Vermillion County student to build veterans memorial wall for Eagle Scout project

Vermillion County student to build veterans memorial wall for Eagle Scout project

Posted: May 30, 2019 10:47 PM

Updated: May 30, 2019 10:47 PM

Posted By: Christopher Essex

Speech to Text for Vermillion County student to build veterans memorial wall for Eagle Scout project

Below is the closed-captioning text associated with this video. Since this uses automated speech to text spelling and grammar may not be accurate.

indiana! a local student is working on a project to honor those who fought for our country.. peyton wood is working on his eagle scout service leadership project. he chose to make a memorial wall for veterans.. the wall will be made out bricks with the names of past and current service men and women... it will go near the current flagpoles on the south vermillion high school football field. it's a project wood says he came up with all on his own. "i feel like the veterans deserve so much more credit than they get. and they deserve all the credit in the world because they sacrifice so much for us. they sacrifice their time with family, their lives. and they deserve to be recognized. " you can have a brick honoring a service man or woman you know.. we've linked you to how you can

A Wall Street firm has sorted out how much Apple will make from its new credit card with Goldman Sachs

This summer, Apple is launching its much ballyhooed credit-card, in collaboration with Goldman Sachs. Within a few years, the card could reap as much as $1 billion in annual profits for the tech giant, with little downside risk.

That's according to new estimates from Wall Street research shop Alliance Bernstein, which analyzed the potential profit prospects of Apple Card and other new business lines against plateauing sales of the iPhone and slowed growth from existing services like iTunes, iCloud, and Apple Care.

Apple Card doesn't represent the largest revenue opportunity of the recently announced services — that distinction goes to the advertising and TV programs, according to Bernstein — but the card could wind up being some of the easiest cash Apple ends up pocketing.

Here's how the math breaks down.

The revenue split

There are several ways the fee-free card will make money— primarily via swipe fees and interest payments from customers who carry a balance — and if Apple's co-brand partnership is in line industry standards, the iPhone maker will take a percentage of the revenues.

Typically, this figure is in the 5% to 10% range, but as Bernstein points out, Apple is a premium brand and Goldman is a newcomer to the credit-card business, so the terms were likely sweeter for the tech company. Apple was also more intimately involved the technology behind the card, which integrates with the iPhone and Apple Wallet.

That notion is further reinforced by the fact that there were several bidders for the Apple Card partnership, and that Citigroup backed out after advanced negotiations over fears the card's consumer-friendly, anti-fee framework would make it a money loser, according to a report from CNBC.

"The split is likely more in favor of Apple given its relative negotiating leverage over Goldman Sachs," Bernstein wrote in the research report.

But how much revenue can the card generate? Bernstein notes that the two largest rewards cards today, the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Amex Platinum, each likely earn in excess of $4 billion in annual revenue.

The analysts think it's plausible for the Apple Card to match this over time, though they're aware that doing so for a brand-new card "is obviously a high hurdle."

Millions of iPhone users and unmatched brand cachet give Apple an edge

What the Apple Card has going for it, Bernstein notes, is seamless integration via the iPhone and thus a massive cache of easy-to-reach customers, as well as "brand cachet" among those customers that "is obviously unmatched."

Bernstein estimates there will be roughly 935 million installed iPhones in circulation worldwide by the end of 2019.

Much of that user base is outside the US — only 42% of Apple's revenues came from the Americas region in 2018, according to financial filings — and the credit card will only be available in the US to start with. But the US alone still represents vast and wealthy group of customers.

Moreover, the instant cash-back feature along with a competitive 2% cash-back rate for digital purchases should make it popular with low- to middle-income customers.

If adoption is strong, the card could make Apple as much as $1 billion annually within the next three to five years, but Bernstein thinks "hundreds of millions" is a more likely scenario.

"This revenue should be almost pure profit to Apple."

Even if Apple takes 20% of the revenues — double the high end of the traditional co-brand range — that's $800 million a year if the card matches the success of the Sapphire Reserve and the Amex Platinum.

By comparison, Amazon's co-brand credit cards likely earn the firm $500 million to $1 billion annually, Bernstein estimated.

But the kicker for Apple is this revenue stream comes with with very little work or risk going forward.

Goldman Sachs is essentially paying Apple for access and marketing to its lucrative customer base. The bank will do all the work of operating the credit-card — assessing and managing credit exposure, dealing with angry or confused customers, and collecting bills from delinquent cardholders.

"This revenue should be almost pure profit to Apple, as Goldman Sachs bears all of the operational and credit risk for the program," Bernstein wrote in the note.

'Wall of Wind': How blasting +150 mph wind helps to build better homes before a hurricane

Most of the housing stock across Tampa Bay is built below the current building code and extremely vulnerable to hurricane-force winds. At FIU, the "Wall of Wind" blasts +150 mph winds to test building materials to help figure out how to build better structures.

Published: 11:22 PM EDT May 7, 2019

Updated: 11:19 PM EDT May 7, 2019

GoFundMe Border Wall Ordered to Stop Building Because They Didn’t Have the Right Paperwork

SUNLAND PARK, New Mexico—We Build the Wall, a privately funded effort to build a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border, was told to stop building on Tuesday.

The cease-and-desist order represents a new obstacle for the group and its founder, triple-amputee veteran Brian Kolfage. Kolfage's crowdfunding effort became a cause célèbre on the right last December, when he rapidly raised $20 million on GoFundMe for the wall. So far they have built less than a half-mile of fence on the border.

Sunland Park Mayor Javier Perea said at a press conference the city issued a cease-and-desist order, saying it is in violation of city ordinances. George Cudahy, whose company owns the land where the wall is being built, submitted an application for a building permit last week. Sunland Park officials declared the application incomplete, Perea said, because it lacked a site plan development and included contradictory information around the construction.

For example, Perea said, city ordinances requires walls to be under six feet. The border stands at roughly 20 feet, with seven feet buried beneath the ground. Nor was a necessary environmental survey completed, he said.

"Safety is always a concern for the city of Sunland Park," Perea said.

Perea said that Cudahy and the group must come into compliance before they can resume construction.

We Build the Wall is actually constructed by Fisher Industries. President Trump reportedly urged the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to award contracts to build a border wall to Fisher Industries, whose CEO is a Republican donor and frequent guest on Fox News.  

The barrier lies about 60 feet on the U.S. side of the border. Land was leveled off early last week, with sections of the wall dropped into place on Friday evening. With the first piece erect, members of the We Build the Wall team high-fived each other, shouting "suck it losers!" into their cellphone cameras.

We Build the Wall's director of building operations, Mike Furey, told The Daily Beast before the cease-and-desist order it was a "test to show the government."

Kolfage fumed on Twitter after the order was issued, claiming that it was the result of "liberals trying to intimidate us!"

"BULLSHIT!" Kolfage tweeted. "They were on site on Friday and gave us green light to build!"

In a follow-up tweet, Kolfage urged his supporters to "keep donating."

Kolfage and his allies had repeatedly stressed the need to keep the wall's location a secret for as long as possible in order to circumvent legal challenges. In a March radio interview, Kolfage said he had to hide the location to avoid opposition from the American Civil Liberties Union.

"I wish I could name where it's at, but we can't name it because of the ACLU, these other liberals groups that want to sue us and impede our progress," Kolfage said.

Furey bragged they caught the ACLU off guard: "We caught them all flat footed!"

GoFundMe eventually offered refunds to donors after Kolfage changed the terms of the fundraising pitch, announcing that he would instead move the money to a nonprofit, We Build the Wall.

A number of Trumpworld immigration hardliners soon joined to We Build the Wall's board, including former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, former Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke, and former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

The GoFundMe donors who had kept their money began to grow nervous in early May, after We Build the Wall missed an April groundbreaking deadline without offering any proof that construction had started or announcing the wall's location. On Twitter and Facebook, donors complained about a lack of updates from Kolfage's group.

Donors were made more anxious by Kolfage's earlier efforts. Before launching the GoFundMe, Kolfage ran a number of conservative Facebook pages that promoted hoaxes and were eventually kicked off the platform. Kolfage also raised money for veterans programs at hospitals, but the hospitals said they had no records of the program Kolfage had fundraised for actually taking place.

How to fix our broken prison system: Build windows, not walls [Opinion]

Here in Houston, a downtown Harris County jail building sits on the banks of Buffalo Bayou, where it overlooks a steady stream of hikers, bikers and the occasional kayaker paddling down the brackish waterway. But "overlooks" may not be the right word. Many of the seemingly transparent windows that line the seven-story red brick building are fakes — architectural camouflage that helps make the jail appear like neighborhood-friendly lofts to any passing weekend warriors.

In reality, it's not so easy for the 3,500 people held within the walls to see out into the world, and outsiders cannot peek in. Consider it an all-too-appropriate design.

The individual buildings may look different, but jails and prisons across the country uniformly operate as opaque institutions. They have little accountability to the taxpayers who fund them, the individuals who are housed or work there, and the society they're supposed to serve. Outcomes are poorly tracked. Inhumane conditions within facilities go ignored.

Here's what we do know about prisons: Incarceration costs more than $80 billion each year. Prison growth since the 1970s has provided little benefit to public safety. In some cases, prisons may actually make crime worse.

Taxpayers are stuck paying a lot of money for bad results. By any objective standard, the U.S. prison system is a failure.

In counties, states and the federal government, Democrats and Republicans are working together on a bipartisan agenda to reform our nation's broken criminal justice system, focusing on policies that shorten unnecessarily long sentences or divert people from incarceration in the first place. However, any reform that stops at the prison walls will be an incomplete project.

As long as prisons and jails remain a part of our criminal justice system, policymakers have a responsibility to ensure that these institutions are run effectively, humanely, and with a focus on rehabilitation.

The mission won't be as politically friendly as releasing those with nonviolent drug offenses or helping veterans with post-traumatic stress avoid time behind bars. One-and-a-half million adults live in prisons, and not all of them are sympathetic cases. But there is near consensus across the country that sentences are far too long and all sense of proportional punishment has been lost.

Then there is this inescapable truth: 95 percent of people in prison come back to live in free society. Prisons fail at the important task of helping them reintegrate, and often leave people worse off than before their sentences — less able to make a living, less connected to their communities, more likely to re-offend.

So how can we fix it?

The first step is transparency. Prison reform is stymied by the profound lack of public information about and oversight of our prisons. In the rare instances when policymakers investigate beyond the bricks, you can almost guarantee they'll find a culture of violence and inhumanity.

Just look at Alabama. Earlier this year, the Department of Justice released an astounding 56-page report documenting the unconstitutionally cruel conditions of the state's prison system, including ubiquitous weapons and an unrelenting spree of rape and murder among the system's 16,000 male inmates.

The report specifically noted that the state failed to track violent deaths or adequately investigate sex abuse.

Alabama may be a worst-case scenario, but the problem is pervasive nationwide.

"If you look at the prison system in particular and corrections in general, it screws everyone up who touches the system," John Wetzel, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, said at the Urban Institute last month. "And a big part of that is the system has been so opaque."

Wetzel was co-chair of a prison reform knowledge lab that convened 39 attendees - including myself - with the goal of discussing how we can reform, as Urban Institute Vice President for Justice Policy Nancy La Vigne put it, "one of the least transparent and most closed public sectors that we know of."

That lack of transparency was obvious in Chronicle reporter Keri Blakinger's recent article about David Witt - a 41-year-old prisoner who died after being slammed to the ground by a guard. Witt's family was unaware of the circumstances around his death for months afterward.

But millions of Americans don't need to read investigative reporting or hear expert testimony to understand the cruelty of our prison system. Like Witt's family, they've lived it. Half of all adults in America have experienced the incarceration of a family member, and one in seven have had an immediate family member spend more than a year behind bars. For families with brothers, fathers, sons and daughters behind bars, fixing our broken prisons is a personal cause — one that has multigenerational ramifications. They know in their bones how our prison system contributes to the very problems it is supposed to solve: breaking up social networks, depriving families of emotional and economic support and undermining the already precarious stability of poor and minority communities.

Prisons don't have an incentive to do anything else. Rehabilitation efforts go neglected in our laws and budgets. Policymakers lack the metrics to measure the reality of imprisonment. It is time to reimagine the fundamental nature of our prison system and rewrite the rules.

This means making a serious effort to improve living and working conditions in our prisons, holding administrators accountable for reductions in violence and progress in health outcomes, creating environments of respect among staff and residents, and making successful re-entry into society a top priority.

Prison reform used to be a political impossibility. Now there's an opportunity for change. We can't let the moment pass. Too many people, too many neighborhoods, too many families will continue to suffer. It is time to shine a light that can penetrate the brick walls of our prisons and ensure that the system works for everyone — taxpayers, staff, victims, and those serving sentences.

Rhee is president and chief executive officer of Arnold Ventures, which recently dedicated $17 million to support fundamental prison reform.

Trump’s emergency declaration to build border wall faces first court test

Three months after Congress refused to fully fund President Trump's border wall, the administration's plan to find the money itself, including by declaring a national emergency, faces its first courtroom test on Friday.

U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr. in Oakland, Calif., will hear arguments on motions by separate groups of plaintiffs to temporarily block any wall construction on the grounds that Trump's financing methods — transferring funds from Pentagon and Treasury Department programs never meant for such a barrier — are both unconstitutional and illegal.

The hearing is the first of what are expected to be many tests of one of the most controversial decisions made by a U.S. president in modern times: to bypass the normal appropriations process in a quest for $5.7 billion in wall construction money. Trump acted after Congress explicitly rejected his demand and appropriated only $1.375 billion, a decision that led to a 35-day government shutdown in December and January.

The plaintiffs in the Northern District of California include the state of California and 18 other states, among them Maryland and Virginia, along with the Sierra Club and the Southern Border Communities Coalition, which is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union.

To justify a temporary injunction, Gilliam will have to be convinced that the plaintiffs are likely to prevail on the merits after further proceedings and that allowing construction to go forward in the meantime will cause imminent harm.

[U.S.-Mexico border: An interactive look along the entire boundary]

Whatever Gilliam, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, decides will not end the controversy.

Trump's actions have led to at least seven lawsuits in three different federal courts. One of the cases was brought by the House of Representatives in Washington. In that case, a Trump appointee, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, has scheduled his own hearing on an injunction for May 23.

Whichever side loses is likely to appeal.

The cases are part of a much broader multi-front struggle underway since Trump took office, involving some of the same litigants challenging virtually his entire immigration agenda as well as his efforts to eliminate or delay hundreds of environmental regulations. They've had considerable success in both categories.

[The real reason the Trump administration is constantly losing in court]

In the border-wall case set for Friday, each side has framed the issues and the events leading to them in starkly different terms.

In pre-hearing briefs, the plaintiffs allege, in part, a violation by Trump of Congress's constitutional power of the purse — accomplished, they said, by misusing a host of laws to shift to wall construction money that was intended for other purposes.

Congress "unequivocally rejected the president's requested appropriation for a border wall, only for the president to then order the diversion of federal funds from other sources toward the very project that Congress rejected," the states say.

The states focus heavily on the tumult of February and as proof that Trump made an end-run around Congress, cite his statement that, "if we don't get a fair deal from Congress . . . I will use the powers afforded me" to finance the wall.

"In his own public statements," says the brief of California and other states, Trump "made clear that his emergency declaration was triggered by his inability to secure funding for the border wall from Congress rather than an actual emergency at the border."

Department of Justice lawyers play down the process leading up to Trump's actions and focus on his official proclamations about the "crisis" at the border rather than on his off-the-cuff comments.

"The history of negotiations between the President and Congress . . . is irrelevant," the government argues. The administration has "invoked valid statutes" to accomplish the president's ends, the government's brief says, declaring that there is no constitutional issue.

Had Congress wanted to foreclose on any further spending on the wall, it could have said so explicitly through a rider, such as the Hyde amendment, which bars federal spending on abortion, the government argues.

In the absence of such a prohibition, the government says, Congress's refusal to include all the money Trump demanded for the wall in the Department of Homeland Security appropriation in February still leaves room for the administration to dip into other pots of appropriated funds, notably at the Pentagon, to close the gap.

The Justice Department describes these transfers as military decisions in which the courts should play no role.

"Preventing the construction of border barriers" by the court would "harm the Government's weighty interest in border security and enforcement of the immigration laws," the Justice Department says.

All of the funding sources specified by the administration permit repurposing for certain needs, like "unforeseen" military necessities. Whether wall-building qualifies as one of those needs is the big statutory question in all the cases.

The litigation over the wall has long been billed as a test of the president's dramatic national emergency claim, which has been attacked by critics as manufactured by Trump. But three months after his declaration, the administration has not used the Department of Defense emergency construction authority available for military construction projects that require "the use of the armed forces" and are "necessary to support such use."

The Justice Department is arguing that it's not at issue, at least for the moment. The Sierra Club and the ACLU are nonetheless challenging the legitimacy of the emergency declaration because the administration has identified it as a likely means of obtaining money for the wall. The plaintiffs argue that there is no emergency and no legitimate use of the armed forces for the wall.

The case is complicated further by uncertainty about which money is going where. As late as Monday, the Defense Department was still filing declarations with the court seeking to explain.

The Pentagon has said in documents it will shift some $1.5 billion from programs including a nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile system and a plane that provides surveillance and communications to fighter jets while they are airborne. That's on top of the reprogramming of about $1 billion in Army personnel money and $3.6 billion in military construction projects the Pentagon intends to delay.

But Gilliam has asked for more clarity on the status of funds the government plans to use.

Environmental groups are also arguing that wall construction in certain areas will significantly affect the surrounding environment, disrupting the natural habitats of wildlife and threatening their survival. For those reasons, the government must prepare an environmental-impact statement before commencing construction, they said.

But the government argues that a 1996 law gives it the authority to build border barriers and to waive "all legal requirements" necessary to get the job done.

Dan Lamothe contributed to this story.

We Build the Wall’s Donors Want to See That Groundbreaking

May 11, 2019; Washington Post

Back in January, NPQ reported on a crowdfunding campaign started by Brian Kolfage, a famously wounded veteran, to support the building of a wall on the US-Mexico border. Kolfage's ambitions were bold, if nothing else, and so were his claims. For instance, even though he managed only to raise $20 million against a target of $1 billion, he assured his benefactors he could build the wall on private land for a "fraction of what it costs the government." He also promised, in a February interview with American Family Radio, to break ground for the project in April. (Of course, this followed a promise in January that they'd be breaking ground "within weeks.")

By March 21st, however, Kolfage, speaking to Politico, had revised his timeline. "We should be turning dirt on this thing by May 1, June 1 at the latest, according to our experts," he said, adding that eight sites had been located along the border. Where are they? It's not so clear:

"I wish I could name where it's at, but we can't name it because of the ACLU, these other liberal groups who want to sue us and impede our progress," he said. "But it's actually happening, the process is happening.…the project is moving forward."

Also, there is the issue of cost, in that each mile of wall needed to traverse that 2,000 miles would cost an estimated $2 to $3 million…so, what about the remaining 1,990 miles?

In the same Politico story, the group did name some steps it had taken, including initiating talks with the Israeli firm that built the wall on the Gaza Strip. That was at a press conference held in a small Texas border town where Steve Bannon, former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, former Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, baseball legend Curt Schilling, and former Sheriff David Clarke were in attendance, with Blackwater founder Erik Prince attending by phone from South Africa.

Some of the donors posting to the group's Facebook page are getting restive, pushing for some kind of forward movement, but the responses remain vague. Last Friday, the group committed firmly to breaking ground "shortly."

BuzzFeed reporter Will Sommer reminds us that none of this should come as a surprise: "Kolfage has a history of participating in questionable endeavors. He was a prolific operator of hoax pages on Facebook, and money he raised in the past to help veterans' programs in hospitals never actually went to those hospitals."

Complicating the effort further is that it's not that easy to find private land right on the border where a wall can be built…Kolfage and We Build the Wall's board of directors have spent plenty of time in Arizona, ostensibly scouting private land to build the wall. But the Phoenix New Times reported in March that the "vast majority" of land on the border in the state is owned by the federal government. Meanwhile, many of the people who actually own land on the border told the New Times that they hadn't been contacted by We Build the Wall.

We find it strange that anyone would believe meaningful progress could be made on this organization's promises to donors, given all of this and a modicum of common sense. However, apparently there are some disappointed donors out there, and it will be interesting to watch how the situation resolves.—Ruth McCambridge

Trump Administration Waives Laws to Build 100 Miles of Border Wall Across Arizona National Monument, Wildlife Refuges

TUCSON, Ariz.— The Trump administration will waive dozens of environmental and public health laws to speed border-wall construction through federally protected sites in Arizona and California.

Today's announcement from the Department of Homeland Security says waivers will be used to build walls through Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge, Coronado National Memorial and numerous designated wilderness areas. The bollard-style barriers will block wildlife migration, damage ecosystems and harm border communities.

"The Trump administration just ignored bedrock environmental and public health laws to plow a disastrous border wall through protected, spectacular wildlands," said Laiken Jordahl, borderlands campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity. "This senseless wall would rip a scar through the heart of the Sonoran Desert, kill endangered wildlife and cause irreversible damage. We'll do everything in our power to stop this destruction."

The three waivers sweep aside 41 laws that protect clean air, clean water, public lands and endangered wildlife. They cover plans to build more than 100 miles of wall in numerous Arizona locations and in California near El Centro and San Diego.

With these waivers, which take effect Wednesday, the Trump administration will have issued 12 waivers under the REAL ID Act. The waivers come during an open comment period where the public is invited to weigh in with concerns. Comments remain open until July 5.

The Center and allies have sued to challenge Trump's emergency declaration, which would fund this border wall construction. The Center also has sued the administration to challenge border-wall construction in the Rio Grande Valley and near the Santa Teresa Port of Entry in New Mexico. The Center's first border-related lawsuit ― filed in 2017 in U.S. District Court in Tucson with U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva ― seeks to require the Trump administration to do a detailed analysis of the environmental impacts of its border-enforcement program. All of these suits are pending.

A 2017 study by the Center identified more than 90 endangered or threatened species that would be threatened by wall construction along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border.

Beyond jeopardizing wildlife, endangered species and public lands, the U.S.-Mexico border wall is part of a larger strategy of ongoing border militarization that damages human rights, civil liberties, native lands, local businesses and international relations. The border wall impedes the natural migrations of people and wildlife that are essential to healthy diversity.

The waivers cast aside these laws:

Wall Street's Newest Tanker Major Poised To Make Waves

© Provided by Accretive Capital LLC

The listing of Diamond S Shipping (NYSE: DSSI) in late March marked the largest U.S. stock market debut of a commercial vessel owner in four years. Now, the focus of analysts and investors is on how soon and how quickly Diamond S will pump up its fleet and grow bigger still.

Alibaba Group Holding Limited

The Connecticut-based crude oil and product-tanker owner reported a net loss of $1 million in the first quarter of 2019, compared to a net loss of $13.7 million in the first quarter of 2018.

But investors will have to wait another quarter to get a true snapshot of the 'new' DSSI. All but four days of the first quarter of 2019 results referred to the predecessor private company Diamond S; only at the very end of the period did results reflect the current incarnation, which is a combination of the original fleet and the tanker vessels previously owned by Capital Product Partners (NASDAQ: CPLP).

The recently combined entity boasts a fleet of 68 tankers with a carrying capacity of 5 million deadweight tons (DWT), making it one of the largest tanker players in the U.S. public markets. DWT is a measure of how much weight a ship can carry, not its weight, empty or in any degree of load. DWT is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water, ballast water, provisions, and crew.

On the crude oil tanker side, Diamond S owns 15 vessels in the Suezmax category (120,000-200,000 DWT) and one Aframax (80,000-119,999 DWT); on the product side, it owns 46 MR2s (40,000-54,999 DWT) and six MR1s (25-39,999 DWT).

"It's fantastic to be public again. We've got a team that's excited to grow the business and we think we're in a fantastic place in the [shipping business] cycle."

Craig Stevenson, CEO, Diamond S Shipping

During the company's conference call with analysts on May 14, DSSI chief executive officer Craig Stevenson commented, "We expect to grow the company in a disciplined manner."

Asked by an analyst whether the Diamond S growth plan would favor the Suezmax crude tankers and MR product tankers that already dominate its fleet, or whether the company would broaden in scope and look at classes such as very large crude carriers (300,000 DWT), Stevenson answered, "I don't think we're limited in that sense. We want to do accretive transactions that make sense for all of the shareholders."

Stevenson continued, "I think the most obvious place to look first would be the two existing vessel classes, but we would certainly look at other types of tankers. If it's an accretive transaction, we would absolutely evaluate it."

Asked whether Diamond S is seeking to grow through second-hand acquisitions of ships already on the water, or through newbuildings, he replied, "I always look at newbuildings as the last thing you think about. You look for high-quality younger ships first. Only once you exhaust that do you look at newbuildings."

Stevenson added, "But obviously, if a major customer comes to you and wants you to build a ship and offers you a long-term transaction, that's something different."

"We are also looking at the smaller universe of larger opportunities that entail combinations…with other owners and operators with similar tonnage. "  

Kevin Kilcullen, CFO, Diamond S Shipping

Diamond S chief financial officer Kevin Kilcullen explained two ways the company's capital structure could be used to fund growth.

First, he noted that the balance sheet has low financial leverage, allowing potential for growth funding. "Coming out of the transaction [with CPLP], we have a very healthy balance sheet with a net loan-to-value ratio of 51 percent, so there's substantial equity value in our fleet.

"In terms of how we're looking to grow the company and how we're going to transform the existing asset base, this equity value in our ships is a tremendous source of capital to fund attractive opportunities," he continued. "You could see us take capital out of certain assets and redeploy it into other ones that we think will drive higher returns."

He added, "We are also looking at the smaller universe of larger opportunities that entail combinations on a NAV-to-NAV [net asset value to net asset value] basis with other owners and operators with similar tonnage. That could be a big growth driver for the Diamond S platform moving into the next year."

Kilcullun's second point refers to stock-for-stock deals, or stock-for-ships deals, in which the stock is used as currency and valued in relation to NAV – the value of DSSI's assets minus liabilities. There have been numerous instances over the past two years where U.S.-listed shipping companies have bought fleets owned by private equity groups or other public companies in return for stock.

One of the reasons the investment community expects growth out of Diamond S is its pedigree. It may have just listed on the NYSE, but given the personalities behind it, it's viewed as a big fish coming back into the pond.

As Stevenson put it when he wrapped up the analyst conference call, "It's fantastic to be public again. We've got a team that's excited to grow the business and we think we're in a fantastic place in the [shipping business] cycle."

In his previous public company role, Stevenson was the chief executive officer of tanker owner OMI Corporation. Then NYSE-listed OMI sold out in 2007 – at the height of the previous shipping boom, exactly at the peak and just before the bust – pocketing $2.2 billion from fleet buyers Teekay Corp (NYSE: TK) and TORM.

After that perfectly timed blockbuster deal, Stevenson's right-hand man, ex-OMI president Robert Bugbee, went on to become president of Scorpio Tankers (NYSE: STNG) and Scorpio Bulkers (NYSE: SALT), where he has presided over frenetic expansion plans at both companies. Stevenson started up Diamond S Shipping in 2007, together with private equity group First Reserve.

In 2011, Diamond S bought the product-tanker fleet of South Korea's Cido Tanker Holding Co. That deal brought new investors into the fold, including WL Ross & Co – the private equity group led by Wilbur Ross, now the U.S. Secretary of Commerce – and China Investment Corporation, an entity controlled by the government of China.

This ownership mix eventually led to controversy for Ross after his appointment in the Trump Administration, particularly given that Ross was one of the people negotiating the trade deal with China. At first, he sought to retain his personal Diamond S stake, but ultimately divested it, reportedly to family members.

According to a prospectus filed on May 10, for secondary time-to-time stock sales by certain existing shareholders of DSSI, WL Ross & Co currently owns 24.3 percent of shares outstanding and is not offering any for sale, while the Chinese state-controlled entity owns 6.5 percent and is considering the sale of all of it.

The post Wall Street's newest tanker major poised to make waves appeared first on FreightWaves.

Image sourced from Pixabay

© 2019 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Spain’s New Nationalist Party Wants to Build a Wall to Keep Out Migrants

[unable to retrieve full-text content]The week before he was due to testify, Santiago Abascal told a group of conservatives in Madrid how a crowd of separatists had heckled and pushed him as he was sworn in as a local councilor in Spain's ...

How to Get Your Photo on the Carnival Pixels Wall

Photos are essential souvenirs for any cruise vacation, and the snapshots, panoramics, and selfies you take are perfect to share on social media, add to your personal albums, and document all the great cruise memories you've made.

If you want more professional photos, however, you're in luck – cruise ships have a dedicated staff of experienced photographers and onboard photo labs to process and print every memorable moment. Carnival Cruise Line goes one step further, however, and your professional photo could turn you into a vacation celebrity if you make it on The Wall.

What Is the Photo Wall?

The Wall is a fun feature of the Pixels Gallery on every Carnival ship. Pixels is the onboard photo studio and is responsible for all professional photos on board, from embarkation and gangway photos to dining room photos, fun shots on deck, casual backdrops, and formal poses, including the elegant stairway poses and black-and-white photos. There are no sitting fees for any photos and no obligation to purchase any photos you have taken.

The only exception is for private sessions through the Dreams Studio, which include more unique around-the-ship photo locations and more detailed post-processing for the very best results. Dreams Studios sessions have only limited availability and prices vary.

Photo Credit: Melissa Mayntz

The Wall is a fun showcase of Pixels Gallery photos, with 8-12 photos highlighted at once in the "Frame of Fame." Different photo sizes and both landscape and portrait orientations are part of The Wall, and the ship's photographers choose which photos make this exclusive display.

If your photo is showcased on The Wall, you get that photo print for free!

Making the Carnival Pixels Wall

Getting your photo on The Wall is all about fun. While the photographers select which photos make The Wall, you can make your photo stand out for recognition in several ways.

First, simply take a lot of photos. The more you are noticed, the more likely it is that your photo will appear in one of the coveted spots on The Wall. If you don't take any, there is no chance your photo will be selected.

Get into the fun of each pose, using any available props and striking an appropriate pose. The more enthusiasm and enjoyment you show in your photo, the more likely you are to become a cruise celebrity.

Photo Credit: Melissa Mayntz

If you have your own props, such as a sombrero for a Mexican backdrop, Hawaiian shirts on a Hawaiian cruise, or fun souvenirs from your latest shore tour, put them to good use with your photos.

Keep your poses, props, and photo fun family-friendly. Inappropriate photos will not make The Wall, and photos that could be considered grossly offensive may not be printed at all, or the ship's photographers may refuse to take such a photo.

Finally, smile! You're on vacation and having fun, and let that enjoyment show in your smiles. Fun, enthusiastic photos are the ones most likely to make The Wall.

Claiming Your Free Photo

Check The Wall each day to see what new photos have been added. As photos are claimed and more spots open up on The Wall, new photos will be available and you might find yourself cruise-famous.

Photo Credit: Melissa Mayntz

If you do spot your photo on The Wall, rejoice! You can leave the photo on display if you like, or you can claim it right away. Simply ask one of the staff on duty when the Pixels Gallery is open, and let them know you've made The Wall. They will collect your photo and package it in a stiff envelope so it stays in good shape, and it's yours to keep.

There is no charge for any photo of yours that has made The Wall, and you do not need to make any other purchases at the photo gallery before or after your moment in the spotlight.

It is polite if you claim your photo the same day, giving more people the opportunity to have their own chance at the Frame of Fame. While claimed spaces may remain blank until the next round of photos is processed, they will eventually be refilled.

Photo Credit: Russell Otway

There is no set schedule for refilling photos on The Wall, nor any minimum requirement for how many photos must be featured on any given cruise. In general, longer cruises with more photo opportunities will likely have more photos featured as earlier shots are claimed.

Also Read: 10 Pictures You Have to Take on a Carnival Cruise

If you know how best to take advantage of every photo opportunity and enjoy every click-worthy moment of your cruise, you just might see yourself on The Carnival Pixels Wall!

A group raised over $20 million to 'build the wall.' Now its supporters want answers

Written by The Washington Post

A December fundraising campaign brought in more than $20 million over the course of a few weeks, its thousands of donors united by a common goal: the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, oft-promised by President Donald Trump.

Some four months later, a contingent of those supporters is ready to see what their money has built.

The now-famous border wall GoFundMe was conceived by Purple Heart recipient Brian Kolfage, who wrote at the time he was upset by "too many illegals . . . taking advantage of the United States taxpayers," and the "political games from both parties" when it came to border security. Kolfage, a triple amputee, pressed onward despite falling short of his $1 billion goal - launching a nonprofit to build portions of the wall on private land for a "fraction of what it costs the government."

While the majority of donors continue to believe in Kolfage's efforts, the nonprofit's clandestine operations and assurances of progress are insufficient for others. Some have taken to social media, seeking photos, videos - anything - for evidence they aren't being misled.

"I am very disappointed in you Brian Kolfage, where are the progress photographs?" one woman posted to the We Build The Wall Facebook page.

"Quit talking about it and do it," another commented.

"I've been away for FIVE months," one person tweeted in April. "When's the groundbreaking?"

Reporting on the apparent lack of progress on the private wall, published early Friday by the Daily Beast, drew criticism from Kolfage. The veteran called out the story's author, Will Sommer, who indicated he's repeatedly asked Kolfage for proof they were close to a groundbreaking.

"Omg this is PERFECT timing by the liberal rag news site. They are about to look more stupid than @hillaryclinton on election night 2016!" Kolfage wrote. "I guaranteed we would build the wall . . . and I'll leave it at that!"

Kolfage did not respond to an email and message from The Washington Post requesting comment Friday. While the nonprofit has floated various groundbreaking dates in the past, it's not exactly clear when, or if, construction will begin.

"We should be turning dirt on this thing by May 1, June 1 at the latest, according to our experts," Kolfage told Politico in February. In a March 21 interview with American Family Radio, however, the veteran asserted they were going to "start breaking ground" in April.

In the interview, Kolfage said his nonprofit had identified eight locations to build along the border, but failed to name them, stating that his efforts could be thwarted by liberals if they were revealed.

"I wish I could name where it's at, but we can't name it because of the ACLU, these other liberal groups who want to sue us and impede our progress," he said. "But it's actually happening, the process is happening . . . the project is moving forward."

He continued, "But as soon as we start breaking ground, we'll be putting that information out there to show the American people what they're doing."

Kolfage has previously indicated that We Build The Wall Inc. seeks to develop segments of the wall on private property, which he told The Washington Post in January would cost $2 million to $3 million per mile. His GoFundMe says he's visited the border to scope out potential sites and negotiate with private land owners. Kolfage has also enlisted the help of several high-profile politicians, among them former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon and Kris Kobach, the former Secretary of State for Kansas, who sit on the group's advisory board.

Back in January, Kobach told The New York Times they'd hopefully be breaking ground "within weeks."

Some critics noted Kolfage was accused of shady behavior in the past, including allegations of misusing funds he raised. NBC and BuzzFeed investigations earlier this year alleged that Kolfage peddled false articles and conspiracy theories with the intent of harvesting reader email addresses. The purported scheme would draw people back to his websites and Facebook pages, generating hundreds of thousands in advertising revenue, Buzzfeed reported.

Facebook removed several of the pages he operated last year, according to NBC, in a purge of pages that were used to "drive traffic to their websites." In response, Kolfage created a new campaign, "Fight4FreeSpeech," which also accepts donations.

BuzzFeed looked into Kolfage's previous crowdfunding efforts, which included an initiative to mentor wounded veterans at military hospitals - among them Walter Reed and Brooke Army Medical Center. He raised thousands for the project, according to BuzzFeed, but spokespersons for the medical facilities told the outlet they have no record of him working at the hospitals or donating money.

Asked about the story in January, Kolfage told The Post that BuzzFeed "100 percent lied" and had fabricated the investigation to slander him. He said the money was raised to cover his travel expenses, and that he only used them for that purpose.

On Friday, many supporters of Kolfage called the Daily Beast story fake news intended to stymie donations. We Build The Wall occasionally replied in agreement, reassuring commenters the wall was on its way.

"This is what we call FAKE NEWS," they wrote in a post. "We didn't stop anything and we are full steam ahead. The wall is being built."

As of Friday night, the group said they'll be breaking ground "shortly."

In a separate comment, one woman indicated she'd heard enough.

"Saying it doesn't get it done," she wrote late Friday. "Do it."

How to nail a gallery wall

Every now and then, a design blog will declare gallery walls "over" — a fad that's had its moment.

But they're a decorating staple, says Susan Tynan, founder and chief executive of Framebridge, an online framing company. "I get asked a lot whether I think the gallery wall trend will go away anytime soon," Tynan says. "It's not a trend. It's been around for hundreds of years."

In 17th-century Paris, the paintings of recent graduates of the Royal Academy were hung floor to ceiling so as many as possible could be viewed, creating a sensation and inspiring grand salon-style museum exhibitions that continue to this day. This arrangement style eventually became popular with collectors and art lovers.

There's no end in sight. Some of the country's top designers showed off gallery walls in this year's high-end Kips Bay Decorator Show House in New York. And for the more timid and budget-strapped among us, an army of experts, online tools and apps have popped up to help consumers curate artwork — and get over their fear of hammering multiple holes in their walls.

"Gallery walls give a visual wow factor," says Paula Wallace, founder and president of Savannah College of Art and Design. "Lots of residences today are small. Instead of scattering postage-stamp-size works of art all over, focus attention and care on one wall and arrange your works of art and collectibles. With a salon wall, all rules are out the window. If it pleases you, mix modern and vintage frames, traditional art with contemporary. It's all fine."

A gallery wall (or salon wall) is loosely defined as a collection of items: framed artwork, photographs and personal treasures hung in a grouping. Search #gallerywall on Instagram, and you'll see more than 865,000 incarnations, some hung in millennial-friendly symmetrical rows, some Bohemian assemblages in mismatched frames.

"You see gallery walls all through history, whether in grand estates in Moscow, at Monticello or in Diana Vreeland's iconic apartment in New York," says Michelle Adams, editor and creative adviser at Artfully Walls, an online company that sells the work of more than 450 artists reproduced in digital giclee prints and has a collection for Anthropologie. It also sells pre-curated gallery walls you can try on for size with an online tool that shows how they will look in your room.

"We see people mixing in a lot of personal photos, and even wall-hanging plants have become part of the gallery wall today," she says. "They'll even mix in Samsung's Frame TV that looks like a piece of art."

Interior designers say the gallery wall is frequently on clients' wish lists. "When I start working with someone, I ask them to send me photos of rooms that inspire them," says designer Miles Redd of the New York firm Redd Kaihoi. "Invariably they show me that one wall of eclectic art that everybody loves and wants to have."

Designer Sheila Bridges filled an entire wall with art in her tiny 2019 Kips Bay Decorator Show House room. Her theme in her "Le Salon Des Chiens" was the "many-faceted relationships between humans and canines." The gallery mixes portraiture, needlepoint and evocative photos from the civil rights movement. "I usually start with the important work in the middle, sometimes a mirror," Bridges says. "But for my show house room I chose a photo of Martin Luther King. I like to combine different frames and textures, and both horizontal and vertical."

There's no one way to organize a wall. Some gallery walls have the same style frames or all the same color frames; some have artworks that share a theme, such as travel, or a certain shade of chartreuse. Some just reflect the whim of the collector.

"It's a collage you are making, and it's all about relationships," Redd says. "You hold things up, and if it feels good you keep going."

The grid styles that are popular right now, Framebridge creative director Tessa Wolf says, can give your place a clean look while still portraying your personal style.

"A lot of overthinking goes into choosing art and making a gallery wall, but it should be fun choosing things that you like to look at every day," Adams says. "It should show what your interests are to people when they walk into a room."

Not sure what is really you? Help is everywhere.

West Elm's Design Crew offers free in-home consultations on how to arrange your wall. Then to install, the store charges $129 for hanging up to 10 pieces of art.

Framebridge started selling framing online in 2014 and started a gallery wall consultation service a year later. This year, it opened its first two brick-and-mortar stores, in Washington and suburban Bethesda, Marylandd. "It sounds like it should be so easy, but people just struggled so much," Wolf says. For $199, an online Framebridge consultant will help you organize your artwork into a gallery wall and provide one custom layout mock-up and $39 toward your framing order.

Last year, the company launched a pre-designed gallery wall collection that includes three to 12 framed photos made from digital pictures customers upload. "We heard from people that they wanted a very specific look that they'd seen on Instagram and Pinterest," Wolf says. Each pre-designed gallery wall comes with a life-size template to tape on your wall so you'll know exactly where to hammer.

Framebridge customized a hallway gallery wall of 14 framed photos for Alexandra Sullivan's Winchester, Massachusetts, home using mostly pictures stored in her iPhone. They printed them, framed them and gave her a layout. "This hallway is in view from our back stairs, kitchen and front door, so it's a high-traffic area," Sullivan says. "It was a great spot to showcase the images that make me happiest - photos of our babies, wedding, honeymoon and dog."

As for installation, David Kassel, who owns ILevel art placement and installation company in New York, recommends enlisting a second pair of hands to hold things up before you hammer, mix up sizes and use picture hooks, as plain nails often aren't strong enough in the wall by themselves. He's not a fan of adhesive hooks, either, which he says can't hold the weight of most framed artworks and can discolor walls. "Fret not" is his mantra: You're not causing any structural damage if you hang something and later want to move it.

If you still can't bring yourself to put nails all over your perfectly painted walls, and you're not exactly sure of placement, there are always photo ledges. "As someone who lives in a perpetual state of redecoration, I love the flexibility ledges offer," Wolf says. "Be sure you get the proportions of the pieces right; frames on a ledge need to be different enough in height so that they stand out when layered."

How To Shatter The Maternal Wall In The Workplace

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For working women striving for career progression, one facet of their pathway can have huge implications for the remainder of their career: motherhood. Women who are considering starting a family or are already in the process typically have different experiences than their male counterparts. Motherhood has become more demanding, according to one study. The research suggests that the expectations to breastfeed, the rising cost of childcare and the higher expectations to spend time with children contribute to this finding and for women with college degrees, there is a greater mismatch between expectations of motherhood and reality. For women who have children, there was a notable decline in their employment following the birth of their first child. An interesting finding of the aforementioned research is that the break in employment was unplanned for many of the women surveyed. Men who were surveyed had similar views of parenting and starting a family bef ore and after having children. One possible explanation for this finding is societal gender norms and the expectation that women should take care of the majority of the child care responsibilities. Women make up nearly half of the U.S. labor force, according to the Department of Labor statistics. According to research, in 40% of households with children under 18, working mothers are the primary breadwinners of the home. Data also reveals that 64% of mothers who have children under the age of 6 are either employed or seeking employment. Given these statistics, it should be of primary importance for companies to figure out how to better accommodate working moms, who make up such a vast portion of the workforce. How can organizations create a culture of inclusion to both attract and retain working mothers?

1. Overcoming stereotypes. One survey found that one-third of Americans and 22% of working mothers felt that it was not ideal for a mother with young children to be employed. Biases regarding women's capabilities and assumed responsibilities, as well as societal norms, all impact how mothers are treated after having a child. Reprogramming employees to reevaluate their ways of thinking can spark change and more acceptance and understanding. Inclusion and bias training should address these biases and the many ways they can manifest and impact decision-making in the workplace.

2. Inclusive policies. Non-inclusive policies and procedures will not only deter mothers from applying or staying at a company, but in many cases discriminating against mothers, or expectant mothers, is illegal. Family responsibilities discrimination is defined as "discrimination in the workplace based on an employee's responsibility…to care for family members." It is also illegal to discriminate against an employee or job applicant because of their pregnancy or a condition related to pregnancy or childbirth. Reassess workplace policies and procedures to ensure that they are inclusive to pregnant individuals as well as mothers. Creating inclusive policies will not only help the organization to retain talented employees but will also draw in talent and give the company a competitive advantage. Companies like Facebook and Johnson & Johnson are well known for their exceptional parental leave policies.

3. Increased flexibility. New parents may desire more flexibility in their roles to account for their schedules or childcare responsibilities. Allowing employees to work from home more or to have a modified work schedule, a four-day work week for example, may be ideal for the employee and can also benefit the organization. Research indicates that a four-day work week made employees more productive. Job crafting, which allows employees to mold their jobs to suit their background and interests, may also be an effective way to overcome the maternal wall. Job crafting was found to increase job satisfaction and may be a great option for working mothers.

A group raised over $20 million to 'build the wall.' Now its supporters want answers.

FILE - In this Jan. 9, 2019 file photo, construction crews install new border wall sections seen from Tijuana, Mexico. 

FILE - In this Jan. 9, 2019 file photo, construction crews install new border wall sections seen from Tijuana, Mexico. 

Photo: Gregory Bull / Associated Press

Photo: Gregory Bull / Associated Press

Image 1 of 29

FILE - In this Jan. 9, 2019 file photo, construction crews install new border wall sections seen from Tijuana, Mexico. 

FILE - In this Jan. 9, 2019 file photo, construction crews install new border wall sections seen from Tijuana, Mexico. 

Photo: Gregory Bull / Associated Press

A group raised over $20 million to 'build the wall.' Now its supporters want answers.

1  /  29

Back to Gallery

A December fundraising campaign brought in more than $20 million over the course of a few weeks, its thousands of donors united by a common goal: the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, oft-promised by President Donald Trump.

Some four months later, a contingent of those supporters is ready to see what their money has built.

The now-famous border wall GoFundMe was conceived by Purple Heart recipient Brian Kolfage, who wrote at the time he was upset by "too many illegals . . . taking advantage of the United States taxpayers," and the "political games from both parties" when it came to border security. Kolfage, a triple amputee, pressed onward despite falling short of his $1 billion goal - launching a nonprofit to build portions of the wall on private land for a "fraction of what it costs the government."

While the majority of donors continue to believe in Kolfage's efforts, the nonprofit's clandestine operations and assurances of progress are insufficient for others. Some have taken to social media, seeking photos, videos - anything - for evidence they aren't being misled.

"I am very disappointed in you Brian Kolfage, where are the progress photographs?" one woman posted to the We Build The Wall Facebook page.

"Quit talking about it and do it," another commented.

"I've been away for FIVE months," one person tweeted in April. "When's the groundbreaking?"

Reporting on the apparent lack of progress on the private wall, published early Friday by the Daily Beast, drew criticism from Kolfage. The veteran called out the story's author, Will Sommer, who indicated he's repeatedly asked Kolfage for proof they were close to a groundbreaking.

"Omg this is PERFECT timing by the liberal rag news site. They are about to look more stupid than @hillaryclinton on election night 2016!" Kolfage wrote. "I guaranteed we would build the wall . . . and I'll leave it at that!"

Kolfage did not respond to an email and message from The Washington Post requesting comment Friday. While the nonprofit has floated various groundbreaking dates in the past, it's not exactly clear when, or if, construction will begin.

"We should be turning dirt on this thing by May 1, June 1 at the latest, according to our experts," Kolfage told Politico in February. In a March 21 interview with American Family Radio, however, the veteran asserted they were going to "start breaking ground" in April.

In the interview, Kolfage said his nonprofit had identified eight locations to build along the border, but failed to name them, stating that his efforts could be thwarted by liberals if they were revealed.

"I wish I could name where it's at, but we can't name it because of the ACLU, these other liberal groups who want to sue us and impede our progress," he said. "But it's actually happening, the process is happening . . . the project is moving forward."

He continued, "But as soon as we start breaking ground, we'll be putting that information out there to show the American people what they're doing."

Kolfage has previously indicated that We Build The Wall Inc. seeks to develop segments of the wall on private property, which he told The Washington Post in January would cost $2 million to $3 million per mile. His GoFundMe says he's visited the border to scope out potential sites and negotiate with private land owners. Kolfage has also enlisted the help of several high-profile politicians, among them former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon and Kris Kobach, the former Secretary of State for Kansas, who sit on the group's advisory board.

Back in January, Kobach told The New York Times they'd hopefully be breaking ground "within weeks."

Some critics noted Kolfage was accused of shady behavior in the past, including allegations of misusing funds he raised. NBC and BuzzFeed investigations earlier this year alleged that Kolfage peddled false articles and conspiracy theories with the intent of harvesting reader email addresses. The purported scheme would draw people back to his websites and Facebook pages, generating hundreds of thousands in advertising revenue, Buzzfeed reported.

Facebook removed several of the pages he operated last year, according to NBC, in a purge of pages that were used to "drive traffic to their websites." In response, Kolfage created a new campaign, "Fight4FreeSpeech," which also accepts donations.

BuzzFeed looked into Kolfage's previous crowdfunding efforts, which included an initiative to mentor wounded veterans at military hospitals - among them Walter Reed and Brooke Army Medical Center. He raised thousands for the project, according to BuzzFeed, but spokespersons for the medical facilities told the outlet they have no record of him working at the hospitals or donating money.

Asked about the story in January, Kolfage told The Post that BuzzFeed "100 percent lied" and had fabricated the investigation to slander him. He said the money was raised to cover his travel expenses, and that he only used them for that purpose.

On Friday, many supporters of Kolfage called the Daily Beast story fake news intended to stymie donations. We Build The Wall occasionally replied in agreement, reassuring commenters the wall was on its way.

"This is what we call FAKE NEWS," they wrote in a post. "We didn't stop anything and we are full steam ahead. The wall is being built."

As of Friday night, the group said they'll be breaking ground "shortly."

In a separate comment, one woman indicated she'd heard enough.

"Saying it doesn't get it done," she wrote late Friday. "Do it."

'Wall of Wind': How blasting +150-mph wind helps to build better homes before a hurricane

The "Wall of Wind" is the world's only machine that can create Category 5 hurricane force winds in a research environment. The FIU Engineering School constantly gets requests from both national and international companies and organizations requesting testing for various building materials. Those materials come to South Florida to be put to the test.

Published: 6:25 PM EDT May 7, 2019

Updated: 11:19 PM EDT May 7, 2019

How to Make a Lightweight Portable Wall

Build a portable wall any height you need.

There are times when you might need to separate or divide a room for an office or privacy -- but you can't just build a wall anytime you need one. However, you can make an affordable, lightweight portable wall to use whenever you want. When you don't need it, tuck it back against an existing wall.

Wall Anatomy

Typical wall construction consists of 2-by-4 studs with drywall on both sides. Get the same effect using hardwood and 1/4-inch plywood. Even an 8-foot wall can be picked up and easily moved when it's nothing more than lightweight plywood surrounded by a frame. Use hardwoods, finish it before assembly, and it imparts the look of fine woodworking to the room. Go with a cheaper alternative and install 1/4-inch paneling inside a fir or poplar frame, or paint everything white to match existing walls. Add wallpaper or wainscoting to dress it up if desired.

Framed and Surrounded

Start by assembling a frame. Make it with 3/4-by-4-inch-wide lumber of your choice. Measure and cut four pieces in the sizes needed. Don't make it too big; allow for at least 3/4 inch or more clearance around the perimeter between existing walls so it won't bind or get caught when you move it. Install a 1/4-inch dado blade on a table saw and cut a 1/2-inch-deep channel centered along the length of each piece. Cut 1/4-inch plywood in the sizes needed with a table saw. Attach the frame pieces around the plywood by inserting the sides, top and bottom edges of the plywood into the channel. Don't add glue: Natural expansion and contraction can cause the plywood to split or crack. Screw the frame together around the plywood. Since plywood sheets are only 48 inches wide, butt two of them together if needed, and screw one piece of 4-inch-wide hardwood together on both sides, sandwiching the joint between them.

Footloose

Some type of support is necessary if you're not attaching the portable wall to the ceiling or another vertical wall. Cut some 3/4-by-4-inch frame material 12 inches long for feet. Screw them perpendicular along the bottom for support. Two feet, placed 12 inches from each end, support the wall if it's 8-feet long, but depending on height and length, add additional feet if needed. Dress up the feet by cutting tapers from the ends to the middle so the blunt edge of the foot doesn't catch on anything. Sand them smooth and the wall will slide easily on carpet or anything else. If the wall is semi-permanent, screw the feet to the floor and cap the screw holes with furniture buttons.

Sections and Cubes

Build several 48-inch-wide wall sections and hinge them together with piano hinge. This type of portable wall works like a room divider, bending as needed for angled walls or as an aesthetic design. Add some small cubes or shelves. Attach them to the sides of the frame or at the top. Build the shelves or cubes using 1/4-by-4-inch hardwood by cutting a slot halfway through two pieces and fitting the slots together for a joint. Cut 1/4-inch plywood and glue it to the back of the cubes or shelves; i's strong enough to support small items such as pictures, keepsakes or crafts.

]]> About the Author

Specializing in hardwood furniture, trim carpentry, cabinets, home improvement and architectural millwork, Wade Shaddy has worked in homebuilding since 1972. Shaddy has also worked as a newspaper reporter and writer, and as a contributing writer for Bicycling Magazine. Shaddy began publishing in various magazines in 1992, and published a novel, "Dark Canyon," in 2008.

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Jack Hollingsworth/Photodisc/Getty Images

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Arizona tribe refuses Trump’s wall, but agrees to let Border Patrol build virtual barrier

Nation/World

Verlon Jose, center, vice chairman of the Tohono O'odham Nation, talks with visitors to the East Gate of the border barrier, including two members of his tribe on the Mexican side of the fence on April 23, 2019. The Tophono O'odham reservation covers more than 2.8 million square miles, making it the third-largest Indian reservation in the United States and about the size of Connecticut. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

TOHONO O'ODHAM NATION, Ariz. — Verlon Jose had long vowed President Donald Trump would build a wall along his tribe's 75-mile border with Mexico only "over my dead body."

But late last month, the Tohono O'odham Nation's vice chairman stood at the border and praised a planned wall meant to deter migrants, smugglers — and, according to the tribe, federal agents — from disturbing its lands.

The wall he described was not physical, but virtual: 10 towers up to 140 feet tall, with radar and night vision cameras capable of surveying over several miles and streaming footage around the clock to the Border Patrol.

"The idea is to reduce the footprint of these guys running around, tearing up our land," Jose said of agents patrolling the reservation.

The integrated fixed towers, or IFTs, as the Border Patrol calls them, were approved in March by a unanimous vote of the tribe's legislative council, many of them older tribal members.

But some younger members oppose the towers, fearing that their elders had sacrificed hard-won sovereignty. "We're going to inherit this problem," said Amy Juan, 33.

And they worry that instead of reducing the Border Patrol's presence, which has grown in their lifetimes, compromising on the virtual wall will lead to more surveillance and physical barriers.

The agency has said as much. A spokesman said the Border Patrol has no plans to decrease the number of agents patrolling the reservation after the towers are built. He also said the towers do not eliminate the need for a border wall.

But tribal leaders believe the towers could have that effect.

"It is our hope the IFTs will decrease the flow of illegal trafficking and thus the need for such a large Border Patrol presence on the nation," said tribal Chairman Edward Manuel. He emphasized that his people remain firmly against a wall.

Motor vehicles stop at a Border Patrol checkpoint on Arizona State Route 86 at the easrtern end of the Tohono O'odham Nation in Arizona on April 24, 2019. The sprawling and sparsely populated reservation covers more than 2.8 million square miles. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

"The nation will never support a fortified wall on the border, which would divide our people, devastate the environment and destroy sacred sites, all while failing to halt the flow of migrants and smugglers," he said.

The Tohono O'odham Nation reservation once stretched 350 miles from Phoenix to Hermosillo, Mexico. But Mexico never recognized the tribe's claims to land. The reservation the U.S. government created in 1917 now covers 2.8 million acres.

Half of the tribe's 34,000 members live on the reservation, which has its own language, schools, police and a government comprising 11 legislative districts. Two are on the border where the towers will be built: Chukut Kuk to the east, Jose and Juan's ancestral home, and Gu Vo to the west.

Border Patrol agents look for surveyors markers that show the future location of a surveillance tower in the sprawling Tohono O'odham Nation along the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona on April 24, 2019. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

A Border Patrol truck trains its sophisticated surveillance equipment along the U.S.-Mexico border in the sprawling Tohono O'odham Nation in Arizona on April 23, 2019. The remote reservation has long been a popular entryway for smugglers trafficking people and drugs into the U.S., and the Border Patrol hopes that a 'virtual wall ' of freestanding surveillance towers on the reservation can help stop the flow. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

The border here is an expansive basin between mountains the tribe considers sacred. To the east looms the 8,000-foot granite Baboquivari Peak — the name means "neck between two heads" in the Tohono O'odham language, and tribal members believe the mountain to be the spiritual home of their creator, l'itoi.

It can take the nation's 87 tribal police several hours to respond to 911 calls — often related to drug and human smuggling — in remote border villages.

"Some of these ranchers are getting broken into constantly," said tribal Police Chief Elton Begay.

Tribal police spend more than half their time assisting federal agents and doing other border-related enforcement, Begay said, and the nation spends $3 million annually on border security.

Hundreds of Border Patrol agents and a federally funded team of more than a dozen Native American smuggling trackers called Shadow Wolves patrol the border and reservation.

Tribal leaders previously allowed the Border Patrol to install cameras, sensors and portable towers and to build two small, remote bases that it staffs around the clock. Other agents patrol from larger stations and checkpoints on the reservation's outskirts.

Last month, Border Patrol agents hopped on motorbikes at the foot of the Baboquivari range to chase migrants before they climbed beyond reach. Smugglers have recently shifted to the remote mountain routes, said agency spokesman Dan Hernandez. Nearby trails through desert grasslands were littered with the remnants of campfires and migrants' black water jugs, the color intended to camouflage them in the brush. Later the same day, agents used a helicopter to track 16 migrants who had fanned out across a steep mountainside.

The agency has tried for nearly a decade to install towers on the reservation so it can catch smugglers before they reach the mountains, said Hernandez. But residents protested and wrote to tribal leaders, worried the towers would disturb the land. Border Patrol contractors had previously disturbed human remains and damaged saguaro cacti, sacred to the Tohono O'odham.

But the Border Patrol continued trying to sway the tribe.

Two years ago, the agency released a study that said tower construction wouldn't cause archaeological, environmental or community harm. It held community forums and took tribal members on field trips to inspect smaller tower systems near the reservation. It decreased the number of proposed towers in Gu Vo district and redesigned the towers' bases so they didn't extend underground.

Border Patrol officials also promised to improve rutted dirt roads leading to the towers and said they would consider adding hardware that would boost cellphone and police radio reception.

During a visit to the border last week, Jose pointed out waist-high fencing. Instead of building tall, impenetrable barriers, as it has in other areas, Border Patrol compromised and erected a vehicle barrier that allows animals such as coyotes, jaguar and javelina hogs to migrate.

The land at the border is part of a 60-foot-wide federal easement from the Pacific Ocean to the Rio Grande. Though the easement ensures access, the Border Patrol has negotiated with the Tohono O'odham Nation over road use and fencing.

Jose described the newly approved towers, which would be north of the easement, as a similar compromise — placating the federal government in hopes it will not build a physical wall. "We're only as sovereign as the federal government will allow us to be," Jose said.

As the Border Patrol presence on the reservation has grown over the years, tribal members have complained of harassment, including what they call unnecessary stops and questioning. Ranchers have to close gates and repair fences that agents cut. Roads erode after frequent Border Patrol use.

Tribal leaders said decreasing agents' traffic on the reservation is one of the reasons they agreed to the towers. Jose said he wants agents to stick to the border. But tower critics are also concerned about surveillance.

During a tour of one of the proposed tower sites last week, Hernandez said the agency does not plan to pull agents from the reservation once the fixed towers are built. Nor does Border Patrol plan to reduce the hidden cameras, sensors and truck-mounted temporary towers already on the reservation. And, he said, there's still the need for an enhanced border barrier.

"The greatest camera in the world still makes zero arrests. It can't apprehend somebody," Hernandez said. "We still need some infrastructure there, the fence or barrier, to slow them down and the agents to make the apprehensions."

Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Rafael Castillo, a former Tohono O'odham police officer who now serves as a tribal liaison, said the towers will allow the agency to "see what we've never seen before" and compared it to "turning on a light in a dark room."

"We all have that same end goal: to protect the nation, its sovereignty and way of life," he said.

The day the tribe's leaders voted to approve the towers, many Tohono O'odham were attending an annual tribal run across the border. About a dozen people went to the council meeting, some of whom live on the border and spoke in favor of the towers; others spoke against them, including David Garcia, who urged the leaders to reconsider.

He doesn't believe the Border Patrol will stop at the towers. "It's just a matter of time before other negotiations come into play," Garcia said.

The towers could be installed as soon as October, Hernandez said. The Border Patrol has a $145 million contract with Elbit Systems of America, the Fort Worth-based subsidiary of an Israeli company that manufacture towers used in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Juan and other tribal activists traveled to Israel two years ago to see the Elbit towers; they heard Palestinians' concerns and still worry about their effect, even though the Border Patrol's study said that "any adverse effects on human health would be negligible."

Juan said she knows the importance of border security: Her grandfather was a U.S. customs agent shot and killed in 1986 as he attempted to intercept three drug smugglers fleeing across the reservation to Mexico. A decade later, her other grandfather was robbed at night by a smuggler who entered his bedroom and tried to shoot him through his pillow — narrowly missing his head.

Juan said that now that the towers have been approved, she hopes the Tohono O'odham will mobilize to monitor their impact: whether sacred sites and wildlife are disturbed, what sort of sounds or radiation the towers emit and any changes in nearby residents' health.

Late last month, she urged community college students on the reservation to help. Speaking to a class in an indigenous borderlands program, she explained where the towers are planned and asked how many of the 20 students have family living on the border. Several raised their hands.

"The whole border area is going to change," she said.

As she spoke, across the reservation, tribal leaders were meeting contractors hoping to build roads to the towers.

"Everything we do to our land has an effect on us. Our sovereignty is being tested," she said. "So we'll go out there and survey the land and keep track of those changes. That's what sovereignty is."

To build the wall, or not to build? On the Texas border, residents take sides

Diana Uribe points to the door of a stone outhouse beside the old Spanish fort at San Ygnacio, Texas, built in 1830. "My great-great-great-great-great-grandfather and his bride lived there," she says. In those days, Mexico was trying to stop US immigration here into Tejas – as Texas was then called – to no avail.

A slope leads from the street outside down to the slow-rolling Rio Grande, across which you could throw a baseball into the foliage and palms of what is now Tamaulipas, Mexico.

It's a lazy day in San Ygnacio, population 700: grackles swooping and sun beating down on the empty plaza where Marlon Brando once filmed a scene for Viva Zapata; little else. But through here, according to a "national emergency" Donald Trump has declared, a new border wall must cut.

Uribe – now 63, a retired teacher – grew up in this village, as did her forebears, watching names change and borders drawn: granted land in New Spain under royal charter from Madrid, then Mexico, then the Texas Republic, then the USA after 1848.

"This place isn't as sleepy as it looks," says Uribe. "It's on a direct highway, if you know the land – which the smugglers do." Yet even so: "I don't feel unsafe here. The last thing they want is to draw attention to themselves on the border. We just don't need a wall. Do we want security? Yes. Do we want or need a wall? No."

But even that is not the point. Uribe explains how the man who built this fort, Don Jesús Treviño, had three daughters, one of whom married Blas María Uribe, from the town of Guerrero across the river in Mexico. Diana is of that line, "and I am being told I have to be cut off from my family and people on the other side of a frontier drawn since they arrived.

"We used to go to Mexico for weddings, dances," she says, "and clubbing in Nuevo Laredo, though my parents didn't know that bit. The wall cuts across all those generations and traditions. And also through the realities of border economics, the complete inter-dependency of twin communities all along the Rio Grande."

Outside the Treviño-Uribe Rancho, a 19th-century Spanish fort complex in the sleepy Texas border town of San Ygnacio, Texas. Photograph: Bryan Schutmaat/The New York Times/eyevine

The fort in San Ygnacio had been entered on America's National Register of Historic Buildings in 1973, but was still a ruin when, five years later, the celebrated artist Michael Tracy moved here, incrementally, bought it and undertook its restoration.

Sitting in his cactus and agave garden, Tracy recalls how the fort was actually built to defend against Comanche Indians "by those trespassing on Native American land. To be honest, though I have done all this to bring a fortress back to former glory, I think you must either identify being inside the wall or outside the wall. I am outside the wall."

The president's wall "is mythic", says Tracy, "it's meaningless. Yes, there's always the possibility here that someone could come to your door at four in the morning and demand all you have. But will Trump's wall stop them? Of course not – it's a distraction, a perfect way to mobilise his base thousands of miles from the border."

"It's always been no-man's-land here," says Uribe. "Too far for the Mexicans to control, and Washington didn't want it." Communities along this stretch of river are tired of being pawns in distant games. Residents of the seat of this county, Zapata, and Guerrero over the border, were in 1953 forcibly moved entirely to accommodate flooding for a reservoir under the Falcon dam project.

Now Trump's wall "is like someone in Minnesota telling us on the tropical river how to do hurricane evacuation", adds Christopher Rincón, CEO of the River Pierce Foundation which nurtures local artists, but for which the Treviño fort restoration has become a raison d'être. "Do you feel unsafe here, like you need a wall between us and the far bank?" asks Rincón. "We don't."

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Not all in San Ygnacio share these views, least of all one of Tracy's main patrons from Los Corralitos ranch across the highway, Lannie Mecom.

A fountain at the heart of Houston's museum district bears the Mecom family name, one of Texas's oil dynasties. Lannie's grandfather Harvey bought this ranch in 1913 just after the Mexican Revolution and her brother owned the New Orleans Saints football team. Now Lannie stands on the riverbank, after a morning loading longhorn cattle for sale at market: "That's Mexico," she points, 200 metres away.

"I'm happy to donate this land to the government to build a wall," pledges Mecom, an energetic 75-year-old. "It's gotten worse and worse over there – we had the Zetas [drug cartel] camp right there over the river, and there was something going on – their cars parked along the highway here, something mighty scary."

Mecom, too, owns land on which a historic fort is built, "and it was built for a good reason", she half-jokes, "to keep trouble out!"

Her ranching neighbour, Joe Braman, joins us – a canine unit police officer in Victoria county to the north. "We need a solid wall bad, and I'd give my land for it right now," he says. "There's so many people coming through here – I've caught 284 while training police dogs in the last few months.".

We settle back at Los Corralitos ranch – complete with airstrip and plans for a game-hunting reserve – to sit below a score or more of deer-head trophies; "most of age, some young", explains Mecom, "the grandchildren get buck-fever, you know, look through the scope and wow!" But also there are Mexican fabrics and colours; Mecom's view is not an echo of the president's, or Braman's.

"We need to give security to illegal Mexicans who are here already – been here 20 years, they're good workers; our neighbours, and poor. There's a lot of good people getting hurt; my family never asked people coming to work here for papers, and I never will. We need to help them get their papers, pay taxes and contribute to our economy. Yep, help us make money – but also build that wall."

Down by the river, the vaquero buying Mecom's longhorns, Lalo González – riding with skill in his cowboy hat – isn't so sure.

"I watch who comes and goes," he says. "The bad guys'll get through whatever you build; it's the honest people that'll get stopped."