Latest news with #WilliamHowardTaft
Associated Press
29-04-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Gems from the wife of a U.S. President and a gift from an Emperor come to auction in London on May 2
DEVON, UNITED KINGDOM, April 29, 2025 / / -- Three Art Deco gems for sale in Sloane Street Auctions' May 2 Early Summer Auction come from the personal collection of the wife of a US President. Each dating to around 1925, the wristwatch, bracelet and brooch, each set with precious stones, were the property of Helen Louise Taft (1861-1943), First Lady of the United States between 1909 and 1913, when her husband, William Howard Taft, held the Presidency. The elegant diamond wristwatch has a tonneau-shaped dial painted with black numerals, and a fan-shaped two-row diamond border and diamond connecting links. It is engraved on the reverse Helen Taft New York and is expected to fetch £2,000-4,000. A jadeite and diamond bracelet, composed of three bright apple green pierced foliate rectangular shaped jadeite panels, with arched diamond connecting links and three diamond plaque links, has an estimate of £5,000-7,000, while a fine sapphire and diamond plaque brooch, of architectural design, set throughout with baguette and brilliant cut diamonds, and mounted in platinum, has a guide of £3,000-4,000. Also on offer in the sale is a personal gift from the Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie I (Ethiopian, 1892-1975) to his doctor. Dating to the 1930s, the impressive high carat gold cross pendant on a fancy link chain, carries a central heart, anchor, and cross motif. It has been consigned by the doctor's next of kin and should sell for £4,500-5,000. Two pieces are expected to sell well into five figures. The first is a spectacular diamond stars tiara from c.1870. Comprising five slightly graduated diamond stars, set throughout with old cushion cut brilliant diamonds, and mounted in silver and gold – each removable to form a brooch and hair pin – the British piece comes complete in its original blue velvet display case by Collingwood & Son of Conduit Street London. It is pitched at £25,000-30,000. A Southeast Asian emerald and diamond dress ring created around the 1990s is also expected to do well. Set to the centre with a rectangular cut cornered 14.8 carat emerald, it has a surround of fine brilliant cut and marquise cut diamonds and princess cut and brilliant cut diamond shoulders. Mounted in 18 carat yellow gold, it has expectations of £20,000-30,000. 'These sort of pieces would have been a natural fit for Christie's South Kensington in its day, but now that has gone, we find that consignors tend to come to us, so we are delighted to play our part in keeping this tradition of higher end works coming to London beyond the confines of Bond Street and St James. It is also a happy coincidence that our auctioneer, Hugh Edmeades, was Christie's South Kensington's former chairman.' Live online bidding is available via Sloane Street Auctions' website at Julia Macquisten Lucas Field Media +44 7968 952850 [email protected] Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content 'as is' without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
My Presidential Candidacy
On the spur of the moment, and having consulted no one whatsoever, I have decided to offer myself as a candidate for the presidency of the United States, for the term beginning January 20, 2029. Since 1980, the first presidential election in which I was eligible to vote, I have always cast my ballot for a Republican—though not, in each of the last three elections, for the person nominated by the Republican Party. So I would be happy to run under the Republican banner, but since the president of the United States is, for all constitutional purposes, a party of one, I will accept the nomination of any party that wants me as its standard-bearer. If nominated, I will consent to be elected, but don't expect me to do much else. If elected, I will most certainly serve to the best of my ability. My platform is the Constitution of the United States. The presidency is neither the most important nor most powerful institution in American government. That institution is Congress. The presidency is merely the office that can be made to appear most important and powerful, by virtue of the fact that it has a single officeholder responsible for one of the three branches of government. But the most important clause in Article II—and the most neglected clause in recent years—is the one saying that the president 'shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.' The Constitution is our supreme law, and Congress makes the rest of our federal laws. I will, to the best of my ability, faithfully execute them. Article II exhorts the president 'from time to time' to inform the Congress of the state of the Union as he understands it, and to recommend legislation that he considers 'necessary and expedient.' There is no requirement concerning how often this should be done, or the manner of its doing. I will not at any time during my term of office give an address in the Capitol, where Congress sits. I will instead communicate with the House and Senate in writing, as was done by every president from Thomas Jefferson to William Howard Taft. In the first 100 days of my administration, I will issue no executive orders other than those that I determine to be necessary for the revocation of my predecessors' executive orders, or those that are most urgently necessary for the execution of acts of Congress my predecessors have heretofore neglected to enforce. At all times I will conform the executive actions of my administration to the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act and other relevant acts of Congress governing executive-branch regulatory activity. I will, in my first written message to Congress as well as subsequent ones, identify those acts of Congress that have vested the president with undue authority over taxation and regulation of economic activity, and urge their repeal or reform as seems appropriate in each case. I will particularly request that presidential powers over tariffs, international trade, domestic business activity, and 'emergencies' of every kind be either eliminated or considerably curtailed from their present scope. I will never declare an emergency unless the United States finds itself in a war or depression. By this I mean an actual war, not a metaphorical one, or something far worse than the occasional cyclical recession in the domestic or international economy. Executive branch agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will of course continue to exercise power to respond to natural and man-made disasters. I will appoint no persons to high office because of their celebrity, their media appearances, or their expressed loyalty to me as a person. Proven qualification for administration of government agencies will be my touchstone. In the case of any office whose permanent occupant requires Senate confirmation, I will not designate any 'acting' or 'interim' officeholder with no experience in the agency or office in question, and will prefer persons currently serving therein. I will make no recess appointments to executive or judicial office during the intrasession recesses of an annual congressional session. My nominations for the federal judiciary will be guided by my own consideration of nominees' devotion to the original meaning of the Constitution, to respect for the texts of federal statutes, and to a restrained understanding of the judicial power. My administration will unstintingly carry out any judgments of the federal courts that require the executive branch's attention. And I will take seriously the guidance of the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice, whose opinions will have binding force on all executive agencies unless directly countermanded by me. Federal employees in the civil service will be held to high standards of performance, but will not be dismissed, laid off, or demoted except according to statutory norms governing their employment. No private citizens will be authorized by my administration to interfere in the performance of these civil servants' duties. American treaty obligations, existing alliances, and trading relationships will be the focus of my administration's foreign policy, with a view to strengthening international relations of trust, security, peace, and freedom of commerce. The national security of the United States will not be considered in isolation from the security and mutual support of our historic friends and allies. The aim of my administration will be to keep the friends we have, to make more friends among freedom-loving nations, and to make common cause with them against the adversaries of freedom. Territorial expansion of the United States, or aggressive acts of imperial dominion by use of military force, will be out of the question. I will commit myself, however, to bolstering the strength and technological capacity of America's military services. I will spend the monies Congress appropriates and administer the laws already on the books. My administration will propose reforms of those sectors of federal spending most responsible for our runaway deficits and national debt—namely, the entitlement programs of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The first two of these are not (despite their names) true pension funds or insurance programs into which American taxpayers have paid for a return on investment in retirement. Like the third, they are transfer programs in current accounts, spending contemporary revenues on contemporary beneficiaries. I will urge Congress to consider means-testing their expenditures, just as is done with Medicaid. But fiscal policy is Congress's right and responsibility to make. My administration will do what it can, consistent with the law and basic decency, to secure America's borders and reduce illegal entry into the United States. This great country benefits, in the main, from immigration, and should welcome more immigrants legally. It is for Congress, however, to decide our immigration policy, and for the president to execute that policy. I urge both houses of Congress to work toward the restoration of regular order in the preparation of budgets and appropriations. Legislation presented to me will be signed or vetoed according to my judgment of its constitutionality and its contribution to the blessings of liberty or the general welfare. I will not promulgate signing statements identifying any parts of congressional enactments that I decline to execute. I have my own views of what justice for all consists of, and of how law and policy should be crafted to achieve it. In communications between my administration and the Congress, I will be happy to enlarge on such views in appropriate policymaking contexts. This should result in settled expectations regarding what I shall sign and what I shall veto. But Congress is the deliberative branch of government, and should not forget it. There is little about my personal life that will be of interest to most people. I will say here that I have spent almost half a century studying the constitutional order of the United States, and most of that time teaching college courses on that and related subjects. I have written a little on the subject as well. I have not held any public office previously, but such inexperience seems not to have troubled American voters very much of late. I am in pretty good health for my age (66), and can think of better things to do with my time than run the country. If elected president, I will not in fact think it my job to run the country. My job will be to administer the executive branch of government, to fill vacancies in that branch and the judiciary, to execute the laws of the United States, to conduct American diplomacy, and if need be to direct American military forces at the level of strategy in the event of war.I expect to be able to catch the odd afternoon nap now and then. If I do my job well, my fellow Americans should be able to pay little or no attention to me most of the time. On these understandings, I am ready and willing to serve the American people. Thank you, and God bless America.
Associated Press
13-04-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
This Date in Baseball - Bryce Harper makes the 100th HR of his career his first-ever grand slam
April 14 1910 — William Howard Taft became the first U.S. president to throw out the first ball at a baseball opener in Washington. 1910 — Chicago's Frank Smith pitched a one-hitter in the season opener to give the White Sox a win over the St. Louis Browns. 1915 — In the opening game at Philadelphia, left-hander Herb Pennock of the A's blanked the Red Sox 5-0. He gave up only one hit — a scratch single by Harry Hooper with two outs in the ninth. 1917 — Ed Cicotte of the Chicago White Sox pitched an 11-0 no-hitter over the St. Louis Browns. 1925 — The Cleveland Indians opened the season with a 21-14 victory over the St. Louis Browns, the most runs scored by one club on opening day. The Indians scored 12 runs in the eighth inning when the Browns made five errors. Browns first baseman George Sisler had four errors in the game. 1925 — In the first regular-season Chicago Cubs game to be broadcast on the radio, Quin Ryan announces the contest from the grandstand roof for WGN. 1931 — Jack Quinn of the Brooklyn Robins becomes the oldest pitcher to start an Opening Day game at 47 years old. 1961 — The 'new' Washington Senators franchise wins its first game, defeating the Cleveland Indians, 3-2. 1964 — Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax throws his ninth complete game without allowing a walk. 1967 — Boston rookie Bill Rohr lost a no-hit bid in his first major league start when Elston Howard singled in the ninth inning for the New York Yankees' only hit in a 3-0 loss to the Red Sox. 1969 — The first major league game outside the United States was played in Montreal's Jarry Park with the Expos defeating the St. Louis Cardinals 8-7. 1976 — In the 6th inning of today's 6-5 loss to the Chicago Cubs, Mets' Dave Kingman hits what will become widely regarded as the longest home run ever hit in Wrigley Field, estimated at 600 feet. 1991 — Nolan Ryan becomes the 12th pitcher in major league history to surpass 5,000 innings pitched. 1999 — John Franco struck out the side in the ninth inning of the New York Met's 4-1 win over the Florida Marlins, becoming only the second pitcher to reach 400 career saves. The only reliever with more saves than Franco is Lee Smith, who retired with 478. 2004 — A day after Yankees teammate Mike Mussina earned his 200th career victory, Kevin Brown reaches the same plateau. 2005 — Yankees outfielder Gary Sheffield got into a brief scuffle with a fan along the right-field fence at Fenway Park during New York's game against the Boston Red Sox. 2010 — Jorge Cantu homered, making him the first player in major league history to have at least one hit and one RBI in each of his team's first nine games, and the Florida Marlins beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-3. 2014 — Neil Walker and Gaby Sanchez hit back-to-back homers twice, and the Pirates and Reds combined for 10 homers in only six innings before rain forced a suspension. Pittsburgh had three sets of back-to-back homers, only the third time that's happened in major league history. The NL Central rivals completed the game the next day. Andrew McCutchen doubled and came around on Russell Martin's single in the seventh inning, giving the Pirates an 8-7 win. 2016 — Bryce Harper makes the 100th home run of his career his first-ever grand slam. 2017 — The Braves open their new ballpark, SunTrust Park, with a 5 - 2 win over the Padres before a sellout crowd of 41,149. 2021 — Carlos Rodon of the White Sox throws the second no-hitter of the season, blanking the Indians, 8-0. _____
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
WWhat the Children's Bureau Teaches Us
A woman makes a sign for the Children's Bureau in Washington DC in November 1923. Credit - Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group—Getty Images The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is tearing through the federal government agency by agency, slashing programs, firing civil servants, and cutting research dollars. Polling indicates Americans may be souring on this approach, as program cuts come closer to home. Even then, some 40% of Americans believe the country could run with almost no federal employees. This reflects how disconnected Americans have become from federal agencies and the programs and services they provide. It wasn't always this way. The history of the U.S. Children's Bureau, an early 20th-century federal agency, provides a helpful example of how federal agents made their work visible to Americans. They understood that citizens needed to see government in order to care about it. They focused on passing and implementing laws, while also making sure they advertised their efforts. This strategy was effective in both bolstering political support and in expanding the reach of their programs well beyond their limited capacity. President William Howard Taft established the Children's Bureau in 1912 to research and report on the health and welfare of American children. Julia Lathrop, the organization's initial chief, was the first woman to run a federal bureau. Lathrop and her allies lacked established support within Washington, so they constructed a national network to conduct and advertise their work on behalf of mothers and children. Lathrop's first undertaking was to evaluate national infant mortality rates. But her Bureau did not have the resources to hire professional social scientists to collect the data at the scale that they wanted. Instead, they partnered with women's magazines and federated women's clubs to recruit local volunteers across the country to take part in data collection campaigns. Lathrop did this out of necessity, but she also understood that building out an active volunteer corps could generate grassroots political support for her agency's programs. What DOGE Is Doing Across the Federal Government When the U.S. entered World War I, Lathrop fought to keep the plight of American infants at the center of the public discourse. She declared 1918 to be national 'Children's Year' and began explicitly connecting preventative healthcare for children to the ill-health of American draftees—one third of whom were rejected from service. Lathrop readily admitted that this was 'of course…a device for arousing public opinion.' It worked. An estimated 11 million Americans volunteered for the Children's Year campaigns, weighing and measuring babies, promoting birth registration, and conducting health clinics and education campaigns within their communities. The Children's Year campaigns brought millions more women in touch with local, state, and federal agencies. Lathrop's successful publicity drives and local engagement built a groundswell of support for her agency's work. In 1920, Lathrop's efforts received a major boost when states ratified the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote. This provided the political capital she and her allies needed as they pushed Congress to pass a national infant and maternal health bill. Just as they had in their earlier efforts, the Children's Bureau worked in tandem with national women's associations and magazines in a concerted lobbying campaign. These organizations and publications encouraged women to write to their representatives in favor of the bill and many did. A Senate staff member observed, 'I think every woman in my state has written to the senator.' In 1921, their efforts succeeded, and Congress passed the Sheppard-Towner Act. The law, popularly known as the 'Better Baby Bill,' provided federal funding to match state spending on infant and maternal health and welfare programs. Sheppard-Towner programs aimed to reduce the nation's exceptionally high infant and maternal mortality rates by funding free and accessible preventative prenatal, postnatal, and pediatric care, home visit programs, birth registration campaigns, midwife training and regulation, and childrearing instructions for all interested women and girls. The law was Congress's first 'explicit' social welfare legislation and was one of the earliest federal matching grant programs. Sheppard-Towner programs were available to all, not targeted to those deemed 'needy and deserving,' as later federal maternal and child welfare programs would be. The law was underfunded and short lived, but its effects were far reaching. According to the Children's Bureau, half of all babies born in the U.S. between 1921 and 1929 benefited from Sheppard-Towner health or education programs. With high demand for their programs and limited resources, federal and state agents set up child health clinics, conferences, and demonstrations that would attract large groups of people—especially in rural areas. They went to state and county fairs, visited local communities, and used every technology available to widen their reach. State and federal agents relied heavily on entertainment, publicity stunts, and gimmicks. They found a great deal of success in doing so. Traveling movie trucks, radio broadcasts, baby contests, children's plays, and train car displays with mechanical child health exhibits attracted huge crowds. State and federal agents used these spectacles to provide services and to explain to the crowds how the federal and state bureaus functioned. The Children's Bureau childrearing handbook, Infant Care, first published in 1914, became 'the federal government's most popular publication.' A Children's Bureau agent called it, 'Uncle Sam's best seller.' The booklet circulated within community networks and the government printed it in over a dozen languages. This combination of services and publicity paid off. American women came to see the Children's Bureau as a trustworthy and knowledgeable, if distant, ally in their efforts to raise healthy babies and to remain healthy themselves. More than 100,000 American women from every region, class, and educational background wrote to the Children's Bureau every year during the 1910s and 1920s. Some wrote in desperation, others wrote with pride to explain how the Bureau's courses and literature had helped them to raise healthy 'Government Babies.' Amid Education Department Layoffs, Trump Says Many of the Fired Workers 'Don't Work at All' Despite, or perhaps because of, Sheppard-Towner's popularity, the American Medical Association, anti-suffragists, and conservative politicians mounted a coordinated effort to dismantle the law. In 1929, they succeeded. When Sheppard-Towner funding expired, responsibility for funding maternal and infant health programs reverted to the states. Without the incentive of federal dollars, most state programs deteriorated. States that had invested heavily in maternal and infant health programs before federal funds were available continued to do so at lower levels. The states that hadn't stopped funding the programs all together. Yet, the footprint of Sheppard-Towner programs and agencies remained, which proved crucial in the 1930s. After the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, the Children's Bureau worked with his administration to revive Sheppard-Towner programs under Title V of the Social Security Act (SSA). Yet, the new law was a mixed blessing for the Bureau. It significantly increased its budget and staff. But unlike Sheppard-Towner, Title V programs were means-tested, which made them accessible to far fewer families and changed the way that the Children's Bureau advertised them. It also placed Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) under the Social Security Administration, which began the process of breaking apart the Bureau's singular administrative hold on child health and welfare policy. In 1946, the Children's Bureau moved from the Department of Labor to the Social Security Administration and lost its ability to administer matching grant programs. Under the SSA, the Bureau leadership no longer reported directly to a cabinet level official, which further diluted its status. As the federal government expanded during the latter half of the 20th century, child health and welfare programs became further divided across agencies and departments. Since the Children's Bureau's 'dismemberment' in 1946, no single federal agency 'has lobbied exclusively in the interests of children.' Without a single agency actively promoting children's health and welfare, most Americans soon lost sight of the federal government's role in the matter altogether. That reflects a broader problem today: citizens are unaware of scores of programs that provide real benefits to millions of Americans. The government appears opaque, complex, and remote. The model employed by the Children's Bureau in the 1910s and 1920s offers a potential path forward. For two decades, it very intentionally made visible the work of state and federal agencies to American families. This empowered the Bureau to build out state and federal administrative capacity, which, in turn, enabled it to lower infant and maternal mortality rates. The Bureau's staff grasped that administering their programs wasn't enough. Sustaining and expanding their offerings required ensuring that Americans understood the Bureau and the services it provided. Moving forward, this history can provide a template for rebuilding federal agencies and programs in ways that Americans can see. Michelle Bezark is a senior researcher at the Center for Early Learning Funding Equity at Northern Illinois University. Her forthcoming book reconstructs the administrative history of the Sheppard-Towner Act. Made by History takes readers beyond the headlines with articles written and edited by professional historians. Learn more about Made by History at TIME here. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of TIME editors. Write to Made by History at madebyhistory@
Miami Herald
24-03-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Key analyst makes surprise call on IBM in AI software growth
Say this much for Big Blue: It's got staying power. International Business Machines (IBM) was founded in 1911, back when William Howard Taft was president, as Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co., a holding company for manufacturers of record-keeping and measuring systems. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter The name changed to IBM in 1924 and the company soon became the leading maker of punch-card tabulating systems. During the 1960s and 1970s the IBM mainframe, exemplified by the System/360, was the world's dominant computing platform, with the company producing 80% of computers in the U.S. and 70% of computers worldwide. Here in the 21st century, specifically on March 18, the tech giant unveiled a collaboration with AI-chip colossus Nvidia (NVDA) . Bloomberg/Getty Images This includes planned new integrations based on the Nvidia AI Data Platform reference design. The goal is to help enterprises more effectively put their data to work to help build, scale and manage generative-AI workloads and agentic-AI applications. Shares of IBM, which is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings on April 23, have climb 12.6% year-to-date and nearly 30% from a year ago. More AI Stocks: Analyst revamps Palantir stock price target after slumpNvidia stakes out aggressive future, despite investor uneaseAnalysts rework Micron stock price targets after earnings In January, IBM beat Wall Street's fourth-quarter earnings and revenue expectations. Software-segment revenue grew 10% year over year to $7.9 billion, due partly to demand for artificial-intelligence technology and a strong performance from its Red Hat Linux operating system. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives and his team have been focusing on AI software, declaring in a March 24 research note that "now the time has come for the broader software space to get in on the AI revolution." The analyst said the investment firm had been monitoring dozens of large companies that have embarked on the AI path in 2025 to gauge enterprise AI spending, use cases, and which vendors are separating from the pack in the AI revolution. "Overall we estimate AI is now comprising roughly 12% (up from 10% in January) of many IT budgets for 2025 we are tracking, and in some cases up to 15%," Ives wrote. That's "as many CIOs have accelerated its AI strategy over the next 6 to 9 months as monetization of this key theme is starting to become a reality across many industries." While the first steps in AI deployments are around Nvidia chips and the cloud stalwarts, Ives said, Wedbush estimates that for every $1 spent on Nvidia, there is an $8 to $10 multiplier across the rest of the tech ecosystem. "So far about 70% of customers we have spoken with [that are] heading down the AI path have accelerated their AI budget dollars and initiatives over the last six months, speaking to the sheer speed of this tech-spending cycle," he said. While there is a lot of noise in the software world around driving monetization of AI, Ives said, a handful of software players have started to separate themselves from the pack. Related: Analysts revisit IBM stock price targets as shares hit record high "The AI Software era is now here...," he said, naming big-data company Palantir (PLTR) and customer relationship management platform Salesforce (CRM) as the two best software plays on the AI Revolution for 2025. Ives said many well positioned vendors, including IBM, are joining the AI-spending cycle. "We are now adding IBM to the Wedbush Best Ideas List, reflecting our incremental confidence in this name," the analyst said. "In a nutshell, investors remain nervous about the AI-spending trajectory in this backdrop. yet to the contrary we see many enterprises accelerating their strategic paths for 2025, which is bullish for the software ecosystem," he added. Although IBM remains committed to investing in further driving growth, Wedbush said, the company looks to balance growth with operating leverage into its business model to drive its free cash flow, which is expected to be roughly 2 to 3 points above revenue growth. "With AI expected to drive $4.4 trillion in annual productivity gains by 2030, ... IBM is well-positioned to capitalize on the current demand shift for hybrid and AI applications as more enterprises look to implement AI to drive efficiencies across operations," the firm said. Wedbush has an outperform rating on IBM with a $300 stock price target. Related: Veteran fund manager unveils eye-popping S&P 500 forecast The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
