Indian outsourcer Infosys said its use of B-1 visas in the U.S. was for legitimate business purposes and was not designed to circumvent the requirements of the H-1B visa program.
“No criminal charges have been filed against the company and no court rulings have been issued,” said Infosys, which in the third quarter derived over 61 percent of its revenue from providing low-cost services to North America.
The response from Infosys late Tuesday comes in the wake of reports that the U.S. government is planning to fine India’s second-largest outsourcer about $35 million on Wednesday over the company’s use of B-1 visas which are intended for short-terms visits instead of longer duration H-1B temporary work visas.
The use of workers from India on outsourcing projects has traditionally been a contentious issue, particularly as Indian outsourcers are seen as displacing U.S. workers.
Infosys said it is in the process of a resolution with the U.S., but added that “the resolution has not been finalized.”
A company spokeswoman late Tuesday declined to provide further information, including whether a settlement was likely to be announced Wednesday.
“Infosys denies any claims of systemic visa fraud, misuse of visas for competitive advantage, or immigration abuse. Those claims are untrue and only unproven assertions,” the company said in the statement.
Infosys announced a provision of $35 million towards “visa related matters,” while announcing its earnings earlier this month. In a subsequent statement, the company clarified that the sum would include legal costs relating to a proposed resolution with U.S. agencies over their “investigation into the Company’s compliance with Form I-9 requirements and past use of B-1 visas.”
Form I-9s are used for verifying the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired for employment in the U.S.
Infosys received in May 2011 a subpoena from a grand jury in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas that required that the company provide to the grand jury certain documents and records related to its sponsorships and uses of B-1 business visas. The company said it complied with the subpoena. The company has also confirmed that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had said it found errors in a significant percentage of its Forms I-9 that it had reviewed, and may impose fines and penalties on the company for the alleged errors.
Infosys came under scrutiny in the U.S. after Jack Palmer, an Infosys employee in the U.S., alleged that the company committed visa fraud and that he had faced mistreatment for questioning the practice.
John Ribeiro, IDG News Service , IDG News Service
John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. More by John Ribeiro, IDG News Service
We the Kings bassist and YouTube celebrity Charles Trippy recently uploaded to YouTube a video of his brain surgery. This is an amazingly powerful thing to watch and I recommend taking the time to do so if you have any interest in the brain and/or medicine that you watch it.
FILE - In this July 26, 2003 file photo, Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin, speaks during the National Urban League's annual conference in Philadelphia. Fulton is expected to tell a Senate panel Tuesday that states must clarify their "stand your ground" self-defense laws. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
FILE - In this July 26, 2003 file photo, Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin, speaks during the National Urban League's annual conference in Philadelphia. Fulton is expected to tell a Senate panel Tuesday that states must clarify their "stand your ground" self-defense laws. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Trayvon Martin's mother told a panel of senators Tuesday that state stand your ground self-defense laws do not work and must be amended, reviving the politically charged gun control issue.
Democrats who hold majority power in the Senate and are trying to keep it supported Sybrina Fulton's call. Republicans, led by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, said the matter should be left to the states that passed the laws.
"The states are doing quite well...without our interference," Rep. Louie Gohmert testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Said Cruz: "This is not about politicking. This is not about inflaming racial tensions. This is about the right of everyone to protect themselves and protect their families." Cruz made reference to statistics he said which show that blacks cite stand your ground laws at least as often as whites
But race and politics were woven into the event and in the broader public policy debate. There's little willingness in Congress to weigh in on the laws of 22 states that have some form of the policy. These laws generally cancel a person's duty to retreat in the face of a serious physical attack.
But members of Congress are busily engaged in their re-election efforts for next year's midterms, with 35 seats at stake in the Senate, all 435 seats in the GOP-controlled House and the majorities of both chambers hanging in the balance. Gun control is a politically divisive issue, more so in the wake of mass shootings in Newtown, Conn., the Washington Navy Yard and more.
The 2012 shooting death of Martin, 17 and unarmed, and the acquittal this year of neighborhood watch volunteer George, Zimmerman stirred racial tensions and sparked debate over stand your ground laws in Florida and at least 21 other states.
Martin's mother told the panel that she attended the hearing so senators can "at least put a face with what has happened with this tragedy."
"I just wanted to come here to...let you know how important it is that we amend this stand your ground because it certainly did not work in my case," Fulton said, speaking without consulting prepared remarks. "The person that shot and killed my son is walking the streets today. This law does not work."
Lucia Holman McBath, the mother of Jordan Russell Davis, implored the Senate to resolve the nation's debate. Her son, 17-year old Jordan, was shot and killed nearly a year ago when Michael David Dunn, 46, allegedly opened fire on a Dodge Durango with four teenagers inside after complaining of their loud music and saying he saw a gun and thus a threat. Jordan had been inside. Authorities never found a gun in the vehicle, the Florida Times-Union reported. Dunn's trial is set for next year.
"You can lift this nation from its internal battle in which guns rule over right," McBath told the panel.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 22 states have laws that allow that "there is no duty to retreat (from) an attacker in any place in which one is lawfully present." The states are Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia, according to the NCSL.
At least nine of those state laws include language stating one may "stand his or her ground": Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and South Carolina, according to the NCSL.
Contact: Susan Hendrix Susan.m.hendrix@nasa.gov 301-286-7745 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
After emitting its first significant solar flares since June 2013 earlier in the week, the sun continued to produce mid-level and significant solar flares on Oct. 27 and Oct. 28, 2013.
Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however -- when intense enough -- they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.
To see how this event may impact Earth, please visit NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center at http://spaceweather.gov, the U.S. government's official source for space weather forecasts, alerts, watches and warnings.
One of the larger flares was classified as an X1.0 flare, which peaked at 10:03 p.m. EDT on Oct. 27. "X-class" denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength. An X2 is twice as intense as an X1, an X3 is three times as intense, etc. In the past, X-class flares of this intensity have caused degradation or blackouts of radio communications for about an hour.
Another large flare was classified as an M5.1 flare, which peaked at 12: 41 a.m. EDT on Oct. 28. Between Oct. 23, and the morning of Oct 28, there were three X-class flares and more than 15 additional M-class flares.
Increased numbers of flares are quite common at the moment, since the sun is headed toward solar maximum conditions as part of its normal 11-year activity cycle. Humans have tracked this solar cycle continuously since it was discovered in 1843, and it is normal for there to be many flares a day during the sun's peak activity.
The recent solar flare activity has also been accompanied by several coronal mass ejections or CMEs, another solar phenomenon that can send billions of tons of particles into space that can reach Earth one to three days later. These particles cannot travel through the atmosphere to harm humans on Earth, but they can affect electronic systems in satellites and on the ground.
Experimental NASA research models, based on observations from NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory and ESA/NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory show that five CMEs, traveling at different speeds, may join up into a single moving cloud of particles.
CMEs can cause a space weather phenomenon called a geomagnetic storm, which occurs when they funnel energy into Earth's magnetic envelope, the magnetosphere, for an extended period of time. The CME's magnetic fields peel back the outermost layers of Earth's fields changing their very shape. Magnetic storms can degrade communication signals and cause unexpected electrical surges in power grids. They also can cause aurora. Storms are rare during solar minimum, but as the sun nears solar maximum, large storms occur several times per year.
In the past, geomagnetic storms caused by CMEs of this size, speed and direction have usually been mild.
NASA and NOAA as well as the US Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) and others -- keep a constant watch on the sun to monitor for space weather effects such as geomagnetic storms. With advance notification many satellites, spacecraft and technologies can be protected from the worst effects.
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Sun continues to emit solar flares
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
28-Oct-2013
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Contact: Susan Hendrix Susan.m.hendrix@nasa.gov 301-286-7745 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
After emitting its first significant solar flares since June 2013 earlier in the week, the sun continued to produce mid-level and significant solar flares on Oct. 27 and Oct. 28, 2013.
Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however -- when intense enough -- they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.
To see how this event may impact Earth, please visit NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center at http://spaceweather.gov, the U.S. government's official source for space weather forecasts, alerts, watches and warnings.
One of the larger flares was classified as an X1.0 flare, which peaked at 10:03 p.m. EDT on Oct. 27. "X-class" denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength. An X2 is twice as intense as an X1, an X3 is three times as intense, etc. In the past, X-class flares of this intensity have caused degradation or blackouts of radio communications for about an hour.
Another large flare was classified as an M5.1 flare, which peaked at 12: 41 a.m. EDT on Oct. 28. Between Oct. 23, and the morning of Oct 28, there were three X-class flares and more than 15 additional M-class flares.
Increased numbers of flares are quite common at the moment, since the sun is headed toward solar maximum conditions as part of its normal 11-year activity cycle. Humans have tracked this solar cycle continuously since it was discovered in 1843, and it is normal for there to be many flares a day during the sun's peak activity.
The recent solar flare activity has also been accompanied by several coronal mass ejections or CMEs, another solar phenomenon that can send billions of tons of particles into space that can reach Earth one to three days later. These particles cannot travel through the atmosphere to harm humans on Earth, but they can affect electronic systems in satellites and on the ground.
Experimental NASA research models, based on observations from NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory and ESA/NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory show that five CMEs, traveling at different speeds, may join up into a single moving cloud of particles.
CMEs can cause a space weather phenomenon called a geomagnetic storm, which occurs when they funnel energy into Earth's magnetic envelope, the magnetosphere, for an extended period of time. The CME's magnetic fields peel back the outermost layers of Earth's fields changing their very shape. Magnetic storms can degrade communication signals and cause unexpected electrical surges in power grids. They also can cause aurora. Storms are rare during solar minimum, but as the sun nears solar maximum, large storms occur several times per year.
In the past, geomagnetic storms caused by CMEs of this size, speed and direction have usually been mild.
NASA and NOAA as well as the US Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) and others -- keep a constant watch on the sun to monitor for space weather effects such as geomagnetic storms. With advance notification many satellites, spacecraft and technologies can be protected from the worst effects.
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Microbiome in gut, mouth, and skin of low birth weight infants differentiate weeks after birth
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
29-Oct-2013
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Contact: Jim Sliwa jsliwa@asmusa.org 202-942-9297 American Society for Microbiology
Low birth weight infants are host to numerous microorganisms immediately after birth, and the microbiomes of their mouths and gut start out very similar but differentiate significantly by day 15 according to a study published in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
"We could watch this differentiation over time. With each passing day, two body sites [mouth and distal gut] became more and more differentiated from each other. It was a consistent pattern," says co-author Elizabeth K. Costello of Stanford University.
Low birth weight infants, who are often born premature, are more susceptible than normal weight infants to invasive infections like necrotizing enterocolitis, a vulnerability that may be related to colonization by bacteria from their surroundings. Unlike adults, the microbiomes of the mouth, skin, and gut of infants right after birth are undifferentiated, says Costello - the microbiomes look more or less similar at each of these body sites. The researchers sought to find out how rapidly the communities of microbes in these different sites take on a character of their own.
They examined changes in the oral, skin, and gut microbiomes of low birth weight infants over the course of the first three weeks after birth and found that although the microbiomes in each of these sites start our markedly similar, they gradually differentiate over time. This is the first time the differentiation of the microbiota in multiple body sites in newborn infants has been investigated.
"We chose to look at premature infants between the ages of eight and 21 days old and asked, over this time period, what is going on with their oral, gut and skin communities," says Costello. The period from 8 to 21 days after birth marks a critical window for colonization of an infant, and it's also the period of onset for necrotizing enterocolitis (although none of the infants in this study were struck by the disease).
The researchers collected stool, saliva, and skin swabs from six low birth weight infants (five of whom were born premature) that ranged in weight from 1.65 - 4.01 lbs on postnatal days 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, and 21. They amplified, pyrosequenced, and analyzed the bacterial 16S genes present in each sample and compared them with analogous data from normal-birthweight (NBW) infants and healthy adults.
In the 8 - 21 day age range, there was a subtle but important divergence in the composition of the oral and gut microbiotas, a differentiation that was mostly driven by changes that evolved in the composition of the gut microbiome. The babies' microbiomes were also dominated at times by bacterial types that have been associated with newborn infections and necrotizing enterocolitis, including Staphylococcus, C. perfringens, P. aeruginosa and others.
The scientists also tracked the effects of antibiotic treatment in one infant in the study, noting the rise of a type of Mycoplasma in the mouth that has previously been associated with vaginal infection.
Of the three sites studied, neonatal skin was the most adult-like in its microbiota composition. And like healthy adults, the microbiota of the different body sites in the infants was apparently determined mostly by body site and by host individual.
Co-author Michael J. Morowitz of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine says understanding the vulnerability of preemies from a microbial perspective can provide insights into how to better care for them.
"Premature infants are unique because they can spend several months in the hospital, where they're exposed to virulent bacteria, they also frequently have antibiotics exposure, and they're dietary intake is irregular - sometimes they're not able to eat anything by mouth. That probably effects colonization patterns," says Morowitz. "The first step [in understanding this] is to define what's normal for these infants and what's abnormal."
Morowitz, Costello and others are currently working on a larger study to expand on these results. By studying more babies, and by monitoring microbial colonization of low birth weight infants who eventually develop infections like necrotizing enterocolitis, they hope to better pinpoint the microbial profile of babies who are susceptible to disease, hopefully leading to more informative surveillance techniques and better interventions to help keep these most vulnerable infants on the path to becoming healthy children and adults.
###
mBio is an open access online journal published by the American Society for Microbiology to make microbiology research broadly accessible. The focus of the journal is on rapid publication of cutting-edge research spanning the entire spectrum of microbiology and related fields. It can be found online at http://mbio.asm.org.
The American Society for Microbiology is the largest single life science society, composed of over 39,000 scientists and health professionals. ASM's mission is to advance the microbiological sciences as a vehicle for understanding life processes and to apply and communicate this knowledge for the improvement of health and environmental and economic well-being worldwide.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Microbiome in gut, mouth, and skin of low birth weight infants differentiate weeks after birth
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
29-Oct-2013
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Contact: Jim Sliwa jsliwa@asmusa.org 202-942-9297 American Society for Microbiology
Low birth weight infants are host to numerous microorganisms immediately after birth, and the microbiomes of their mouths and gut start out very similar but differentiate significantly by day 15 according to a study published in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
"We could watch this differentiation over time. With each passing day, two body sites [mouth and distal gut] became more and more differentiated from each other. It was a consistent pattern," says co-author Elizabeth K. Costello of Stanford University.
Low birth weight infants, who are often born premature, are more susceptible than normal weight infants to invasive infections like necrotizing enterocolitis, a vulnerability that may be related to colonization by bacteria from their surroundings. Unlike adults, the microbiomes of the mouth, skin, and gut of infants right after birth are undifferentiated, says Costello - the microbiomes look more or less similar at each of these body sites. The researchers sought to find out how rapidly the communities of microbes in these different sites take on a character of their own.
They examined changes in the oral, skin, and gut microbiomes of low birth weight infants over the course of the first three weeks after birth and found that although the microbiomes in each of these sites start our markedly similar, they gradually differentiate over time. This is the first time the differentiation of the microbiota in multiple body sites in newborn infants has been investigated.
"We chose to look at premature infants between the ages of eight and 21 days old and asked, over this time period, what is going on with their oral, gut and skin communities," says Costello. The period from 8 to 21 days after birth marks a critical window for colonization of an infant, and it's also the period of onset for necrotizing enterocolitis (although none of the infants in this study were struck by the disease).
The researchers collected stool, saliva, and skin swabs from six low birth weight infants (five of whom were born premature) that ranged in weight from 1.65 - 4.01 lbs on postnatal days 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, and 21. They amplified, pyrosequenced, and analyzed the bacterial 16S genes present in each sample and compared them with analogous data from normal-birthweight (NBW) infants and healthy adults.
In the 8 - 21 day age range, there was a subtle but important divergence in the composition of the oral and gut microbiotas, a differentiation that was mostly driven by changes that evolved in the composition of the gut microbiome. The babies' microbiomes were also dominated at times by bacterial types that have been associated with newborn infections and necrotizing enterocolitis, including Staphylococcus, C. perfringens, P. aeruginosa and others.
The scientists also tracked the effects of antibiotic treatment in one infant in the study, noting the rise of a type of Mycoplasma in the mouth that has previously been associated with vaginal infection.
Of the three sites studied, neonatal skin was the most adult-like in its microbiota composition. And like healthy adults, the microbiota of the different body sites in the infants was apparently determined mostly by body site and by host individual.
Co-author Michael J. Morowitz of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine says understanding the vulnerability of preemies from a microbial perspective can provide insights into how to better care for them.
"Premature infants are unique because they can spend several months in the hospital, where they're exposed to virulent bacteria, they also frequently have antibiotics exposure, and they're dietary intake is irregular - sometimes they're not able to eat anything by mouth. That probably effects colonization patterns," says Morowitz. "The first step [in understanding this] is to define what's normal for these infants and what's abnormal."
Morowitz, Costello and others are currently working on a larger study to expand on these results. By studying more babies, and by monitoring microbial colonization of low birth weight infants who eventually develop infections like necrotizing enterocolitis, they hope to better pinpoint the microbial profile of babies who are susceptible to disease, hopefully leading to more informative surveillance techniques and better interventions to help keep these most vulnerable infants on the path to becoming healthy children and adults.
###
mBio is an open access online journal published by the American Society for Microbiology to make microbiology research broadly accessible. The focus of the journal is on rapid publication of cutting-edge research spanning the entire spectrum of microbiology and related fields. It can be found online at http://mbio.asm.org.
The American Society for Microbiology is the largest single life science society, composed of over 39,000 scientists and health professionals. ASM's mission is to advance the microbiological sciences as a vehicle for understanding life processes and to apply and communicate this knowledge for the improvement of health and environmental and economic well-being worldwide.
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Share
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Dexter may have exited airwaves this year, but Showtime's serial about a serial killer cop is getting a new lease on life when all eight seasons arrive on Netflix. The first four seasons arrive on Halloween, with the following seasons expected by January 1st, 2014 -- two drops perfectly timed with ...
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein during a hearing in September on Capitol Hill.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein during a hearing in September on Capitol Hill.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is calling for a "total review" of spying operations directed against foreign leaders.
"Unless the United States is engaged in hostilities against a country or there is an emergency need for this type of surveillance, I do not believe the United States should be collecting phone calls or emails of friendly presidents and prime ministers," Feinstein said in a statement following reports that the National Security Agency had eavesdropped on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's cellphone and spied on other leaders.
"It is abundantly clear that a total review of all intelligence programs is necessary so that members of the Senate Intelligence Committee are fully informed as to what is actually being carried out by the intelligence community," Feinstein said.
"The White House has informed me that collection on our allies will not continue, which I support," she said. "But as far as I'm concerned, Congress needs to know exactly what our intelligence community is doing."
"Feinstein has been one of the NSA's staunchest congressional defenders amid the uproar over its phone records surveillance, but she said that the spying on foreign leaders without President Obama's knowledge was a 'big problem.' "
In a briefing on Monday, when asked about the alleged spying, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said "reviews are underway."
"And we are, as part of that process, endeavoring to make available more information about what the NSA does and about the programs that have been discussed a lot of late," he said.
FILE - In this Nov. 7, 2012 file photo, then-Michigan Republican House candidate Kerry Bentivolio speaks at his election night party in Novi, Mich. Business thinks tea partyers have overstayed their welcome in Washington and wants to show them the door in next year’s congressional elections. In Michigan, longtime businessmen Brian Ellis and David Trott are challenging hard-line Reps. Justin Amash and Kerry Bentivolio in Republican primaries as three years of frustration over GOP insurgents roughing up the business community’s agenda came to a head with the 16-day partial government shutdown and the near financial default. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 7, 2012 file photo, then-Michigan Republican House candidate Kerry Bentivolio speaks at his election night party in Novi, Mich. Business thinks tea partyers have overstayed their welcome in Washington and wants to show them the door in next year’s congressional elections. In Michigan, longtime businessmen Brian Ellis and David Trott are challenging hard-line Reps. Justin Amash and Kerry Bentivolio in Republican primaries as three years of frustration over GOP insurgents roughing up the business community’s agenda came to a head with the 16-day partial government shutdown and the near financial default. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
FILE - In this July 24, 2103 file photo, Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Business thinks tea partyers have overstayed their welcome in Washington and wants to show them the door in next year’s congressional elections. In Michigan, longtime businessmen Brian Ellis and David Trott are challenging hard-line Reps. Justin Amash and Kerry Bentivolio in Republican primaries as three years of frustration over GOP insurgents roughing up the business community’s agenda came to a head with the 16-day partial government shutdown and the near financial default. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A slice of corporate America thinks tea partyers have overstayed their welcome in Washington and should be shown the door in next year's congressional elections.
In what could be a sign of challenges to come across the country, two U.S. House races in Michigan mark a turnabout from several years of widely heralded contests in which right-flank candidates have tried — sometimes successfully — to unseat Republican incumbents they perceive as not being conservative enough.
In the Michigan races, longtime Republican businessmen are taking on two House incumbents — hardline conservative Reps. Justin Amash and Kerry Bentivolio — in GOP primaries. The 16-day partial government shutdown and the threatened national default are bringing to a head a lot of pent-up frustration over GOP insurgents roughing up the business community's agenda.
Democrats hope to use this rift within the GOP to their advantage. Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., chairman of the House committee to elect Democrats, insists there's been "buyer's remorse with House Republicans who have been willing to put the economy at risk," and that it is opening the political map for Democrats in 2014.
That's what the Democrats would be expected to say. But there's also Defending Main Street, a new GOP-leaning group that's halfway to its goal of raising $8 million. It plans to spend that money on center-right Republicans who face a triumvirate of deep-pocketed conservative groups — Heritage Action, Club for Growth and Freedom Works — and their preferred, typically tea party candidates.
In one race, the group plans to help Idaho eight-term Rep. Mike Simpson, who faces a Club for Growth-backed challenger in a GOP primary.
"These conservative groups have had it all their own way," said former Republican Rep. Steve LaTourette of Ohio, head of the new group. "They basically come in with millions of dollars and big-foot a Republican primary and you wind up with these Manchurian candidates who are not interested in governing."
LaTourette said that for the past three years, some "40, 42 House members have effectively denied the Republican Party the power of the majority" that it won in the 2010 election by blocking the GOP agenda.
Defending Main Street is meeting Nov. 5 in New York with wealthy potential donors.
Call it the wrath of establishment Republicans and corporate America, always considered the best of friends. Since the Republican takeover of the House in 2010, they've watched the GOP insurgents slow a transportation bill and reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank, block a treaty governing the high seas and stand in the way of comprehensive immigration legislation.
The final straw was the bitter budget standoff that partly shuttered the government, precipitated by Republicans like Amash and Bentivolio who enlisted early in the campaign demanding that President Barack Obama dismantle his health care law in exchange for keeping the government operating.
Even after 16 days of a shutdown, falling poll numbers for the GOP and a threatened economy-jarring default, the two broke with their House Republican leaders and voted against the final deal to reopen the government.
Long before the shutdown, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has spent tens of millions boosting mainly Republicans in congressional races, urged the GOP to fund the government and prevent a default, then double back and try and work out changes to the health care law later.
A significant number of House Republicans have given a cold-shoulder to the Chamber's agenda. Rob Engstrom, the group's political director, said the Chamber will see how races develop before deciding on its involvement next year.
The latest political dynamic promises to affect the midterm elections — but how? Republicans hope the widespread animosity generated by the shutdown dissipates by next November and they can hold their House majority. Currently, Republicans control 231 seats and Democrats 200. Democrats are widely expected to win the special House election in Massachusetts for the seat of Sen. Ed Markey and would need to gain 17 seats next year to seize control.
"As long as we stay focused on the priorities of the American people, I think we're going to be fine," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said last week when asked about whether the GOP can hold onto the House.
What about the Michigan races?
In the state's 11th Congressional District, just northwest of Detroit, David Trott, a businessman involved in real estate finance and a member of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce Board of Trustees, is challenging Bentivolio.
In the 3rd Congressional District in the southwest part of the state, Brian Ellis is a 53-year-old Grand Rapids businessman who owns an investment advisory firm and serves on the school board. He describes himself as the true conservative Republican in the race, criticizing Amash's votes against Rep. Paul Ryan's budget that cut nearly $5 trillion and a measure reducing taxes for small businesses.
Ellis makes it clear that he would have sided with Boehner on the House GOP's last-ditch plan to avoid default. He says it never would have reached that point if Republicans hadn't embraced the tactic of linking the health care law to government funding.
"I certainly agree that Obamacare is an 'Obama-onation,'" Ellis said in an interview. "But I think the tactic, especially threatening to default on our debt, that is very reckless and not a good way to run our country. I'm in the financial world and I know that would have some far-reaching consequences that would not be good."
In seizing on the rift, Israel and Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's national finance chairman, sent a letter to more than 1,000 business leaders reminding them that Democrats voted unanimously to end the shutdown and avoid default while House Republicans "turned their backs on business in favor of the radical demands of the tea party."
Republicans dismiss this Democratic outreach to the business community as wishful thinking.
"I don't think Democrats will be successful because the biggest headwinds we face in the economy right now are of their making, from regulation to the Affordable Care Act to this obsession with higher taxes," said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas. "Certainly the uncertainty of the last month has not been helpful, but that's on top of a heap of other uncertainty."
Even if the business community isn't ready to embrace Democrats, Israel insists that the recent budget stalemate has helped his candidate recruitment while boosting the campaign committee's fundraising. At the end of September, the committee had $21.6 million on hand to $15.7 million for the National Republican Campaign Committee.
Potential recruits who Israel jokingly said had put his number on the "do-not-call-list" have suddenly been announcing their candidacies, including Democrat Pete Festersen, the president of the Omaha City Council, who is running against eight-term Rep. Lee Terry, and attorney Bill Hughes Jr., who is looking to unseat 10-term Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J.
How is that for a table full of fun? ARMdevices.net's Nicolas Charbonnier is at the Samsung Developers Conference and he spends a few minutes with Phil to talk about some really wild Android "fakes" from China.
They are all ARM powered, which is Nicolas' forte, and you'll see everything from a $50 iPhone 5S clone to a crazy e-ink touch screen device that has a two-week battery life. Of course, they all run Android.
This is without a doubt the most interesting thing you'll see on the Internet tonight.
Veteran MMA referee Marc Goddard was thrown into a tough situation on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 30. Fighting in the night's co-main event, lightweights Melvin Guillard and Ross Pearson traded blows for less than two minutes before Guillard trapped Pearson against the fence and unloaded a pair of devastating knees to the Englishman's forehead.
Pearson's right hand appeared to be downed during the salvo, casting the legality of Guillard's strikes in question, and Goddard immediately stopped the action, before ultimately ruling the bout a ‘no contest' due to a massive cut which had opened across Pearson's brow.
Looking back on the messy situation during Monday's episode of The MMA Hour, Goddard stated "100 percent" confidence in his decision.
"It wasn't the first knee that Melvin delivered," Goddard explained. "It was actually the second knee, and it was the second knee that opened up the cut.
"I saw Ross' hand, and when I say hand, I mean his palm. His entire hand. It wasn't what we're used to before with the fingertips and playing the game, as me and a couple of other refs will allude to. This was a deliberate action, in terms of Ross making himself safe, putting his full hand down on the mat. The knee came in, connected with the forehead. That's what caused the cut. That's exactly what I saw, and that's why I stopped the fight at that time to deal with it."
The severity of Pearson's cut ultimately led to the fight's premature conclusion, though afterward many observers questioned Goddard's decision to rule the bout a no contest rather than a disqualification win in Pearson's favor.
To that end, the crux of Goddard's decision came down to intent.
"It was very clear to me that Melvin delivered the two knees in quick succession, and he didn't have time to assess or see the position of Ross Pearson," Goddard explained.
"Ross' hand went down, the second knee connected, and I think it was only fair and only just [for] both parties to rule it a no contest. There was certainly no, in my mind, intention from Melvin there to foul his opponent intentionally. And there was certainly no intention in my mind that Ross was playing a game. He was trying to be afforded the protection of being a downed fighter."
The three-point stance rule, which allows a fighter to ‘play the game,' as Goddard says, and place his or hers fingertips on the canvas to prevent knees or kicks to the head, fell into question earlier this year in the aftermath of its role in Demetrious Johnson's flyweight title defense against John Dodson at UFC on FOX 6.
The controversial rule has yet to be changed, though a new wrinkle is apparently already in effect.
"What came out of [2013 ABC conference] was they understand that it goes on, but the defining factor came that it's up to the referee," Goddard revealed. "It's (up to) the referee's discretion to call whether a fighter is playing the game or not."
With that knowledge in mind, Goddard defended his ruling at UFC Fight Night 30 by stating that in the process of placing his palm fully down on the canvas, Pearson made it clear that he wasn't attempting to ‘play a game.' Rather, he was simply taking advantage of the protection afforded to him by the Unified Rules of MMA.
"If a fighter is in danger of being (hurt), they know what they're afforded to do," Goddard explained. "If you want to be a downed fighter, be a downed fighter. If it goes down to one knee, put your hand flat.
"What I won't do, what I won't allow, and some fighters will testify, is if you're going to start playing the fingertip game, because that is playing a game. If you want to be afforded the protection of a downed fighter, then become a downed fighter. And quite clearly to me, that's what Ross Pearson did. When the first knee came in, he could see the danger of repeated knees. He put his hand flat on (mat), and unfortunately ... Melvin didn't have time to see that. He didn't have time to react, and I had to do what I had to do."
Guillard and Pearson are now scheduled to rematch their lightweight tilt on March 8, 2014 in London, England. And while Goddard is positive he made the right call, he added that due to system in place, it was a call he had to make in real time, without the extensive use of instant replay.
"I think the obvious answer is yes, because there are things we all miss. We're human beings," Goddard responded when asked if instant replay belongs in mixed martial arts.
"Sometimes something can happen on the blind side of us. [Referees] can't take the word of someone on the outside or someone from an opposing camp, or the fighter's camp themselves. So I think video replays do have their place in MMA, certainly when there's a lot at stake."
Your new Samsung smart TV may have a familiar bit of UI baked in, as the new screen sharing features are a lot like the Chromecast.
The concept, as well as the user interface, is familiar to just about all of us. Using your mobile device, you can choose to send the data stream to your new Samsung smart TV. Pandora was given as the example, as they are actively working on support in their app.
We'll be sure to sit in on the sessions at SDC13 to find out more about the protocols used and abilities of this as it starts to work its way into consumer hands. Around here, we follow the mantra of "cast all the things." We're interested.
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