The Speaker Editors

‘Trump Is a leader I Can Have Confidence In’ – Shinzo Abe After Meeting

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In Donald Trump’s first meeting with a world leader since being elected, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that he was “convinced that Mr. Trump is a leader in whom I can have confidence.”

It is not unusual for a president elect to meet with foreign leaders before taking over the role of president — Barack Obama also did this. The meetings are not ones in which international deals are usually made. They are more meet-and-greets in preparation for later dealings.

In the past, Trump has made statements viewed by Japan both as beneficial and harmful to the island nation. On the one hand, Trump said he might remove some U.S. troops from Japan if Japan didn’t pay a bigger share of defense upkeep; on the other, Trump said it might be better if Japan had it’s own military, including nuclear weapons, since it had unfriendly military powers nearby, such as North Korea.

Abe said he wanted to “build trust” with Trump, and ensure the long-standing alliance between the two countries, which Abe said was of primary importance for Japan.

During the presidential race, Abe supported Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, and Japan is strongly in favor of the Trans Pacific Partnership.

Apple Talking of Returning to US Amid Trump Policy Statements

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According to Nikkei Asia Review, iPhone assemblers in the East — responsible for producing 200 million phones per year — are in talks about moving production to the U.S.

The move would mean roughly doubling costs — some of which would likely be passed on to consumers — but may be necessary. President Elect Donald Trump has repeatedly singled out Apple as an example of what’s bad in American business. Trump threatened a 45 percent tariff on goods made in China.

Apple is on record as countering that it has created and supports 2 million domestic jobs, and Apple’s Executive Tim Cook has stated that America doesn’t have enough enough skilled workers to handle production.

Trump’s position, on the other hand, was, “How does it help us when they make it in China?”

Just one of the Chinese factories producing phones employs almost 700,000 Chinese workers. However, Apple products are not made entirely in China: components are also made in Japan and Korea.

Economists have pointed out that Apple can move to another country rather than America, and possibly find production costs below even what it now has in China. Economists also have criticized the plan as not being focused on “value creation,” and noted that the mere production of goods provides dubious value to America.

Photo: Gage Skidmore

AuthaGraph: A More Authentic World Map View Wins Design Award

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Better than Mercator could do? And at a time when these problems are finally important?

The Mercator map is known to have major flaws, such as its distortion of the sizes of Antarctica and Greenland.

Tokyo-based architect and artist Hajime Narukawa wanted to fix the problem of distorted relative land mass sizes.

Narukawa has said that these longstanding problems may not have been very important in the past, when these regions were less traveled.

But now glaciers are melting and technology is making access to cold regions easier.

Hajime Narukawa
Hajime Narukawa

The Good Design award organization describes the map in the following terms:

“This original mapping method can transfer a spherical surface to a rectangular surface such as a map of the world while maintaining correctly proportions in areas*. AuthaGraph faithfully represents all oceans, continents including the neglected Antarctica. These fit within a rectangular frame with no interruptions. The map can be tessellated without visible seams. Thus the AuthaGraphic world map provides an advanced precise perspective of our planet. *The map need a further step to increase a number of subdivision for improving its accuracy to be officially called an area-equal map.”

Tanker Truck Crashes – One Dead

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A driver died Monday morning when a tanker truck crashed into his car on Highway 75, miles outside of Challis, Idaho.

The truck was turned on its side, and 10,000 gallons of diesel which the truck was transporting ignited and burned for almost five hours.

Firefighters controlled the burn until the fuel was consumed. The roadway was damaged.

Liberals Announce Increase for Immigration

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAry-BO-k8c

Canada’s Liberal government has announced plans to increase immigration levels to 300,000 per year, a 40,000 increase to the target level.

The number of immigrants accepted in 2016 was unusually high due to the government’s taking in of thousands of Syrian refugees. The number including the refugees turned out to be 300,000, and Refugees and Citizenship Minister John McCallum said Monday that this number will now be the permanent base target. The target for the past five years was 260,000, part of a continuing trend of increased immigration since the late 1980s.

McCallum also said that the Liberal government may eventually increase immigration levels to 450,000.

$170 Million Jade Stone Unexpectedly Found by Miners

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$170 million is the estimate given for a 210 tonne jade stone found my miners in Myanmar (formerly Burma).

The jade stone is 4.3 meters tall and 5.8 meters long.

The stone is set to be shipped to China, where it will be carved into statues and jewelry.

Much of Myanmar’s $31 billion per year jade industry goes to China, and the industry accounts for half of Myanmar’s GDP.

According to a Burmese politician in the northern Kachin state, U Tint Soe, “It is a present for the fate for our citizens, the government and our party as it was discovered in the time of our government. It’s a very good sign for us.”

(Image has been colorized. In fact, the rough jade stone is a grey much like the surrounding dirt.)

“Some Tax Facts for Donald Trump” – Warren Buffett Responds to Trump

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Responding to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s statements, businessman Warren Buffett denied the claim that Buffett had taken a “massive deduction” on his tax returns. Buffett also made points referring to several other of Trump’s recent talking points regarding taxes, tax audits, tax deductions, and the “smarts” of benefiting economically from a maximally selfish business-wise application of the country’s laws.

Buffett’s full statement:

“Answering a question last night about his $916 million income tax loss carryforward in 1995, Donald Trump stated that ‘Warren Buffett took a massive deduction.’ Mr. Trump says he knows more about taxes than any other human. He has not seen my income tax returns. But I am happy to give him the facts.

“My 2015 return shows adjusted gross income of $11,563,931. My deductions totaled $5,477,694, of which allowable charitable contributions were $3,469,179. All but $36,037 of the remainder was for state income taxes.

“The total charitable contributions I made during the year were $2,858,057,970, of which more than $2.85 billion were not taken as deductions and never will be. Tax law properly limits charitable deductions.

“My federal income tax for the year was $1,845,557. Returns for previous years are of a similar nature in respect to contributions, deductions and tax rates.

“I have paid federal income tax every year since 1944, when I was 13. (Though, being a slow starter, I owed only $7 in tax that year.) I have copies of all 72 of my returns and none uses a carryforward.

“Finally, I have been audited by the IRS multiple times and am currently being audited. I have no problem in releasing my tax information while under audit. Neither would Mr. Trump—at least he would have no legal problem.”

4chan Going Broke, Possible Changes Coming Up

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Internet sharing and discussion website 4chan, widely noted for it’s uncensored content which is often considered offensive to various groups, is going broke and is exploring ways to keep going.

Among the possible solutions: closing some boards, limiting image sizes, using slower servers, more pop-up or even “malicious” ads, and having more paying users.

Another solution on the table is funding by rich people who appreciate the site, such as Martin Shkreli of pharmaceutical fame, and in the past Minecraft founder Marcus “Notch” Persson.

These are solutions being considered just to keep 4chan running. Like most websites, it funds itself through advertising. However, advertising does not work well on the site, given the nature of the content.

Indian Army Crosses Pakistan Line to Carry Out Surgical Strikes

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“The operations were focused on ensuring that these terrorists do not succeed in their design to cause destruction and endanger the lives of our citizens,” Indian Director General of Military Operations Lt. Gen Ranbir Singh said of the move.

“Significant casualties have been caused to terrorists and those trying to shield them. We don’t have a plan to further conduct such strikes. India has spoken to Pakistan.”

India regularly crosses the Pakistan LoC to take out terrorists who Pakistan allows or proxies to act against Indians within India, but usually India does not go as deep and cause as much damage (killing) as today.

Usually, crossing the line is not admitted, but this time New Delhi has officially announced that troops carried out an attack authorized by Indian authorities.

According to analysts, Pakistan has been relying on its nukes as a threat to protect terrorist activity against India. Now, however, Pakistan will have to decide how to react to Indian troops crossing into Pakistan to kill terrorists — terrorists Pakistan may have to admit it allows or supports if it acknowledges India’s move.

The crossing of the LoC has been denied by Pakistan. Pakistan says there was merely cross-border fire. Pakistan’s statement said that at least two Army men were killed as Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged fire over the Line of Control in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.”

“Pakistani troops befittingly responded to Indian unprovoked firing on the LoC in Bhimber, Hotspring Kel and Lipa sectors,” Pakistan’s statement read.

Singh, however, described the military procedure in detail: “Based on receiving specific and credible inputs that some terrorist teams had positioned themselves at launch pads along Line of Control to carryout infiltration and conduct terrorist strikes inside Jammu and Kashmir and in various metros in other states, the Indian Army conducted surgical strikes at several of these launch pads to pre-empt infiltration by terrorists.

“During these counter terrorist operations significant casualties were caused to terrorists and those providing support to them. The operations aimed at neutralizing terrorists have since ceased. We do not have any plans for further continuation. However, the Indian Armed Forces are fully prepared for any contingency that may arise,” the DGMO said. No Indian casualties occurred during the surgical strikes that were carried out last night by the Indian Army.

“We have recovered items including GPS which have Pakistani markings. Captured terrorists hailing from PoK or Pakistan have confessed to their training in Pakistan or in Pakistan controlled region.”

Huge Gender Pay Gap – Males Paid 75% Less in Modelling

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A female could make up to $52,000 for walking in a top show, but a male? Only $13,000.

The highest paid female model made almost $44 million in the last year for which there is available data, while the top male made just $1.5 million.

“The top 10 female models all make millions. Only the top three male models make over a million,” according to Elizabeth Rose, male model manager at Premier.

“I think it’s the only industry where men get paid less than women. It’s unfair for men. I wouldn’t say it’s female empowerment at all.”

“[One] reason why women get paid more is that they say women spend more money on female products, but I think it’s one of those things that’s changing. More and more, male models are being used for grooming products.

“Men are taking a lot more care of themselves generally in the 2000s. It’s fine to take a long time doing your hair. It’s fine to use moisturizer. It’s encouraged to wear make-up.”

Rose advocates for the male models she thinks are being discriminated against: “The first thing is I’ll go, ‘Can you bring up the budget to more like the women’s?’ and the client will probably say, ‘Yes, we can give you this much for the men,’ but it’ll never be quite as much.

“I had a brief today that came in and it was ‘male model, [pay] £1,500’, and the female model was £5,000, for the same usage.”

“The more models are made aware of it, the more you can try and help change it, because the more agents that say, ‘No, we’re not accepting this,’ that’s the only way it’ll ever change. And models standing up and saying, ‘I’m not going to do this unless I’m paid the same as the woman.'”

Source: BBC

 

Rape Comedy Picked for Oscars Race

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Too amoral for American actresses? The film, a hit at Cannes this year, is France’s submission for the foreign-language Oscar this year.

“Elle” was directed by Paul Verhoeven, famous in his native Holland as well as America where he made films between 1983 and 2000, including “Robocop,” “Total Recall,” “Basic Instinct,” and “Showgirls.” Violence and sex are common in his movies.

The female protagonist in “Elle” is played by Isabelle Huppart. The character is the head of a video game company that makes ultra-violent, sexualized games. She is raped at the onset of the story and proceeds to seek revenge.

The movie is based on Philippe Djian’s novel “Oh…”

Huppert said of the film: “The story shouldn’t be seen as a realistic story. It’s not a statement about women being raped. Philippe’s book and Paul’s film have to be taken like a tale or a fantasy, something inside yourself, you couldn’t confess in your inner thoughts. Paul projects it on screen. It doesn’t happen to all women. This is a particular story about this woman as an individual, not women in general.”

Verhoeven originally wanted to film “Elle” in the States, but found that “no American actress would take on such an amoral movie.”

“Isabelle made it French. Paris and France gave me Isabelle. She could only exist in France.”

First-of-Its-Kind Assassination in Jordan: Famous Writer on Trial

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“An insult to Islam” was the charge. Prominent writer Nahed Hattar, a Jordanian Christian, was walking to the court where he was on trial for contempt of religion when he was approached by a man and shot several times in the head.

The shooter was chased down and turned over to the authorities.

The subject of the charge was a cartoon. Hattar had shared the cartoon (the cartoon was by an anonymous hand) on social media.

In the past, Hattar had also popped up on the Jordanian legal radar when he allegedly shared a social media post critical of the king of Jordan.

Jordan

Hattar commented on the cartoon charge, saying that he intended only to mock ISIS and not Islam.

The cartoon depicts a lavish tent with a bearded Arab — called simply “jihadist” — flanked by two women in bed, surrounded by food and drink, with a large white bearded God peeking in the tent flap. God is asking if the jihadist “needs anything,” and the jihadist asks God to serve him wine and for Gabriel to serve him cashews, as well as a door so that God will knock next time.

His first lawyer in the trial had resigned claiming he could not defend the cartoon, which the lawyer considered offensive, but said the charge should be dismissed anyway.

In the country, many Jordanians consider the trial and shooting to be indicative that radical Islam and tolerance for it by the government has gone too far.