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After Michigan Loss, Clinton Campaign Holds On to…Math

by DelbertBuzacott Posted on March 9, 2016

Mother Jones

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After a surprising loss in the Michigan primary on Tuesday night, Hillary Clinton’s campaign contends it is still on track to win the nomination, thanks to the delegate math. And her campaign strategists are not second-guessing the decisions that likely hurt her in Michigan—and could haunt her next week in three more significant Midwestern contests.

“From the beginning, we have approached this nomination as a battle for delegates,” campaign manager Robby Mook said Wednesday on a conference call with reporters. “Last night really showed why that approach made sense.”

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After Michigan Loss, Clinton Campaign Holds On to…Math

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Sick of the Presidential Elections? Here Are Some Photos of the Canadian Prime Minister

by WilsonElsey Posted on March 9, 2016

Mother Jones

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The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Washington this week to wine and dine with the Obamas and announce a new climate deal, and Twitter has been absolutely thirsty for his arrival. If you can’t afford to flee across America’s northern border upon the ascent of President Donald Trump to the White House, here, instead, are a few photos of Canadian Bae-minister-in-chief Trudeau. He pulls off the exact embodiment of everything NOT-American so flawlessly, it sort of hurts. Enjoy.

“Kindness,” for example. On a pink sweater. Come on:

He unreservedly loves the gays:

I meeeeeeean:

He’s a self-described feminist. Aw:

Here he is, fighting for your rights (he used to be a boxer):

They’re like the freaking Canadian Kennedys:

Oh, and don’t forget this one:

You’re welcome.

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Sick of the Presidential Elections? Here Are Some Photos of the Canadian Prime Minister

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Clinton and Sanders Want to Restrict Fracking. Will That Make Global Warming Worse?

by AlvinMacDonnell Posted on March 9, 2016

Mother Jones

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Could promises by Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders to dramatically restrict fracking actually make climate change worse?

In Sunday night’s presidential debate, both Democratic candidates came out swinging against the controversial technique for extracting oil and natural gas. Sanders was blunt. “No, I do not support fracking,” he said. Clinton was a bit less direct. She said that she would hold fracking operations to such high standards that “by the time we get through all of my conditions, I do not think there will be many places in America where fracking will continue to take place.” (You can watch their responses above.)

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While Sanders’ statement basically matched what he has said before, Clinton’s appeared to be something of a shift from her earlier positions. As secretary of state, she backed a push to get fracking operations up and running in foreign countries and called natural gas “the cleanest fossil fuel available for power generation today.”

Now, it appears that either Democrat could try to curtail fracking substantially.

Many environmentalists would celebrate that, but some experts are warning that when it comes to climate change, limiting fracking could backfire. To understand why, you need to know a bit of background about the complex scientific debate surrounding the issue.

Environmental activists have criticized fracking for possibly contaminating subterranean water supplies, polluting air in communities near drilling sites, and contributing to climate change. They point out that methane, the main component of natural gas, is a greenhouse gas that is up to 90 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in the short term if it leaks into the air without being burned (though it lingers in the atmosphere for much less time than CO2).

When natural gas is burned in power plants, it produces far less CO2 than coal does. But methane leaks occur at nearly every step of the natural gas production process—from well to pipeline to storage. Right now, there’s a raging debate among scientists over whether the methane leaks from the natural gas system or the huge carbon dioxide emissions from coal are ultimately worse for global warming.

In Sunday’s debate, Clinton said that fixing the methane leaks would be a precondition for her to support fracking. Clinton and Sanders have both proposed new regulations on methane leaks that build on rules currently being formulated by the Obama administration. But both candidates say they want to go beyond simply fixing methane leaks and are actually promising to eliminate most fracking.

Here’s the problem: There’s a good chance that efforts to restrict fracking could lead to the burning of more coal. About 90 percent of the natural gas used in the United States is produced domestically, according to federal statistics; more than half of that is produced by fracking. The fracking boom has resulted in cheap gas replacing coal as the chief power source in many parts of the country. Gas now accounts for about one-third of US electricity production, up from around 23 percent when Obama took office. That growth has been matched by a decline in coal consumption.

At the same time, the country has seen a steady reduction in greenhouse gas emissions per unit of GDP, an indication that the economy is becoming cleaner. The rapid growth of solar, wind, and other renewables is one important factor behind that trend, as are widespread improvements to energy efficiency. But the swapping of natural gas for coal has been arguably the most vital—note how the falling blue line (coal) mirrors the rising green line (gas):

Energy Information Administration

Less fracking would mean less gas production, which would mean higher gas prices, which would likely mean that gas’ share of America’s electricity supply would fall.

“Without natural gas, it would have been very difficult to achieve the emissions reductions from retiring coal plants that occurred over the last decade,” said Rob Barnett, a senior energy analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. “Few politicians would want to turn the dial back on natural gas, if it meant we started burning more coal in exchange.”

In other words, some analysts said, if Clinton and Sanders are committed to confronting climate change, choking off the country’s supply of natural gas could be a big step in the wrong direction. That’s especially true if the drawdown of fracking isn’t paired with new policies aimed specifically at preventing a reversion to coal. Sanders has called for a national carbon tax, and both candidates have supported various incentives for renewables. But a carbon tax is unlikely to pas Congress, renewables are under siege in many states, and Obama’s plan to reduce coal consumption was recently put on hold by the Supreme Court.

“In the present legislative and regulatory environment, any severe curtailing of natural gas fracking would just lead to a bounce back of coal, not an expansion of renewables,” said Ray Pierrehumbert, a geophysicist at the University of Chicago. “A strong carbon tax or strong support for renewables and efficiency could possibly allow fracking to be phased out without causing a bounce back in coal, but that’s not the situation we are facing in the US.”

Not everyone agrees with that assessment. Coal is ultimately in a death spiral regardless of what happens with fracking, says Mark Brownstein, vice president of climate programs at the Environmental Defense Fund, a group that generally supports replacing coal with gas.

“Any way you slice it, you have old, inefficient, highly polluting coal-fired power plants in the US, and there are all sorts of economic and political and environmental factors that bear down on them irrespective of the price of natural gas,” he said. “The simple possibility of gas prices rising doesn’t change the fundamental pressure on coal.”

Fracking faces economic pressures of its own, unrelated to regulation of methane leaks or water contamination. The boom in oil and gas production is starting to come full circle, as the saturated market drives down prices, which in turn drives down production. In 2015, gas production dipped for the first time in years; the same crash happened in oil production in response to record-low global oil prices. In other words, the fracking industry is already contracting without any help from Sanders or Clinton.

And for what it’s worth, the candidates’ threats could be kind of toothless anyway, Barnett said.

“It’s unlikely the president has the authority to impose a national ban on fracking without new legislation from Congress,” he said. “And Congress simply isn’t likely to play along.”

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Clinton and Sanders Want to Restrict Fracking. Will That Make Global Warming Worse?

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Now Even Tofurky Has a Lobbyist

by SabinaMelancon4 Posted on March 9, 2016

Mother Jones

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When the giant companies that dominate US meat, dairy, and egg production want something in Washington, they lean on armies of lobbyists, which are financed by flush trade groups like the North American Meat Institute, the National Pork Producers Coalition, the National Chicken Council, and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. But who speaks up for seitan chops on the Hill?

Until recently, essentially no one, says longtime food industry critic and researcher Michele Simon. And so she has launched the Plant Based Foods Association, which exists to “ensure a fair and competitive marketplace for businesses selling plant-based foods intended to replace animal products such as meats, dairy, and eggs.” The brand-new trade group already has a part-time lobbyist, the longtime vegan and organic-food advocate Elizabeth Kucinich, wife of former US Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio).

Simon, a committed vegan, told me two factors inspired her to organize the group: a recent spate of alt-protein companies coming on the scene, and the struggle they face “just to name their products.”

California upstart Hampton Creek, for example, had to fend off challenges from processed-food giant Unilever (the maker of Hellmann’s mayonnaise), the American Egg Board, and the US Food and Drug Administration to call its eggless mayo product “Just Mayo,” she noted. She also cited the case of another California company, Miyoko’s Kitchen, which was ordered by the California Department of Food and Agriculture to market its products not as nut-based cheese, but rather as “cultured nut product.”

“Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue,” Simon says. “It’s ridiculous.”

After years studying Big Meat trade groups and how they operate, she learned how effective they are, not just at shaping public policy to “promote more harmful foods,” she says, but also at communicating with consumers, serving as a go-to source for reporters, and nudging retailers on how to market their products. And so the Plant Based Foods Association aims to conduct those services and develop a “collective voice” for companies that offer animal-free meat, dairy, and egg alternatives.

Now, in our age, enormous food companies don’t respond to new threats to their market share just with lawsuits and appeals to federal overseers like the FDA, as Unilever did with Hampton Creek. They also respond by imitation and acquisition—they have the deep pockets needed to launch new products or just buy the companies that make them. Indeed, just last month, Unilever rolled out its own eggless mayo-like spread.

So what’s to stop big-food conglomerates like Unilever from taking over the Plant Based Food Association and using it to their ends? Right now, the PBFA’s membership list consists of companies that deal solely in vegetarian products, from nut-milk upstarts Califia and Malk to lesser-known firms like Tofuna Fysh. (Vegan tuna salad, anyone?) Simon said any purveyor of vegetable-based protein products, including Unilever, is welcome to join the trade group, but the bylaws state that a majority of its board of directors will represent pure-play vegetarian companies.

I’ve long been ambivalent about elaborately processed plant-based meat, dairy, and egg substitutes. I’ve puzzled over why people looking to eat less animal product just can’t just gravitate to deliciously cooked beans and grains, and even called for a falafel revolution as an alternative to soy and pea protein tweaked in a factory to taste a lot like chicken. Why do we need prepackaged vegan tuna salad?

Simon responded that she herself eats mainly whole vegan foods (she mentioned quinoa and kale), and that she’d “love it if everyone just adopted my way of eating.” Meanwhile, though, animal products loom large in most Americans’ diets, and the “environmental destruction from industrialized animal production” continues piling up, she said. (Here‘s the eminent ecologist Vaclav Smill on industrial meat’s footprint.) “We need every tool in the toolbox,” and conveniently packaged, high-protein vegan products play a crucial role in the effort to convince people to eat less meat, she said.

In other words: Quit being such a food snob, Philpott.

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Now Even Tofurky Has a Lobbyist

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What the Hell Was This Donald Trump Victory Speech?

by jiigy3e Posted on March 9, 2016

Mother Jones

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After the networks called the Michigan and Mississippi primaries for Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner gave a free-flowing, bonkers press conference at the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida. Just…watch:

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What the Hell Was This Donald Trump Victory Speech?

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Trump Struggles to Explain Whether He Has a Foreign Policy Team

by ZacZiemba45 Posted on March 8, 2016

Mother Jones

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Should Donald Trump become president, he would have a slew of lofty foreign policy promises to fulfill. Trump has vowed to decapitate ISIS, persuade Mexico to pay for a wall along the border, and impose harsh penalties on imports from China, and he’s said he would “probably get along with Russian President Vladimir Putin very well.” So who’s advising the Republican front-runner on his foreign policy platform? On Tuesday’s episode of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Trump struggled to confirm the existence of a foreign policy team on his campaign, just a day after his rival Marco Rubio unveiled an 18-member National Security Advisory Council.

As reported by NBC News’ Ali Vitali, Trump stumbled over a question from Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski.

Somehow, Brzezinski’s co-host Joe Scarborough managed to respond to her question even more bumblingly than Trump.

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Trump Struggles to Explain Whether He Has a Foreign Policy Team

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The Prestigious World Press Photo Finalists Are Out And They Are Breathtaking

by MoniqueBSV Posted on February 18, 2016

Mother Jones

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Early each year, photographers submit their work to a slew of contests, but the most prestigious is the World Press Photo. Based in Amsterdam, the World Press Photo jury goes through thousands of images—almost 83,000 this year—to name the World Press Photo of the Year and recognize the best in different categories of photojournalism. It’s a long and sometimes grueling process. And no matter which photo is named Photo of the Year, vocal differences of opinions (if not outright controversy) in the photojournalism community often follow.

This year the jury named Australian photographer Warren Richardson‘s photo of a family crossing the Serbian-Hungarian border as the World Press Photo of the Year.

Below is a selection of winners in each of the categories. Congratulations to all the photographers.

World Press Photo of the Year and the first-place winner in the spot news, single-image category: A man passes a baby through the fence at the Serbia-Hungary border in Röszke, Hungary. Warren Richardson, World Press Photo

Spot news single image, second place: Demonstration against terrorism in Paris, after a series of five attacks occurred across the Île-de-France region, beginning at the headquarters for satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. Corentin Fohlen/Divergence, World Press Photo

Spot news stories, first place: The aftermath of airstrikes in Syria Douma, a rebel-held city in a suburb of the capital Damascus, lies in the opposition bastion area of Eastern Ghouta and has been subject to massive regime aerial bombardment. The area has also been under a crippling government siege for nearly two years as part of a regime attempt to break the rebel’s hold in the region. Smoke rises from a building following reported shelling by Syrian government forces in Douma. Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP, World Press Photo

Spot news stories, second place: A wall of rock, snow, and debris slammed an Everest base camp in Nepal on April 25, 2015, killing at least 22 people and injuring many more. The avalanche was triggered by a powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 8,000 people elsewhere in the country. Trekking guide Pasang Sherpa searches for survivors among flattened tents moments after the avalanche. Roberto Schmidt/AFP, World Press Photo

Spot new stories, third place: Syrians fleeing the war rush through broken-down border fences to enter Turkish territory illegally, near the Turkish border crossing at Akcakale in Sanliurfa province. Turkey said it was taking measures to limit the flow of Syrian refugees onto its territory after an influx of thousands more over the last days due to fighting between Kurds and jihadis. Under an “open-door” policy, Turkey has taken in 1.8 million refugees. Bulent Kilic/AFP, World Press Photo

General news single image, first place: A doctor rubs ointment on the burns of a 16-year-old Islamic State fighter named Jacob in front of a poster of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, at a Y.P.G. hospital compound on the outskirts of Hasaka, Syria. Mauricio Lima, World Press Photo

General news stories, first place: Refugees arrive by boat near the village of Skala on Lesbos, Greece. Sergey Ponomarev for the New York Times, World Press Photo

General news stories, second place: A Syrian girl cries at a makeshift hospital in the rebel-held area of Douma, Syria. Abd Doumany/AFP, World Press Photo

General news stories, third place: Nepalese villages watch a helicopter picking up a medical team and dropping aid at the edge of a makeshift landing zone in Gumda, Nepal. Daniel Berehulak, World Press Photo

Contemporary issues single image, first place: Tianjin, a city in northern China, is shrouded in haze. Zhang Lei, World Press Photo

Contemporary issues single image, second place: Adam Abdel, 7, was severely burned after a bomb was dropped by a Sudanese government Antonov plane next to his family home in Burgu, Central Darfur, Sudan. Adriane Ohanesian, World Press Photo

Contemporary issues single image, third place: Lamon Reccord stares down a police sergeant during a protest following the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald by the police in Chicago. John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune, World Press Photo

Contemporary issues stories, first place: A photo series portraying the plight of Talibes, boys who live at Islamic schools known as Daaras in Senegal. Under the pretext of receiving a Quranic education, they are forced to beg in the streets while their religious guardians, or Marabout, collect their daily earnings. They often live in squalor and are abused and beaten. Abdoulaye, 15, is a Talibe imprisoned in a room with security bars in Thies, Senegal, to keep him from running away. Mário Cruz, World Press Photo

Contemporary issues stories, second place: Migrants rescued off the Libyan coast gather on the deck of the Doctors Without Borders rescue ship and attend a service in Strait of Sicily, Mediterranean Sea. Francesco Zizola/NOOR, World Press Photo

Contemporary issues stories, third place: Although they hadn’t planned it, Emily and Kate, who live in Maplewood, New Jersey, got pregnant within weeks of each other through artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization, respectively. Their sons were born within four days of each other, and the couple embraced the challenge of raising the two babies at once. Sara Naomi Lewkowicz, World Press Photo

Sports single image, first place: The Czech Republic’s Ondrej Bank crashes during the downhill race of the Alpine Combined at the FIS World Championships in Beaver Creek, Colorado. Christian Walgram/GEPA Pictures, World Press Photo

Sports single image, second place: During the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) 2015 Mens Basketball Tournament game with Wichita State versus Indiana, Ron Baker shoots over Nick Zeisloft while Hanner Mosquera-Perea and Rashard Kelly battle for position at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska. Greg Nelson/Sports Illustrated, World Press Photo

Sports single image, third place: Members of the Neptun Synchro synchronized swimming team perform during a Christmas show in Stockholm, Sweden. Jonas Lindkvist, World Press Photo

Sports stories, first place: Players of an amateur hockey team in provincial Russia rest in in the locker room at halftime. Vladmir Pesnya, World Press Photo

Sports stories, second place: The Gris-gris Wrestlers of Senegal performing rituals at a tournament. The events resemble a festival and include dance performances, music, and wrestling shows. Christian Bobst, World Press Photo

Sports stories, third place: Erison Turay founded the Ebola Survivor’s Football Club to support survivors after 38 members of his family died. Tara Todras-Whitehill/Vignette Interactive, World Press Photo

Daily life single image, first place: Chinese men pull a tricycle in a neighborhood next to a coal-fired power plant in Shanxi, China. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images, World Press Photo

Daily life single image, second place: Indigenous Munduruku children play in the Tapajos river in the tribal area of Sawre Muybu, Itaituba, Brazil. Mauricio Lima, World Press Photo

Daily life single image, third place: Raheleh, who was born blind, stands behind the window in the morning in Babol, Mazandaran, Iran. She likes the warmth of the sunlight on her face. Zohreh Saberi/Mehrnews Agency, World Press Photo

Daily life stories, first place: Chilean, Chinese, and Russian research teams in Antarctica want to explore commercial opportunities that will arise once the treaties protecting the continent for scientific purposes expire. A priest looks on in the bell room, after a vigil at the Russian Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity in Fildes Bay, Antarctica. Daniel Berehulak, World Press Photo

Daily life stories, second place: Tibetan Buddhists take part in the annual Bliss Dharma Assembly in Sichuan province, China. The last of four annual assemblies, the weeklong annual gathering marks Buddha’s descent from the heavens. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images, World Press Photo

Daily life stories, third place: A group of friends from Alemão, a slum in Rio de Janeiro, formed a media collective called Papo Reto, or “straight talk.” Social media allow them to report stories from their community that are otherwise ignored by traditional media. In this photo, Papo Reto collective members meet at Complexo do Alemao near a cableway station. Sebastián Liste/NOOR, World Press Photo

People single image, first place: A child is covered with a raincoat while she waits in line to register at a refugee camp in Preševo, Serbia. Matic Zorman, World Press Photo

People single image, second place: A mine worker takes a smoke break before going back into the pit. Miners in Bani, Burkina Faso, face harsh conditions and exposure to toxic chemicals and heavy metals. Matjaz Krivic, World Press Photo

People single image, third place: Portrait of a Syrian refugee family in a camp in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, on December, 15, 2015. The empty chair in the photograph represents a family member who has either died in the war or whose whereabouts are unknown. Dario Mitidieri, World Press Photo

People stories, second place: Young girls between the ages of 7 and 11 are chosen every year as “Maya” for the “Las Mayas,” a festival derived from pagan rites celebrating the arrival of spring, in the town of Colmenar Viejo, Spain. The girls are required to sit still for a couple of hours at a decorated altar. Daniel Ochoa de Olza, World Press Photo

Nature single image, first place: A massive “cloud tsunami” looms over Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, as a sunbather reads, oblivious to the approaching cloud. Roahn Kelly/News Corp Australia, World Press Photo

Nature single image, second place: Divers observe and surround a humpback whale and her newborn calf while they swim around Roca Partida in Revillagigedo Islands, Mexico. Anuar Patjane, World Press Photo

Nature single image, third place: This image taken in Colima, Mexico, shows the Colima Volcano during a powerful night explosion with lightning, ballistic projectiles, and incandescent rock falls. Sergio Tapiro, World Press Photo

Nature stories, first place: In this and other images, the lives of wild orangutans are brought to light. Threats to these orangutans range from fires and the illegal animal trade to loss of habitat due to deforestation. Many orphan orangutans end up at rehabilitation centers. A Bornean orangutan climbs over 30 meters up a tree in the rain forest of Gunung Palung National Park, West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Tim Laman, World Press Photo

Nature stories, second place: This image was part of a series that portrays the armed groups that profit most from the illegal ivory trade and the people at the frontline of the war against them, as well as others affected. A Lord’s Resistance Army fighter holds two ivory tusks on Near, Sudan. Ivory is a means of financing the LRA and is used for both food and weapon supplies. Brent Stirton/Getty Images for National Geographic, World Press Photo

Nature stories, third place: Madagascar holds more than half the world’s chameleon species; however, as a result of deforestation and habitat loss, 50 percent of the chameleon species is endangered. A Furcifer ambrensis female with an extendable tongue forages for insects in Montain d’Ambre, Madagascar. Christian Ziegler for National Geographic, World Press Photo

Long-term project, first place: This photo is part of a series portraying women who have been raped or sexually assaulted during their service with the US Armed Forces. Now, only 1 out of 10 reported sexual-violence cases goes to trial, and most military rape survivors are forced out of service. US Army Specialist Natasha Schuette, 21, was pressured not to report being assaulted by her drill sergeant during basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Though she was hazed by her assailant’s fellow drill instructors, she refused to back down, and Staff Sergeant Louis Corral is now serving four years in prison for assaulting her and four other female trainees. The US Army rewarded Natasha for her courage to report her assault, and the Sexual Harassment/Assault Response & Prevention office distributed a training video featuring her story. She is now stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. (See more here). Mary F. Calvert/ZUMA Press, World Press Photo

Long-term project, second place: A daughter photographed her own parents, who were in parallel treatment for stage-four cancer, side by side. The project looks at love, life, and living in the face of death. Howie and Laurel Borowick sit next to the bathroom telephone as they hear the most recent news from their oncologist. It was good scans for both of them, and their respective tumors are shrinking. Nancy Borowich, World Press Photo

Long-term project, third place: This photographer documented urban and rural North Korea, capturing the daily life of its citizens, military events, and ceremonies. Few outsiders have ever had a glimpse of the country. The photographer negotiated unprecedented access and took more than 40 trips to North Korea. A woman sits next to models of military weapons at a festival for the “Kimilsungia” and “Kimjongilia” flowers, named after the country’s late leaders, in Pyongyang. David Guttenfelder, World Press Photo

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The Prestigious World Press Photo Finalists Are Out And They Are Breathtaking

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Chris Christie Says It Took a Natural Disaster for Him to See He Could be President

by ArturoClough3 Posted on February 6, 2016

Mother Jones

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In a Bedford, New Hampshire, warehouse filled with several hundred supporters, Chris Christie on Saturday morning said that four years ago he was asked to run for president—begged to run for president—by associates, politicos, and funders. But, he recounted, he resisted these calls. Why? “I knew, in my heart, I was not ready to run for president,” Christie told the crowd. But the Christie boosters back then persisted. Don’t worry if you don’t have the experience yet, he said they told him, just get into the White House and then figure out what to do. But Christie said to his supporters that was not his way: “The politically popular thing to do when you see an opening is to run for it.” But he hung tough and told all these acolytes that he did not yet have the chops to be commander in chief. Then came his big break: Superstorm Sandy.

In a speech mainly focused on dismissing his rivals as untested and not prepared to be president—he called Trump an “entertainer-in-chief” and mocked one-term senators, such as Marco Rubio, for knowing how to haggle over amendments but not how to manage real-life crises—Christie repeatedly proclaimed that he was a true leader and that he knew he could handle whatever the world throws his way. That’s why he would be a great commander in chief. And the reason he realized this now—after his moment of doubt four years ago—is that, as governor, he guided New Jersey through that awful storm.

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Chris Christie Says It Took a Natural Disaster for Him to See He Could be President

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Inside the Scandal Rocking the Fantasy Sports World

by ShannaMoorman Posted on October 9, 2015

Mother Jones

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You’ve almost certainly seen the commercials. Turn on the TV or browse the Internet, and you’ll be bombarded with ads for daily fantasy football leagues that offer huge potential winnings each week of the season. But in recent days, the two largest daily fantasy sites—DraftKings and FanDuel—have been rocked by scandal. Now, the companies are facing a lawsuit, a state probe, and possible congressional hearings.

The controversy started last week, after a DraftKings employee won $350,000 in a FanDuel contest after inadvertently publishing information showing how many competitors had drafted certain players—before that information was supposed to be made public.

Earlier this week, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman opened an investigation into the business practices of DraftKings and FanDuel, seeking to determine whether employees at the sites won payouts based on access to internal information. In separate letters to each company obtained by the New York Times, Schneiderman demanded information on how both companies operated, their policies surrounding employee participation in fantasy games, and what access employees had to sensitive data.

And on Thursday, a class action lawsuit was filed in a federal court in New York against the two powerhouse fantasy sites, alleging that the companies “fraudulently induced” players to pay fees to participate in contests without acknowledging that employees participated in matches and had access to confidential, non-public information.

DraftKings CEO Jason Robins defended his company’s response to the data leak, saying in an interview with the Boston Globe that he runs a “very ethical company.”

An investigation of the daily fantasy sports industry, which gaming firm Eilers Research estimates will generate about $2.6 billion in entry fees this year alone, could disrupt the largely unregulated business. Lawmakers have called for hearings and Federal Trade Commission intervention into a world that walks the line between traditional fantasy leagues and online sports gambling.

And it all began with a mishap. Let’s start at the beginning:

What are fantasy sports, anyway? For years, fantasy leagues have captivated audiences, giving people a new way to follow their favorite professional sports. Basically, participants enter a league, draft athletes to their rosters, and compete in weekly or nightly matches against others based on their players’ statistical performances. So, for instance, it’s football season, so you get together with a few buddies and act as your own general manager—every time one of the players on your team scores a touchdown or kicks a field goal in real life, you get points in your fantasy league. In the United States, about 31 million people participate in fantasy football leagues. You often play for free, for money, or for bragging rights.

What makes daily fantasy leagues such as DraftKings and FanDuel different? Unlike the typical office pool, at DraftKings and FanDuel, participants must drop an entry fee—anywhere from 25 cents to $1,000—into contests and draft a fresh team on a nightly or weekly basis to compete against hundreds of opponents. The stakes are higher: Competitors can win as much as $2 million, depending on the size of the competition. What’s unique about daily fantasy sites is the inclusion of a “salary cap.” Participants are given a limited budget to draft a lineup of players. That means it’s important to predict which undervalued players will perform well that week.

Who’s making money off this? While participants have the chance to win millions of dollars in these competitions, the reality is, you’re more likely to lose the money you’ve put in than to gain anything substantial. An analysis by the Sports Business Journal showed the disparity between the most successful competitors and the rest of the field. The top 1.3 percent of participants in the daily fantasy baseball economy accounted for 91 percent of all player profits. And while the majority of small-time players lose about $10 per month on games, a few—5 percent of the field known as the “big fish”—accounted for 75 percent of the losses. “Hence, the DFS economy depends heavily on retaining the big fish,” Ed Miller and Daniel Singer wrote.

Eilers Research partner Adam Krejcik told Bloomberg in September that DraftKings and FanDuel would bring in a combined $60 million in entry fees in the first week of the NFL season, compared to the $30 million the sports bookies in Las Vegas would handle. At the same time, the two companies, which are each valued at more than $1 billion, hauled in a combined total of nearly $800 million in funding from investors. Those investors included New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Fox Sports, Comcast/NBC, Major League Baseball, and the National Basketball Association, among others.

This summer, Disney (which owns the majority of ESPN) pulled out of a potential $250 million investment deal with DraftKings. But ESPN subsequently reached an advertising agreement with DraftKings, making it the network’s exclusive fantasy partner. After the scandal came to light, ESPN partially distanced itself from the company, and Outside the Lines host Bob Ley announced the network would stop airing segments sponsored by DraftKings on its original programming. ESPN told media outlets such as Deadspin and CNN Money that it would be evaluating how it incorporates DraftKings into its programming “day-to-day.” â&#128;&#139;

OK, so what’s the current controversy all about? The scandal surfaced after Chris Grove, editor of legalsportsreport.com, reported that Ethan Haskell, a content manager at DraftKings, had inadvertently released lineup data for his employer’s most popular contest—the Millionaire Maker—before it was supposed to go public but after games started at FanDuel.

Before the scandal hit, employees at FanDuel and DraftKings were barred from competing in their own companies’ events, but they were still allowed to compete elsewhere. So when Haskell came in second place in a million-dollar FanDuel competition and raked in $350,000, eyebrows were raised. Questions swirled about employees’ access to data that can be used to gain a competitive advantage—in this case, information about the percentage of participants who drafted certain players.

No evidence has surfaced suggesting that Haskel actually used that information to gain an advantage. In a statement on Tuesday, DraftKings said that after a “thorough investigation,” the fantasy site found “this employee could not have used the information in question to make decisions about his FanDuel lineup” because he did not see the data until after all FanDuel lineups were finalized.

“This clearly demonstrates that this employee could not possibly have used the information in question to make decisions about his FanDuel lineup,” DraftKings stated. “Again, there is no evidence that any information was used to create an unfair advantage and any insinuations to the contrary are factually incorrect.”

A FanDuel spokesperson told ESPN that 0.3 percent of its prize money had been won by DraftKings employees—though that still amounts to at least $6 million. Both companies have now banned their employees from participating in any daily fantasy events for money. DraftKings enlisted former US Attorney John Pappalardo to conduct an internal investigation, and FanDuel has asked former US Attorney General Michael Mukasey to “review the facts and evaluate our internal controls, standards, and practices,” according to a company statement.

How exactly could non-public information skew the results? In daily fantasy sports, data is crucial. Participants make roster decisions based largely on which players are doing well at that point in the season and how much value they are likely to offer at their going “salary.” The complaint in the lawsuit against DraftKings and FanDuel explains why it would be so valuable to know how often each player is drafted: “Because the goal is to beat the other players, a player with statistical data about ownership percentages of competitors would have an edge over players without this data in many ways, including the ability to make rosters with enough players different from competitors’ rosters.â&#128;&#139;”

While DraftKings says it found no evidence indicating the employee in question used that information to his advantage, the lawsuit suggests that employees’ ability to access such information and the company’s awareness that employees participated in these outside competitions constitutes wrongdoing. DraftKings and FanDuel declined to comment on the lawsuit.

What are the legal implications of all this? Marc Edelman, an associate professor of law at the City College of New York, told Mother Jones that while the most recent scandal doesn’t necessarily reflect “insider trading,” it lifts the curtain on the “lack of institutional walls in place” on online fantasy groups. Sports legal expert Michael McCann wrote on SI.com that if the companies “knowingly” failed to prevent their employees from making money off their access to non-public data, other users could argue that both DraftKings and FanDuel “are engaged in anti-competitive conduct that violates antitrust law.”

It’s no surprise then that an investigation is under way in New York, which has one of the stronger consumer protection laws in the country. McCann noted that the Federal Trade Commission could also dive into the case and explore “whether insider knowledge in the DFS industry poses an anticompetitive, consumer-harmful practice in violation of federal trade regulations.” Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has said she will not pursue an investigation into DraftKings, which is headquarted in Boston. Healey noted that no federal or state law prevents the company from operating.

The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, a Kentucky-based fantasy player named Adam Johnson, argues that DraftKings breached its duties by “failing to prevent persons with inside information and data by virtue of their employment at other DFS sites from competing” against other players. The complaint alleges that DraftKings also “willfully failed to disclose” that employees with access to non-public information could compete at other sites, causing financial damage to players. The lawsuit alleges that by letting employees at both sites play in competitors’ contests, both companies “committed negligence and/or fraud.”

Why isn’t this considered sports gambling? In 2006, Congress passed legislation that outlawed online gambling. Fantasy sports, however, were left in the clear and exempted from the law. Lawmakers were apparently persuaded by an intense lobbying campaign from the professional sports industry, which argued that success in fantasy sports requires skill, not chance. As a result, it’s legal and largely unregulated.

What’s going to happen now? Lawmakers may now reconsider whether fantasy sites should be regulated. New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., (D) recently made the argument that the rise in popularity of daily fantasy sites supports the case for the legalization of sports gambling nationwide. He and Sen. Bob Menendez, (D-N.J.) wrote a letter to FTC director Edith Ramirez asking whether the commission could regulate and set for rules the industry.

“Like professional sports betting, fantasy sports should be legal, but both are currently operating in the shadows,” Pallone said in a statement.

Other lawmakers have joined the fray. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who once oversaw the Nevada Gaming Commission, told the Huffington Post that Congress should scrutinize the fantasy sports industry in light of its “scandalous conduct.” And Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) requested that the House Judiciary Committee hold a hearing to examine whether the multi-billion dollar industry should be allowed to police itself.

The New York Times and the Boston Globe have penned editorials calling for regulation. Fantasy enthusiasts are calling for changes, too: Cory Albertson, who, along with his playing partner Ray Coburn, has won millions from fantasy sports, declared in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, “Let’s cut to the chase here: Playing daily-fantasy sports games for money is gambling. And it should be regulated.â&#128;&#139;”

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Inside the Scandal Rocking the Fantasy Sports World

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Trump, Cruz, and Palin Rally Tea Partiers Against the Iran Deal

by LilyStines Posted on September 9, 2015

Mother Jones

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There’s something surreal about watching the intricate complexities of Middle East foreign policy boiled down to two-minute speeches at a tea party rally. That was the scene on Capitol Hill Wednesday when the Tea Party Patriots organized a rally to protest President Barack Obama’s deal with Iran to limit the country’s development of nuclear weapons. While lawmakers debated the agreement inside the Capitol, 50 speakers braved the sweltering heat—including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, GOP presidential hopefuls Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Donald Trump, and media personality Glenn Beck—to call on Congress to kill the deal.

Here are a few of the alternative proposals that these nuclear proliferation experts offered:

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Trump, Cruz, and Palin Rally Tea Partiers Against the Iran Deal

Posted in Anchor, Bragg, FF, GE, LAI, LG, Mop, ONA, oven, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Trump, Cruz, and Palin Rally Tea Partiers Against the Iran Deal