It?s that time of the month.? On the first Friday of the month, the White House trots out a statement about the 150,000-200,000 jobs created the previous month, how we?re still recovering from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and how more work needs to be done. They didn?t disappoint with the release of the July numbers.
It?s an easy statement to write. It?s a cut-and-paste job because this economy has been in the same mediocre job-creation rut it?s been in for months. Even though jobs continue to be created, the amount is not enough to return to pre-recession employment levels anytime soon.
First, the top-line numbers: The unemployment rate fell slightly to 7.4%, and 162,000 jobs were created in July. According to the Hamilton Project?s jobs gap calculator, at this rate, it will take 10 years, 9 months to return to pre-recession employment levels,?and according to Zerohedge, 77% of the jobs created in 2013 are part-time.
Here are three things Washington can do now to grow the economy faster and create more jobs:
Keystone XL. Instead of downplaying thousands of new jobs?over 42,000 by the State Department?s estimate?the President should approve the Keystone XL pipeline now.
Immigration reform. Economists agree that a more-flexible labor market that provide American companies with needed workers of all skill levels will spur economic growth and create jobs.
Corral EPA. Get the agency to back off on proposed greenhouse gas rules that are shutting down coal-fired power plants and threatening reliable electricity and tell it to forget about duplicative federal rules on hydraulic fracturing.
This list just scratches the surface, but it?s a good start. Policymakers need to stop accepting this broken record of mediocre job numbers and do more to boost the economy and job creation.
Social media is one of the newest phenomena of the twenty-first century. It seems no matter who you are, or where you go, people have some combination of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts (most have all three). The NBA and its players are no different. Social media has been adopted by both the league itself, and many of the players within. We at DIME took a look through Instagram profiles and compiled a list of the 25 best NBA players to follow.
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25. Carmelo Anthony (@carmeloanthony)
Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin (photo. Instagram/carmeloanthony)
Carmelo Anthony is one of the biggest profile athletes in, not just the NBA, but sports as a whole. His Instagram isn?t on par with other athletes, but whether he is posting his ?Watch of the Day? or family pictures with the beautiful wife, Lala Anthony, it?s definitely worth perusing his page.
24. Jared Sullinger (@Jared_Sully0)
Jared Sullinger (photo. Instagram/jared_sully0)
Jared Sullinger?s rookie season got off to hot start before back issues sidelined him. His time off allowed him to become even more equipped with Instagram. A member of Team Jordan, Sullinger isn?t shy in showing off his newest shipment of shoes from His Airness.
23. Jeremy Lamb (@jeremylamb1)
Jeremy Lamb (photo. Instagram/jeremylamb1)
Jeremy Lamb is poised to have a bigger role with the Oklahoma City Thunder next season and with more notoriety comes more fame. Lamb?s Instagram is full of ?selfies? and videos that will allow fans to get to know the up and coming product from UCONN.
22. James Harden (@jharden13)
James Harden (photo. Instagram/jharden13)
James Harden had a breakout season for the Houston Rockets and is now a household name among basketball fans. His Instagram gives you insight into him, as he is not afraid to post a meme making fun of him, or teammates.
21. DeAndre Jordan (@deandrejordan6)
DeAndre Jordan (photo. Instagram/deandrejordan6)
DeAndre Jordan is a comedian. Well, actually he?s a basketball player, but he has some of the best comedic chops in the NBA (check him out on Funny Or Die if you?re skeptical). His Instagram page doesn?t lack for comedy either and when he?s not being funny you can find him posting pictures of the shenanigans he and best friend and teammate Blake Griffin are getting into.
Tags: Andre Drummond, Austin Daye, Bradley Beal, Brandon Jennings, Carmelo An, chris paul, DeAndre Jordan, demarcus cousins, Dorrell Wright, Dwyane Wade, Evan Turner, harrison barnes, instagram, instagram video, James Harden, Jared Sullinger, Jeremy Lamb, john wall, Kevin Durant, kobe bryant, lebron james, Nate Robinson, Nick Young, Paul George, Russell Westbrook, Terrence Ross, Trey Burke, Twitter
Kelly Brook strolls along the beach showing off her famous curves in animal print bikini
She's spent the last few days showing off her bikini body and letting her fans know just how happy she is as she lets her hair down on her latest holiday.
And luckily for Kelly Brook she's still happily relaxing on her sunshine break in Greece.
The model whiled away yet another day on the sand and stood out thanks to squeezing her famous curves into a zebra print bikini.
Olusegun Obasanjo: "I have never seen an election that is perfect"
Zimbabwe's elections were free and peaceful, the two leading African observer groups have said.
African Union mission head Olusegun Obasanjo dismissed complaints of fraud, while another observer urged all parties to "accept the hard facts".
A local monitoring group said earlier the poll was "seriously compromised".
President Robert Mugabe's party is claiming victory in the election, which has been dismissed by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as a "huge farce".
Justice Minister Chinamasa Patrick: "We [Zanu-PF] are going to have a landslide victory"
On Wednesday, voters were choosing a president, 210 lawmakers and local councillors. The results must be declared by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) no later than five days after voting day.
No presidential figures have been announced but the first official results from national assembly elections show that Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party is taking an early lead. However, the seats announced were mostly in Mr Mugabe's rural strongholds, correspondents say.
Zanu-PF spokesman Rugaro Gumbo predicted that Mr Mugabe, 89, - who is running for a seventh term - would get at least 70% of the vote in the presidential poll.
"We are expecting a landslide victory," he was quoted as saying in Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper.
It is illegal to publish unofficial election results in Zimbabwe. Police have warned they would take action against anyone trying to leak early results.
Zanu-PF and Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have shared an uneasy coalition government since 2009 under a deal brokered to end the deadly violence that erupted after a disputed presidential poll the previous year.
Continue reading the main story
Views from Zimbabwe press
The Herald (state-run) - 'The people have spoken':
Indications are President Mugabe will sweep to power with a colossal margin as his party scores a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly.
The absence of cases of violence has thrown MDC-T [Tsvangirai] and its handlers off kilter which is why they precariously hang onto trying to attack the voters' roll as if it is compiled at Zanu-PF headquarters.
It should be stated from the outset that the Registrar-General of Voters' Office falls under the Ministry of Home Affairs which was overseen by ministers drawn from Zanu-PF and MDC.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is made up of commissioners chosen from lists submitted by the three parties in Government.
It thus comes as a surprise that today; MDC-T denies ownership of the electoral process it has been party to.
In Hatfield, hundreds of street kids and youths were given voter registration slips and went on to vote and we are told this was prevalent throughout the country.
What will Zec do about this blatant vote theft?
What people now need is change and that is the reason why yesterday [Wednesday] most of them braved the chilly weather and woke up early to join long queues to exercise their fundamental right.
Their desire is to see a better Zimbabwe. People need to separate good from evil, light from darkness, suffering from prosperity and make a demarcation between history and the future.
People went out in large numbers to put an end to Mugabe's 33-year rule that was characterised by suffering.
'Heavy blow'
Speaking in the capital Harare on Friday, Mr Obasanjo, Nigeria's former president, said the elections were fair and free "from the campaigning point of view".
The former Nigerian president admitted that there were "incidents that could have been avoided", but he stressed that the 69 AU observers did not believe those irregularities could change the overall outcome of the poll.
At the same time, the AU mission expressed concern at the high number of voters turned away and those being assisted to vote - usually reserved for the illiterate or the infirm.
In a statement, it also noted that 8.7m ballot papers were printed - 35% more than the number of registered voters.
Shortly afterwards, monitors from the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) - which had 562 observers - described the elections as "free and peaceful" but said it was too early to call them fair.
"In democracy we not only vote, not only campaign, but accept the hard facts, particularly the outcome," said Sadc mission head Bernard Membe, according to the AFP news agency.
Mr Obasanjo's assessment sharply contrasted to that by the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) - the largest group of domestic monitors with some 7,000 people on the ground across the country.
It said on Thursday that the elections were "seriously compromised", with as many as a million people being unable to cast their ballots.
The ZESN said potential voters were much more likely to be turned away from polling stations in urban areas, where support for Mr Tsvangirai is strong, than in President Mugabe's rural strongholds.
Continue reading the main story
Zimbabwe election: Key facts
About 6.4 million registered voters
Vote for president and parliament
Zanu-PF's Robert Mugabe and MDC's Morgan Tsvangirai are the main presidential contenders
Mr Mugabe, 89, is seeking to extend his 33-year rule
Mr Tsvangirai, 61, hopes to become president after three failed attempts
The poll ends the fractious coalition between Zanu-PF and MDC, which was brokered by regional mediators after disputed elections in 2008 that were marred by violence
First election under new constitution
The group also alleged significant irregularities before the poll. It said that 99.7% of rural voters were registered on the electoral roll in June compared with only 67.9% of urban voters.
But speaking to al-Jazeera, Mr Obasanjo questioned ZESN's conclusions, describing them as "not verifiable".
He said he was satisfied that the apparent anomalies between urban and rural voter registration had been explained by the registrar-general, who had the accurate figures for births and deaths.
Mr Obasanjo also said that Mr Tsvangirai's camp should have addressed concerns about the electoral roll before the vote - not after.
MDC member and Finance Minister Tendai Biti told the BBC that the assistance voting in rural areas was a "euphemism to say you have to vote for Zanu-PF under the guidance and watch of someone else".
"They [Zanu-PF] have stolen the election so much so that they are embarrassed at what they have done," Mr Biti added.
Still, Mr Obasanjo's assessment of the elections is a big boost for President Mugabe and a heavy blow for his opponents, the BBC's Andrew Harding in Johannesburg says.
It is unclear now how Mr Tsvangirai intends to fight on, our correspondent adds.
On Thursday, the prime minister said the elections were "null and void".
"Our conclusion is that this has been a huge farce... It's a sham election that does not reflect the will of the people."
Extra units - some in riot gear - have been deployed in Harare.
Under the electoral law, if no presidential candidate gains 50% of the ballots, a run-off will be held on 11 September.
BANGKOK (AP) ? Oil prices breezed past $108 per barrel Friday, with traders emboldened by record highs on Wall Street and data showing an upswing in U.S. factory output.
Benchmark crude for September delivery rose 67 cents to $108.56 per barrel at midday Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $2.86 a barrel Thursday, or 2.7 percent, to close at $107.89 a barrel on the Nymex on Thursday.
Oil prices are being fueled by the same optimism that pushed Wall Street to new highs Thursday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index and the Dow Jones industrial average both set record highs, and the S&P 500 crossed the 1,700 mark for the first time.
The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, said its index of U.S. manufacturing jumped to 55.4 in July, up from 50.9 in June and well above an expected reading of 51.8. A number above 50 indicates growth.
On Friday, hiring figures for July will be released, then examined for hints about future energy demand in the world's No. 1 economy.
In a commentary, Michael Hewson of CMC Markets said that report "could well add the final flourish to a record week, and a perfect start to August."
Brent crude, traded on the ICE Futures exchange in London, rose 50 cents to $110.04 per barrel.
In other energy futures trading on the Nymex:
? Heating oil was up 0.9 cents to $3.1055 a gallon.
? Natural gas fell 3 cents to $3.362 per 1,000 cubic feet.
? Wholesale gasoline rose 0.2 cents to $3.0305 a gallon.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? A measure awarding generous funding to road and bridge projects, community development grants and housing help for the poor is running into stiff Republican opposition in the Senate.
The bill appeared likely to fall prey Thursday to a filibuster by Republicans unhappy that the legislation breaks through budget limits required by automatic spending cuts known as budget sequestration.
"Voting for appropriations legislation that blatantly violates budget reforms already agreed to by both parties moves our country in exactly, exactly the wrong direction," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said.
Far more austere companion legislation was pulled off the House floor Wednesday because, top lawmakers said, GOP leaders lacked the votes to pass it. The House Appropriations Committee chairman, Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky., said it was time to go back to the drawing board and come up with a compromise with congressional Democrats and the White House.
Taken together, the likely failure of both measures illustrates the shortcomings of the budget strategies by Republicans controlling the House and Democrats in charge of the Senate. At issue are the 12 spending bills passed each year by Congress for the day-to-day working of the government.
House GOP leaders pulled the measure from the floor after detecting opposition from both conservatives and more moderate members. Democrats were united against the bill and its steep cuts to Amtrak, transportation and housing programs, and community development grants.
"There are some folks that have a hard time voting for any appropriation bill and then there are some folks (for whom) this was probably a difficult vote ..., with Amtrak and block grants and stuff," said Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, author of the transportation and housing measure. Aides to top Republicans like Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy of California maintained that the measure was scuttled because there wasn't enough time in the House's crowded schedule.
Without a broader House-Senate budget agreement in place, the two chambers of Congress have been trying to advance starkly different versions of the 12 appropriations bills, with little success in the House and virtually none in the Senate.
The Senate measures have been drafted to reflect higher budget levels originally called for in a budget deal enacted two years ago. But that deal called for automatic spending cuts known as sequestration if lawmakers could not pass follow-up deficit cuts, and the House spending bills have been drawn to those sequestration levels, which are more than $90 billion lower ? a huge, unbridgeable difference in the approximately $1 trillion budget for daily agency operations.
Congress heads out of Washington this week for a five-week vacation, leaving the mess to be dealt with in the fall. GOP leaders had sought to set up a budget showdown this summer with the need to pass legislation increasing the government's $16.7 trillion borrowing cap. But the government's better-than-expected fiscal performance has delayed that showdown into the fall.
President Barack Obama says he won't negotiate over the debt limit like he did two years ago, a promise he repeated to his House and Senate allies in closed-door meetings on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
The situation on the House and Senate transportation measures reflects the broader dysfunction in Washington over the budget. All sides want to reverse the crippling sequestration cuts, but a partisan impasse over tax increases sought by Obama and his Democratic allies and cuts to so-called mandatory programs like Medicare and food stamps demanded by Republicans shows no signs of breaking.
Cuts in the House transportation measure were made deeper by a Republican move to cut an additional $40 billion-plus from domestic programs and transfer the money to the Pentagon. That left the transportation measure $10 billion, or about 18 percent, below the Senate's bill.
Rogers, who typically is cautious in his public statements, issued an unusually harsh blast, saying halting debate on the House measure reflected a failure of Republicans to follow up on their promises to cut spending with binding legislation.
"With this action, the House has declined to proceed on the implementation of the very budget it adopted just three months ago," Rogers said. He said the failed transportation and housing measure was the first major attempt by Republicans to pass an appropriations bill at levels consistent with the sequestration cuts and said the failure of the bill meant it was time for a new approach.
The White House said the failure of the House transportation bill laid bare the shortcomings of the GOP budget strategy.
"What we learned yesterday is substantively, people cannot accept the depth of these cuts," White House budget director Sylvia Burwell told reporters Thursday at a breakfast sponsored by the Wall St. Journal. "That level isn't a workable level."
"The House, Senate and White House must come together as soon as possible on a comprehensive compromise that repeals sequestration, takes the nation off this lurching path from fiscal crisis to fiscal crisis, reduces our deficits and debt, and provides a realistic topline discretionary spending level to fund the government in a responsible ? and attainable ? way," Rogers said.
On that, at least, there was agreement.
"The collapse of the partisan transportation and housing bill in the House proves that their sequestration-on-steroids bills are unworkable, and that we are going to need a bipartisan deal to replace sequestration," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chief author of the Senate bill.
