I am an African-American male with a Ph.D. and post-doctoral studies in Theology and Philosophy. Contrary to the TAK (Traditional Analysis of Knowledge), I believe that Inspiration is also a source of knowledge, therefore my blog, Provocative Inspiration
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reaped a $3.3 billion gain last year by exercising stock options in the social networking company that he founded in a Harvard University dorm room.
The windfall saddled Zuckerberg with a huge tax bill, even though he limited his Facebook salary to just $1, according to regulatory documents filed Monday.
It marks the second straight year that Zuckerberg has realized a huge gain on the holding that he has accumulated in Facebook Inc. since he started the company in 2004. In 2012, Zuckerberg made $2.3 billion off his stock options.
Zuckerberg, 29, now has exhausted his supply of stock options after exercising 60 million of them last year a price of 6 cents per share. He then sold 41.35 million shares for $55.05 apiece in December, primarily to pay for his tax bill on the gains.
Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, also donated 18 million Facebook shares to a Silicon Valley nonprofit. The December gift, then valued at nearly $1 billion, landed the couple at the top of The Chronicle of Philanthropy's annual list of the most generous Americans.
Even after selling and donating so much Facebook stock, Zuckerberg still owns 426.3 million Facebook shares currently worth $25.7 billion. The stock has more than doubled in value during the past year as Zuckerberg fulfilled his promise to sell more ads on the smartphones and tablet computers that bring in most of the traffic to Facebook's social networking service.
The Menlo Park, Calif., company now gets more than half of its ad revenue from mobile devices, up from 23 percent at the beginning of last year.
Like many company founders who have gotten wealthy off their early stakes, Zuckerberg asked Facebook to limit his annual salary to $1 annually. Besides that token sum, Zuckerberg also received perquisites valued at $653,164. All but $3,000 of that amount went toward Zuckerberg's bills for personal travel on chartered jets.
Excluding stock option gains, Zuckerberg's total compensation last year plunged 67 percent from nearly $2 million in 2012.
The Associated Press formula calculates an executive's total compensation during the last fiscal year by adding salary, bonuses, perks, above-market interest that the company pays on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock and stock options awarded during the year. The AP formula does not count changes in the present value of pensions, a benefit that Facebook and most other technology companies don't provide.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
JOHNSON CITY, N.Y. (AP) — A police officer responding to a disturbance at an upstate New York business was killed with his own service weapon by a gunman who was then fatally shot by another officer Monday morning, authorities said.
Binghamton Police Chief Joseph Zikuski said Officer David Smith, 43, was called to a reported disturbance at the health care facility in Johnson City when he was attacked.
Authorities said 43-year-old James Clark, an MRI technician at Southern Tier Imaging, struggled with Smith before grabbing the officer's gun and firing at him. Smith, an 18-year veteran of the force, was hit three times and died at the scene.
"He was a good officer," Zikuski said. "It's tragic."
Clark, from nearby Greene, then finished discharging the weapon's entire 15-round magazine by shooting at an unnamed other officer, who shot him. Clark died in surgery at a hospital just over three hours later.
"He obviously had some sort of mental breakdown," Zikuski said. "We may never know."
Smith was married and had one child, the chief said.
"I was deeply saddened to learn that Officer David Wayne Smith was killed in the line of duty today," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement. "We are deeply grateful for his service and extend our heartfelt condolences."
The shooting comes just three days shy of the fifth anniversary of a mass shooting in the area. Jiverly Wong shot and killed 13 people before killing himself in an immigrant center in nearby Binghamton on April 3, 2009.
Autopsies were being conducted Monday on both men.
Zikuski said Clark was described by co-workers as a "model employee" and had no known mental problems or criminal history. Police do not have a motive, but they were searching Clark's home for clues.
Police said that when Clark entered the Southern Tier Imaging building for work Monday morning, he became embroiled in a dispute with co-workers. At one point, he grabbed a co-worker, shook him and made threats indicating there was a bomb in the building, Zikuski said.
That prompted the call that sent Smith to the scene. Zikuski said Smith never had a chance to radio for assistance before he was attacked.
'Anyone But Rob Ford' Campaign Boasts Phony Candidates
"He promises to just smoke pot as mayor, not crack."
That's one of three outrageous campaign slogans on signs that popped up all around Toronto on Monday spoofing the bad behavior of Canada's favorite substance-abusing incumbent mayor Rob Ford.
"When I urinate in public, I never get caught on camera," reads another poster.
A third zinger: "The current mayor threatens to kill people and gets publicly drunk. If elected, I promise I will just get publicly drunk."
The "candidates" on the signs aren't running for anything. They're just actors.
But the signs aren't just a joke.
A grassroots group hopes they will draw attention to various real candidates who want to replace the current mayor and further its goal of "anyone but Rob Ford."
RETHINK
An ad from the No Ford Nation campaign which seeks to prevent Toronto Mayor Rob Ford from being reelected.
Christina Robins, founder of NoFordNation.com, said she partnered with the hip ad agency Rethink to create the 100 signs, which went up at parks all over the city.
"They're already being taken down," she said.
Two spokesmen for Ford did not respond to requests for comment.
Although Ford has admitted smoking crack, driving drunk, and urinating in public, he has refused calls to step down, even after being stripped of many of his powers by the city council.
Robins, 41, said her problems with Ford pre-date the infamous video that caught him smoking crack. She founded her group in 2011 when his administration proposed cutting free lunch for poor kids.
"view" most of them hadn't seen before, unless they read "Playboy" back in the day when McCarthywas a Playmate.
During a discussion about a recent episode of HBO's "Girls" where Lena Dunhamrevealed some racy underwear that left little to the imagination, the two panelists apparently went topless to conclude their show on Monday. It's unclear if the ladies were completely topless, since their assets were obscured by black bars.
"Thank you, thank you!" McCarthy exclaimed to the hooting and hollering crowd.
"You know Lena, she gets press every week for being naked," Shepherd observed. "So we're jumping on the bandwagon!"
"It's true," McCarthy added. "We want more ratings too."
"Wait a minute!" interjected Shepherd. "Look at my box. Why is my black box so much bigger than yours"?
"Take a little time to enjoy our view!" McCarthy quipped.
McCarthy then apparently surprised Shepherd by grabbing her breasts.
The organization said its national policybars the man from leading a Seattle troop.
Should the Boy Scouts allow openly gay troop leaders?
25 %
Yes; equality is crucial. 10,613 votes
68 %
No; it is inappropriate. 28,929 votes
2 %
It depends on age. 682 votes
5 %
I'm not sure. 2,145 votes
Total Responses: 42,369
'Extremely Disappointing': Scouts Boot Openly Gay Troop Leader SEATTLE—The Boy Scouts of America on Monday banned an openly gay Scoutmaster from the organization, saying its national policy barred gay adults from membership.
Geoff McGrath, 49, leader of Troop 98 in Seattle’s Rainier Beach neighborhood, is believed to be the first gay adult to be booted from the Boy Scouts of America since it held a controversial ballot last May allowing gay youth—but not adults—to participate in one of the country’s most popular youth organizations. The Scouts had severed ties with gay adults in previous years, before the vote to admit gay youth, but McGrath, an Eagle Scout, had been hoping for a different response in this new era of Scouting.
“It’s extremely disappointing to not be fully supported and defended in my membership,” McGrath told NBC News. “They are complaining that the problem [his status as an openly gay man] is a distraction to Scouting and they don’t seem to understand that the distraction is self-inflicted.”
The BSA confirmed that the organization has “revoked” McGrath’s membership.
“Our policy is that we do not ask people about their sexual orientation, and it’s not an issue until they deliberately inject it into Scouting in an inappropriate fashion,” BSA spokesman Deron Smith said in an email. Until NBC’s inquiry, “he [McGrath] hadn’t deliberately injected it into Scouting in an inappropriate fashion,” he wrote.
“We spoke with Mr. McGrath today and based on the information he provided, the National Council has revoked his registration,” Smith added.
Until Monday, McGrath believed himself to be the only openly gay Scoutmaster in the nation, having won approval last fall to run a troop despite the organization's ban against gay adults. McGrath said he didn't hide his sexual orientation from Scouting leaders, but Seattle’s top BSA official told NBC News that she never knew he was gay.
PETER DICAMPO / FOR NBC NEWS
Scoutmaster Geoff McGrath, center, teaches knot tying to Dominick Migula, left, and Koyle Kendrick, right, before a troop meeting begins at Rainier Beach United Methodist Church in Seattle, Wa., on March 27. Koyle Kendrick, a gay teen, was previously a Boy Scout and attended the meeting to consider joining a gay-friendly troop.
McGrath said starting the unit was not a publicity stunt but a bid to serve youth and rejoin the contentious discussion around gay and lesbian adult membership.
“If you don’t participate, you're not part of the conversation,” McGrath, a 49-year-old software engineer, said in an exclusive interview. “Yelling from the outside is not conversing. So we're on the inside doing good work. Talking about the gay and lesbian issue is not the biggest part of what we do—it's the smallest part.”
In recent years, the Scouts have wrestled with the question of whether or not to allow gays into its ranks. The controversy came to a head last year after the Boy Scouts' National Council voted to allow gay youth as of Jan. 1 but not adults, a decision that left people on both sides of the debate feeling shortchanged.
"It’s extremely disappointing to not be fully supported and defended in my membership," McGrath said.
McGrath’s Troop 98 is part of the BSA's Chief Seattle Council, which said late Sunday that it didn't inquire about his sexual orientation—as directed by BSA policy—when he applied for a leadership position, according to Sharon Moulds, the council’s top professional leader.
Moulds said she found out McGrath was gay only after NBC News contacted her. “It was then that we became aware of his intentions to make a public statement about his orientation and use our program as a means to further a personal agenda,” she wrote in an email.
Troop 98 got its start not long after the contentious membership ballot. Local clergy wanted to start a new youth program since there were few in the neighborhood, said Rev. Monica Corsaro of Rainier Beach United Methodist Church. The clergy reached out to McGrath, a member of the Methodist church, to see if he could lead a Boy Scout unit.
McGrath, a married Eagle Scout who has been with his husband for 20 years, said he worried his sexual orientation would sink the effort since openly gay Scoutmasters in previous years—before the vote to admit gay youth—have been booted from Scouting.
And McGrath knows this from his own experience, too. At age 22, after revealing to the leaders of his Seattle-area troop that he was gay, McGrath said they rescinded an Asst. Scoutmaster post they'd offered him and told him he was done with Scouting. It was the most painful part of his decision to come out as gay, he said, and led to his excommunication the next year from the Mormon church that had sponsored his Boy Scout unit. That ended his relationship with the organization he had advanced through since he was a child—or so he thought.
After struggling with rejection from his Mormon elders, and after seeing his identical twin brother Dave, who is straight, campaign for gays to be admitted to Scouting, McGrath thought it was time he do what he could to help bring about change: He decided to start an inclusive troop.
PETER DICAMPO / FOR NBC NEWS
Scout leaders chat after a troop meeting at Rainier Beach United Methodist Church in Seattle, Wa., on March 27, 2014. From left: Troop Committee Member Donovan O'Brien, Coordinator for the Chief Seattle Chapter of Scouts for Equality Jesse Pacem, Scoutmaster Geoff McGrath, and Assistant Scoutmaster Adrian Cowens.
“Mostly it’s about ending the silence,” said McGrath, a former social worker. Speaking out about gay and lesbian concerns in Scouting “doesn’t mean drowning out the other issues,” he added. “It means becoming an equal participant with everyone else. That’s all.”
Rainier Beach United Methodist Church, which performs same-sex marriages, became the troop’s charter partner. Corsaro said she insisted McGrath serve as Scoutmaster, though they knew it was against BSA policy.
“I wouldn't have a Boy Scout troop unless we did it this way,” Corsaro said, noting that many gay couples live in the community. “This is who we are.”
After winning approval last fall, the troop set about holding the meetings, campouts, hikes and work toward earning merit badges that make up Scouting. It was soon joined by a Cub Scout pack (led by another man) as parents with young boys heard about the new unit. The fact that McGrath is gay is among the first pieces of information given to parents whose children join. The troop is also described on the Boy Scouts’ website as “fully inclusive.”
“One of the things that’s different now with our troop from when I was a youth in the Scouts, was there were no identifiable gay or lesbian adults,” McGrath said, recalling the isolation and shame he felt as a teen when he thought he was the only gay person around.
Some parents and their boys gathered last Thursday at the church for the weekly Boy Scouts’ meeting said they had no problem with McGrath’s sexual orientation. Many said they were pleased with the program, looking on while their sons made knots, marched with flags and built a stretcher. A boy from Burma whose family recently immigrated to the U.S. came for the first time and immediately asked to sign up for Cub Scouts.
“Anyone who is willing to step forward and provide an opportunity for our youth should be supported, and Geoff has done an excellent job,” said Denise Mimura, whose son, Jonathan, 14 and straight, is in the troop. “If anyone has an issue with this, then where are they?”
“Mostly it’s about ending the silence. It means becoming an equal participant with everyone else. That’s all.”
Travis Beach, a 17-year-old who entered the Boy Scouts for the first time last fall, said he’d learned a lot from McGrath, like how to camp in snow caves. “It was exhilarating,” Beach, who is straight, said of the unit’s recent outing. He didn’t think McGrath’s sexual orientation was a big deal and said his being out was “setting a great example” by showing he wasn’t afraid to be himself.
The unit currently counts only heterosexual boys among its ranks, but a gay teen, 17-year-old Koyle Kendrick, said he plans to join after he finishes his end-of-year exams. He’d left another troop in 2013 that he didn’t feel was gay friendly and looked forward to having a gay Scoutmaster.
“I'll be more comfortable going back into Scouting and being in an inclusive troop,” he said, adding of McGrath, “He'll understand where I'm coming from.”
Corsaro, of Rainier Beach United Methodist Church, the troop’s charter partner, said the church will continue with the Boy Scouts—and also support McGrath.
“We’re going to stand with Geoff, and we’re going to stand with the Boy Scouts,” she said. “Because at the end of the day, this is about raising youth and having good role models.”
Seeing another gay leader kicked out of Scouting was tough, said Zach Wahls, founder of Scouts for Equality, which advocates for including gays adults in the Boy Scouts.
“It hurts to watch this happen,” he said. “This troop and this Cub Scout pack would not exist without Geoffrey McGrath and the fact that they would remove somebody who is growing Scouting just shows how out of whack this policy is.”
The Boy Scouts have experienced declining membership in the last decade, though Smith said they couldn’t attribute the drop to any one single factor. Enrollment fell 4 percent from 2011 to 2012, and 6 percent last year.
A group of ex-Boy Scouts who splintered off after the vote to form their own Christian-based youth program said talk of sexuality shouldn’t have a place in organizations like Scouting.
“We just think that that’s inappropriate,” said John Stemberger, founder of Trail Life USA, which has 305 troops – some former Boy Scouts - in 44 states. He has previously said his group allows gay adults and youth to participate, but they can’t “flaunt” their sexuality.
McGrath's dismissal touched a chord with Greg Bourke, of Louisville, Ky., who was forced to resign as Asst. Scoutmaster of his son's Troop 325 in 2012 because he is gay.
"It is shameful that the BSA would consider continuing these witch hunts against respectable and dignified adult leaders," he said in an email.
As for McGrath, he expects that "cooler minds will prevail," at BSA, "possibly in my case and certainly eventually, to the benefit of all of Scouting," he said. "That’s what I believe. If it doesn’t happen today, that will be disappointing, but it doesn’t mean it won’t ever happen.”
The BSA has no plans to review its membership policy on gay adults, Smith said on Monday.
McGrath said he had prepared himself for the potential fallout from going public about his sexual orientation—even if that meant losing his post. “This is what Scouting prepares us for,” he said, “to be prepared for contingencies and to move forward with confidence.”
Are you a gay youth in Scouting? Have you come out to your troop since the change in membership policy on Jan. 1? If you want to share your story or have a general comment about the article? Email the reporter at miranda.leitsinger@nbcuni.com
![AP]({"default":"http://newsbcpcol.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/e3/12e7ff08bf55a6d7449b766b4e23c/_h17_w0_m6_otrue_lfalse.jpg"}){kind=small}
RETHINK
PETER DICAMPO / FOR NBC NEWS
PETER DICAMPO / FOR NBC NEWS