<cite> @thefuturenow said:</cite> The cabinet needs more SLers with ties to Kulmiye. That would be a shrewd political move. I read somewhere that Siilaanyo wanted a man from his Burco subclan to be named as the PM.

As indicated by Lazy G. this cabinet will be very similar to the last one. Many of the ministers from the last government will return.

22 Richest Schools In America By Richard Vedder and Christopher Denhart Forbes Magazine The 22 schools holding half of U.S. endowment wealth enroll just 5% of higher education students. If anything, that’s an understatement. The concentration of wealth of the 22 schools includes three large public university systems with multiple campuses. The eight Ivy League schools in the top 22, for example, alone have over 21% of the total American endowment assets, but well under 1% of the students. Assuming a conservative 4% payout rate out of endowments, the two richest schools, Harvard and Yale, are spending well over $2.1 billion a year for 35,000 students, or about $60,000 a student, about eight times the average appropriations state governments provide four-year public universities. Moreover, many highly endowed schools also receive huge federal subsidies to support research. For example, Harvard and Yale in the 2011-12 academic year together received over $1.262 billion in federal support. Adding that on to endowment spending (assuming a 4% payout), these schools are spending well over $96,000 per student –without considering revenues from tuition fees, foundation grants or alumni support. The typical state school spends less than $25,000 per student from all sources. Contrast the highly endowed schools with those holding the other one half of endowments. The second half serves nearly 10 times the number of students as the top 22 schools. One of us attended one of the top endowed schools (Northwestern) as an undergraduate and teaches at a typical state school (Ohio University) today. Both have similar enrollments, but Northwestern’s endowment is nearly 18 times that of Ohio University. Assuming the same 4% payout rate, Northwestern has about $16,800 per student in annual endowment income, compared with less than $800 at Ohio University. Additionally, Northwestern receives vastly more in federal grants and contracts than Ohio University to support large research programs. Do these disparities in funding impact reputation and performance? Yes. FORBES prides itself that its rankings are based on outcome based measures that interest students, such as whether they get good jobs, can avoid large student debt, or like their instructors. But money can buy good instructors or reduce debt. Wealthier schools can and do use their resources to improve their rankings. It is no accident that the top five research universities (as opposed to liberal arts colleges) on the FORBES 2014 Top Colleges list –Stanford, Princeton, M.I.T., Yale and Harvard –had five of the six largest endowments in the U.S. These universities at the top are extremely successful in raising funds and managing their wealth. We do not have a problem with large endowments, however, we do question whether the U.S. government should expend public resources to further this disparity. Favorable tax policies and exemptions, unequal research funding and donor tax write offs all play into reinforcing disparities between rich, elite private schools and poorer public institutions. The federal government’s mission is to further education and research for the good of the broader public. Yet its tax and subsidy policies are akin to give tax exemptions for donating money to the members of the top one percent. It amazes us that so-called “progressives” who deplore the wealth and power of the top one percent usually call for expansion of the current system of financing universities, rather than reforming it to remove the advantages accorded to the rich school. Maybe it is because so many of them personally were educated themselves at these citadels of privilege. Perhaps schools with large endowments should not remain tax exempt, and maybe they should even pay an endowment tax, or, at the very minimum, they should have to dedicate more endowment funds to lowering tuition costs for their students. Yet leading liberals like President Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren (all of whom taught or attended either Harvard or Yale) are silent on this issue –does their loyalty to their alma maters blind them to addressing the financial power of the academic one percent? Top 22 Richest Schools in America: Harvard University, $32,334,293,000 Yale University, $20,780,000,000 University of Texas System, $20,448,313,000 Stanford University, $18,688,868,000 Princeton University, $18,200,433,000 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, $11,005,932,000 Texas A&M University System and Foundations, $8,732,010,000 University of Michigan, $8,382,311,000 Columbia University, $8,197,880,000 Northwestern University, $7,883,323,000 University of Pennsylvania, $7,741,396,000 University of Notre Dame, $6,856,301,000 University of Chicago, $6,668,974,000 University of California, $6,377,379,000 Duke University, $6,040,973,000 Emory University, $5,816,046,000 Washington University in St. Louis, $5,651,860,000 Cornell University, $5,272,228,000 University of Virginia, $5,166,660,000 Rice University, $4,836,728,000 University of Southern California, $3,868,355,000 Dartmouth College, $3,733,596,000 For list of endowment data on 800+ Schools visit the NACUBO report. This list of 22 schools account for 50% of the total endowment funds of American Colleges and Universities in this report.

^^ It is a race to the bottom. lol

<cite> @malistar2012 said:</cite> President Hassan and his delegation received a warm welcome President Mohamud leads a large delegation to Cairo for two-day official visit The president took all his friends to Cairo. Is he there to receive military aid? It would be nice if Egypt could participate in some of the AMISOM activities in Somalia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o3ihA78VUM#t=126

Good luck to Ahmed Hussen.

When I read the title, I thought of our resident scholar Galbeedi.

Mooge, this is a brilliant news. We need such accountability in all levels of government. Cabdi Wali seems to be leading Puntland in the right direction. Few months ago, I read another topics on SOL about Cabdiwali trying to find ways to increase state revenue through innovative taxation scheme. This is the kind of change Somalia needs.

I haven't seen one. Perhaps you should start one and inspire others sports fans.

He is overconfident the SFG will win this case and that is quite worrying. These men need to prepare for the worst and put forward a good argument.

Neil deGrasse Tyson Trolls Christians on Christmas (The Daily Beast) - The well-known scientist gave the Internet a little gift on Thursday morning—and took his feud with conservatives to another level. If there is actually a war on Christmas, famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson seems ready to lead the fight. On Christmas morning, Tyson, the director of New York’s Hayden Planetarium, took to Twitter to troll those celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Tyson wrote “On this day long ago, a child was born who, by age 30, would transform the world. Happy Birthday Isaac Newton b. Dec 25, 1642.” The tweet set off an Internet firestorm and was retweeted nearly 15,000 times in less than an hour. The one problem for Tyson is that while Jesus may not have been born on Christmas, Isaac Newton actually wasn’t born on December 25 either. Tyson’s tweet not only plays on the fact that Newton, the inventor of modern physics was believed to be born on December 25 but that Jesus Christ almost certainly wasn’t. The date does not appear in the New Testament and early theologians seemed to think that Jesus was born in the spring. The winter date for the holiday may have eventually been adopted to coincide with existing pagan festivals as part of an effort to convert non-Christians. The astrophysicist played on this theme in a tweet that followed, writing “Merry Christmas to all. A Pagan holiday (BC) becomes a Religious holiday (AD). Which then becomes a Shopping holiday (USA).” The one problem for Tyson is that while Jesus may not have been born on Christmas, Isaac Newton actually wasn’t born on December 25 either. Newton was born during a 150-year-period where England used a different calendar from the rest of Europe. While the rest of the continent adopted the Gregorian calendar that we use today, the English persisted in using the less accurate Julian calendar which lagged ten days behind because of a faulty method of accounting for leap years. As a result, while Newton was born on December 25, 1642 in England, his birthday was January 4, 1643 everywhere else. The result is likely to further spark conservative anger at Tyson, who has long been reviled by some on the right for a what is perceived as a “know-it-all” attitude towards organized religion. Ironically, this was an attitude not shared by Isaac Newton who devoted much of his later life to theology and trying to interpret biblical prophesies. But regardless of how one feels about Tyson, Newton, Christmas or Christianity, his tweet does spark one bigger concern: don’t people have something better to do on Christmas Day than complain about Twitter?

I agree with you Che-Guevara. This is a very scenic land and if these mountains are destroyed in the search for resources, the loss will be permanent and quite devastating environmentally.

^ That is very interesting. This is a well established mining facility. I hope our friend Galbeedi can shed light on this underground project.

Great job.

I am curious as to what mineral is being mined there. What location is this?

This is an image I found intriguing. As Mogadishu becomes wealth (and the city reconstruction is non-stop), wealth disparity becomes more pronounced. In Mogadishu, a tiny group of wealthy individuals who are well connected to the government, control the entire reconstruction economy. The rest of the population is just working for a daily meal.

Luiz Suaz, what do you think about the new US-Cuba relationship? Obama has recognized your government. You must be really happy about that?

This was the plan all along. Ethiopia never really controlled any major city or town beyond the border towns since 2006. For a long time they were looking for the opportunity to get back in the game and take control of a major city in the coast area. Darky will gift them that gift and sadly there is little the current government can do.

Did Puntland make an official statement on the fighting? If 20 people died, that is not a small fight. If the death number is real, this will turn into an all out war. I can't imagine Galmudug or Puntland letting things go after losing twenty soldiers. Let us pray for peace.