We've seen Kim Kardashian do naked photo shoots before, but now Khloe and Kourtney are getting in on the action! In a new ad for thier Kardashian Kollection denim line, the three photogenic sisters strike artful poses wearing nothing but blue jeans.
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Paul Marks, senior technology correspondent
(Image: Sandia National Laboratories)
A laser-seeking, self-steering bullet flies through the air, rendered visible by a glowing LED ensconced in its tip. No, it's not that the US military suddenly wants its enemies to see its bullets coming. Instead, its developers needed to test the weapon's in-flight steering electronics, to prove they can cope with the shock of being fired. The fact the LED stayed brightly lit means that the in-bullet circuits did indeed remain unbroken.
Invented by engineers at the US government's Sandia National Laboratories, the self-guided bullet homes in on a laser spot trained on a target from up to 1.4 kilometres away from its firing point. If the target is a moving truck, say, and it moves after the bullet is fired, the laser illumination as seen by a laser sensor in the bullet's nose instructs the bullet to finely twist tiny rudder-like fins on its rear end to keep it on target. The LED test proved that the sensor can remain powered after firing.
In a patent filing, Sandia says: "Computer simulations showed an unguided bullet under real-world conditions could miss a target more than 1,000 metres away by nine metres, but a guided bullet would get within 0.2 metres." You can read more about the specialised bullets here and watch them being fired here.
The challenge the Sandia team faces is making the tech-stuffed bullet cheap enough for everyday use. When stun gun maker Taser International launched a stun cartridge that can be fired from a shotgun, the resulting round, containing a shock battery and control electronics, cost a cool $150 a piece. "If they are going to fire that at a rioting crowd they may as well throw iPods at them," one arms control expert told New Scientist at the time.
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MELBOURNE, Australia ? Novak Djokovic ripped off his shirt and let out a primal scream, flexing his torso the way a prize fighter would after a desperate, last-round knockout.
This was the final act in Djokovic's 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5 victory over Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final ? a sweat-drenched, sneaker-squeaking 5 hour, 53-minute endurance contest that ended at 1:37 a.m. Monday morning in Melbourne.
Djokovic overcame a break in the fifth set to win his fifth Grand Slam tournament and third in a row. None, though, quite like this. This one involved tears, sweat and, yes, even a little blood. It was the longest Grand Slam singles final in the history of pro tennis and it came against Nadal, the player who built a career on his tenacity ? on outlasting opponents in matches like these.
"It was obvious on the court for everybody who has watched the match that both of us, physically, we took the last drop of energy that we had from our bodies," Djokovic said. "We made history tonight and unfortunately there couldn't be two winners."
When the drama was finally over at Rod Laver Arena, the 24-year-old Djokovic joined Laver, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Nadal as the only men who have won three consecutive majors since the Open Era began in 1968. Nadal was his vanquished opponent in all three.
Djokovic will go for the "Nole Slam" at Roland Garros in May.
As the players waited for the trophy presentation, Nadal leaned on the net, while Djokovic sat on his haunches. Eventually, a nearby official took pity and they were given chairs and bottles of water.
Nadal held his composure during the formalities, and even opened his speech with a lighthearted one-liner.
"Good morning, everybody," he said.
A few minutes earlier, after hugging Nadal at the net, Djokovic tore off his sweat-soaked black shirt and headed toward his players' box, pumping his arms repeatedly as he roared. He walked over to his girlfriend, his coach and the rest of his support team and banged on the advertising signs at the side of the court.
"I think it was just the matter of maybe luck in some moments and matter of wanting this more than maybe other player in the certain point," Djokovic said. "It's just incredible effort. You're in pain, you're suffer(ing). You're trying to activate your legs. You're going through so much suffering your toes are bleeding. Everything is just outrageous, but you're still enjoying that pain."
The match was full of long rallies and amazing gets. Djokovic finished with 57 winners, along with 69 unforced errors. Nadal had 44 winners against 71 unforced errors.
Laver was part of the 15,000-strong crowd when the players walked on at 7:30 p.m. Sunday to flip the coin and start the warmup. He was still there, along with most of the crowd, after 2 a.m. for the trophy presentations.
Djokovic called it the most special of his five Grand Slam wins.
"This one I think comes out on the top because just the fact that we played almost six hours is incredible, incredible," he said. "I think it's probably the longest finals in the history of all Grand Slams, and just to hear that fact is making me cry, really.
"I'm very proud just to be part of this history."
It went so long because Nadal refused to yield. He was trying to avoid becoming the first man to lose three consecutive Grand Slam finals ? and seeing his losing streak in finals stretch to seven against Djokovic, who beat him for the Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles and took his No. 1 ranking last year.
After a grueling four-set loss to Djokovic at Flushing Meadows last year, Nadal said that, indeed, he may have found a slight opening ? a glimmer of hope for next time against the player who dominated the 2011 season and had dismantled him time and again over the year.
This one was, in fact, closer, though not necessarily because of any strategic changes, but rather, because Rafa summoned up the heart to take this one the distance.
Nadal stayed in the contest for almost every point, sprinting from one side of the court to the other, chasing down balls and making Djokovic work extra time for the victory. But in the end, the same man was holding the trophy.
Nadal thought his win in the 2008 final against Federer was the best match he's played, but gave Sunday's match a top place in his personal rankings nonetheless.
"This one was very special," he said. "But I really understand that was a really special match, and probably a match that's going to be in my mind not because I lost, no, because the way that we played."
Djokovic had his off moments during this two-week tournament Down Under. He appeared to struggle for breath in his quarterfinal win over No. 5 David Ferrer and again during his five-set semifinal win over No. 4 Andy Murray. He blamed it on allergies, and he managed to control it better against Nadal.
Yet, at times in the final, he looked as if he couldn't go on.
When Nadal fended off three break points at 4-4 in the fourth set to win the game, spectators jumped to their feet and chanted "Rafa, Rafa, Rafa, Rafa!" Djokovic had lost the momentum. Play was stopped moments later when rain started to fall and a suddenly animated Nadal threw his arms up in disbelief and walked slowly back to his chair. The stadium roof was then closed.
Djokovic picked up his game after a 10-minute break and his pockets of supporters waved their Serbian flags again and started their own competing chant of "Nole, Nole, Nole" ? inserting Djokovic's nickname where "Ole" belongs in the tune and rhythm of the Spanish soccer chant.
It wasn't enough to get him through the tiebreaker in the fourth set, though, when Nadal won the last four points to finish it in 88 minutes. Nadal dropped to his knees on the baseline and pumped his arms at that point, celebrating as if he'd won the final. All he'd done was prolong it. This pair had never gone to five sets.
Just as he did during the first set, Djokovic took off a white shirt and replaced it with a black one.
It didn't seem to help immediately as he went down a break and a defeat loomed.
The match clock hit 5 hours with the score 2-2 in the fifth. Nadal won the next point and Djokovic started to stumble slightly, unsteady on his feet.
Nadal held that game without losing a point and then broke Djokovic for a 4-2 lead.
The turning point came in the next game, when Nadal had an open court but knocked a backhand volley wide down the line. He challenged the call, but the ball was clearly out. Instead of being up 40-15 and one point from a 5-2 lead, the game score became 30-30.
Djokovic found energy again and got a break point with a backhand that forced an error from Nadal. He pounced on a Nadal second serve to convert the break as the match clock ticked to 5:15, confirming it as the longest match in the history of the Australian Open. Nadal had that record, at 5:14, in his five-set semifinal win over fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in 2009.
This match had already long surpassed Mats Wilander's win over Ivan Lendl at the 1988 U.S. Open, in 4:54, as the longest final in the terms of duration.
Djokovic started to look better physically and Nadal started to make some unforced errors, giving the Serbian some extra seconds between points to get his heavy breathing under control. After getting back on serve at 4-4, Djokovic kissed the crucifix around his neck twice.
With Nadal serving, the pair engaged in a 31-shot rally that Nadal finally won when Djokovic committed a backhand error. The Serb fell flat on his back on the court, fully stretched out, arms over his head, while Nadal doubled over on his side of the court, hands perched on his knees.
It appeared Djokovic was ready to throw in the towel, but he said he never thought about staying down.
"At that point I was just thinking of getting some air and trying to recover for next point," he said. "Thousand thoughts going through the mind. Trying to separate the right from wrong. Trying to prioritize the next point. I'm playing against one of the best players ever ? the player that is so mentally strong. He was going for everything or nothing."
When Djokovic got the break to go up 5-4, the Serbian fans jumped up with their flags and screamed while the rest of the crowd sat in stony silence.
After kissing the crucifix around his neck repeatedly in the later games, Djokovic openly prayed out loud and looked upward as he got within points of sealing his victory.
"I was trying find every possible help and energy that I possibly can," he said. "It paid off I guess."
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House Speaker John Boehner listens as President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address in front of a joint session of Congress Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool)
House Speaker John Boehner listens as President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address in front of a joint session of Congress Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Why do Mitt Romney and other wealthy investors pay lower taxes on the income they make from investments than they would if they earned their millions from wages? Because Congress, through the tax code, has long treated investment more favorably than labor, seeing it as an engine for economic growth that benefits everyone.
President Barack Obama and the Occupy Wall Street movement are challenging that value system, raising volatile election-year issues of equity, fairness ? and Romney's tax returns.
Romney, who released his 2010 and 2011 tax returns this week, has been forced to defend the fact that he paid a tax rate of about 15 percent on an annual income of $21 million. His tax rate is comparable to the one paid by most middle-income families. His income, however, is 420 times higher than the typical U.S. household.
The Republican presidential candidate's taxes were so low because the vast majority of his income came from investments. The U.S. has long had a progressive income tax, in which people who make more money pay taxes at a higher rate than those who make less. But for almost as long, the U.S. has taxed capital gains ? the profit from selling an investment ? at a lower rate than wages.
"There are two ways to look at: There is a moral argument and an economic growth argument, and they both point to lower taxes on capital gains," said William McBride, an economist at the conservative Tax Foundation.
McBride says it is unfair to tax income more than once, and capital gains are taxed multiple times. If you got the original investment from wages, that money was taxed. If the stock you own gains value because the company you invested in makes a profit, those profits are taxed through the corporate tax. And if that company issues dividends, those are taxed as well.
Lots of people are double taxed, says Chuck Marr, director of federal tax policy for the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "Check out your last pay stub: There's income tax and payroll tax, so you're double taxed, too," Marr said.
And, he noted, when you buy something, you probably pay a sales tax.
Under current law, the top tax rate is 15 percent on qualified dividend and long-term capital gains ? the profits from selling assets that have been held for at least a year. The top income tax rate on wages is 35 percent, though that applies only to taxable income above $388,350.
Congress started taxing capital gains at a lower rate than wages following World War I. The concern then was that high taxes on capital gains actually reduced revenue because people would simply hold onto their investments and restrict the flow of capital, according to the Encyclopedia of Taxation and Tax Policy.
At the time, however, the top tax rate on wages was a whopping 73 percent. In 1922, Congress lowered the top capital gains rate to 12.5 percent, a rate that lasted until 1934.
For much of the next 70 years, the top tax rate on long-term capital gains hovered between 20 percent and 30 percent, going as high as 39.9 percent in the 1970s but never falling below 20 percent until 2003, when Congress passed a gradual reduction to the current rate.
The 2003 law also started taxing qualified dividends at the same rate as capital gains.
Liberals and some moderates argue that lower taxes on investments are a giveaway to the rich because they are the ones who get the most benefit. Last year, two-thirds of all capital gains went to people making more than $1 million, according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, the official scorekeeper for Congress.
Only 5 percent of capital gains went to people making less than $100,000, and only 13 percent went to people making less than $200,000.
"I'm a liberal person and I believe strongly that the wealthy should pay more than the working poor," Marr said, regardless of whether the income is from investments or labor.
Obama has taken up this argument, though his budget proposals have called for only small tax increases on capital gains and dividends, to a top rate of 20 percent.
Instead, Obama has developed the "Buffet Rule," named after billionaire investor Warren Buffet, which says rich people shouldn't pay taxes at a lower rate than their secretaries. To impose this rule, Obama said at his State of The Union address Tuesday that people making more than $1 million should pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes.
"Now, you can call this class warfare all you want," Obama said. "But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense."
The proposal has little chance of passing a divided Congress this year, and the Obama administration has released few details on how the tax would work.
Conservatives argue that increasing investment taxes would make it harder to for businesses to raise capital, restricting job growth and hurting financial markets, reducing income for people who rely on pension funds and 401(k) accounts as well as billionaires and millionaires.
"In my view the rationale for taxing capital gains and dividends at a lower rate has nothing to do with what an individual pays versus another individual," said Jim McCrery, who was a senior Republican member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee when the 2003 tax cuts were enacted. "It has everything to do with the creation of jobs in this country."
McCrery now works for the Alliance for Savings and Investment, a coalition of companies and business groups that want to keep the current tax rates on capital gains and dividends.
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Gillie Waddington of Enfield, N.Y., raises a fist during rally against hydraulic fracturing of natural gas wells at the Legislative Office Building in Albany, N.Y., on Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. About 600 people registered to lobby lawmakers Monday on various bills related to the technology known as "fracking." Many are pushing a bill that would ban fracking, which stimulates gas production by using chemically treated water to fracture shale. Others are supporting a bill putting a moratorium on shale gas development. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
Gillie Waddington of Enfield, N.Y., raises a fist during rally against hydraulic fracturing of natural gas wells at the Legislative Office Building in Albany, N.Y., on Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. About 600 people registered to lobby lawmakers Monday on various bills related to the technology known as "fracking." Many are pushing a bill that would ban fracking, which stimulates gas production by using chemically treated water to fracture shale. Others are supporting a bill putting a moratorium on shale gas development. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
NEW YORK (AP) ? A different kind of F-word is stirring a linguistic and political debate as controversial as what it defines.
The word is "fracking" ? as in hydraulic fracturing, a technique long used by the oil and gas industry to free oil and gas from rock.
It's not in the dictionary, the industry hates it, and President Barack Obama didn't use it in his State of the Union speech ? even as he praised federal subsidies for it.
The word sounds nasty, and environmental advocates have been able to use it to generate opposition ? and revulsion ? to what they say is a nasty process that threatens water supplies.
"It obviously calls to mind other less socially polite terms, and folks have been able to take advantage of that," said Kate Sinding, a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council who works on drilling issues.
One of the chants at an anti-drilling rally in Albany earlier this month was "No fracking way!"
Industry executives argue that the word is deliberately misspelled by environmental activists and that it has become a slur that should not be used by media outlets that strive for objectivity.
"It's a co-opted word and a co-opted spelling used to make it look as offensive as people can try to make it look," said Michael Kehs, vice president for Strategic Affairs at Chesapeake Energy, the nation's second-largest natural gas producer.
To the surviving humans of the sci-fi TV series "Battlestar Galactica," it has nothing to do with oil and gas. It is used as a substitute for the very down-to-Earth curse word.
Michael Weiss, a professor of linguistics at Cornell University, says the word originated as simple industry jargon, but has taken on a negative meaning over time ? much like the word "silly" once meant "holy."
But "frack" also happens to sound like "smack" and "whack," with more violent connotations.
"When you hear the word 'fracking,' what lights up your brain is the profanity," says Deborah Mitchell, who teaches marketing at the University of Wisconsin's School of Business. "Negative things come to mind."
Obama did not use the word in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, when he said his administration will help ensure natural gas will be developed safely, suggesting it would support 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade.
In hydraulic fracturing, millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals are pumped into wells to break up underground rock formations and create escape routes for the oil and gas. In recent years, the industry has learned to combine the practice with the ability to drill horizontally into beds of shale, layers of fine-grained rock that in some cases have trapped ancient organic matter that has cooked into oil and gas.
By doing so, drillers have unlocked natural gas deposits across the East, South and Midwest that are large enough to supply the U.S. for decades. Natural gas prices have dipped to decade-low levels, reducing customer bills and prompting manufacturers who depend on the fuel to expand operations in the U.S.
Environmentalists worry that the fluid could leak into water supplies from cracked casings in wells. They are also concerned that wastewater from the process could contaminate water supplies if not properly treated or disposed of. And they worry the method allows too much methane, the main component of natural gas and an extraordinarily potent greenhouse gas, to escape.
Some want to ban the practice altogether, while others want tighter regulations.
The Environmental Protection Agency is studying the issue and may propose federal regulations. The industry prefers that states regulate the process.
Some states have banned it. A New York proposal to lift its ban drew about 40,000 public comments ? an unprecedented total ? inspired in part by slogans such as "Don't Frack With New York."
The drilling industry has generally spelled the word without a "K," using terms like "frac job" or "frac fluid."
Energy historian Daniel Yergin spells it "fraccing" in his book, "The Quest: Energy, Security and the Remaking of the Modern World." The glossary maintained by the oilfield services company Schlumberger includes only "frac" and "hydraulic fracturing."
The spelling of "fracking" began appearing in the media and in oil and gas company materials long before the process became controversial. It first was used in an Associated Press story in 1981. That same year, an oil and gas company called Velvet Exploration, based in British Columbia, issued a press release that detailed its plans to complete "fracking" a well.
The word was used in trade journals throughout the 1980s. In 1990, Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher announced U.S. oil engineers would travel to the Soviet Union to share drilling technology, including fracking.
The word does not appear in The Associated Press Stylebook, a guide for news organizations. David Minthorn, deputy standards editor at the AP, says there are tentative plans to include an entry in the 2012 edition.
He said the current standard is to avoid using the word except in direct quotes, and to instead use "hydraulic fracturing."
That won't stop activists ? sometimes called "fracktivists" ? from repeating the word as often as possible.
"It was created by the industry, and the industry is going to have to live with it," says the NRDC's Sinding.
Dave McCurdy, CEO of the American Gas Association, agrees, much to his dismay: "It's Madison Avenue hell," he says.
___
Jonathan Fahey can be reached at http://twitter.com/JonathanFahey.
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Public release date: 27-Jan-2012
Share ] Contact: Hannah Johnson
hannah.johnson@bristol.ac.uk
44-117-928-8896
University of Bristol
The camera enables the researchers to see an aspect of light that humans are essentially blind to: polarized light. Though humans aren't sensitive to polarized light, many reef dwelling animals are but this has not always been taken into account in previous studies of reef communities.
Thanks to generous support provided by a Yulgilbar Foundation Fellowship, Dr Shelby Temple, and a team of researchers from the Ecology of Vision Laboratory in Bristol's School of Biological Sciences, will take their camera to the Lizard Island Research Station to study how the coral reef environment looks to animals that can see polarized light.
Dr Temple said: "Many reef dwelling animals, like octopus, crabs, shrimp and maybe even some fish, are sensitive to polarized light. It's hard for us to understand what that means because we really can't see the polarization of light without some kind of aid, like polarized glasses or specialized polarization converting cameras like this one."
The camera enables the researchers to measure the polarization of light. It then converts these polarization images into false colour images, where different colours are used to represent different polarizations of light.
"It's a bit like using an infrared camera that turns the infrared light we can't see into colours that we can," said Dr Temple.
Preliminary results from Dr Temple's research suggest that the polarization dimension of the visual world under water is much more complex than previously thought.
He said: "There's evidence that all types of communication and camouflage are going on, which we've essentially been blind to until now. Imagine how different our understanding of coral reefs would be if we only saw in black and white.
"Lizard Island is an ideal setting for our research because we can test an animal and when we return it to its home we can then measure the polarization signals in the very environment where we found it."
###
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
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.
Public release date: 27-Jan-2012 Share ] Contact: Hannah Johnson
hannah.johnson@bristol.ac.uk
44-117-928-8896
University of Bristol
The camera enables the researchers to see an aspect of light that humans are essentially blind to: polarized light. Though humans aren't sensitive to polarized light, many reef dwelling animals are but this has not always been taken into account in previous studies of reef communities.
Thanks to generous support provided by a Yulgilbar Foundation Fellowship, Dr Shelby Temple, and a team of researchers from the Ecology of Vision Laboratory in Bristol's School of Biological Sciences, will take their camera to the Lizard Island Research Station to study how the coral reef environment looks to animals that can see polarized light.
Dr Temple said: "Many reef dwelling animals, like octopus, crabs, shrimp and maybe even some fish, are sensitive to polarized light. It's hard for us to understand what that means because we really can't see the polarization of light without some kind of aid, like polarized glasses or specialized polarization converting cameras like this one."
The camera enables the researchers to measure the polarization of light. It then converts these polarization images into false colour images, where different colours are used to represent different polarizations of light.
"It's a bit like using an infrared camera that turns the infrared light we can't see into colours that we can," said Dr Temple.
Preliminary results from Dr Temple's research suggest that the polarization dimension of the visual world under water is much more complex than previously thought.
He said: "There's evidence that all types of communication and camouflage are going on, which we've essentially been blind to until now. Imagine how different our understanding of coral reefs would be if we only saw in black and white.
"Lizard Island is an ideal setting for our research because we can test an animal and when we return it to its home we can then measure the polarization signals in the very environment where we found it."
###
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
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.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/uob-cao012712.php
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. ? Republican presidential hopefuls are casting President Barack Obama as a failure on Cuba and say they would do a better job ushering freedom into the nation after Castro.
Newt Gingrich said during Thursday night's debate that the United States should use the same tactics President Ronald Reagan employed to bring down the Soviet Union. Gingrich says the U.S. policy should be to connect with young Cubans to persuade them that they want freedom for their generation.
Mitt Romney says he would use economic pressure to bring about freedom for the island nation 90 miles off Florida. Rick Santorum says Obama's policies to ease restrictions on Cuba are "the exact wrong message at the exact wrong time."
Ron Paul alone says the United States should engage Cuba now to ease tensions.
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TAMPA, Fla. ? Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said Tuesday he doesn't want to continue debating his Republican rivals if the audience isn't allowed to participate. His campaign said later that he would participate in upcoming debates, regardless of the audience rules.
Gingrich, whose rise in the polls and come-from-behind victory in the South Carolina followed well-received debate performances, complained that people were admonished by NBC News anchor and debate moderator Brian Williams not to applaud during Monday night's debate in Tampa. The candidates were to debate Thursday night in Jacksonville, Fla.
"That's wrong," the former House speaker told Fox News. "The media doesn't control free speech. People ought to be allowed to applaud if they want to. It was almost silly."
Disagreeing with his rival, Mitt Romney told reporters that the rules for general-election debates are much stricter and that Gingrich would have to be willing to follow the rules of the Presidential Debate Commission.
"He better learn to debate in all settings," Romney said.
Romney's advisers believe that audience participation drove Gingrich's breakout moments in two debates in South Carolina. They were pleased with the audience reaction during Monday night's debate, calling it more serious than the raucous crowds at the second South Carolina debate.
Gingrich was an audience favorite at the two debates in South Carolina, particularly when he admonished debate moderator John King of CNN for bringing up the subject of ex-wife Marianne Gingrich and her allegation that Gingrich had sought an "open marriage" as he was having an affair with the woman now his wife, Callista. Audience members applauded and cheered Gingrich's criticism of King as well as some of his policy statements.
Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who was the GOP's nominee in 2008, said Tuesday that he thinks debates have had an inordinate influence, and at times a negative one, on the primary campaign. McCain is supporting Romney's bid for the nomination.
"It's very harmful to Republicans because of instead of presenting their views, their policies and their proposals ? it's all gotcha, it's all gotcha," McCain told reporters on Capitol Hill. "And disapproval ratings go up. And people spend an hour or two insulting each other. So I think it's very damaging."
___
Associated Press writer Donna Cassata in Washington contributed to this report.
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Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at National Gypsum Company in Tampa, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at National Gypsum Company in Tampa, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich arrives at the Tick Tock Restaurant, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, gestures to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich during a Republican presidential debate Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Republican presidential candidates, from left, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, take part in a Republican presidential debate Monday Jan. 23, 2012, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla, as moderator Brian Williams of NBC News listens. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Republican presidential candidate former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum gestures during a Republican presidential debate Monday Jan. 23, 2012, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) ? Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich's fight for Florida and the states beyond stayed at a high boil Tuesday as Romney released tax returns showing annual income topping $20 million ? including a now-closed Swiss bank account ? and Gingrich insisted his high-paid consulting work for a mortgage giant that contributed to the housing crisis didn't include lobbying.
After a night of mutual sniping in a debate, the two leading GOP presidential candidates tried to turn the arguments over their various business dealings to his own advantage. Romney's release of two years' worth of tax documents, showing him at an elite level even among the nation's richest 1 percent, kept the focus on the two men's money and how they earned it.
Romney's income put him in the top 0.006 percent of Americans, according to Internal Revenue Service data from 2009, the most recent year available. His net worth has been estimated as high as $250 million.
As the former Massachusetts governor relented to pressure and released more than 500 pages of tax documents, Gingrich kept up the heat, saying Romney was "outrageously dishonest" for accusing him of influence peddling for government-backed mortgage giant Freddie Mac.
The former House speaker said Romney's charges were ironic, given that it was revealed after Monday's debate that Romney himself was an investor in both Freddie Mac and its sister entity, Fannie Mae.
"I don't own any Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stock. He does, so presumably he was getting richer," Gingrich told Fox News on Tuesday.
The specter of well-off Gingrich and wealthier Romney feuding over money matters pleased Rick Santorum, who lags in polls for next Tuesday's Florida primary but hopes to benefit from the dust-up as the race moves on. He told MSNBC: "The other two candidates have some severe flaws."
Striking out in two directions, Romney planned to offer advance criticism of President Barack Obama's Tuesday night State of the Union address, then focus on Florida's housing woes in an event sure to again highlight Gingrich's $25,000 monthly retainer from Freddie Mac.
Gingrich, starting a busy day of campaign rallies along Florida's Gulf Coast, also took on Obama, criticizing him on foreign policy, energy plans and other issues. "I'm not so much interested in trying to tear Obama down as I am interested in getting the country to see clearly who he is," he said in St. Petersburg.
Records released by Romney's campaign show he closed a bank account in Switzerland in 2010, as he was entering the presidential race. He also kept money in the Cayman Islands, another spot popular with investors sheltering their income from U.S. taxes. But Benjamin Ginsberg, the Romney campaign's legal counsel, said Romney didn't use any aggressive tax strategies to help reduce or defer his tax income.
"Gov. Romney has paid 100 percent of what he owes," Ginsberg said Tuesday.
Romney paid about $3 million on nearly $22 million in income in 2010 and indicated his 2011 taxes would be about the same, $3.2 million on nearly $21 million in income.
During the debate, Romney predicted his tax information would generate chatter but not any surprises, saying what he paid was "entirely legal and fair."
Romney had declined to disclose any tax releases until he came under mounting criticism from his rivals.
In 2010, he donated a combined $3 million to the Mormon Church and other charitable causes. His effective tax rate was about 14 percent, the records showed. For 2011, he'll pay an effective tax rate of about 15.4 percent, a level far lower than standard rates for high-income earners, reflecting the lower rate for long-term capital gains.
The tax records may silence Gingrich and others who argued that Republican voters should know the details of Romney's wealth before they select their presidential nominee and not after. But it also could open up new lines of attack.
After Gingrich's overwhelming victory in South Carolina last Saturday, Romney can ill afford to lose Florida's Jan. 31 primary, and he showcased a new aggression from the opening moments of the debate. He said Gingrich had "resigned in disgrace" from Congress after four years as speaker and then had spent the next 15 years "working as an influence peddler."
In particular, he referred to the contract Gingrich's consulting firm had with Freddie Mac, a government-backed mortgage giant that Romney said "did a lot of bad for a lot of people and you were working there."
"I have never, ever gone and done any lobbying," Gingrich retorted emphatically, adding that his firm had hired an expert to explain to employees "the bright line between what you can do as a citizen and what you do as a lobbyist."
Rep. Ron Paul, who's bypassing Florida in favor of smaller, less expensive states, returned to Texas after Monday's debate. Santorum will appeal to the tea party to help revive his candidacy, appearing at two tea party events.
___
Associated Press writers Kasie Hunt in Florida and Connie Cass, Jack Gillum, Stephen Braun and Stephen Ohlemacher in Washington contributed to this report.
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All Critics (176) | Top Critics (39) | Fresh (171) | Rotten (5)
'The Artist': Michel Hazanavicius's novelty film owes much to Jean Dujardin's irresistible smile
For a movie that is so much about technique, it's surprising how affecting the story is.
The Artist is the most surprising and delightful film of 2011.
A silent movie shot in sumptuous black-and-white, no less. A silent flick made with not a jot of distancing winking, but instead born of a heady affection for a bygone, very bygone, era of filmmaking.
It's a rocket to the moon fueled by unadulterated joy and pure imagination.
Strangely, wonderfully, The Artist feels as bold and innovative a moviegoing experience as James Cameron's bells-and-whistles Avatar did a couple of years ago.
The Artist, as calculated as you know it is, is simply impossible to resist.
'The Artist' is an utterly charming film that earns its audience's support the old-fashioned way.
A warm and comfy dose of old-school charm and smile-inducing entertainment.
Terrific entertainment -- not an academic exercise but an unabashed crowd-pleaser.
'The Artist' offers a unique cinematic experience in an age when extremely loud sound effects attack our eardrums while watching so many current movies.
The Artist delights in an ingeniously straightforward way that exceeds many a modern, technologically advanced, effects-loaded, big-budget blockbuster.
A silent movie that speaks louder and with more power than a dozen films packed with pages and pages of dialogue. Definitely the year's best movie.
Imaginative, gorgeous, witty and even kind of sexy.
A gift that keeps on giving, The Artist is a film that demands your attention at every moment. All senses are glued to the screen and director Michel Hazanavicius delivers with drama, laughter, romance and stellar performances from his cast.
Has the allure of a freshness it may not entirely deserve, but one that makes it go down very smoothly.
Initially, the lack of spoken dialogue is discomfiting. Once you've adjusted to its storytelling conventions, though, you almost forget that this is a silent film.
I'm not sure Hazanavicius' love letter to the cinema is, in fact, the most outstanding movie of last year. But who would deny that it stands out from the motion-picture pack?
In a strange way, it's not unlike The Matrix -- only this time the red pill transports you into the futuristic world of sound, rather than a cynical world of two increasingly abysmal sequels.
Completely fun. Dujardin defies time periods. Bejo is all sparkly effervescence.
Was there ever a guy who could play an old school movie studio mogul like John Goodman? No.
A movie that is so old-fashioned from beginning to end that it's literally a breath of fresh air.
Visually stunning, imaginative, and cleverly scored and choreographed, The Artist is quite simply and quietly, the year's finest film.
Deeper than mere mimicry...
The Artist plays less like an original take on the early sound era than as fan fiction set in the world of Singin' in the Rain.
[C]ould have been all about the gimmick. Marvelously, it isn't. And yet its marvelousness is wrapped up in the gimmick... [A] sweet, deep passion for The Movies... throbs through The Artist and makes it sing.
More Critic ReviewsSource: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_artist/
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Continue reading Sony's new cameraphone CMOS jams bigger gear into the same space (video)
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tl;dr: Robots first, mine the asteroids for building materials.
The proper plan is to start mining Near Earth Asteroids for supplies. Why NEO's? They take less velocity to reach than the Moon's surface for some of them, and all of the velocity can be done with highly efficient electric thrusters. The Moon is physically closer, but distance is not what costs in space, it's velocity and fuel. Haul back surface dust and rocks from your chosen asteroid with a solar powered tug, and have the extraction equipment in Earth orbit. Why here? it's close enough to be remote controlled by humans on the ground. Depending which asteroid and it's composition you can get: metals, glass, oxygen, fuel for more mining trips, carbon, silicon for solar panels, even water in some of them. Also sheer bulk rock gives you radiation shielding.
Once you learn to extract useful stuff, and build up a supply, you use that to build a habitat, including a greenhouse using the glass for windows and carbon to feed the plants. *Then* you start sending people. Until then you send the minimum crew you can get away with, possibly zero. With people up there and their life support taken care of long term, you can start building space elevators in Earth orbit and Lunar orbit out of the carbon you extract. Not the sci-fi one at Earth that goes all the way to the ground, that takes materials we can't make yet. You can reach 30% of the way to the ground in velocity terms at Earth, and all the way on the Moon, cause it's smaller. 30% in velocity means 50% in energy for a vehicle starting from the ground. You can now build single stage to orbit vehicles easily. At the moon you don't need vehicles at all as far as propulsion, just a pressure cabin. Now you can send people all the way from Earth to the Moon at reasonable cost. You can also send habitat parts made in orbit down to the Moon, and start building up your infrastructure there.
We already know a lot about mining and manufacturing on Earth. The main thing we have to learn is how to do it remotely, and possibly in zero gee (you can always spin things if you need gravity).
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SANTIAGO, Chile ? A magnitude-6.2 earthquake has struck just off the shore of south-central Chile, the area devastated by a massive temblor two years ago. There are no immediate reports of damage and authorities say it will not cause a tsunami.
Monday's quake was centered 31 miles (50 kilometers) northwest of Concepcion, and was relatively shallow at 12 miles (20 kilometers) under sea level. But Chile's navy announced that it wasn't the kind of quake to generate a deadly tsunami of the kind that ravaged nearby coastal cities when an magnitude-8.8 quake devastated Chile in 2010.
The U.S. Geological Service says the quake struck at 1:04 p.m. local time (1604 GMT). Chile's national emergency office says there are no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
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In less than 48 hours, Newt Gingrich will know if his good night was good enough.
The former House speaker was the standout ? and early ? star of Thursday?s CNN-hosted Republican debate in South Carolina, the last before voting begins in the first-in-the-South primary.
Continue ReadingBelow are POLITICO?s six takeaways on the crackling debate:
1) Newt Gingrich saw the pitch coming
Gingrich was looking for a fastball and proceeded to knock it out of the park. Yes, it?s a sports cliche, but it?s a fitting one here. Gingrich knew full well that CNN moderator John King would ask him about his ex-wife?s claims that the former House Speaker had sought an ?open marriage? over a decade ago. And CNN made a clear choice to open with it, knowing that would make the network a part of the news story.
Gingrich came prepared.
The former Georgia congressman, who stoked debate hall crowds at several of these forums, had the audience on its feet applauding him as he bashed King, his network and ABC News for the ?despicable? move to make his messy marital past part of the discussion.
The crowd ate up the red meat about the ?elite media,? and the tone of the debate was immediately set. Nothing that happened after those first five minutes were anywhere near as memorable. Gingrich had the type of moment that GOP strategist Alex Castellanos has described as a critical ?moment of strength.?
This is, of course, Gingrich?s specialty - whipping up the GOP base?s distrust of the mainstream media. He himself has said on the trail that it?s perfectly appropriate for voters to ask him about his personal history, a statement at odds with his indignation Thursday evening.
Still, the crowd?s strong response inoculated him over the ex-wives issue and made it all but impossible for other candidates to attack him. Rick Santorum came the closest to touching it, but veered away just before he crossed the line into booing territory.
It was, simply put, Gingrich?s best single moment in any 2012 debate, and he?s had many good ones. His overall performance in Monday?s debate was better, but coming so close to the primary election, last night was exactly what he needed.
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FLORHAM PARK, N.J. ? Mark Sanchez is still the New York Jets' quarterback of the future.
Well, at least for now.
Owner Woody Johnson supported his embattled quarterback while meeting with writers who regularly cover the team Thursday for the first time since the Jets finished 8-8 and failed to make the playoffs.
But, he also wouldn't rule out the possibility of pursuing a veteran such as Peyton Manning if the Indianapolis Colts star became available.
"I'm not going to ever tell you guys what we may or may not do," Johnson said in a 30-minute far-ranging interview.
"Our job, and my job for the fans, is to take this team to the very top level, and I've said that from the beginning. And I have a lot of confidence that we can do it. So, we're going to look at everything. We're going to look at every possibility, and that's what you'd want us to do."
Johnson said "there's no such thing as 100 percent" when asked if Sanchez would definitely be the starter next season.
"Barring whatever," he said, "yes."
That "whatever" could be the status of Manning, who missed the season after a few operations on his neck.
He's still a highly unlikely possibility for Rex Ryan's Jets since he's still under contract to the Colts, is 10 years older than the 25-year-old Sanchez and would be a tough fit financially for New York.
But the fact Johnson didn't completely slam the door on the idea of Manning joining his brother Eli as quarterbacks in New York could keep the rumor mill spinning in the offseason. Johnson did sound later as though the franchise is thinking about Sanchez for the long term.
"With Mark, you have a 25-year-old quarterback that you can develop," he said. "You can have a quarterback for 10 years with a guy like this. These guys are not available everyday.
"We have a lot of confidence in Mark. We think he's our guy. We're blessed that we have a guy that we feel can climb the ladder and he can do everything. He's got the work ethic and has all the ingredients in place to be a great quarterback."
Johnson indicated that new offensive coordinator Tony Sparano taking the reins from the departed Brian Schottenheimer could help Sanchez. Sparano, hired last week, said he wanted the offense to be "explosive," but also wanted a focus on running the ball ? as the Jets did in Sanchez's first two seasons.
"My feeling is that Mark is the kind of guy that will learn from this and get better," Johnson said. "We are going to try to make the offense maybe a little bit more suitable to what Mark's development is."
He added that the blame shouldn't be placed all on Sanchez, despite his lousy finish, but agreed that he might need a backup who could help challenge him.
"He's got to have somebody breathing on his back, yeah, I think you could argue that," Johnson said.
Johnson also is "concerned but I'm confident" that the fractured relationship between Sanchez and wide receiver Santonio Holmes can be mended.
Holmes was highly critical of the offensive line during the season and clearly had some tension with his quarterback.
It all came to a head in the season finale at Miami when Holmes was benched late in the game after arguing with teammates in the huddle.
"They've won a lot of games together and one is good for the other," Johnson said. "Santonio makes the quarterback a lot better and vice versa. So they have a good reason to iron this thing out and I think they can do it."
Johnson acknowledged that he might sit down with the two, either individually or together, at some point. While he added that Holmes will definitely be back, the Jets are tied to Holmes financially after they gave him a five-year, $45 million deal last offseason ? something the owner doesn't regret.
"He may be one of the best players we've ever had here," said Johnson said, who added that he was troubled by the perception that Holmes quit on the team as the season ended.
"I have a good relationship with Santonio," Johnson said. "He's going to have a fresh start this year and I think he'll take advantage of it. He knows it's important to him, it's important to us."
Johnson also disputed LaDainian Tomlinson's claim on Showtime's "Inside The NFL" that the Jets had the worst locker room tension he has ever seen, saying the running back might have overstated things.
"I didn't feel a toxicity in the locker room," Johnson said, adding that he'll talk to Tomlinson to clarify his statements.
"I hear what LaDainian (is saying). I respect LaDainian at the highest level, but I don't think the whole locker room was toxic. I think there were clearly a few players that had conflicts. ... Would you love to have total harmony? Maybe. But maybe it's good to have a little bit of disharmony also. But they have to care about each other."
Ryan has said that he felt he never really had the pulse of the locker room, and many ? including Tomlinson ? think the coach's brash approach, along with general manager Mike Tannenbaum, set the tone for what took place. Johnson supported the aggressive style, saying it is more of a positive when building a team.
"The great thing about Rex as opposed to people not like Rex, is that he has a very healthy ego," Johnson added. "It's very healthy. He realizes that being a great coach requires admitting mistakes perhaps or changing or altering his style or management style or learning that we don't all grow up being great managers at age 40 whatever he is. Sometimes, it takes you a little longer and in most cases it does to be a good manager."
Johnson has spoken to Ryan about how the season unfolded, and believes the coach will keep improving.
"I think he realizes that he is the head coach," Johnson said. "He's a savant defensive guy, but he is a head coach. He has responsibility for the whole room and I think he will be a lot more involved and take a bit of a different management approach to that, I would suspect. Not because I told him to, but because I think he has figured this out."
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The Help, ABC's Grey's Anatomy and BET's The Game led the 43rd annual NAACP Image Awards nominations, the organization announced Thursday.
Check out the rest of today's news
Starring Emma Stone and Viola Davis, The Help ? the critically acclaimed book turned film ? earned eight nods in film categories, including Outstanding Motion Picture. Grey's Anatomy and The Game snagged six nominations each, while Beyonc? and Jill Scott each received four nominations in the music categories.
The NAACP's Image Awards, which honor diversity in the arts, will be presented Friday, Feb. 17 at 8/7c on NBC.
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Facebook has partnered up with sixty different?startups?to add their "stories" to Facebook Timeline, through apps that span different verticals from Food, Fashion to Travel. Already apps like Fab.com, Foodspotting, Foodily, Ticketmaster, Pinterest,Rotten Tomatoes, Pose, Kobo, Gogobot, and TripAdvisor have signed on to share these stories -- which go beyond what we're used to on Facebook.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/jyU25q2u-p8/
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Source: http://www.facebook.com/AndroidCentral/posts/10150470716596536
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SAN DIEGO ? The U.S. Border Patrol is moving to halt a revolving-door policy of sending migrants back to Mexico without any punishment.
The agency this month is overhauling its approach on migrants caught illegally crossing the 1,954-mile border that the United States shares with Mexico. Years of enormous growth at the federal agency in terms of staff and technology have helped drive down apprehensions of migrants to 40-year lows.
The number of agents since 2004 has more than doubled to 21,000. The Border Patrol has blanketed one-third of the border with fences and other physical barriers, and spent heavily on cameras, sensors and other gizmos. Major advances in fingerprinting technology have vastly improved intelligence on border-crossers. In the 2011 fiscal year, border agents made 327,577 apprehensions on the Mexican border, down 80 percent from more than 1.6 million in 2000. It was the Border Patrol's slowest year since 1971.
It's a far cry from just a few years ago. Older agents remember being so overmatched that they powerlessly watched migrants cross illegally, minutes after catching them and dropping them off at the nearest border crossing. Border Patrol Chief Mike Fisher, who joined the Border Patrol in 1987, recalls apprehending the same migrant 10 times in his eight-hour shift as a young agent.
The Border Patrol now feels it has enough of a handle to begin imposing more serious consequences on almost everyone it catches, from areas including Texas' Rio Grande Valley to San Diego. The "Consequence Delivery System" ? a key part of the Border Patrol's new national strategy to be announced within weeks ? relies largely on tools that have been rolled out over the last decade on parts of the border and expanded. It divides border crossers into seven categories, ranging from first-time offenders to people with criminal records.
Punishments vary by region but there is a common thread: Simply turning people around after taking their fingerprints is the choice of last resort. Some, including children and the medically ill, will still get a free pass by being turned around at the nearest border crossing, but they will be few and far between.
"What we want to be able to do is make that the exception and not necessarily the norm," Fisher told The Associated Press.
Consequences can be severe for detained migrants and expensive to American taxpayers, including felony prosecution or being taken to an unfamiliar border city hundreds of miles away to be sent back to Mexico. One tool used during summers in Arizona involves flying migrants to Mexico City, where they get one-way bus tickets to their hometowns. Another releases them to Mexican authorities for prosecution south of the border. One puts them on buses to return to Mexico in another border city that may be hundreds of miles away.
In the past, migrants caught in Douglas, Ariz., were given a bologna sandwich and orange juice before being taken back to Mexico at the same location on the same afternoon, Fisher said. Now, they may spend the night at an immigration detention facility near Phoenix and eventually return to Mexico through Del Rio, Texas, more than 800 miles away.
Those migrants are effectively cut off from the smugglers who helped them cross the border, whose typical fees have skyrocketed to between $3,200 and $3,500 and are increasingly demanding payment upfront instead of after crossing, Fisher said. At minimum, they will have to wait longer to try again as they raise money to pay another smuggler.
"What used to be hours and days is now being translated into days and weeks," said Fisher.
The new strategy was first introduced a year ago in the office at Tucson, Ariz., the patrol's busiest corridor for illegal crossings. Field supervisors ranked consequences on a scale from 1 to 5 using 15 different yardsticks, including the length of time since the person was last caught and per-hour cost for processing.
The longstanding practice of turning migrants straight around without any punishment, known as "voluntary returns," ranked least expensive ? and least effective.
Agents got color-coded, wallet-sized cards ? also made into posters at Border Patrol stations ? that tells them what to do with each category of offender. For first-time violators, prosecution is a good choice, with one-way flights to Mexico City also scoring high. For known smugglers, prosecution in Mexico is the top pick.
The Border Patrol has introduced many new tools in recent years without much consideration to whether a first-time violator merited different treatment than a repeat crosser.
"There really wasn't much thought other than, `Hey, the bus is outside, let's put the people we just finished processing on the bus and therefore wherever that bus is going, that's where they go,'" Fisher said.
Now, a first-time offender faces different treatment than one caught two or three times. A fourth-time violator faces other consequences.
The number of those who have been apprehended in the Tucson sector has plunged 80 percent since 2000, allowing the Border Patrol to spend more time and money on each of the roughly 260 migrants caught daily. George Allen, an assistant sector chief, said there are 188 seats on four daily buses to border cities in California and Texas. During summers, a daily flight to Mexico City has 146 seats.
Only about 10 percent of those apprehended now get "voluntary returns" in the Tucson sector, down from about 85 percent three years ago, said Rick Barlow, the sector chief. Most of those who are simply turned around are children, justified by the Border Patrol on humanitarian grounds.
Fisher acknowledged that the new strategy depends heavily on other agencies. Federal prosecutors must agree to take his cases. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement must have enough beds in its detention facilities.
In Southern California, the U.S. attorney's office doesn't participate in a widely used Border Patrol program that prosecutes even first-time offenders with misdemeanors punishable by up to six months in custody, opting instead to pursue only felonies for the most egregious cases, including serial border-crossers and criminals.
Laura Duffy, the U.S. attorney in San Diego, said limited resources, including lack of jail space, force her to make choices.
"It has not been the practice (in California) to target and prosecute economic migrants who have no criminal histories, who are coming in to the United States to work or to be with their families," Duffy said. "We do target the individuals who are smuggling those individuals."
Fisher would like to refer more cases for prosecution south of the border, but the Mexican government can only prosecute smugglers: smuggling migrants is a crime in Mexico but there is nothing wrong about crossing illegally to the United States. It also said its resources were stretched on some parts of the border.
Criticism of the Border Patrol's new tactics is guaranteed to persist as the new strategy goes into effect at other locations. Some say immigration cases are overwhelming federal courts on the border at the expense of investigations into white-collar crime, public corruption and other serious threats. Others consider prison time for first-time offenders to be excessively harsh.
The Border Patrol also may be challenged when the U.S. economy recovers, creating jobs that may encourage more illegal crossings. Still, many believe heightened U.S. enforcement and an aging population in Mexico that is benefiting from a relatively stable economy will keep migrants away.
"We'll never see the numbers that we saw in the late 1990s and early 2000s," said Edward Alden, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Doris Meissner, who oversaw the Border Patrol as head of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service in the 1990s, said the new approach makes sense "on the face of it" but that it will be expensive. She also said it is unclear so far if it will be more effective at discouraging migrants from trying again.
"I do think the Border Patrol is finally at a point where it has sufficient resources that it can actually try some of these things," said Meissner, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute.
Tucson, the only sector to have tried the new approach for a full year, has already tweaked its color-coded chart of punishments two or three times. Fisher said initial signs are promising, with the number of repeat crossers falling at a faster rate than before and faster than on other parts of the border.
"I'm not going to claim it was a direct effect, but it was enough to say it has merit," he said.
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