Abhijit Banerjee, this years Indian-born Economics Nobel Laureate, met Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi on Tuesday morning. Soon after, Modi tweeted that it was an excellent meeting and that India is proud of his accomplishments. Banerjee shared the Nobel with co-researchers Esther Duflo, who hes married to, and Michael Kremer. Duflo, the youngest Economics Nobel winner, wasnt present at the meeting with the PM.

Excellent meeting with Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee. His passion towards human empowerment is clearly visible. We had a healthy and extensive interaction on various subjects. India is proud of his accomplishments. Wishing him the very best for his future endeavours, the PM wrote on his personal Twitter handle, @narendramodi.

Banerjee was prompt to thank the PM, though not on social media. Speaking to the media later, he said, Thank you, PM... that was a unique experience. Responding to how the conversation with Modi had gone, Banerjee laughingly quipped he wouldnt get into any controversial subject as he had been warned by the PM. But, the professor spilled the beans by saying the PM had started the conversation by cracking a joke on how the media was trying to trap him to say anti-Modi things. He went on to say, The PM has been watching TV and watching you guys. And he knows what you are trying to do.

On a more serious note, Banerjee described the meeting with Modi as cordial and good. The PM was kind enough to give me quite a lot of time and to talk a lot about his way of thinking about India, that was unique, he said. He added that while one hears about policies, one rarely hears about the thinking behind them.

The two also spoke about the various aspects of governance. The emphasis was on the structure of elite control over the process of governance, that runs the risk of making the government less responsive.

Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee with Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim

He (Modi) very nicely explained how hes trying to reform the bureaucracy to make it more responsive, the economist said, adding its important for India to have a bureaucracy that lives on the ground.

While claiming that he wouldnt get into controversial turf, Banerjee termed the banking crisis in the country as critical and frightening. While pointing out that theres need to worry, he said, We need some important and aggressive changes.

He argued for reducing the government stake in public sector banks to below 50 per cent, so that theres no interference from the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). Even as checks and balances are needed, CVC was allowing a rot in public sector banks, he said.

Banerjee and Duflo have been in India for the past few days to promote their book Good Economics for Hard Times: Better Answers to Our Biggest Problems. A professor at the US Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Banerjee has said in his recent interviews that a cut in corporation tax rate might not boost demand. He has been advocating increasing the tax on the rich and making cash available for the poor to improve consumption at the time of an economic slowdown.

Some politicians in the current dispensation have been critical of Banerjee. Recently, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said Banerjee had a Left-leaning mindset and that his views had already been rejected by India. Some others in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party had made personal remarks on Banerjee. To that he had reacted saying he was upset with such personal comments. Against that backdrop, Banerjees meeting with the PM was seen as significant.

Even as he has opposed the corporation tax rate cut as a way to boost economy, Banerjee has said that many other things that the current government has done, including many of its welfare schemes for the poor, are in the right spirit. Banerjee and Duflo have been awarded Nobel for their work on randomised controlled trials, or RCTan experimental approach to alleviate global poverty.

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PM Narendra Modi joked that media trying to trap me: Abhijit Banerjee - Business Standard

Scorpio season will have you feeling CrazySexyCool as if you were a member of the Hip Hop trio, TLC. Expect a whole lot of drama, literal sex, and a newfound sense of identity come Oct 23 through Nov 22.

You dont have to be an actual Scorpio sun sign or have any Scorpio placements within your personal natal chart in order to be influenced by the water sign this Scorpio season. Everyone will be picking up on the emo vibes, which could potentially make you more self-aware of your personal needs. This is where your newfound sense of identity comes in!

Understand that this will be a time of heightened sensitivity, most especially through communication. Watch those risky emails and texts because you may feel the urge to say exactly what is on your mind without reconsidering the possible repercussions. Calm and collected is the motto to keep in mind when working with and not against this intense energy.

In Your Feelings

You might notice yourself becoming overly emotional during this time due to the heavy water influence from this astrological sign. Not sure if youre overreacting or just reconnecting with your emotions? Go deep this Scorpio season. This is a sign of radical transformation. Known for its ability to manifest deaths and rebirths in a metaphorical sense, you can expect some drastic changes to occur in your life. It is highly encouraged to explore the depths of all and any feelings that might arise for you during this time. Scorpios shadow energy will allow old wounds to re-submerge so that there can be an opportunity for healing to be expressed.

Being conscious of applying the practice of empathy towards others during this delicate astrological season will likely steer you clear of any potential situations that might result in dramatic encounters. Heres where the diplomacy from Libra season comes in if you can remember to think twice before snapping those fingers and letting any sharp words roll off your tongue. The cosmic task? Speaking your truth with grace.

Perception is Everything

Upheaval or transformation? Likely a bit of both. However, your perception will ultimately dictate how you view your circumstances this Scorpio season. There will be moments of what may seem like everything is crashing down on me. However, the experience can end up becoming your biggest catalyst towards empowerment.

Meanwhile, Neptune is hanging out lethargically in the sign of Pisces, which can add a sense of sadness and a pessimistic outlook. Working past low vibrating energies of anger, depressing and fear will test many. The key to easing the discomfort during a transformation this Scorpio season? Surrender. Surrender to the fact that through your darkest moments you can enhance your inner light. This could be a breakthrough for a new foundation in your life.

Self-Love, Sex, Intimacy and Everything in Between

Scorpio is the natural ruler of the eighth house, representative of the occult, taboo subjects, and sex. Its also noteworthy to mention its planetary rulers of Mars and Pluto, which add heavy passion and power struggles to the mix. On the other end of the spectrum, theres an added sense of charisma and magnetism that you can tap into during this time. Expect your aura to be naturally inclined towards exhibiting some confident and flirty tendencies. You could work up the courage to realize that you arent afraid to ask out that person youve been eyeing because rejection doesnt make you any less worthy. Better yet, you could realize youre completely content with filling up your own cup and dont need to rely on any codependency in order to practice self-love courtesy of Scorpios positive authoritative aspects.

If youre feeling extra seductive, dont be surprised. Responsible sensuality is encouraged, and this influence can lead to sexual liberation. Sex is normally a taboo subject, yet, expect much exploration in this area to come this Scorpio season. As a result, healthy discussions between you and your significant other around your deepest intimate desires can occur. This will be a time to try out new things and spice up your romantic life.

Career Changes and Your Life Mission

Expect career and finances to be a top priority during this time. There could be possibilities to transition into new fields of work due to sudden endings. This doesnt mean your employer is going to fire you come Monday. Instead, this is a cosmic gateway for you to do an internal checklist of whether you feel your current career is in alignment with your vision for the future. Therefore, you could find yourself finally deciding to leave your job and go back to school to study something completely different. Your hidden desires for fulfillment are going to be a top priority along with having the foresight to envision how that weaves into your current reality. Some changes in career can be as minor as moving departments or being promoted. Either way, success is yours.

May you manifest wisely this Scorpio season.

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Scorpio Season is Upon Us: Heres the Lowdown - BELatina

Sharing data altruistically on digital platforms in the health sector or in research-related environments is seen as contributing to the common good, according to a new report by theEsade Institute for Social InnovationentitledMy Data, My Rules: From data extractivism to digital empowerment. The study focuses on digital empowerment and forms part of the RecerCaixa programme, which is funded by la Caixa in collaboration with the Catalan Association of Public Universities. It analyses 13 case studies in which people have control over their personal data, with particular emphasis on the experiences ofDigital Estonia,Cozy CloudandMIDATA.coop.

The report which marks the seventh edition of the Esade Institute for Social Innovations Antenna for Social Innovation notes that in some cases, data sharing is encouraged under a monetisation scheme: individuals can share subsets of their data in exchange for money. However, other rewards were also observed, including data panels and access to new products and services, as well as altruism in health and research platforms.

Focus on citizens

The study shows that a large number of corporations and digital platforms collect personal data and store it in multiple locations across their own servers, without allowing the people in question to access the data. As a result of these practices, trust in large companies has been eroded and people are becoming more aware of what sorts of data they are willing to share, with whom and for what purposes.

The study also analyses various best practices, including thecreation of citizen-centred platformsthat aggregate individual data under the control of the corresponding owner. These platforms also emphasise the importance ofpeople being able to participate in the processing of their data through consentand the need for people to give their consent when third parties participate in the data processing. In particular, the report noted that initiatives that make it easy for people to exercise the right to delete their data help to empower digital citizens. Some initiatives have co-created privacy policies with their users and have even incorporated users into their ethics committees to discuss what rules should apply.

The report shows that citizen empowerment is a hot topic that sparks great interest in society as well as the business world, explainedLiliana Arroyo, researcher at the Esade Institute for Social Innovation and one of the authors of the study. Digital awareness is an inevitable debate nowadays. Arroyos co-authors areDavid Murillo, also a researcher at the Esade Institute for Social Innovation and a lecturer in the Department of Society, Politics, and Sustainability at Esade, andObaid Amjad, a PhD student at Esade.

Examples of digital empowerment

The three cases analysed in the greatest detail present, from different perspectives, the best practices for empowerment in their respective fields. Digital Estonia, an electronic administration initiative, represents the public sector. Cozy Cloud, a French start-up offering storage solutions with an interesting anti-GAFA (Google, Amazon, Facebook y Apple) proposal, is an example of a private initiative. And finally, MIDATA.coop is a cooperative platform from Switzerland that enables people to control the reuse of their health data.

In addition to these examples, the report also analyses ten other initiatives engaged in a variety of public, private and activist interests:Blue Button US,CitizenMe,Digi.me,Meeco,MyData Global Network,Mydex CIC,Savvy.Coop,Sesam Key,SOLIDandTactical Technology Collective.

This communicationwas first published17 October2019 by ESADE.

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Money is not the only reward for sharing data online, according to Esade report - Science Business

SobelCo

Donna Miller, left, founder and president of C3Workplace, and Sally Glick, principal and chief growth strategist at SobelCo, speak at a recent SobelCo Executive Womens Leadership Breakfast.

At the recent SobelCo Executive Womens Leadership Breakfast in Livingston, Donna Miller, founder and president of C3Workplace in Montclair, and Sally Glick, principal and chief growth strategist at SobelCo, discussed the importance of scaling ones business, both as an entrepreneur and as an employee within a company.

I started my company with the intention of leaving my company and retiring at the age of 50, Miller said. I am now way north of that because I love what I do; however, I still set myself up for retirement with a company that can run without me, and I can now work how, when and where I want.

Since 1994, C3Workplace has helped thousands of small business owners and entrepreneurs grow and improve their revenues with adaptable, affordable, coworking office spaces; likeminded business-oriented communities; business education and back office resources, including a telephone answering service; bookkeeping; marketing; sales and meeting support; database and contact management; project coordination; administrative tasks; and more.

Now, with two coworking facilities, in Montclair and Sparta, Miller is thinking about how she might begin to transition out of the company she has built.

Maybe Ill eventually sell, or maybe Ill make it an employee-owned company, but, having built a scalable company, I now have options, she said. And financial empowerment is all about having options.

Glick, who has worked with SobelCo for nearly 14 years, said that, as a key employee in the company, it also is her responsibility to begin thinking about a succession plan moving forward.

As much as my ego loves when people go out and ask, Are you going to Sallys program? the reality is that, while I love what I do, its not really about me at all, she said. Someday, I wont be here, and if all that loyalty, respect and interest were to go away without being translated and converted back to SobelCo, Ive not done my job and, you can really only do that when you leverage the right people.

Read on to learn more about what Glick and Miller had to say.

Sally Glick: It isnt that women are not opening businesses, and at a great rate, but often its about the type of business there is a difference between working as an individual and growing a scalable, sustainable organization. So many women build businesses around themselves and their own skills, because, at one point or another, people have said to them that they ought to go out on their own, but the words tangible asset are not always a part of those conversations. We often do not think strategically, whether we are building our own company or a niche within our company, but I think the most important thing is to be strategic in our decisions by having a vision of exactly where it is we want to be.

Donna Miller: Many times in my career, people have asked me why I dont franchise, but, for me, giant isnt what Im going for. What I want is to be able to live the life I want to live at the financial level I need while, at the same time, making sure I am building a business that has value and can run without me. The National Association of Women Business Owners says there are 11.5 million women-owned firms in the U.S., producing $1.7 trillion in sales thats a force to be reckoned with. However, 88% of those businesses generate less than $100,000 in revenue and only 1.7% generate $1 million or more. That may be by choice, and thats OK, but if youre looking to build wealth, you must build an asset that you can sell.

DM: When I opened my company, my goal was to get out of my company. With the end in mind, I followed the four Ps:

SG: One of the key things we have done at my firm is to create niche areas and unique processes for serving and growing our clients in those spaces. Forensics, nonprofits, small businesses, whichever group it is, the firm is not going to be thrilled about investing in just one person and their commitment to that space, knowing it could all disappear if and when that person retires, moves away, leaves the company or if their personal circumstances change and they must now work part-time. That is why, now, whenever I pitch my managing partner an idea, he will say, Is this a one-off or can this become a duplicatable process? If I cannot prove we can build a process around it and set in motion a plan for growth that will allow this idea to grow, renew and sustain itself to create a profitable legacy within the firm, hes no longer interested in hearing about it. We cannot invest ourselves in building around a unique individual rather than the firm itself.

SG: Because I started my career working with my father, I didnt fight many battles and I didnt have to fight for work-life balance, either. At 3:30 p.m., Id say, Dad, I have to go get the kids at school. Even as a single parent, I may have juggled less than someone else because of this extraordinary opportunity. But, what Ive come to learn in my career afterwards is that, some days you have more and some days you have less, but you do achieve a sort of equilibrium. If you are building a scalable business or a scalable career, you must learn to prioritize. Because many of us are Type A personalities, we tend to like to do a lot of things ourselves, but, at the same time, its important we find and surround ourselves with good people we can trust, people who will say no to us, people who can help us grow and flourish, because we cannot rely on one person to come up with all the answers. Everyone needs to rest and rejuvenate, but we cant do that unless we leverage.

DM: One of the challenges I had in scaling my business was that I began by sitting at the front desk and doing absolutely everything better than anyone could ever possibly do it. Then, when I started to bring people on because I wanted to scale my business, I had to evolve from doing everything and anything to understanding that if I didnt get off that hamster wheel, I was headed for a heart attack, never mind a scalable business. I now refer to myself as a recovering micromanager, because there was no situation I couldnt make 1,000 times worse by needing to have my hand in everything. We have to stop being mothers in the workplace. Our job is to teach and inspire our team, and, while empathy is something women are better at than men, we still have a job to get done. We also need to stop saying yes to everything. We must instead figure out what makes us uniquely good at driving our business or our career forward to assure we are driving our lives forward, too, because when you have a crystal clear idea of what it is that will drive your life forward, you wont want anything to take away from that and it becomes easier to say no.

Donna Miller, founder and president of C3Workplace in Montclair and Sparta, said she ran another coworking firm for seven years one she had always intended to buy.

The owner and I shook hands lesson learned and the deal was that I would eventually buy the business from him, Miller said. Then, when I offered him nearly 50% more than the business was worth, he turned around and did something truly devastating, but what turned out to be a huge blessing in my life he turned me down.

Miller said she then spent six months taking a course offered by the New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners on how to write a business plan.

To tell you that it was painful would be an understatement; however, it was the foundation for my early success, and its been the foundation of my success ever since, she said. I was able to raise $100,000 through friends and family, opened C3Workplace just 1.2 miles from where his company used to be located, and never looked back.

My former employer did slap me with an injunctive order, which was kind of scary, seeing as I had just borrowed $100,000, but I made the business decision to settle. I simply decided to be happy and move on.

Conversation Starter

Learn more about Donna Miller at c3workplace.com. Reach Sally Glick at sally.glick@sobelcollc.com.

Related

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No 'I' in team: Execs share ways they've scaled up their business and made sure it can go on without them - ROI-NJ.com

Measles has reared its ugly head again, despite have been declared eradicated in the United States in 2000. Two generations have grown up in a world in which measles was on the decline or virtually non-existent after a vaccine was introduced in 1963. Now, thanks to a vigorous anti-vaccination movement and increased global travel, measles is making a comeback.

In the U.S., 1,250 measles cases were reported according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as of the beginning of October. Outbreaks have occurred in 31 states. Wisconsin is one state that has not yet had a measles outbreak.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that the measles vaccine prevented an estimated 21 million deaths from 2000 to 2017. Prior to the development of the measles vaccine in 1963, measles caused 2.6 million deaths worldwide each year. Before the vaccine was actually in use, Wisconsin had more than 68,000 cases of measles and 19 deaths in 1963.

With measles outbreaks on the rise, physicians and public health officials are concerned. Measles is incredibly contagious, says Dr. Marylyn Ranta, associate chief medical officer at Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin. There are few germs on Earth that are more contagious. That means that if you have somebody who has measles in a room and two hours later somebody who has not been vaccinated steps into that room, he or she has a better than 90% chance of catching measles two hours later.

Ranta explains that most other germs wont live that long in public places like stores or airplanes. Think about how ventilation systems in buildings share air and air handling, Ranta cautions. If you have people who are under-vaccinated, meaning they haven't had the full series, or are unvaccinated or are vaccinated but have immune problems, all of those people are at risk.

In Wisconsin, 2018 Wisconsin Department of Health Services data shows that 50,000 children had medical, religious or personal conviction vaccine waivers for one or more vaccines. Of the 50,000 with waivers, 44,000 had personal conviction waivers. Wisconsin is one of 15 states that has personal conviction waivers. Wisconsin was recently ranked fifth highest in the percentage of students taking vaccine waivers among U.S. states. Health officials and doctors are concerned about the increase in personal conviction waivers that has occurred between 1997 and the present. During the 1997-98 school year, only 1.2% of students took personal conviction waivers. In the 2018-19 school year, this percentage grew to 4.8%.

In 20 years, an anti-vaccination movement has matured. The movement grew out of an article published in The Lancet by Andrew Wakefield, a British physician, who suggested a connection, from a very small sampling, between the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and development of autism in children. Though Wakefields research was found to be deeply flawed and he had a conflict of interest in funding, MMR vaccine rates continued to drop dramatically after his article was published. To this day, members of the anti-vaccine movement, sometimes called anti-vaxxers, continue to cite his work to support their anti-vaccination agenda.

It is no wonder that local health personnel may find it challenging to counter the anti-vaccine websites and social media messaging. Jill LeStarge, communicable disease and immunization program supervisor at the City of Milwaukee Health Department, says the exemption rate is high, in part, due to the increased information from the anti-vaccine groups. This is a multi-faceted problem that is difficult to address, LeStarge says.

Social media has proved to be an effective vehicle for amplifying the anti-vax message. In a paper presented at the American Association of Public Health Convention in 2015, researchers conducted a content analysis of 480 anti-vaccine websites and found that they contained considerable misinformation, including the following: Vaccines were dangerous (65.6%), cause autism (62.2%) and brain injury (41.1%). Websites used both selective scientific evidence (64.7%) and anecdotes (30.0%) to support these claims. Anti-vaxxers invoked values such as choice (41.0%), freedom (20.5%) and individuality (17.4%) to underwrite their positions, and they co-promoted behaviors, which included the use of alternative medicine (18.8%) and homeopathy (10.2%), as well as eating a healthy (18.5%) or organic (5.2%) diet. Cleansing ones body of toxins (7.1%), breastfeeding (5.5%) and religiosity (6.8%) were also promoted.

In addition to hundreds of anti-vax websites, social media was used extensively to amplify the anti-vaccine message. A 2018 study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, found that bots and Russian trolls amplified the anti-vaccine debate between 2014 and 2017. The Russian tweets have now been removed. Using a set of almost 2 million tweets, the study found that whereas bots that spread malware and unsolicited content disseminated anti-vaccine messages, Russian trolls promoted discord by accounts masquerading as legitimate users, creating false equivalency between the anti- and pro-vax proponents, thus eroding public consensus on vaccination.

I think theres a problem that we all face in that theres an abundance of information available and very little in the way of anybody who is a referee for that information, particularly when we're talking about the internet, says Dr. James Conway, associate director for health sciences at the Global Health Institute, UW-Madison. Theres always been distrust of science going all the way back to Galileo, and theres always been questions about vaccines from when Edward Jenner started immunizing for smallpox.

Conway says we live in an era where people are questioning the validity of everything.

Simultaneously, medicine is trying to be more of a partner with people rather than the way it used to be that was more patriarchal, when we would kind of tell people what to do, he says. Were encouraging people to go out and look for information and be educated consumers. At the same time, there's an overwhelming amount of information out there and a lot of people are just not well-educated or scientifically literate enough to know which things are real and which things are not real.

Conway stresses that vaccines are extensively tested, safe and effective.

Although 92% of children in Wisconsin are up-to-date with vaccinations, there are pockets where children are under-vaccinated. Anytime we have pockets of people who are not protected, we are concerned, says Stephanie Schauer, immunization program manager for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

According to data from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, in the 2018-19 school year, 61% of Milwaukee County schools reported that 90% or more of students met the minimum vaccination requirement. The bad news, however, is that 157 schools (36%) reported minimum vaccination rates below 90%, with 12 of those below 70%.

We know that where there are lower rates of immunization, thats where outbreaks are likely to happen, Conway says. In schools, children are really in close proximity, and were encouraging them to play together and share. Its a perfect scenario for disease transmission, especially for highly contagious diseases, like smallpox back in the era and now with measles.

In the 2018-19 school yearthe latest for which data is availablethe following Milwaukee County schools had a much higher percentage of students taking the personal conviction waiver than the state percentage of 4.8%:

Tamarack Waldorf School, Milwaukee (30%), Badger State Baptist School, Oak Creek (21%), St. John the Evangelist School, Greenfield (20%), Yeshiva Elementary School, Milwaukee (14%), Wauwatosa Montessori School (14%), Downtown Montessori Academy, Milwaukee (12%) and Grace Christian Academy, West Allis (11%). At another 14 schools, 9% of students took personal conviction waivers: Honey Creek Elementary, Highland Community School, Saint Lucas Lutheran School, Howard Avenue Montessori School, Milwaukee Seventh Day Adventist School, Milwaukee College Prep36th Street, Blessed Sacrament Grade School, College Park Elementary, Atwater Elementary, Victory Christian Academy, Bayside Middle School, Shorewood Intermediate School, Mount Olive Lutheran Grade School and North Shore Montessori School. In total, 54 Milwaukee County schools (12% of the total) reported personal exemption waiver percentages of 6% or greater.

In addition, at the start of the 2018-19 school year, vaccinations in process, behind schedule or no records pushed the percentage of students meeting minimum vaccination requirements below 70% at the following schools (the number in parentheses is the number of students meeting minimum vaccination requirements):

Carmen Middle School South Campus (28%), Pathways High (41%), Daniel Webster Secondary School (49%), Lee Learning Center (56%), Milwaukee Excellence Charter School (59%), Audubon Middle School (63%) Morse Middle School (63%), Southeastern Education Center (63%), San Rafael The Archangel (64%), Daniels University Prep (67%) and Milwaukee Scholars Charter School (69%).

In 2018-19, 15 Milwaukee County schools did not submit reports:

Milwaukee County Correctional Facility South, Franklin; Lutheran Special School, Glendale; Lutheran Special School, Wauwatosa; Lutheran Special School, Hales Corners; New School for Youth Empowerment; Texas Bufkin Christian Academy; Believers Institute; University of Islam; A Promise of Hope Academy; Saint Charles Education Center; Calvarys Christian Academy School of the Arts; Hillel Academy, Whitefish Bay; Plank Road Complex, Wauwatosa; Wauwatosa Virtual Academy; Milwaukee Academy, Wauwatosa; and Kingdom Prep Lutheran High, Wauwatosa. This year, parents had until Tuesday, Oct. 15, to get their children immunized to meet the minimum immunization requirements.

State Rep. Gordon Hintz (D-Oshkosh) introduced legislation in 2016 to end the personal conviction waiver, which accounts for 90% of all vaccine waivers, greatly outnumbering religious and medical waivers. It never got a hearing. After the growing number of recent outbreaks in 2018, he reintroduced it in April 2019. The bipartisan bill was sponsored by Rep. Tyler Vorpagel (R-Plymouth),Rep. DebraKolste (D-Janesville),Rep. Jonathan Brostoff (D-Milwaukee),Rep. LaKeshia Myers (D-Milwaukee),Rep. Daniel Riemer (D-Milwaukee)and Senator Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee).

The bill is stalled in the Committee on Constitution and Ethics, headed by Rep. Chuck Wichgers (R-Muskego). Hintz thinks it unlikely that the bill will get a hearing anytime soon, despite bipartisan support for the legislation and the support of 20 advocacy groups. Wichgers, who is on record as opposing the bill, did not return phone calls from this reporter about it. Hintz says opposition to vaccines tends to come from younger parents who never experienced infectious diseases first-hand in the pre-vaccine era. I think its going to get worse before it gets better, he says.

Once measles gets started, its hard to shut down, UW-Madisons Conway explains. It has a really long incubation period. You can get exposed to someone with measles and have no idea you were exposed. You might not develop your own symptoms until 10 or 14 days later. Then, you can expose other people. Conway says once you contract measles, it gets into your respiratory system and then into your bloodstream. If it lands in your brain, you get encephalitisinflammation of the brainwhich causes seizures and damages nerve structures in the brain.

Measles causes pneumonia in one in 20 cases, encephalitis in one in 1,000 cases. The death rate is one or two for every 1,000 cases. Conway says that hearing nerves are particularly vulnerable, and a common side effect of measles is a loss of hearing. People can have all sorts of permanent neurologic disabilities if they survive it, Conway says. When people are trying to talk themselves into it being OK not to vaccinate, they are kidding themselves. Stephanie Schauer adds, Its not that were trying to scare parents, but we want them to recognize the risks that you take by leaving your child unvaccinated.

Public health officials speak about community immunity, in which high levels of immunization serve to protect the entire community even the few who are unvaccinated. The immunity of the community protects the most vulnerable in that community, Conway says. Whether its the person on steroids for their transplant or someone who is on an anti-inflammatory for rheumatoid arthritis or a baby who is too young to be immunized. All of those vulnerable populations depend on community immunity to protect them. Vaccination is one of the simplest ways that people can contribute to that effort.

A 90% vaccination rate is needed for community immunity for most diseases, Conway explains. But for measles in particular, a 95% vaccination rate is needed, because it is such a hard outbreak to shut down once it gets started, because of its long incubation period and because people can be contagious before they even realize they are sick.

The CDC estimates that in the 2017-18 school year,91.8% of Wisconsin kindergartners got an MMR vaccine, down from 94.2% in 2009-10. In this study, Wisconsin was in the bottom tier of states in terms of vaccinations.

Increased global travel is another factor driving measles outbreaks. A recent report found that Cook County was a likely location for the next big measles outbreak because of the large number of unvaccinated international travelers arriving at OHare International Airport. So far in 2019, nine cases of measles have been reported in Illinois and 44 in Michigan. Weve been lucky that measles hasnt hit either Milwaukee or Dane County, Conway says. Its amazing to me, with as many travelers as we see every summer coming in and out from Illinois, that it hasn't happened.

Globally, measles outbreaks are becoming more prevalent. Since the start of 2019, Europe has had approximately 90,000 confirmed cases of measles, well outpacing the 88,000 total for all of 2018. Recently, Albania, Greece, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom lost their measles-free status. Romania, Italy, Philippines, Israel and Ukraine have had large outbreaks. In 2019, the U.S. came close to losing its measles elimination status. It doesnt take much for someone to get on a plane and introduce measles, added Dr. James Conway.

Milwaukeeans and Wisconsinites hardly live in an insular bubble. As a popular tourist destination, Milwaukee has 23 million visitors annually from other areas of the Midwest, the U.S. and around the world. Likewise, tourism brings 112 million visitors to Wisconsin as a whole. The Bureau of Transportation reports that almost 3.5 million passengers arrive at General Mitchell International Airport annually. In addition, U.S. citizens are traveling to foreign countries with growing frequency.

In the late 90s, the CDC went and added up all of its successes over the previous hundred years, and vaccines came out to be by far the number one public health measure that has saved more lives and prevented more morbidity than anything else weve ever done, Conway says. Vaccines are responsible for saving more lives and preventing more illness than anything else in public health.

WHO lists vaccine hesitancy as one of the top 10 threats to global health in 2019 and reports that, despite the existence of a safe and economical measles vaccine, 110,000 people, mostly children, died from measles in 2017.

Though measles is taking the contagious disease spotlight right now, unvaccinated children are also highly susceptible to a host of other preventable infectious diseases including influenza, mumps, pertussis and pneumococcus. Every kid deserves to be protected from these common things, Conway says. Rotavirus causes diarrhea and vomiting in babies, and pneumococcus is the most common cause of ear infections, sinus infections, pneumonia and meningitis.

Much of this comes down to equity. Everybody deserves an opportunity to be protected from diseases, Conway continues. I know in my heart of hearts, as a pediatrician speaking on behalf of kids, that no kid, if they were given the chance, would ever want to have any of these diseases if they really knew what these diseases were like.

I hate to say it, he adds, but in some ways, it is selfish for parents to put their political or fundamental beliefs ahead of their own childs well-being. I feel for them in some way, because I think they are trying to do the right thing for their kid and protect them, but theyre really making an erroneous set of assumptions that leaves their kids vulnerable to diseases that can disable and kill them.

Especially at a time when it is reasonable to expect that a measles outbreak might soon hit Wisconsin, physicians and health officials are encouraging all parents to get their childrens vaccinations up to date. They emphasize the proven safety and efficacy of the measles vaccine, despite the inaccurate information to the contrary being spread by anti-vax websites and social media.

Here is the original post:
Measles Outbreaks Are Preventable, But Immunization Rates Are Spotty in Milwaukee - Shepherd Express

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday praised economist Abhijit Banerjee after he met the Nobel laureate. The prime minister said the country was proud of Banerjees accomplishments.

Excellent meeting with Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee, Modi tweeted after the meeting. His passion towards human empowerment is clearly visible. We had a healthy and extensive interaction on various subjects. Wishing him the very best for his future endeavours.

Following the meeting, Banerjee said it was a privilege to meet the prime minister and hear his views on the country. He talked about the way he sees governance in particular, and why, in some sense, the mistrust of the people on the ground colours our governance, Banerjee told ANI. How it, therefore, creates structures of elite control over the governance process.

Banerjee said the prime minister explained how he was attempting to reform the bureaucracy to make it more responsive, taking citizens perspectives into account. The economist said that it was important for the country to create a bureaucracy that was aware of the ground realities.

The meeting comes at a time when several Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including Union minister Piyush Goyal, have criticised Banerjee. Last week, Goyal questioned his work for the Congress NYAY programme, and said the economists views were Left-leaning and that people had rejected the scheme.

BJP National Secretary Rahul Sinha had said people whose second wives were foreigners win the Nobel Prize in reference to Banerjees win. Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer won the 2019 Nobel Prize in economics for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. Duflo, who is married to Banerjee, is the second woman to receive the award.

The Nobel laureate has described the personal criticism as upsetting and highlighted that he had worked with parties across the political spectrum. I feel whats not helpful in that kind of comment is more the questioning of my profession or our professionalism, he said. I think the reason we were given this prize is partly because we are professionals.

Also read:

1. These bigots are blinded by hatred: Rahul Gandhi targets BJP for criticising Abhijit Banerjee

2. Abhijit Banerjee responds to NYAY criticism, says he would have also helped BJP if it had asked him

Now, follow and debate the days most significant stories on Scroll Exchange.

Link:
India is proud of Abhijit Banerjees accomplishments, says PM Modi after meeting the Nobel laureate - Scroll.in

First dedicated speakers' platform for Arab women in the world launches in line with the UAE's commitment to gender equality

She is Arab, the first dedicated speakers platform for Arab women in the world launched on Wednesday in the UAE.

In line with the UAEs commitment to gender equality, the platform is incubated at In5 Tech in Dubai Internet City with a vision to be the new voice of Arab women.

She is Arab is a passion venture co-founded by Noha Hefny and Samar Alshorafa, both international development experts, a statement said.

Hefny said: The region is experiencing an unprecedented momentum when it comes to women empowerment. As Arab women we have so much to be proud of in terms of our achievements. She is Arab was born out of our strong belief in the power and capabilities of Arab women.

World Economic Forum report says Middle East region continues to rank last globally for closing gender gap

"It is our way as entrepreneurs to contribute by creating opportunities for growth and development, driving partnerships and a concerted effort to deliver impact for women. We are presenting a platform by Arab women for Arab women to enhance leadership and participation in every field.

Alshorafa added: I have always been passionate about women empowerment, and I believe it is time for Arab women to own the narrative and tell their own story... With She is Arab, we aim to reduce biases towards Arab women and provide them with the support they need to succeed in their respective domains using the power of communications and technology.

"Our platform will facilitate showcasing their professional expertise to the world and connecting them with the right opportunities. This is how we hope to make a difference.

She is Arab will work to support women on their journey to becoming public speakers, building their personal brand and thought leadership profiles, and offering professional and leadership development opportunities.

It also aims to leverage a tech-driven expertise mapping process to offer organisations a talented pool of experts that can be matched with professional opportunities globally including speaking, coaching, training and consulting. In parallel, it seeks to establish a strong support network for women to facilitate collaboration, mentorship and networking.

In its first stage, the company is seeking partnerships with private and public sector organisations, media, academic institutions and foundations to enable knowledge creation and dissemination, advance leadership and professional development of women and highlight inspirational role models to inspire the future generation.

She is Arab has set its sights on global expansion beyond the UAE in the coming years, the statement added.

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She is Arab: world first women's platform launches in the UAE - Arabian Business

Appreciate your expertise but be willing to learn from anyone. Its fun to have all the answers but its also limiting. Every member of your team provides a unique perspective whether from life experience, career experience, education or their own personal approach that can benefit you and your business. An open mind and the humility necessary to be taught by others offers untold growth potential.

For my series on strong female leaders, I had the pleasure of interviewing Pat Renzi. Pat is a principal with the Life Technology Solutions practice of Milliman and functions as its CEO. Life Technology Solutions provides products and services related to financial and risk reporting and projections, including IntegrateTM, MG-ALFA, and MG-Triton. Pat, who joined the firm in 1999, was elected to the firms board of directors in 2015.

Thank you for joining us Pat! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to your specific career path?

In college I was a math major, though at the time I wasnt entirely sure what I would do with the degree. I took a part time job with Geico Insurance in their finance department while I was pursuing a masters in statistics. By happenstance I was approached by an individual within the company who asked if I had ever considered becoming an actuary. I didnt know what an actuary did at that time, nor did I know the man was putting together Geicos Life Insurance team. I decided to take a chance and try something new and it led me to a thriving career in actuarial systems in the insurance industry.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

The Life Technology Solutions practice at Milliman was operating as a small, 15 person team focused on shrink-wrapped software solutions for companies in need of actuarial solutions. Somewhat out of the blue we were approached by The Phoenix Group, one of the largest providers of insurance solutions in the United Kingdom, after they had read an article showing that our small, niche software was compatible with IBMs grid. Phoenix was interested in seeing if we could offer them a solution to fit their needs. This was surprising on a number of levels, most particularly that Phoenix already worked with the largest actuarial software providers in the UK market and we had no software presence in the UK.

While we debated whether the time and resources required to bid on the project made sense for our small team, in the end our natural curiosity and desire to thoughtfully expand our offering led us to an initial meeting, which turned into a proposal and then blossomed into a long standing relationship that fundamentally changed the course of our business. It started by recognizing that our cultures aligned particularly that we each had bold assertions to be the best in the world in our respective fields and continued because of a symbiotic desire to collaborate and create the right tools and the right experiences that could be tailored to the unique needs of The Phoenix Group. More importantly, our team went into the relationship with a listening rather than a telling mentality we heard what the client wanted rather than telling them what they needed.

As a result of that very unexpected engagement that we easily could have turned down for lack of resources, today our team of 15 has grown to over 120, our business is now based around the flagship, end-to-end enterprise solution we created called Integrate, and we continue to partner with Phoenix to deliver cutting-edge solutions to the insurance industry.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

There have been plenty of fluke moments that turned out to be quite fortuitous, such as landing a job as an actuarial student even before I knew what an actuary did. I look back on that experience now and realize that, had I not been willing to jump into the unknown, I would have missed out on a very rewarding career.

Another example is that in my previous story of working with The Phoenix Group our team was asked to map costs to our proposal. Absolute neophytes in pricing models of this scale, our team came up with what we thought was a reasonable amount. Looking back, I recall how we worried it might be too much it was certainly more than any other project we had worked on to that point.

After nervously sharing the number with Phoenix, the CFO came back and told us point-blank it wasnt high enough. He knew at the time what I didnt: that until we agreed on a price that was fair for both parties, we wouldnt be able to invest the longevity, time and resources required to produce what they needed. When we settled on the final price it was more than 3x our original offer! But that experience demonstrated the importance of working with partners who value what you bring to the table and can recognize that all parties involved need to be compensated fairly in order to produce the best results.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

Our team has built a culture of curiosity. As a leader of a group of 120 individuals, I have recognized that I can (and do!) learn from anyone. Every member of our team offers value and insight that is unique to their own experiences and expertise.

The nature of our business allows us to work with a wide range of clients everyone from early adopters and risk takers, to more middle-of-the-road companies who are looking to us to help them manage their current needs without driving them too far forward too fast. In order to meet the various needs of these clients its critical that we choose to listen rather than tell. This takes a level of humility that isnt always valued in business it feels natural to want to go to clients and present yourself as the expert in your field. The reality is that we do own a level of expertise, but that expertise is only as valuable as our willingness to adapt and grow with our clients.

This mentality has proven incredibly useful for our company and has contributed directly to our ongoing growth, as we continue to engage with clients and present new ideas that not only help their business, but also build out our own product offering.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

Our mission as part of the Life Technology Solutions practice at Milliman is to provide solutions to insurance actuaries that free up their time by automating or improving the mundane reporting and modeling tasks on their plate. Weve been quite successful at achieving this goal and have given the actuarial world the precious gift of time. In the age of Big Data, however, we have the opportunity to create value with that time by providing actuaries the tools they need to be leaders in their organizations and drive strategic decisions. Using our platform, which has access to valuable repositories of data, our next step is to help actuaries mine that data to better understand their customers and their business.

What advice would you give to other female leaders to help their team to thrive?

Early in my career I felt that if I was going to be successful and climb the corporate ladder I was going to need to behave like all of the other executives I saw. This was particularly hard for me as it went against my very nature. Overtime I realized how stressful this was and, more importantly, how others do not react well to it. I needed to interact with my colleagues in ways that felt comfortable and natural to me.

One of the most important lessons Ive learned over the years is simply to be myself. As a leader, when you can be yourself you subtly give permission to the rest of your team to also be themselves, and thats really what you want. When team members feel comfortable they are more open and honest. It breeds trust and collaboration and ultimately results in getting the best from every individual.

What advice would you give to other female leaders about the best way to manage a large team?

I believe one of the biggest challenges for leaders male or female is entrusting the people you work with and empowering them with the space and resources necessary to achieve the companys goals. This may be easy when your team is small, but as it grows it becomes even more important to have faith in those you work with and empower them to make decisions. Growing with your team means accepting that you cant always have a say in every decision made trusting in your team may require relinquishing control, but ultimately it allows the work to move forward unimpeded.

Its also critical to let go of an assumption of perfection leading an organization or a team means mistakes are going to happen, whether at your hands or the hands of someone else. Remember mistakes are a valuable and inevitable part of the process, and some of the best learning and growth comes from overcoming a mistake or challenge. Trusting others that they can also learn from mistakes helps free you of the burden of trying to control every outcome.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I have been lucky in my career and have had a lot of smart, talented people who have trusted me and given me good advice in different ways. One person, Dennis Stanley, led the MG-ALFA team at Milliman before it became the Life Technology Solutions practice. Dennis brought me in specifically to be his successor, but we worked together side by side for 15 years before he retired and turned full leadership over to me.

Dennis is a technical genius but he recognized his own limitations in managing people, clients and the day-to-day side of things. He shared great insights over the years and perhaps most valuable, he taught me to trust myself through the fact that he trusted me. This was an incredibly important lesson because it gave me the freedom to take bigger risks and opened the door to opportunities I might otherwise not have had.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

The success Ive experienced at Milliman led to an election to the Board of Directors. Today Im chair of the Board committee on corporate social responsibility and diversity and inclusion, an opportunity that allows me to use my time and influence to do good in the world.

One example is through one of the other businesses at Milliman, the MicroInsurance Centre, an initiative to bring insurance to the underdeveloped world. The poorest people around the world suffer the most when something catastrophic happens. Having a safeguard in place, such as insurance in the event of unforeseen circumstances, can help provide stability against things like crop failure or drought, allowing farmers to weather a bad season and prepare for the next.

Another initiative we work with is Math Motivators, a program that allows us to go into local schools to tutor math and, along the way, expose students to careers in math if there is interest. We provide monetary donations to Math Motivators but we also donate our time and talents to help encourage financial literacy.

What are your 5 Leadership Lessons I Learned From My Experience and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)

1) Recognize when fortune is smiling down upon you.

Believe it or not, this happens to all of us but the biggest hurdle is recognizing it. It can be argued that I stumbled into my career choice, but the reality is that an opportunity came unexpectedly my direction and I had to have the courage and foresight to say yes. When an opportunity to branch out our business and product offering was presented to my small team of 15 individuals, rather than rationalize our way out of it we decided to jump in with both feet, and it led to greater growth and opportunity than we could have imagined.

2) Appreciate your expertise but be willing to learn from anyone.

Its fun to have all the answers but its also limiting. Every member of your team provides a unique perspective whether from life experience, career experience, education or their own personal approach that can benefit you and your business. An open mind and the humility necessary to be taught by others offers untold growth potential.

3) Trust others around you.

Feeling that your boss or leaders trust you is an incredibly empowering experience. It offers freedom to experiment and opens the door to growth. Extend that trust to those around you and free yourself of the burden to control every outcome. It often means taking a step outside of the spotlight, but seeing others shine is often more rewarding. Additionally, it also allows you to focus on those areas where you can provide the most value.

4) Focus your efforts on what yields the most value

As a leader of a team or an organization it is easy to slip into a mindset where you focus primarily on those areas where you are most comfortable or are assured of your own level of expertise and experience. This may not be the place where you add the most value however. Its imperative you step outside of your own comfort zone and lend your time and energy to those tasks that will bring the most value to your team and the organization.

5) Rely on your instincts.

In a data-centric world it can be easy to get caught up in the numbers or the data or some other measurable fact. These are valuable tools, but to be truly agile and successful you have to be confident to make quick decisions based on your gut. If youve done the hard work in other areas, your instincts will rarely steer you wrong. As important as it is to trust those around you, its just as important to trust in yourself.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

I feel very passionate about the role of diversity not just gender or cultural diversity, but diversity of thinking and perspective. I find that both in business and in the world around us we tend to be hierarchical and tied into stereotypes, whether conscious or not, that dictate an individual (including ourselves) must operate within a certain box. This has such a limiting effect on our thinking, and puts us in a position of digging our heels in about what we know and refusing to allow our minds to be influenced or changed.

Carol Dweck wrote a fascinating book called Mindset, where she emphasizes our need as a society to move from a know it all culture to a learn it all culture. Id like to adopt this strategy within my own sphere of influence starting with my family and working my way out to my team, my company and the world.

Can you please give us your favorite Life Lesson Quote? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Maya Angelou once said You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. Please remember that your difficulties do not define you. They simply strengthen your ability to overcome.

My mother suffered more tragedy in her lifetime than anyone should, but she always described herself as fortunate as having lived a blessed life. Witnessing that ability to always see the brightness, even through the dark, was profound.

Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them

The person I would most like to meet is Melinda Gates. While I certainly admire what she is doing with the Gates Foundation, Ive seen a new, more public and vocal focus on female empowerment both in business and in the world around us. This extends to education, economic independence, freedom to control our own bodies and decisions, etc. It seems to me she has really found a voice on these matters and it empowers me to use my own platform to advance these causes as well.

The rest is here:
Pat Renzi: Appreciate your expertise but be willing to learn from anyone - Thrive Global

Ariel Levy wrote one of Octobers top bestselling books in the US, but you may not know it. After all, her name is not on the cover.

The American journalist has written some of the most compelling profiles in the last decade as a staff writer for the New Yorker, and she specialises in writing about interesting women. She has profiled Edith Windsor, the plaintiff who won a landmark case in the fight for gay marriage in the US; Diana Nyad, who, at the age of 64, was the first person in the world to swim from Cuba to Florida; and Julia Louis-Dreyfus of Veep and Seinfeld fame.

I have always been interested in the question of what does it means to be a woman? says Levy. The thing Im always looking for is the counterintuitive.

Now she has teamed up with Hollywood superstar Demi Moore, ghostwriting her memoir, Inside Out. The book, released earlier this month, has surprised readers with its candid revelations about Moores career, relationships and her chaotic childhood.

Levy recognises how incongruous this partnership seems. Speaking to the Guardian from the US ahead of her upcoming visit to Australia for the Broadside festival, she laughs when asked about her relationship with Moore. If you had told me five years ago I would be good friends with Demi Moore, that she would be someone I could really properly talk to, I wouldnt have believed you. The most surprising thing was that we could relate at all.

Levys involvement in the book began after Moores publisher read Levys own 2017 memoir, The Rules Do Not Apply, and thought the two shared some overlapping experiences including the experience of miscarriage. Her editor read my memoir and had a feeling that we would get each other, and we met and we did, says Levy.

I have become a better person better at being alive since Ive had my arse kicked

Moore was also grateful for the help of a professional writer, telling the Wall Street Journal: I wanted it to be a good book, but I didnt feel like my skill set lent itself to be able to do that.

The process involved many conversations with Moore at the actors homes in California and Idaho, and then turning the transcripts into a book written in her voice.

I spent a lot of time with [Moore], so I got a feel for how she communicates. The book does sound like her, not like me. I did that by using her words. A lot of whats in there is direct quotes. Its her language and its her story. I was a midwife.

The construction of the book is not dissimilar to Levys, beginning with a dramatic moment before rewinding and telling the story of how Moore got there.

Its pretty raw, says Levy. She really went for it. She didnt take anything out. I think she really wanted to communicate. She was sick of people trying to tell her who she should be.

After writing The Rules Do Not Apply and talking about her own life for months on end while on an international tour, Levy was keen to have a break from her own story. I was sick of myself, she says.

Levys own memoir is a harrowing read. In it she describes how she lost her marriage, house and baby in quick succession, and how it felt, at mid-life, to not have the life you want. It could be described as a second coming-of-age memoir about how the real work of adulthood begins with loss.

There are very few people that Ive met who have not had a trial by fire, says Levy. I dont know if it makes them a better person, but I have become a better person better at being alive since Ive had my arse kicked.

Now, everyone tells me about their miscarriages. Its a privilege when people tell me about this really personal, animal, primal experience of being a woman. I like that people tell me about that stuff. Its a deep way to connect.

Levy has also made her first foray into podcasting, hosting Broken: Jeffrey Epstein, a detailed exploration of the sex-trafficking scandal that has implicated so many rich and powerful people.

To me whats interesting is the web of humanity involved all these lives intersect. You had Trump, Clinton, Prince Andrew and then all these girls that work at McDonalds and live at West Palm Beach, which is a really hard place. Girls from a certain type of background, girls who were poor, [Epstein] just walked on, she says.

Levy is skilled at seeing patterns of patriarchy and sexism that lie under the surface of everyday life. Her 2005 book, Female Chauvinist Pigs, explored how early 2000s raunch culture sold sexual objectification back to women as female empowerment, often resulting in women objectifying themselves.

She believes that things have changed since then but not for the better. I think its a more dire time now.

Her own life, though, is finally back on a more even keel. She is married to the South African doctor she met in Mongolia, who treated her when she had a miscarriage while on assignment for the New Yorker. The pair live most of the year in New York state on Shelter Island and South Africa for a couple of months of the year, where Levys stepsons attend university.

This is a really nice time in my life right now.

Ariel Levy will be a guest at Broadside festival, held in Melbourne on 9 and 10 November

See original here:
Ariel Levy on Demi Moore: 'She was sick of people trying to tell her who she should be' - The Guardian

By the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalismand the Court Appointments Watch Network

ONE sweated profusely and even teared up, another confessed to having a talent for dancing, and the third said he would want to have canned goods and a can opener if he were trapped on a deserted island. At the very least, the interviews conducted by the Judicial and Bar Council provided glimpses, though very brief, of the personality of each nominee for the post of Supreme Court chief justice.

Four associate justices of the Supreme Court were interviewed by the JBC last Oct. 2 as possible successor to Chief Justice Lucas P. Bersamin. Thirteen days later, the JBC shortlisted three of the four for President Rodrigo Duterte to choose from.

To be sure, the justices performance at the interviews must have had considerable weight in the JBCs selection of the final three. But perhaps because some of the applicants had already been interviewed in previous rounds, the questions asked were uneven in tone, content, and relevance.

The following are excerpts from those interviews, which ran for more than an hour each. Both questions and replies were edited for brevity and readability.

Q: What is your vision for the judiciary? What are your plans for the court?

ASSOCIATE JUSTICE DIOSDADO M. PERALTA

ASSOCIATE JUSTICE ESTELA M. PERLAS-BERNABE

ASSOCIATE JUSTICE ANDRES B. REYES JR.

Q: On clogged dockets: One of the reasons for backlog is the failure of courts to continue hearing regularly (Monday to Friday), also because of lack of PAO lawyers and prosecutors. Does your program include coordination with the DOJ?

PERALTA:

PERLAS-BERNABE:

The first thing I would do is to set dialogues with various stakeholders and key officials of the institutions and the purpose of this dialogue is to lay down the framework or the groundwork of my vision. I will seek their cooperation and ask them to participate in my vision thereby espousing a culture of inclusivity and empowerment. I will hear from them their problems and I will give them the group work of my vision in such a way that we can hear both sides and all sides of the problem and find a concrete solution.

REYES:

Was not asked

Q: On judicial marshals for judges: At least 35 lawyers and judges were killed in the line of duty. PJA sought the creation of the Marshal system as a result of the killings. Establishing this may help prevent further killings. Is this a good solution to the problem?

PERALTA:

It is an excellent solution; when one life is in danger, what we do is to seek help from the police agencies, which are not within our control and supervision. If we have the marshals then, they will be reporting to us, then judges lives will be safer; but the problem is: can the SC open positions for marshals without violating the rule that only the Congress can open offices? There was a proposal during the budget hearing to help SC for a bill proposing such because of too many deaths and threats. Some problems include budget, administration, judges not used to supervising armed men and so on.

PERLAS-BERNABE:

I do not know the reason why they are being killed but there should be a reason behind it; but the judges should be secured considering they are the one handling cases involving drugs and other heinous crimes.

I would opt more for more security to them than the marshals (the ones who feel that they are in danger).

I do not know how much expenses will be incurred to have these special marshals but I can check on the possibility on this plan of action.

There are many projects and plans that we can think of but sometimes there are budgetary and logistical concerns.

REYES:

Was not asked

Q: On the lack of court stenographers and backlog in cases. How will you address this problem to avoid accumulation of cases in lower courts?

PERALTA:

We are employing contractual stenographers to resolve the problem in the meantime; but there is another problem on compensation (SG14) v. Private firm (2x)

Work has been lightened in first level courts because all direct testimonies of witnesses are in affidavit form instead of oral testimonies. They will only be taking cross examination Qs propounded.

There is also a bill pending in the Senate exempting the judiciary from the Salary Standardization Law. This may entice stenographers from the private sector, may be enticed to join the judiciary.

PERLAS-BERNABE:

They are now in the process of hiring contractual stenographers.

The reason that many stenographers are retiring or getting out of the office is because of the continuous trial; they are so much loaded with having to prepare stenographic notes.

Q: Is it possible that it is because of the pay?

A: Probably but they also charge a particular rate for every stenographic note made aside from what they receive from the court.

It is mostly because of the heavy workload that they get out of government.

Post applications on the website and raise pay grade to make it more attractive.

REYES:

Was not asked

Q: Failure to act on survivorship in SC en banc (CJ Sereno), how do you prioritize and ensure that the matter be expedited?

PERALTA:

Was not asked

PERLAS-BERNABE:

Q: There have been complaints on the retirement pay for judges and justices, how will you speed it up? (IBP)

The benefits are now being taken care of more speedily because applications for survivorship directly go through the Court and will not pass through another committee, unlike before.

If there is a need to streamline the process, we could just coordinate with the OCA (Office of Court Administrator)

REYES:

A: As PJ (ex-presiding justice of Court of Appeals), these petitions needed signatures, processes (explained process); I dont see any delay.

There was some delay because that happened in the RTC and MTC; CA does not have enough funds.

Q: On integrity and publics continued perception that the judiciary is corrupt, justice for sale?

PERALTA:

Perception is greater than reality but reality is that there are only few corrupt. We publish discipline of judges; but we are passive, we cannot go the media and explain ourselves, our voice is limited; but we can continue informing the public about what we do about the misfits.

PERLAS-BERNABE:

Everything plays when there is an opportunity but this perception may be erased through visible results like speedy and consistent ruling on cases.

REYES:

No idea about how public perceive SC, but I am always of the theory that justice delayed is justice denied.

The foundation of reform is that there is no delay.

Q: On dispensing speedy justice

PERALTA:

The lower courts have been performing well. Before we revised the guidelines for continuous trial, the dockets went down. For the 2nd level courts, they are drowned in drug cases but we are trying our best; some solutions are legislative but we are trying to develop tools and skills of the judges for plea bargaining, and implement continuous trial, which has considerably reduced the dockets of the court.

We are proposing to amend BP 129 on the jurisdiction of the RTC reflecting changes in amount threshold

PERLAS-BERNABE:

We have a problem on congestion of cases. I would prioritize the implementing rule on the Judges-at-Large act as well as the full implementation of the Family Court Act because right now we have only implemented the 1st tranche of the Family Court Act and theres so many designated FC judges who are hindered from performing general jurisdiction cases

(inaudible) such that the OCJ and the OCA will have access to the management system (inaudible)

Training materials to be used for specialized courts

We can also codify the various rules of procedure contained on administrative issuances into ordinary procedure for the guidance of the bench, the bar, and the public.

REYES:

Talk to judges individually and discuss how they can help with problem; raise to en banc so they can realize that these things have to be done.

Make en banc realize passion to help the public.

Q: What makes you say that you are better qualified now than before?

PERALTA:

A: I always practice the principle. I live by example.

PERLAS-BERNABE;

Was not asked

REYES:

Q: You will be staying in the court for eight months, what concrete reforms do you intend to implement within the next four months and what other concrete reforms will you implement before you end your term?

Good working computer system; it can be installed within the year/ populate data. Once you populate the data, you can update status of the cases.

Q: What reforms will you prioritize?

PERALTA:

Was not asked

PERLAS-BERNABE:

On the decongestion of dockets, I will prioritize the implementing rules on the judge-at-large act as well as the family court act.

Seek codification of rules of procedure.

Urge the PhilJA (Philippine Judicial Academy) to create a template for courts not only for orders for specialized courts, but also for decisions and resolutions of the lower court judges.

Corruption and accountability activate Judicial Integrity Board so that complaints against judges and court personnel/admin can be heard and investigated and seek the creation of the Committee on Ethics so that we can investigate on cases of graft and corruption and other ethical standards.

REYES:

Q: All CJs have promised reforms but mindset of people in the SC is preserving the conservative side/tradition/ not fixing when its not broken. Court can only move in a collegial manner, are you confident that you are able to institute reforms considering that you need clearance or en banc?

Talk to judges individually and discuss how they can help with problem; raise to en banc so they can realize that these things have to be done.

Make en banc realize passion.

Q: On dealing with the news media

PERALTA:

Was not asked

PERLAS-BERNABE:

Q: Would be you be comfortable talking in media on matters that you feel are of public interest or paramount importance?

No, my first duty is to the Court. I will feel uncomfortable speaking about issues because these may come to court and its a way that I may really voice out my opinion.

REYES:

I dont bring cell phone. Refrain from making announcement.

I would not know but I will not talk on any subject at all but if I need to talk, about backlog, but not on issues.

Q: How can you effectively promptly initiate reform if you have to go through the en banc to secure the approval? (Reforms may be stymied because of this)

PERALTA:

See the rest here:
Shortlisted: The JBC interviews with the CJ nominees - Minda News