, California (PRWEB) May 09, 2017
Swords to Plowshares, a San Francisco-based veteran service agency, has launched an employment initiative program to place veterans in careers within the emerging field of biotech.
Employment partnerships play an essential role in Swords to Plowshares' ability to increase employment opportunities for veterans. Through the program, Swords to Plowshares is working with Genentech and Genomic Health to provide veterans with a pathway of employment for careers in the growing field of biotech. The Swords to Plowshares Employment & Training team provides job brokering services to include: outreach and recruitment, screening and matching all qualified candidates with positions that best fit a veteran’s aptitude, experience, and geographic proximity to work, and assist with on-boarding services. These services streamline the process of hiring and provide employers with high quality veteran talent in their workforce.
“The Genentech Foundation is committed to supporting sustainable career pathways in biotech for the underserved. We are pleased to be working with leading veteran service agency, Swords to Plowshares, to increase employment opportunities for veterans in the biotech sector,” said Lakshmi Karan, executive director of the Genentech Foundation.
“Genomic Health Inc is proud to partner with Swords to Plowshares and the Genentech Foundation on the Veterans Biotech Hiring Initiative. Genomic Health values the service of our veterans and we want to ensure access to this group of talented individuals.” Kim McEachron, Chief People Officer at Genomic Health Inc.
Veterans will be hired to fill positions as Lab Service Technicians and Sample Accession Technicians. “These positions are intended to be stepping stones, with the ability to gain experience and move into other roles with greater responsibility within the field of biotech,” said Erica Trejo, Swords to Plowshares Employment and Training Director. “We are proud to partner with impactful community employers who recognize the benefits of hiring veterans for their workforce.”
About Swords to Plowshares:
Founded in 1974, Swords to Plowshares is a community-based not-for-profit organization that provides case management, mental health assessment and referral, rapid re-housing and eviction prevention services, employment and training, supportive housing, and legal benefits assistance for low-income, homeless and at-risk veterans in the San Francisco Bay Area. Swords to Plowshares promotes and protects the rights of veterans through advocacy, public education, and partnerships with local, state and national entities. Learn more about the work of Swords to Plowshares, and ways in which you can help, by visiting our website at http://www.stp-sf.org. Reported by PRWeb 10 hours ago.
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Singer and Decorated Veteran, John Preston, Named Ambassador for Adapt-A-Vet
John Preston lends his support to a veteran cause that adapts homes for wounded warriors.
(PRWEB) May 09, 2017
The Texas non-profit Adapt-A-Vet and veteran, singer John Preston has teamed up to raise awareness for wounded soldiers who need specific adaptation services. John Preston said, “I’m honored to be an Ambassador for an organization that helps our veterans overcome their disabilities with personalized home adaptation so they can increase their quality of life. Too many of our veterans have not received the support and services they need. It is our duty to take care of them because they gave their quality of life so we could keep our freedom.”
Preston understands the difficulties veterans experience because he has had to overcome his battles of depression and PTSD after serving in the Marines. Preston said, “This is truly my mission in life to help as many warriors as I can through my music and highlighting great organizations like this one. Whether I have met these veterans or not, they are like family to me. We can overcome our hardships if we work together and support one another as best we can.”
Preston will be appearing at the 2nd Annual Freedom Under the Stars event on May 12, 2017 at 6:30 P.M. at Tejas Rodeo. For more information about this event log onto http://www.adaptavet.org.
About the Adapt-A-Vet:
Adapt-A-Vet collaborates with community construction partners, area Veteran Service Organizations (VSO) and other Non-Profit Organizations to address Veterans’ abilities and needs and make home adaptations that increase the quality of life, independence, safety, and self-sufficiency.
Each home adaptation is personalized based on the Veteran’s abilities and needs, utilizing elements of Universal Design and the services of designers and contractors familiar with the local home design and real estate trends. Adapt-A-Vet works with community supporters to “blend into" the neighborhood, which fosters a larger sense of community and allows the organization to give back to both the Veteran and their family as well as the local community in a variety of ways.· Installing home entry and exit ramps, plus an emergency exit
· Widening doorways to accommodate a wheelchair
· Installing hard surface / slip free flooring
· Modifying countertop heights
· Installing pull down shelving
· Installing a roll-in shower, vanity modifications, new plumbing fixtures
· Installing energy efficient lighting, and more.
About Singer John Preston:
John Preston is a Pacific Records recording artist and full-time firefighter. Preston was a Marine Corps field wireman from 2000 to 2004 achieving the rank of Sergeant in his four years of service and with Second Battalion Seventh Marines (2/7) served as a mission squad leader for 2/7 H&S running over 100 combat missions while in theater.
John began his music career while in Iraq writing his song "Good Good America" which became an overnight success and gave him his first shot at the music industry signing a record deal upon his return from Iraq. The song and video inspired by Iraqi school children was a national media topic and was viewed hundreds of thousands of times in 2004.
John returned to the music industry in 2014 signing with Pacific Records and quickly releasing his first single "this IS war" in October of 2014. The song also became a national media topic when the Marine veteran made a call to action to veterans across the nation to stand against ISIS which had just made a surge through Syria and Iraq. The music video had thousands of views and secured a second release with Pacific Records.
Later in 2014, Preston released his Los Angeles Music Awards nominated EP "Your War is Over.” In 2015, he released in the Top 100 New Alternative Albums chart with his second EP "Day to Night." The album released on the one-year anniversary of the death of the Marine for whom he had written the song. John's video for Day to Night has had hundreds of thousands of views.
John's life took a turn of tragic irony when in January of 2016 his brother fell victim to post-traumatic stress and took his life. The passing of his brother was enough to make him consider ending his career but has instead fueled his passion.
### Reported by PRWeb 10 hours ago.
(PRWEB) May 09, 2017
The Texas non-profit Adapt-A-Vet and veteran, singer John Preston has teamed up to raise awareness for wounded soldiers who need specific adaptation services. John Preston said, “I’m honored to be an Ambassador for an organization that helps our veterans overcome their disabilities with personalized home adaptation so they can increase their quality of life. Too many of our veterans have not received the support and services they need. It is our duty to take care of them because they gave their quality of life so we could keep our freedom.”
Preston understands the difficulties veterans experience because he has had to overcome his battles of depression and PTSD after serving in the Marines. Preston said, “This is truly my mission in life to help as many warriors as I can through my music and highlighting great organizations like this one. Whether I have met these veterans or not, they are like family to me. We can overcome our hardships if we work together and support one another as best we can.”
Preston will be appearing at the 2nd Annual Freedom Under the Stars event on May 12, 2017 at 6:30 P.M. at Tejas Rodeo. For more information about this event log onto http://www.adaptavet.org.
About the Adapt-A-Vet:
Adapt-A-Vet collaborates with community construction partners, area Veteran Service Organizations (VSO) and other Non-Profit Organizations to address Veterans’ abilities and needs and make home adaptations that increase the quality of life, independence, safety, and self-sufficiency.
Each home adaptation is personalized based on the Veteran’s abilities and needs, utilizing elements of Universal Design and the services of designers and contractors familiar with the local home design and real estate trends. Adapt-A-Vet works with community supporters to “blend into" the neighborhood, which fosters a larger sense of community and allows the organization to give back to both the Veteran and their family as well as the local community in a variety of ways.· Installing home entry and exit ramps, plus an emergency exit
· Widening doorways to accommodate a wheelchair
· Installing hard surface / slip free flooring
· Modifying countertop heights
· Installing pull down shelving
· Installing a roll-in shower, vanity modifications, new plumbing fixtures
· Installing energy efficient lighting, and more.
About Singer John Preston:
John Preston is a Pacific Records recording artist and full-time firefighter. Preston was a Marine Corps field wireman from 2000 to 2004 achieving the rank of Sergeant in his four years of service and with Second Battalion Seventh Marines (2/7) served as a mission squad leader for 2/7 H&S running over 100 combat missions while in theater.
John began his music career while in Iraq writing his song "Good Good America" which became an overnight success and gave him his first shot at the music industry signing a record deal upon his return from Iraq. The song and video inspired by Iraqi school children was a national media topic and was viewed hundreds of thousands of times in 2004.
John returned to the music industry in 2014 signing with Pacific Records and quickly releasing his first single "this IS war" in October of 2014. The song also became a national media topic when the Marine veteran made a call to action to veterans across the nation to stand against ISIS which had just made a surge through Syria and Iraq. The music video had thousands of views and secured a second release with Pacific Records.
Later in 2014, Preston released his Los Angeles Music Awards nominated EP "Your War is Over.” In 2015, he released in the Top 100 New Alternative Albums chart with his second EP "Day to Night." The album released on the one-year anniversary of the death of the Marine for whom he had written the song. John's video for Day to Night has had hundreds of thousands of views.
John's life took a turn of tragic irony when in January of 2016 his brother fell victim to post-traumatic stress and took his life. The passing of his brother was enough to make him consider ending his career but has instead fueled his passion.
### Reported by PRWeb 10 hours ago.
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Russian Veterans Try Bungee Jumping to Celebrate Victory Day
Reported by RIA Nov. 7 hours ago.
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Publix-anchored shopping center breaks ground in Harrisburg
Construction has started on a Publix-anchored shopping center in Harrisburg. Lat Purser & Associates of Charlotte is developing Harris Square, a 67,200-square-foot shopping center at the intersection of N.C. Highway 49 and Harrisburg Veterans Road. It’s located across from the Harrisburg Town Center. The supermarket is the second store for Publix Super Markets Inc. in Cabarrus County. This one measures 49,000 square feet and is expected to open in early 2018. Harrisburg Mayor Steve Sciascia…
Reported by bizjournals 8 hours ago.
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NACDS Thanks 65 House Members for Pushing TRICARE Pilot
Congressional letter urges Defense Department to implement program to reduce costs; improve patient outcomes and access to prescription medications.
Arlington, Va. (PRWEB) May 09, 2017
The National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) is thanking the 65 members of the House of Representatives who sent a bipartisan letter to Secretary of Defense James Mattis calling for implementation of the TRICARE Acquisition Cost Parity Pilot Program for Retail Pharmacy. The pilot program was included in the FY2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and has the potential to reduce costs while also restoring TRICARE patient access to medications and services from their neighborhood pharmacies.
Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO), chairman of the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee, along with Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) and Rep. Bob Brady (D-PA), led the effort on the letter.
The letter states: “The pilot program allows the military to realize the maximum voluntary manufacturer discounts on brand name prescription medications at all filling locations, which now include retail pharmacies.” The letter also emphasizes that if the Secretary decides to implement the program, time is of the essence as the NDAA requires the pilot program to begin by October 1, 2017. The letter urges the Secretary to act quickly to begin implementation of the pilot in order to meet the October start date.
“NACDS appreciates the work of Congressmen Mike Coffman, Walter Jones and Bob Brady – and each of the members of Congress who signed this letter – to advance this important pilot program,” said NACDS President & CEO Steven C. Anderson, IOM, CAE. “This pilot has the potential to preserve the choice of military families and veterans, to reduce Defense Department costs, and to enhance patient health by maintaining access to the pharmacist-patient relationship.” Reported by PRWeb 8 hours ago.
Arlington, Va. (PRWEB) May 09, 2017
The National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) is thanking the 65 members of the House of Representatives who sent a bipartisan letter to Secretary of Defense James Mattis calling for implementation of the TRICARE Acquisition Cost Parity Pilot Program for Retail Pharmacy. The pilot program was included in the FY2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and has the potential to reduce costs while also restoring TRICARE patient access to medications and services from their neighborhood pharmacies.
Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO), chairman of the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee, along with Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) and Rep. Bob Brady (D-PA), led the effort on the letter.
The letter states: “The pilot program allows the military to realize the maximum voluntary manufacturer discounts on brand name prescription medications at all filling locations, which now include retail pharmacies.” The letter also emphasizes that if the Secretary decides to implement the program, time is of the essence as the NDAA requires the pilot program to begin by October 1, 2017. The letter urges the Secretary to act quickly to begin implementation of the pilot in order to meet the October start date.
“NACDS appreciates the work of Congressmen Mike Coffman, Walter Jones and Bob Brady – and each of the members of Congress who signed this letter – to advance this important pilot program,” said NACDS President & CEO Steven C. Anderson, IOM, CAE. “This pilot has the potential to preserve the choice of military families and veterans, to reduce Defense Department costs, and to enhance patient health by maintaining access to the pharmacist-patient relationship.” Reported by PRWeb 8 hours ago.
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