News World 212

Friday, July 29, 2016

Jason Day ready to defend PGA Championship title

Jason Day,Jordan Spieth,Branden Grace,Justin Rose PGA Championship Final Round 2015

Matthew Florjancic, WKYC 4:59 PM. EST July 28, 2016

Australia"sJason Day is ready to defend his PGA Championship title. (Photo: Eric Bolte, Custom)

Australias Jason Day is the reigning champion for the first time in his career, and the veteran PGA Tour pro is anxious to defend his crown at the PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey, this weekend.

After winning the PGA Championship, his first major tournament win, at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin, Day is ready to see if he has what it takes to become the first back-to-back titlist since Tiger Woods accomplished the feat in 2006 and 2007.

The PGA is the first time I"ve ever defended a major championship, so I"ll try and soak up the experience of what that entails with regards to the start of the week going to the champion dinner and having to defend that and go to the media and the press room and all that stuff, Day said. But once Thursday comes around, you have to go out there and execute and play good. Excited about that.

Day comes into the PGA Championship on the heels of a 22nd-place finish in The Open Championship at Royal Troon Golf Club in South Ayrshire, Scotland, where putting, typically a strength in his game, proved to be more difficult than in tournaments in America.

The back nine is difficult, but you"ve just got to play good, Day said. If you don"t play good on the back side, you"re not going to win the tournament. Obviously, I came here to try and win the tournament, and I obviously didn"t do that.

I"m just used to the 12, 13, 14 on the Stimp, and then, we get here and it"s nine. Obviously, understandable because of the conditions and the elements that you have to battle out here, how windy it is, you have to keep them at a certain speed or else they"ll blow off and it won"t be fair for anyone. So I tried to get in early, tried to get used to the greens. It just feels like I"m hitting it with a sledgehammer and it"s going nowhere.

It"s something you have to get used to, and unfortunately, I just didn"t putt really good.

The key moving forward for Day is to focus on his putting and be in contention during the final round of the PGA Championship.

Obviously, I need to improve the short game, Day said. I think the short game let me down. I didn"t hole the putts that I needed to out there, and obviously, when I put myself in opportunity situations with regards to driving greens and getting around the greens, I didn"t get up and down for birdies. When I missed greens, I didn"t really save myself a lot.

Source: http://www.wkyc.com/sports/golf/jason-day-ready-to-defend-pga-championship-title/283470932

Trailer premieres for Mel Gibson"s "Hacksaw Ridge" starring Andrew Garfield

Mel Gibson on set of Hacksaw Ridge

LOS ANGELES, July 29 (UPI) -- In the trailer for the upcoming Mel Gibson-directed Hacksaw Ridge, Andrew Garfield stars as Desmond Doss, a conscientious objector who refused to fight during the Battle of Okinawa.

Based on a true story, Doss -- a Seventh Day Adventist -- refused to fire a weapon during the Battle of Okinawa in World War II. Instead he single-handedly saved the lives of 75 of his fellow soldiers without firing a shot.

Doss was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman for his life-saving efforts.

The movie also stars Hugo Weaving, Sam Worthington, Vince Vaughn, and Teresa Palmer.

Hacksaw Ridge hits theaters on November 4.

Source: http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2016/07/29/Trailer-premieres-for-Mel-Gibsons-Hacksaw-Ridge-starring-Andrew-Garfield/5181469790012/

Amazon.com (AMZN) Stock "In Good Shape," CNBC Guests Say After Earnings

GTX 1060 VS. RX 480: 12 Games Tested!! DX12, DX11, Vulkan/OpenGL (DOOM)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Amazon.com"s (AMZN) 2016 second quarter earnings show that the online retailer keeps "banging out revenue,"Stuart Frankel"s Steve Grasso said onCNBC"s "Closing Bell" Thursday.

After today"s trading session, Amazon reported second quarter adjusted earnings of $1.78 per share on revenue of $30.4 billion, beating analysts" expectations for earnings of of $1.11 a share on $29.55 in revenue.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos can "turn the switch" and "make money" on "any metric you want to overlay," Grasso commented.

Traders "are still in good shape" with Amazon, he continued.

TIAA Global Asset Managementmanaging director andCNBC contributor Stephanie Link warned traders who are selling Amazon stock that there will not be many opportunities to buy shares back.

"These are very good results. This company is doing a lot of right things and there"s a lot of ways you can win," Link stated.

Shares of Amazon are climbing by 1.88% to $766.75 in after-hours trading today.

(Amazon.com is held in the Growth Seeker portfolio. See all of the holdings with a free trial).

Separately, TheStreet Ratings rated Amazon as a "buy" with a score of B-.

The company"s strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income, robust revenue growth, expanding profit margins and solid stock price performance. TheStreet Ratingsfeels its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally high debt management risk by most measures that were evaluated.

Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNHRlH6aq589VPZVD_tKbwPf_M_EyA&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331&cid=52779169231812&ei=bS6bV7jpONGd3QGTxJqwAw&url=https://www.thestreet.com/story/13657037/1/amazon-com-amzn-stock-in-good-shape-cnbc-guests-say-after-earnings.html

Ingmar Guandique Will Not Be Retried in Death of Chandra Levy, Expected to Be Released

Charges Dropped In Chandra Levy Murder

The man previously convicted of killing D.C. intern Chandra Levy in a case that shocked the nation will be released after prosecutors dropped all charges against him on Thursday.

Ingmar Guandique was convicted in 2010 in Levy"s death but later was granted a new trial, which was expected to begin this fall. But the U.S. Attorney"s Office for the District of Columbia said in a statement Thursday that prosecutors have moved to dismiss the case charging Guandique with Levy"s 2001 murder. Those charges were formally dropped later in the day.

The move to throw out the charges was based on "recent unforeseen developments that were investigated over the past week," a statement released Thursday afternoon said.

Prosecutors did not elaborate on the developments immediately, but said they concluded they could no longer prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.

A spokeswoman forGuandique"s lawyers said Thursday that the informant who reported thatGuandique confessed to the crime was found to have lied.

"It is now clear that the jailhouse informant, who was central to the governments case, was a perjurer who too easily manipulated the prosecutors," Laura E. Hankins said in a statement.

Levy, a 24-year-old California native, was living in Northwest D.C. when she vanished on May 1, 2001. Her disappearance made national headlines after she was romantically linked to then-U.S. Rep. Gary Condit, also from California.

Her remains were found in Rock Creek Park a year after her disappearance.

Condit, a California Democrat, was ruled out as a suspect, and authorities turned their focus to Guandique, who was accused of attacking Levy while she jogged in the park.

Levy"s mother, Susan Levy, attended Guandique"s initial murder trial every day. She said at her home in California on Thursday that she was upset to hear Guandique would be released.

"I hope that we find the right person, that if it was Guandique, that he doesn"t go on and do anything else to other people," she said.

Prosecutors argued Levy"s death fit a pattern of attacks Guandique committed on female joggers. At the time, he was serving 10 years in prison for attacking two other women in Rock Creek Park.

But prosecutors lacked hard evidence against him, presenting neither eyewitnesses nor DNA evidence. The prosecution admitted evidence was mishandled as the early investigation focused on Condit.

A jury found Guandique guilty in November 2010 on two charges of felony murder in Levy"s death.

Guandique was sentenced to 60 years, when he was 29.

"I only have one thing to say," he said at his sentencing, through an interpreter. "I feel sorry for what happened to Chandra Levy, but I had nothing to do with it." He had his head bowed and was crying.

He was granted a new trial in 2015 after his attorneys argued a key witness gave false or misleading testimony.

Guandique"s conviction was based primarily on the testimony of Guandique"s former cellmate Armando Morales, who said Guandique told him he was responsible for Levy"s death. Guandique"s defense lawyers argued Morales" testimony was unreliable and that there was no physical evidence linking Guandique to the the murder.

The retrial had been scheduled to begin in October.

Looking at Friday in the PGA Championship

PGA Championship 2016: Contenders

AP 3:39 a.m. EDT July 29, 2016

(Photo: The Associated Press)

SPRINGFIELD, N.J. (AP) When the first round of the PGA Championship was over there was plenty to talk about and a whole lot to look forward to.

There was the heat temperatures in the low 90s with no cooling breezes until late Thursday. There was the surprise leader in Jimmy Walker who posted a 5-under 65 in the morning and the shocking round of 77 from U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson and the rather surprising 74 from Rory McIlroy.

The course stayed true to its reputation as one where you better drive the ball in the fairway but it still gives players a chance to move up the leaderboard late with closing par-5s on 17 and 18.

Walker was far from a runaway leader with three golfers one stroke back and four more two behind including British Open champion Henrik Stenson. Among the crowd at 68 was defending champion Jason Day and Jhonattan Vegas, who didn"t qualify for this tournament until winning last week"s Canadian Open.

Some things to look for in Friday"s second round:

DYN-O-MITE: Walker, who missed the cut twice in his four events, matched his best round in a major and is leading one of the big four tournaments for the first time.

CHANGING TIMES: The players, including Stenson, who played in the afternoon when the wind kicked up and the greens dried out and got bumpy, will get a chance at Baltusrol in the morning when most of the good first-round scores were posted. Look for someone like two-time major champion Martin Kaymer to come out looking to post a number even better than his opening 66.

SLIM CHANCE: The cut of low 70 and ties will be a target for those who struggled in the opening round. Players like Johnson and McIlroy will be looking for something in the mid-60s just to give them a solid chance of playing on the weekend.

DAY LIGHT: Day is looking to become just the second player since the PGA went to stroke play in 1958 to repeat as champion. Thursday"s 2-under 68 was a good sign for the Australian. He failed to break 70 in the opening round of the three other majors so he has a chance at putting himself in a good position for the final two rounds.

CHASING HISTORY: Stenson can put himself in rare company as he is trying to become the first player since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win back-to-back majors at age 40.

HANG ON: The best chances to make up some ground will be the closing par-5s of 17 and 18. They played as the two easiest holes on the course Thursday. Eighteen players went birdie-birdie or better on the two holes with Lee Westwood going one shot better with a birdie on the 649-yard 17th and an eagle on the 554-yard 18th. There was a total of five eagles on 18.

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/golf/2016/07/29/looking-at-friday-in-the-pga-championship/87696028/

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Gabby Giffords, mother of Orlando victim make passionate pleas at DNC

♥ Mark Kelly whispers to Gabby Giffords, "I think they like you!" Democratic National Convention
Please enable Javascript to watch this video

PHILADELPHIA -- Victims and families of gun violence delivered emotional pleas Wednesday night in support of Hillary Clinton as a president who would act to curb mass shootings and press for new gun laws.

Speeches from former Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head, and a mother whose son was slain in the Orlando nightclub shooting had audience members in tears.

"In Congress, I learned a powerful lesson -- strong women get things done," Giffords said, in stilted speech, the result of her injury. "Speaking is difficult for me, but come January, I want to say these two words: Madam President."

Christine Leinonen, the mother of one of the 49 people killed at the Pulse Nightclub shootings, was supported by two of her son"s friends while she asked for "common sense" gun laws.

"It takes seven minutes and 48 seconds for a church bell to ring 49 times," she said.

Leinonen was a Michigan state trooper when her son, Christopher, was born.

"There were common sense gun laws the day he was born, but where was that common sense gun law the day he died?" she said, referring to the now-expired federal assault weapon ban that sunset in 2004.

As Leinonen spoke, delegates cried. Cameras panned to former *NSYNC singer Lance Bass, who was visibly shaken by her talk.

Erica Smegielski, the daughter of the Sandy Hook Elementary School principal who was killed in the 2012 massacre, teared up as she said that she was angry and demanded action.

"I should not be here tonight. I do not want to be here tonight," she said. "My mom was murdered so I"m here, I"m here for the mothers and the daughters who are planning weddings so that you get to watch your daughters walk down the aisle."

Former Philadelphia Police Chief Charles Ramsey reflected on the recent police shootings as part of his push for gun control.

And Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, who commanded the national stage in the wake of the Orlando shootings with his 15-hour filibuster in the Senate, spurred the crowd to begin chanting "enough is enough."

Source: http://fox8.com/2016/07/28/gabby-giffords-mother-of-orlando-victim-make-passionate-pleas-at-dnc/

Watch Joe Biden Bring the House Down in Fiery DNC Speech 31

Joe Biden tears down Trump"s favorite phrase

Vice President Joe Bidengave a fiery speech during the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday. Biden spoke of his relationship with President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, paid fitting tribute to his son Beau Biden, who passed away last May of brain cancer at age 46, and of course extolled the virtues of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and the historic nature of her potential presidency.

He reminisced about when he accepted his nomination for vice president and spoke of the "incredible journey" he and President Obama have been on. "One of the finest presidents we have ever had. This is a man of character," he said and added that the Obamas are family.

While he spoke of the loss of Beau, he said, "I"ve been made strong at the broken places," while he named family and those who supported him during the rough times as a source of strength. He also discussed those who have suffered deeply without support. "But they get up every morning, every day, they put one foot in front of the other, they keep going, that"s the unbreakable spirit of the people of America, that"s who we are."

Biden spoke of Clinton glowingly, saying that he had known her for 30 years. "Everybody knows, she"s smart, everybody knows she"s tough, but I know what she"s passionate about. I know Hillary," he said, adding, "We all understand what it will mean for our daughters and granddaughters when Hillary Clinton walks into the Oval Office as President of the United States of America," his voice rising to the cheering crowd. "It will change their lives. My daughters and granddaughters can do anything any son or grandson can do. And she will prove it."

He also brought up the competition, Republican nominee Trump "He has no clue what makes America great," he quipped. "Actually, he has no clue. Period," which brought the house down to chants of "No clue!" Watch the full rousing speech above.

Source: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/watch-joe-biden-bring-the-house-down-in-fiery-dnc-speech-w431381