House Republicans Yield on Extending Payroll Tax Cut

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans backed down on Monday from a demand that a payroll tax rollback be paid for with reductions in other programs, clearing the way for an extension of the tax cut for 160 million Americans through 2012. After months of partisan confrontation that left the tax break hanging in the balance, Republicans suddenly offered to extend the two-percentage-point cut while continuing to haggle over added unemployment benefits and a measure to prevent a drop in fees paid to doctors by Medicare . The payroll tax holiday and jobless benefits expire at month’s end, and doctors would face a 27 percent reduction in Medicare reimbursements. The decision, announced by House Republican leaders, was a surprise after weeks of Republicans’ insistence that they would not accept extensions to any of the three benefits without offsetting the costs. But the move underscored the desire of many Republicans — eager to blunt Democratic accusations that they do not support tax cuts for middle-class Americans — to put the tax cut fight behind them in an election year. As the House-Senate committee charged with coming up with a plan to extend the benefits continued to negotiate, Republican leaders said they would introduce legislation this week to extend the payroll tax cut by itself, allowing the conference members to negotiate the unemployment proposal and the Medicare measure, known as the “doc fix.” Accusing Senate Democrats and President Obama of stalling negotiations, House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio said in a statement with Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the majority leader, and Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House whip, that “House Republicans will introduce a backup plan that would simply extend the payroll tax holiday for the remainder of the year while the conference negotiations continue regarding offsets, unemployment insurance and the ‘doc fix.’ “If Democrats continue to refuse to negotiate in good faith, Republicans may schedule this measure for House consideration later this week pending a conversation with our members,” the statement said. By separating the payroll tax from jobless benefits, Republicans have somewhat boxed in Democrats, forcing them to decide whether to accept a stand-alone tax cut that touches nearly all working Americans — and is generally more popular than the additional unemployment insurance — or hold out for a package that covers all three programs, at a cost of about $160 billion. Democrats, who are also eager to extend unemployment pay, were reluctant to embrace the idea of resolving the payroll tax fight separately. Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, one of the Democratic negotiators, said Monday that the payroll tax extension should “travel together” with an extension of unemployment benefits and Medicare payment legislation. Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, was more blunt, given that Democratic votes would likely to be needed to pass the bill since some Republicans oppose the payroll tax cut whether it is paid for or not. “The Republican plan to decouple the payroll tax jeopardizes both the ability of seniors to see their Medicare doctors and benefits for millions of Americans who lost their jobs,” she said. “There is no reason all three of these priorities cannot proceed at the same time as both the House and Senate agreed.” Still, Republicans are betting that Democrats will now move to negotiate a fast package for all three items, avoiding a stand-alone vote on the payroll measure. Of course, should the House pass such a bill, Senate Democrats could well send it back amended, with an unemployment component that is also free of payment obligations. Even though some Republicans on the conference committee insisted last week that they were willing to let the tax break expire — something many in the party have advocated all along — the idea of an unpaid-for extension of the payroll tax cut had been discussed as an option for about a week among House Republican leaders and their staff. Leaders including the chairman of the negotiating committee, Representative Dave Camp of Michigan, and Mr. Boehner decided late Sunday to announce the legislation on Monday, the same day Mr. Obama revealed his budget. In a statement, Mr. Camp said: “I have spoken with my fellow House Republican conferees and we are committed to resolving the differences between the House and Senate. While we will continue our negotiations in good faith and remain hopeful that a deal will come together, we also recognize that the clock is ticking. As such, I fully support and think it is prudent for our leadership to take whatever action is necessary to ensure American workers are not hit with a tax increase on March 1.” The fights not only center on how to pay for the benefits but also involve some policy components. Republicans are seeking numerous policy changes connected to unemployment benefits — like a mandatory high school equivalency program and possible drug testing for beneficiaries — and want to reduce the benefits to 59 weeks, far less than the 79 weeks sought by Mr. Obama and the 93 weeks proposed by Senate Democrats. Jay Carney, a spokesman for Mr. Obama, said Monday: “Let’s just see how this process plays out. Extending unemployment insurance as well as the so-called doc fix is equally important — certainly very important, and very important for our economy. So the president supports extending all of it, and doing it in a way that is easily achievable if folks put ideological and partisan positions aside and just get it done for the American people.”

Payroll Tax
House of Representatives
Republican Party
United States Politics and Government
Democratic Party
Law and Legislation
Medicare
Unemployment Insurance
Federal Budget (US)


Syrians Face a Bread Shortage in Aleppo and Elsewhere

Abstract: GAZIANTEP, Turkey — Jalal al-Khanji, the closest thing the Syrian city of Aleppo has to a mayor, hopes to organize elections there within two weeks, but he fears that residents with empty stomachs are in no mood for an experiment in democracy. Since late November, bread has been scarce, with a lack of fuel and flour shutting most bakeries in Aleppo. “We cannot hold elections while people are hungry; we have to solve that problem first,” he said in an interview in this southern Turkish city, where many leaders of Aleppo’s civil society have sought refuge. “People are angry, frustrated and depressed. They can understand how countries like France and Britain and the United States might hold back on the issue of weapons, but not on the issue of bread and diesel.” The revolution that erupted across Syria in March 2011 only slowly engulfed Aleppo, Syria’s commercial capital. Long after major cities were convulsed by demonstrations, Aleppo’s residents still showed up in Gaziantep by the busload every weekend to scour the malls. The armed struggle for the city began in earnest last July. In August, the prominent doctors, engineers, pharmacists and businessmen sheltering here established the Aleppo Transitional Revolutionary Council, a kind of city government in exile for the liberated portions of the city. Mr. Khanji, 67, a civil engineer with a long history of opposing the Syrian government, serves as its president. Dividing their time between Gaziantep and Aleppo, council members found the chaos convulsing their city worrisome. What if all the competing militias on the ground, even if nominally part of the loosely allied Free Syrian Army, continued to fight for the spoils even after the government’s forces were driven from the city? They decided the remedy was an elected council of about 250 members who would run both the city and the province of Aleppo, roughly one representative for every 20,000 people in the liberated areas. The council would choose a smaller group to actually govern the city. The idea is for the council to serve as a liaison between the military and the civilian populations. “If civilian life is not organized, if we cannot do anything, then the chaos will continue,” said a 29-year-old businessman who is also on the transitional council. Several members of the council declined to give their names because they still travel to government-controlled areas. About 65 percent of the villages have already chosen their representatives, he said, but the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo forced a postponement of the choice of about 150 representatives from the city itself. The transitional council is in the process of establishing a 500-member police force and runs a few courts, but members view the bread crisis as their first big test. “We represent a civil government to some extent, so if we cannot solve this problem there will be a lack of trust in such rule in the future,” said the businessman. There is also competition. While about 70 percent to 80 percent of the Free Syrian Army commanders in the province have agreed to support the elected council, election organizers said, opponents include jihadi groups hostile to the very idea of democratic elections. One such prominent group, Jibhat al-Nusra, which the United States sought to ostracize last week by labeling it a terrorist organization, has been distributing bread in and around Aleppo. “The so-called terrorists are the ones who have been giving us bread and distributing it fairly,” said Tamam Hazem, a spokesman in Aleppo’s news media center, reached via Skype. “Free Syrian Army battalions have been trying to help, but they just don’t have the same kind of experience.” Council members pleaded for outside help to counter the jihadists’ efforts. “They are offering bread to people to obtain their sympathy and respect,” said Mr. Khanji, the council’s president. “Prolonging the Syrian crisis will allow the extremist cells in Syria to grow and become more difficult to remove in the future.” Before the revolution, the Syrian government scattered vast silo complexes around the country, enough to store a five-year strategic wheat supply. But the wheat in the silos that have not been destroyed has disappeared. Transitional council members said they suspected that it was seized by militant Islamist groups or government loyalists, particularly Alawites, the same sect as President Bashar al-Assad, who either sold it abroad or shipped it to the Alawite coastal hinterland in case the final battle for Syria became a siege against that powerful minority. About one-quarter of Syria’s 23 million people live in Aleppo Province, with nearly 3 million in the city of Aleppo itself. The war has made exact statistics on the need for bread hard to assess, but the hundreds of people lining up for five hours and more for bread are testament to the shortage. The few bakeries still running produce enough to satisfy maybe one-quarter of the need, Mr. Khanji said. The price has shot up from 15 Syrian pounds, about 21 cents, for a bag of about eight flat, pitalike loaves to more than 200 pounds, nearly $3, fluctuating unpredictably “like the stock market,” as one resident put it. Affluent Syrians in Gaziantep, even if they could afford the price, said it was one reason they had fled. A Syrian dentist with a clinic in west Aleppo, still controlled by the government, said people rang his bell at least 10 times a day begging for bread or money. “Some middle-class people are begging on the streets because their houses are destroyed and they have no work, so they have no money to buy food,” said the dentist, declining to use her name because she fears for her safety if she decides to return home. It is not a problem only in Aleppo. Bread shortages have also been reported across Syria in Deir al-Zour, Raqqa, Idlib, Homs and even the suburbs of Damascus, with YouTube videos showing long lines in various towns. Razan S. Alsham, an organizer working in Antakya, Turkey, for the Washington-based Syrian Emergency Task Force, is trying to raise $10,000 to repair shelling damage to a 12-silo complex in Masakan, a city east of Aleppo, which she said still held enough wheat to feed 500,000 people for 200 days. A cartoon posted online shows Santa Claus reading a Christmas wish list from Syria that scrolls off into the distance. Every single request is “bread.” While governments and private organizations have donated tens of millions of dollars for food aid , officials said delivering it to northern Syria was enormously difficult, given both the danger and the scale involved. By United Nations estimates, some two and a half million Syrians inside the country need aid and that number could grow to four million next year. Members of the Aleppo transitional council said the scale required foreign governments to help because the task was too big for nongovernmental organizations. They are focused on two solutions for the bread crisis. Either ship the fuel and flour needed to run the bakeries (not to mention the hospitals and other institutions) to Aleppo or produce the bread in safer areas near Turkey and transport it south. Both solutions are cumbersome and expensive. Qatar gave $8 million to help create local councils, and Aleppo’s share of that is $1 million. Much of it will be spent on finding a solution to the bread crisis, transitional council members said, as will half of a $5 million donation from private Syrian businessmen in the United Arab Emirates. Council members said the lack of tangible aid from the West, particularly after a string of visitors had promised to help, was fueling suspicions that Syrians were being deliberately starved. Maybe, they said, Western governments think that Syrians will be more amenable to some sort of compromise that would keep Mr. Assad in place, at least through a transitional period. “The regime is killing us with shelling,” said a top aide to the council’s president, declining to use his name because he still returns to government-controlled areas. “While the rest of the world is killing us with hunger, disease and cold. The result is the same.”

Middle East and North Africa Unrest (2010- )


New York Escalates Investigation Into Promontory Financial Group

Abstract: When an executive at one of Wall Street’s top consulting firms testified before Congress two years ago, he stressed the importance of independence in reviewing bank misdeeds, declaring, “If we merely told our clients what they want to hear, we would lose credibility.” A long-running New York State investigation into potential conflicts of interest at the firm, Promontory Financial Group, is now calling some of that credibility into question, according to lawyers briefed on the matter. And in an escalation of the investigation, state authorities recently subpoenaed several of the firm’s employees, including the executive who testified before Congress. The subpoenas from New York’s financial regulator, the latest step in a two-year inquiry, require that at least six Promontory employees sit for depositions beginning on Tuesday, the lawyers said. The development signals that the investigation, which at times grew bitter as Promontory resisted the regulator’s requests for documents, has reached its final stages and could soon yield a punishment. The scrutiny threatens the reputation of Promontory, a firm staffed with so many former federal officials that it is known as Wall Street’s shadow regulator. The consultant, whose founder and chief executive, Eugene A. Ludwig, is a onetime banking regulator and a law school friend of Bill Clinton, occupies a position of trust on Wall Street, providing regulators with what is supposed to be an impartial window into misconduct like money laundering and sanctions violations. The New York investigation centers on one such assignment Promontory performed for the British bank Standard Chartered , which was suspected of processing billions of dollars on behalf of Iran. The bank hired Promontory to review its transactions with Iranian entities, as well as other sanctioned countries, and report the findings to regulators. After reviewing drafts of the report and internal emails, the New York regulator has questioned whether Promontory helped obscure some of the same misconduct it was supposed to unearth, according to lawyers briefed on the investigation. The regulator examined whether Promontory, under pressure from Standard Chartered and its lawyers, sanitized the report to play down the scope of the illicit transactions. As the investigation progressed, Promontory offered to have some executives meet with state investigators, an offer that led to the recent subpoenas. “We have sought for nearly two years to provide N.Y.D.F.S. with a complete understanding of the facts in this matter and, to that end, recently encouraged it to meet with our professionals,” the firm said in a statement, referring to the New York Department of Financial Services. “We stand behind our work on this engagement and the integrity of the Promontory professionals who did that work, and share the department’s commitment to consultant independence.” Mr. Ludwig, the chief executive, is not being deposed and is not suspected of wrongdoing. Although the regulator expects to depose Konrad Alt, the firm’s chief operating officer and the man who testified before Congress in 2013, Mr. Alt is not suspected of wrongdoing. Still, the investigation into Promontory is the latest threat to Wall Street’s consulting industry, whose influence has come under the microscope after prominent missteps. The firm’s rivals, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte, have already settled as a result of similar investigations by the New York regulator, paying fines and accepting temporary suspensions from certain assignments. Those settlements — PricewaterhouseCoopers paid $25 million, while Deloitte paid $10 million — could provide a template for a possible settlement with Promontory, although negotiations would not begin until after the depositions. The negotiations could ultimately break down, leading the New York regulator to file a legal action against the firm. The regulator need not prove a legal violation to punish the firm, only that it lacked the objectivity expected of consultants. Thanks to a quirk in an obscure state law dating to the end of the 19th century, the regulator has the authority to withhold documents that consultants need to advise a bank, effectively hamstringing their business. The crackdown on consultants — which began under Benjamin M. Lawsky , New York’s former financial regulator, and is now being overseen by Anthony Albanese , his interim successor and previous chief of staff — stems from a concern that the industry’s business model is rife with conflicts of interest. While consultants often claim that they provide an impartial assessment of a bank’s problems, they are also handpicked and paid by those same banks. Despite those conflicts, regulators have leaned on consultants to conduct the sort of large-scale examinations the government cannot afford to undertake. But after recent concerns arose about PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte succumbing to pressure from banking clients, regulators began to reconsider that reliance, prompting them to release new guidelines for the use of consultants. Faced with criticism, the consulting industry has defended its work. Some firms also emphasized that, at least in certain cases, they do not claim to operate as “independent consultants.” Even so, consultants typically promise government authorities that they adhere to industry standards requiring impartiality. Promontory has done just that. During his congressional testimony, Mr. Alt, Promontory’s chief operating officer, stated that the firm’s “business model requires us to bring a high level of independent judgment to all of our engagements, not just when we are formally designated as independent consultants.” In the depositions this week, the New York regulator is expected to question Mr. Alt about those assertions, according to the lawyers briefed on the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly. The regulator will most likely contrast those statements with concerns about the objectivity of the firm’s 2011 report regarding Standard Chartered, even though Mr. Alt was not involved in the report. The depositions represent an escalation of an investigation that was already hostile. When the New York regulator requested Promontory’s correspondence with Standard Chartered, the firm balked, according to the lawyers briefed on the matter. Promontory contended that it was hired by the bank’s lawyers, an arrangement that might have shielded those records under attorney-client privilege. That argument spurred an unusually contentious debate that threatened to stall, or even derail, the investigation. After the regulator threatened to take Promontory to court, Standard Chartered agreed to produce the documents for the sole purposes of the investigation into Promontory. The regulator’s interactions with Standard Chartered have been even more difficult. In 2012, the bank agreed to pay $667 million to several agencies, including the New York regulator, the Justice Department and the Manhattan district attorney’s office. That did not end its problems. Two years later, the New York regulator took action once again, forcing the bank to pay a $300 million fine and suspend an important business activity because of its failure to weed out transactions prone to money laundering. The bank, which recently overhauled its top management, is now once again under criminal investigation. The Justice Department is examining whether it committed sanctions violations beyond those covered in the 2012 deal, which centered on what the bank called “Project Gazelle,” an effort to forge “new relationships with Iranian companies.”

Promontory Financial Group
Standard Chartered Bank
New York
Money laundering
Iran
Banking and Finance
Conflict of interest
Anthony J. Albanese
Benjamin M Lawsky
Eugene A Ludwig


Satmar Rift Complicates Politics of Brooklyn Hasidim

Abstract: There is an enduring belief among some New York political aficionados that Hasidic Jews vote in a bloc. Capture the support of a chief rabbi and you capture the entire Hasidic sect. But the divisions in several Hasidic sects have made once-simple calculations far more complicated, as shown by the preliminary results in the recent Democratic primary for the Congressional seat held by Nydia M. Velázquez , a district that embraces Brooklyn’s Hasidic enclave in Williamsburg. The Satmar are the largest Hasidic sect in the United States, with its stronghold in Williamsburg, but with the death of Moses Teitelbaum , the Satmar grand rabbi, in 2006, their ranks have been sundered by a dynastic battle between two of his sons, Aaron and Zalman. And politics has become a favored way for each side to demonstrate its ascendancy. Two days after Representative Velázquez’s triumph in the June 26 primary, the Aroynem, as Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum’s followers are known in a transliteration from the Yiddish, issued a news release claiming that their “political muscle” in marshaling 4,000 of her 16,000 votes spelled the difference in Ms. Velázquez’s victory over City Councilman Erik Martin Dilan. He had the backing of the Zaloynim, the followers of Rabbi Zalman Teitelbaum. They also contended that their votes were crucial in two other Brooklyn elections in recent years, that of State Senator Daniel L. Squadron and Councilman David G. Greenfield. The Aroynem, based in Kiryas Joel, a village near Monroe, N.Y., even claimed they were fast rivaling the numbers of the Zaloynim in their base of Williamsburg. “Williamsburg is no longer under the complete control of the Zaloynim,” Rabbi Moishe Indig, a leader of the Aroynem, said in a statement issued after the primary by the public relations firm George Arzt Communications. “The Aroynem have just as much power and influence.” The claim — trumpeted in a banner headline in the Aroynem newspaper that said “Mazel Tov Williamsburg” — was quickly disputed as an exaggeration by partisans for Zalman Teitelbaum. Rabbi David Niederman, chief executive of United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg , who is a supporter of Mr. Dilan but whose social service organization claims neutrality, contends that the Zaloynim, with allies from other Hasidic sects in Williamsburg, turned out more than 60 percent of the Hasidic vote for Mr. Dilan. Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez, the Brooklyn Democratic leader who is allied with the Zaloynim, made the same claim. The quarrel, which has little to do with any standard political issue like taxes or abortion, suggests that the succession disputes in Hasidic sects are starting to affect Hasidic power in politics at a time when there are dynastic conflicts within at least three of the largest sects, Satmar, Bobov and Viznitz. Some political professionals contend that the disputes have weakened the effectiveness of the Hasidim. Imagine, they say, if the warring Satmar factions had joined together on behalf of, say, Mr. Dilan. Then the bloc vote would be as powerful as the myth has made it seem. The Satmar number 150,000 worldwide, and Williamsburg, with perhaps 60,000 adherents, is its largest enclave. While he was still vigorous, Rabbi Moses Teitelbaum appointed Aaron, the older brother, leader in Kiryas Joel, which now has 23,000 Satmar Hasidim, the village’s entire population, and from that perch Aaron Teitelbaum saw himself as the presumptive heir. But his brother was the father’s deputy in Williamsburg, and when the father suffered the terminal decline of Alzheimer’s, Zalman Teitelbaum and his organization assumed the reins of leadership there. In the aftermath, disputes have cropped up at every turn, over who owns which schools, synagogues, summer camps and real estate. (The two groups both agree that Israel should not have established itself as a state until the coming of the Messiah, a belief that defines the Satmar sect.) Samuel Heilman, a professor of sociology at the City University of New York who is writing a book on the succession battles in Hasidic dynasties, said it did not matter who the Congressional candidates were and their positions; the two sides, he said, would have ended up as adversaries. “It could have been Tweedledum and Tweedledee — the two sides would have opposed each other,” said Professor Heilman, who compares the fights to dynastic battles in royal families. “Each of them wants to say we speak for Satmar so they can look as if they were the deciding factor, an important bloc in the election. Then when that particular candidate needs to turn to the Satmar community, he or she will turn to that faction.” One reason so many dynastic squabbles emerged in the past decade, Professor Heilman said, is that the grand rabbis are living longer, sometimes too long to have the vigor to conclusively determine whom their successors will be or so long that their increasingly entrenched institutional court refuses to cede power. In Hasidic Europe before World War II , a contender to the throne unhappy with a chosen successor could set up his seat in a neighboring village, Mr. Heilman said. But since the war, with the consolidation of Hasidim into relatively few sects, each sect’s brand name has been enshrined so that successors want to become, say, the Satmar rebbe, not the Kiryas Joel rebbe. In Williamsburg, the Aroynem have set up parallel synagogues, yeshivas, ritual baths, matzo factories, Yiddish newspapers, social service organizations, meat markets and wedding halls, many of them created virtually overnight. There has also been a bitter dispute over who owns four summer camps in Ulster County, a quarrel in which Mr. Lopez personally intervened on behalf of the Zaloynim. A perennial dispute involves public housing. Both sides are eager for more to be developed in Williamsburg, where Hasidic leaders want more three- and four-bedroom apartments for their large families, while Hispanic leaders want a larger allocation of smaller apartments for their community. The Zaloynim contend Mr. Dilan has been more helpful in that dispute, while the Aroynem laud Ms. Velázquez. The issue is held up in the courts to determine whether current plans for the site would have a discriminatory effect. Whatever the basis of the dynastic quarrel, pragmatism often trumps ideology and sometimes produces strange bedfellows. When the Aroynem wanted a mikvah — a ritual bath — for their followers in Williamsburg, they needed zoning permits and, according to community leaders, sought out the political muscle of two councilmen close to Mr. Lopez, Stephen Levin and Mr. Dilan. With Rabbi Niederman’s prodding, the two councilmen provided the needed help.

Kiryas Joel (NY)
Williamsburg (NYC)
Hasidism
Elections
Rabbis
United States Politics and Government
New York City


Landlords Require Guarantors for Some Tenants

Abstract: In New York City real estate, there are few titles more thankless than guarantor. But they are needed by many. People who do not make enough to afford their paycheck-devouring rents must find a wealthy relative, a benevolent family friend or perhaps a kidnapped and hypnotized multimillionaire to supply personal financial information and assume responsibility for their leases. Rachel Wagner, Emily Coit and Taylor Jewell, recent college graduates and childhood friends from Portland, Ore., discovered that finding such a guardian angel was almost as hard as finding an apartment. They had lined up a $3,400-a-month apartment on the Upper East Side, but could not meet the standard Manhattan landlord requirement that their combined salaries equal 40 times the monthly rent, or $136,000. So they would need a guarantor making 70 times the rent, $238,000. Many landlords prefer guarantors who live nearby, because it is much harder to pursue judgments from afar, said Jamie Heiberger, a lawyer who represents landlords. But in August, the landlord for the apartment the young women were trying to rent changed the building’s policy requiring the guarantor to live in the region. The women made awkward calls to relatives and friends. Ms. Coit was going to ask an uncle from Buffalo who is in his 70s. But she ultimately did not, because his income would not qualify. She asked a family friend from Connecticut, who declined because he felt uncomfortable providing his tax returns, bank statements and Social Security number. Ms. Jewell’s uncle, who has real estate investments here, also did not qualify under the income requirements. Blair Brandt, whose referral company, the Next Step Realty , helped these friends find their broker and guided them through the process, said many graduates arriving in Manhattan had been facing this problem. Ms. Heiberger said landlords were being extra careful because the recession had made the problem of unpaid rent so widespread. “There can be the hedge fund guy that’s out of a job, or it could be the college student that can’t find a job,” she said. The friends’ parents reached an agreement with the landlord by putting several months’ rent in escrow; the friends recently moved in. But they still find the requirement strange. Ms. Jewell’s father, Steve Jewell, who is a landlord in Portland, does not require his renters to have guarantors. “It’s far beyond certainly anything that would be done in Portland,” Mr. Jewell said. “But we understand it’s a different market.” ‘Transitional’ Nesting While it sometimes seems as if there is an endless stream of New Yorkers spending their Wall Street bonuses and inheritances on Classic Six co-ops and glassy condominiums, there are, of course, plenty of New Yorkers who want more than anything to buy, but simply cannot. As they wait for their fortunes to turn, some of them spruce up the homes in which they are, at least for now, stuck. After Linda La Porte and Anthony Torres married in August 2009, they settled into an apartment they rented from a friend in Astoria, Queens, while they saved for a down payment. But in June, their friend had to move back into his apartment. Then Mr. Torres received orders from the Air Force Reserve to head to flight school, leaving Ms. La Porte to move their belongings into a smaller, $1,900-a-month apartment nearby. To distract herself from missing her husband, Ms. La Porte attended a workshop held by the decorator Jill Vegas to pick up some ideas. She replaced the red curtains she had hastily put up, chose a photograph of a geisha to place over the couch and bought turquoise and cream throw pillows. She kept her husband updated with photographs. “It kind of helps me focus on something else,” Ms. La Porte said. “We didn’t expect him to be gone so long. That’s been very, very hard to deal with.” Ms. Vegas said she had seen uncertainty among many of the 150 students who attended her decorating classes this fall, with many “wanting to snuggle in to what they have.” One of her students, Virginia Foxton, wants to buy in the suburbs with her husband, Mark, and their 11-month-old daughter, Avery. But they had to wait, because they could not sell the condo they own in San Francisco, where they used to live; it had been tied up in a lawsuit, with the developer going bankrupt. In October, they moved to a new rental in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, from the Upper West Side and tried to make the small space feel new by removing some clutter. They stored furniture and a barbecue and donated baby toys and a car seat to an expectant friend. Since the lawsuit has just settled, they hope to buy within a year. “It’s definitely a transitional place, but it feels new,” Ms. Foxton said of the new apartment. “The focus is eventually on living in a space that we own.”

Renting and Leasing
Housing and Real Estate
New York City


A Joyful Bustle to Get Ready for Guests: Syrian Refugees

Abstract: LANCASTER, Pa. — A dull gray house on a hillside has to become a home. Another Syrian family of refugees will be arriving soon, and this empty, echoing old place needs to be readied in welcome. The word has trickled down from the State Department’s refugee resettlement program. A mother, a father, his brother and four children, the youngest just 10. Muslims, traveling from Turkey. Flying into New York in the next few days. Their imminent arrival explains all the commotion inside this slate-colored house in the small city of Lancaster, in south-central Pennsylvania. The state may have gone to Donald J. Trump, who likened the Syrian resettlement program to a “a great Trojan horse” for terrorists. But he isn’t president yet. Image Cups and plates awaiting the family’s arrival. Credit Todd Heisler/The New York Times That is why volunteers and staff members from the Church World Service, a nationwide nonprofit that helps the government take in refugees fleeing violence and persecution, are cleaning cabinets, carting furniture and doing their best to make things homey. Just not too homey. “Doing too much can make a family feel like it’s someone else’s home,” says Josh Digrugilliers, 26, the group’s local housing specialist, whose crowded key chain jangles in reminder of all the refugees in need. He scours a government checklist of housing requirements for a resettlement, mindful that whatever he spends is deducted from a refugee’s one-time government grant of no more than $1,125. A family’s combined grants must cover its rent and other expenses until the nonprofit has helped the adults acquire Social Security numbers and jobs. Image Amer Alfayadh, a senior case manager, and Orion Hernandez carrying a dresser for the house. Credit Todd Heisler/The New York Times The used furniture being trundled in reflects the emphasis on economy. Some comes from the donations hoarded in a cluttered garage, where a “Welcome Home” sign in Arabic is on display. Other items were acquired cheap — chairs for $5, tables for $20 — at Root’s Old Mill Flea Market. New paint and flooring give the house the smell of a fresh start, thanks to the landlord, John Liang, who came to Lancaster as a child, one of the “boat people” who fled Vietnam on dangerously overcrowded vessels after the war. He spent a year in a notoriously hellish refugee camp before coming to Lancaster, where he and his family delivered newspapers, shoveled snow, did sewing and assembly-line work. Anything. Now 45, Mr. Liang works overtime at a nearby Kellogg’s cereal plant and manages several properties he owns, including this house, which he wants to be — just so. Image Ms. Garver checking for hot water during a final inspection. Credit Todd Heisler/The New York Times “There are other people living a lot harder, tougher, than what I went through,” he says. A History of Acceptance Mr. Digrugilliers applies his checklist to the kitchen, where the counter is crowded with mismatched dinnerware, new appliances and clutches of flatware bound with rubber bands. Draped over the oven handle is a dish towel printed with a calendar for 1968, another tumultuous year. Then to the bedrooms upstairs. The children’s twin beds, bought at discount from the Lancaster Mattress Company, are covered with the black G of the Georgia Bulldogs, the winged wheel of the Detroit Red Wings and other invitations to sleep in cocoons of American culture. Armed with a list of what he needs, he and a colleague, Orion Hernandez, climb into a beat-up van reeking of McDonald’s. They head to Walmart, where Mr. Digrugilliers recognizes a thin man — a Nepalese refugee who resettled here two years ago — leaving as he is walking in. Image Luis Mañuel Ortiz, a caseworker with the Church World Service, hanging blinds. Credit Todd Heisler/The New York Times “Hey, how are you?” Mr. Digrugilliers calls out. “Hello,” the man calls back. Such encounters happen often in Lancaster, whose rich history of acceptance is rooted, in part, in the influence of the Mennonites, Amish and other faiths. A glimpse of the local worldview came in January when a supportive rally of more than 200 people drowned out a much smaller anti-immigrant protest outside the Church World Service office here. Sheila Mastropietro, the group’s longtime supervisor in Lancaster, took heart in the moment. It reflected a communal understanding of both the global refugee crisis and the rigorous screening process that refugees undergo before coming to the United States. Still, given a president-elect who seems averse to the country’s modest commitment to refugee relocation, Ms. Mastropietro says, “We don’t know what to expect.” Image The landlord, John Liang, 45, fled Vietnam as a child. “There are other people living a lot harder, tougher, than what I went through,” he said. Credit Todd Heisler/The New York Times Last fiscal year, the Lancaster office of the Church World Service helped to resettle 407 of the 85,000 refugees admitted to this country; this fiscal year, its target is 550 of a hoped-for 110,000. “We are acting as if the numbers are going to be the same — until we hear something different,” she says. Decades of resettlement work have transformed the Lancaster area into a medley of cultures so rich that Amer Alfayadh, 34, a senior case manager, struggles to name them all: “Syrians, Iraqis, Somalis, Congolese, Ukrainians, Belorussians, people from Kazakhstan. Then, of course, Lebanese, Palestinians. Bhutanese, Nepalese, Burmese, Sri Lankans …” Image Segundo Triana, left, an interpreter from Cuba, working with recently arrived Cubans during a cultural orientation class sponsored by the Church World Service in Lancaster. Credit Todd Heisler/The New York Times Mr. Alfayadh himself arrived from Iraq in 2010. Though trained as an engineer, he worked at a Lowe’s — customer service, paint, lawn and garden — and as a substitute teacher before being hired to help other refugees. He is accustomed now to urgent late-night calls from fresh arrivals unfamiliar with, say, locks on doors. New clients are often at their breaking point, uncertain what to make of this exotic land called Pennsylvania. Knowing how difficult it can be for anyone in crisis to see ahead — to jobs, school, a future — Mr. Alfayadh says he tries to impart a simple message: “O.K. Tomorrow will be better.” At Walmart, Mr. Digrugilliers and Mr. Hernandez commandeer two shopping carts each and begin racing through the cavernous store like contestants on the old “Supermarket Sweep” game show, grabbing specific items, down to umbrellas and sanitary pads. His purchases complete, Mr. Digrugilliers mounts his cart and wheels it into the dusk like a skateboard, exuberant with hope that some refugee family’s journey will be just as smooth. Image The home was prepared for a family of six: a father, a mother, three daughters and a boy. Credit Todd Heisler/The New York Times It is not. The Church World Service soon receives word that this particular family’s resettlement has been delayed — a not-uncommon development that could be caused by something as simple as a spike in an asylum-seeker’s blood pressure at the airport. But there is no shortage of tempest-tossed refugees. Mr. Alfayadh’s supervisor, Valentina Ross, remembers that another Syrian family is arriving in a few days: a father, a mother, three daughters and a boy. They will need a home. Holiday Spirit Abounds Today is the day. A holiday spirit has taken hold in downtown Lancaster, with a colossal Christmas tree glittering in Penn Square and ancient brick houses swathed in festive lights. Image One of the beds. Other bedding included symbols of American culture: the logos of the Georgia Bulldogs and the Detroit Red Wings. Credit Todd Heisler/The New York Times A mile away, a Church World Service caseworker named Gaby Garver, a focused college graduate of 22, is collecting provisions for the new family at a food pantry. Signing some paperwork, she says, “And no meat products for the family, please.” As Ms. Garver prepares to leave with milk, vegetables and other items, a pantry volunteer asks: “Since you didn’t take any meat, would you like some extra rice?” Yes, please. More food is needed. Ms. Garver guides her 1999 Pontiac through the cold rain to the Save-A-Lot supermarket, where many goods sit in cut-open cardboard cases. She leaves 10 minutes later with bread, fruit, beans, sugar, tea and a receipt for $26.58, to be deducted from the family’s grant money. Image Members of a Syrian family that arrived earlier this year, and that made a meal for the newcomers. Credit Todd Heisler/The New York Times Hunched against the weather, the slight young woman makes two trips carrying the food into the drab gray house. After stocking the refrigerator and cabinet, she conducts a last-minute inspection. The fridge is cold. The tap has hot water. The burners on the gas stove ignite. Everything upstairs is fine as well, with even more homey touches added. New pajamas and towels. New clothes hangers. New picture frames, showing stock photos of cheerful families, on the shelves. And on one twin bed, a child’s soccer ball, still in its box. Hugs and Handshakes The rain has stopped, a slice of moon risen. Ms. Garver is driving now to the home of a Syrian family that arrived seven months ago. The mother has cooked a hot meal for the refugee family that is about to land any minute in New York, a good three-hour drive away. Image Light from a window beckoned the new occupants. Credit Todd Heisler/The New York Times Inside, where five young children zip and waddle about, the prepared meal sits in expectation on the dining-room table: a large aluminum tray bountiful with chicken and rice and a huge bowl of salad. The oldest child, Mohamad, 14, helps Ms. Garver carry the food out to her vehicle, and she thanks him. He responds with the formality given to a new language being tried on for size. “You’re welcome,” the boy says, and smiles. Returning to the gray house, Ms. Garver fumbles in the dark to open the door while holding the tray of still-hot food. When she returns with the salad bowl, she stoops to collect a clump of junk mail, including a come-on addressed to “Our Neighbor.” Later tonight, Ms. Garver and Mr. Alfayadh will drive a Ford van to Lancaster Airport, where they will meet two representatives from the local Islamic Center. Soon after, another van will arrive from Kennedy International Airport. Hugs and handshakes will be exchanged in the December air. Luggage will be collected. And six Syrian refugees will be driven the 20 minutes to a warm home perfumed by warm food, in a city made radiant by the multicolored lights of the season.

Refugees,Internally Displaced People
Church World Service
Lancaster
Immigration
Real Estate
Housing
Syria


Fantasy Football Week 7: Rankings and Matchup Analysis

Abstract: Eddie Lacy’s fantasy football owners finally received good news this week: The Packers have a bye for N.F.L. Week 7 . We have been down this road before, with Lacy getting off to a slow start in 2014, but things might be different this time. Last season, Lacy topped 10 fantasy points only two times in his first six games and averaged 3.5 per game in the other four games, but still finished as fantasy’s sixth best back by averaging 17.5 F.P.P.G. the remainder of the season. This season, Lacy scored 15 fantasy points and rushed for his only touchdown in Week 1, and he has averaged four F.P.P.G. in the five games since. One big difference this season is that Lacy is dealing with an ankle injury, so in that regard, the bye week is a welcome break. But Packers Coach Mike McCarthy seems intent on continuing to have James Starks involved in the run game, and not in a minor way. “We want to be a one-two punch,” McCarthy said this week. “At this point, I’m not really interested in running one of my running backs 20, 25 times in a game.” The coming schedule is more bad news for Lacy’s productivity, with tough matchups with the Broncos, the Panthers and the Vikings in the next four weeks. So, enjoy the break, Lacy owners, and continue reading for analysis on the backs who are playing in Week 7. Be sure to check out our complete player rankings for N.F.L. Week 7. You can also find us on Twitter at @5thDownFantasy. Fantasy Football Rankings 2015 These player rankings from the Sablich brothers are for standard and PPR scoring formats and will be updated throughout the season. Bills (3-3) at Jaguars (1-5) 9:30 a.m. (London) Line: Bills by 5.5 Quarterback E.J. Manuel (BUF) — The Jaguars’ 22 nd ranked pass defense was just burned by Brian Hoyer for 293 yards and three touchdowns. They have allowed 279 yards per game and a 10-to-1 TD-to-INT ratio. Manuel could prove to be decent bye-week fill-in. Blake Bortles (JAX) — While Bortles has been inconsistent, he continues to produce QB1 fantasy numbers, ranking fifth over all among quarterbacks. The Bills have permitted 18 fantasy points per week to opposing quarterbacks, and another pass-heavy day could be in store if running back T.J. Yeldon is forced to sit again. Running Back LeSean McCoy (BUF) — The offense should run through McCoy with Tyrod Taylor and Sammy Watkins out. Jacksonville allows the sixth most fantasy points to the position, including big games to Arian Foster and Doug Martin in the past two weeks. Wide Receiver/Tight End Robert Woods (BUF) — With Watkins out, Woods will be Manuel’s top receiver to target. Allen Robinson/Allen Hurns (JAX) — The Bills shut down A.J. Green last week, but over all, they have permitted the 10th most fantasy points to the position this year. You should feel fine starting both. Charles Clay (BUF) — Clay figures to be the focal point of the passing game with Watkins on the sideline. Jacksonville has served up more than 10 fantasy points to tight ends Coby Fleener and Rob Gronkowski. Image Andrew Luck returned to form last week against the Patriots. Credit Jeff Haynes/Associated Press Saints (2-4) at Colts (3-3) 1 p.m. Line: Colts by 4.5 Quarterback Drew Brees (NO) — The Colts’ 27 th ranked pass defense is allowing 298 passing yards per game and has mustered just eight sacks. Brees has thrown for at least 300 yards in four of five games. Oddsmakers are picking this matchup to be the highest scoring game of the week, which is always a plus for fantasy quarterbacks. Andrew Luck (IND) — He finally looked more like his old self with last week’s 312-yard, three-touchdown performance. We are expecting another one as he faces a Saints defense allowing the second most fantasy points to the position (21 F.P.P.G.). Running Back Mark Ingram (NO) — A model of consistency, Ingram has reached double digit fantasy points in all but one of his six games. The Colts are serving up 19 F.P.P.G. and rank 20 th over all against the run. Frank Gore/Ahmad Bradshaw (IND) — The Saints are a top five matchup for opposing running backs, and have served up a jaw-dropping 433 rushing yards, 155 receiving yards and five total touchdowns to the position over the last three weeks. Wide Receiver Willie Snead/Brandin Cooks (NO) — This is an outstanding matchup for Saints receivers, as the Colts allow the third most fantasy points to the position. They have permitted a receiver to top 100 receiving yards in four of their six games played, and the second most passing touchdowns with nine. T.Y. Hilton/Donte Moncrief (IND) — The Saints are giving up 283 passing yards per game. You can feel safe starting both yet again this week. Image Chris Ivory is a must-start this week against the Patriots. Credit Brad Penner/USA Today Sports, via Reuters Jets (4-1) at Patriots (5-0) 1 p.m. Eastern. Line: Patriots by 9 Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick (NYJ) — He has thrown for multiple touchdowns in all but one game this year, and is likely to throw a lot Sunday to keep up with Tom Brady. The Patriots are the ninth best fantasy matchup for quarterbacks. Tom Brady (NE) — The Jets have the top-ranked pass defense in the league, allowing 198 passing yards per game. While standard league owners can never bench Brady, daily league players may want to steer clear. The Darrelle Revis-less Jets held Brady to 182 yards, one touchdown and one interception the last time they played (Week 16, 2014). Running Back Chris Ivory (NYJ) — New York’s bell cow is averaging the second most fantasy points per game among his peers (19), which is more than the likes of Le’Veon Bell and Peterson. He’s an automatic start against New England’s 22 nd ranked run defense. Dion Lewis/LeGarrette Blount (NE) — Lewis played his worst game last week, perhaps because of an abdomen injury. He is the preferred RB play, if healthy, as the Jets’ only real weakness on defense has been against pass-catching backs with similar skill sets. Wide Receiver/Tight End Brandon Marshall/Eric Decker (NYJ) — Both are locked-in starts against a Patriots unit allowing the eighth most fantasy points to the position this year. Julian Edelman (NE) — WR1s are averaging just 40 yards and have one touchdown in their last four games against the Jets. Rob Gronkowski (NE) — The Jets are likely to be his toughest matchup all year. But he has to start every week. Image Adrian Peterson has a great matchup and should be the focal point of the Vikings' offense in Week 7. Credit Ann Heisenfelt/Associated Press Vikings (3-2) at Lions (1-5) 1 p.m. Line: Vikings by 2 Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater (MIN) — Bridgewater’s best fantasy day of the season came against the Lions in Week 2 (20 F.P.s), but he has averaged just 11 F.P.P.G. since. Adrian Peterson should be the focal point of this offense this week, but the Lions are permitting 281 yards a game through the air, if you’re feeling lucky. Matthew Stafford (DET) — Minnesota has been stout against the pass the last three games, limiting quarterbacks Peyton Manning, Alex Smith and Philip Rivers to a 12-point fantasy average. Stafford threw for 286 yards and two touchdowns against the Vikings in Week 2 and did look better last week. Running Back Adrian Peterson (MIN) — Detroit ranks 26 th against the run and allows 120 rushing yards per game. Peterson went off for 192 total yards on 31 total touches in Week 2. Theo Riddick/Ameer Abdullah/Joique Bell (DET) — Abdullah managed just 9 rushing yards and 9 receiving yards on seven total touches in Week 2’s meeting. Bell is likely to return this week, and Riddick has been seeing meaningful carries as well. Stay away from this messy situation in Week 7. Wide Receiver/Tight End Calvin Johnson/Golden Tate (DET) — Cornerback Xavier Rhodes has played well against Johnson in recent matchups, but Megatron got the best of him in Week 2 (10/83/1 TD). Tate also managed 80 yards on six receptions. Kyle Rudolph (MIN) — This is a plus matchup, as Detroit gives up the eighth most fantasy points to opposing tight ends. Rudolph had five receptions and a touchdown in Week 2. Image Devonta Freeman, the top fantasy running back this season, gets another great matchup in Week 7. Credit Bill Kostroun/Associated Press Falcons (5-1) at Titans (1-4) 1 p.m. Line: Falcons by 4.5 Quarterback Matt Ryan (ATL) — The Titans rank second in the league against the pass (204 Y.P.G.) and ninth in sacks and interceptions in five games played. Ryan is a low-end QB1 option this weekend. Running Back Devonta Freeman (ATL) — The Titans enter Week 7 play with the league’s 28th-ranked run defense, and one that has yielded at least 17 fantasy points to backs Frank Gore and Lamar Miller over the last three weeks. Bishop Sankey/Antonio Andrews (TEN) — Atlanta permits the second most fantasy points on the ground, but this backfield is as uninspiring as they come. Andrews led the team in touches last week with 10, and would be the desperation play this weekend. Wide Receiver Julio Jones/Leonard Hankerson/Roddy White (ATL) — Tennessee ranks second against the pass, allowing 204 passing yards per game, but could be without cornerback Perrish Cox, who is nursing a hamstring injury. Kendall Wright (TEN) — Wright saw just five targets last week after complaining about his limited role in the passing game. His situation degrades even further if quarterback Marcus Mariota misses the game. Delanie Walker (TEN) — Atlanta is permitting 10 F.P.P.G. to the position, and was just shredded by the Saints’ Benjamin Watson for 10 catches, 127 yards and a touchdown last week. Image Jeremy Maclin is expected to play this weekend. Credit Tim Umphrey/Associated Press Steelers (4-2) at Chiefs (1-5) 1 p.m. Line: Steelers by 2 Quarterback Alex Smith (KC) — While this is a plus matchup on paper, as the Steelers are 28 th against the pass, Smith hasn’t cracked 20 fantasy points since Week 1. Smith remains a low-end QB2. Ben Roethlisberger (PIT) — This is an outstanding matchup if he can play, as K.C. surrenders the third most fantasy points to the position (20 F.P.P.G.), but it’s not looking promising. Running Back Le’Veon Bell (PIT) — The Chiefs did manage to bottle up Adrian Peterson last week (60 yards on 26 carries), but were burned badly by Matt Forte and Jeremy Hill in the previous two games. Charcandrick West/Knile Davis (KC) — The Steelers rank 7 th against the run and have permitted the third fewest fantasy points to the position in six games played. They have yet to allow a rushing score this season. Avoid if possible. Wide Receiver/Tight End Jeremy Maclin (KC) — He is expected to be cleared to play after dealing with a concussion and will face a Pittsburgh secondary that allowed 339 receiving yards and one touchdown to the Arizona receiving corps last week. Antonio Brown/Martavis Bryant (PIT) — Both receivers get a massive boost if Roethlisberger plays, as the Chiefs allow the most fantasy points to the position. Travis Kelce (KC) — The Steelers are the third best matchup a tight end can have, allowing 12 F.P.P.G. Image Todd Gurley has many fantasy experts and owners excited this week. Credit Jeff Haynes/Associated Press Browns (2-4) at Rams (2-3) 1 p.m. Line: Rams by 4 Quarterback Josh McCown (CLE) — The Rams are permitting just 13 F.P.P.G. to the position. In a week full of byes, we still would not consider McCown this week. Running Back Todd Gurley (STL) — Gurley takes on the league’s worst run defense, as the Browns have allowed 149 yards per game to opposing backs. He is a consensus top-three running back play this week. Robert Turbin/Isaiah Crowell/Duke Johnson (CLE) — Turbin is now cutting into Crowell’s early down workload, which makes this backfield even harder to predict. Johnson is the best bet here, but avoid this situation if possible. Wide Receiver/Tight End Travis Benjamin (CLE) — The Rams are tied for the sixth most fantasy points allowed to wide receivers. Benjamin, the seventh ranked fantasy receiver after six games, remains a must-start. Gary Barnidge (CLE) — This guy is bound to have a bad week at some point, right? This would be the week, as the Rams have been tough on the position, allowing just 5 F.P.P.G. Image DeAndre Hopkins has been one of the safest starts are receiver this season. Credit Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press Texans (2-4) at Dolphins (2-3) 1 p.m. Line: Dolphins by 4 Quarterback Ryan Tannehill (MIA) — Houston is the sixth best matchup for quarterbacks at 23 F.P.P.G. He is a decent low-end QB1 option this weekend. Running Back Lamar Miller (MIA) — Miller is fresh off his first real fantasy contribution of the year and has a good chance to keep rolling against Houston’s 17th ranked run defense that is surrendering the 10 th most fantasy points to the position. Arian Foster (HOU) — A major mismatch in the making as Miami’s disappointing front seven is permitting the second most rushing yards per game (141). Wide Receiver/Tight End DeAndre Hopkins (HOU) — Elite receiving options like Allen Robinson (6/155/2 TDS) and Brandon Marshall (7/128) have had their way with this middle-of-the-road matchup. Continue to start and expect big numbers. Jarvis Landry (MIA) — The Texans have allowed at least 10 fantasy points to a receiver in five straight weeks. Landry ranks 31 st over all in standard league settings, averaging 8.9 points per game. Jordan Cameron (MIA) — The Jaguars’ Julius Thomas returned last week against the Texans and had seven receptions for 78 yards and a touchdown. The Texans are permitting the 11 th most fantasy points to the position. Image Doug Martin has the ninth most rushing yards this season. Credit Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press Buccaneers (2-3) at Redskins (2-4) 1 p.m. Line: Redskins by 3.5 Quarterback Jameis Winston (TB) — Washington’s banged-up secondary has yielded 20-plus fantasy points to the position in two of their last three contests, but Winston (14 F.P.P.G.) has yet to put together a solid game this year, and would still require nerves of steel to take a chance on this weekend. Running Back Doug Martin (TB) — Freeman and Ivory each managed at least 25 fantasy points against this fading run defense over the last two weeks. Martin ranks ninth in rushing yards and fifth over all in fantasy points. Alfred Morris / Matt Jones (WAS) — The Bucs’ 25 th ranked run defense has permitted 120 yards per game to opposing backs, and the 12 th most fantasy points to the position. This would be a good time to get Morris going, but that will not be easy if the star tackle Trent Williams remains sidelined. Wide Receiver Mike Evans/Vincent Jackson (TB) — The Redskins are the 11 th best fantasy matchup for receivers and the Jets’ Decker and Marshall had productive days against them last week. Start both. Image Eli Manning was having a great season until Monday night's game against the Eagles. Credit Al Bello/Getty Images Cowboys (2-3) at Giants (3-3) 4:25 p.m. Line: Giants by 4 Quarterback Eli Manning (NYG) — We’re not sure what to expect after last Monday night’s debacle. Manning typically plays well against the Cowboys, but he managed just 193 yards and no touchdowns against them in Week 1 and his offensive line remains a real concern. Treat him as a low-end QB1 and hope for the best. Running Back Joseph Randle/Christine Michael/Darren McFadden (DAL) — Word is that Christine Michael will take on a larger role this week, but Randle is still expected to remain the starter. This is a favorable matchup, as the Giants defense has allowed a double-digit fantasy performance to an opposing back in every game. We have Randle as a low-end RB2, and Michael as a flex to be on the safe side. Rashad Jennings/Shane Vereen (NYG) — The Giants have the 28 th ranked rushing offense. Dallas is allowing the fourth most fantasy points to the position has been taken for an absurd 211 rushing yards, 214 passing yards and three rushing touchdowns over their last three contests. That’s your glimmer of hope for starting Jennings this week. Vereen has been an afterthought in recent weeks, averaging four carries a game despite Andre Williams’s continued ineffectiveness. Wide Receiver/Tight End Terrance Williams (DAL) — The cornerback Prince Amukamara will sit out this one and cornerback Trumaine McBride could as well, but will Dallas quarterback Matt Cassel be able to capitalize? Williams hauled in five for 60 yards in Week 1. Jason Witten (DAL) — Giants linebacker Uani ‘Unga did a fairly good job against Witten in the opener, limiting him to six receptions and 60 yards. But two of those catches went for touchdowns. Image Philip Rivers remains a strong start at quarterback this week. Credit Matt Ludtke/Associated Press Raiders (2-3) at Chargers (2-4) 4:05 p.m. Line: Chargers by 4 Quarterback Philip Rivers (SD) — Rivers is averaging 408 passing yards and has a 7-to-1 TD-to-INT ratio over his last three games. The Raiders have allowed a pair of passing scores in four of their five games. Rivers is an elite play at quarterback this weekend. Running Back Latavius Murray (OAK) — Murray has been benched is his last two games because of poor play and ball security issues. But against fantasy’s most favorable running back matchup, it’s almost impossible to keep him on your bench. Melvin Gordon / Danny Woodhead (SD) — Gordon is expected to play Sunday despite missing Wednesday’s practice. His recent ball security issues and subpar play make him a risky start against the Raiders’ third ranked run defense (83.5 Y.P.G.). Woodhead continues to be the preferred play in both standard and P.P.R. leagues. Wide Receiver Amari Cooper (OAK) — Cooper draws the third worst fantasy matchup for receivers but is too talented to sit in any given week. The Chargers are yielding the fourth fewest receiving yards (729) and the fourth fewest touchdowns (4). Keenan Allen/Stevie Johnson (SD) — Allen should find success against a struggling D.J. Hayden. Oakland has surrendered double-digit fantasy performances to an opposing receiver in four consecutive games. Image Cam Newton has been one of the best fantasy players this season. Credit Ryan Kang/Associated Press Eagles (3-3) at Panthers (5-0) 8:30 p.m. Line: Panthers by 3 Quarterback Sam Bradford (PHI) — Bradford is averaging 13 F.P.P.G. and ranks 28 th in the N.F.L. in passing. The Panthers are permitting 14 fantasy points per game, the fourth fewest in the league. Cam Newton (CAR) — The Eagles have yielded just one 20-point fantasy day to opposing quarterbacks, but they were allowing an average of 302 passing yards per game before Week 6. Newton has been matchup proof so far, and should be treated as a high-end QB1 option. Running Back DeMarco Murray (PHI) — Carolina ranks 12th against the run, but has permitted an average of 22 fantasy points per game to opposing RB1s over the last three weeks. Murray has finally gotten out of the gate and cannot be benched now. Jonathan Stewart (CAR) — Stewart performed admirably against Seattle’s defense last week, but the sledding gets even tougher against an imposing Eagles front that has surrendered the second fewest fantasy points to the position . Wide Receiver Jordan Matthews (PHI) — The Panthers have held opposing WR1s Robinson, Hopkins and Evans to 112 scoreless total yards in previous weeks. Ted Ginn (CAR) — The Eagles are real bad at covering the position (sixth best WR matchup), which gives Ginn plenty of sleeper appeal this weekend. He has averaged just 4.3 targets per game over his last three, so do not expect the world. Image Steve Smith has a tough matchup with the Cardinals in Week 7. Credit Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press Ravens (1-5) at Cardinals (4-2) 8:30 p.m. (Monday) Line: Cardinals by 7.5 Quarterback Carson Palmer (ARI) — Fantasy’s fifth best quarterback gets the woeful Ravens secondary that is permitting the most fantasy points to the position (22 F.P.P.G.). Running Back Justin Forsett (BAL) — The Cardinals managed to limit the Steelers’ Bell to 88 yards on 24 carries last week and have permitted the sixth fewest fantasy points to the position. Chris Johnson (ARI) — The strength of the Ravens defense is their run stopping, which ranks ninth best in the league. Johnson is a low-end RB2 option once again in Week 7. Wide Receiver Steve Smith (BAL) — The ageless wonder continues to shine, but this is a tough matchup for anyone, as WR1s Brown, C. Johnson, Anquan Boldin and Cooks averaged just 39 receiving yards and 3.5 receptions against the Ravens earlier this season. Larry Fitzgerald/John Brown (ARI) — The Ravens’ 29 th ranked pass defense is allowing the second most fantasy points to opposing receivers. Brown is dealing with a hamstring issue, but played through it last week to the tune of 196 yards and 10 receptions.


Turnout Low at Sri Lanka Parliamentary Elections

Abstract: NEW DELHI — Three months after winning re-election in a landslide, Sri Lanka ’s president, Mahinda Rajapaksa , sought to solidify his party’s hold on power by securing a two-thirds majority in parliamentary elections held Thursday. Candidates and election monitors said that voter turnout appeared to be unusually low, especially given the circumstances: the country was holding its first parliamentary elections since the Tamil Tiger insurgency was defeated in May 2009. Mr. Rajapaksa was hoping to consolidate his presidential victory with a solid majority in Parliament. He has pledged to take firm steps to unite this ethnically divided and war-ravaged nation once the election is over. But opposition parties accuse him of seeking to turn Sri Lanka, one of South Asia’s oldest democracies, into an effectively one-party state by using government resources to ensure that his party’s candidates prevail. Mr. Rajapaksa’s main opponent in the presidential contest, a retired army general, Sarath Fonseka, is under arrest and in the midst of a court martial, accused of using his military post to advance his political career. Government officials say that he was plotting a coup. General Fonseka’s supporters say that the charges against him were brought to punish him for running against his onetime ally. Mr. Rajapaksa won the January election handily with 58 percent of the vote, against General Fonseka’s 40 percent. The opposition parties that had united in an unwieldy coalition behind General Fonseka went their separate ways for the parliamentary elections, and most are in disarray. The best they could hope for, analysts said, was to prevent Mr. Rajapaksa’s party from winning a sweeping majority that would allow it to rewrite the Constitution. “It is a low-turnout poll,” said Ravi Karunanayake, a candidate of the main opposition party, the United National Party. “Low turnout is likely to turn out to our advantage.” Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, director of the Center for Policy Alternatives, an independent public policy institute, said the low turnout was most likely a sign of voters’ apathy. “It is a paradoxical election,” Mr. Saravanamuttu said. “There are 7,600 candidates, but they don’t seem to have enthused their fellow citizens.” Mr. Rajapaksa, who was first elected in 2005 after promising to defeat the rebels, has pledged to use a large parliamentary majority to take measures to unify the country, which is split along religious and ethnic lines among the Sinhalese Buddhist majority, the minority Tamils, most of whom are Hindu, and a small Muslim population. The Tamil Tiger insurgency sought a separate homeland in northern Sri Lanka. After the Sri Lankan Army’s decisive defeat of the rebel group, most Tamil parties in Sri Lanka have given up on that dream and hope instead for a measure of self-rule within a united country. But many Sinhalese hard-liners see autonomy as a precursor to independence and want to keep the highly centralized system of government intact. Election-monitoring groups reported sporadic violence in the days before the voting, but election day was largely peaceful, according to the Center for Monitoring Election Violence.


In Texas Border Town, Drawing a Line on Coal for Mexico

Abstract: EAGLE PASS, Tex. — George Baxter knows how to fight. The East Coast native dodged bullets while serving in Vietnam. Later, as a United States Border Patrol agent, he guarded a vast swath of rough terrain just across from Mexico . But Mr. Baxter may be gearing up for his toughest battle yet, as he and a coalition of residents in his adopted town of Eagle Pass — across the border from Piedras Negras, Mexico — fight a coal partnership that they say is intent on destroying their peaceful way of life. The Dos Republicas Coal Partnership, which is owned by Mexican mining companies, has applied to renew a permit that would let its American partners mine about 6,300 acres of land in the border town. An existing permit already allows for mining, but officials said that work has not started because of several attempts to modify the permit to meet specifications, as well as supply-and-demand issues affecting potential customers. Residents worry that the mining will harm the environment and that they will lose land due to property damage. They are also concerned about having a Mexican company that is held to lower standards operate in Texas. Adding salt to their wounds is the fact that the coal, considered to be of too low quality to be burned in the United States, will be shipped to Mexico. A spokesman for Dos Republicas, which partners with North American Coal Corporation and a subsidiary, Camino Real Fuels, both based in Plano, said criticism of the partnership was unwarranted and the result of a misunderstanding. For now, the opposition is united. The Eagle Pass City Council and Maverick County Commissioners Court have approved resolutions opposing the project. The school and hospital districts, and the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas, are also protesting the project. “Coal that generates electric power has got to come from somewhere,” Mr. Baxter said at a recent town hall meeting. “But the fact that we are going to suffer all the consequences and all the power goes to Mexico is really the sticking point in my mind.” The permit application has set up the latest chapter in what the residents call a David-versus-Goliath battle against a corporation with deep pockets — deep enough to hire lawyers who could persuade the Texas Railroad Commission’s three members to grant the permit. That would pave the way for the company to mine as much as 2.8 million tons of coal annually. Rudy Rodriguez, a partner with Rodriguez Industries and Operations, which handles public relations for Dos Republicas, said the firm’s role in the proposed operation is overblown. The belief that “a Mexican company is operating here is not the case,” he said. “They are merely investors owning a permit.” Mr. Rodriguez said that the onus to comply with state and federal regulations, which he said are vastly different from Mexican policies, is on the American companies, which would manage the daily mining operations. “The companies meet the regulations in Mexico and in the United States,” he said. “The company, North American Coal, that comes over to operate this can’t have a black eye on this permit because it impacts their whole operation in the United States.” But people in Eagle Pass say that even if the regulations are met, the residents are in danger of being poisoned. They fear that the transport of low-quality coal will release particles into the air that will affect their breathing, and that discharge from mining operations will run off into the creek that feeds into the Rio Grande, the city’s main water source. The blasting, which officials with the coal companies said is possible if needed, could disrupt the already fragile terrain that is vulnerable to sinkholes, a byproduct of mining in the area over the last century. “What we want is for our voices to be heard because we feel like we are being discriminated against,” said Martha Baxter, Mr. Baxter’s wife. “Is it because we’re a poor community and don’t have a lot of money and fancy lawyers?” Mr. Rodriguez said that what the residents of Eagle Pass do not understand is that there is already coal moving through the city. Rail traffic that moves coal from sites farther north already passes through. “They are going to get it, whether it’s from up north or right there,” he said. “So right now you have no jobs and you are still having all that coal driven through that community.” The Railroad Commission will ultimately decide whether to renew the company’s permit. At a recent hearing in Austin, both sides began the painstaking process of pleading their cases to the hearing examiner, Marcy Spraggins, who will forward her recommendation to the commissioners. The hearing lasted a week, often stalling on minuscule details concerning endangered species, water runoff and vegetation. The process was mentally draining for all parties, including Ms. Spraggins. “I am perfectly capable of ending the proceeding because counsel are not acting appropriately,” she said to both sides. “You are not supposed to argue with the examiner, period. I am getting tired of hearing it.” The hearing will resume again over the next two months, and then the examiner will have 60 to 90 days to make a recommendation to the commission. Ms. Spraggins agreed to allow videoconferencing to obtain statements from the border residents who could not travel to Austin, which was small consolation after they received a notice in October saying that “all requests/motions to hold the hearing on the merits in Eagle Pass are denied.” During the hearing, mining officials testified that the expansion would create about 40 office positions and a workforce of 100 to 200 people. Hourly wages for mine workers could be as much as $24, they said. But opponents say that job creation is just a selling point to ensure that anyone who opposes the mine publicly can be labeled as opposing more opportunities for Eagle Pass. “What everybody’s fear or suspicion is, is that once the permit’s granted, that the management of Camino Real Fuels will be taken over by the direct management from Mexico,” Mr. Baxter said. He added that he thinks it includes bringing in workers from Mexico instead of hiring local residents. Mr. Baxter said he has collected more than 6,000 signatures on petitions from Maverick County residents who want Dos Republicas and its partners to leave town. But for E. K. Taylor, 83, who has lived in Eagle Pass all his life, including serving 38 years as a United States Customs agent, all of the fighting is too much to take. He is selling the house he lived in with his wife for 38 years. “If it wasn’t for that coal company, I would have stayed here,” he said. “But there’s no way I would do business with them.”


Hundreds of Thousands Mourn Indian Politician Thackeray

Abstract: NEW DELHI — Hundreds of thousands of people poured into the streets of Mumbai on Sunday to mourn the death of one of the city’s most powerful and controversial figures, the right-wing political leader Bal K. Thackeray. Mr. Thackeray, 86, who died on Saturday, was cremated Sunday in a ceremony at the city’s Shivaji Park, which was attended by political leaders, movie stars and thousands of others. For years, Mr. Thackeray’s party, Shiv Sena, has been a major force in Mumbai politics, and the police have remained on high alert to protect against riots and violence following his death. Crowds of his supporters paralyzed Mumbai, India ’s largest city, and many shopkeepers simply closed their stores after his death was announced. Mr. Thackeray built his career by championing Hindu causes in Mumbai and stoking grievances against Muslims and outsiders.

Mumbai (India)
India
United States Politics and Government


Georgian Officials React Slowly to Anti-Gay Attack

Abstract: MOSCOW — Georgian television captured clear images as a mob of more than 20,000 a ttacked a small gay rights march in downtown Tbilisi on Friday, sending at least 14 people to the hospital. Some of the priests leading the rock-throwing throngs who stormed past police cordons could be seen participating in the melee; one repeatedly slammed a stool into the windshield of one of several minibuses trying to carry the marchers to safety, while another punched marchers and tried to drag a driver out of a bus. Some gave their names in interviews. But as of Sunday, the Georgian police have made no arrests, and there are few signs that the investigation is moving forward. Instead, a bishop who helped to organize the mass turnout — ostensibly a counterprotest — said from the pulpit that while the violence was “regrettable” and those who committed it should be punished, the Georgian Orthodox Church was obligated to protest the gay rights rally and would “not allow anyone to humiliate us.” “When there are so many people, it is difficult to speak only about Christianity and morals,” said the bishop, Iakob Iakobashvili, in his Sunday sermon in Tbilisi. “Many were not able to overcome their nature and saw enemies in the others, said bad words and punched them. I was told clergymen were among them. I am not able to either condemn or justify them. They are also humans.” Georgia’s prime minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili, has benefited from the support of the church, which exercises enormous power in the country, though usually behind the scenes. His decision on whether to pursue prosecutions will serve as a test of that relationship. On Friday evening, with crowds of men still roaming downtown Tbilisi in search of gays, Mr. Ivanishvili promised a quick response to the violence. Yet on Sunday, at a parade for a local police force, he made no mention of either arrests or an investigation. Instead, his comments celebrated the role of the police in preventing worse injuries to the marchers. Several officers were among those hospitalized, including one with a broken leg; and a number of marchers and a journalist suffered head or chest injuries from being hit with rocks, according to Georgian news reports. “When the question arose about saving the minority,” Mr. Ivanishvili said, “police bravely acted in their defense, and were able to lead them away from the raving masses.” Zviad Koridze, a veteran local journalist at the Tbilisi-based Council of Ethics for Journalists, called the slow pace a reminder of the church’s influence. “The government is acting very carefully, one could say ineffectively,” said Mr. Koridze in a telephone interview. “Everyone is simply waiting. Because in three days they should have made arrests and given some sort of answer to the events in Tbilisi.” While the Georgian Orthodox Church usually wields its power discreetly, it has occasionally, and effectively, taken overt political or social action. In 2010, Orthodox activists began picketing a television station over “Night with Shorena,” a television show run by a former Georgian Playboy cover model who advocated sex before marriage. The show was closed down after several months. In 2011, the church protested a law granting minority religions legal standing. In 2012, the church joined protests over the torture of prison inmates. Ilia II, the Georgian Orthodox patriarch, has warned Georgians that placing their children in foreign schools would harm them morally. Ilia II is widely acknowledged to be the most popular figure in the country. He offered no sermon on Sunday, but on Friday, after the violence, he urged protesters to leave the streets and for both sides “to pray for one another.” “We do not accept violence,” he said, according to Interfax. “But it’s also unacceptable to give propaganda” to homosexuality. A day earlier, he had urged the Georgian government to ban the gay rights march, writing that the majority of Georgians saw gay activism as “an insult.” Outside of the Tbilisi church where Bishop Iakobashvili spoke Sunday, Elza Kurtanidze, 34, a former schoolteacher, said that she had spent the last days “hotly” debating if those who attacked the marchers should be punished. “We have already gone too far by having gays and lesbians openly promoting their way of life,” she said. “This is unacceptable! By allowing things like this, we let Georgia turn from the road of its traditional destiny.” “Arrests will be too much; it will help to further excite the situation in Georgia,” she added. Also outside the church was Leila Dzneladze, 16, who said that while she opposed the violence, she believed that the “truth was on the side of the church.” “No one should be punished for this,” she said. “This is for God to judge them, not us.”

Georgia country
Georgian Orthodox Church
Homosexuality
Bidzina Ivanishvili
Iakob Iakobashvili


Rarely Enforced Rule Dooms England

Abstract: England batsman Jos Buttler was the victim of a rarely enforced rule when he was run out while leaving the crease at the nonstriker’s end in a one-day game against Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka won the game for a 3-2 series victory.


Tinker to Evers to Chassis: A Baseball Story

Abstract: BALTIMORE — Early each weekday morning, a 47-year-old man with graying hair takes a timecard and punches in at his job. He retreats to a room for a moment and emerges wearing a blue-gray uniform whose shirt bears his stitched surname: Tinker. The man seizes the tools of his trade and gets to work. In some respects, Christopher Tinker’s routine as an automobile mechanic is similar to the one followed a century ago by his great-grandfather Joe Tinker, the Chicago Cubs shortstop who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1946. Each had to master the details of a physical craft and be precise in his measurements, whether gauging the speed of a fastball or calibrating the front-end alignment of a car. Indeed, as Christopher Tinker bends over engines, rotates wrenches and kicks tires, he can almost feel his ancestor’s presence. Particularly because there, on Tinker’s left forearm, is a tattoo of the 1911 baseball card of his great-grandfather, who is best remembered for being part of a famous baseball roll call: Tinker to Evers to Chance. Those three made up the double-play combination immortalized in a poem — “Baseball’s Sad Lexicon” — that was written in 1910 by the New York Evening Mail columnist Franklin Pierce Adams in homage to their infield prowess. “These are the saddest of possible words: Tinker to Evers to Chance,” wrote Adams, who, as the story goes, put the poem together on his way to the Polo Grounds to watch the Cubs play the Giants. From there, six lines followed: Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds, Tinker and Evers and Chance. Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble, Making a Giant hit into a double, Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble: Tinker to Evers to Chance. Or, all these years later, Tinker to Evers to Chance to the K&S Associates auto repair shop north of downtown Baltimore. Image Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and Frank Chance became forever linked after a newspaper article in 1910. Credit Associated Press Christopher Tinker had the tattoo put on his arm about seven years ago. In 1993, he paid $220 for one of the original baseball cards, which were issued by tobacco companies. But the card was eventually lost, and Tinker thought about how to replace it. One day he walked into a Baltimore tattoo parlor, and the idea hit him. Six hours and nearly $500 later, he had his great-grandfather’s image engraved on his arm. “I thought, What could be cooler to memorialize my great-grandfather than in ink on my skin?” Tinker said in a recent interview at his shop, where he has worked for two decades. “I thought it was a good conversation piece,” he added. “People would see it, ask about it, and I’d get to talk about him and bring him back to life, in a way. It’s amazing that 100 years later, people still remember Tinker to Evers to Chance. It seems that sports fans have a long memory.” Evers was second baseman Johnny Evers; Chance was first baseman Frank Chance. Along with Tinker, they helped lead the Cubs to a 116-36 record in 1906 (no team has ever won more games in a regular season) and, more important, to the 1907 and 1908 World Series titles, which were the last times the Cubs were champions. In view of the century of Cubs futility that has followed, that achievement alone probably merits the inclusion of all three men in the Hall of Fame, where, indeed, they all have plaques. Tinker played 15 seasons in the major leagues, had a longstanding feud with Evers and, while having a career batting average of just .262, somehow hit nearly 30 points higher against the great Christy Mathewson. Tinker has a particularly big fan in Tim Wiles, the Hall of Fame’s director of research, although unlike Christopher Tinker, he sports no tattoos. “I’m a Cubs fan; I’m predisposed to Joe Tinker,” Wiles said. “My great-grandfather played in the major leagues, so I perfectly understand why someone who’s never met his great-grandfather would be strongly affected by him.” Wiles was referring to Ben Caffyn, an outfielder for Cleveland in 1906. Christopher Tinker was born nearly two decades after his great-grandfather died, broke, in 1948, having lost nearly all of his savings to swindlers and poor investments, along with a leg to diabetes. His first wife, Ruby, shot herself to death on Christmas Day in 1923. Christopher remembers listening to Joe’s son William describe the scene. Image Christopher Tinker’s left forearm features a tattoo of the 1911 baseball card of his great-grandfather, Joe, a shortstop. Credit Steve Ruark for The New York Times Christopher’s father, Jon Jay Tinker, did meet Joe Tinker, but on just a few occasions. In a recent interview at a coffee shop here, Jon Jay removed a silver pocket watch from a box. It was, he said, a watch that Joe Tinker’s father, Steven, had given Joe when he left Kansas to begin his baseball career. The Tinker patriarch actually wanted his baseball-playing son to work in the family’s wallpaper business, Jon Jay said. “He wanted his son to stay with him because he saw baseball as a waste of time — and I agree with him,” Jon Jay said. “We hear about Brooks Robinson, but we don’t hear about the thousands who fall by the wayside.” Jon Jay said he received the watch as a child when his grandfather was being sued for involvement in land deals gone bad in Orlando, Fla., where Joe Tinker lived for much of his life after baseball. That city’s Tinker Field served for years as the spring training home of the Washington Senators and their successor, the Minnesota Twins. Jon Jay, who was born and raised in Baltimore, also has a silver urn that the Lincoln Park, Ill., Chapter 177 of the Royal Arch Masons presented on Aug. 22, 1914, to Joe Tinker when he was a player-manager for the Chicago Whales of the short-lived Federal League. A pastoral baseball scene is etched above the inscriptions. Memorabilia experts have urged him “not to polish it,” Jon Jay said. He intends to bequeath the trophy to his son or donate it to the Hall of Fame. Back at the auto repair shop, a shiny, rust-colored 2008 Honda sat up on a lift. Christopher Tinker, who is 5 feet 2 inches and did not play much baseball growing up, strode easily under it and shined a pen-shaped flashlight onto its undercarriage. The constant-velocity boots on the front axle looked fine. The brake pads were not wearing down. The tires were nearly new. Tinker walked back out from under the chassis and pressed a button to lower the car. He opened the hood for another look. The engine sparkled in showroomlike glory. Image The Chicago Cubs of 1906, who included Joe Tinker, bottom right, had a 116-36 record in the regular season. The team won the World Series in 1907 and 1908. Credit Associated Press The customer who had brought in the 52,000-mile sport utility vehicle for an inspection would hear that everything looked fine, Tinker said, as he wrote “O.K.” next to the lines for rear shocks, ball joints and other parts on the shop’s work order. This investment, he said, would be safe. Unlike his famous great-grandfather, Christopher Tinker is a lefty. And at 5-9, Joe Tinker stood a lot taller. “I’m not sure how we got shorter along the line,” Christopher said. He is not the shop’s only worker with a distinguished family story to tell. The father of Gary Alcarese, a fellow mechanic, was a tail gunner in a B-17 that was shot down by the Germans over Denmark during World War II. Alcarese’s father was the only survivor on the plane and became a prisoner of war. Christopher Tinker, Alcarese said of his colleague, “is a good guy, an honest guy.” That description does not fit every mechanic, he added. On Christmas Eve a few years ago, a Volkswagen was towed in, Tinker recalled. The driver had left Richmond, Va., that morning and was bound for his home in New York when the clutch went out. To fix it was no small job. But by 4 that afternoon, the relieved driver was on his way. “I got satisfaction in knowing that we got someone where they had to go,” Tinker said. “That was a good day.” He lowered his hand. As he did, his great-grandfather stared out from beneath a tilted, striped baseball cap. Repairing cars “is a good living, an honest living, and you get to help people,” Tinker said. “Sometimes, you are the hero of the day. That makes me feel good.”

Baseball
Joe Tinker
Johnny Evers
Chicago Cubs


David Cameron to Apologize for Saying Queen ‘Purred’ Over Scottish Vote Result

Abstract: LONDON — By the arcane protocols governing monarchs and ministers, it was a moment that should never have happened. Caught by a television crew’s microphone, Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain was overheard during a visit to New York this week telling the former mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, that Queen Elizabeth II “purred” when he called to inform her that Scottish voters had rejected independence in a referendum. “The definition of relief, if you are prime minister of the United Kingdom, is ringing up Her Majesty the Queen and saying ‘Your Majesty, it is all right, it’s O.K.’ ” Mr. Cameron told Mr. Bloomberg. “That was something. She purred down the line.” The language aside — purring on the phone is usually associated with a different kind of communication — Mr. Cameron’s remarks were a kind of undiplomatic double whammy. As a constitutional monarch, the queen is not supposed to express political views, and the prime ministers who have regular contact with her — there have been 12, including Mr. Cameron, since her accession to the throne in 1952 — are not supposed to tell. Image Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, left, speaking on Tuesday with Michael R. Bloomberg at Bloomberg L.P. headquarters in New York. Credit Pool photo by Christopher Goodney “The queen has a special relationship with the prime minister, the senior political figure in the British government, regardless of their political party,” the royal website explains . While the queen grants a weekly audience to the prime minister (her first such interlocutor was Winston Churchill), “these meetings, as with all communications between the queen and her government, remain strictly confidential,” the website says. Mr. Cameron’s call to Her Majesty last week was particularly momentous. Voters in Scotland had chosen to reject secession. The United Kingdom remained united. Arguably, she had good reason to purr. But now, Mr. Cameron has been obliged to apologize for what a Scottish lawmaker, Dennis Robertson, called his “crass and incompetent behavior.” “Look, I’m very embarrassed by this,” Mr. Cameron told reporters in New York. “I’m extremely sorry about it. It was a private conversation, but clearly a private conversation that I shouldn’t have had and won’t have again.” His office has already expressed its regrets about the incident to the queen’s office, he said. And he plans to offer her a personal apology at their next private audience. Details of that encounter will most likely not be divulged.

Great Britain
David Cameron
Elizabeth II,Queen Elizabeth
Scotland
Referendum
Politics
NYC
Mike Bloomberg
Etiquette
Constitution


Web Site Offers Help Getting Deals on Electronics

Abstract: IF only shopping for electronics were as easy as buying a car. There was a time not so long ago that buying a car was one of the worst shopping experiences. As you drove off the dealer’s lot, you couldn’t escape the feeling that you hadn’t gotten the best deal. Then something changed that made shopping for a car almost, well, fun, like shopping is supposed to be. That something was information. Much to the annoyance of the dealers, a car buyer could obtain reliable data on auto prices. For only a few dollars, Consumer Reports estimates what a dealer paid for the car and what, after a fair markup, the buyer should pay. A shopper often got enough information to know when it would be the best time to buy the car. Buying a camera or a smartphone isn’t as easy because we lack information about prices. There is the illusion that the Internet has provided what we need to know about the prices, but that jumble of information makes any buying decision more confusing and anxiety producing. The fact of the matter is, the shopper is not on a level playing field with the retailers and the manufacturers. They know, thanks to the Internet, more about you and your intentions than you could ever know about theirs. Every time you look at a product on a site, every time you buy a product online, you are providing valuable signals. When companies scrape the Web and collect those billion of signals and sophisticated software collates the data and interprets it, you don’t stand a chance. It is just too difficult and expensive for you to gather all the information. And in any case, you probably lack the degree in mathematics and computer science needed to parse the data. Yet nearly everything you spend money on is determined by the algorithms they create. The prices of your airline ticket and hotel room, even your rent, are determined this way. Electronics and other consumer goods are priced the same way. Over the last few years, price comparison sites like Pricegrabber.com and Bizrate.com have proliferated. Google and Bing have started providing similar information. That neatly solved the where-to-buy problem. Along came price tracking sites, like NexTag.com , that provide historical information. It is certainly useful to know where you can get a product for just a few dollars less, especially when those sites also calculate taxes and shipping costs for you. Price-alert sites like FreePriceAlerts.com inform you by e-mail when the price of a coveted item drops. That all these services are available on mobile devices that you can use in stores to determine the best price has certainly made shoppers a lot smarter. Perhaps the biggest consumer weapon arrived this year in the form of Decide.com . It is a Web site, and more recently an app for mobile devices , that collects and mines billions of transactions to determine what the best price is and whether there will be an even better price soon. “It’s the first time when-to-buy is addressed,” said Mike Fridgen, Decide’s chief executive officer. For example, Decide.com said last week with 81 percent confidence that the Panasonic Viera 50-inch plasma TV (model TC-P50S30), a popular model, would drop within the next two weeks. It also predicted, with 62 percent confidence, that a new model would come along within three months. Scoff if you will, but a week before Thanksgiving , Decide.com was advising shoppers to hold off buying a 16-gigabyte iPad because it predicted a price drop. Apple did lower the price of that model by $41 on Black Friday , the big shopping day that follows Thanksgiving. Then again, it suggested you would be safe to buy the 64-gigabyte model before Thanksgiving, but Apple lopped $61 off the price on Black Friday. “We are not clairvoyants,” said Oren Etzioni, a University of Washington computer science professor who co-founded Decide. “We give consumers visibility.” Decide is run by many of the same people who built Farecast, a site that gave consumers a fighting chance against the airlines, which are constantly changing prices to match demand. “Consumers have no access to big data,” said Mr. Etzioni, who also founded Farecast. After he sold Farecast to Microsoft for $115 million — it is now part of the Bing search engine — Mr. Etzioni went looking for another consumer problem to solve. He discovered that there was also considerable price volatility in electronics. Certainly, over the long term, the prices of electronics steadily drop. But during the shelf life of a new product, prices rise and fall. And, to Mr. Etzioni’s surprise, it was not random volatility. Companies were constantly changing prices to meet changing demand just like the airlines. That meant his company’s computers could search the Web for prices of products — it looks at 10 billion of them in a 60-terabyte database — note changes and then look for patterns. It also searches for news reports and rumors in order to guess when new models may be coming out. Mr. Etzioni calls it “scaling information extraction.” He said that Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, had recently stopped by his lab at the University of Washington and looked at Mr. Etzioni’s research. “He was surprised by the degree of volatility in consumer electronic prices, which reminded me just how unaware even the most savvy people are of the prevalence of dynamic pricing in consumer electronics,” he said. “We really feel the industry needs an honest broker,” Mr. Etzioni said. The access to big data and analytics improves how we make decisions. That this information is available on mobile devices only enhances its utility. The increased information transparency coupled with the use of smartphones in stores is driving a consumer revolution, said Mr. Fridgen, because it provides shoppers the information they need when and where they need it. The balance of power has shifted, he says. Most retailers know that shoppers can easily find a better deal using their mobile devices. Almost half of American retailers have a policy allowing store personnel to negotiate prices, he says. As the software gets more refined, the power relationship between consumers and the retailers and makers will change, although, Mr. Etzioni concedes, it will never really be a level playing field. Guessing where prices are going is a big step forward. It was not easy, and it is still not complete. But Mr. Etzioni already has his eye on the next problem, which he says is even harder: a Web site that tells you what to buy. The decision-making process, it turns out, is remarkably complicated because he has to build an algorithm, a personalized “value formula,” that finds the sweet spot for each shopper. “Some people value some things more than others,” he said. “What we really see, and I am very excited by this, is the increased transparency,” Mr. Etzioni said. “The inexorable trend is towards transparency.”

Decide Inc
Shopping and Retail
Computers and the Internet
Prices (Fares Fees and Rates)
Consumer Behavior
Electronics
Mobile Applications